fbpx

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 113

Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF, introducing the Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 113

Question 1

What did Valsalva (1666-1723) note as:

..leaving the tongue tingling unpleasantly for the better part of the day

Reveal the funtabulous answer

Gangrenous pus

He also noted that it did “not taste good“.

The things we do for science….


Question 2

What does the acronym “GOMER” (or goomer) stand for? Which book first featured the use of the acronym? What is the sequel to that book?

Reveal the funtabulous answer

Get Out of My Emergency Room

Features heavily in the Samuel Shem book “The House of God” (1978) and used to refer to patients who have “..lost —often through age- what goes into being a human being”.

The lesser known sequel is “Mount Misery


Question 3

The non-fiction book “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, features a scene when two scientists sniff a culture flask for the distinctive smell of Pseudomonas contamination. What does the flask actually contain?

Reveal the funtabulous answer

Reston virus

Reston virus is one of the filoviruses.

While this belongs to the Ebola virus genus, it is not known to be pathogenic to humans. Not such good news if you are a crab-eating macaque…


Question 4

Who wrote this?

A Great Physician should not pay attention to status, wealth or age; neither should he question whether the particular person is attractive or unattractive, whether he is an enemy or friend, whether he is a Chinese or a foreigner, or finally, whether he is uneducated or educated. He should meet everyone on equal grounds. He should always act as if he were thinking of his close relatives

Reveal the funtabulous answer

Sun Simiao (581-682)

Sun Simiao wrote the text – “On the Absolute Sincerity of Great Physicians“, from which the excerpt is taken. It is often referred to as the “Chinese Hippocratic Oath”.


Question 5

While examining your patients neck you notice that the carotid pulse is absent on one side. What might this be due to, and what is this sign called?

Reveal the funtabulous answer

Berry sign

Eponymous sign named after Dr James Berry (1860-1946) relating to malignant thyromegaly – tumour encasing the carotid and muffling the pulsations. The absence of carotid pulsation in a patient presenting with a thyroid swelling suggests malignancy.


FFFF More More

FFFF

Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five

Medical Registrar fascinated by the quirky history of medicine and those crazy microbes.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.