to pee or not to pee.

have you ever noticed that after swimming you want to pee? well, here is the physiological reasoning behind it. when you're swimming, your body is in a state of weightlessness. this means that the blood that normally pools at your extremities due to gravity, returns to your heart. this increase in venous return leads to increased blood pressure. the baroreceptors and stretch receptors in your body take note of this increase and makes adjustments. one of the changes that occurs is the release of a hormone from your heart called atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP). in a nutshell, ANP inhibits the reabsorption of sodium and water from your kidneys - so you get more urine production!

how cool is that?!?!
if i had only known this when i was still swimming... i could shout back at my coach that i wasn't just going to the toilet to "get out of practice" and that i legitimately NEEDED TO PEE!
ahh... if i knew then the things that i know now... :)

taxes.

just finished declaring my australian taxes. the fiscal year in australia start in july and ends in june the next year. so this year was july 1, 2007-june 31, 2008.

i should be getting $67 back. woohoo! what can i do with $67???

on a slightly funnier note: as you do your taxes you have to select your profession from a pull-down menu. some of choices included: prostitute, surfer and powder monkey. don't know what a powder monkey is? neither did i. it's really a historical term that was used for men employed to carry gun powder to canons/guns on a warship. apparently the current use refers to pretty much anyone who works with explosives.

tag-team: goljan and wall-e.

you may already know that weight-bearing exercises are important in preventing osteoporosis, especially in post-menopausal women.

as an addition to this... today, Goljan (pathology audio lectures) taught me that astronauts that are up in space for an extended period of time are prone to osteoporosis due to the lack of gravity and ultimately the lack of stress on their bones. this is why astronauts that have returned from space are carried off the spaceship (can't walk off - their bones are too fagile) and are given bisphosphonates (drugs that act by inhibiting osteoclasts which resorb bone), calcium and vitamin D.

saw "wall-e" this evening. what a cute movie. makes you want to hold someone's hand. :)
in the movie, the level of pollution has become so severe that humans now live in space aboard a ginormous spaceship. this spaceship is fully automated and people spend their whole lives on hover-chairs that take them everywhere & have mini robots that wait on them 24/7. the movie then goes on to explain that basically everyone on the ship has osteoporosis because of the lack of walking/no stress on the bones.

such a cute AND smart movie! now only if i could find that combo in a girl!
>.<
KIDDING!

give me my money!

i finally got my OSAP for the school year. in case you didn't know i started in january. JANUARY! that was 6 months ago! goodness gracious. silly government.

did you know... that the provincial government of alberta provides it's students upwards of $30,000/year in student loans. compare that with OSAP which gives you a measly $8400. pft!

coffee? no thank you.

topic last week was drug abuse. while doing some of the readings i came across a little section on caffeine. i thought i'd share my new found knowledge with all you coffee addicts out there.

did you know that coffee is the second largest commodity traded in the world, only behind oil?!?!

caffeine is a CNS (central nervous system) stimulant which has a mechanism of action similar to amphetamines and cocaine! it increases dopamine activity within the brain and mimics adenosine. adenosine is responsible for the increases in alertness, concentration, cognitive function, blood pressure as well as mood elevation and anxiety.

with chronic toxicity you can get insomnia, GORD (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease - this is where the gastric acids from your stomach enter into your oesophagus and irritate your oesophagus), atrial arrythmias (where the atria of your heart beat in an uncoordinated/irregular manner) and difficulty conceiving. there's also an established association with babies of low birth weight.

caffeine is also associated with high cholesterol levels - lipids in coffee aren't removed by espresso machines or during the decaffeination process.

physical dependence can result in withdrawal symptoms. these include: irritability, headaches, restlessness, fatigue, poor concentration & muscle stiffness.

BUT there is SOME good news. withdrawal symptoms are usually seen when you consume more than 350mg of caffeine each day. how much is 350mg of caffeine?
a can of coca-cola contains ~40mg.
a can of red bull contains ~80mg.
a cup of instant coffee comes in at ~70mg.
and a strong cup of espresso contains ~120mg.
so as long as you're having maybe a cup of coffee in the morning, those withdrawal symptoms are unlikely. but if you're having 3 or more... well you might just be entering the DANGER ZOOOOOOONE!

adelaide wrap up.

man. where to start. i can't believe my break is over already and pat is somewhere over the pacific ocean on his way back home. it's true. time flies when you're having fun.

so we flew into adelaide on friday morning, caught a cab and made our way to stella's townhouse. after dropping off our bags and catching our breaths, we started getting hungry so we decided to go exploring around the campus. no offense stella but flinders has got nothing on UQ. it reminds me of the UTSC campus back in the day. lots of green grass and trees but also lots and LOTS of CONCRETE.

