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nursingmemoirs · 2 months ago

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Rating My First Year Nursing Subjects as an Incoming 3rd Year Student Edition (Hopefully!)

Welcome to Nursing Memoirs! 🎓✨ This is Part 1 of my “Rate My Nursing Subjects” series, where I take you on a rollercoaster ride through my first year as a nursing student. As someone who barely survived biochem, found joy in poking classmates with a stethoscope, and questioned her life choices at least once per lecture—this one’s for my fellow caffeine-fueled survivors.

First year was chaos—aka the year I realized I would not be the next Grey’s Anatomy prodigy anytime soon. From memorizing 206 bones to surviving biochemical betrayal, I’m here to rate my subjects based on difficulty, enjoyment, and how often they made me wonder if I should’ve just taken Business Management and opened a café instead. 💼☕

From lecture marathons to lab mishaps—let the ranting (and academic spiraling) begin. 😅

1. Theoretical Foundation of Nursing Rating: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ The OG nursing subject—where you meet Florence Nightingale and every other theorist you’ll forget under pressure. It’s giving “philosophy but with IV drips.” Kinda like the “once upon a time” of nursing school. Luckily, our Clinical Instructor made it interesting enough that I didn’t fall asleep (often), sprinkling just enough humor to keep me from questioning my life choices—yet.

2. Anatomy and Physiology for Nursing LEC Rating: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ This subject came at me like, “Name every bone, muscle, nerve, and organ… now.” My brain? Screaming. It was heavy, overwhelming, and no dissection = no fun. Felt like reading a manual for a machine I didn’t get to open.

3. Anatomy and Physiology for Nursing LAB Rating: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Less pressure, more fun. Slightly better than the lecture because—yay!—visual aids. We didn’t get to cut anything open (disappointing), but at least models and charts gave our brains something to cling to.

4. Biochemistry for Nursing LEC Rating: ⭐☆☆☆☆ If “confused but trying” were a subject, this would be it. The trauma. The confusion. The existential crisis. Biochem gave me a mini identity crisis every week. Molecules? Enzymes? Pathways? I tried to be friends with biochem, but we were just never meant to be. It was a villain in my academic arc. I can’t tell you what I learned because I’ve already suppressed it, locked it away in a dark corner of my brain to protect my sanity.

5. Biochemistry for Nursing LABRating: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ Slightly better than the lecture, thanks to experiments that made it feel like we were actually doing science. Our professor was a real gem—he made it fun and engaging, which was a much-needed break from the confusion of the lectures.

6. Health Assessment LEC Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Ah, yes—finally a subject that made me feel like a nurse-in-the-making. From vital signs to head-to-toe assessments, it was packed but exciting. Bonus points for teaching me how to look serious while holding a stethoscope.

7. Health Assessment RLE Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ This one was a blast! We practiced on each other, which meant awkward eye contact during eye exams and pretending not to laugh during abdominal palpations. 10/10 bonding experience.

8. Fundamentals of Nursing Practice LEC Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ This is where we started learning the official history and theory behind nursing. From understanding Florence Nightingale's principles to getting our heads around the foundational practices of patient care, it was less about actually caring for patients (that comes later) and more about building the knowledge that shapes the profession. Think of it as "Nursing 101," complete with theory, history, and plenty of memorization. Luckily, our professor brought it to life, making even the driest theories seem relevant. We spent a lot of time talking about things like hygiene, ethics, and the role of nurses, just no hands-on skills yet. If you’re into history and theory, this was a solid subject. If you were expecting to learn how to give an injection, well, that’s coming up next year!

9. Fundamentals of Nursing Practice RLE Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ This was all about practicing skills in the lab with my classmates. We focused on everything from handwashing (yes, it’s as important as it sounds) and taking blood pressures to practicing bed making—return demonstrations were a huge part of this subject. Honestly, it was pretty nerve-wracking at first. I was sweating bullets while my classmates watched me attempt a perfect bed bath (spoiler: not perfect), and let’s not forget praying for a more relaxed Clinical Instructor who wouldn’t judge my shaky hands. But it was all part of the learning process. The best part was getting to practice on each other—just a lot of laughs, awkward moments, and nerves. But hey, we all survived and got a little more confident with every skill demonstration. If nothing else, I got really good at setting up beds!

10. Microbiology and Parasitology LEC Rating: ⭐☆☆☆☆ This subject made me want to carry an alcohol spray in my bag 24/7. I tried to care about bacteria, but they just weren’t interested in me. Memorizing the names of parasites and understanding how they spread (also known as "modes of transmission") was like an actual nightmare. While I appreciated the importance of learning about these microscopic invaders, it was just a lot of memorization of words I can't pronounce properly. Bacteria and parasites aren’t exactly friendly study buddies.

10. Microbiology and Parasitology LAB Rating: ⭐⭐☆☆☆ At least here, we get to look through microscopes and feel like scientists. There were slides, stains, and a little bit of suspense as we tried to identify all those tiny organisms. While it wasn’t exactly thrilling, it was definitely more interactive than just listening to amoeba facts for 2 hours straight. We spent a lot of time learning how to prepare and stain slides, which was more hands-on than I expected. It was cool to see bacteria and parasites under the microscope. The lab sessions had their moments, but overall, I’d say I was more relieved when we were done.

Now That’s a Wrap for Part 1!

Well, that’s the end of my first-year nursing subject ratings! From biochem battles to handwashing lessons in Fundamentals, it’s been a rollercoaster of stress, sweat, and some surprisingly fun moments. Looking back, it’s hard to believe how much we’ve grown—although I still haven’t forgiven Micropara for making me memorize the entire world of parasites.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I’ll rate my second-year subjects (where things get real, folks). If you survived with me through Part 1, you’ll want to see what’s in store next. Spoiler alert: I’ve survived Pharmacology, but it's still a daily struggle!

Until then, don’t forget to wash your hands (properly). See you in the next one! 👋

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edgythoughts · 2 months ago

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What Is the Role of Catalysts 2025

What Is the Role of Catalysts 2025

Book-Style Explanation: Catalysts are substances that speed up chemical reactions without themselves being consumed or permanently changed in the process. They work by providing an alternative reaction pathway with a lower activation energy, making it easier and faster for reactants to turn into products. In a chemical reaction, energy is typically needed to break bonds between atoms. Catalysts help by stabilizing the transition state — the awkward halfway moment where bonds are in the process of breaking and forming — so the entire reaction doesn't need as much push to get moving. Catalysts are crucial in both natural and industrial processes. In living organisms, enzymes act as biological catalysts, making vital biochemical reactions happen quickly and efficiently. In industries, catalysts are used to produce fuels, fertilizers, medicines, and even to clean up harmful gases from car exhausts. Without catalysts, many reactions would either happen too slowly to be useful or would require impractically high amounts of energy. —

Real Talk: Easy + Relatable Breakdown Alright, let's put it in the realest way possible: Imagine you’re trying to cook pasta. You’re starving, the water's taking forever to boil, and you're standing there questioning all your life choices. Now, imagine someone hands you a magical kettle that makes the water boil in seconds without ever running out of magic. That’s basically what a catalyst is. In a chemical reaction, everything usually needs a certain amount of "push" (energy) to start. It's like trying to roll a boulder up a hill. Without help, it's hard, slow, and exhausting. A catalyst jumps in like a superhero and says, "Hey, let’s take this shortcut instead!" — it makes the hill way less steep so the boulder gets to the top much faster and with way less effort. And the coolest part? The catalyst doesn’t get used up. It’s like that one friend who shows up, helps you move furniture, and somehow still leaves looking fresher than when they arrived. In your body, enzymes (which are basically biological catalysts) make sure you don't spend a million years digesting your breakfast. Without them, the tiny chemical reactions inside you would be too slow to keep you alive. In the industrial world, catalysts help create everything from gasoline to medicines to the clean air you breathe. So yeah — catalysts are the quiet MVPs of chemistry. They don’t brag. They don’t get tired. They just make things happen — faster, smarter, and smoother. Next time you think something amazing "just happened" fast in science or nature... remember, there’s probably a catalyst flexing quietly in the background. — External Resource: Want to dive deeper into how catalysts work? Check the Wikipedia page: Catalysis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalysis — Related Articles from EdgyThoughts.com: What Happens During Chemical Reactions 2025 https://edgythoughts.com/what-happens-during-chemical-reactions-2025 How Do Enzymes Speed Up Reactions 2025 https://edgythoughts.com/how-do-enzymes-speed-up-reactions-2025 — Disclaimer: This breakdown is written in a simplified, casual, and relatable way so students can understand the concept more easily. If your teacher asked for a textbook-style answer and you use this casual version, and your marks suffer — we’re not responsible. We’re just here to make learning less painful and way more fun. — Read the full article

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gffa · 4 years ago

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Do you think one could follow the Jedi Code/Lifestyle in real life as a positive manner of living or do you think it only works in Star Wars? I asked this on r/Mawinstallation and the answers I got were either:

''The Jedi code is oppressive so no'' ( this was the most upvoted answer )

''The Jedi code works but only for the Jedi''

''The Jedi code requires the force to work and since the force doesn't exist in the real world, the code cannot work''

And finally, I got only a single reply that said

''Yes, the Jedi code does work in real life, that's the entire point of Star Wars''.

What is your take on this?

