Why do we cry? The three types of tears (TED-Ed video)

Whether we cry during a sad movie, while chopping onions, or completely involuntarily, our eyes are constantly producing tears. Alex Gendler tracks a particularly watery day in the life of Iris (the iris) as she cycles through basal, reflex and emotional tears.



Read more here: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-we-cry-the-three-types-of-tears-alex-gendler

Beethoven's deafness and his three styles (video)

That Beethoven suffered from deafness is well known, but how did the progression of the condition affect his composition? In this 8-minute video the Isola string quartet demonstrate how his style changed over time:

Read about the science behind the video in the paper, Beethoven's deafness and his three styles, from BMJ.



Switch to lower notes

Details of Beethoven’s hearing loss can be derived from his own letters. His left ear was affected first, and he reported bilateral tinnitus, high tone hearing loss associated with poor speech discrimination, and recruitment with loud noises. After 1812 people had to shout to make themselves understood.

In 1818 Beethoven started to communicate through notebooks.

There are no reports that he could still understand spoken conversation after 1825, and his deafness was almost complete by then.

The symptoms suggest a sensorineural hearing loss with its origin in the organ of Corti.

The BMJ article claims that Beethoven's progressive deafness shaped his later musical style as he switched to lower notes as he had difficulty hearing higher ones.

Lead poisoning

The famous composer's health has been a focus of research in recent years. "Lead poisoning made Beethoven grumpy", summarized Chicago-Sun Times profoundly in 2005.

Asthma

In addition to a number of other chronic diseases, Beethoven apparently had asthma too. He is listed among the "Faces of Asthma", on the "Breath of Life" website maintained by the NLM.

References:

Beethoven’s deafness. BMJ 2011; 343 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d7589 (Published 20 December 2011). Cite this as: BMJ 2011;343:d7589
Noise Chart as It Relates to Hearing Damage and Hearing Loss http://goo.gl/tjZh1

Standardized patient: Over the course of three days, I had 23 head-to-toe physicals from 23 medical students

From Slate:

"I was the first person these would-be doctors had ever fully examined on their own. Some were shaking so violently when they approached me with their otoscopes—the pointed device for looking in the ear—that I feared an imminent lobotomy.

A "standardized patient" is a trained person who is paid $15 an hour to be poked and prodded by inexperienced fingers, so that med students can learn communication and examination skills before they are sicced on actual sick people.

Now there are standardized patients trained for genital duty (they're called GUTAs, for genitourinary teaching associates).

Dr. N wasted the first eight minutes of the exam trying repeatedly to get a blood pressure reading. The panic in his eyes seemed to say, "She appears to be alive, yet she has no vital signs."

Comments:

Lakshman Swamy - Don't forget that some of them were capable! I have to say, in my experience as an MS2 at Wright State, our standardized patients are amazing teachers. It is much easier to learn physical exam skills and even interviewing when the patient can give you precise feedback. The author is right on with the characters that patients can portray... it is shocking when they break character to give feedback! Just recently I learned how to do the male exam with two standardized patients ("GUTA" -- never heard of that term before). I was definitely feeling a little ... awkward before the session began-- this was by far the most invasive thing I had ever done to another person. But the standardized patients were amazing about the whole process, even acting out the different hesitations that we might encounter in patients, emphasizing the importance of the exam, etc. Without being too graphic, I can't emphasize how much I learned about how to do those exams and what I was actually supposed to be finding. It was a totally different experience than I expected, and after it, I feel really confident about the whole process.

I can't even IMAGINE what it would be like to do that with my classmates-- and how much less I would have understood. Wow.

References:

Oh, no! I'm the first patient these 23 medical students have ever examined. Slate, 2010.

http://www.slate.com/id/2169480/pagenum/all

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

How much heat you can take? 232 years ago, three British gentlemen found out

Have you ever wondered how much heat you can take? 232 years ago, three British gentlemen decided to find out: 260 degrees Fahrenheit (126.6 degrees Celsius).

From NPR:



Be sure to check the cartoon slideshow too.