pat with the bust of captain matthew flinders.

fortunately stella finished earlier than expected so we headed out for some fluids (at cibo) and dinner (at simply sushi). after dinner we drove into the city and did a quick tour by car. we then headed to the airport to pick up clara who was flying in from sydney. for some reason stella thought it'd be funny to embarrass clara by wearing party hats as we waited for her at her gate.

in case you don't know clara, she gets embarrassed very easily and is generally ashamed of all her male cousins. well, except for pat. and in this case, without justin and harri, i guess that just leaves, well... me.

case in point:

adelaide is home to coopers beer. it's probably one of the better beers of australia but still doesn't compare to canadian beer. the funny thing is that coopers is a family brewery and one of the CEOs - Tim Cooper is actually an MD, well, i guess an MBBS.

after picking up clara, we picked up some pizza (yes, more food) and went home to watch some scrubs and fraser DVDs.

take that america!

we're number one!
we're number one!
we're number one!

australia is now the fattest country in the world. pft... and the yankees thought they were number one at everything.

*****
just got home from the airport. had a GREAT weekend in adelaide. will tell you all about it later with pictures and all. let's just say there was a lot of giggling and TRUCK loads of food. if we were to keep that up, we'd definitely be contributing to the aussie obesity epidemic.

late night study sessions...

you start to go a little insane after studying all day everyday for 10+ days.

on most days, while the girls went out to the library/campus, matt and i stayed home. on some days we'd only venture outside to take out the garbage, pick up the mail or cook dinner on the bbq in the backyard. don't worry though we still showered and moved around. we don't smell and we don't have pressure ulcers on our butts. yes!

i think we've kept each other sane though, quizzing each other and clarifying things we don't understand.

wait, now that i think about it, maybe we aren't so sane. maybe we've both lost it and just never really realized cause we've had no other social contact. now that i look back there are some moments where i question our sanity. like... late night 8 minute tae bo sessions with billy blanks on youtube, howling with the crazy dog next door, painting our toe-nails with laura's nail polish, late night ice cream & potato chip sessions and perhaps the most worrisome - giggling like immature little school girls at things like priapism - which (according to matt, i take no credit for this whatsoever) is actually a clinical feature of chronic myelogenous leukemia.

ok. don't judge us. ;D hahaha!

can you guess which toes are mine? i guess the hairy legs kind of give you a hint. the other feet belong to matt and laura.


i'll be glad when this is over. it's been fun learning stuff, but the stress i can really do without!!!

some things i'm looking forward to:
-some fresh air & throwing a football around
-indiana jones. still haven't seen it!
-poker. i'm in the mood for some poker
-most importantly... chilling with my brother.

did you know...

that harry houdini died of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix?
well now you know!

a blast from the past & a cash infusion.

my PBL mates were in a big ball of excitement about the first krispy kreme store to open up in Queensland. yes. i know krispy kreme stores in toronto are going out of business. but this is australia where things are about a decade behind north america and where the obesity epidemic ranks only behind the great United States of America.

i remember when the first krispy kreme store opened up in toronto. well, i think the first one was actually in mississauga, and i was in grade 11. people would drive all the way out to mississauga just for donuts! DONUTS!
now i can't complain too much cause our grade 11 bio teacher was kind enough to bring us krispy kreme donuts and we devoured them like no tomorrow.

for those of you interested in brisbane i'm told the new store is on albert street (seriously) and is open from 6am (SIX IN THE MORNING!) until midnight.

***
i've been waiting on some funds from my student line of credit. there was a bit of a delay but they were finally released. thank goodness. i was worried i'd have to sell my kidneys or something.

speaking of selling organs, this aussie nephrologist by the name of Dr. Gavin Carney caused a big huff & a puff the other day when he suggested that the government pay $50,000 to those willing to donate/sell their organs.

apparently australia has one of the lowest donor rates in the world at roughly 9.4 donors in 1 million people.

dr. carney's argument is that because of the huge donor shortage, australian citizens are paying tens even hundreds of thousands of dollars to go buy organs on the black market - usually in 3rd world countries with questionable medical infrastructure.
where would the government get this $50k in the first place? dr. carney goes onto argue that patients often spend more than 7 years on dialysis waiting for a donor. THAT alone costs the government upwards of $500,000. so from a financial perspective, it could make sense.

