Monday Highlights.

Image source here.

Today was a brain-bursting kind of day.  Lots of cool info all packed into one (typically) boring Monday! Some highlights:

- How to determine if a seed is still fresh (e.g. cumin seeds, mustard seeds, anise seeds, parsley seeds, etc): chew on one! If it tastes woody and not flavorful, then the seed is old and the medicinal volatile oils have evaporated or degraded.
- Classmate says to professor: "How do you reduce male pattern baldness?" Professor's response: "If I knew the answer to that question, I'd been lounging on an island right now".
- People with kidney stones are often dehydrated and deficient in vitamin B6 and magnesium. Supplement these nutrients or eat foods rich in them.
- Apitherapy (apis = bee) is a technique used by some (not NDs! We just learned about it for fun) to treat rheumatism arthritis. It involves stinging a patient's rheumatic/flared-up joint with a live honey bee!  Apparently the bee sting is enough for the immune system to stop attacking the body's own joint and focus on the bee sting instead.  Repeated stinging yields best results.
- Another reason to supplement vitamin D this Winter: new research reveals that vitamin D is precursor in the tumor fighting pathway of the body.
- When blood sugar levels reach 9-10 mmol/L, the sugar (glucose) spills into the urine, giving urine a sweet smell and taste... yes, taste. Before the invention of urinalysis, doctors used to taste their patient's urine to assess for sweetness and thus diabetes.
- Lastly, I got to play doctor and interview a patient today during Primary Care. In addition to asking a million questions, I also had to chart my findings (aka complete a medical record) and perform relevant physical exams on the patient. It was a great experience and I was proud of my performance (not sure what the prof thought, doesn't matter though, I'll see my evaluation in two weeks).  Anywho, the point of this story: I think I've picked the right profession when I find taking a case to be "fun" :)