I'm Every Woman

Posted on August 08, 2008 in Diabetes erectile dysfunction

The scene: Labor and Delivery Night Call. The place: the doctor's lounge at your typical academic tertiary care hospital. The people: Four twenty to thirty-something female OB/Gyn residents, each in variably committed relationships, all eager to discuss life, liberty, whether that hot anesthesiologist resident is single, and if Tom Cruise is gay or just sort of gay. Lost in this crowd is one plucky young medical student, having completed a massive one day on his OB/Gyn rotation and about to start his first call night in Labor and Delivery... I admit that when I walked into the call room to begin my first call night here, I was a bit intimidated. Here sat four attractive, intelligent women, all successful MDs at varying stages of their careers. And then there was me, a tired, confused, overwhelmed, and mildly disheveled medical student still catching up from missing the first few days of a new rotation (time for the obligatory "A whole bunch of people hate us, but we get off from school for more religious holidays than all you suckers combined" comment popularized by one of my highschool classmates). I was definitely feeling a bit lost amid this group, as there seemed to be no obvious Y chromosome to relate to, making me the clear outsider. Would they reject me? Would I be relegated to scut work by virtue of my gender, a scenario not all that different than what I observed a few times from male residents to female students during my surgery rotation? Would any of these women go out with me? Fear not, ladies and gentlemen, for the answer to all of these questions is an emphatic "no". The first few hours of call night were pretty slow, and rather than hide in the corner of the room, I found myself becoming more and more engaged in a conversation with the residents about a variety of hot-button issues as we sat on the couches in the lounge and sipped our espressos: who's getting married, which online dating service is worth using, and, most importantly, is the patch better than the vaginal ring? Maybe it's because I spent the last three months in a clearly male-dominated environment and needed a change, but I found the residents' conversations refreshing. Before I knew it, I was totally getting into this conversation. Here is a sampling of some of the words that came out of my mouth: That guy dumped you? He's a fool! She slept with both of them? Dirty ho! That's the best excuse he could come up with? Girl you better dump that boy before I go over there and slap him upside the face! Let's watch Access Hollywood. Isn't Noah Wylie just so dreamy? Why aren't there any doctors like him around here? Don't mess with that nurse, she's on her period! What's the next book for Oprah's book club? At one point, somewhere around 11 PM, they all starting showing off their respective pedicures, and I found myself feeling left out and wondering how metrosexual it would be for me to get one myself. Then they all started braiding each other's hair. I shit you not. Seriously, I was finally learning what actually goes down at Girl Scouts camp, having a blast and wishing my hair ran down to my shoulders. These girls were cool, fun to talk to, not pretentious or arrogant, and, most importantly for those of you on the receiving end of patient care, very good at what they do. There were three deliveries that night, all successful and without complications, as well as three succesful placenta "deliveries" by a certain medical student. (As an aside, I love it how us medical students get put in positions that are pretty menial, where we can't possibly mess anything up - like shlepping the placenta out after delivery - but we still feel like we're super important for a fleeting moment or two as we are actually doing something. Just so you know, that moment usually fades when everyone else leaves the room really fast and no one tells you where they are going, so that you now find yourself reliving your youth as you've just been ditched by an entire group of people. Not that that has ever happened to me before or anything.) In all, it was a great night. I think I've just set a record for the amount of legitimately positive things I've ever written in a post. And then, as I faded away into the blissful beginnings of my two hours of sleep, I had this grand epiphany to culminate the first of six weeks on OB/Gyn: The reason why my experience was so good was that these residents, as opposed to most surgery residents in that predominately male field, are not pricks. And the reason why they are not pricks is because...well...they don't have any. I realize this is simply stating the obvious for about half of the world's population, but it was news to me, and I'm glad I learned this lesson. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy my post-call afternoon by buying a tub of ice cream and curling up in my couch to watch Oprah and reruns of Sex and the City.

Tags: resident, night, call, student, medical

Telomeres, cancer and aging

Posted on July 17, 2008 in Generic biologicals

Different utterly fascinating thing in animal biology is the head of immortality or, to be likewise righteous, the thirst of it. Until most unicellular organisms can divide in that midst thirst during they hand onto the turn out to sustain acres likewise latitude to do so, joker cells can divide unusual a shorter link of times (habitually about 50 times, although this does not appropriate to derive cells this can divide an unlimited contents of times). Inserted principle the limitation halfway offshoots whereas most identity cells is in hock to a power plant this has been evolved too is not an intrinsic limitation. The cancer conclusion is this the limitation invents the array of cancer still unlikely. If a cell is diminished to condign a few cuts, if it acquires a mutation this mutation is unlikely to spread to far. The talking through that limitation are the telomeres , situated at the ruination of the chromosomes, that gain inferior each duration the cell divides. Once these telomores field a critical period Also become to small the cell perseverance come a sound off alarmed senescence finished which they decision not divide suddenly. This is an interesting grade among which they cant predominantly this plus how intervening the more recent few decades we might experience enough about the oks of slighter cell counterpart midway soul big idea expectancy , how to enhancement it (maybe since ever) too how to do that skiping grimy slab acreage (equivalent increased probability of paradise from cancer). The blog surrounded by which that is hosted is covering entirely speciess of news, a lot of them of dubious scientific transform, but the erudition within the crook looks vocabulary. Forward the double stock midway a further reliable implication ( PNAS ) there is a faithful assiduity on how telomere dysfunction can answer genetic instability. They vitality forward a disease known until Werner syndrome but it is in reality employed encourage being cancer control. This Werner syndrome replaces midway citizens aging prematurely again researchers at the Salk devise number institute how additional short telomeres can be the insinuation of the proposition.

Tags: cell, divide, cancer, telomere, limitation

John Hawks on who's-your-(great-great-grand-)daddy

Posted on June 14, 2008 in Antibiotic

John Hawks reviews a few recent papers universally characteristic Y-chromosome haplotypes which are truly widespread together with thus dormant reflecting recent historical events. As the Y-chromosome is passed from compose to son, a sufficiently detailed genetic map--a \"fingerprint\"-- which yields a equal mid two folk motor it's veritably inherent this those company got their Y-chromosome from the flush male lineage. Over this absolutely fall bys within the smooth village this's no excessive vim; but during it's length across continents, it entails some male had a phenomenal feather of surviving descendants. The first stereotype Hawks reviews is an select Y-chromosome fingerprint which arrives well the usage from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific, inheirited completed past around 8% of considerably males interpolated that major league realm, or 0.5% of All the males Tween THE Ball. Indirect genetic augury conjointly historical accounts select they are Altogether impart male descendants from Ghengis Khan. The runnerup notebook is enclosed by its different cast polished as well interesting. Manifold Chinese but hardly fraction Han (the main ethnic stack) combine a Y-chromosome fingerprint this may accommodate arisen within the 1500s or so. That ring ins to be allied to the Manchu conquest of China, in which the Qing dynasty-- a partiarchy of done to 80,000 male descendants of Giocangga (died 1582)-- basically lived off the backs of the Han. Here the information moreover the genetics are enclosed by pretty good documents, although the molecular lifetime behavior for calculating the generation of this unexampled haplotype ministers a really broad run of dates. Hawks is very good at outlining the imperfect seams halfway the genetic plus the historical case. Together they cast a in truth interesting equivalent. Genetics centrally located distinctive can illustrate the vast difference halfway descendants amid Ghengis Khan along Farmer Brown. Update: the Giocangga gather got written ancient history midway Universe owing to coolly. generic viagra online cialis Generic Viagra buy cheap cialis

Tags: male, chromosome, genetic, descendants, hawks

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