of course there are huge ethical & moral obligations that need to be considered. i'm not going to open that can of worms. but if i may, here are my suggestions:
- as an extension of our donor cards that come with our driver's licenses... give people (financial) incentive to sign those cards. if your organs can be used after you die, and you've signed your donor card then you'll be compensated. if you don't sign it, then you don't get money. not a penny. if you sign it but your organs can't be used, you get a smaller amount.
- or similarly give everyone the opportunity to sign donor cards when they turn 18. you still have the choice to NOT donate. however, this excludes you from receiving a donor organ should you ever need it in the future. it's only fair that you should be given a second chance if you're willing to give someone else a second chance.

in the interest of full disclosure...
i don't think i've signed my donor card.
>.<
hahaha... what a hypocrite! hahaha!!!

turn that tv off!

you burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
i can't seem to find some literature to back this up but our EBM (evidence based medicine) prof told us, so it MUST be true!
ok, i'm going to bed.

hope everyone had a great april fools' day. we got up to some shenanigans at our house. here's a little snippet of what went down...
1. susan and i hid an alarm clock in matt's room set to go off at 4am. for those of you that don't know matt, he is NOT a morning person.
2. laura and i have bedroom doors that face each other. so when i left in the morning, i took a piece of string and tied the door knobs to each other. keke. i left her just enough room to squeeze a pair of scissors out.
3. matt and jenn (a friend of susan's who is currently staying with us) saran wrapped laura's car. THAT was pretty good.
4. someone actually caught spiders and put them in the peanut butter jar. they were meant for me. fortunately, i didn't crave any peanut butter that morning.
5. someone switched the salt and the sugar. that's too classic.

bookworms & hookworms.

HUGE library news:
the biological sciences library (where i do 90% of my studies/procrastination when on campus) is now open until midnight during the weekdays!!! they're conducting a "trial run" for the next 2 semesters to see what the response will be like. this is great. it means that i won't be unceremoniously escorted out of the library at 5pm!!!

med students & doctors often have a favorite disease, organ, medical term or whatever...
although not my all-time favorite, hookworm (ancylostoma duodenale or necator americanus - both species are equally cool) has to rank very high on my favorites list.

why?
they're so cool!
where most helminths (parasitic intestinal worms) require faecal-oral transmission, hookworm will actually PENETRATE through intact skin! they then use your venous circulation to enter into your lungs. from there they travel up your trachea & get swallowed into your digestive system. It gets better! once in your digestive system they don't just sit there taking up space like some lazy parasites (e.g. giardia lamblia). they dig their teeth into the walls of your intestine & latch on, sucking your blood. *slurp!!*

broken umbrellas and broken tails.

do you remember my beautiful (read: hideous) green umbrella with flower patterns on it? the one that i used shamelessly? it broke yesterday. i swear i didn't break it on purpose. i didn't throw it against walls or under buses. it just broke. will need to go out and get another one soon, it's supposed to rain all week.

yesterday there was a tiny TINY little gecko that was running around the house. i let it be until it went into my room. i didn't want it to go into my pillow case or my school bag, so i caught it. i trapped it with one hand and tried to pick it up by its tail with my other hand. when i finally got my thumb & forefinger on its tail & pulled gently, the tail fell off! i guess that's one of their defense mechanisms. the coolest thing though, was that the tail, now separate from the body was still moving! it flopped around from side to side.

did you know...
by the time your pillow is 3 months old, 70% of its weight is due to dust mite feces?!? yes. it's true. you're probably sleeping on dust mite feces.

i will put more photos of the house soon.
speaking of the houses... we inspected well over 20 houses during our house-hunt. but there's this one house that i remember quite distinctly. there was just something really odd about it. i can't put my finger on it. maybe it was the colour combo of the carpets and the sun-dried look of the wallpaper. maybe it was the velour sofas upstairs. maybe it was the indoor sauna. it was just really creepy. it was like something out of a horror/thriller movie. the craziest thing was that when the 3 of us walked out of the house, we all looked at each other and almost simultaneously said "that was weird". we struck that house right off of our list. i don't really believe in haunted houses but this one had a really weird vibe.

saw JUNO on friday night. what a great movie. very indie & felt very canadian. then again ellen page & michael cera are canadian, not to mention it was shot in vancouver & the director jason reitman is also canadian. it's definitely got my stamp of approval.

what i'm listening to right now: 2nd period of the leafs vs. sens game on AM640. we've just blown one 2-man advantage & we've just been given another 2-man advantage. leafs are up 2-1.

song that's been on repeat on iTunes: "you and i both" by jason mraz.

