MEDiscuss Blog

The ‘F’ word in Medical Course

Shashikiran — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:34:01 +0000

It is a reality that many students who 'fail' in medical course and eventually graduate do 'well' in their careers than many others who graduate without any failures during the course. This seems to be an anomaly at the face of it; isn't our education and evaluation system meant to discriminate such qualities in students?

PDA and Estimated Average Glucose from HbA1c

Shashikiran — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:06:21 +0000

When I was a medical student, the only PDA that I knew was Patent Ductus Arteriosus. Thank God, I didn’t have it. Now I know another PDA and thank God, I have it. I am talking about Personal Digital Assistants, also called handheld computers or palmtops. It’s a growing trend. More and more clinicians are using [...]

A case of subcutaneous cord-like structure over the chest

Shashikiran — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:54:05 +0000

Last week I saw a middle-aged man who complained of pain over the right anterior chest. He had done some heavy exertion a few days earlier (extreme Yoga). While examining the painful area of chest, I noticed a feeling of something under the skin. On more careful palpation, it was a vertical cord-like swelling, just [...]

Speed and Power of Google

Shashikiran — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:49:11 +0000

This blog is relatively new. How much time do you think it takes for a post at MEDiscuss Blog to be available on Google? TWO minutes, flat. I have never seen such a fast indexing before! Check the screenshot and note the ‘2 minutes ago’ in green. I just lazily searched after submitting the previous post. Related [...]

Best and worst times of the day

Shashikiran — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:17:53 +0000

I am an owl. I feel most active and creative at night. And my ‘low’ times are early in the morning and evening. But I was always reticent about this because ‘ideally’ a person is ’supposed’ to feel better early in the morning. I was feeling imperfect. If you are also in the same boat, here [...]

Biochemistry for Vikings

Shashikiran — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:57:42 +0000

‘Hagar the Horrible’ is an entertaining comic series by Charles Browne. Whenever I get a chance, I jump at a newspaper that has these comics and indulge for a few precious minutes. Along with Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts and a few others, Hagar is one of my favorites. Most of the comics are well researched for [...]