Encephalosponge » Soaking Up Life

Learn the principles of chemistry with the Chemical Party video [hat tip Peter Srinu].

A recent post on Ars Technica explains how researchers are converting adult stem cells from patients with certain diseases into embryonic stem cells. This will hopefully make studying the cellular basis of diseases like Parkinson’s easier by providing a virtually unlimited supply of tissue, which was previously difficult to come by. This technique [...]

Harvard made a great video called The Inner Life of a Cell a couple of years ago using some great computer graphics [hat tip Sadie]. It tells a brief story of the mechanism of inflammation being activated in a leukocyte. It was put to some great music by Studio Daily. I highly [...]

I’ve started a new research project this summer in Marcello Del Carlo’s lab. Dr. Del Carlo is a new faculty member at Rush in the Department of Biochemistry. Our lab is affiliated with a clinical urologist faculty and we’re researching a urological disease called Peyronie’s Disease (PD) [Warning: male nudity]. From a [...]

Well after years of writing, it appears that Panda Bear, M.D. is throwing in the towel on his blog. His was one of the few blogs I read regularly, and it’s one that no doubt has left an impact on my past and future as a physician. He says that he’ll be working [...]

I learned that a friend of mine at Rush, Peter Zavislak, has a few websites. The most notable is his current work, Medical Pastiche. I don’t encourage you to read it though, or you’ll quickly figure out how silly my blog is. (Just kidding, check it out even though it makes me [...]

I have been meaning to do a long post on EMRs for a while. After reading a recent post on Ars Technica on this issue, I decided this is as good of a time as any.
Although Mr. Gitlin readily admits that EMRs are unlikely to solve the problems of “inefficiency” in the medical community [...]

PandaBear made a good point about the incentives for terminating futile medical care:
My third point is that there is no incentive at any level of the medical industry to use a little common sense. At the high end, physicians risk severe legal consequences for not doing exactly what the family wants no matter how [...]

Researchers at HMS have discovered an important mechanism by which cancer cells can grow so quickly (via /.). They’re hoping to use this information clinically to significantly reduce the growth rate of cancer cells, making them much easier to manage. Cool.

My friend Kiyoshi made a site called AngryJournalist as a place for journalists to rant anonymously where others could read it. Someone has apparently ported this for physicians in training: AngryResident. It wasn’t by me, but no doubt only because I’ve got another 3 years before I get to worry about ranting