@dresmerelda

ID/Micro Academic Doctor & Smiley-faced lover of purple

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Category: Healthy Living

Time (or in reality ‘Me’) Management

November 27, 2017November 27, 2017Leave a comment

I'm pleased to say that I've managed to achieve a fair bit so far in my career while being utterly useless at time. How? Read on...

Rejection and the ‘Science’ of Recovery

August 1, 2017August 1, 2017Leave a comment

Thinking positively isn't always that easy. Here I discuss how I learnt self confidence and coping strategies for a healthier mind.

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Did you know that the ‘home’ of the European Syphilis outbreak may have been Hull, a city in the North East of England? 🤔 • In the early 90s, archaeologists studied the remains of monks in a friar in Hull that dated back to the 1300s. They found changes in the bones consistent with Treponema pallidum, aka Syphilis. The theory before this was that Columbus brought it back from the ‘New World’ in the 1400s. Hull is a Port-town though- it’s probable that the monks contracted the illness from caring for sick travellers with open sores. 🤒 • Anyone know what antibiotic treats syphilis? 👇 • Picture: TPPA tray as part of the work-up for syphilis antibody testing. Second picture of the friar in Hull. #latevalentinesdaypost 😁💕 • #microbiology #infection #syphilis #antibody #inthelab #historyofmedicine #medical #archeology #pathology #scicomm #valentinesday2019 #doctorslife #history #treponema #lovemicro #labmedicine #antibiotics

First week back in ID. What does this mean? 👇 • It’s where I get to be “full” clinical again, looking after inpatients on a ward with complex infections, HIV, TB, endocarditis, resistant bugs, the “weird-and-often-not-wonderful-for-the-patient” infections that got me interested in this as a medical specialty. My first day also involved having a hanger thrown at me but we’re all friends now! 😜👩🏻‍⚕️ • It’s also International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Walking down the corridor, wearing this outfit, a male member of staff wheeling a patient looked me up and down, winked at me and said, “If I ran the hospital, I’d make all women wear boots like that...” As he was wheeling a patient, I bit my lip from shouting “#metoo 🤬” but it’s a sorry reminder of how some people think that demeaning intelligent women somehow makes them charming. 🤦🏻‍♀️ • Rather than just moan though, I’d encourage you to check out *some* of the accounts of inspiring female #scicommers on here by tapping the tags on this post. There are obviously more and also ace male ones too! Happy Science day! 🥰 • #womenempowerment #peopleempowerment #womeninscience #womeninmedicine #boss #workstyle #infectiousdiseases #infection #microbiology #physician #medicine #medical #medscilife #tb #hiv #sepsis #stethoscope

What have I learnt as I come to the end of my two month Virology block? Virus AND life lessons 👇 • Viruses: 🔬 • They are SO cool 👍 • EBV is fascinating and can make cells ‘immortal’ (not great in patients though if it does that!) 😕 • PCR has totally revolutionalised healthcare and viruses and is incredible 🦠 <- awesome emoji! 🤩 • DNA viruses can integrate into human DNA and hide forever 🧬 • There is so much virus variability that I will keep sharing with you as I study for my exam 😕 • Life lessons: • Going to a big teaching hospital for the first time in a while felt daunting but “people are people everywhere” 👩🏻‍⚕️ • I’m smarter than I give myself credit for 🤦🏻‍♀️ • Enthusiasm is key- people are always keen to teach and help those who are keen to learn ❤️ • What cool facts/life lessons have you guys learnt these past two months? 👇 • #doctorsofinstagram #motivationmonday #lifelessons #lifegoals #virology #infection #microbiology #research #evidence #virus #healthcare #science #lovemyjob #phdhopeful #alwayslearning #academia #medic #nurses #pa #inthelab #medical #coolfacts #medscilife #womeninmedicine #womeninscience #lovehumanity

