Things I've Learned: Edmonton Freezeway, Flower Pot Recycling, & PML

General internal medicine is like a box of chocolates...you never know what your next patient will come in with. More often than not you recognize "what you're gonna get" right away, with the routine pneumonias, strokes, and substance intoxication/withdrawal cases, but right now we seem to have a fair number of really enigmatic patients on our ward -- who could be entire boxes of chocolates in themselves. Before this metaphor becomes too annoying, I'll get onto sharing some things I've learned this week -- one medical conditions and three other things:

1. Edmonton Freezeway -- Landscape architect Matt Gibbs has proposed a 6.8-mile skating lane, which he has called the Freezeway, for the city of Edmonton. As described in a recent Wired Magazine article, the Freezeway would be built through the downtown area, partly making use of a retired railway line. As many have stated in the article's comments, the practicality of maintaining such a skating lane is questionable...but nonetheless it is a neat idea!

   

   (http://www.wired.com/2015/01/edmonton-freezeway-ice-skating/)

2. anathema -- I came across this word in Mindy Kaling's book and had to look up its definition:
   
3. Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML) -- This is a rare and usually fatal viral disease we discussed during rounds today. Its name is actually very descriptive (not always the case in medicine!), as it is progressive inflammation of the white matter (leuko-) of the brain (-encephalo-) in multiple locations (multifocal). It is caused by the JC virus, which is normally present and harmless, but in the setting of immunosuppression (e.g. AIDS, meds, chemo) can cause PML. In PML white matter nerve cell axons become demyelinated. Symptoms develop over weeks to months and include clumsiness, weakness, and visual and speech changes. PML is diagnosed by finding JC virus DNA in the CSF and observing white matter lesions on MRI; a brain biopsy is also diagnostic. Unfortunately there are no effective drugs to cure PML; instead, the underlying immune deficiency should be managed (e.g. HAART for HIV) to slow or stop disease progression. Up to 50% of PML patients die within the first few months following diagnosis.

   

   (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Progressive_multifocal_leukoencephalopathy_002.jpg)

4. broken flower pots -- On Tumblr I came across a neat way to recycle broken terra cotta flower pots:

   

   (http://imgur.com/gallery/ONXKp)

   

   (http://imgur.com/gallery/ONXKp)

What is something interesting you learned this week?