This is going to be sort of a long, roundabout answer, but the short version is: In the finer details, we're not space psychics, but as a general idea? Yes. First of all, what even IS the Jedi Code? Are we talking about the whole “there is no emotion, there is peace”/”emotion, yet peace” meditation mantra, which we should point out is nowhere in the movies or TV shows, but is entirely in the novels and comics supplementary material? Are we talking about a more generalized idea of Jedi philosophy? And what, precisely, does that mean? I mean, what’s oppressive about it and what scene evidences that that’s what the Jedi taught? Second, there are two talks that George Lucas gave that I think really illustrate this view of emotional navigation and how that impacts Star Wars and the Force: There’s the writers meeting of The Clone Wars where he talks about the light side and the dark side and there’s an Academy of Achievement Speech from 2013 where he talks about joy vs pleasure: “Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness. “Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It’s like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you’re shopping or you’re engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it. “On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn’t go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can’t. So the secret is that, even though it’s not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer. “People who get the pleasure they keep saying, ‘Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!’ You’ll never relive the moment you got your first car, that’s it, that’s the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you’ll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you’ll run out. You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work. “If you’re trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you’re doomed. It’s a very American idea, but it just can’t happen. You just let it go. Peak. Break. Pleasure is fun it’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever. “Just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe again it’ll come back and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure, it’s about you. It’s a selfish self-centered emotion, that’s created by self-centered motive of greed. “Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it’s the kind of thing that is in it’s subtlty and lowness more powerful than pleasure. If you get hung up on pleasure you’re doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness.” –George Lucas And how I like to compare that to The Hijacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, MD, MSL, which is a book about how corporations have hijacked our pleasure centers to make us focused on reward over pleasure. It talks about the exact same concepts, with only slight word adjustments, but otherwise might as well be verbatim: “At this point it’s essential to define and clarify what I mean by these two words—pleasure and happiness—which can mean different things to different people. “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “pleasure” as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”; or “gratification”; or “reward.” While “pleasure” has a multitude of synonyms, it is this phenomenon of reward that we will explore, as scientists have elaborated a specific “reward pathway” in the brain, and we now understand the neuroscience of its regulation. Conversely, “happiness” is defined as “the quality or state of being happy”; or “joy”; or “contentment.” While there are many synonyms for “happiness,” it is the phenomenon that Aristotle originally referred to as eudemonia, or the internal experience of contentment, that we will parse in this book. Contentment is the lowest baseline level of happiness, the state in which it’s not necessary to seek more. In the movie Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), middle-aged married couple Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano were asked the question “Are you happy?”—to which they responded, “Happy? Who’s happy? We’re content.” Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more. “Reward and contentment are both positive emotions, highly valued by humans, and both reasons for initiative and personal betterment. It’s hard to be happy if you derive no pleasure for your efforts—but this is exactly what is seen in the various forms of addiction. Conversely, if you are perennially discontent, as is so often seen in patients with clinical depression, you may lose the impetus to better your social position in life, and it’s virtually impossible to derive reward for your efforts. Reward and contentment rely on the presence of the other. Nonetheless, they are decidedly different phenomena. Yet both have been slowly and mysteriously vanishing from our global ethos as the prevalence of addiction and depression continues to climb. “Drumroll … without further ado, behold the seven differences between reward and contentment: Reward is short-lived (about an hour, like a good meal). Get it, experience it, and get over it. Why do you think you can’t remember what you ate for dinner yesterday? Conversely, contentment lasts much longer (weeks to months to years). It’s what happens when you have a working marriage or watch your teenager graduate from high school. And if you experience contentment from a sense of achievement or purpose, the chances are that you will feel it for a long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.Reward is visceral in terms of excitement (e.g., a casino, a football game, or a strip club). It activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, which causes blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Conversely, contentment is ethereal and calming (e.g., listening to soothing music or watching the waves of the ocean). It makes your heart rate slow and your blood pressure decline. - “ Reward can be achieved with different substances (e.g., heroin, nicotine, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and of course sugar). Each stimulates the reward center of the brain. Some are legal, some are not. Conversely, contentment is not achievable with substance use. Rather, contentment is usually achieved with deeds (like graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life). - “Reward occurs with the process of taking (like from a casino). Gambling is definitely a high: when you win, it is fundamentally rewarding, both viscerally and economically. But go back to the same table the next day. Maybe you’ll feel a jolt of excitement to try again. But there’s no glow, no lasting feeling from the night before. Or go buy a nice dress at Macy’s. Then try it on again a month later. Does it generate the same enthusiasm? Conversely, contentment is often generated through giving (like giving money to a charity, or giving your time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project). - Reward is yours and yours alone. Your sense of reward does not immediately impact anyone else. Conversely, your contentment, or lack of it, often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large. Those who are extremely unhappy (the Columbine shooters) can take their unhappiness out on others. It should be said at this point that pleasure and happiness are by no means mutually exclusive. A dinner at the Bay Area Michelin three-star restaurant the French Laundry can likely generate simultaneous pleasure for you from the stellar food and wine but can also generate contentment from the shared experience with spouse, family, or friends, and then possibly a bit of unhappiness when the bill arrives. - Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well. Conversely, walking in the woods or playing with your grandchildren or pets (as long as you don’t have to clean up after them) could bring contentment and keep you from being miserable in the first place. - Last and most important, reward is driven by dopamine, and contentment by serotonin. Each is a neurotransmitter—a biochemical manufactured in the brain that drives feelings and emotions—but the two couldn’t be more different. Although dopamine and serotonin drive separate brain processes, it is where they overlap and how they influence each other that generates the action in this story. Two separate chemicals, two separate brain pathways, two separate regulatory schemes, and two separate physiological and psychological outcomes. How and where these two chemicals work, and how they work either in concert or in opposition to each other, is the holy grail in the ultimate quest for both pleasure and happiness.” – Robert Lustig, MD, MSL And then lets add in what Dave Filoni has said about the Force and the core themes of Star Wars: "In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish. It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do. And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good. It’s a constant. And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know. That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled. “But when you fear, fear is the path to the dark side, it’s also the shadow of greed, because greed makes you covet things, greed makes you surround yourself with all these things that make you feel comfortable in the moment, but they don’t really make you happy. And then, when you’re afraid of something, it makes you angry, when you get angry, you start to hate something, sometimes you don’t even know why. When you hate, do you often know why you hate? No, you direct it at things and then you hate it. And it’s hard because anger can be a strength at times, but you can’t use it in such a selfish way, it can be a destroyer then. “These are the core things of Star Wars.“ –Dave Filoni So, the core things of Star Wars and the Jedi teachings (because Jedi teachings are basically almost word for word how GL described how the Force works) can very much be a reflection of real world teachings and ways to live by, because all of the above are about how GL viewed the world and what he wanted to put into his movies. Further, Jedi teachings are basically just reworded Buddhism + Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. And both of those are very livable by our real world standards, if you so choose. GL was very much about how SW had themes that were meant to be picked up on by the audience and even DF has said this: “ Jedi have the ability to turn the tide, to make a significant moment, to give hope where there’s none. That’s their ultimate role to play, to be this example of selflessness. And that’s what makes them a hero, when no one else can match that heroic thing. And then our job is to emulate that, to use that example, and further our own lives.” --Dave Filoni Ultimately, the Jedi are specifically focused on disciplining themselves (which GL has said is the only way to overcome the dark side, in that TCW writers’ meeting), probably to a degree most of us wouldn’t have the room to devote to, but that doesn’t mean that the broader strokes aren’t meant to be applicable to our lives or don’t echo real world teachings.

#jedi order #meta #long post

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medstudentblues · 4 years ago

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04.30.21 | just got off a meeting with my classmates and mentor which was fun!! now i’m polishing our report this coming tuesday which is full of biochemical pathways. 😤 let’s do this!!

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brightlotusmoon · 4 years ago

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"One major finding of our study is the decreased MH-thalamus rsFC in fibromyalgia patients compared with the rsFC in the HC’s and the increased MH-thalamus rsFC after Tai Chi mind–body intervention. Both the hypothalamus and thalamus belong to the diencephalon, and there are bidirectional connections between these two structures. The thalamus is a key region for central processing and integration of nociceptive inputs. It acts as a relay center for handling incoming sensory information and motor impulses between the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, and cerebrum. Specifically, the thalamus receives nociceptive signals via two major ascending pathways: the spinothalamic tract (STT) and the spinoreticulothalamic tract (SRT). The STT conveys noxious information from the dorsal horn to both the lateral thalamus and medial thalamus, while the SRT mainly relays nociceptive information to the medial thalamus via an additional synaptic relay within the medullary reticular formation of the brainstem [38].

Further studies suggest that the thalamo-cortical pathways/interactions may underlie the perception of pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience. The lateral thalamocortical pathway is involved in coding the sensory discriminative aspects of pain, while the medial thalamocortical pathway codes the emotional qualities of pain [38]. Literature suggests that the anatomical and biochemical alterations in thalamocortical circuits may be responsible for the development of chronic pain [33, 38,39,40]. The thalamus observed in our study extends from the medial portion to the lateral portion of thalamus, suggesting alterations of both sensory and emotional aspects in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia.

We also found that fibromyalgia patients are associated with less MH rsFC with the amygdala. After effective mind–body intervention, the MH rsFC in the amygdala significantly increased. The amygdala is a key region in the limbic system that plays an important role in emotion processing, fear and anxiety response, and the influence of negative emotions on pain [41]. The amygdala is also part of the descending pain modulation system, directly projecting to the PAG [42]. A previous study showed that chronic low back pain-evoked brain activity increases in the amygdala and rACC/MPFC [43] and is associated with volume decreases in the amygdala [44]. A more recent study found higher incidences of white matter and functional connections within the MPFC–amygdala–accumbens circuit, with smaller amygdala volume accounting for 60% of the variance for chronic low back pain persistence [45]. Our results agree with these findings, suggesting that the linkage between the MH and amygdala may play an important role in the pathophysiology and development of fibromyalgia."

RESEARCH!

I mean, both for myself and the fictional characters who get to suffer with me. I give them seizures and spasticity and/or hemiplegia too. Because I can.

But fibromyalgia is the fun one because you can do so much with it. You can pile on other conditions and intertwine syndromes and play Disability Roulette to figure out if this particular episode of migraine plus synesthetic crosswiring is from the fibro or the sensory processing disorder that can come by itself or with the fibro or with the autistic brain or with the epilepsy or with the brain damage via birth or the

And if your character is an iron woobie who is generally a playful carefree joyful eternal optimist you can see how far you can push before the built in clinical depression or cyclothymia explodes, not to mention the ADHD RSD. On top of the fibro flare. And then of course there's the empathic intuition that's almost clairvoyance and clairsentience. Which could connect to an episode of... anything.

Look, I named one of my characters after a powerful Greek deity because she's got a lot going on. I named another character in honor of both my grandma and my childhood because imagination can run anywhere and everywhere and I can give her a lot of qualities I had when I was nineteen. And they're Psionic because I had a Thing for Jean Grey in the 90s and because being a telekinetic cripple would have been really convenient.

Point is, I need to go to sleep and hope for full Stage 4 sleep. And so do Gaia and Avalyn and Mikey. See them in dreams maybe.

#my fictional characters are all autistic #my oc has my disabilities #welp time to give my trauma to my characters #projecting my disabilities onto fictional characters #this is why we project trauma onto characters #this is why i love fanfiction as therapy #ooops i'm going to torment mikey again #i might have been the one who started the psychic mikey headcanons in the 90s #they call me the queen of tmnt mikey whump #fibromyalgia #why i write mikey with fibromyalgia #spastic cerebral palsy #why i write disabled characters #being disabled means living my life in ways people don't like #being disabled means having a very dark sense of humor #writing fictional entities who represent my neuropsychology #this is why i write autistic adhd ninja turtles #autistic special interests #adhd hyperfixation #whoops more infodumping #this is why my fictional characters reflect my neurology #my health comes first before your morality #all two dozen disabilities #the boadicea method of chronic pain management #disability representation #everyone is queer #psionic mikey au #pale sunlight fic #cold fire rising #the brightest souls hide the most darkness

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todragonsart · 5 years ago

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The taste of wine - Chapter 1 - Siege-O-Ween Oct 29th

Prompt: “I suppose, my secret’s out”

I welcome everybody back! It’s been such a long-long-long time, since I actually enjoyed writing something. I mean, times like that happen to any kind of writer or artist, and I’m just so happy to be out of it. This was so much fun, and why would we stop at just 6000 words? Come on!

Okay, honestly, I wanted to stop. I wanted to write a shorter one, but it kept going and going and going and now I’m planning like... 4 more chapters and a prologue :’) DoN’t HuRt Me PlEaSe <3

As always, I can’t thank @r6shippingdelivery and @freedert95 enough for helping me with the beta-reading. You two are absolutely life-and-sanity-saving and I love you both very much.

Oh and also, this is for @dualrainbow‘s Halloween event, so thank you guys too, for resurrecting me from the dead!

I hope you enjoy!!

“I want you to help me die.”

Mike turned towards the man standing on his right, eyes wide with shock. He let his gaze wander, just for a second, on the other. His tall, proud posture, his handsome face, basking in the dim candle light, his gentle, green eyes now looking at him full with hope, expecting help. How could a so-called monster look this innocent, the soldier couldn’t fathom. Why would he want to die? And more importantly, why would he want to be killed by somebody like Mike?

