Chemokines (chemoattractants) mnemonic

Here is something for chemoattractants..

Phagocytic cells are in blood vessels which is like street of city
Now they want to go in tissues which is like a dark forest

Somebody suggested phagocytic cells that if you want to go,
"Before (B4) going, make sure you can See five (C5a) clearly In Light (IL8) and form peptides (N-formyl peptides)"

So it is B4, C5a, IL8, N-formyl peptides.

-IkaN

HLA, MHC & CD T cell mnemonic

Hello everyone!

Time for another immmunology mnemonic =D

MHC class I:
CD8+ T-cells recognize MHC I.

It takes only 1 stroke of the pen to write “8″

The genes have only one alphabet. (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C)

CD8 x MHC1 = 8

CD8+ are Cytotoxic T cells because "EighT" has T for "Toxic"

All cells have one nucleus, so all nucleated cells have class I MHC.

MHC I has one chain (alpha chain) & one microglobulin (Beta 2 microglobulin).

Interleukin 2 mnemonic

Another Interleukin mnemonic!
 
You're a T cell
& you see a second T cell looking just like you :O

You: "Woahh.. You're.. You are my friggin' clone!!"
Clone T cell: "Yeah.. IL - 2 made me"

That's all!

Shout out to Microbiology Made Easy for sharing the T lymphocyte comic character.. Thank you so much :)

-IkaN

Hematopoietic stem cell differentiation mnemonic

Do you know that lymphoid and myeloid cells come from the same precursor?
Yes! It is the multipotent stem cell which differentiates into either a lymphoid or a myeloid stem cell
So how they know what to differentiate into?
Interleukins tell em what to do!

IL-7 stimulates the differentiation of multipotent (pluripotent) hematopoietic stem cells into lymphoid progenitor cells
IL-3 stimulates the differentiation of multipotent (pluripotent) hematopoietic stem cells into myeloid progenitor cells

How do I remember that? @_@

Here's a mnemonic just for you :*

Hematopoietic stem cell differentiation mnemonic

That's all! ^________^

"Why can't you ever see what's in front of you.." ;)
-IkaN

Difference between viral and bacterial infection

Hello everyone! ^__^

How would you differentiate a viral infection from bacterial infection? @_@

Viral infections are widespread and involve a number of mucosae simultaneously or in quick succession

Bacterial infections are localized and cause site specific symptoms

A virus may produce clear or cloudy mucous

Discharge is watery

A bacterial illness typically causes colored phlegm (green, yellow, bloody or brown-tinged)

Discharge is thick

Viral infections usually clear up pretty quickly

They last for 2 - 10 days

Bacterial infections have a longer duration of illness

They last for more than 10 day

Viral infection may or may not cause a fever

A bacterial infection will cause fever

 

That's all!

All time pageview: It's over 9,000!!!

Guess we are viral too :P

(Viral - An image, video, advertisement, etc. that is circulated rapidly on the Internet)

-IkaN

Neisseria mnemonic

Neisseria are usually arranged in pairs, non motile, facultative anaerobes that are gram negative.
They are catalase and oxidase positive.

Hello everyone!
I'll be sharing some random mnemonics I made while studying Neisseria today :D

The first one is on morphology
N. meningitidis - Adjacent sides are flattened.
N. gonorrhoeae - Adjacent sides concave and they are kidney shaped.
Draw em to remember em!

How do you remember the constituents of Mueller Hinton agar?
SCHooL! Starch Casein HydroLysate agar ^_^

Antibiotics used in Thayer Martin agar?
Vancomycin, Colistin, Nystatin.
I had mugged this.. Lemme know if you know of any mnemonics for this one :)

Gonococci acidify Glucose.
Meningococci acidify Maltose (and glucose).

Question: Which media are preferred for the acute versus chronic gonorrhea?
In acute gonorrhea, cultures are easily obtained on Chocolate agar or Meuller Hinton agar!
In chronic cases, it is better to use a selective medium such as Thayer Martin.

That's all!
Have an awesome week =)

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

-IkaN

The Rh factor

The Rh Antigen

 The Rh blood group system is the second most important blood group system out of the 30 human blood group system after the ABO blood groups.

