Happy (Belated) Winter Holidays!

I've been secluding myself ever since the biochem exam.
It was thát traumatizing.
Either way,

Happy Winter Holidays!

Weekend!

I love weekends!

Here's a fun video I found on youtube.

Have a nice weekend :)

First Exam: SCORE!

Taken from 9gag.com

Hoodies!

I love hoodies! I love university hoodies (I know, I'm an arrogant bastard. Who cares. One should be proud of one's intelligence, no?)

It's really comfy and warm as well - ideal for gross anatomy lab (god, it's freezing in there!)

Medical Memes

Yes, I'll admit it: I'm a nerd with too much free time on my hands. (Not so much free time, actually. I'm lagging behind, horribly.)
I love 9gag. I love memes. I'm not so much of a party-person. I don't drink alcohol (in public). I play computer games and handheld games. I hate biochem.

Biochem hates me too.

The book is, once again, pretty decent.
I just don't remember a word of what I've read (that's a lie. I remember 'Glycogen --> Glc-1-P --> Glc-6-P' but that's about it).
I zone out during lectures and start daydreaming of whatever tickles my fancy.
Or I zone out and start Facebooking instead of paying attention in class (that's the problem with taking a laptop to class).
I have absolutely no motivation left to deal with this blasted subject.

On a positive side note, it's almost weekend.
And one of my class mates tickled my "cute guy" radar. Does such a thing exist?

Medical Biochemistry

I hate biochem I hate biochem I hate biochem.

There's nothing wrong with the book though - the chapters aren't overly long, and yet, I still managed to take 3 days for 1 single chapter.
Back in high school, math was my mortal enemy. Guess what, I now hate biochem.

The book contains a lot of diagrams and tables though, and the letters are just the right size.

New block!

After panicking over the exam for the last block (Pathogenesis), it's time to move on to something new!

Metabolic disorders.
Yay! New topic!
..
..
..
..
And, oh boy.. I hate biochem! Not so yay.
I don't mind dealing with diabetes and other fancy diseases, but I strongly dislike having to read up on the citric acid cycle/Kreb's cycle or respiratory chain.
It's a good thing the biochem book is easy to digest (miraculously, it's much easier to digest compared to 'Rubin's Pathology', even though Rubin's contains a lot of freaky diseases and pictures, which I happen to like).

Now that it's November, Purexia's theme has returned to it's original self again.
No more pink!


Ainyria

Cancer Pathways

Created using CmapTools

This time, I was way too lazy to add an explanation to it. Maybe I'll update it later.

©Purexia & authors 2013

http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/7/699.full
http://www.sabiosciences.com/pathway.php?sn=p53_Signaling

Mascot!

One of the doctors I know once gifted me a stuffed animal. To this day (21 years later!), it is still in good shape, and now that I'm in medical school, it's become my personal Med School mascot!

HAHAHA

No, I do not have B+ (I'm a rather boring O+).
But this meme does remind me of Asian heritage.

#WorthlessPost

Hep B: Part 2

Did I already tell you guys about Hep B immunization being done in 3(!) parts?
So today I was subjected to a good skewering with needles and stiff muscles afterwards. I also got a cute stickie again.

I was also supposed to be subjected to a mantoux test for tuberculosis, but seeing as my parents were born in Asia, they decided to go with something else. (This was apparently because I've had a BCG vaccination in the past. The BCG apparently messes up the results of the mantoux screening.)

It's Pink!

For the people who know me in real life: Yes, I used to dislike pink, especially when it's everywhere.
I don't mind it so much nowadays, though.

But the real reason for my blog turning pink for this month, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
So go forth and pour some money into research for the cure against cancer!

Lessons of Medical School #3

Don't be afraid to skip lectures for a day..

That moment..

When the professor covers a topic you already know because you had to study something else for a year.*

High Five, H&L Sciences students of VU University!