In his wondering, he almost missed the way the other’s lips pulled into a small smile. “You won’t help me, will you?”

Lifting his chin a bit, Mike looked the other in the eyes and he couldn’t help, but think ‘what a waste’, but shook his head anyway. “I will.”

The man seemed caught off guard- almost surprised for a second, but his smile widened as hope filled him even more.

Mike shook his head, looking away. What a waste.

But how did he get into this situation in the first place?

The Boogie-man. Zombies. Ghosts. Mummies. Werewolves. Monsters . Mike Baker had never really understood them. He understood the concept, and the literature, but he didn’t understand the need. It was just the need to be scared. Or even more, the need to force the fear of darkness into the shape of something understandable. Because that is what all these so-called supernatural monsters were, weren’t they? Just images made by scared children on a moonless night. A howl? A wolf! A growl? A zombie! A mug falling down? Definitely the leftovers of a dead person. Not the wind. Obviously not the wind.

Mike never said that he didn’t believe that something was hiding in the dark, far from it - being a soldier, facing new threats every other day made him learn that in fact there was always something around the corner, ready to attack. But nonetheless, he was sceptical of the supernatural.

Living in this world for 54 years he never met any kind of supernatural monster that could have been killed with only silver, salt or fire. In fact the only monsters he met were people. People acted way worse then any animal or entity ever could, hurting others and themselves, acting selfish and rude, being agressive and stupid. Obviously not every person, but he was facing terrorists, he believed he had seen the worst of worsts. He had seen men murdering innocent people, he had seen organizations turn children into mindless soldiers and he had seen mothers killing their loved ones and then themselves for the ‘greater good’. He had seen a lot. Like a lot . But he had never met any kind of supernatural monster, so yeah.

He had every right to be sceptical, and ironical, because he did not understand the fear of the unknown and darkness like a normal person did. Howls? There was no werewolf able to sound as a friend dying from an open wound. A growl? The unhappy sound of a terrorist being cuffed. A mug falling down? The reaction to a newly found biochemical weapon. No monsters, just people. Bad-people.

He started to feel bad for the monsters in books, tv shows and poems at one point. All that screaming, shouting and wanting to capture or kill them… Why were they the ones being chased? That was the other question. Why were the monsters always bad? Why would a werewolf or zombie or mummy or anything attack the human beings, like they did in the stories? To hunt them, taste their blood and eat them and their brains? Oh come on.

The fact that sharks don’t even like the taste of human meat must mean something!

But it could be the blood... All animals had blood, why would a vampire attack that one human being, when they could hunt a calm cow, or something. Much less screaming, much less effort, much easier target.

And don’t even start with the brain bullshit. Why would anything try to eat the brain?! The people mindlessly attacking others for being a little bit different than they are were empty anyway!

And also, why would a demon or spirit or whatever the fuck attack humans after their life? What if they are stuck and just need help? What if they just want to be friends?!

He believed in ghosts, tho, he did. But not the… ‘the white sheet with two holes for the eyes on it’ kind, obviously. He believed the ghosts of the past. The screaming in his nightmares about the wars, the eyeless people standing behind him in the mirror, the feeling of his mother’s gentle hand on his shoulder.

Ghosts.

But not the hollywood ghosts scaring innocent people. His own ghosts. Some of them were bad, some of them were good, even soothing. Mementos of his childhood, his first love, his daughter. Good ghosts, who never wanted to hurt him, in fact most of the time, they helped him in their own way.

And after all… everything started with a ghost.

The ghost of his father.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

When he first noticed the familiar figure, he was in the middle of buying baked beans in the supermarket. He was all alone, thinking about calling Penelope after dinner, to ask where would his grandson want to go this year for a little Trick-or-treating during Halloween, minding his own business with the cans, when he noticed a tall, dark figure just outside the shop’s front window.

He didn’t even notice it first, but when he felt the unmistakable feeling of being watched, he looked up, right at the dark figure. The long coat, the old hat, the wide shoulders; he caught himself thinking, Dad…? But his father died at least thirty years ago, so yeah. It was kinda suspicious.

He looked around, trying to find out if anybody could see the figure, and as he looked back, the window was empty.

Strange.

But the ghost of his father had never been a bad omen. Maybe he should visit his grave. Or perhaps it was a reminder that he forgot to put on his watch this morning, the one that once belonged to his father.

Shrugging, he went back to pick the beans and that was it.

Or so he thought.

Because, not long after this, he noticed the figure again. He was just arriving to his boat after a disgustingly long day of work, ready to open a beer and crash on his couch, when he saw the familiar silhouette from his peripheral vision. He turned his head, but as the last time, the figure was gone.

Mike lifted an eyebrow. It was his father’s birthday coming up soon. Heh. Motherfucker never missed a chance to make people wish him happy birthday after all.

Shrugging it off again, he entered the boat, and did as he planned with his beer and couch.

But obviously, it happened again. The tall figure standing patiently, just looking at him from afar when he arrived home, bought his supplies, walked down the streets. The well known shadow never moving, never looking like it was alive, never changing.

He once even noticed the figure standing at the docks, as if waiting for him to get home. It was strange and the feeling of being watched never seemed to disappear.

The last straw was when he noticed the shadow during the night he was with his daughter and grandson, Trick or treating, having fun. He almost missed it again, the silhouette standing in a dark alleyway just the other side of the road. As he saw the shadow there, Mike got furious all of a sudden. Hanging around, waiting for him was one thing, but bugging him during family times? A real jerk move.

As he noticed, he immediately stopped in his track and turned towards the figure, stepping down the pathway. His gaze was fixed on the figure that looked like its usual, frozen self, but as it noticed his attempt of getting closer, it did the strangest thing: it moved.

It wasn’t a scared wince or anything a normal human would do when they were discovered doing something bad, it was just a surprised lift of shoulders and a slight tilt of hat, but it was something . And as Mike took one more step forward, the figure did the same thing backward. And that was when the good omen of his father turned into a human monster, because who else would follow him around every night just standing still and watching. He had a stalker. One of the most disgusting kind of monsters.

His instincts kicking in, he reached for his gun, but the second he touched it an ear-rippingly loud car honk pushed him out of his state of mind. He was standing in the middle of the road and a very angry driver just honked at him again.

Looking at the man behind the wheel, Mike sniffed and let his gun slip back into its holster. He glanced back at the figure, but that motherfucker was gone. Of fucking course.

Great.

Not caring for the loud honking at all, he turned back and stepped on the pathway again.

A stalker.

Glancing back at the other side of the road, he lifted his chin, looking around.

A ghost? A stalker? A monster, maybe. A human one, who was apparently afraid of him.

It didn’t matter. It was time to end their relationship.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Except the figure disappeared.

Not in the term a ghost would, because Mike still felt like he was being watched, but he didn’t see the silhouette again. It pissed him off, but he was smarter than giving up. Instead, he turned to his team.

He asked Marius - one of the best tinkerers the world has ever seen in his opinion - to install a few cameras around his boat, so that he can monitor every movement from within his home, and Marius - although a little bit weirded out - delivered. Mike was satisfied, he finally got a chance to get ahead of the mysterious staker, now all he needed to was to be patient and he never had a problem with that.

He waited for three weeks without seeing the shadow again, but on the fourth Friday, he finally caught it on record. Since the cameras were recording live, and he spent his nights sitting in front of them, he just caught a glimpse of the figure’s coat. It was fucking four in the morning, and he was doozing off before, but the second he saw the movement, he got on his feet and reaching for his gun, he rushed to the exit of his boat, all tiredness forgotten.

The adrenaline was rushing in his ears as he burst out of the door, gun in hand. It took him just half a second to find the figure in the darkness, then he was already charging towards it, running like he never ran before.

“Stop right there!” he shouted and again, he caught the figure off guard; it winced from the sudden sound in the otherwise peaceful night. It looked around, trying to find a place to hide, clearly trying to escape, but the old soldier was fast. The moment the figure turned away in an attempt to run, it made a mistake and Mike caught it’s arm in his iron grip. The force of him tugging at the figure efficiently knocked it’s hat off just to reveal a patch of sweaty, ginger hair. He lifted an eyebrow, tugging at the arm again, trying to get a better look, but the figure just seemed to have more than enough of this abuse.

Knowing all too well that trying to slip from Mike’s grip was a useless motion, it instead planted its feet and turning on its heels it kicked the soldier on his side, efficiently knocking the air out of his lungs. Wheezing, Mike immediately let go of the arm, gasping for air. Growling swears he looked at the figure, but it was on the run already, making distance between the two of them.

Spitting, Mike got himself together, and rushed after the figure. He had been waiting for this fight since Halloween and he wasn’t going to let that motherfucker run away once more. The figure was fast, but Mike was angry, and it made him more dangerous and reckless. He had no problem keeping up with the pace, in fact, he was catching up to the shadow step by step. He was ready to finish this.

In their chase, Mike kind of forgot to look where he was going, but it didn’t really matter. The only thing in front of his eyes was the prize of finally catching this motherfucking stalker, the changing of landscape around them didn’t matter at all-

Until it did.

Mike had no idea how, but they ended up in the more abandoned corner of Hereford. There were mostly suburban areas or empty factories on this side of the town. How did they even get here!? He looked around in concern, taking deep breaths. He had no idea, he only started to notice everything around him just now.

He still had the figure right in front of him, but their distance started to grow as his legs got tired of the running. The adrenaline in his blood slowly faded away, and with that, his energy did too.

He soon noticed himself gasping for air, his sight getting a bit blurry, slowing down, which was- not a problem namely because the figure was heading towards the last building in the line, which turned out to be a… a church? Really? A church.

Before he could ridicule the shadow in his head, he saw it run straight up the front stairs of the building, and the next thing reaching his mind was the loud band of the door being shut.

Taking big gulps of air, Mike let himself collapse on the ground, eyes fixed on the building. This might have been the strangest night of his entire life, and it was far from over. Giving himself a few minutes, he just sat there, watching the building, kind of waiting for the figure to escape again, but there was no movement around the church. Odd.

He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and stretched as he stood up. Twisting, he popped his spine and with a low groan he approached the church. He couldn’t see any movement around the door, but as he stepped on the first stair, he noticed how a light had been lit in the window of the church tower. So, there was somebody home.

He pulled his gun out - just in case - and stepped to the door, slowly pushing it in; it wasn’t even properly closed. Holding his weapon as steady as possible, Mike stepped in. It was pitch black. Grimacing, he fished his small flashlight out of his pocket, turning it on. The narthex was empty, only a few old benches left, waiting since god-knows how long, for people who never came.

Mike looked around and noticed a smaller entrance door. Stepping there, he glanced inside the nave and seeing no movement, he entered. Looking around, he lowered his gun a little. Rows of benches, hand-made pillars, a few old, wooden sculptures of Saints here and there, with their additional little plaques of info. Mike hummed, directing his flashlight at each of them. There was nothing unusual, really just a worn down little church. He didn’t even know that there was a church in this part of the town and he has been living here for a good 10 years now.

Getting deeper into the building, he started to measure the space in his head, trying to find the stairs into the attic. It was a small church so it was not many places where they could hide the way up. His hard guess was behind the main altar, so he made his way there, making sure he was as silent as possible.

