Things I've Learned: Medicine, Geography, & Mars

I would love to be a perpetual scholar, sitting in on all the university courses I never had time for -- language, computer science, music, literature, engineering, anthropology, writing, philosophy, history, geology -- it would be so wonderful to learn it all. I'll be that senior sitting in the back of the Astronomy 101 lecture hall, taking advantage of the waived tuition that most Canadian universities offer after age 64.

In the meantime, in the spirit of learning, I'd like to post once a week on some interesting knowledge I've gained in the past seven days. Here goes:

(http://pedsurg.ucsf.edu/conditions--procedures/)

1. Magnetic Mini-Mover Procedure (3MP) -- This minimally invasive procedure uses magnetic force to correct pectus excavatum (caved-in sternum) in prepubertal kids. As seen in the images below (J. Ped. Surg., 2012), one magnet (A) is surgically implanted in the sternum while a second magnet (B) is worn externally on a chest wall brace for about 16 hours a day. What a clever idea!

   

   (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22244409)

2. St. Helena -- Naively, I knew it only as the South Atlantic British colony that was Napoleon's place of exile. This week I saw the photo below of its capital, Jamestown, and was surprised that it looked nothing like I'd imagined. I learned from Wikipedia that it is one of the most remote islands in the world, composed largely of volcanic rock. Because of limited economic prospects it depends largely on financial assistance from the UK, and its population has dwindled to 4250 with people leaving to seek jobs overseas. Doesn't it look like a interesting place to visit?

   

   "St-Helena-Jamestown-from-above" by Andrew Neaum (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St-Helena-Jamestown-from-above.jpg#mediaviewer/File:St-Helena-Jamestown-from-above.jpg)

3. Bronchiolitis Obliterans Organizing Pneumonia (BOOP) -- I saw my first CT of this yesterday (and hadn't even heard of it before!). Also known as cryptogenic organizing pneumonia (COP), it's a non-infectious pneumonia characterized by inflammation of the bronchioles and surrounding lung tissue. It has various causes, including autoimmune diseases, drugs, and radiation. The CT I saw showed cavitary lung lesions that came and went, and were unresponsive to antibiotics (the treatment is corticosteroids).

   

   unilateral (left lung) BOOP lesions

4. Alberta's Flag -- Everyday I walk past three flags flying outside the hospital and have finally looked at them properly to figure out which one is Alberta's. It contains the provincial colours, blue and gold, with Alberta's shield at its centre. The shield features the Rocky Mountains and their foothills, grass prairies, and wheat fields, as well as the Hudson's Bay Company cross.

   

   "Flag of Alberta" by Kooma - Emblems of Alberta Act (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Alberta.svg#mediaviewer/File:Flag_of_Alberta.svg)

5. Vegetation on Mars? -- This week I watched Universe, a 1960 documentary on astronomy put out by the National Film Board of Canada. In it, the narrator states that telescope observations had revealed vegetation on Mars. I did a double take. I'd never heard of that belief before, but a quick Google search confirmed that even in the 1960s articles were published describing such vegetation. It's incredible to think how much knowledge has advanced in the past fifty years.

What's something interesting you learned this week?