Thursday, Wk10, Day 245 & 246 - Wed & Thur

Last day of class before boards - tomorrow we have off to study. Sat we have two test - General Anatomy and Spinal Anatomy which also includes all our Embryology - 220 question. On Sunday, we have our remaining four test. Pathology, Physiology, Microbiology & Chemistry - 440 more questions. 110 questions and 90 minutes per test.

Our Pathology teacher, Dr. Gray gave everything he had today to give us as much information as possible to help us with the boards. I can't say I consciously remember everything he taught but maybe something will look more familiar on the test due to his efforts. He actually kept teaching after the bell rang and then kept teaching throughout our break and didn't stop until the next teacher came in to start the next class. I do remember how to recall that Buochand's nodes go with the proximal joints of the hands - he said he used to remember "Broximal" for proximal (replacing the P in proximal w/the letter B) I'll remember that. Heubner's nodes are found in the distal joints. Broximal goes with RA - Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ulnar deviation of the phalanges also goes with RA and that's something I noticed on one of our teachers for NBS - definite ulnar deviation so I figured she was in the early stages of RA.

One of the things Dr. Gray went over in bath was more forms of spina bifida - (better get my notes for accuracy since anything could be on the boards) Here we go - a form of spina bifida called rachischisis is when then brain is not covered with any bones. To avoid spina bifida, females need to have adequate amounts of folic acid in their systems and it needs to be present during the first 10 days of pregnancy, well before most women know they're pregnant. Moral of the story - all women of child bearing age should have adequate amounts of folic acid in their diet. Dark green leafy vegetables as well as fortified cereals are sources of folic acid but supplementation of about 400 micrograms should still be taken and, if one is trying to conceive then start those doses about a month before trying to conceive.

I better get back to studying. Spina bifida is a defect in the neural tube which, eventually becomes the spine but, folic acid also helps prevent defects of the brain such as anencephaly. Today's picture of an individual with anecephaly. While it may look disturbing, it's far less graphic than many of the pictures we see in school.

Some of the other defects we've seen can be even more disturbing and messed up. For instance, a nose placed above the eyes and the eyes as being centralized into what looks like one big eye in the middle. There's an extraordinary number of things that can go wrong with a developing fetus - no wonder over 50% of fertilized eggs are naturally aborted. Just being here - anyone reading this - has had so many things go right that it's astounding. By and large, most everyone we see on a day to day basis are absolute masterpieces.