As he arrived into the crossing, he stopped to take a quick look into both of the transept sides, that was when he noticed it. It wasn’t a big thing to notice, but it was strange on its own. On one side he saw an old Virgin Mary, the other held an equally old St. Joseph. Squinting, he glanced back at the other sculptures in the nave. All of them were old, but otherwise clean. The benches were left to rot, but every statue was in the best shape, not a single part missing or paint being spotty.

“What the fuck?” Mike heard himself whisper, but glanced in the direction of the main altar. The Jesus there was in the best shape possible. Mike shook his head, and stepped up to the main altar. He glanced at the sculpture, tilting his head a little. “Listen, if he is just a strange fan of mine I won’t hurt him, but otherwise… I can’t promise you anything. Don’t come after me later, okay?” with a smirk, he shook his head. Always an atheist.

Behind the altar, he noticed a small door, hidden from even the front rows. Getting more and more relaxed in this very strange situation, he lowered his gun completely as he entered the small door and there he found it. The stairs to the attic! According to the soft lights at the top of the stairs, he found what he was looking for.

He switched off his flashlight and started to climb still as silent as possible. He was about… 99,9% sure the stalker knew about him, but still. This time, he wanted to be the one hiding in the dark.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

He was around half of the stair when he heard some kind of a rustling under his boots. He froze in the middle of his movement - not wanting to be heard -, and looked down in a slight panic. Squinting, he leant down; a plastic bag? Okay, what now?!

He gently stepped off the bag and lifted it up in the weak light of the staircase. Mike’s eyes rounded as he recognized the object in his hand. It was a very strong bag with rows and rows of writing printed on it, informing the handler about the date, the place and the type of blood. 0-. Mike closed his eyes and opened them again, hoping that the plastic bag would… maybe miraculously turn into fairy dust and butterflies, but the plastic bag remained. Normally he was okay to see this bag, it was a useful little object, you know, saving lives here and there, but- this one was empty. Why the fuck was it emtpy, it was clearly used before. He glanced up at the top of the stairs. Okay what the fuck.

Taking a gulp of air, he stuffed the bag in his pocket and continued his way up. As he got to the last few steps, he first noticed a door on top of the stairs, and it being slightly open, he heard a soft sound. Stopping yet again, he tried to concentrate, and soon could make out the sound of fabric rustling and gentle tones of a piano.

Getting more and more confused, he finished his journey up, lifted his gun in front of himself, and without knocking or giving any warning, he burst into the attic, just to be greeted by a pair of green eyes fixed on him. He lifted his eyebrows. He has seen this look somewhere, but he couldn’t, for the love of god, tell where.

The eyes belonged to a - very - handsome face of a young man. He had elegant and sharp features, with a bit of arrogance hidden in his posture. He was without a doubt attractive, but Mike couldn’t care, because the young man had locks of ginger hair on his head, and who had that as well? His dear stalker. So he pointed the gun at the other, who was annoyingly calm.

“It took you long enough to get up the stairs. Might be the age,” said the stranger, with an amused little smirk. He looked away, down to the table and reaching out he poked on the phone laying on the surface. The soft piano stopped. “I started to get worried.”

Anger building in him, Mike gritted his teeth. “Who are you? Why are you following me? What do you want? What the fuck is this?!”

The stranger smiled at that, looking back at him, never noticing the gun. “My name is Olivier Flament. I have been following you, because I need to ask you a favour. I would like to ask for your help in an important matter. As for what… I believe this is my home.”

Struck by the strange honesty of the other Mike blinked a few, lowering his gun just a tiny bit. “What matter? Why were you following me?”

“I told you, I need your hel-”

Mike cut in. “Why were you following me everywhere for almost three months?”

The man fell silent, he glanced at the table. He almost seemed… shy?

“Spit it out!” Mike grumbled, making the other look up. His posture might have been calm, but his eyes were like the sea before the storm.

“I didn’t know how to approach you, see my lifesty-”

“So you decided to follow me, even with my family and when I try to catch you, you run? Almost not suspicious.”

Olivier looked at him for a few long seconds, trying to figure him out. It has been harder than he planned so far, and if he didn’t play it cool, he would get into a deep problem. “Look, I didn’t mean to scare you, but-”

“Oh you didn’t scare me.” Mike lifted his gun, pointing straight to the other’s head. “You made me angry. ”

The young man turned his head down, now looking guilty. “I didn’t mean to. I would never hurt you or your family, I swear to God. I need your help. Please, just listen-!”

Mike watched him, standing there, one hand on the table, leaning there a bit, trying to move away from him. He noticed something… inhuman in this man, something otherworldly. The posture, the face, the eyes… It was so strange. Not unpleasant, far from it, just odd.

The soldier lowered his gun a little, and took the plastic bag out of his pocket, throwing it in front of the other. “What is this crap?”

Looking down, Olivier hummed. “That’s my favourite. I probably had the same type back in the Dark Ages, and now I find it delicious.”

Mike’s grip on the gun tightened. “Quit the jokes, mate!”

The young man didn’t answer, he just glanced to the left. Following his eyes, Mike looked away, just to see a little fridge. It had an open cooler bag in front of it, what had about 10-15 similar blood packs in it. He looked at the man again, grimacing in disgust. “You are sick.”

The other shook his head. “I am really not. Don’t think that I enjoy drinking human blood in particular. It is not a very exciting diet after 800 years, but it does what it needs to, and still better than starving, or hunting and hurting the innocent.”

Mike glanced at the bags again, and then back at the man standing in front of him. “If you tell me, you are a fucking vampire, I will vomit.”

The sides of Olivier’s mouth pulled up into a gentle smile, and crossing his arms in front of him, he nodded. “I suppose… my secret’s out.”

“You are joking!” Mike blinked.

Olivier shook his head with that amused little smile. “No. And you didn’t vomit. Surprising.”

The soldier shook his head. “You are crazy!”

“Says the man who chased another through a town, gun held high, ready to murder.”

With an unamused grimace Mike rolled his eyes. “You should be happy that I’m just holding my gun and not using it.”

“Not to sound too smart, but that wouldn’t do too much harm on my body. See, this is the problem. As far as I know, I’m pretty undestroyable.”

Mike lifted an eyebrow. “Huh?”

Olivier nodded. “If you would like, I can show you,” before finishing, he already reached for a letter opener on his table. It looked sharp, and he held it out for Mike to see, then without a heartbeat, he pressed the edge into his own palm.

For reasons unknown, Mike immediately reached out, to catch his hands before he could hurt himself, but confusion hit him even more, when there was not a single drop of blood coming out of the wound. In fact, the raw flesh - or at least what was supposed to be the raw flesh - did not look the way it was supposed to look like. It was not red and healthy, but grey and… there wasn’t any blood. Not a single drop.

Mike slapped his palm across his mouth, and shutting his eyes, he took two steps back, turning his face away. There was no blood, there was no smell, there was nothing . Nothing human. What the fuck. Now he felt like vomiting. He looked up at Olivier. “What the fuck is… What!?”

The man looked at him and humming, he put down the letter opener. He picked up a piece of fabric, wrapped it around his hand. It didn’t really serve any purpose other than hiding the disturbing wound from Mike out of pure sympathy. It wasn’t an easy thing to see. “You seemed very confident in yourself just a second ago.”

“Fuck.” With a huge sigh, Mike held back his dinner, and taking a deep breath he adjusted his posture. “Okay. Okay. Let’s pretend, for a second, that I believe you. What do you really want? What kind of help do you need from me ? Do you want to eat me, or something? That is why am I here?”

Hearing this, Olivier suddenly seemed annoyed. “If you would just calm down a little, I would tell you everything!”

“Get on with it!” Mike shouted suddenly, with his gun held up again.

The man- or vampire- or what the fuck stood there, mouth slightly open, eyes helpless. He bit his bottom lip and turned his head down again, lifting both his hands in a soothing motion. “Please... “ he glanced up at him again, almost scared. “I know exactly how this sounds, alright? But I… I don’t want to cause harm to you, I swear. I wanted to introduce myself to you, but I have spent the last… forty-something years of my life being in- being alone, and I had no idea how to approach you! This is the truth, I don’t- I don’t want to hurt you, you are not my type! I do not even enjoy hunting humans, all that screaming and blood and waste…” Olivier shook his head slowly, looking Mike in the eyes. “I swear. I don’t want to eat you, I don’t want to harm you, I’m more than happy with those bags. I genuinely need your help!”

With jaws clenched, Mike watched his every move, considering his options. He slowly lowered his gun, and side-eyeing the vampire, he turned around to observe the surroundings. It was a way of getting used to the situation, and also it was a test of the other. He wanted to see how Olivier reacts to him in his own home, if it could even be called that. With a frown, he looked around.

The attic was spacious, with a few smaller windows built into the roof. It was divided into two, a smaller room, which reminded him of an office, that was where they were standing. It had a heavy, old table - Olivier waiting patiently beside that - pushed under a window, close to the wall, an equally old leather chair, a few cabinets with papers, candles, smaller and bigger containers, a small, locked chest, and other unusual stuff piled on them and the fridge with the fantastic blood bags in it.

The other half of the attic was just behind Olivier. Not knowing what to expect, Mike looked around. He didn’t see a bed or a coffin or anything where somebody would be able to rest comfortably, but he had a hard guess that Oliver - if he was truly what he said to be - didn’t really need sleep. However he saw an old couch and two nice armchairs in front of a- a- a bookshelf. Well. A bookshelf was a very, very weak expression. It wasn’t just one bookshelf, he saw at least three or four of them, and each one was stacked with books. And not just the shelves, no, there were books everywhere. Everywhere. It looked like a motherfucking library over there. Piles of books behind the couch, around the armchairs, stuffed into the window slots, put on the beams and around the columns. It was so messy, yet amazing, Mike couldn’t help but let an amused little snort out.

He looked back at Olivier, who was still standing next to the table, waiting for him, without a single movement. He didn’t take a breath, he didn’t blink. Sniffing, Mike lowered his gun completely. “A vampire?”

Olivier nodded.

“How old are you?”

“As far as I remember, I have been turned-” he hummed. “ around AD 750-850.”

Mike lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘around’?”

Olivier cleared his throat, looked away as if he was embarrassed. “We didn’t really have birth certificates back then and my memory is kind of blurry from a 1200 years of perspective, don’t judge me.”

Mike hummed. “Is this your real name?”

“I have been called many names over the years, I don’t know if you have noticed, but it’s sort of suspicious if somebody uses a name for 1200 years, but don’t worry. For those who I wish to get close to myself I am Olivier Flament, yes.”

“Why are you talking like this…? I’m a simple man.”

“Then you might know that old habits die hard.”

Not being able to hold back, Mike smirked at that. “Touché.”

Olivier nodded gently. “Would you like to ask anything else?”

“Who turned you? Are there more of you?”

Looking away, Olivier started to fidget with the phone - actually an iPhone - on his table. “I don’t really know who turned me and I don’t know about the others. To be honest, I don’t wish to have any connection with them anymore. I have had enough, especially since the so-called “Dracula” figure ruined our reputation in popular culture.”

Lifting his eyebrows, Mike almost burst out laughing. “You are- you are hurt by the movies?”

“Since they tell false facts, obviously yes.”

“Why don’t you correct them, then?”

