Random non-MCAT and only peripherally related to the MCAT thread - Part 2

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Arsenic said:
dude, morphine is just one synthetic step away from heroin. i presented on morphine synthesis as a senior chem major and i had added that step in my presentation to show how freaky that is. the prof who reviewed my presentation beforehand was like, "um... take that last step out of there, there will be grad students at your presentation and i dont trust them." :laugh:
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I know how to do it. 😀 It *is* synthetically easy to do; you just acetylate it.

P.S. Now you know why my organic students were convinced that I was the world's biggest druggie. They knew that I had gone to New College, I told them drug tidbits like that all the time, and then I swore I'd never done any of it. 😀 The funny thing is that I seriously have never even tried a cigarette, let alone any illicit drugs. I don't really even drink much. 😛
 
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QofQuimica said:
P.S. Now you know why my organic students were convinced that I was the world's biggest druggie.
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Guess we ALL look like druggies. :laugh:

I know that heroin is just one step from morphine but don't know how to actually do it. 😉 On a random note, I think I am in that part of the population who doesn't metabolize codeine into morphine. When I have taken codeine (NOT for illicit purposes 🙂 ) it didn't do anything.

Why do people even prescribe codeine since a significant hunk doesn't metabolize it? If I were ever going to be prescribing narcotics, I wouldn't use it.
 
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QofQuimica said:
OMG, I was training for powerlifting too! I never ended up competing, but I was really into it for a while when I was engaged to Bachelor #2. He was a powerlifter too, all natural--no suits, no straps even. I remember one time he deadlifted 695 pounds; I was there, and so was another friend of ours, and we filmed it. Un-freaking-believable that a human being can lift that kind of weight....
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Wow - 695 is a huge amount of weight. For me, squatting > deadlifting >> benching. I read somewhere that a lot of the strength difference between men and women is upper body and that was definitely what it seemed like. I could leg press with the big guys but my benching stunk.
 
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beary said:
Guess we ALL look like druggies. :laugh:

I know that heroin is just one step from morphine but don't know how to actually do it. 😉 On a random note, I think I am in that part of the population who doesn't metabolize codeine into morphine. When I have taken codeine (NOT for illicit purposes 🙂 ) it didn't do anything.

Why do people even prescribe codeine since a significant hunk doesn't metabolize it? If I were ever going to be prescribing narcotics, I wouldn't use it.
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I already told you how. 😉 I used to joke to people that I was going to set up a meth lab. If uneducated people in rural places can do it, surely me and a couple of other trained chemists could set up a first-class lab that wouldn't explode on us. :idea:

I've been reading about pharmacogenetics, where you tailor people's therapeutic regimens to their particular biology. If we ever figure out how to do that on a large scale, it's going to be huge. 👍
 
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beary said:
Wow - 695 is a huge amount of weight. For me, squatting > deadlifting >> benching. I read somewhere that a lot of the strength difference between men and women is upper body and that was definitely what it seemed like. I could leg press with the big guys but my benching stunk.
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I'm pretty small, so I wasn't able to do that kind of weight. He was over six feet tall and weighed 275 pounds. But I think you're right about UB versus LB strength. I could still only bench less than half of what I was squatting and deadlifting. And I got pretty high, for me anyway. I was particularly pleased with myself though the first times I squatted and deadlifted the bar with two 45s on it; I had been hoping to get up to my own weight, and that was actually more.... 😱
 
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QofQuimica said:
If you're a girl, it's easy. You just walk up to the big guy, tap him on the shoulder, smile big, and ask him to let you work in. Seriously. They'll totally let you do it. They'll even change the weights for you in between sets, and tell you how great you're doing, that they've never seen a girl lift that much before. It's the best thing for your ego EVER. 😀

If you're a guy, I'd wait until they're finished, or go with some bigger friends. 😛
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I'm a girl. I could do the smile sweetly thing and I'm sure they'd let me have a turn. I was just worried about the extra attention a wee girl might get, but if there's other girls there, I wouldn't feel as bad. Thanks for the advice though and I will keep you posted if/when I make it to the gym
 
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Also Canuck, just ask the staff if they do training sessions so you know how to operate all the machinery safely. As well as you can try to read up on the internet.

