EpiFunny’s of Mine

we’re in our epidemiology cycle and today’s topic was anthrax.. also called black death,black bane..
well anyway, prof popov handled anthrax so many times that it’s like a joke to him,here’s something that u’d rarely find in a textbook:

-in the gulf war,there was a treaty between the major powers that they will not use biotechnology as weapons(the americans were afraid that russia would help iraq to gain it)

-compared to normal weapons,bio weapons such as genetically modified anthrax bacilli, are much more expensive,due to some technical difficulties(u’d had to vaccinate all of ur own soldiers,or equip them with with special gears)so,if u’re thinking what i was thinking,that is,why didn’t the americans use any bio-or chemical weapons on afghanistan and iraq like they did in vietnam(rambo didn’t had a a part in the war,it was “agent orange”),which they lost anyway,it’s because of the money, not because of their human side(they happily bombed the afghans and iraqis)

-when the prof wanted to show us some electron microscope of the bacillus in action(they were in an envelope),he mockingly blew the envelope’s contents towards us(if u’re an american, u’d be jumping down the windows)which was hilarious.

-in the normal form(not the genetically modified one)anthrax is not as contagious as we think, usually an infected person are just given antibiotics and treated in an isolated room.

that’s the highlights, most of the time, the prof would explain things in russian while we were making a dedication poster(like the umno one, but we combined our imaginations and made a pas and dap version of it)

we went home early and stop by at ramstor to buy sushi..which was much2 cheaper than yakitoria i think..heh(i’m crazy bout sushi,i luv ramstor)
owh yeah…wal mart(the one that sold bullets used in the columbine massacre) is bidding to buy ramstor chain of stores,if walmart wins, they’ll be some changes in ramstors all over russia.hopefully to the better.

later that evening I went to the dean’s office for some matter and I saw lots of ambulance gathering at ploshad pavshik vastov.i dunno what’s the occasion but there were lot’s of them…I think all of Volgograd’s finest ambulance were gathered…

owh yeah,yesterday I got a big kad raya from my family and as I promised to someone,i’ll share it with others..though the raya festive feeling had waned over the years,but a kad raya always cheers me up.

antrax bacilli in action

try counting the ambulance

the kad raya beside my 19″ monitor

Love is in the air they say….

Nowadays. u’d rarely find a girl or a boy who never had a serious relationship with the opposite sex. it’s a culture that had been so imbedded in our subconscious minds that most of the young of our time don’t even know or can even imagine that just a few decades ago, going out with the opposite was a taboo in our culture. but now, it’s so assimilated in our culture that rarely u’ll see a boy sitting alone at a fast-food joint and as weird as this may sound two boys hanging out together is considered a queer thing to do.a boy goes out only with a girl and vice versa,..

I think there’s enough articles and comments from reliable scholars bout this but here are quotes ,stories and observations that I accumulated over the years related to modern relationships, hopefully this shared knowledge will help us all to make better choices in life.

-“a boy falls in love from his eyes, a girl from her ears” –meaning most…. I repeat most guys will be attracted first from the outer appearance ,while most girls will be seduced from the “ayat power” that the guys had to offer.

-“there’s two types of girls, the first one is the ones that like u and the other type are the ones that u can make them like u” -a disturbing point of view but quite a true one, even in malay there’s a proverb”keras2 kerak nasi,kena air lembut juga”that refers mostly to women’s heart.

-“at our time, it’s harder to get good girls, so if u find one, hold unto her”-which was kind of nice,because the guy will choose a girl with certain virtues, e.g someone who never had a relationship before, never went out on a date, never talked to guy etc…but after a certain period of time,they went out together,and suddenly all the virtues that the guy seek within her were turned upside down, ironically by the one who chose her due to those virtues, with the hopes that they’ll end up with a proper wedding(albeit there’s a fair chance that it will not end up that way)

- there’s lots of couples who planned and limit their relationship to a certain extend but as long as they are together,even in the basis of nasihat-menasihati(scoff) they’re bound to cross the line. I know this from my own experience, every human has their own frequency of increasing and decreasing iman(if the relationship is based on it anyway)and the more people come in contact with the opposite, the more probabilities that they’ll reach the weak point at the same time, which explains why we saw even those couples learning Islamic studies are caught doing khalwat. it’s not that they don’t know it’s wrong in the first place.

