Medicine to me

Being a medics has changed my entire life. For the first time I feel that all my talents are being used and somehow, I have the consciousness that one day  they will be shared with others which transforms my temporary 'sacrifice'  into an interesting competition that must be won.

Everyone who has the aim to become a doctor, in the UK, must have a busy and devoted timetable. However, this is not a problem for me as I can cope with it. It is not my merit just my character. What has been challenging, and in a kind of strange way interesting (as it is everything new) for me, was to educate myself to a new language, culture and, as I did not study sciences at my secondary school, getting all the new notions in less than year.
I am a really competitive person and so being in London with poor knowledge, well, this part has been the hardest to face. But I did not give up and I do not intend to do so.
The work experience I did had strengthen my will as I really enjoy the contact with patients but above all using a scalpel made me fell in love even more with medicine, as my heart beats towards surgery.

I do want to succeed in medicine and I will do whatever is needed to get into a future into which medicine is present. I think that each of us is born with a gift and we must work hard to improve it, the hardest part is to understand what gift we have.

To my point of view all jobs are fundamental without differences of classes and levels. Everything can be difficult but it depends on us, on the other hand difficulties are needed to train us, improving our skills. It is better to live a life on a road going uphill than downhill.

The sport I do, show jumping (horses), has increased my determination, calm and rationality which I realised is really helpful.

Being rises up in a small city had positive and negative effects. Over here the level of education is not high enough, which had put me into harder work now, also the reactionary plays a negative role in everyday life not allowing the people who have talents and will to succeed to do so. Moreover, we lack of financial loans thats because of the corruption, therefore the professionals constantly face problems when practising their job.
The positive aspects are: Due to the fact that globalisation was not able to reach my little city I grew with sane principles of life which, living alone, I realised are at the basis of a solid life. I did not undertake all the stressful life style children have in big cities which can be the cause of depression and personal problems. On the other hand, it is also true that they may have a bigger chance of getting a job easier, but to be honest I think that burning the steps of childhood means burning the biggest piece of life. Therefore the question...How can we think about a florid future if we live an unpleasant life?

I got to the point in which I understood that I need of medicine and I need of a good university which understands my dedication and will to improve and do better. I know I have tons of things I have to learn but here I'm just ready to do so. Here my Journey to medicine begins.............

How bacteria 'talk'.

Mrs Bassler, professor at Princeton University, in one of her talk pointed out that we can be described as 90-90% bacteria. Her points have been really interesting to me as I always wonder about the life of this small and important prokaryotes.
As we know bacteria are important for our survival, however, some of them, such as cholera and tuberculosis, can be fatal to us.

Mrs Bassler took as example one type of marine bacteria named 'Vibrio fischeri', this is a type of fluorescent bacteria. Alone it does not turn itself on but as soon as it detects that the density, of the same species has grown around him, it turns on. Thinking about it, the same mechanisms takes place in our body. Bacteria enters our body but it takes time before they divide and become grown enough to be virulent.

So Bonnie `Bassler started to think how could bacteria detect they surrounding!?
First of all, they communicate with each other by a mechanism called quorum sensoring, enabling them to interact and therefore causing in some cases harm.
Inside the bacteria synthesis of low molecular weight molecules, called autoinducers, takes place, then those are either secreted or passively released outside the cells. Therefore as their density increases more  autoinducer is released which will bind to the next bacteria changing its gene expression. Thats how quorum sensoring begins, which makes them cooperate as a family.

Knowing so was really fascinating to me!!
What happen next?

Nowadays we are facing a dreadful issue: Bacterial Resistance. When expose to the antibiotic bacteria develop resistance which will enable it to survive, and so it will pass the alleles responsible for resistance on to the next generation. What Mrs Bassler thought was...what about if we insert an inhibitor with decrease the process of quorum sensoring, so that the bacteria are not longer able to communicate to each other. This will stop their virulence.
Moreover, her next step is to prove whether or not we come from bacteria as we share the same internal mechanisms.

Lastly, one think which made me proud of being a student of the future is that, at the end of the talk she thanked her students saying that without them every innovations are not possible and each step towards improvements are made by them.
It may seem obiovus that merits has to be given to the people who hardly, and I would also add happily, work but stimetimes the obivious in life is the hardest thing to reach.

                                          Professor Bonnie Bassler.