As for Q's insightful question about childhood, when I was little I was always trying to fit in. I was made fun of alot but I think matured alot faster than some of my friends about responsibility and such. i was a very independent child so when applying to college came around I just lost myself. I didn't know who I was or who my true friends were. In college I was a loner and just hung out with my bf. I just never felt like I fit in anywhere and some times I still do. I have learned to be true to myself and my beliefs especially in the past 2 years. I have an amazing sense of confidence and have had since college, completely different from when I was in high school. And I'm happier with my choices because I'm not doing them to impress someone else or to please someone else. I can do what I want and the best part is I know that I don't depend on anyone else nor have I. I've gotten where I am today because of my past and the path less travelled. Makes you a stronger person. Well supposedly 😎
 
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QofQuimica said:
I already told you how. 😉 I used to joke to people that I was going to set up a meth lab. If uneducated people in rural places can do it, surely me and a couple of other trained chemists could set up a first-class lab that wouldn't explode on us. :idea:

I've been reading about pharmacogenetics, where you tailor people's therapeutic regimens to their particular biology. If we ever figure out how to do that on a large scale, it's going to be huge. 👍
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:laugh: You should work with the ATF undercover 😉

As for pharmacogenetics, where do you read all these fun articles that you seem to find? That sounds like a great topic.
 
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lilithny said:
i think we all have worries about the waist line at one point or another. you have nothing to worry about, you are so puuuuuuuuurty

normally i don't care, but my mom won't let up. she means well, but i guess she can be a little too blunt. for example, the other day she was like you know you won't do well on your interview if you're fat.

wtf!?!? i don't think she realizes it, but she is most likely the reason why my sister and i had eating disorders.
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I got tired of my mom and her comments...and everything else. I don't speak to her. Sad, but I am a much happier person for it.
 
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QofQuimica said:
OMG, I was training for powerlifting too! I never ended up competing, but I was really into it for a while when I was engaged to Bachelor #2. He was a powerlifter too, all natural--no suits, no straps even. I remember one time he deadlifted 695 pounds; I was there, and so was another friend of ours, and we filmed it. Un-freaking-believable that a human being can lift that kind of weight....
Click to expand...


Holy bovine! 😱
 
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mshheaddoc said:
:laugh: You should work with the ATF undercover 😉

As for pharmacogenetics, where do you read all these fun articles that you seem to find? That sounds like a great topic.
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I'd rather work for the AAMC. I'd make the MCAT so tough that no one would ever score well on it again. Bwah-hah-hah-hah!!!

Here's one pharmacogenetics site that I like: http://www.pharmacogenetics.org/projects.shtml This describes some of the projects that the NIH is sponsoring; these guys are all cancer researchers. One of the sponsoring institutions is U Chicago, MM! 😀

Here's a review article describing using pharmacogenetics to figure out which patients will have reactions to drugs: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/320/7240/987

And for those who want the layman's version, here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacogenetics
 
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I could bench 65 lbs and I was proud. That was my first and only time :laugh:

Thanks for the links Q. You are offically this thread's offical "what's hot" leader. You are to post the latest and greated in the world of medicine. :laugh:
 
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Wow, that is a very interesting article on pharmacogenetics (what little I have read so far). I had always wondered about that stuff. Thanks, Q.
 
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QofQuimica said:
How would you guys say you have changed the most since childhood? Do you think those changes are positive or negative overall?
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I was always the tallest/biggest girl in my primary school class. Looking back at the photos I was not fat or even chubby at all, just big because I was tall, even taller than the boys. But, because of my obvious difference, I was picked on a lot. Viciously. I was beat up by the boys and laughed at by the girls because of it. It's a strange reason to cause bodily harm, now that I think of it. Anyway, my mom went back to school when I was approaching puberty (I hit it at 10.5 - yes I was a very early bloomer) and because she was gone and my dad was on call all the time, we became latch-key kids, and I threw myself into every sport available and became one of the top players in basketball, volleyball, softball, and swimming in my city by 8th grade.

Then I went to a Catholic high-school an hour from home and commuted every day. No one knew me there, so all they knew of me was that I was an A-student and a great athlete (started varsity V-ball, B-ball, and S-ball my freshman year). Also, my junior and senior years I could finally drive. With my parents' busy schedules I treated high school almost like a job - Got up at 6am, out the door at 7am with a cup of coffee and bagel and my bag for sports/school. Finish at 3pm with athletics afterward. Grab dinner on the road and be home between 8-11pm depending on the schedule. Homework to follow, up the next day and repeat 5 days a week.

So I think the biggest thing I learned from my parents and my situation was independence. At an early age I learned my "friends" could turn on me, which is why I currently only keep one or two close friends to confide in, and everyone else is just an acquaintance. I learned through independence to make things work for myself.

This has both good and bad consequences: The good ones are that I am a self-starter and go-getter. When I decide to do something, I'm not afraid. Be it build something, new job, back to school, move to a new country, whatever. The downside is that I'm a type-A personality and can be very critical of other people. Because I try to give my best, I demand excellence from other people, be it in the drive-through or in the doctor's office, and I get irate if I don't get that. I think it's good, too, that I married the man I did, because there are a lot of men (including the last one) that can't handle a female partner striving to be in such an authoritative role, both professionally, and at home. I've had complaints from men that "I don't listen" to them enough and that I make a wonderful friend for them because I have the same "male" interests, but they can't see themselves married to a woman like me. Whatever. 🙄

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the way I've turned out, and very happy with who my parents are. I, too, have the weight issue going on, but that struggle has mostly been since I had my thyroid removed and ablated. When I was in high school, I was hot, baby, yeah!. Now, not so much 😉.
 