So here are some interesting facts I picked up during my reading :

1.    It is called the Rh factor because: 

      Karl Landsteiner and Alexender Wiener used the Rbc's of the Rhesus macaque monkey to be injected into a rabbit. The serum from the rabbit agglutinated 85% of different human Rbc's (because of the formation of anti-D agglutinin in the rabbit). This led to the discovery of the Rh factor.

2.  In the ABO blood group system..the antibodies A and B are of the IgM type. But in the Rh blood group system..the anti-D agglutinin is of the IgG type. So the anti-D agglutinins..

                           1 .can cross the placenta, 

                           2. it is an incomplete antibody (detected in the serum using coombs test), 

                           3. it appears in the plasma 2 to 3 months after exposure to the D antigen.

3    The basic importance of this blood group is when an Rh negative mother concieves an Rh positive baby.

     

      Anti-D agglutinin are formed in the mother's blood due to prior sensitization..either by Rh positive blood transfusion or due to mixing of blood during the birth of a previous Rh positive baby. 

     These antibodies cross the placenta and destroy the baby's red blood cells, a disease called erythroblastosis fetalis..symptoms are severe anaemia, jaundice, kernicterus, hepato and splenomegaly and eventual death. 

      Also to meet the excess Rbc's demands..the bone marrow produces excess of Rbc's..these are immature blast forms which are nucleated. Hence, the name erythroblastosis fetalis. 

      The cure for this is to replace the Rh positive blood of the baby with Rh negative blood during the first few weeks of life( until the anti-D agglutinins from the mothers curculation are destroyed).
     
      To prevent this disease..administer the mother with anti-D antibody during preganancy or after birth of the baby, which binds to the anti-D agglutinins.

• The man with the golden arm. James Harrison was born in 1936. At the age of 13, he underwent a major chest surgery to extract a lung with metastasised pneumonia, and required 13 litres of blood. After surgery, he was in the hospital for three months. Realising the blood had saved his life, he made a pledge to start donating blood as soon as he turned eighteen.
•   Since his first donation in 1954, he has donated more than 1000 times. After the first few donations, it was discovered that his blood contained an antibody that prevents infants who receive his blood from dying of erythroblastosis fetalis. This blood is given to one in ten women whose blood is not compatible with that of their children.The uniqueness of his blood also created the Anti-D antibody vaccine. When he originally began donating blood, his life was insured for one million dollars. He reached his 1000th donation in May 2011. His blood has helped to save over 2.4 million babies with hundreds of thousands of women being treated with his antibodies.

                                           posted by- M

Vector borne diseases mnemonic

To remember the diseases caused by the vector mite, the mnemonic is "Mrs"
M - Mite
R - Rickettsial pox
S - Scrub typhus

To remember the diseases caused by the vector flea, the mnemonic is "Feb"
F -Flea
E - Endemic typhus
B - Bubonic plague

(This one is super lame I admit but..)
To remember the diseases caused by the vector louse, the mnemonic is..
House MD characters ERic Foreman and Taub =P

For the vector Tick; random images of ticks, lime, question marks, mountains, India, forests flow through my mind and I get my answer..
(Tick - Lyme disease, Q fever, Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, Indian tick typhus, Kyasanur forest disease)

That should cover most of the tough part for now..
Post will be updated soon.

Happy new year everyone! ^__^
2013 is gonna be awesome.

-IkaN

Bile stained and non bile stained eggs mnemonic

The mnemonic for non bile stained eggs is
"A HEN" laid non bile stained eggs
Ankylostoma duodenale
Hymenolepsis nana
Enterobius vermicularis
Necator Americans

Non bile stained eggs mnemonic

Benzodiazepenes as preanaesthetic medication

Why are benzodiazepenes used as preanaesthetic medications?
Because they produce tranquility, smoothen induction and produce amnesia (there is a loss of recall of perioperative events)

They also counteract CNS toxicity of local anaesthetics
What does that mean? @_@
It simply means that they help control seizure activity ^_^

When CNS toxicity occurs, it is rapid in onset, administration of intravenous anticonvulsant drugs is not expeditious enough to terminate the condition
That is why, barbiturates and benzodiazepines are administered as a prophylactic measure to prevent seizures in a variety of minor surgical and endoscopic procedures :)

That's all!

