Sunday, November 24, 2013

Aortic arch derivatives mnemonic images

I made these diagrams guessing they'll be helpful ^__^

Aortic arch derivatives
The greater part of the first and second artery disappear. In adult life first arch artery is represented by the maxillary artery and the second arch persists for some part of fetal life as the stapedial artery.
The mnemonic people use for that is, "First is max" & "Second is Stapedial" =)

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Competitive vs Non-Competitive Inhibitors mnemonic

Competitive vs Non-Competitive Inhibitors mnemonic graph
Kompetitive Inhibition: Km Increases; no change in Vmax.

Non-kompetitive inhibition: No Km change, but Vmax decreases.

Usually, on the Lineweaver-Burk Plot, Vmax will represent the Efficacy of a drug on the Y axis & Km will represent the Potency on the X axis.

Mnemonic: "Very efficient & competent"

Of course, that Lineweaver-Burk guy was very efficient & competent! 

The place where I live, there is a tailor's shop named competitive scissors. That's how I remember that competitive inhibitors cross the vectors at the Y axis in Lineweaver-Burk Plot.

Another way to remember this is, competitive inhibitors cross each other competitively, whereas noncompetitive inhibitors do not.

Another mnemonic to remember the shift to left or right in the simple graph is explained in the Oxygen hemoglobin dissociation curve mnemonic.

Hope it helps ^_^

-IkaN

Wanna reblog? Here's the link to the tumblr post!

Credits for "Competitive scissors" mnemonic goes to KhalifaUSMLE

Friday, November 22, 2013

Difference between ribose and deoxyribose sugar menmonic

Difference between ribose and deoxyribose sugar menmonic
In ribose, carbon atom 2 (C2) carries one hydroxyl group.

In deoxyribose, carbon atom 2 (C2) carries a hydrogen atom instead of a hydroxyl group.

Mnemonic:
"Conversion of RNA 2 DNA involves C2"
"Conversion of RNA to DNA involves the second carbon atom"


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Nucleoside vs Nucleotide

Nucleoside vs Nucleotide
Nucleoside and Nucleotide mnemonic:
nucleoSide has Sugar and baSe.
nucleoTide has phosphaTe.

"Captain Obvious reporting to duty!"

Amino acids necessary for purine synthesis mnemonic

Amino acids necessary for purine synthesis menmonic
Amino acids necessary for purine synthesis menmonic:
"GAG"
Glycine. Aspartate. Glutamine.

The image helps me remember "Purines" & "Gag" together.

"PURr GAGa"

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Purine and pyrimidine nucleotides mnemonic

Mnemonic for purine nucleotides:
"Pure as gold"
"PURe as AG"
Purine nucleotides are Adenine and Guanine.

"Goooold"












Mnemonic for pyrimidine nucleotides:
"Cut the pie"
"CUT the PY"
Pyrimidine nucleotides are Cytosine, Uracil and Thymine.

"3.14159265..."










How to remember that it is pyrimidine - pyrimidine dimers and not purine - purine dimers that are formed on exposure to UV light: Pyrimidine is the bigger word. People who have big hearts fall in love with each other.

"It's bigger on the inside."

-IkaN

Mnemonic for base pairing of nucleotides

DNA base pairs menemonic

Mnemonic for base pairing of nucleotides:
"GCAT"
G ≡ C, A = T.
Guanine forms three hydrogen bonds with cytosine.
Adenine forms two hydrogen bonds thymine.

"Gee.. CAT!"

Amino acids with electrically charged side chains mnemonic



Mnemonic for positively charged basic amino acids:
"He is liar"
"Heis LyAr"
Histidine. Lysine. Arginine.

"He is basically a liar, he is positively a liar, LyAr Heis."

Say that to yourself a few times and you've got em memorized! =P






Mnemonic for negatively charged amino acids:
"GA"

Glutamate. Aspartate.

Glutamic acid. Aspartic acid. Acidic amino acids.

"GAGAGAGAGA"








Updated on 22/11/2013:
Question asked on tumblr:
Basicity: the willingness to donate electrons
Wait, why would they be positive again? Aaaaahhhh

Answer:
Hey don’t get confused between your “basic” concepts! *pun intended*

I was talking about being positive in the physiological pKa.

All amino acids can act as either an acid or a base because they have a carboxyl group than can lose protons and an amino group than can gain protons/donate electrons.

Amino acids that are said to be basic have an extra moiety which will accept electrons (Their side chains contain nitrogen and resemble ammonia, which is a base at neutral pH).

They will have iso electric points at a pH higher than physiological pH and will be positively charged at physiological pH (You need a more alkaline environment to obtain an overall neutral charge because the amino group can hold onto another proton).

In other words, their pKa’s are high enough that they tend to bind protons, gaining a positive charge in the process.


Similarly, amino acids that are said to be acidic have an extra carboxyl group. They will have iso electric points at a pH lower than physiological pH and be negatively charged at physiological pH (You need a more acidic environment to obtain an overall neutral charge because the carboxyl groups can more easily lose a proton).

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia mnemonic

Hey everyone!

I modified the mnemonic I had for the MEN syndromes to make them work for me =)
Here it goes -

Mnemonic for MEN I: "I pee."
For MEN I, remember the P's.
Pituitary, Parathyroid, Pancreas.

One sounds like, "Won", reminding us that MEN I is also known as Wermer's syndrome.

Mnemonic for MEN IIA: "I am meant to sit in an AC room."
For MEN IIA, remember the C's.
Calcitonin, Calcium, Catecholamines.

I think of "2 ASS" to memorize MEN 2A is also known as Sipple Syndrome.

Mnemonic for MEN IIB:
"Every man wants to bePharaoh with a Medium Car on Mars with the New Romans."
Pheocytochroma, Medullary carcinoma, Marfan's syndrome, Neuromas.

I made an illustration for this too xD

MEN IIB illustration mnemonic

Friday, November 15, 2013

Tropia vs Phoria

What is Strabismus?
A condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other.

What is tropia?
A misalignment of the two eyes when a patient is looking with binocular vision and the two eyes are looking at the same object.

What is phoria?
A misalignment of the two eyes that only appears when binocular viewing is broken and the two eyes are no longer looking at the same object.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Progression of visual field defects in Glaucoma mnemonic

I had to memorize this for med school exams T_T

What is Glaucoma?
A group of disorders characterized by progressive optic neuropathy resulting in characteristic appearance of optic disc & a specific pattern of irreversible visual field defects that are associated frequently but invariably with raised intraocular pressure (IOP).
(Simply put, optic nerve fibres are damaged in glaucoma making the optic disc look funny & causes vision loss. It may or may not be associated with raised pressure in the eye.)

Loss of nerve fibres causes visual field defects & optic disc changes in glaucoma.

This blog post covers visual field defects =)

Mnemonic: IC BB Wings & SAD Steps

Progression of visual field defects in Glaucoma mnemonic

Friday, November 1, 2013

Intrinsic & extrinsic incubation period

What is incubation period?
The time interval between invasion by an infectious agent and the appearance of the first sign or symptom of the disease in question. (It is also known as intrinsic incubation period if spoken in reference to a vector borne disease.)

What is extrinsic incubation period?
In reference to vector borne diseases, it is the period of time necessary for the development of disease agent in the arthropod host or invertebrate which transmits infection.

For example: Malaria.
The extrinsic incubation period is the period of time required for the development of the parasite from the gametocyte to sporozoite stage in the body of the mosquito.
It is about 10-28 days depending on the vector species, temperature & humidity.