*I studied Health & Life Sciences for a year because I didn't land a spot in medical school last year. I had to study embryology, among things. Guess what? Embryology is back, so I can slack off for a bit.

Hep B

Doctors at the teaching hospital probably thought med students were cute, so they gave us a kiddies bandaid after our first Hep B vaccination.
One way or another, it did bring a smile to my face.

In the Netherlands, medical personnel must get a Hep B vaccination. Three of them, even.
Several weeks after the 3rd and final vaccination, we'll have our blood tested for the amount of antibodies. If 10mIU per mL gives a human lifelong protection, medical personnel must have a blood titer of 100mIU per mL. That way, we'll never get to infect a patient.

Lessons of Medical School #2

Eat Healthy Foods..

Lessons of Medical School #1

It's fun. But.. You will despair.

The first day of.. Medical School.

So today was the day.
The official start of medical school. My official start on the tracks to becoming a doctor and fulfilling my childhood dreams.
It was about 8.30AM when I got to the teaching hospital. Students were waggling around, some with the notion that nothing was out of the ordinary, whereas others were eyeing their surroundings with cute googly eyes.
The beginning of med school is a very exciting thing, after all..

Things Med Students Like #1

Cheap Goodies!
I'm sure every student likes cheap goodies. I'm no different. With my books costing up to €1500 I can definitely use some cheap, high quality toys.
Littmann stethoscopes go around for €75+ over here. That's a good $99 dollars, so yeah. You could definitely say Littmanns are expensive around this part of the world, especially compared to the US, where they're maybe $60, max.

I bought my Littmann along with a penlight and a reflex hammer for €84,70 incl VAT. Saves me several €€, considering the penlight alone is worth a painful €8 and the reflex hammer another €13. Ouch.
But I did get a free auscultation CD and Littmann Identification tag.

Anatomy Sketch #1

Sketch no. 1

What to do when class starts in a week and you have absolutely nothing to do..

Medium: 2H pencil (which I absolutely detest)
Reference: Sobotta / Netter

Time Table Revision!

Okay, after my major freak out, I decided to take a good look at my time-table again.
Turns out it wasn't that bad at all.
I copied the classes I needed to follow onto Google Calendar (Oh Google, I love you so much..) and ended with this:

1-7 September 2013 Time Table Revision

Orientation Week!

Med School Orientation week shirt & bracelet

The doctors already warned us med school would be one hell of a study..

I'm a hoarder!

As title says.

All the papers the university/teaching hospital have sent me up until now.
And a cheap stethoscope I got as a present from my aunt & uncle.

Okay. Seriously..

WTF Time-table?!?!

I'm #@%@#% scared. Terrified.
Of failing med school. I took one look at the time-table (and it's not even permanent yet) and almost had a heart attack.

~

So, one of the reasons why I disappeared for over a month, maybe, was that I was spending my time relaxing in Asia.
I did have a laptop with me, until my laptop broke halfway into my vacation. Not so much fun.
But, my beloved Pearl is back with me, and I have an additional toy to write blog posts with.

I feel so much like Criminal Mind's character 'Penelope Garcia'  with my cutesy gadgets and messy desk. Maybe I should consider an additional career in forensics.
Next week, I'll meet some of my classmates in Medical School. I'm so excited!
Med school starts September 2nd, so it'll take me a while to start blogging about my Med school adventures.
Stay in tune!

Books!

Med school books 10/21

Yeah, new books!
I still have to buy more books for the coming year, but this batch will keep me standing for the coming few months in med school :)
Expect book reviews throughout the coming academic year!

I'm back!

As the title says.. I'm back (from my 4wk leave to Asia and such..)

And.. I'm officially a medical student at the University of Amsterdam as of July 26th!

Academic year starts September 2nd, I'm so excited! :D

(Geneeskunde = Medical school, Gezondheid en Leven = Health & Life Sciences. The course I previously took)

AMC-UvA Selections Part 2C

So, several weeks ago, I worked my ass off to get into med school. I struggled through the interviews, read the chapters/articles twice or thrice, summarized the chapters/articles at least once, went through the lecture slides at least twice, and kicked butt at the multiple-choice exam.