Now it was Olivier’s turn to lift his eyebrow. “And how do you expect me to do that? March over, knock on the silver gates of Hollywood and say ‘Excuse me, we do not actually sparkle under the sunlight, says me, an actual vampire!’ or what? I’m not a fool. As soon as I tell the humans what I am, there would be one of these two options: one, they would want me to turn them into vampires as well, for the fun of living forever, or the second, they would panic as the herd of animals they are and chase me until they either catch or kill me. Not like they would succeed in any of these options, but it’s easier for me to just lay back in silence and busy myself with the old knowledge of the early ages.”

Mike, taken aback, just shut up for a few seconds, lifting his palms in a protective gesture, but it was for the looks only. He somehow did not feel the need to protect himself anymore, in fact, Oivier reacting so seriously to a simple joke put him at ease. He liked it here, and he found himself being interested in the other. It was still a far-fetched idea, and he was still 60% sure that he will wake up on the ground in his boat, with a few empty bottles of whiskey around him, but this wasn’t so bad after all. The vampire seemed almost nice, and he was never really down to judge at the first glance, so why not wait and hear him out?

Noticing his own rambling, Olivier fake-cleared his throat again and turned down his head. “I’m sorry.”

“I assume you have been saving this up since a very long time.”

“Indeed.”

With a small, amused smile Mike shrugged. “It’s okay. But if you don’t want to tell people what you are, why tell me?”

“I have heard about you before, and I trust that you won’t tell my secret to anybody. I believe you could help me with my problem. I know it is very hard for you to understand my reasons and drive, but I put my trust into you.”

Mike narrowed his eyes. “What do you need my help for?”

“I want you to help me die.”

In his wandering, he almost missed the way the other’s lips pulled into a small smile. “You won’t help me, will you?”

Lifting his chin a bit, Mike looked the other in the eyes and he couldn’t help, but think ‘what a waste’, but shook his head anyway. “I don’t enjoy murdering people, but if you have a good enough reason I will. But you have lots and lots of explaining to do before we get to it.”

The man seemed caught off guard- almost surprised for a second, but his smile widened as hope filled him even more.

Mike shook his head, looking away. What a waste. He didn’t like the idea of killing the other. He kind of started to like him in a very twisted way, but he understood why somebody would want to die after 1200 years of living in the dark.

Olivier stepped closer to him, offering his hand gently, a smile as bright as the sun.

Mike glanced away with a low sigh. “What have I gotten myself into? Mike Baker, by the way.”

“I know!” with a soft laugh, the vampire shook his hand. “I told you, I have heard about you. And as for what… Let’s just sit down, and let me tell you my story first, okay?”

Stepping back a little, Mike looked him in the eyes. After a long pause, he nodded. “Okay. You can start with how you know me.”

Olivier nodded, and stepped into the other part of the attic, gesturing towards one of the armchairs. “Have a seat.”

Mike put his gun on the big table and followed Olivier into the ‘living-room’. He looked around a bit, observing the piles of books here and there and with an amused smirk, he sat down. The armchair creaked under his weight and he frowned. “How long since you invited anybody here?”

Olivier looked at him, sitting down on the couch. “This is a fairly new place for me, truth to be told, I have only lived here for about ten years. But in the term of having interaction with humans and other vampires… It’s been just about thirty years or so. I prefer being alone.”

Nodding, Mike kicked off his shoes and put his legs on top of a strong pile of books. Olivier rolled his eyes with a smile, but he didn’t say anything. “So,” Mike began. “Why me?”

Fidgeting with his fingers, the vampire looked away, and then back at Mike. “I knew your grandfather, and also your dad.”

Let me know what you think!! <3

#dragonwrites #dragontries #dualrainbow #siege-o-ween 2020 #r6s #rainbowsixsiege #fanfic #fanfiction #r6s Thatcher #r6s Lion #r6s Bandit #r6s Jäger

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biostudyblog · 6 years ago

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Evolution

Evolution is an essential key to understanding all branches of biology. Microevolution is the changes in one gene pool of a population over generations. Macroevolution is speciation, which refers to the formation of an entirely new species.

Individuals never change or evolve. Your DNA is your DNA, and cannot evolve. (Adaption is different). A population is the smallest group that can evolve.

Evidence of Evolution

There are 6 areas of study that prove the theory of evolution:

Fossil record

Comparative anatomy

Comparative biochemistry

Comparative embryology

Molecular biology

Biogeography

Fossil Record

The fossil record is evidence of species who have become extinct or evolved into other species.

99% of all organisms that have ever lived on earth are now extinct.

With studies of radioactive dating and half-life, we know the earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old.

Prokaryotic cells are the oldest fossils, and so were the first organisms to develop on earth.

Palaeontologists have discovered transitional fossils, which link older, extinct fossils to modern species. For example, the discovery of the Archaeopteryx is a fossil that links reptiles and birds. Along with that, we know that the Hyracotherium was the ancestor of the modern-day horse.

Comparative Anatomy

Many organisms share anatomic structures, proving that they came from a common ancestor. For example, by comparing the dental structure of humans and chimpanzees, we now know that we share a common ancestor that lived less than 10 million years ago.

Homologous Structures: Homologous structures are like the wing of a bat, the fin of a whale, and our own arm. By looking at them, it’s evident that they share bone structure. We share a common ancestor, however, we diverged millions of years ago.

Analogous Structures: Analogous structures are like a bat and fly’s wing. They have the same function, however a differing underlying structure. This is a superficial similarity and reflects adaptation to a similar environment. It is an example of convergent evolution.

Vestigial Structures: Vestigial structures are like our coccyx (the tailbone). While it was useful when our ancestors had tails, it now is a useless reminder of what we used to be. Fun fact: the appendix is not a vestigial structure. In fact, it has a function in the immune system.

Comparative Biochemistry

Organisms with a common ancestor have common biochemical pathways. The more closely related two organisms are to each other, the more similar their biochemistry is. Humans and mice are both mammals, which is why mice are often used in medical research (However, mice are rodents and we are apes, which is why studies done on mice can very often be flawed.)

Comparative Embryology

More closely related organisms go through similar stages in their embryonic development as they evolved from a common ancestor. When vertebrates are embryos, we all develop gill pouches on the side of our throat. In fish, these become the gills. In humans, they become the eustachian tubes which connect the middle ear with the throat.

Molecular Biology

Comparing two organisms on a molecular level also gives insight into how closely related they are. Since respiration requires an electron transport chain, we have a polypeptide called cytochrome c. By comparing the amino acid sequence of cytochrome c, we can know how closely related the organisms are. For example, our cytochrome c is identical to that of a chimpanzee, however different from a pig, and almost completely different to that of the cytochrome c found in paramecia.

Biogeography

The earth did not always look the way that it does now. The theory of continental drift states that 250 million years ago, all the continents were together in a supercontinent called Pangaea, which slowly, over time, separated into the 7 continents that we know today. Because of this, we know organisms like marsupials migrated by land from South America, across Antartica to Australia, before the continents separated, isolating marsupials.

Lamarck vs. Darwin

Before Darwin’s theory of evolution was Lamarck’s. Lamarck’s theory was based on the ideas of inheritance of acquired characteristics, and use and disuse. He believed that individual organisms change in response to their environment. For example, when the ecological niche that giraffes in the grasslands of Africa became too full, he believed they learned to stretch their necks to reach the acacia trees. After developing these long necks, they passed the trait off to their offspring.

Darwin did his studies on the Galapagos Islands to study the strange wildlife that lived there. His theory of evolution was based on characteristics of animals like the finches who had developed different shaped beaks depending on which ecological niche they filled. He published his book in 1859 and became a sensation.

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Darwin’s theory of evolution stated that:

Populations grow exponentially, to overpopulate and over exceed their resources. This idea came from Malthus, who in 1798 published his research on population growth, disease and famine.

Overpopulation results in competition and a struggle to exist.

In all populations, some organisms have advantages over others. Those that win the genetic lottery are able to survive long enough to reproduce, passing the successful traits on. The organisms who lose the genetic lottery die before they can pass their genetic material on. For example, in a snowy area, if there are white and brown rabbits, the brown rabbits will be eaten, as they don’t camouflage. As a result, only white rabbits have babies, and soon the entire population will become white. This is a concept known as survival of the fittest.

Fitness refers to the ability of an organism to reproduce.

How the Giraffe Got Its Long Neck

Lamarck’s theory was thrown out in favour of Charles Darwin’s. What happened, was there were too many animals in one ecological niche, and so not enough food. Giraffes with shorter necks couldn’t find enough food, and so they starved. Giraffes with longer necks than normal were able to eat food other animals couldn’t reach, and so survived and passed on their DNA. Thus, over time, there was a noticeable change in the appearance of the giraffes, as the average neck length of the population increased, not the individual.

How the Peppered Moth Went From Light to Dark

In England, until around 1845, peppered moths were light. This was around industrialisation, and so factories producing smoke and soot polluted the air. As a result, light moths no longer could camouflage themselves and were picked off, causing an increase in the percentage of black moths, as black moths had the selective advantage. This darkening is known as industrial melanism.

Evolution and Drug Resistance

Antibiotics are wonder drugs. People are constantly asking for them, even if they have a virus. However, by taking antibiotics more, the antibiotics become more and more useless. This is because antibiotics kill susceptible bacteria while leaving alone bacteria that have developed resistance. These bacteria reproduce, and antibiotics no longer can fight them. The ability of a virus or bacteria impacts the ease of finding a cure. A famous example is AIDS. AIDS is caused by the HIV virus which evolves extremely easily. Currently, the treatment for the disease is a drugs cocktail which slows its progression. In some patients, the HIV virus becomes resistant, and they take a downward spiral. The flu virus is another example of a virus that evolves extremely quickly.

Types of Natural Selection

There are 3 ways natural selection can alter the frequency of inherited traits in a population, depending on the favoured phenotypes: stabilising selection, diversifying, or disruptive selection, and directional selection.

Stabilising Selection

Stabilising eliminates the extremes, and favours the more common intermediate form. Stabilising selection is the reason why most human babies are born with a similar weight: 6 to 9 pounds, as greater or less than this often increases the mortality risk.

Disruptive or Diversifying Selection

Disruptive selection increases the numbers of extreme types in a population, at the cost of intermediate forms (it is the opposite of stabilising selection.) This results in a balanced polymorphism where two or more phenotypes coexist. Over time this may lead to speciation.

Directional Selection

Directional selection is caused by changing environmental conditions, where one phenotype replaces another. The peppered moth's case is an example of this.

Diversity Within a Population

Darwin’s theory of evolution depends on diversity within any given gene pool.

Darwin at the time could not explain the genetic diversity, however, we now know it is due to mutation, genetic drift, and genetic flow.

Mutation

Mutations are changes in genetic material. They are the raw material for evolutionary change. Even just one point mutation can introduce a whole new allele to a population, as found by Hugo de Vries who studies polyploidy in plants.

Genetic Drift

Genetic drift is a change in the gene pool due to chance. This is the reason why most people from Ireland have red hair because there is no known evolutionary benefit. Two more broad examples of genetic drift are the bottleneck effect and the founder effect.

The Bottleneck Effect

The bottleneck effect is caused by major events, like a flood, volcano, or fire causing the massive, nonselective reduction in the population. The resulting population is no longer representative of the original one, causing certain alleles to be over or underrepresented, completely by chance.

