Perfect Vision Without Surgery

I don't if others with sub-perfect vision feel the same way but I find it really annoying to have to choose between glasses and contact lenses to be able to function in society. Surgical vision correction has its side effects and even though I have family that have undergone the procedure, as an aspiring surgeon, I'm not sure it's a risk I'm willing to take.

Solution? I've come across an old technique that promises perfect 20/20 vision without surgical correction. It's called Orthokeratology (or Ortho-k for short). You wear contact lenses at night that have been custom designed for your eyes. These contact lenses reshape your cornea so that you wake up everyday with perfect vision (kind of like a retainer for the eyes). Unfortunately, this solution only lasts the day.

The only refractive surgery I would consider is insertion of intrastromal corneal ring segments (Intacs), where a new lens is implanted in your eyes. This avoids damage to your cornea and the lens can be changed as your vision changes. As this procedure has only been approved to low degrees of myopia I will have to wait!

Sing While You're Revising

Powerpoint Slides from Conference's Days 1

This is a link to our Slideshare page, which has the slides from the conference's first day's presentations:

http://www.slideshare.net/kmsukir

The slides are from the following talks:

-Comparing Programs from Different Countries by Dr. Altayyeb Yousef

-How to apply to the Canadian Exam by Dr. Mohammed Al-Bader

-USMLE and Canadian Exams by Dr. Ali Alali

-What to Do After the Exams by Dr. Altayyeb Yousef and Dr. Mohammad Ibraheem

-The Interivew by Dr. Sadikah Behbehani and Dr. Mohammed Al-Bader

-What's after the interview by Dr. Altayyeb Yousef

We plan to post videos from the conference and ethical case studies for the interviews so keep watching this space.

Again, we would like to thank all the speakers and KuMSA for their help.

Doctors in Training

This is an online USMLE Step 1 course that is starting on the 11th January, 2 days from now. The course is divided into 2 parts. The first part of the course assigns you study material from First Aid that you need to cover each week and they e-mail you questions to test your knowledge. The second part is video footage of live lectures that start in March and run for 15 days. At $700, it's much cheaper than Kaplan. Here is a link to their promotional video for people considering using this course:

http://legacy.course.doctorsintraining.com/DEMOplayer.php

Medical Interviews: Resources for Students and Doctors

January marks the beginning of the interview period for a lot of students and junior doctors so here is a run down of useful resources we've come across:

Residents:

Web

www.studentdoctor.net is a fantastic website and the forum has lots of insider information. There are articles dealing with residency interviews http://www.studentdoctor.net/2009/12/acing-your-residency-interview/ and http://www.studentdoctor.net/2009/11/the-successful-match-how-to-succeed-in-your-residency-interview/

Books

For residency applicants there is an excellent book that I highly recommend. It covers the interview very well and has specialty-specific tips. It also has other tips not related to the interview. You can get it from Amazon The Successful Match: 200 Tips to Succeed in the Residency Match by Rajani Katta

For UK applicants this book is good and also useful for general medical interviews with over 120 questions: Medical Interviews: a comprehensive guide to CT, ST and Registrar interview skills by Olivier Picard

Medical Students

Web

For medical students this forum has a wealth of information and you can find university specific past interview questions: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

Books

I also recommend this book from amazon: Medical School Interviews by George Lee

Courses

If you are really not confident about your interview skills there are courses available in the UK (www.medical-interviews.co.uk) and USA (www.mededits.com), which cater for medical students and doctors.

Soon, we will also be posting videos, slides and ethical case studies from our Careers Day, which will have interview tips from junior doctors.

If you know about a good resource we have not mentioned please share it with us by adding a comment to this post. Good luck everyone!

Talk on your mobile phone longer to prevent dementia!

Research led by University of South Florida at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre (ADRC) has shown that radiation from mobile phones protected and reversed Alzheimer's disease in mice (published in this issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease). Phone radiation exposure reduced the amount of beta amyloid, which is thought to be the cause of the brain insult in Alzheimer's disease. Amazingly, the radiation not only preserved the memories of the mice but also improved it . Click here to read more

So apparently talking a lot on your mobile phone and smoking are good ways to prevent Alzheimer's disease. Kuwait should have the lowest rates of dementia in the world!

However take all this with a pinch of salt. The ADRC study is very preliminary and only done in a small number of mice that are genetically modified. Human brains are different and the mutant mice might have disease biology that is different to the naturally occurring disease. Also, there's a study that shows that smoking doubles your chances of getting Alzheimer's. Older studies, that demonstrated that smokers are less likely to have Alzheimer's disease were retrospective studies that were aided by the fact that smokers die younger than non-smokers and hence die before they reach old age, which would put them at a higher risk of developing the disease.

Mending bones using trees??

Using small pieces of wood to regenerate broken bones is one of 10 health innovations in CNN's 'Top 10 Health Innovations of 2009'. Time magazine also lists its top '10 Medical Breakthroughs for 2009', including the first mice created from adult cells. Interestingly, the only discovery both lists mention is the swine flu vaccine. Here are both lists; click on the heading to view full article:

CNN's Top 10 Health Innovations in 2009:

1. Swine Flu Vaccine

2. Electric Eye

3. Lyric Hearing Aid

4. Wooden Bones

5. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Therapy

6. Anti-viral biomask

7. Antimicrobial paint

8. Electronic Stethoscope

9. JaipurKnee

10. Warm Organ Perfusion Device

Time's Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs in 2009:

1. New Mammography Guidlines

2. AIDS vaccine

3. Funding Ban Lifted on Stem-Cell-Research

4. H1N1 Vaccine

5. Stem-Cell-Created Mice

6. Prostate-Cancer Screening

7. New Research on Autism

8. New Drug for Osteoporosis

9. New Alzheimer's Genes

10. Brown Fat in Adults