-“make a move when the girl is in her most vulnerable state, (that is)usually after her breakup”-a proven fact

-“they are two types of girls: “the girlfriends” and the “wives” : the first type can turn into the second type, but most of the time,they never do. even at a glance, a guy can differentiate these two.and sadly some guys can turn the second type to the first type.

-unfortunately for most of us,there’s some bad people out there that realize the opposite sex’s weaknesses and sadistically manipulate them.i can’t possibly write the modus operandi here(it’s too disturbing) but what I can say is,be careful,u’lll never know who they are until it’s too late.

-A relative of mine came before I departed here for the first time, among other things what I remember the most is that he said” Allah created human nature so that the love we have will flow like water, from higher places to lower ground, so it’s a fact that a child can never love his parents like they love him,” but a grateful child can always try right

-some guys just enjoy the thrill of chasing girls. and vice versa too.

-I’ll always remember the time when an Indian boy said to a Chinese girl “ur parents brought u up for 17-18 years, but whose picture do u put in ur purse, ur boyfriend of just 2 years ”,albeit he was joking, but it was the truth of life nowadays, we’re dividing our love and giving it in an inappropriate way. Those who should receive the most receive the less

-“u’ve only got one heart, use it wisely”

Well, most of these are from the male perspective because I don’t hang around girls talking bout boys(that would be…ackward),but I did get some girls’ point of views from trusted sources. Anyway, these are usually secret talks, if I’m not writing in the near future, most probably it’s because I’m already assassinated or I’m not allowed to join any conversation anymore.

I hope my writings can wake those who are still in the mist,those who hadn’t realize the reality that humans are not meant to celebrate just one feeling, but to live a balanced life.

Firman Allah:
?Katakanlah kepada orang-orang beriman lelaki, supaya mereka menundukkan pandangan dan menjaga kehormatannya. Itu lebih suci bagi mereka. Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui apa-apa yang mereka usahakan. Katakanlah kepada orang-orang beriman perempuan, supaya mereka menundukkan pandangan dan menjaga kehormatannya dan janganlah mereka memperlihatkan perhiasannya kecuali apa yang biasa lahir daripadanya… .?

(QS. An-Nuur: 31-32)

Hadis:

On the authority of Omar bin Al-Khattab, who said : I heard the messenger of Allah salla Allah u alihi wa sallam say :

“Actions are but by intention and every man shall have but that which he intended…….”

Ihdinassiratulmustaqim….wassalam

it’s the morning of eid….

i remembered a few years ago a friend asked,”what’s the meaning of ramadhan to you?what’s the worth of the month?”(something like that la…)
i(dgn poyonya) answered”it’s a training time,and each time u meet ramadhan u should learn something,something that u should hold untill another ramadhan comes,it’s the thing that u learn that matters…”(it’s likely a more stupid answer)

and each ramadhan’s end every year after that,i’ll think about what i ‘ve learnt and did that month…

how much time i talked nonsense,how many times my head are on a pillow instead of the floor praying,and how much time i spent my time reading everything but the Quran,how many time i led myself to useless things….

and what i learnt this year is that i’m still far…far away….
hopefully i’ll be able to meet ramadhan again next year..to learn again…to train again..insyaallah

selamat hari raya..maaf zahir dan batin….

i’m gettin fat..i thought we’re supposed t be thinner if we don’t eat?anyway,i think it’s my level of satiety,while some people can’t eat much during sahur,it was never a problem to me,alhamdulillah my appetite is always there.

ironically,when i was 7 or 8,i just can’t eat,even if i try i’ll just vomit all the excess.remembered a few occasions when eating out.especially the one in bangkok,imagine vomiting in front of a few families(we were visiting my mom’s foster parents when she lived there).when i tried to fast for the first time(darjah 1),all i can eat during sahur was fruits.but for the record,i fasted the whole month(a family record,i still rub this on my sis’s face),though i remembered that suddenly tap water was very tasty.hehe.