The Founder Effect

When a small population breaks away from a larger population, it is not representative of the original population. As a result, rare alleles can become overrepresented. This happened in the 1770s, with the Old Order of the Amish in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Their ancestors moved from Germany to America, and a large percentage of them have the dominant, but rare gene for polydactyly, which means having more than 5 fingers and toes. As a result, in this area, there is a massive concentration of this extremely rare gene.

Gene Flow

Gene flow is the movement of alleles in and out of a population. Migration of fertile individuals or gametes between populations may cause gene flow. When pollen from a flower in one valley travels via the wind across a mountain to another valley, that causes gene flow.

Population Stability (Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium)

Hardy and Weinburg were two scientists who developed a theory describing a stable, nonevolving population (where the allele frequency does not change). For there to be Hardy-Weinburg equilibrium, the population must meet the following requirements:

It must be very large: Because changes in small populations have such massive effects on the allele frequency of the entire population, there must be a large population to dilute these changes.

The population must be isolated: When a population is isolated, the lack of gene flow prevents the introduction of new alleles into the gene pool

There must be no mutations: Mutations alter the allelic frequency and can lead to a whole new allele.

Mating must be random: When individuals select mates, natural selection comes into play, and the fittest individual will reproduce, altering the allelic frequency.

There must be no natural selection: Adding to the above, there must be no reason for the population to evolve.

Hardy-Weinburg Equation

The Hardy-Weinburg Equation is necessary to know the frequency of alleles in a population.

Example Problem:

If 9% of the population has blue eyes, what percentage of the population is hybrid for brown eyes? Homozygous for brown eyes?

Isolation and Speciation

A species is a population whose members are able to interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Horses and donkeys produce mules, which are infertile, thus they are not in the same species. When a population fragments and isolates small groups, new species may form, as different selective pressures influence the two groups.

Geographic Isolation

Geographic isolation can be caused by any geographic feature that makes it nearly impossible for two groups to interact, such as mountains, canyons, or rivers.

Polyploidy

Polyploidy is a mutation that occurs during meiosis, where instead of ending up diploid (2n), cells can become polyploids (>2n). Polyploids cannot breed with non-polyploids, therefore this is a kind of isolation.

Habitat Isolation

Habitat isolation occurs when two organisms live in the same area but rarely interact. For example, two snakes may share the same genus, however, one inhabits the water, while one is terrestrial.

Behavioural Isolation

Behavioural isolation occurs when two organisms are isolated because of a change in behaviour. For instance, male fireflies attract mates by flashing a specific pattern of lights. If the male firefly does not use the pattern she will respond to, no mating will occur.

Temporal Isolation

Temporal isolation is just isolation over time. Two plants of one species may become isolated, as one becomes sexually mature earlier than the other.

Reproductive Isolation

Reproductive isolation is caused when anatomical incompatibility makes it impossible to mate, for example, a chihuahua and a great dane cannot mate.

Patterns of Evolution

Divergent Evolution

Divergent evolution when a species is isolated and becomes a new species. Homologous structures are evidence of this pattern of evolution.

Convergent Evolution

Convergent evolution occurs when two unrelated species inhabit the same environment. For example, in the whale and the fish, despite having different ancestors, they have very similar appearances and features as these features benefit both of them. Analogous structures are evidence of this pattern of evolution.

Parallel Evolution

Parallel evolution describes when two related species have related evolutionary adaptations. For example, the grey wolf and Tasmanian wolf have striking similarities, as, despite their geographic isolation, their environments are similar.

Coevolution

Coevolution is the mutual set of adaptations between two interacting species. For example, pollinators and plants. When it feeds from a flower, a pollinator guarantees the survival of the plant. Thus, the plants and pollinators evolve together to guarantee survival together.

Adaptive Radiation

When most people are asked to talk about evolution, Darwin’s finches are brought up. When the birds were isolated on multiple different islands, and environments, the one species fractured into multiple. This is called adaptive radiation.

Theories About the Theory

Gradualism

Gradualism is Darwin’s belief that evolution occurs gradually over a long period of time in a linear, or branching fashion. Big changes occur by accumulating multiple small ones. For this theory to be correct, no missing links should exist.

This theory is no longer popular, as transitional fossils are rare to find.

Punctuated Equilibrium

Punctuated equilibrium is more widely accepted by scientists now. It is the idea that new species occur suddenly after long periods of now change, as new species arrive in different places, expanding their range, and replacing the ancestral species.

Spontaneous Generation

Before there were gradualism and punctuated equilibrium, there was spontaneous generation. It was a popular idea until the 1700′s and states that living things emerge from nonliving ones. Francesco Redi disproved this theory by putting decaying meat into wide mouth jars, some with lids, some covered by cheesecloth, and some left open. Maggots only appeared where flies could lay their eggs.

How Life Began

So then, if life comes from life, where did it all start?

After the formation of the earth, around 4.6 billion years ago, earth’s outer surface cooled and solidified, forming a crust. The ancient environment was likely made primarily of CH4 (methane), NH3 (ammonia), and H20 (vapour). There was no free oxygen. Intense heat, lightning, and radiation in the atmosphere gave rise to the first cell. An attempt to recreate these conditions have happened a lot throughout history.

In the 1920s, two scientists, Oparin and Haldane separately concluded that earth’s early conditions gave rise to life. In the absence of corrosively reactive O2 that would react and degrade them, organic molecules were able to form and persist.

In the 1950s, Miller and Urey tested this hypothesis and proved nearly any energy source could convert inorganic molecules into organic molecules including amino acids. They used electricity to mimic lightning, and UV light, as without the atmosphere we have today, with its protective ozone layer, UV rays were extremely prevalent (the sun was a deadly laser, but not anymore there’s a blanket)

Fox, in more recent times, recreated this experiment and produced membrane-bound cell-like structures he named proteinoid microspheres which were able to survive for hours in a lab.

The Heterotroph Hypothesis and the Theory of Endosymbiosis

The Heterotroph Hypothesis states that it is most likely that the first cells on earth were anaerobic heterotrophic prokaryotes (as autotrophs need membrane-bound organelles to produce their own energy)

Eukaryotic cells evolved when small bacteria took residence in large prokaryotic cells and helped perform essential functions in the host cell. These small bacteria became the nuclei, chloroplasts, and mitochondria we have today, which is why these 3 organelles have their own DNA, and why the mitochondria and chloroplasts can self-replicate.

The first multicellular animals appeared around 565 million years ago, and within 40 million years, the phyla we know today appeared. This time, when multiple organisms moved onto land is called the Cambrian explosion. Animals developed features such as lungs, skin, limbs, internal fertilisation mechanisms, and eggshells in order to survive on land. Plants developed roots, supporting cells that allowed them to be so tall, vascular tissue, cutin on their leaves, and seeds.

Mass Extinctions

So if life on earth represents 3% of what used to be on earth, how did so many species die out?

While normal extinction causes the deaths of individual species or populations, mass extinctions are events that lead to the deaths of more than 75% of life on earth. Earth has seen five and may be seeing a sixth in today’s time.

The Permian extinction occurred 250 million years ago when massive volcano eruptions in Siberia spewed massive amounts of lava, and CO2 raising the global temperature up 6 degrees. (Sound familiar?)

Where did the dinosaurs go? The Cretaceous extinction was a subject of much speculation, until the discovery of a massive asteroid hole on the Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico. The 10 km-wide asteroid crashed, causing massive clouds of debris to coat the atmosphere, blocking sunlight, killing plants, and the animals that depended on them. Some dinosaurs survived and evolved into birds. So next time you have a parrot on your finger, remember that you have what used to be a dinosaur standing on your finger.

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acatex · 6 years ago

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Hey Snarklings!

Are you surprised that I’m still alive? I know I am (lols am I even relevant anymore?) Before I get into my whole MCAT prep strategy, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for leaving you guys in the dust. I have been very stressed lately and I just felt like I was letting you guys down which was why I made a really hard (but spontaneous) decision on my academic career. Of course I cannot comment right now on what I did/planning to do, but an upcoming blog post would be up in the next couple of days to explain the whole grey area that I was stuck in. Okay, it’s time to put away the tissue boxes and dive into every pre-meds worse nightmare: The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)

Disclaimer: This is my method and it may or may not work for you, so please take it with a grain of salt because, the way that I learn may be different from you, but it is a good idea to see how others approach this scary test.

What is the MCAT?

In short, the MCAT is a standardized test taken on a computer program to measure a prospective medical student’s potential to succeed medical school. Think of it as foreshadow of one’s ability to do well on painstakingly long exams that are cut up into blocks: Since most of medical schools in the US and Canada require doctors in training to take many board exams that can be 8-9 hours long.

Another reason why the MCAT is administered is to see whether the applicant can use background knowledge of the subject (biochemistry, biology, chemistry, psychology/sociology, physics, critical reasoning skills, etc) and integrate with other sciences to synthesize and draw an objective answer to a novel/unknown situation. This makes the MCAT different from others standardized tests such as SAT or ACT since these tests are more on memory recall and regurgitation, while the MCAT is more on integration and application to unknown situations. Think of it like this, when a doctor walks into a patient’s room, they know some things (the knowledge they’ve been taught in med school) and there’s probably things that they don’t know about a patient’s health, but when a doctor integrates what he/she knows and connect it to the unknown they can solve problems.

What is the MCAT tested on?

Since, one of the reasons why the MCAT is administered is to test your endurance on future medical school board exams such as: USMLE step 1, step 2 CK, step 2 CS, Step 3 if you are in the United States or the MCCEE, NAC, MCCQE part 1, MCCQE part 2 in (Canadian boards), and Comlex Level 1, Level 2CE, Level 2PE, Level 3 (Osteopathic med schools/DO). They do this by testing you on undergraduate courses and are broken down into 4 sections/blocks

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS)

Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems

Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations of Behaviour

Prior to Taking the MCAT

I highly recommend taking the required courses before taking the MCAT. The AAMC recommends to take the following pre-med classes:

Introductory (first year) Biology (2 semesters/1 year)

Introductory/General Chemistry (2 semesters/1 year)

Organic chemistry (2 semesters/1 year)

Biochemistry (1 semester)

Introductory Physics (2 semesters/1 year)

Psychology (1 semester)

Sociology (1 semester)

Now I never took a sociology class and I am planning on taking physics in my upcoming (and last) school year of uni. But that doesn’t really matter since you can just self study for it.

Resources?

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So MCAT prep cannot be MCAT prep without a good set of MCAT books for you to review on. Now, there are many MCAT companies out there and a lot of people are confused on which one they would get to the point that everyone keeps on asking the same question: What books are YOU using? Hey, are those books good? Listen, your success on the MCAT does not depend on what company that you choose to get your books from. Why? Because it is you and how well you reviewed and practice those questions on a DAILY BASIS. I know people who got into med school by using Kaplan, I know people who got rejected who used Kaplan, and the same goes for other prep companies such as The Princeton Review, Examkrackers, The Berkely Review, etc. It doesn’t matter. Just pick one and stick with one. Do not. I repeat. DO NOT BUY TWO BOOKS OF THE SAME SUBJECT BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT ONE COMPANY DOES A BETTER “JOB.’ Again, It is you who will determine your own success, not a book.

