The Happiest People

Mood: Uplifted

Music: Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"

Medicine: Clinical Microbiology

Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity, was interviewed for one hour on CNBC. Here are some interesting points:

He lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence. He drives his own car everywhere, does not have a  chauffeur, does not have a private jet (though he owns the world's largest private jet company), and rather than socializing with high society, his pastime after he gets home is to make himself some popcorn and watch TV. Bill Gates, the world's richest man, met him for the first time 5 years ago. They scheduled a meeting for only half an hour. The meeting lasted for ten hours. After then, Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffett, following his outlook on life.

His advice to young people:

Live your life as simple as you are. Money doesn't create man, but it is the man who created money. Don't do what others say, just listen to them, and do what you feel is good. After all, it's your life. Don't go on brand name; just wear what feels comfortable. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; rather, spend your money on who really is in need. The happiest people do not necessarily have the best things. They simply appreciate the things they have.

Right you are, sir. Right you are.

"If the children don't grow up, our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up. We're just a million little gods causing rain storms, turning every good thing to rust... I guess we'll just have to adjust."

Two Reasons Glutamine May Be Good for Athletes

Mood: Fascinated
Music: Two Door Cinema - "This Is The Life"
Medicine: Kidney Pathophysiology

Glutamine gets a pretty bad wrap, and rightfully so; most Americans do not build muscle.

Glutamine has been often pitched as a "brain food", since its metabolism is increased to form ketoacids in the face of glucose starvation, which are used by the brain for energy. The problem is, in non-starvation situations, glucose is abundant, and this is often the case in Americans. Another use of glutamine in the brain is to create glutamate, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter. You need neurotransmitters for appropriate neural function, thus giving more credence to sell glutamine as a brain food. The problem is that when you have too much glutamine, glutamate accumulates, and this can actually cause neural synapse damage. Neural synapses become too excited, overstimulated, and compensate by undergoing apoptosis and dying. The neurons are trying to reach homeostasis (a balance), and you end up losing neural function as a result.

However, glutamine is definitely NOT a bad thing in avid athletes, and there are two great reasons.

1. Glutamine is the main protein in muscle. So in weight-trainers and athletes that are working out to gain muscle, glutamine is a useful tool to improve muscle building. In inactive people, glutamine won't go to the muscle; in short, the body needs a reason to build muscle. If you're not using your muscles, then why expend energy in making more muscle?

2. Working athletes usually experience respiratory acidosis; as the body's muscles work hard, they undergo oxidative phosphorylation, a process that uses oxygen to create energy. One major byproduct of this process is carbon dioxide. Excess carbon dioxide combines with water to form an acid, carbonic acid, which dissociates into bicarbonate and a proton (protons are responsible for acidity!) Normally carbon dioxide is cleared efficiently through the lungs. However, in more strenuous and chronic exercise, the lung is not entirely capable of clearing this carbon dioxide. So what happens? The kidneys step in to help. They take this carbon dioxide, combine it with water to form carbonic acid, and take the proton created from the dissociation of carbonic acid and pump it into the kidney tubules for excretion in urine. But something needs to carry this proton, and guess what does that? Ammonia. Guess where you get ammonia from? Glutamine! So to avoid the respiratory acidosis caused in athletes, glutamine is used to balance the body's acid (pH).

Just like most aspects of our diet, and of our lives, glutamine just needs to be used in moderation. A balanced use of glutamine leads to a balanced outcome.

"Feel something right, and feel something good. Cause if one thing works, you might know it's true..."

USMLE Step 1

Mood: Motivated
Music: nothing... listening to the sound of rain
Medicine: Anemia

The USMLE Step 1, likely THE hardest test of my professional life, is coming up (April 26th!!!). I'll likely blog here and there if I feel like it, but not consistently as the date gets closer. However, I've decided to start a different blog about mnemonics and interesting facts that I stumble into during the course of my studying. I'm doing this mostly to keep myself motivated and interested in learning, because I'll have to retain a lot in the next few months. Also, the hope is that it may help you out (if you are a medical student. too)!