the big guys from jpa came to russia and,for the first time in years,there’s a free dinner from our sponsors.it’s kind of nice having them visiting.it’s a cheerful night like raya already.

yesterday,there’s a meeeting for hari raya feast.though not all the supposed committee came,but it was fruitful.what i can conclude from it however,is that all that malays want is to have fun.unlike before,there’ll be some,err..unorthodox programmes in this one.we’ll se.heh.

last thursday we had a seminar on history of medicine..yes..it’s true,around 200 years ago,some guys got bored enough that they created this subject,so that, 200 years later,we,the uninterested 5th year students can have a seminar about it,for 2 long hours,once a week,for who knows,how many time(didn’t bother to check the schedule,the bad news of another seminar may break my already fragile spirit)

imagine combining the most boring elements of sociology and medicine in one pot and putting it in one compact..err..lesson,if u can call concentrating not to snooze off a lesson.

the lecturer started the seminar with a question”do you think that history of medicine a science?”..the answer,after 30 minutes or so of defining science,medicine,and even some other things that i never thought of having definitions was, “no” it’s not a science,rather a part of the big and wonderful subject of “HISTORY”.

then,we entered one of the subsubjects of the day”the history of prehistoric medicine”..we started on of course defining what is prehistoric time and that unsurprisingly led to the darwin’s theory of evolution..and that’s the reason i’m writing this blog anyway.

bear said prehistoric time started 5 thousand “million” years ago,but of course the evolutionist* lecturer said that it was wrong,it started at the time when the apes turned into humans(huh).of course,most of us are creationist** because we are muslims,and rejected the idea that we originated from some hairy apes with tool wielding abilities.he then showed us the timeline of human evolution(with helpful imaginary sketches)

then he asked,”when do u think medicine started in prehistoric time,could the apes have acquired some skills of medicines in their community”,
of course that led to another fuss (i think the thought that apes learning medicine is a real threat to med students everywhere)

the lecturer kind of looked at us in a funny way when he realised that most of us didn’t believe the darwin’s theory,may be to him.it’s like saying the sky is violet,the grass is blue,and i can play football.

at that moment i realised,”woah..i’m in the middle of something here..”may be it’s just at a miniscule scale,but it was a clash between evolutionist ideas and creationist belief,with the lecturer explaining the human lineage and some of the guys mumbling about how the don’t believe a cent of it.

well,in short this was my observation:

the lecturer:he was born in a communist community,where for many years religion and the idea of god was banished,all he had was a firm believe in science and human intrepretation of natural occurence.the idea of evolution was embedded in him hard.of course knowing that some students not believing in it
was quite a shock.

most of us:we were brought up in a country where the idea was not popular,how many times i saw people ridiculed the evolution theory publicly.but never i saw this problem discussed academically,thus rejecting it in a discussion will prove difficult,it’s our fate that we came to a country that pride itself with many famous evolutionists.

well,i had always been interested in the theory of evolution,since there was a time(when i was 8-11 i think),that i really wanted to be a paleontologist,
yeah,digging for dinosaurs and stuffs,but i had to abandon my dreams for some personal reasons(that’s another story)
well,in the course of pursuing the ambition,one could not help to find the literature supported by darwin’s theory,but it never seem to get into my head,i really don’t know why but the more i read about it,the more difficult i found to digest it.alhamdulillah..

even after i decided that i’m not suited to be a paleontologist,i’d always find books,and stuffs bout dinosaurs and evolution’s theory a part of my interest.after all these years i found some interesting facts dan findings against the theory ,i’ll not state all of them,but here’s some of the higlights :

-the theory stated that life originated from sea,from fishes that became amphibias,then became reptiles,then into birds and mammals.that means that between all the transformation,there should be creatures of “half-fish”-”half-amphibians”,”halfreptile”-”halfbirds” et cetera,to prove the theory,we should be able to find fossils of these creatures.a few decades ago a fossil of a fish said to have lungs and leg-like fins are found,i think they called it coecalith(sorry if i misspelled it),this,was said to be the link where the fishes leapt onto land became amphibians,(thus the origin of all land creatures)but a few years later,the fish(not a fossil) was found living in deep sea(not even near a beach or any land mass),with perfect gills and fins,and after millions of years,it didn’t evolve a bit.

