I absolutely love this song. I tried to learn how to play it on guitar, but I think you may need 7 strings for it, at least when I checked back in the day. This week we are adding to last week’s topic and talking about when and what type of echo to get. There
Tag: Diagnostics
At any rate, at approximately one-quarter to twelve that night, I remember distinctly getting up from my chair and from the table, where my books lay, and taking off my suit coat. No sooner had I removed the left arm of my coat, than there was on the ventral aspect of my left wrist a
Last post was all about dogs and their mouths. This time, is about cow placentas. At least to a certain extent. Coxiella burnetii is a gram negative organism that is known to cause a variety of diseases, however it is most commonly associated with culture-negative endocarditis. While it is generally a “wimpy” organism and not
Blood cultures are typically drawn in patients who present with sepsis due to concern for infection. While the trigger response to “fevers and leukocytosis” is to obtain blood cultures, the positive rate that has been quoted ranges from 4-7% (1), depending on the source. Indeed, blood culture contamination is a frequent problem that is encountered
Cell-free DNA (also known as circulating-free DNA) was discovered in human blood in 1948 (1), and it generally comprises fragments of nucleic acids that circulate in the blood without any cells attached to it (in other words, just DNA out in the wild). This did not catch on as a diagnostic modality until 1997, when
I am willing to bet most of the people that come across this blog remember a time when you took organic chemistry. While I do not find this topic particularly interesting, mass spectrometry was briefly touched upon. This is an analytical tool that measures the mass of different molecules within a sample by measuring their
Pulmonary tuberculosis is a global disease that tends to burden underdeveloped countries disproportionally as well people living with HIV. It is a difficult disease to diagnose in the microbiology lab, and as such, there have been various methods deployed in an attempt to diagnose it. While culture is the gold standard, it can take anywhere
Procalcitonin is a precursor of the hormone calcitonin and is released into systemic circulation within 4 hours of inoculation of bacterial endotoxin, In general, cytokines enhance procalcitonin release while interferons, which are released in context of viral infections. Because of this, there has been a push towards using PCT to differentiate bacterial from viral infections
The spread of syphilis in 1494/1495 in Italy is the first known instance of an outbreak of the disease. It is believed the disease was brought in from the New World by Columbus and his crew members and following the invasion of France in Naples, Italy, the disease began to spread throughout Europe. Known as
I am probably not the only one who doubts the utility of the physical exam in the diagnosis of disease. Indeed, when looking at the imaging modalities that we have at hand, including CT, MRI, PET, Echo, ultrasound, and how quickly we can get any of these studies now, the physical exam seems to be
Dr. Germophile 