My preparations weren't in vain: I passed.
My rank no. is within the highest quartile.
So all in all, I scored pretty well.
If all goes well, I'll be studying medicine next year :D
I've got several months to enjoy my life before drowning in lectures and course materials.

But it's going to be so worth it..

Measles

Now there's an outbreak of measles in the Netherlands, I've got a reason to blog about.. Measles.
So far, 30 people have been lab-confirmed to have measles. Most, if not all, of these people live in the Dutch 'bible belt', a region in the Netherlands where many people do not have their children vaccinated for religious reasons.[1][2][3]

The last measles outbreak in the Netherlands was in 1999/2000, and yes, this was in the very same bible belt region.[1][2][3]
One way or another, this once again proves that vaccinations can be quite useful.

Measles is a highly contagious disease which generally affects children. One sick person may infect about 10 or more people.[1]
For those of you studying epidemics: its reproductive rate Ro is about 13, which is remarkably high. (The reproductive rate for smallpox is only 6 or so, go figure how contagious measles really is..)
Because of their weaker immune systems, malnourished children are at risk of dying, but even in the Netherlands, children have been known to die because of measles.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Viral
Causative agent: Rubeola
Incubation time: about 2 days
Antibiotics of choice: - 
Antivirals of choice: -
Toxins / Factors: - 
Bioterrorism agent category: ? (I think it sucks..)
Vaccine available: Yes
[4]

AMC-UvA Selections Part 2B

Now that the selections week is over, it's time to get back to my regular activities. Sadly, this includes studying for Methodology I. I have so much work to do, yet I'm still blogging.. What's wrong with me?

For those of you wondering if I really, really can't spill any details: no. I really am not allowed to spill any details, partly because of patient confidentiality.

All in all, I truly loved last week. It was both challenging and exhausting, if not a bit stressing as well. Blame the interviews for being the major stressor.
But I'd gladly do this again if I could.
I still think this was much more fun than Health and Life Sciences, but hey, that might be me. I love studying diseases much more than studying healthcare management.
Now I just have to wait for the results - just little less than 3 weeks and I'll know if I'll become a doctor or not.

Let's hope I'll be among the 61% of those to get into med school.

AMC-UvA Selections Part 2A

Today I attended the first part of the final rounds for the entrance exams - a 2.5hr lecture.
It was so awesome..

I also got the materials I need for the Friday's test (the final rounds consist of a lecture about X topic, multiple mini interviews and an exam about the lecture and the studying materials handed to us).
It's about 16 pages long, and I have about 4 days left to study for the test.

I'm not allowed to disclose the contents of the lecture, the study materials, the interviews or the test, so the coming posts about the final rounds will be ridiculously short. You better try elsewhere :)

16 pages, 4 days. Challenge accepted.

TGF-beta and Rb pathways

Yes, I have a tendency to use blogspot as an online private library.

Created using Cmaps Tools.

EHBO~~

Because I'm such a shorty, my Red Cross district is having difficulties finding fitting clothing for me :') The solution to making yourself known as a first aider without having to deal with sizes too large for me?
This.

"EHBO" = "Eerste Hulp Bij Ongevallen".
This is the Dutch equivalent of First Aid.

I have studied well..

.. So I shall reward my mesolimbic dopamine system with sleep.

That made no sense. I'm too tired to think straight >_>
Sorry for the random useless post.

AMC-UvA Selections Part 1B

 Somewhere back in March (March 16th, if you want to know..), I attended the first med school entry test for the AMC-University of Amsterdam. A total of 1450+ people signed up for the tests, 1273 of which attended the first round, 428 of which will be selected to move on to the next series of tests (Chances of being passing the first round: approximately 34%).
Of those people, only 263 will ultimately get into med school at AMC-UvA. Chances of getting into med school: approximately 21%.