Now, for me, I was about to buy the Kaplan MCAT series but, my mother surpised me on my 21st birthday with the NextStep MCAT Content Review and Practice Passages. At first, I was bummed out but as I went along, I realized that the books are doing its job: Helping me review what I learned in undergrad (wipes tears away; literally every time I turn a page I get flashbacks). And the best part is: It was free since it was my birthday gift so I did not have to spend a dime.

When I found something that I did not fully understand or the book did not give me a detailed answer I usually used Khan Academy videos (There’s a whole section just for the MCAT with practice problems). Other videos/channels worth mentioning:

AK Lectures for biochemistry and general chemistry (his explanations for thermodynamics is so straight to the point, they’re super clutch)

The Organic Chemistry Tutor: MCAT Test Prep General Chemistry Review Study Guide Part 1 and MCAT General Chemistry Lectures Review Prep Part 2 – Equations & Practice Questions

Leah4SciMCAT for doing MCAT Math Without a Calculator and Amino Acids for MCAT/Biochem students. I also looked at Fischer Projections for MCAT Orgo and Biochemistry which helped so much since she sues fun mnemonics and straight to the point concepts that just makes the learning fun and easy.

Bozeman science for their anatomy and physiology sections for every organ system mentioned in the biology MCAT book. I also looked at a video or two from the AP chemistry, AP biology, and AP physics (which I remembered fondly back in high school and so I’m familiar with them thus, I didn’t look at every video but just ones that I had trouble with, ex: transcription vs translation.)

My method for studying: I tend to study in rotations or two chapters of the same subject a day until completion. The image below is how that looks like in my mini day planner:

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Since I do not have a job nor am I in school during the summer I was able to study for 8 hours a day and found myself going through rotations quicker than I expected. Before I go to bed I reviewed what I learned and anything that I do not finished I would have to finish in the morning before starting a new rotation.

Active Learning

So when I start a new chapter I use my metacognitive abilities: What do I know vs what do I don’t know.

Let’s take the endocrine system as an example. I know that the endocrine is invovled in hormone secretion and regulation of the metabolic oathways that maintains homeostasis. I know an example of this would be aldosterone (a steroid hormone) and vasopressin (a peptide) hormone helps regulate homeostasis by repsonding to low fluid levels and by increasing fluid retention. But what I do not know is how exactly they achieve this: thus when I’m studying that’s my goal or my purpose. I am learning to apply and find answers to my questions.

Every time a paragraph says something about a hormone I would turn it into a question and write the answer in my own words. Here’s an example on tropic versus non tropic hormones:

In orange I wrote the section of the chapter: Regulation

I wrote a capital Q for question and A for answer.

And sometimes I write a little flow chart for easy summary of what I learned

The reason why I used this system was for 3 reasons: (1) By writing out the section in a different colour, it acts as a study guide (you know with all the topics/questions pertaining to one part of the chapter for a test). (2) Turning the info in a paragraph into a question and answers makes it interactive and makes you think about what you are learning; sort of like flashcards. I would cover the answer portion with another piece of paper and just talk/aggressively whisper out the answer (the answer doesn’t have to be word by word but just similar to what it is). (3) When it is time for revision: Your notes are in a Q/A format or like test which is better than writing a bunch of notes and just passively looking over.

Here’s another one on the hypothalamus-anterior pituitary-adrenal cortex axis (HPA)

As you can see I love flow charts for sequential pathways and showing the cause and effects of each step (what increases or decreases, which hormone is involved, etc)

I will write a more detailed post on what I put into my MCAT notebooks and what I look for when reading or extracting information from the review books. So just hold on and be patient.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Knowledge is power but practice makes perfect. Remember that the MCAT will not really test your ability to recall facts straight from the book; this is not a trivia show. It is your ability to apply known information (your MCAT content review) and integrate them with other information in an unknown situation (the MCAT passages). That’s why I like that my MCAT books have practice passages at the end of each chapter. I also bought extra practice passages from NextStep because they really do help me understand the content and the timing. If you do not have practice passages right now, go to the Khan academy MCAT section and there’s loads of them (but they are really easy though).

Also, I really enjoyed watching videos on YouTube on how to approach passages and seeing what other people’s strategies and methods are. I tend to integrate what others do with my own method, but everyone is different so just take it with a grain of salt. Here are a couple of my favorite Youtubers, one of which is actually my best friend.

Amanda and Rich Show: MCAT Biology Passage Breakdown

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Biochemistry Tutorial 1 (Amino Acids) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT Biology/Biochemistry Passage Analysis (Acetylcholine) – CurveSetter MCAT Prep

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Chemistry Tutorial 3 (Titration Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Chemistry/Physics Selected MC 1 – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: Electricity and Magnetism MCAT Physics Passage – CurveSetter MCAT Prep

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 Biology Tutorial 1 (Neuron Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 CARS Tutorial 1 (Passage) – CurveSetter Tutoring

CurveSetter: MCAT 2015 CARS Tutorial 1 (Questions) – CurveSetter Tutoring

SecondChance MCAT: MCAT Science Passage Breakdown #1

SecondChance MCAT: Full MCAT CARS Passage Breakdown (98% CARS Scorer)

Bless her Health: CARS WORKSHOP 08/24

Bless her Health: CARS WORKSHOP 08/28

After going through a few passages or so, review your mistakes! Then again look up your Q/A notes and see where you went wrong. When you do this, you’re allocating your attention areas that need it. This really helped me retain information whilst, practicing applying concepts with other concepts. Another reason why, is that the questions on the MCAT are really different from your college classes. Again, you’re not regurgitating facts out, you’re applying what you know with what you don’t know by looking at superficial similarities and coming up with the best answer. Since this is a new skill, the only way to learn it is through practice.

I am planning on making a post about how I breakdown science and CARS passages as well so stay tuned.

Spaced Repetition Is Key

One of the keys to success for the MCAT is repetition for retention. If you do not review, you will forget it. That’s why I always made sure that after a section of a chapter I would look over what I had so far and really try to understand what I just learned and see how it relates to other chapters or to the other subjects in one way or another to get the BIG PICTURE. Then, before I go to sleep I will look over at the chapter again as a whole and annotate anything that I think needs more detail. Then the next day before starting a new chapter, I quickly look at all the previous chapters by talking aloud (or aggressively whispering if you’re around people, sorry to the girl at Starbucks who has to put up with my) and just make connections to it. Over time, I looked at all the previous chapters so much that I can recall many concepts.

Review while making your Q/A notes

review after making your Q/A notes

Look at your Q/A notes before you go to bed

Before starting a new chapter, look at all the previous Q/A notes to refresh your memory

1 day later look at your old Q/A notes then maybe 3 days later do it again

Congratulations, all the info you’ve mastered are now stored in your long term memory. It is permanent until you die (unless if you get amnesia).

I hope this helps make up for my absence and don’t worry, I will post more on MCAT prep. So ciao for now, and stay flossy everyone.

How I Prepare for the MCAT Part 1 Hey Snarklings! Are you surprised that I'm still alive? I know I am (lols am I even relevant anymore?) Before I get into my whole MCAT prep strategy, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for leaving you guys in the dust.

#MCAT #medical school #premed

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neuralsoup · 2 years ago

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new year, same biochem // 02.01.2023.

Days until biochem exam: 10

Lectures to review: 17

Am I screwed: yes, but I am also doing my best to unscrew the situation, but also it feels like I'm not getting enough done and won't revise everything in time

Well, as of right now, the time is three minutes short of 1 am, so I'll quickly write an update and see myself out. As of right now, I have covered Ochem and Enzymes, which make up slightly more than 1/4 of all the course material. Tomorrow, I plan on covering Digestion, which will place me at 1/3 of course material covered. And then, the hardest part will begin... many, many metabolic pathways to look through and few, few days to make sense of it all. I still have done approximately 0.00 work concerning actual anatomy theory revision, so that's going to be fun, too. The good news is that this will all be over soon. 10 days until biochem, 3 days until anatomy, and then I get to rest, read and treat myself. Just gotta stick through this, as I have done many times before. On this note, goodnight, because I am:

youtube

#Youtube

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flyonthewallmedstudent · 3 years ago

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For switching to a major because I'm doing so bad in my current one. I love science but I'm struggling with a lot of the classes. I know it would be smarter for me to switch because then I won't be behind another year and I'd be able to boost my GPA up with the three semesters I have left. But I'm scared. What if I don't get into medical school even with switching my major? What should I do? I feel like such a failure (part I) please help. What advice can you give me :(

Hmm. This is probably really ancient now. ANd I do feel bad that I'm only now responding. (because I completely forgot it was here).

I was in a similar situation. I think nearly every med student will have a story about organic chemistry... or calculus. I barely passed these, and I was considered lucky, some of my friends failed and retook these. Or dropped out (actually maybe the drop outs were the lucky ones). Took me 2-3 years to lift my GPA after the hit it took. I was a double major mind you - so it took me longer to finish. (Also cost more).

You could consider a major or minor, depending on your financial constraints. Obviously when I went through undergrad, it was relatively more affordable compared to now, what with inflation etc.

I chose the double major path for interest and mental health. Too much of the heavy sciences got me really down because it just soaked up my entire life and existence to try to get a good grade. At one point I was doing physics, chem, ochem, biochem etc. at the same time. I'm not naturally good at any of those things.

Balance helped the GPA - arts courses chiefly. I still enjoyed science, but not the 24/7 melt your mind level of it. Reflecting back, in high school for me it was mandatory to do a mix of arts, science etc so I tried to emulate that. Suddenly I had a lot more fun, and meet different people and had a very diverse set of friends by the end of it. To state the obvious, it's easier to get an A grade in an arts course vs... Ochem or physics. There's a movement in the US now of picking med students with a humanities background over the hard sciences or at least a mix.

Reflecting back.. having some different interests that I invested time (and money) in still provides some fall back when I'm struggling at work. Because work can easily dominate your life, suddenly all your friends are work friends. It's all you talk about. THen if something happens as it does in life, something at work disappoints you - you're left with an abyssmal feeling of emptiness. Because there's not much else going on.

If you don't get into med school even after a GPA boost and switching up majors etc. You can continue to take courses until you get that minimum to get through a door and to an interview let's say. Or take the non-traditional route. Work - then take a couple of courses on the side at a local college/university. Or attend graduate school in something you enjoy. I know it's much easier for me to say that, looking back at my own pathway to med. It's much harder being in that situation as a premed.

I don't miss undergrad. It's a confusing time. So many decisions. So much uncertainty. So much unknown. I read the bell jar when I was going through that blurry time in my life and really related to it at the time.

I just felt so lost. At least what I can say is that it doesn't last forever and you will get to where you need to go after undergrad and perhaps even past your mid twenties.

#medblrs #medblr #school #med school

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sciencespies · 4 years ago

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Roundworms Melt Down Their Organs To Squirt Milk From Their Vulvas For Their Young

https://sciencespies.com/nature/roundworms-melt-down-their-organs-to-squirt-milk-from-their-vulvas-for-their-young/

Roundworms Melt Down Their Organs To Squirt Milk From Their Vulvas For Their Young

You probably wouldn’t pick microscopic roundworms as the nurturing kind, but here’s a fun fact for your day – these commonly studied nematodes squirt a kind of egg-milk out of their vulvas to feed their young.