If you'd like, take a look at the other blog:
http://step1mneumonics.blogspot.com/

I'll do my best to remember to update it a few times a week. See you on the other side of the step 1!

Waste of Paint

Mood: Thankful
Music: Bright Eyes - "Waste of Paint"
Medicine: Liver Pathology

Bright Eyes is a great band. As I've said before, Conor Oberst is a phenomenal lyricist. He doesn't have the best of voices... in fact, I'd be remiss if I didn't say that his voice is at times downright pitchy and awful. He is a lousy singer. Actually, I'd be more correct to say that he doesn't sing, but rather he talks his way through each song. Yet once you get past that, and accept his voice for what it is (dismally lacking... okay maybe I'm harping on him a bit too much), you realize that Conor is a genius. What he lacks in tonal prowess, he more than compensates for in emotional depth. Many would call his music emo. And yes, it IS quite emotional, but I prefer to think of it as "deeply introspective". Albeit to the point of self-loathing at times, his lyrics are powerful. His ability to turn inward and analyze his emotions is a quality that many artists (and in general, people) lack. And putting words to those emotions-- which he so masterfully does-- is what I love about his music.

The song "Waste of Paint" is one of my favorite songs by Bright Eyes. Really, there's nothing great about the music: there is a single acoustic guitar, which repeats the same three unremarkable riffs throughout the song (varying between verse, interlude, and chorus), backed by Conor's crude, scratchy voice. What makes it one of my favorites is the driving, repetitive melody paired with Conor's inner turmoil. The song itself is more of a story, or rather, a series of stories. He tells about an artist, a woman, his brother, a couple, and himself. He ties the stories together with a tragedy that plays vividly: the human fear of being alone and worthless. Whether we can or cannot identify entirely with his depression is irrelevant: we've all questioned some aspects of our lives, and we can perhaps in some way identify with the powerlessness that he feels.

Anyhow, my favorite story from the song is about the couple. It goes like this:

"Last few months I've been living with this couple. Yeah, you know the kind who buy everything in doubles. Oh, they fit together like a puzzle. And I love their love and I am thankful. That someone actually receives the prize that was promised. By all those fairy tales that drugged us. And they still do me, I'm sick lonely, no Laurel tree, just green envy. Will my number come up eventually? Like love's some kind of lottery, where you scratch and see what's underneath... it's sorry. 'Just one cherry. I'll play again! Get lucky.'"

There are two parts of this story. The first part is happy, upbeat, and makes you smile. The second becomes twisted, dark, and withdrawn. It's a masterpiece. You can see the clear transition in his mind. One moment he's appreciative for life, thankful in knowing that love does exist, and as he thinks more about love he becomes despondent, suddenly very aware of his loneliness. He only drives the knife deeper as the story continues. And he carries you along through his upheaval of emotions. This, to me, is art.

Ironically, I thought about this song when I saw a picture of a couple on facebook earlier today. They have been together since I first met them in freshman year of college. Over six years, and they still look so happy. And just as he said in the song, I am thankful. I love seeing two people share love. It makes me hopeful.

"Just one cherry. I'll play again! Get lucky..."

Restless

Mood: Restless
Music: Yellowcard - "Hang You Up"
Medicine: GI Pathology

Man, it's been a while since I've blogged anything. I've definitely been on quite a hiatus. And there's a reason: second year. Second year is taking most of my time up, so much so that I've forgotten to take time to blog my experiences and journey through medical school...

Much has certainly past, and I certainly don't have the time to expound upon it. I would love to, but I should be doing something else right now. Plus, that's not the reason I started this new post.

I started this post to say that sometimes... sometimes you just forget to have fun. Or at least I do. Sometimes I can get so wrapped up in the future, so wrapped up in having to prepare. That definitely has a place and time, but I forget to enjoy the moment, too. I get wrapped up in thinking about consequences of my actions, always too concerned for the repercussions. But I forget that I'm young, and that's not going to last all that much longer.