It's been about 1,5months since I took the first test, and yesterday, I found out I passed it. :)

The dreaded, but much-welcomed letter of judgement

Drive Carefully!

I'm a blood donor!

I got myself stabbed in the elbow again, and once again, I survived without blacking out or anything else :) The folks at Sanquin (the blood drive responsible for stabbing me with needles, and saving others with my blood) also sent me this. It's awesome, right?!

Happy Easter!

Easter/Ostara/Spring Equinox, whichever you prefer.. <3

Air Polution & Public Health

Nowadays, almost everyone drives a car to arrive at work. We also use electricity to power almost everything in our lives: fridges, computers, cell phones, and a whole lot more.

“But this electricity has to come from some place,” you may think, and indeed, the electricity you consume is most often generated through the stoking of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coals. We also burn fossil fuels in factories to create other products. But oil, gas and coals aren’t the only source of energy we’ve got: nuclear power plants generate electricity through allowing radioactive materials to react with each other under tightly regulated conditions. Aside from these sources of energy, there are also several sources of energy which generate power which is considered ‘green’ and ‘clean’ – wind, solar and bio-fuel are amongst them.

But even though more ‘green’ sources of energy are becoming available, most of our electricity is still being generated by fossil fuel plants and nuclear reactors. Even then, air pollution is not solely caused by the burning of fuel. And while we know there are certain health risks involved, we often choose to turn a blind eye to them…

Tick Removal Hoax

One of my friends recently contacted me regarding tick-removal techniques. He noticed someone reposting a certain picture/status post promoting a very wrong tick removal technique: coating the little critter with soap.This is so wrong on so many levels.
First, Facebook. While some Facebook-users may be true geniuses and their status updates truly helpful, a whole lot of Facebook-users is in fact dumber than the back-end of a cow. It's up to you to decide which post contains helpful information and which post is absolute gibberish.
Second, coating ticks with soap, alcohol and anything else is a very bad idea if you value your health. In the Dutch First Aid curriculum, we're taught to remove the tick using tweezers and not to rub ANYTHING onto the little pest.
Shame on you if you decide to paint your tick with soap, alcohol or anything else. Even high school-going children know not to drown a tick in whatever funky goo you wish to smear on it.

Rubbing anything onto the little creature might cause it to release extra saliva. Its saliva may contain pathogens, causing lyme disease or any other tickborne disease.
If anything, you don't want it to pump more pathogens into your body.

DON'T COAT THE STUPID TICK WITH NAIL POLISH, PETROLEUM JELLY OR ANYTHING ELSE!

AMC-UvA Selections Part 1A

Hello y'all!

Today, I participated in the first rounds of the med school entrance exams of the University of Amsterdam.
The test was designed in a way that no one could have prepared him/herself for it, although this is not completely true..

The entrance exam consisted of 40 questions and a curriculum vitae to be filled in in about 2,5hrs.
I'm not sure if I did well or not, but I later found out that I'd correctly answered some of the questions.
I especially seemed to do well on the radiology/diagnosis questions, in which they presented me with an X-ray or CT scan of a patient, along with a question regarding the image.
I've had no training or whatsoever, but it seems like reading scans and x-rays seems to come to me naturally.
(Not to mention I spend some part of my spare time staring at cases and diagnoses for fun. In a way, I have had some training..)

Now, this doesn't mean that you'll have to focus on radiology if you're trying to enter med school. The questions will be different, every single time.
I merely found that my earlier exposure to radiology & diagnosis really helped me through some of the questions.
Having dealt with Threat & Protection I, in which we dealt with pathogens and immune responses, also immensely helped me through several questions.

If I happen to post a question of the entrance exam online, I'll probably get my ass sued, so I'm not going to post any questions, although I might cover some topics..

