The Event Horizon

a 25 year old college general chemistry instructor that has recently been accepted into medical school. I have yet to make my final decision on which school I will be attending. I am interested in becoming more educated in the subject of medicine and related fields. My primary interest in becoming a medical doctor is to provide healthcare to military and underserved communities. I will not post mindless meme's or anything of that nature. I intend for this blog to be used for educational purposes. Please feel free to message me if you have any questions on the medical school application/interview process, mcat, science/chemistry or anything else I may be able to help with. I hope to provide information to those seeking to gain acceptance into medical school.

[thenuclearfootball]

Shopping for an Apple product? Choose refurbished every time

Talk about easy math: why pay $499 for a new iPad 2 when you can get a good-as-new refurb for $80 less? Read this article by Rick Broida on CNET.

For those of you who are looking to purchase a new ipad, Macbook, or anything Apple, this is an interesting opinion article that seems to represent the overall consensus of customers whom have purchased refurbished apple products. I switched to apple products in 2009 after my Dell XPS laptop gave out after only 2.5 years of moderate use. I purchased a MacBook Pro (2009) and it still works perfectly and its design, programs and applications have stayed completely relevant! I am not one to just buy Apple products because they are trendy and 'shiny', but rather because I thoroughly believe they have superior quality. My iPhone 3G has worked perfectly since 2011 (I upgraded to a iPhone 4S since it was FREE with my new contract recently). 

As a biochemistry student who uses molecular modeling and computation programs such as PyMOL, SYBYL, and Mathematica, I can tell you my MacBook has supported these programs without any issue.  

[glasmond]

A new set for an apocalypse movie?  No. The riots in Kiev. This is happening right now.

Those breathtaking pictures were taken by the young and usually happy tumblarian girl RedMisa during her volunteer work at Kiev.

"I never thought that I would cry for my native country. I’m not particularly patriotic, I do not like politics, large gatherings of people, meetings and inspirational slogans. but I still go to the central street of Kyiv almost every day, doing volunteer work, doing all I can to help. two months of no change for the better, things were getting worse and worse. but when the killings began, catching the protesters in the streets and beating them up…that was the last straw for me. I do not know what to expect next."

- RedMisa, http://redmisa.tumblr.com/ The Ukraine probably won’t have access to the internet soon. Read more about it here.

[9-bits]

Pretty nifty iWatch concept, based on this dribbble shot (though the UI orientation actually makes sense here).

[fleshscars-deactivated20111216-]

I interviewed a woman who is terminally ill. So I tried to delicately ask, ‘What is it like to wake up every morning and know that you are dying?’ ‘Well’, she responded, ‘What is it like to wake up every morning and pretend that you are not?’

(via katiefielding)

[thenuclearfootball]

Deaf Student, Denied Interpreter by Medical School, Draws Focus of Advocates

The case of a deaf medical student who was denied the use of an interpreter during his clinical training in Omaha, Neb., is to go to trial on Tuesday.

I am unsure what I think about this. Possibly somebody can provide me with their thoughts so I have a guide to forming my own.

[thenuclearfootball]

Pharmaceutical companies from Merck & Co. to Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. face fresh threats to protecting their patents in India as a government-appointed panel prepares to evaluate more drugs for local makers to copy.

[doctorswithoutborders]

This statement by Bayer CEO sums up everything that is wrong with the multinational pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies are singularly focused on profit and so aggressively push for patents and high drug prices. Diseases that don’t promise a profit are neglected, and patients who can’t afford to pay are cut out of the picture. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Read our response:http://ow.ly/sS4Uc

[thenuclearfootball]

Expanded list of medical statistics. See earlier post for explanation on how to read.

[thenuclearfootball]

Uber

The Uber app connects you with a driver at the tap of a button. Available on iPhone, Android, and at m.uber.com.

So traveling all over the country to attend medical interviews has been very costly. A huge cost comes from the taxi ride to and from the airport. I discovered UBER, which is a great app that is convenient and saves money and is a pleasure to use! MUCH more efficient then using a taxi. Download the app and use my promo code 01c5y to get a $20 credit good toward your first UBER ride! It will also help me out by giving me a $20 credit to help alleviate the cost of applying to medical school! You will be sold after the first time you use it. The app is free, and your first will be discounted $20 (or free if the trip cost less then $20). Try it for yourself! Thanks.

[pubhealth]

Diabetes: Asia’s ‘silent killer’

Asia is in the grip of a diabetes epidemic.

In human and financial terms, the burden is huge and it is hitting the poor especially hard.

Often thought of as a disease of the rich, experts say the unabating rise may be fuelled as much by food scarcity and insecurity as it is by excess.