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Thanks all for the posts about how you have changed growing up. I will add to it - either tomorrow when the packers are here or some night in the next few when all I will have is my laptop with (hopefully!) a wireless internet connection.

Is it bad that the move hasn't officially started and my feet and back already hurt? 😱
 
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That was really interesting, Meg. A lot of insight into you. I am really enjoyng reading how people are responding to Q's question... I guess it is my turn.
 
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mshheaddoc said:
I could bench 65 lbs and I was proud. That was my first and only time :laugh:

Thanks for the links Q. You are offically this thread's offical "what's hot" leader. You are to post the latest and greated in the world of medicine. :laugh:
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You're female; that's good for a woman. When I first started, I couldn't even bench the bar (a standard one weighs 45 lbs). I got up to doing sets with 80-85 lbs. Now I probably could only do 65 lbs too. 😳

I don't know about being the random thread expert on the latest and greatest in medicine, but I love going to talks, so I'll post blurbs about them from now on when I go. We may have a dry spell for a few months until I start back up in school again. 😛 Maybe we need to have an SDN randomite journal club. beary, do they make MD/PhD students do that too? For those of you who haven't ever been to grad school, what they do is have someone pick a journal article and present it to the rest of the group. It's supposed to be from a top journal in the field, and it normally isn't a review article, though maybe we'd focus on reviews so that we pre-meds can read them. If you guys are game, I'd do it. You can find articles on: PubMed So for example, if I looked up pharmacogenetics, here's one that is just getting published now: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...tool=iconabstr&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum Unfortunately, that article isn't available for free. (Look for the ones with little green papers next to them; those are the ones that you can read for free.) Here's another one that is available: Symbiotic Relationship of Pharmacogenetics and Drugs of Abuse So if you guys want to do it, what we should do is take a week to read the article, and then next Sun. I'll post a little summary and we can discuss the topic. Not sure how well this will work in posts instead of in real time, but we can give it a try....Mush, you want to try it?
 
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TypeA said:
That was really interesting, Meg. A lot of insight into you. I am really enjoyng reading how people are responding to Q's question... I guess it is my turn.
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I'm enjoying reading them too. Thank you all for taking me seriously and not just thinking that I'm weird. :laugh: (I AM weird, but still....)
 
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QofQuimica said:
You're female; that's good for a woman. When I first started, I couldn't even bench the bar (a standard one weighs 45 lbs). I got up to doing sets with 80-85 lbs. Now I probably could only do 65 lbs too. 😳

I don't know about being the random thread expert on the latest and greatest in medicine, but I love going to talks, so I'll post blurbs about them from now on when I go. We may have a dry spell for a few months until I start back up in school again. 😛 Maybe we need to have an SDN randomite journal club. beary, do they make MD/PhD students do that too? For those of you who haven't ever been to grad school, what they do is have someone pick a journal article and present it to the rest of the group. It's supposed to be from a top journal in the field, and it normally isn't a review article, though maybe we'd focus on reviews so that we pre-meds can read them. If you guys are game, I'd do it. You can find articles on: PubMed So for example, if I looked up pharmacogenetics, here's one that is just getting published now: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...tool=iconabstr&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum Unfortunately, that article isn't available for free. (Look for the ones with little green papers next to them; those are the ones that you can read for free.) Here's another one that is available: Symbiotic Relationship of Pharmacogenetics and Drugs of Abuse So if you guys want to do it, what we should do is take a week to read the article, and then next Sun. I'll post a little summary and we can discuss the topic. Not sure how well this will work in posts instead of in real time, but we can give it a try....Mush, you want to try it?
Click to expand...

I love this idea! Perhaps we could even create a chat about it...I wish SDN had that option, but we could do it on Yahoo or something.
 
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QofQuimica said:
It's supposed to be from a top journal in the field, and it normally isn't a review article, though maybe we'd focus on reviews so that we pre-meds can read them. If you guys are game, I'd do it.
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This sounds really good. I miss doing this!

Could you PM the links to us - my computer is really slow tonight and if I miss it in the posts I could have it in my PM box.
Thanks!
 
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megboo said:
This sounds really good. I miss doing this!

Could you PM the links to us - my computer is really slow tonight and if I miss it in the posts I could have it in my PM box.
Thanks!
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I sent you the link to the article. So normally what people do is take turns presenting articles. I'll go first, and maybe megboo can go next since she's done it before, and then some of the younger students can try it.

