Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Mission Statement/ [Don't] Taste the Rainbow

I have created this blog for three marginally sound reasons.  In order of decreasing legitimacy, they are:

1) I've wanted to start a blog for a while. 
2) I am a student.  I am also painfully enthusiastic.  As such, I frequently run across tidbits in books and lecture that delight me so much I wish to share them with everyone.  By confining my gleeful discoveries to this blog, I imagine I will be far less obnoxious to the world at large.
3) I am currently finding designing a prospective course schedule for graduate school so frustrating that finally starting a blog instead of blinking at the "courses offered" bar seemed far more productive.  [Discovery of the day: Just because a class was last offered in 2000 does not necessarily mean it will be removed from a course list.]

Also, courtesy of my first three semesters of medical school, I give you: The urine rainbow!
Red: Beets, natch, or gross hematuria (bloody urine) 
Orange: Rifampin (treatment for tuberculosis)
Yellow: A normal state of affairs
Green: Urinary tract infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Blue: Amitryptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant ("Your pee will be blue, but your moods won't be anymore!")
Indigo: A tricky one...perhaps concentrated urine from a patient treated with amitryptyline?  Suggestions?
Purple: Learning about this one tickled me pink.  Certain bacteria (Enterococcus, E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa) can break down a metabolite of tryptophan (indican) into indigo (blue) and indirubin (red)...giving you Barney pee!

No comments:

Post a Comment