El Aprendiz Medico

It has been a long time since my last post, as I have been busily working on the hospital wards, but recently I had the opportunity to be interviewed on a local radio station, Latino Public Radio RI. I worked with Dr. Pablo Rodriguez and spoke about dysmenorrhea, or the phenomenon of pain during a woman's period. This was an amazing opportunity, something the obstetrics and gynecology faculty made available to the students at Brown. The interview is mostly in Spanish, so please bear with my attempts to translate my thoughts, but Dr. Rodriguez did a superb job of guiding the interview and translating:

El Aprendiz Medico

I hope you enjoy!

Battles With Gluten: Celiac Disease

Annals of Medical School discusses Celiac Disease, a condition in which your body reacts to ingested gluten (a grain protein from wheat, rye, barley, or spelt), and which many may be familiar with due to the wide distribution of gluten-free foods. For more information, click here.

AIDS Vaccine

Deck The Halls With Serology

Happy Holidays from the Annals of Medical School! Here is a little song about the serology findings in many common rheumatic diseases, including rheumatic arthritis, lupus, and more, all set to a familiar holiday tune!

Serology Christmas Song

Deck the Halls with Serology
It is quite simple, we do it in a jif
Start it off with SLE
ANA, DNA, anti-Smith!

DR 2 and 3 add to the score,
SLE is RF positive
If it's drug induced look a bit more
Anti-histone we might very well see!

When your hands hurt think RA
Look to HLA DR 4
RF positive and X-Ray,
CCP, smokes hist'ry all the more!

Sjogren's Syndrome makes my eyes dry
ANA and RF positive
When my cheeks swell then I will sigh
SS-A, SS-B or Ro and La!

Scleroderma has two subtypes
Both are ANA and RF+
PSS is antitoposiomerase
CREST think speck-led anti-centromeres!

Myositis, poly and dermato
Anti synthetase gives lung disease
SRP will cause heart problems
M i 2 is classic dermato findings!

Ankylosing Spondylitis is the end
B twenty seven, and RF minus
Now you know what to the lab you must send
Fa La La La La, La La La LA!

Medicine and Politics: The Surgeon General's Battlefield

Annals of Medical School interviews former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop about the events of the summer of 2007 surrounding the office of Surgeon General. It looks at how the most recent Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, brought the office into the spotlight by accusing the Bush Administration of restricting his medical message, and discusses how medicine and politics intermingle.

C. Everett Koop on Abstinence-Only Sex Education

C. Everett Koop on Health Care Reform