Cochlear nerve, pathway and mnemonic

It's time to finish off the cochlear part of the vestibulocochlear nerve! :)

It starts off from the organ of corti, central processes of the spiral ganglion forms the cocchlear nerve and they terminate into the cochlear nuclei

From the cochlear nucleus, most of the axons cross to the opposite side in the trapezoid body and terminate in the superior olivary nucleus

The axons arising from the superior olivary nucleus form the lateral leminiscus
and reach the inferior colliculus

The fourth neurons pass through the inferior brachium to reach the medial geniculate body

The axons of the fifth neurons form the auditory radiation which passes through the sublentiform part of the internal capsule to reach the auditory area in the temporal lobe

How am I ever gonna remember all this? @_@
Mnemonic! =D
SLIM
S = Superior olivary nucleus
L = Lateral leminiscus
I = Inferior colliculus
M = Medial geniculate body

I sorted out the whole pathway for you :P

Now, all you need to remember is that lesion in the cochlear part of the 8th nerve of the cochlear nucleus will cause a unilateral sensorineural hearing loss
Because fibres haven't crossed yet

If it is a bilateral senorineural hearing loss, the lesion is at higher levels such as the brainstem, thalamus or cortex
These patients will also have a decreased ability to localize a sound source


I'll add the mnemonic for the auditory tests here too

W, for Webers test, is a symmetrical alphabet ie made up of two V's
So it tests both ears simultaneously
Also, tuning fork is placed on the Vertex

R, for Rinnes test, is asymetrical
Tests only one ear
It's kinda stupid but works for me :)


That's all!
-IkaN

Vestibular nerve, pathway and mnemonic for the receptors

Hello everyone! We'll finish off the vestibulocochlear nerve today :)
It isn't as hard as it seems, trust me <3

Vestibular receptors are:

The macuLae of the utricLe and saccuLe
And what do they sense? Linear acceLeration

The Cristae of the semiCircular canal
And what does it sense? Circular movements (rotatory)

It's a no brainer really =D

Lipoproteins and apoproteins

Hey guys!
We have always had difficulty remembering lipoproteins and apoproteins and stuff.. And what makes it simpler? Mnemonics!

After you eat, dietary trigylcerides is transported via chylomicrons from the intestine to the adipose tissue.
VLDL carries endogenous triglycerides from the liver to the peripheral tissues.

Both triglyceride transporters contain apoB

Chylomicrons have micro
Micro means small
So they have a small number, that is, apoB 48

VLDL have the larger number, apoB 100

apoC II is a Cofactor for lipoprotein lipase
Which hydrolyzes the triglycerides into fatty acids and glycerol
LIpoprotein LIpase is activated by InsuLIn

apoE helps in rEmnant uptake by lEvEr (Liver =P )

Chylomicron (B48, C-II, E) > Chylomicron remnant (B48, E)
 
VLDL (B100, C-II, E) > IDL (B100, E) > LDL (B100)
VLDL loses apoC-II to become IDL
IDL loses apoE to become LDL
LDL will transport cholesterol to peripheral tissues

apoA-I Activates lcAt (LCAT)
Also, I looks like l
It's on HDL
Converts cholesterol to cholesterol esters
(LCAT transfers a polyunsaturated fatty acid from 2nd carbon of glycerol to cholesterol forming lysolecithin and cholesterol ester)

*phew* That was work!
Let's have a look at the deficiencies now =)

So what happens if you have apoB deficiency?
No triglycerides is incorporated into VLDL and chylomicrons
Serum triglycerides, cholesterol and phospholipids are low
Beta lipoprotein (LDL) is absent
Lipids and lipid-soluble vitamins (especially A and E) are poorly absorbed (steatorrhea)
Hemolytic anemia—lipid imbalance causes RBC membranes to pucker (acanthosis)

What happens in lipoprotein lipase deficiency?
Increased triglycerides in chylomicrons and VLDL!
(You can't breakdown triglycerides to fatty acid and glycerol for uptake)

What happens if you have a LDL receptor deficiency?
There will be and increased levels of LDL and cholesterol
(Because peripheral tissues can't take them without the LDL receptor)

What happens if you have LCAT deficiency?
You have increased unesterified cholesterol
(You can esterify the cholesterol you have)
You also have increased phoshatidyl choline which is a component of lecithin

That's all!
 Have an awesome week <3

-IkaN

Post is continued here

Southern, Northern, and Western blot mnemonic

Hello everyone!

The mnemonic to remember blotting techniques is "SNoW DRoP"

S -    Southern - DNA     - D
N -   Northern - RNA     - R
O -   Oooooo - Ooooo    - O
W -  Western - Protein   - P

Blotting techniques illustration and mnemonic :)

There's another simpler one for all those who can speak the language Hindi.. Southern in Hindi is Dakshin for DNA & Western in Hindi is Paschim for Protein!

Cool facts on blotting techniques that the mnemonic doesn't cover -

If you want to visualize DNA at replication level, you will use Southern blot. This will require a DNA probe attached to phosphate.

RNA at transcription level can be visualized with Northern blot. This will require a DNA probe attached to phosphate too.

Remember: If you want to visualize protein at transcription level, you will go with Northern blot!

Proteins at translation level are just antigens (Whether they are cell membrane, cytoplasmic or secretory proteins!) Therefore, antibodies (not probes) are used to visualize proteins byWestern blot.

DNA binding proteins also known as transcription factors go to the nucleus and bind to DNA. They are proteins but they work at the DNA level. They are different than just regular antigens and therefore, we use DNA probe (not antibodies!) to visualize them. This is known as the South Western blot :)

That's all!

Hope you won't go, "Which direction was that again?" in the exam =P

-IkaN

Updated on 4th December, 2013: Hindi mnemonic & illustration.
Updated on 5th December, 2013: Cool facts that you may have not known.

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency mnemonic

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency mnemonic

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