I like the idea of doing it in chat, too, if we can pull that off. That might be hard though if people can't all make it at the same time. What do you think of this idea: I'll start a thread in the biomedical research subforum (go to the MSTP forum, and the research subforum is inside). That isn't a heavily trafficked forum, and I'm a mod there too, so I could monitor it. Plus, some of the MSTPers might want to join us. What do you guys think?
 
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QofQuimica said:
I sent you the link to the article. So normally what people do is take turns presenting articles. I'll go first, and maybe megboo can go next since she's done it before, and then some of the younger students can try it.

I like the idea of doing it in chat, too, if we can pull that off. That might be hard though if people can't all make it at the same time. What do you think of this idea: I'll start a thread in the biomedical research subforum (go to the MSTP forum, and the research subforum is inside). That isn't a heavily trafficked forum, and I'm a mod there too, so I could monitor it. Plus, some of the MSTPers might want to join us. What do you guys think?
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This sounds great. Are we allowed to pick topics from our interest areas?
 
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QofQuimica said:
I sent you the link to the article. So normally what people do is take turns presenting articles. I'll go first, and maybe megboo can go next since she's done it before, and then some of the younger students can try it.

I like the idea of doing it in chat, too, if we can pull that off. That might be hard though if people can't all make it at the same time. What do you think of this idea: I'll start a thread in the biomedical research subforum (go to the MSTP forum, and the research subforum is inside). That isn't a heavily trafficked forum, and I'm a mod there too, so I could monitor it. Plus, some of the MSTPers might want to join us. What do you guys think?
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Sounds fine to me.
 
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megboo said:
This sounds great. Are we allowed to pick topics from our interest areas?
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Sure. Just don't pick things that are too technical for a college student to read. Ok, I'm going to go set up the thread, and then I'll re-post the link to the article there too. I'm really excited that you guys want to do this. 👍 You are all the best virtual friends ever. 😀
 
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the journal club sounds good to me. i always enjoy doing things like that.

that post i made previously about you gals being strong was supposed come out a few pages ago. not sure why it just came. silly computers.
 
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QofQuimica said:
You're female; that's good for a woman. When I first started, I couldn't even bench the bar (a standard one weighs 45 lbs). I got up to doing sets with 80-85 lbs. Now I probably could only do 65 lbs too. 😳

I don't know about being the random thread expert on the latest and greatest in medicine, but I love going to talks, so I'll post blurbs about them from now on when I go. We may have a dry spell for a few months until I start back up in school again. 😛 Maybe we need to have an SDN randomite journal club. beary, do they make MD/PhD students do that too? For those of you who haven't ever been to grad school, what they do is have someone pick a journal article and present it to the rest of the group. It's supposed to be from a top journal in the field, and it normally isn't a review article, though maybe we'd focus on reviews so that we pre-meds can read them. If you guys are game, I'd do it. You can find articles on: PubMed So for example, if I looked up pharmacogenetics, here's one that is just getting published now: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...tool=iconabstr&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum Unfortunately, that article isn't available for free. (Look for the ones with little green papers next to them; those are the ones that you can read for free.) Here's another one that is available: Symbiotic Relationship of Pharmacogenetics and Drugs of Abuse So if you guys want to do it, what we should do is take a week to read the article, and then next Sun. I'll post a little summary and we can discuss the topic. Not sure how well this will work in posts instead of in real time, but we can give it a try....Mush, you want to try it?
Click to expand...


BAH! I leave to go read the rest of SDN and miss all this action.

Q - I think this is a GREAT idea. VERY good. Additionally we could set up a meeting time in chat once a month or something if you want. I can see what we can arrange. I am really excited about this!!! I am subscribing to that thread as we speak. (I already am subscribed to that forum ... well I think I should be) :laugh:
 
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I like the journal club idea too. 🙂 I've never done anything like that but it sounds interesting.

I get most of my up to date science info from Science News. It doesn't publish the actual journal acticles, but gives an overview of new stuff from a whole bunch of different areas of science. I really enjoy it. I get a new issue every week. Best birthday present ever - my dad got me the subscription for my last birthday.
 
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Looks good, Q.

I told hubby about our first topic and he threw his hand over his head and said "Yeah, Geeks R Us"... yeah, so, what cha gonna do about it?

Besides...HE'S the one with like 3 degrees from a top 10. Whatever. I'm just a state school girl. (Yeah, that's the jealousy showing its evil head) :laugh: :meanie:
 
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OOOH i like the science news.

Does anyone get like information overload? I was thinking of getting RSS feeds emailed to me because honestly I can't take the time to surf and get my news anymore. It takes too damn long! :laugh: There's TOO much out there!
 
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