I love love LOVE my histology class! It is such an engaging class. There have honestly been a few classes that I have been excited to go to; this class is one of them. By the grace of God, I have been improving my study habits and it shows in this class. To be honest, I did not think I would do as well I am now. Praise God!
This is such a relevant class. It feels like it is connecting a lot of the random knowledge I've been learning in college. It is also clarifying topics that I had trouble grasping. For example, it has helped me understand the nervous system so much better. In fact, I was assisting a professor with her class on Tuesday because she had trouble seeing. She was teaching her students about a part of the nervous system so she had be draw out pathways and terms on the board for her. It was so awesome because I understood everything she was saying! Histology has really clarified and solidified so many concepts for me.
This is my second Reflection post. My final post will be a reflection on the class as a whole and its impact on my personal life and future career.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Arteriosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
is defined as paste and hardening in the arteries as athero means “paste” while scleroisis
means “hardening”.
Arteries are endothelium-lined blood vessels that transport oxygen- and
nutrient-rich blood to the different organs and tissues of the body. These
veins should be very flexible, sturdy, and elastic. As a person ages, they
start to lose this elasticity and flexibility due to hardening of the endothelium
and plaque accumulation, so the arteries stiffen and narrow to a degree which
of course is inevitable. But this can also be influenced by many more factors
aside from age such as diet, exercise, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, high
blood pressure and presence of free radicals. This damages the endothelium and
promotes further hardening and narrowing, which has adverse physiological
effects in the body, particularly in the heart, brain, and peripheral regions
like the legs.
The
aforementioned factors that cause damage to the epithelium are by lifestyle
and/or genetics. They cause an immune response that leads to an inflammatory response
of plaque formation and impair the epithelium’s function of proper blood flow. This plaque is mainly
composed of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol because as the monocytes try to attack and engulf the cholesterol, they actually fuse and
form larger cells called foam cells. These cells enlarge through mitosis and further accumulation of fat and
cholesterol. This eventually hardens the epithelium and narrows the artery thus
limiting the amount of blood that can flow through the artery.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boamponsem, A.G., and
L.K. Boamponsem. "The Role of Inflammation in Atherosclerosis." Advances
in Applied Science Research 2.4 (2008): 194-207. Pelagia Research
Library.
Ulbricht, Catherine,
ed. "Atherosclerosis: An Integrative Approach: A Natural Standard
Monograph." Alternative and Complementary Theories 17.5 (2011):
287-93. Print.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Cardiologist Shadowing
I finally started my shadowing! Woo hoo!
My primary care doctor is both a general practitioner and a cardiologist. He mostly sees patients with referrals for stress tests or ECGs. It was pretty monotonous at times because he asked the same questions, and say a lot of the same things. One patient, though, sure made things interesting.
This patient had an ECG done that indicated he had suffered from a myocardial infarction. The machine detected it and so did the doctor. What was really odd is that the patient never experienced the pain of a heat attack. The doctor explained that it must have been a very minor heart attack. I was just standing there in awe of the situation. The patient then wanted to know what happened to the heart after the heart attack, so the doctor responded by saying that the heart forms scar tissue where the dead muscle cells are, making the heart less efficient.
All of this was just so cool to me. After seeing that patient, I told the doctor that I had just learned what happens when a person suffers a heart attack. When a person suffers a heart attack, some of the muscle cells die. In response, the fibroblasts in the heart muscle make collagen to fill in that area, which is the scar tissue formed on the heart. Since it isn't muscle tissue, it doesn't have any contractile abilities so it makes the heart less efficient in working as a whole and transmitting the electrical signal across the whole heart.
This encounter was so awesome!
My primary care doctor is both a general practitioner and a cardiologist. He mostly sees patients with referrals for stress tests or ECGs. It was pretty monotonous at times because he asked the same questions, and say a lot of the same things. One patient, though, sure made things interesting.
This patient had an ECG done that indicated he had suffered from a myocardial infarction. The machine detected it and so did the doctor. What was really odd is that the patient never experienced the pain of a heat attack. The doctor explained that it must have been a very minor heart attack. I was just standing there in awe of the situation. The patient then wanted to know what happened to the heart after the heart attack, so the doctor responded by saying that the heart forms scar tissue where the dead muscle cells are, making the heart less efficient.
All of this was just so cool to me. After seeing that patient, I told the doctor that I had just learned what happens when a person suffers a heart attack. When a person suffers a heart attack, some of the muscle cells die. In response, the fibroblasts in the heart muscle make collagen to fill in that area, which is the scar tissue formed on the heart. Since it isn't muscle tissue, it doesn't have any contractile abilities so it makes the heart less efficient in working as a whole and transmitting the electrical signal across the whole heart.
This encounter was so awesome!
Friday, October 4, 2013
"Don't Ever Drive When You're Sleepy..."
The title are the words that were said to me by a woman who was in a severe car accident.
Just yesterday, Thursday night, I decided to walk over to the hospital for dinner before my Physics class. As I was getting some frozen yogurt, I woman with a walker was walking towards the register when she noticed my skirt. She complimented it, and we engaged in some small talk. They lady kept insisting that I go ahead her in line, but I stood my ground that she goes before me. When she walked in front of me, I noticed that tell-tale curve in her back. She had scoliosis.
Instead of taking her food to go, she was eating there in the cafeteria. I helped her put her tray on the table and adjust her chair so she was comfortable. She thanked me profusely for my help. It's the next part that made me so sad and curious at the same time.
"Don't ever drive when you're sleepy. "She said. "This was caused me to be like this today. If you ever feel sleepy, at least take a 5 minute nap before you drive."
To be honest, I didn't know how to respond. I became incredibly sad and wanted to cry. I was able to muster up some words to express my happiness that she was able to survive that accident and my gratitude for her valuable advice.
As I walked to another table to sit down, I contemplated the encounter. How was a car accident able to cause scoliosis? Wasn't it only congenital? It turned out that it can be caused by accidents. The trauma caused from an accident can cause an injury to the spinal cord. This damages the neuromuscular interaction, resulting in the loss of muscle control. The spine then gradually curves, the formation of scoliosis.
Honestly, this encounter of histology is very sad. I just pray that this woman can at least be relieved of the pain.
Just yesterday, Thursday night, I decided to walk over to the hospital for dinner before my Physics class. As I was getting some frozen yogurt, I woman with a walker was walking towards the register when she noticed my skirt. She complimented it, and we engaged in some small talk. They lady kept insisting that I go ahead her in line, but I stood my ground that she goes before me. When she walked in front of me, I noticed that tell-tale curve in her back. She had scoliosis.
Instead of taking her food to go, she was eating there in the cafeteria. I helped her put her tray on the table and adjust her chair so she was comfortable. She thanked me profusely for my help. It's the next part that made me so sad and curious at the same time.
"Don't ever drive when you're sleepy. "She said. "This was caused me to be like this today. If you ever feel sleepy, at least take a 5 minute nap before you drive."
To be honest, I didn't know how to respond. I became incredibly sad and wanted to cry. I was able to muster up some words to express my happiness that she was able to survive that accident and my gratitude for her valuable advice.
As I walked to another table to sit down, I contemplated the encounter. How was a car accident able to cause scoliosis? Wasn't it only congenital? It turned out that it can be caused by accidents. The trauma caused from an accident can cause an injury to the spinal cord. This damages the neuromuscular interaction, resulting in the loss of muscle control. The spine then gradually curves, the formation of scoliosis.
Honestly, this encounter of histology is very sad. I just pray that this woman can at least be relieved of the pain.
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