ROOTS!

so i've found a "part-time" job at roots on bay and bloor. i put part-time within quotations because that was the initial intention but it's more or less turned into a 4+ day, 32+ hour FULL-time job.

so far it's tiring but i'm still having a good time. i don't look at the roots logo and shudder. not yet anyway.

i had some monster sales this weekend though. i sold like $2300+ yesterday and another $2600+ today. trust me. those are pretty solid numbers.

i was a little disappointed yesterday when i found out that the founders of roots, michael budman and don green are actually originally from detroit, michigan. and here i was thinking that roots was 110% canadian.

drop by and get an early start on your x'mas shopping. don't be shy. when?
1. thurs. nov. 15 ~ sun. nov. 18 are "customer appreciation days". everything in the store is 25% off of the LOWEST TICKETED price. you don't need me for this. drop by any roots you want.
2. thurs. nov. 22 ~ sun. nov. 25 are "family and friends days". everything in the store is 50% off of the ORIGINAL price. you need me for this. so drop by bay/bloor roots on fri/sat/sun. e-mail me and i'll let you know my sched. the only catch is that you have to pay CASH. you know what they say... CASH IS KING!

dryspell...

sorry for the lack of consistent posts lately guys.
i've been busy studying and have been leading a pretty dull life. i've been spending most of my days in my room, poking out for food and toilet breaks.
i haven't even been going to all the lectures. been attending the mandatory stuff, but have been pretty picky and choosy otherwise. i've always been a pretty keen lecture attender but lately i just find that my time's better spent at home than at a boring lecture where it's a constant struggle just to stay awake as i listen to some monotone lecturer drone on and on about something that's not even going to be examined.
***
my rooms looks like a bomb exploded in it. there are books and papers everywhere.

every day is a shuffle. before i go to bed, all the stuff on my bed gets put on my desk. and then when i wake up, everything goes back onto the bed.
***
it has been stinkin' hot in brisbane. i think we're technically still in the "spring" season but today was a high of 32. i think we're expecting similar weather for the rest of the week.
***
this morning, i was listening to the 2nd period leafs' broadcast on AM640 (thank goodness for the internet!). when i had left for school, leafs were up 3-2 at the end of the second. afterwards, matt (an avalanche fan and leaf-hater) was more than happy to let me know that the leafs had lost in overtime. :(
i hope this isn't indicative of the type of season they're gonna have this year.
***
i've been jotting down aussie-english words. i will have a monster lesson for you all after my exams.
***
i leave you with something most of you may already know.
ALCOHOL METABOLISM:

alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). acetaldehyde is converted to acetic acid via acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). acetaldehyde is what causes the hangover symptoms and gives you a red face. many asians actually lack ALDH and have a variant form of ADH which converts alcohol into acetaldehyde more efficiently. this leads to increased levels of acetaldehyde and furthermore, stronger/faster hangover symptoms and a red face - also known as "asian flush".
a drug called disulfiram is used as aversion therapy for alcohol abusers. disulfiram inactivates ALDH. as per the mechanism above, it increases the negative effects of alcohol in hopes that through operant conditioning (remember Skinner? - the american psychologist. not the simpsons character!) the alcoholic will reduce or even better, stop drinking.

stupid muscles and their latin derviatives! >_<

it took me the better part of the weekend but i've got the muscles of the forearm and the hand down.
i think.

anconeus. supinator. pronator teres. pronator quadratus. brachioradialis. extensor carpi brachialis longus. extensor carpi brachialis brevis. extensor digitorum. extensor digitorum minimus. extensor carpi ulnaris. flexor carpi ulnaris. flexor carpi radialis. palmaris longus. flexor carpis ulnaris. flexor pollicis longus. flexor digitorum superficialis. flexor digitorum profundus. flexor pollicis longus. abductor pollicis longus. extensor pollicis brevis. extensor pollicis longus. extensor indicis. palmar interosseous. lumbricals. abductor digitori minimi. flexor digitori minimi. opponens digitori minimi. opponens pollicis. abductor pollicis brevis. flexor pollicis brevis. adductor pollicis. dorsal interosseous.
AHHH!!!

watch your fingers!

i love my limbs. and i love my digits. all 20 of them.
why the sudden appreciation?
we had this brutal lecture (there's really no other way to describe it. brutal. just brutal!) on friday afternoon about reconstructive surgery with a special focus on the hands and fingers.
it was one of those lectures where some of the technical content was beyond our current knowledge but it was interesting as heck.
the guest lecturer had a steady supply of freak accidents and gruesome pictures to match. something that really caught my attention was a toe-transfer. in this one case, a patient had lost his thumb. seeing as how important the thumb is for our daily functioning, they removed the second toe from his right foot and attached it to where his thumb was. fortunately for this patient, it was possible because most of the nerves and blood vessels of the hand that supply the thumb were still in pretty good shape. so now he has a second toe for a thumb. sure it looks a little odd, but in terms of function, it's heaps better than having no thumb.

