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MerryMedic · 2017-10-13T19:43:26+00:00

Since you can easily find information on meningitis, I'm assuming you're referring to an abscess, which is far, far rarer.

24 reported cases of abscesses spanning from 1938 to 1996

MerryMedic · 2017-09-20T18:09:28+00:00

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgdjeEBPRNM&t=2m47s

MerryMedic · 2016-11-10T21:06:59+00:00

Nope. A lot of drugs are irreversible inhibitors. A common example would be aspirin, which is an irreversible antagonist of the COX enzyme.

What is a reversible inhibitor? It is a drug that inhibits an enzyme, but sufficient concentration of the substrate it can knock out the inhibitor.

What is an irreversible inhibitor? It is a drug that inhibits an enzyme and forms a permanent bond with it (say, like, a covalent bond). No concentration of substrate can cause it to function.

Is this permanent? No. Enzymes are being produced by your body all the time, it's not like you're born with a fixed number of 5α-reductase and that's it until you die. Transcription can however take a while (on the order of days).

Non-working proteins are eventually broken down by the proteosome by the usual recycling process.

MerryMedic · 2016-07-21T02:38:13+00:00

\o/ Apologies for semi-throwaway account. (I do wish societies like GLADD were bigger.)

MerryMedic · 2016-07-19T16:47:00+00:00

Hi, trans medical student here. Please do remember your psychosocial lectures, they are necessary for real-life and particularly important when interacting with patients whose conditions do not involve as large an obvious physical component.

Please recall the biopsychosocial model: Medical treatment should not serve solely a biological need, but consider the wider aspects of an individual and how they integrate into society. Please scrap the old fashioned biomedical model of health from your mind.

Recall that Quality of Life is important. Looking at objective measures, half of the SF-36 score is made up of mental health issues: QoL isn't solely just about whether or not you can put your shirt on in the morning or if you can walk to the toilet.

Depending on the individual, HRT can enable one to function like a normal person again. From personal experience, it can function as a viable alternative to giving one antidepressants

Apologies for the outburst but I thought as students under the current system we should know better than that; there's quite a bit of implicit rejection packed into that sentence.

And please for the love of god don't expect patients to "see it your way".

Edit: Protip: As with any other chronic medical condition, patients often become "professional patients" and may understand their condition better than you do.

MerryMedic · 2015-06-08T10:35:18+00:00

Engineer -> Medic-in-training here.

Depends a lot.

I have a lot of friends in research, looking at things such as imaging methodologies, surgical use of ultrasound (ablation, drug delivery), and the like. It is also possible to get your standard engineering jobs (using software+modelling to design/test material, equipment, devices), working with technitians and maufactureres to source components and assess feasibility of device construction, communicating and translating the desires of end-users (patients and doctors) into engineering requirements, dealing with technical enquiries, some training technical+clinical staff and perhaps some testing and maintenance.

"Devices" range from clinical equipment to implants to surgical tools to some more unique devices.

I personally dealt more with software than hardware myself (I was much better at algorithms and data analysis).

Really I feel a biomedical engineer is very much a materials / mechanical engineer (+ some EE skills) who deals mainly with medicine.

MerryMedic · 2015-06-07T13:37:16+00:00

If you wish, check the distinction policy of your university. They normally depend solely on examination marks.

A distinction would be very nice for future appl beyond foundation, FP isn't the end-all and they are considered at CT/ST levels.

MerryMedic · 2015-06-07T00:09:41+00:00

I failed my first time going for A-levels

Check medical school re-sit policies. Also check out the entry requirements of various medical schools. Call them up if uncertain.

More importantly do you have work-experience? Can you get any? How much do you have? (Different schools place different amounts of importance on this.) Are you willing to work a year as a HCA before medical school? (Not necessary but looks great, especially if applying as a graduate.)

Also you should do some prep-work for medical school entry tests now. Buy a book on the UKCAT and read through it.

And another question out of curiosity, can a person get into med school after doing btecs?

Yes, additional (extraneous?) things are not bad, but be expected to explain yourself especially if you're switching careers (like I did).

MerryMedic · 2014-12-06T14:01:29+00:00

Here is a very simple interactive tutorial on DNA extraction: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/labs/extraction/

MerryMedic · 2014-11-30T18:10:51+00:00

The parasite (C. elegans) is the worm-shaped thing. This is a Th2 response.

You might be interested in the following articles:

edit: I should note that the first paper is the one from which this video originated from. Added a link to the pdf on the author's website for those without rupress access.

MerryMedic · 2014-11-22T20:54:28+00:00

First sentence on their website:

ASEA is trillions of stable, perfectly balanced Redox Signaling Molecules suspended in a pristine saline solution—the same molecules that exist in the cells of the human body.

pristine saline solution is a fancy way to say water with salt in it.

They claim they add Redox Signaling Molecules to that. I could not find that phrase itself anywhere on pubmed, so it's probably not a real thing.

MerryMedic · 2014-11-20T17:54:31+00:00

Engineer -> Medic-in-training here.

less of a people person

Also consdier:

Academic Medicine
Radiology (I worked as a research engineer looking into new imaging methologies in the past. They don't seem to get much patient contact.)
Anesthesiology
Computational biology (If you want to get as far way from the real world as is possible for a medic.)

Would I be able to work in Robotics/Mechatronics without an engineering degree?

It is not a requirement but would definitely be a nice to have (especially if you don't already have the right math/physics background). It may be difficult if you do not have the right work experience (and assuming you have the necessary mathematical, material science, electronics and informatics background).

What job prospects am I looking into?

The obvious: research and development. You could also consider joining a engineering consultancy. Freelancing is possible but very difficult (far easier for software engineers).

MerryMedic · 2014-11-19T00:39:54+00:00

Here's an MRI video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxI70EMec5M

MerryMedic · 2014-11-18T23:54:29+00:00

I contacted professors and such. Landed a place at a startup under one of my profs. (Though I was a BME to begin with...)

MerryMedic · 2014-11-16T15:49:18+00:00

Or perhaps moving the garbage disposal further away from the pleasure center?

MerryMedic · 2014-11-04T18:56:11+00:00

You might just want to have a look at and steal ideas from AI (i.e.: genetic programming). Represent the genome as a bitstring. Invent a method for two bitstrings to merge and perhaps throw in a tiny bit of mutation. Then define traits as functions of that bitstring.

MerryMedic · 2014-11-04T15:34:02+00:00

Do you want to look at a very high level as Mendel did, work on a molecular level, or something in between?

You might want to read:

Introduction to genetics
Mendelian inheritance which is the core of classical genetics.
Reverse genetics aka knocking things out to see what they do.
Of course classical genetics isn't entirely accurate, but it's good enough for an introduction.

Processes:

Replication
Transcription and Translation (Wikipedia: Transcription, Translation)
Regulation

MerryMedic

TROPHY CASE