Wish me luck, as I'll hear of the results in a couple of weeks.
My chances of passing this test may be as low as 28%, as about 1450 people signed up, and only 420 or so will advance to the next tests.

If I did pass this round, I'll be subjected to a final series of tests in June..

AMC-UvA Selections Part 0

Amsterdam's teaching hospital (AMC) invited me to the first rounds of their Med School Entrance Exams :)

AMC-UvA Med School Entrance Exam Invitation!

Good news: I can't get lost, as part of the participants, including me, gets to write their exams at my current (at the time me writing this) university.
Bad news: Approximately 1300 people are participating. Only 260 or so students can be selected through this exam.
 
But there's no turning back now! I can only hope for the best. Wish me luck! <3

Plague Inc.

Plague Inc.

I'd like to present Plague Inc. to you guys.
It is an Android game, available for free in the Google Play Store/Android Market.
It's also available in the iTunes store for Apple devices :)
I've been told that it is similar to the Pandemic flash game, although I haven't tested it.

I also happened to find the Official Cinematic Trailer. Oh la la!

Sprained Ankle :(

Yes, this is a real one. No practice. At least I had some practice before I could try it out on my own limbs..

...

"Welcome to Health & Life Sciences (or Health & Wellness Management, as some people call it), where you shall marry your books and neglect your own health despite studying a healthcare-related course."


Yes, I'm ill, again, and I'm cramming for an upcoming test and my first aid certificate. Rather, I'm supposed to be cramming for an upcoming test.
Instead, I'm blogging about absolutely nothing.
I'm laying off doctor's appointments in favor of lab work and food poisoning cases. My body temperature's been elevated at times, and my family doctor clearly told me I HAD to get back if I would become feverish. I'm effectively running myself down trying to get into med school.

Good news: I practiced my first aid skills on real people. I took care of a fake arterial bleeding without gasping at the amount of blood or stressing out. I bandaged the wound nicely without putting too much pressure on the limb. Go me!

Arterial bleeding!

I'll take some days off once I'm done with the Threat & Protection I exam and the first aid exam.
Holiday music, anyone?

More lab!

Blegh. As much as I like prodding and coloring bacteria on microscope slides, I can't say lab is very enjoyable when you have to get through the snow to get to college.
It's -6 degrees Celsius here in the Netherlands, and anyone living far up north or land-inwards is going to laugh at me for being a wuss. But I'm Asian. I dislike extreme colds.
I dislike having the cold as well, as do I dislike having a pesky ache and elevated heart rate of unknown origins.

Lab trinkets!

First Aid

Hi there,
I've survived my last blood drawings (two of them, even..) and my retakes.
I even managed to score 8.5 out of 10 points! Go me!
I still have no clue as to what I'm suffering from, but my doctor did help me with diagnostic questions and approaches for when I get into med school.

Several months ago, I signed up to volunteer for the Dutch Red Cross as a First Aid provider.
Tomorrow, I'll be going into training :D
I'll be saving lives!

EHBO / First Aid

Influenza

Seeing as the Netherlands is suffering some mild epidemic (over 51 out of every 100.000 people with flu-like symptoms), I might as well dedicate a post on the well-known and fearsome Influenza virus.

Influenza is a pesky disease affecting the respiratory system. I think about everyone's had it at some point in their lives.

Bacterial/Viral/Fungal/Parasitic: Viral
Causative agent: Influenza A / Influenza B / Influenza C
Incubation time: about 2 days
Antibiotics of choice: - 
Antivirals of choice: Adamantanes, amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir (Tamiflu), zanamivir (Relenza)
Toxins / Factors: - 
Bioterrorism agent category: ? (I think it's a potentially good weapon, though..)
Vaccine available: Yes, although none of them grant full immunity [1]

The info regarding Influenza has been updated as of January 11th, 2013.

~*Happy New Year!*~

Happy New Year!
May 2013 be a prosper and healthy year for y'all :)