be good to your digits.

our second lecture yesterday was on the cranial nerves and what happens when they are injured. cranial nerve IV got me thinking... cranial nerve IV (the trochlear nerve) is important for eye movement. in particular, it plays a key role in the movement of the eye in the lateral plane (side to side) when the eye turned inferiorly (looking down). damage to the trochlear nerve results in the loss of this control. this leads to double vision. however, patients will soon learn that if they tilt their head down and towards their good eye, this will help with the visual problems. so. i wonder if horatio caine, the detective in CSI: Miami suffers from trochlear nerve damage...

worms and sheep.

it's been raining again in brisbane. it's been raining quite often lately.
one thing i've noticed about rainy days in brisbane is that you don't see as many worms on the sidewalk as you do in toronto. when i was in primary school, i remember having to tip-toe along the sidewalks because i didn't want to step on the worms.

do you know who they named dolly the sheep after?
dolly the sheep was named after dolly parton the country singer.
why?
well the cell that the scientists used to clone dolly the sheep was a mammary cell.
how hilarious is that?!

ps. i know what i want for x'mas! here's a hint! it came out today!

go...go...go...GOAL!

so i've been playing some mixed 7-aside soccer on sundays. our team is made up of mostly med students. appropriately we've named ourselves the "shin splints". i'll put up some pictures another time.
so far we've been playing exhibition games to rank ourselves into divisions. at our current rate, we're a shoe-in for group C. the lowest group. we're 1-3-2. our only win came via default because the other team didn't show up.
the upside is that i got my first goal yesterday. the downside? it was on the wrong net... :( haha.

nerdy fact of the day: did you know that marijuana is actually not a narcotic? a narcotic by the medical definition is a drug that has pharmacological properties like that of morphine. the term narcotic is often misused by the general public when referring to any drug that is illegal.
morphine's primary active ingredient is opium. opioids act on the periaqueductal grey matter (PAG) and the nucleus reticularis paragigantocellularis (NRPG) - say THAT ten times fast! - which then act to increase production of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and enkephalin from the nucleus raphe magnus (NRM). 5-HT and enkephalin then act on the dorsal horn of the spinal cord to inhibit transmission and decrease the perception of pain. marijuana on the other hand has tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as its active ingredient. you didn't know THAT did you?

had some domino's for dinner tonight. the power was out for a few hours in the afternoon today so my roommate and i decided to order some pizzas instead. haven't had pizza in a LONG time. basically had a whole large pizza by myself. ugh... i'm so FULL...

poll results & miscellaneous

well, seems like the readers have spoken. the hair will stick around for a little while longer. but i'm a little disappointed with the voter turn out. i KNOW there are more than 5 of you out there that read my blog. come on!
the official count was:
1 for "YES! Please! You're embarrassing me!"
3 for "NO! Looks great! Let's give Fabio a run for his money!"
and 1 for "Meh. Stop being such an attention seeker. Do whatever you want."

today is the big day. it's the big TWO-THREE. doesn't seem like a big deal though. i feel like i've been 23 for a while now. kept it pretty low key today. will probably be going out for dinner with some friends on friday.
thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes, e-mails, cards, facebook wall posts...
i noticed that this year was not only my first birthday away from home but also my first birthday with school. being an august baby, i've always been on holidays during my birthday. it's nice to go to class and have everyone wish me a happy birthday.
of all the great little gifts that i got, a preppy tie for clinical coachings from clara, roots t-shirts for that homey-feeling from stella, john mayer CD from jules, a philip yancey book from matt... i think my favorite - mind you they were all pretty fantastic! would have to be the mini jar of nutella that susan got me.

seriously haha. clearly the word is out that i'm a bit of a nutella junkie.

we've had 3 full days of rain. how refreshing. it was well overdue. we've been on level 5 water restrictions for the past few months. level 5? doesn't mean much to you does it? it doesn't mean much to me either! from what i know, it means that you can't use outdoor sprinklers and hoses, washing your personal car is prohibited, you can only water your plants using a watering can on alternating days, and there are restrictions on water usage with penalties for high volume users. yea... still doesn't mean a whole lot to me.

there are now 9 weeks left until my final set of exams. it's time to kick the study up into high gear. i've been using my birthday as the "checkpoint". seems like a long while away but i'm betting that it'll fly by a lot quicker than i expect.

nerdy fact of the day: did you know that matt damon's character in the bourne trilogy - jason bourne, has the same birthday as me? yep. jason bourne is an august 21st (1969) baby.

AND of course, happy birthday to my birthday buddy. happy birthday meg!