-IkaN

Acidification of urine

I was requested to do a blog post on acidification of urine too.. So here it goes!

How do you acidify urine?
You can acidify urine by administrating NH4Cl, Vitamin C or cranberry juice.
Another drug used is lysine dihydrochloride.
Foods can acidify the urine too. (Foods like plums, prunes, meats, cheeses, eggs, fish, and grains!)

Uses of acidification of urine -

• To promote antibacterial action of methenamine in urine

Below pH 5.5, methenamine releases formaldehyde, which is antibacterial.
Acidifying agents are given with methenamine to lower urinary pH.
(That is why, microorganisms such as proteus that make a strongly alkaline urine through release of ammonia from urea are usually resistant to methenamine :O )

• Prevention of calcium phosphate renal stones
An alkaline pH favors the crystallization of calcium- and phosphate-containing stones hence acidification of urine will prevent the formation of these stones.

 Remember the formation of which stones are promoted due to acidification of urine?
 If you're thinking uric acid or cystine stones, you're absolutely right, give yourself a pat on the back! :D

Also note that - 

Acidification of urine effects excretion of a number of weak bases and tertiary amines such as cocaine, amphetamines, quinine, quinidine, strychinine, chloroquine and ephedrine.
Forced acid diuresis is rarely done in clinical practice >_>

Did you know?
Contrary to popular belief, vinegar (acetic acid) is not given orally for acidification of urine.
Vinegar is used for bladder irrigation.

That's all!
Merry Christmas ^___^
-IkaN

Related post: Alkalinization of urine

Death

Death is defined as irreversible cessation of life.
It is classified as somatic and molecular.
When the brain, lung and heart stop completely, it is called somatic death.
Molecular death occurs about 3–4 hours after somatic death when the individual cells and tissues start dying and the decomposition signs start showing.
 
The cause of death is defined as disease or injury which results in death.

The manner of death explains how the cause of death came into being.
The manner of death may be natural or unnatural.
When a person dies because of some disease, the manner of death is natural.
If he dies because of some injury, the manner of death is unnatural, which may be homicidal, suicidal, or accidental.

The mode of death is the physiological process which causes death like asphyxia, coma, and syncope.

That's all!


-IkaN

Author's diary:

This blog makes me want to write my thoughts about death..
Personally, I believe we all go to a better place after death :)

There is this piece of music on death that I particularly like
The Nature Of All Tragedies by Double Z & Lights Off
It has a chilled beat to it and the vocal samples are so strong and.. Cold.
You should check it out :)

"You'll die, some day, some time. You will die. You'll absolutely die.
Even if you avoid this death, another will find you.
And I guarantee, that it won't be nearly as poetic or meaningful as what she's written.
I'm sorry but it's... It's the nature of all tragedies, Harold.
The hero dies and the story goes on forever."

Coronary steal

Hey everyone!

What is coronary steal phenomenon?
Coronary steal is the term given to blood being stolen from one region of the coronary tree by another
It is also called coronary steal syndrome.

Stole my heart? :P

When does this happen?
When a powerful coronary dilator like dipyrimadole or hydralazine is given.
These drugs are potent arteriolar dilators and dilate resistance vessels too.
Other drug associated with this phenomenon is isoflurane.

Why does this happen?
Let's say you have two branches of  coronary artery - One normal and one significantly obstructed.
The normal one is capable of dilating and constricting in response to changes in oxygen demand.
The obstructed branch has significant arteriolar dilation even when cardiac oxygen demand is low, because of the accumulation of metabolites in the ischemic tissue.
Also, when you have blockages in one or more of your coronary arteries, there is impedance to blood flow.

If you add a vasodilator, the healthy normal vessels are forced to dilate.
The diseased/blocked arteries won't dilate much.
Also, blood flows through the path of least resistance.

So blood flow through the relatively healthy arteries increases.. This "steals" blood away from the diseased arteries, and you actually get less flow to the ischemic tissue.

I read a multiple choice question online, answer in the comments below

Which following drug effects responsible for coronary steal phenomenon?
Epicardial vessel dilatation
Capacitance vessel dilatation
Coronary microvessel dilatation
Arterial dilatation
Mixed arterial & venous dilatation

-IkaN