Caenorhabditis elegans larvae that feed on this yolk milk grow more quickly than those that don’t, a new study reveals. So just like with mammals that provide milk to their babies, this gives the next generation of worms a helpful boost in fitness with which to face their new world.

And it comes at a catastrophic cost to the mother.

Mother C. elegans are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female sexual reproductive organs. Males exist too, but are extremely rare in the wild.

So while they can fertilize their eggs sexually, mother worms most often fertilize themselves. But their supply of self-sperm is limited; once they stop birthing young, their bodies commit to producing the yolk milk.

These microscopic, transparent wriggle-beasts lay more than their own body weight in eggs, which they excrete as just yolk or still fully intact egg cells (oocytes). But they make them by melting down and repurposing their own organs, including intestines and muscles.

C. elegans squirting yolk milk through their vulva. (UCL)

“The worms are destroying themselves in the process of transferring nutrients to their offspring,” explains University College London bioscientist Carina Kern.

“And all those unfertilized eggs are full of milk, so they are acting like milk bottles to help with milk transport to feed baby worms.”

This may seem surprising, but C. elegans is far from the only invertebrate species to provide highly nutritious excretions for their young. Jumping spiders do it too, and so do cockroaches. What’s more, many other animals also sacrifice themselves for their young, including octopuses and salmon.

In experiments, Kern and colleagues demonstrated that larvae who fed on egg yolk grew more quickly than those that didn’t, even after they returned to their usual food of E. coli.

The biochemical circuit that triggers the conversion from organs to eggs inside their mother, the insulin-like signaling pathway, is well known for shortening their lifespans. In fact, this pathway is one of the many reasons why C. elegans has been so well studied, because on an evolutionary level, it is well conserved across many animals, including humans.

Scientists have been using the mini soil worms to investigate aging, memory and other stranger things since the 1960s. They’re so valued for research that they were the first multicellular animal to have their genome sequenced.

Kern and colleagues suspect the timing of the worm’s yolk milk production may also coincide with when their colony starts depleting its food. In the wild, C. elegans is thought to rapidly reproduce as they conquer new territories, slurping up bacteria tasties within their dirt homes. They form large colonies that experience huge booms and busts in populations.

If the mother provides its offspring with a head start as food supplies dwindle, they’re more likely to survive – an evolutionary process called kin selection.

Unfortunately, this impressive self-sacrifice also means exciting studies about C. elegans genes that massively extend the roundworm’s lifespan may only work because they prevent this reproductive suicide.

But that doesn’t mean we still can’t learn a lot about aging from them. The researchers believe many of these worm aging mechanisms are still similar to those seen in other animals, so they hold insights into many diseases we all face.

This research was published in Nature Communications and an accompanying review in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

#Nature

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gffa · 6 years ago

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I genuinely love the mythology of Star Wars and some of the core foundations of it, especially when George Lucas talks about the nature of the dark side and the light side of the Force, the duality and choice that is within all of us. But one of my other favorite talks he gave is the duality of pleasure vs joy: “Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness. “Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It’s like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you’re shopping or you’re engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it. “On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn’t go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can’t. So the secret is that, even though it’s not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer. “People who get the pleasure they keep saying, ‘Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!’ You’ll never relive the moment you got your first car, that’s it, that’s the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you’ll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you’ll run out. You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work. “If you’re trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you’re doomed. It’s a very American idea, but it just can’t happen. You just let it go. Peak. Break. Pleasure is fun it’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever. “Just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe again it’ll come back and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure, it’s about you. It’s a selfish self-centered emotion, that’s created by self-centered motive of greed. “Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it’s the kind of thing that is in it’s subtlty and lowness more powerful than pleasure. If you get hung up on pleasure you’re doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness.” --George Lucas You can see how this influences the foundations of the light side and the dark side, which at its core is about selflessness vs selfishness, about compassion vs greed, in that it’s about the pursuit of joy rather than pleasure. It’s not that you can never experience pleasure, but you can’t get hung up on it, because pleasure is not sustainable long-term, only joy is. And that always strikes me whenever I pick up The Hijacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, MD, MSL a book about how corporations have specifically targeted our joy centers to make us so focused on reward--at the expense of content--through various means, which includes this as one of the foundations you need to understand: “At this point it’s essential to define and clarify what I mean by these two words—pleasure and happiness—which can mean different things to different people. “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “pleasure” as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”; or “gratification”; or “reward.” While “pleasure” has a multitude of synonyms, it is this phenomenon of reward that we will explore, as scientists have elaborated a specific “reward pathway” in the brain, and we now understand the neuroscience of its regulation. Conversely, “happiness” is defined as “the quality or state of being happy”; or “joy”; or “contentment.” While there are many synonyms for “happiness,” it is the phenomenon that Aristotle originally referred to as eudemonia, or the internal experience of contentment, that we will parse in this book. Contentment is the lowest baseline level of happiness, the state in which it’s not necessary to seek more. In the movie Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), middle-aged married couple Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano were asked the question “Are you happy?”—to which they responded, “Happy? Who’s happy? We’re content.” Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more. “Reward and contentment are both positive emotions, highly valued by humans, and both reasons for initiative and personal betterment. It’s hard to be happy if you derive no pleasure for your efforts—but this is exactly what is seen in the various forms of addiction. Conversely, if you are perennially discontent, as is so often seen in patients with clinical depression, you may lose the impetus to better your social position in life, and it’s virtually impossible to derive reward for your efforts. Reward and contentment rely on the presence of the other. Nonetheless, they are decidedly different phenomena. Yet both have been slowly and mysteriously vanishing from our global ethos as the prevalence of addiction and depression continues to climb. “Drumroll . . . without further ado, behold the seven differences between reward and contentment:

Reward is short-lived (about an hour, like a good meal). Get it, experience it, and get over it. Why do you think you can’t remember what you ate for dinner yesterday? Conversely, contentment lasts much longer (weeks to months to years). It’s what happens when you have a working marriage or watch your teenager graduate from high school. And if you experience contentment from a sense of achievement or purpose, the chances are that you will feel it for a long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.

Reward is visceral in terms of excitement (e.g., a casino, a football game, or a strip club). It activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, which causes blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Conversely, contentment is ethereal and calming (e.g., listening to soothing music or watching the waves of the ocean). It makes your heart rate slow and your blood pressure decline.

Reward can be achieved with different substances (e.g., heroin, nicotine, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and of course sugar). Each stimulates the reward center of the brain. Some are legal, some are not. Conversely, contentment is not achievable with substance use. Rather, contentment is usually achieved with deeds (like graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life).

Reward occurs with the process of taking (like from a casino). Gambling is definitely a high: when you win, it is fundamentally rewarding, both viscerally and economically. But go back to the same table the next day. Maybe you’ll feel a jolt of excitement to try again. But there’s no glow, no lasting feeling from the night before. Or go buy a nice dress at Macy’s. Then try it on again a month later. Does it generate the same enthusiasm? Conversely, contentment is often generated through giving (like giving money to a charity, or giving your time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project).

Reward is yours and yours alone. Your sense of reward does not immediately impact anyone else. Conversely, your contentment, or lack of it, often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large. Those who are extremely unhappy (the Columbine shooters) can take their unhappiness out on others. It should be said at this point that pleasure and happiness are by no means mutually exclusive. A dinner at the Bay Area Michelin three-star restaurant the French Laundry can likely generate simultaneous pleasure for you from the stellar food and wine but can also generate contentment from the shared experience with spouse, family, or friends, and then possibly a bit of unhappiness when the bill arrives.

Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well. Conversely, walking in the woods or playing with your grandchildren or pets (as long as you don’t have to clean up after them) could bring contentment and keep you from being miserable in the first place.

Last and most important, reward is driven by dopamine, and contentment by serotonin. Each is a neurotransmitter—a biochemical manufactured in the brain that drives feelings and emotions—but the two couldn’t be more different. Although dopamine and serotonin drive separate brain processes, it is where they overlap and how they influence each other that generates the action in this story. Two separate chemicals, two separate brain pathways, two separate regulatory schemes, and two separate physiological and psychological outcomes. How and where these two chemicals work, and how they work either in concert or in opposition to each other, is the holy grail in the ultimate quest for both pleasure and happiness.”

-- Robert Lustig, MD, MSL This is further reflected in what Dave Filoni says about the dark side: "In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish. It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do. And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good. It’s a constant. And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know. That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled. “But when you fear, fear is the path to the dark side, it’s also the shadow of greed, because greed makes you covet things, greed makes you surround yourself with all these things that make you feel comfortable in the moment, but they don’t really make you happy. And then, when you’re afraid of something, it makes you angry, when you get angry, you start to hate something, sometimes you don’t even know why. When you hate, do you often know why you hate? No, you direct it at things and then you hate it. And it’s hard because anger can be a strength at times, but you can’t use it in such a selfish way, it can be a destroyer then. “These are the core things of Star Wars.“ --Dave Filoni As well as one of my favorite essays from Star Wars Psychology: Dark Side of the Mind, Faith and the Force where that duality is once again touched on: “People with an extrinsic religious orientation, that is, those who participate as a self-serving way to gain social rewards, like meeting people or obeying their parents (extrinsic motivation), express more prejudice. They hate more. Extrinsically motivated, the Sith use the power of the Force to benefit themselves and manipulate or hurt others. To people with intrinsic religious orientation, on the other hand, spirituality itself is part of their self-concept and their religion’s teachings give them guidance in life. They value religion for its own sake (intrinsic motivation). Intrinsically religious individuals show less prejudice and less self-serving biases, at least when their religious teachings encourage tolerance and do not directly promote discrimination. Just as Jedi get in tune with the Force, those who are intrinsically spiritual come to appreciate the great variety of life and endeavor to serve others.” -- Dr. Clay Routledge Ph.D All of this paints a fascinating picture to look at the way people work and how the mythology of Star Wars works, how the dark side isn’t just the occasional moment of pleasure or moment of anger, but about the embracing of it, the refusal to turn back from those things that can destroy you. If you try to sustain pleasure at a constant, it just won’t work, you’ll be sending yourself into this really awful cycle. That’s why the Jedi teach that the dark side is part of all of them (which is one of their foundations, because Qui-Gon says that they taught all that in the creche during Master and Apprentice) and it’s to be guarded against, that’s why they teach that you don’t suppress your emotions, you control them before they control you, that’s why it’s so easy to find moments of them being angry (Obi-Wan during the fight with Maul, when Anakin nearly shirks his duty at the end of AOTC, on Mustafar, when Maul kills Satine, when Yoda confronts Sidious he’s clearly angry as well, when Mace fights Sidious he’s going through a riot of feelings, his ENTIRE COMIC, Jedi of the Republic, is about him coming to terms with his anger and controlling it before it controls him, even Anakin’s constant anger issues never get a “you’re not allowed to feel that”, but a “you need to get a grip” when it starts becoming dangerous) because those things can lead to the dark side, but it’s never been that you’re supposed to be inhuman. You just gotta watch it and find balance within yourself. Even Yoda specifically says it himself, it’s a lifelong challenge not to bend fear into anger. These dualities within ourselves and how we discipline ourselves against those things that, should we embrace them, are at the core of Star Wars and this is why they can be so incredibly meaningful.

#jedi #jedi order #meta #novels #george lucas

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