Yeah, I don't know what I'm saying. Maybe I wish I had time to spare. Time to lose. No. Time to waste. I miss wasting time. Wasting time with the ones I love. Sometimes I feel like I'm forgetting what that was like. And it seems as though everyone around me is forgetting that, too. I don't want to sound depressing, because I'm not upset. Just... restless I guess. And scatterbrained.

Gotta just keep pushing along.

"I turn my back on anyone who won't believe, and it gets lonely... still."

Mnemonics

Mood: Bewildered
Music: Okay Go - "WTF"
Medicine: Antimicrobials (Pharmacology)

Mnemonics, mnemonics, mnemonics. I used to shy away from using mnemonics, thinking to myself, "No! I should be able to memorize things, and not have to rely on a crutch." Who says a mnemonic will work, anyway? Because THEN you have to remember the mnemonic itself!

Then I took anatomy.

"I ate ten eggs at 12" ... "Some Anatomists Like F***ing... others prefer S & M" ... "Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can't Handle" ...I'm not even kidding. These mnemonics saved my life. And they're all common mnemonics among med students. Soon I was memorizing any mnemonic people could give me! If it made sense, and it worked, I would use it.

Now. I'm desperate for a mnemonic. And there are no good ones. Because everything sounds exactly the same.

Pharmacology is driving me NUTS. 15 different cephalosporins, all separated into 4 different groups that target different bacteria. All begin with "cef" or "ceph" and have names like "cefalotaxime" or "cefmandole" or "ceftriaxone". And I'm supposed to memorize not only these names, but what specific microbes they work against?

To be fair, the names are pretty fun to say out loud, so I can't get that mad.

Sorry, just ranting. That is all. A bunch of drugs to memorize, and very little time. Back to studying.

"I am trying to get my head around what the f*** is happening"

17 Ways to Improve Memorization

Mood: Content
Music: Mark Solveig feat. Dragonette - "Hello"
Medicine: Cardiovascular (trying to review)

I just stumbled into a list of 17 ways to help memorize material, courtesy of Virginia Tech. As a professional Memorizationalist (okay, I made that up), I can definitely say that I employ most of these strategies, and I can see how the other ones that I don't would certainly augment my ability to memorize. So, as a helpful hint to anyone who DOES need to memorize an overabundance of information, take a look!
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1. Understand thoroughly what is to be remembered and/or memorized
2. Spot what is to be memorized verbatim. It is a good plan to use a special marking symbol in text and notebook to indicate parts and passages, rules, data, and all other information that is to be memorized instead of just understood and remembered
3. If verbatim memory is required, go over the material or try to repeat at odd times.
4. Think about what you are trying to learn. Find an interest in the material if you wish to memorize it with ease.
5. Study first the items that you want to remember longest.
6. Learn complete units at one time, as that is the way it will have to be recalled.
7. Overlearn to make certain.
8. Analyze material and strive to intensify the impressions the material makes.
9. Use concrete imagery whenever possible. Close your eyes and get a picture of the explanation and summary answer. Try to see it on the page. See the key words underlined.
10. Make your own applications, examples, and illustrations.
11. Reduce the material to be remembered to your own self-made system or series of numbered steps.
12. Represent the idea graphically by use of pictorial or diagrammatic forms.
13. Make a list of key words most useful in explaining the idea or content of the lesson.
14. Form a variety of associations among the points you wish to remember. The richer the associations, the better the memory.
15. Try making the idea clear to a friend without referring to your book or notes.
16. Actually write out examination questions on the material you think you might get at the end of the term. Then write the answers to your own questions. Since you now have the chance, consult the text or your notes to improve your answers.
17. Follow suggestions for reviewing. This is an important part of remembering.

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"Kinda like this game, but there's something you should know: I just came to say hello!"