Source: Ted Talks (www.ted.com)

Alanna Shaikh: "How I'm preparing to get Alzheimer's"

Three years ago my grandmother has been diagnosed with Dementia, and she was told that she may get Alzheimer in the future. Since then her brain activity has decreased enormously.
However, we brought her to one of the most advanced hospital, in Switzerland, in which she was given a set of tablets that do not give improvements but decrease the progression of the disease.

As soon as she begun taking the treatments she improved drastically. However, after a year, she had an ictus that hit her left brain. The treatments has been suspended as she went into a deep coma. We asked the hospital if the treatments could have been the cause of this 'disaster', but we did not get any answer. My mother did not want to proceed with knowing what exactly was the cause due to the fact my grandmother's brain already had little strokes in small areas of her brain.

Being interested in brain activity and in Ted's talks, the talk given by Mrs Shaikh had an effect on me. Instead of saying what should be done to prevent Alzheimer, she talked about what to do to get ready for it. The probability of getting this disease has  increased with the years, therefore she proposed to get actions in order to be ready for these brain diseases.

She lists 3 things that should be done or satisfied:
1) To have Hobbies:
    It is not important to succeed in every activity, it is imperative to be happy with what we are doing.          
    Our soul will be satisfied and so our brain. Therefore, no matter what we do and how we do it as    
    long as it makes us happy.;
2) To do Sport:
     These diseases make our body weak so we need to have a strong body in order to be ready to
      undertake the changes our body will have.
3) To be Loved:
     Once we get the disease we will forget who we were, what we did in our life and the only thing we
     will keep is People. We will need their love, attention and caring. So be a nice person to everyone
      every day of our life.


How life can easily change in one second make us weak, but she pointed out that at least we can be ready, we MUST be ready to undertake this monster.    

Lisa Kristine: Photos that bear witness to modern slavery.

Browsing the Ted talks one title happened to hit my curiosity this is:"Witness to modern slavery".
Having a basic knowledge of the term "slavery" I decided to listen to Mrs Kristine's talk. 

As she begun talking, the tone of her voice already made me feel the emotions and pain she felt in her experiences of professional photographer of indigenous people. She took part in the association of "Free the slavery", as she had been given a truly definition and reality of the worl SLAVERY.

I would like to list some points of her talk which really are heartbreaking, also to remind me of every single aspect of the slavery which must not be forgotten:

As she begun talking the frase which made me think is that as time goes by slavery hits the life of people, leaving them with no hopes and fear of living.
Around 27 million of people are affected by slavery and most them eredit it from the parents due to false promises of freedom and in most cases just because they cannot walk away. 


Some days it happens to us to complain, or be upset, sad or nervous...unhappy of our lifestyle. Of course, pain and suffer is personal and changable, but the difference with those people is that they do not have a CHOICE. Some time they do not even think of changing their life because they do not know that there could be another possibilty of life. She got to know the story of a group of women who when fighting for freedom they have been frighten by the slave holders who burn down all their houses. Ready to give up, one woman incouraged them to go ahead and fight for their freedom...so thanks to her they are paid for their work in freedom. This showed us that slavery can be challenged if we are determinated, together, to succeeded. 
Sex is a scary reality which affects million of people. Women are trupped in restaurants, into small room where they have to intertain the clients. Mrs Kristine was shown one of those places and she describe the atmosphere as a "Quick, Hot Fear". No doors and windows to escape.
Many American children are sold for sex and we do not see it. Everything is around us. 

Every body knows that a constant exposure to dye is toxic. Well slaves die for it. They live in the hope to find a place where they can get paid for their dying. 
Many children are slaved for fishing, because they have small hands which are suitable for this "employment". However, many of those children does not know how to swimm so they drown. 
Extraction of gold is done with the use of mercury which is highly toxic. Men, women and babies, work in gold mines under extreeme conditions and constantly exposed to mercury. 
They spend around 72 hours underground, and though at first glance they seem to have a powerful body, closer their bodies show how their work prosciugate them, leaving them with illness and pain. 

This is just a summery of this huge monster which afflicts the life of millions of people. To cite what Lisa said 'if all of us thought that we are all the same then slavery would not exist'. 
She wants to light up a fire on slavery so to burn it. There are people in the world, new borns who need us, our help to improve their life, to get a chance in this life. 