Nocardia is an interesting type of bacteria. It lives in the environment but can also be found in our mouths. On the whole it doesn’t cause problems in humans but can be a cause of infection when people have poor immune systems. 👩🏻‍⚕️ • It’s a tricky diagnosis- often it’s not so easily grown and, a bit like TB, it shows up in certain stains. When you do see it in the lab it’s a weird chalky white with ‘branching’ chains down the microscope. 🔬 • I’ve seen nocardia affect the lungs, brain and even cause lumps along the lymphatic system of someone’s leg! Treatment depends on the site of infection but often includes drugs like co-trimoxazole, possibly for a long time. ⏱ • It was first discovered by a chap called Edmond Nocard who was a French vet and scientist. This feels particularly poignant as, in an effort to stem the tide of antibiotic resistance, vets and doctors of infection are working to collaborate more and more- even the UK health secretary has been chatting about that this week! It’s kind of a “one-love” attitude 🙌😁 • #infectiousdisease #infection #research #medicalmicrobiology #microbiology #medical #science #vet #antibioticresistance #doctorsofinstagram #scicomm #agar #agarart #microscopy #antimicrobial #lifelessons #learning #inthelab #nurses #pa #biomedicalscience #animals #healthy

How do drugs against HIV work? 👇 • Simply look at the reproductive-cycle of the virus. HIV is a single-stranded RNA retrovirus. This means that when it enters human cells, it needs to convert itself to DNA to infect the cell, make more RNA and cloak itself in human proteins to spread to other cells. So, to stop it, we can create drugs that act as ‘fake’ DNA proteins (Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors); stop the HIV enzyme that creates the DNA (Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors); stop the HIV DNA becoming part of the human DNA (Integrase Inhibitors); stop the HIV enzyme that helps create new HIV particles (Protease Inhibitors); or stop it entering the cell in the first place (CCR5 blockers). NRTIs still blow my mind 👍 🤯😀 • HIV drugs have come a long way since they first came out. We aim to put patients on 3 different classes of drug- but these can now come in all-in-one formulations, or at least 2-in-1 to help reduce the pill burden 💊 • We now aim to start pills at the point of diagnosis rather than waiting for blood results to show us the immune system is getting worse- the sooner you start, the more likely you and your immune system will stay well. 🙌 • Anyone know what U=U means? 👇 • #virology #medicalmicrobiology #microbiology #hiv #virology #u=u #virus #patientcare #health #medicine #medic #doctor #research #evidence #evidencebasedmedicine #scicomm #science #medstudent #positive #learn #tablets #pharmacy #pharmacology #globalhealth #stayhealthy #doctorslife #workstyle #teachertuesday

Played a bit in our clinical lab today- learning about the processing and prep of respiratory samples (swabs and sputum) for viral PCR. Look at my concentration- you’d think I’d never held a pipette before 😂 • #medicalmicrobiology #virology #pcr #inthelab #medicine #pipette #doctors #doctorslife #doctorsofinstagram #instascience #labcoat #virus #flu #fluseason #coldandfluseason #pa #nurses #medstudent #clinical #concentration #science #lifeoflearning #lovemyjob #infectiousdisease

What’s the ultimate biological badass? 👇 • Has to be the virus- as a fan of parasites generally, the virus feels to me like a super smart parasite. Small, clever and often mutating, viruses actually invade your cells 😱 and merge themselves into your DNA in order to reproduce. Sneaks! We still have so much to learn about them and yet, despite some awesome antiviral drugs (for example, against HIV, Hep B and more recently Hep C), the biggest weapon we have against them tends to be the human immune system. That’s why we have vaccines against Polio, Measles, Rabies etc 💉; that’s why if a non-immune pregnant woman is exposed to chicken pox we give her human antibodies to protect her 🤰🏿; that’s why we check patient antibody levels to common (‘sleeping’) viruses before we give them drugs to dampen their immune system for example transplant patients. 💊 • Viruses are so good at surviving as part of you, scientists think that up to 10% of you is made up of viral DNA, acquired over millions of years. Think virus and think NINJA! 😎 • #virology #vintagehair #purple #doctorslife #oncall #ninja #science #inthelab #virus #parasites #medicalmicrobiology #infectiousdiseases #medicine #nurses #pa #medicalstudent #alwayslearning #cells #mindblown #coolfact #dna #genome #microbiome #doc #medic #physician #virologist

Merry Christmas everyone 🎄 (Microbe art by Michelle, an awesome BMS) 🔬 • #doctorsofinstagram #science #christmastime #workhardplayhard #microlove #microbialart #agarart #microbiology #fun #lovemyjob #medicalmicrobiology #medical

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