MedWorm Tags: cranial

Interesting Neuro Case Requires ER Doc To Recall Forgotten Med School Knowledge

Better Health — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0100

Yesterday, I presented the case of a woman with double vision and ptosis and challenged you all to a game of “spot the lesion.” To be honest, I found this stuff impenetrable as a medical student and it was only by sheer force of will that I was able to commit it to memory for exactly long enough to pass a test on it before immediately purging it from my memory. I did this several times for various board exams and such, but it never really “stuck.” Hated neuro beyond words, I did. As mind-numbing as I found it all in the abstract, I get excited about these cases in application. I may not remember where exactly the internal capsule is or what it does, but when I see someone with an interesting neuro deficit due to a lesion there, all of a sudden it makes so much more ...

Brain Surgery Via The Eyelid

Better Health — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:22 +0100

In the continuing effort to make surgery less invasive, physicians at Johns Hopkins Hospital are operating on the brain through a tiny incision in one of the eyelids instead of lifting a large piece of the skull. Named transpalpebral orbitofrontal craniotomy, the procedure allows for access to the middle and front regions of the brain. The cranial cavity is reached through a hole created by removing a small, half-inch to one-inch-square section of skull bone right above the eyebrow. Endoscopic surgery can then be performed with help of previously obtained CT and MRI data. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Medgadget* (Source: Better Health)

Increased rate of encephalization

Gene Expression — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:16:28 +0100

A week ago I pointed to a controversy about the rate of growth of human cranial capacities over the past few million years. I asserted that the rate of growth was gradual, with no major discontinuity. Over at Genetic Inference Luke Jostins’ has done a more formal analysis. He finds: The model shows a definite speed-up of brain size increase recently, and fits the data significantly better than a simple trend line (F(1,90) = 15.8, p < 10^-5). I estimate that the speed-up occured 252kya, and can say with 95% confidence that it lies between 203 and 377 kya. This result is pretty robust to exactly what model we use; I also tried using a model where brain size grew exponentially with time, and this gave a similar break-point: 250kya, with a 95% interval of 167-402 kya (see this graph). Re...

Vulgarity at the local chemist's shop

NHS Blog Doctor — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:11:00 +0100

“Oh! Oh! Oh! To touch and feel a girl’s vagina and hymen”Well, that’s got the post of to a cracking start! Don’t worry, Dr Crippen has not had a rush of blood to the head. It’s a mnemonic. But be warned that the next time you visit your local chemist, you may hear the pharmacist repeating it over and over again.The mnemonic is a medical student favourite and is an aide memoir to remind him of the twelve cranial nerves.The cranial nervesOf course, ultimately, all nerves originate from and report back to the brain, but the cranial nerves are special. They make their way, often tortuously, from the brain through various holes in the skull to various parts of the head and neck and even to the shoulders and gut. Learning their anatomy is challenging. The tenth cranial nerve, the vag...

Thought for the Day: Giving kids with cancer a little help with school

The Cancer Blog — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 04:00:00 +0100

Filed under: Thought for the DayI recently read this article, which states that children undergoing leukemia treatment generally have lower than average marks in school, particularly those who underwent cranial radiation. This was not because they missed school from being in a hospital -- they were provided with education whether at home or in the hospital. Still, the results are a relief to researchers because the majority of children who had undergone treatment did complete their basic education, albeit with a bit more difficulty than their healthy peers. What do you think about this? I'm no education expert, but I think it's important that kids with leukemia should have some sort of extra educational help available to them -- maybe a tutoring program that can help them in the learning p...