I consider myself lucky for all I have and after today I will not complain for anything which at the eyes of a slave baby would be meaning to be lucky. My aim is to become a bright neurosurgeon and therefore offering my help wherever it is needed. Where a doctor can heal, where a patient is asking I want to be ready to be there. This is the strength which made me fight me for my future. The aim to help people, sharing their pain not to make them feel lonely. Yes I admire Mrs Kristine who is giving herself to fight  for our fellows being.

Work Experience

                         

Today I learned how a gall bladder and quadrant of breast with lymph's glands of the underarms                                                           look like. I also saw a part of a colon and a huge cyst on an ovary. 
I saw how a tumour looks like in the breast and i lean red that when the lymph nodes are swallowed it means that the tumour infiltrates there, they have swallowed due to its presence. The tumour appeared hard when touching it, its colour was white/grey, and its shape was irregular and was infiltrating the surrounding. 

I asked my sister to have a look at my blog and she criticised the fact that using a scalpel was the best experience of my life, adding that I was insensitive towards patients. Actually, I cannot change it because it was the best experience. I am aware of the fact that people are in pain but to undertake the pain doctors have to love their jobs, and I loved using a scalpel because it allowed me to see what was inside, to analyse the organ and look for a cure. Moreover, at the moment I took the scalpel I became cold, rational, all my attention was focused on the instructions of the analyst and the organ in font of me.  

Attending this work experience is teaching me many aspects of the world of medicine, and step by step it is introducing me in the painful aspects of it. I asked to be present on the day in which they will inform the patient of the possible metastasis. 

Work Experience

                     
                                         

Today was the best day of my life....I used a SCALPEL!!!! 
I, personally, cut organs and help analysts to analyse the pieces. I have been under examination and i was given an uterus to take care of, so i opened it and cut into pieces to be analysed.

So I took three pieces of the uterus to be examined, these are:
1) Sample of the myoma present in the uterus;
2) Sample of the ovaries and attached;
3) Sample of the cervix.

I left them into formalin to then me dehydrated into different concentrations of alcohol. Afterwards, I will put them into paraffin, and as the tissues had been dehydrated they easily absorb the paraffin, which will wax them so to be cut into thin slices and put them into slide to analyse them under microscope.

When i held the scalpel it was like all the anxieties and fears of not being able disappeared as soon as i got the scalp in my hands. My heart beat stabilised and i normally fallowed the instructions of the analyst. It was the best experience of my life. 
I saw two fetus, one of 1 months and the other of days. It was sad seeing a life without future. Therefore, a doctor there told me, Giulia do not worry think that he or she does not have to encounter school, teenager problems and life in general. They are little angels leaving this world, and to believers, to go to somewhere better. 

Medicine is a huge world were all pieces are in order, and when something takes place and changes this order i want to be able to put all the things back in order. Medicine is challenge, I love challenges... and today I love my uterus and my scalpel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Work Experience at Hospital

                         
For the first time in my life, today, i was able to touch an organ which had undertaken visible changes in its structure. It was an uterus.

It was my first day of work experience in hospital, in a reality of the South of Italy, which is everything but pleasant, due to the low healthcare condition. The department where I had applied is Pathological Anatomy. The reason why I chose to begin with this department is because, though i had not seen a human body before, i wanted to start where all end. Where analysis and diagnosis are made.

I was able to see doctors analysing tissues belong to people who were still alive thanks to the prompt surgery. I saw an uterus of 16 kg...it was really impressing!!!! However, other organs belonged to dead people which are useful source for research.

I really liked the fact that in this department the help done by machines is quite limited, whereas in many other medical departments machines became fundamental, it seems moderns doctors depend on them.

Patients coming to this department had on their faces "hope", and what shocked me was that i asked a question to one of the analysts and it was: "do you have a favourite case?" he gave a positive answer. Therefore i asked: "could you take me through it, please?", and he said i do not remember it.
To another i asked why he chose medicine and he said because it was fashionable in my years.

I also heard them saying that dead people are the best to treat because they do not annoy you.

I made my reflections....... I am still thinking. Yes, each of us is different, each of us has a different story. Many people won't have the same level of culture, but doctors are there not to judge them but to heal them, give the correct amount of information they need. They are scared and need to be insured that someone is taking all the responsibilities to do the best he/she can to save a life.

I, also, was able to look at slides under microscopes. That was fascinating!!!
The intestines are amazing under microscope as well as the trachea... Medicine is a fascinating world.

I realised this work experience is making my will to undertake medical studies even stronger.