Changing lifestyles, rapid urbanisation and cheap calories in the form of processed foods are putting more and more people at risk of developing Type-2 diabetes.

There are now 382 million people worldwide living with diabetes, according to new figures from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).

More than half are in Asia and the Western Pacific, where 90-95% of cases are classed as Type-2.

China is leading the world, with the disease now affecting more than 98 million people or about 10% of the population - a dramatic increase from about 1% in 1980.

Prof Juliana Chan of the Chinese University of Hong Kong says there is a complex interplay between genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors, which have been compounded by China’s rapid modernisation.

"Diabetes is a disease of paradoxes," she says.

More….

(From BBC)

[emergentfutures]

Would you take smart drugs to perform better at work?

[thenuclearfootball]

Drugs that boost brainpower are increasingly being taken by healthy people to study or work harder. Could this become the norm, or a condition of employment?

[thenuclearfootball]

15 Easy Ways to Beat Anxiety Now

Running to make the train, work obligations, and family drama — there’s lots to be stressed about. For those who are always on-edge, look no further: We’ve got some tips to help get over the anxiety of everyday life.

Throughout the past few years I have been experiencing some pretty intense anxiety. I believe it is due to the medical application process as a whole ( MCAt studying, applying, etc). It has recently become almost crippling during the actual application submission/interview process. This is an interesting article about how to manage anxiety. Some of these suggestions are good, others are not as helpful. One way I have learned to reduce my daily anxiety is to run IN THE MORNING. I used to run at night, which would reduce my anxiety slightly, but would make it almost impossible to get to sleep. So I recently began running in the morning and it has truly made a HUGE difference. Also, I heard about this technique where you think of all the stuff you are currently worrying about put them into a 'psychological ball' in your brain and then jump into a FREEZING cold shower (making sure to soak the head, armpits and neck) for a few seconds and then turn the water to normal temperature. This sounds completely insane and almost painful, but let me tell you, it REALLLLLLYY helps. I have not experienced anything that came this close to eliminating my anxiety. I read about this in an article talking about PTSD therapy for war veterans. I will try to find it and post it. 

[thenuclearfootball]

10 Most Selective Medical Schools

With an average acceptance rate of just 3.3 percent, these med schools are the toughest to get into.

The top of the list is The George Washington School of Medicine (DC) with an acceptance rate of 2.1%. The received approximately 15,000 applicants for 177 seats in 2012. After visiting this school, I now completely understand why it tops this list.

It reminds me of a joke:

How many medical school applicants does it take to screw in a light bulb????

100. 1 to screw in the light bulb and 99 to stand around and wonder why they were not chosen.

BAHAHHAHA! sad joke... =/

[thenuclearfootball]

Amid a looming shortage of primary-care doctors in the U.S., medical schools and innovators try to entice more students to enter the field.

Did you know that 50% of graduating medical students claim that their choice of residency 'match' was based primarily on the amount of debt they had accumulated throughout their schooling? The US needs more primary care physicians and should begin by creating (more) financial incentives for medical school graduates to match into a primary care residency and subsidize medical school education so that the debt is not an influencing factor during the residency match.

Also, 25% of all primary care in the US is provided by PA's and NP's, with this number rising rapidly. May be a good alternative to medical school if you are interested in this sort of primary care and do not want the debt associated with medical school. 

[thenuclearfootball]

New health-care smartphone apps for doctors and patients help with everything from diagnostics and monitoring to revealing who isn't washing their hands.

Interesting! I personally use the free version of Epocrates to regulate and get more information about my current perscriptions.

[thenuclearfootball]

Hospice medical care for dying patients

Online version of the weekly magazine, with current articles, cartoons, blogs, audio, video, slide shows, an archive of articles and abstracts back to 1925

This is a very good article showing the importance of communication between physician and patient as well as patient and family. Good read.

[thenuclearfootball]

I have uploaded a snapshot of an EXCEL document I made prior to the medical school application process. 

The MCAT score section is structured: 10th%(matriculated)/average/90th%

The GPA (science) is structured:10th%/average/90th%

The out-of-state section is the amount of (OOS Matriculated/Total Matriculated).

The disclosure legal section refers to any secondary applications that one must disclose ANY crime ever committed (some traffic violations/infraction/misdemeanor/felony etc). Some of these secondary applications ask about arrests even if one was not charged. 

The Date second/% section was improperly labeled. The words typed indicate notes about the secondary, such as 'no essays'. The second word also indicates 'who' gets the secondary application ('screened' for scores, all (everyone/no screen)) and the number represents the cost of the secondary application. 

THESE VALUES REPRESENTs DATA OBTAINED FROM THE MSAR IN 2013 (data from the 2012 matriculating class).

Hope this helps!