-the theory stated that evolution was a process of natural selection,where mutations will make new creatures,and nature will select those reliable mutated creatures to breed and pass their genes to the next generation,but of course,anyone who learnt biology knows that almost all mutations will lead to dire effects not better beings,sickle cell anemia,down syndrome,albinism are result of mutations,in real practical life,we can never see cool mutants like wolverine,prof x or beast,the x-men are all just hoax to subconciously implant our minds that mutations can lead into better humans.nature will never select mutants,and if u’re in medicine u’d know that in most genetic defects,even if the subject’s phenotype is normal,they will be sterile or produce more abnormal offsprings.

-the theory supporters stated that life occurs spontaneously,that is from one celled creatures into more complex ones,but even if the mutation towards that(1 cell to multicells creatures) can happen(see point no 2)the complex dna structure(s) can never had been spontaneously occured.even the most simple 1 celled organism will have complicated dna structure supporting its functions and life.numerous experiments to produce dna spontaneously had failed.

-all of the skeletons said to be early humans,australapethicus,homo habilis,homo erectus,was proven to be frauds even before 1980’s,the ones who was said to dig them out was found to attach human skull with orang utans jaw(in the case of australapethicus i think)and most of the other skeletons that they say are early ape-humans are most probably different races of humans,we can see the differences in front of our eyes,are the builts of europeans the same with asians?by saying that the fossils are subhuman due to their brain sizes and backbone forms can be explained by malnourishment and diseases.
and don’t be fooled by documentaries showing antropologist-artists making models of apelike creatures from skulls that they said from the ape-humans,it’s more imagination than science,they can make the model into anything they want,even u,me,an orang utan,it was proven by giving the same skull to different artists,in the end,the result was different models.but of course the truth was never been published,and all the imaginary facts are still taught in most schools.

uh.oh,the blog turned into some refarat..well anyway,the class then was continued with the usuals,talking about the medicine in renaissance,the period where europeans turned secular and started antrophocentrism thinkings(that’s another story),rejecting the idea of god and the starting of many social problems now(at least in my opinion la),the leturer ended the seminar earlier and gave us a diskette of hometasks for our next seminar(i really am not looking forward for that).

more fast facts:
-karl marx was so impressed with darwin’s theory that he dedicated a copy of”das kapital” to darwin.

current world affairs:
-i heard from latha(the only indian student in our class)that the idians are boycotting softdrinks due to their proven hazard,it’s a nationwide campaign,even in the cinemas before they show the movies(i heard indians are such movie goers),i told her just last week my housemates did some of their own experiment on colas,putting rusty coins in cola,they found that the cola deoxidised the coins after a few days,imagine what happens to our stomachafter we drink the cola
-russia is still sanctioning georgia,though at the same time disapproving americas intention to sanction north korea and iran.

from my own vocab:
*:one that life on earth evolved from the natural selection process
**:believers of God,and life is created by Him.

On the earth are signs for those of assured Faith, As also in your own selves: Will ye not then see? And in heaven is your Sustenance, as (also) that which ye are promised. Then, by the Lord of heaven and earth, this is the very Truth, as much as the fact that ye can speak intelligently to each other. (adz zariyat:20-23)

ps:most of the facts are from my own observation and experience,adding my own opinions,if there’s any discrepancies or wrongs found in them,please tell me.it’ll be much appreciated.wassalam…

salam…
last monday there’s a bunch of officers from malaysia came to hear us complaint..heh.and so we did,though the percentage of(how do i say this nicely?)intelectually challenged complaints are far more than relevant ones(to me la)it was a fun occasion to be in.doctors can speak too.
and we heard some sensible reports,wishes and complaints from most of them.congrats to those who represented us all.

though i have no complaints(u can say that,i’m a positive thinker.heh)in the end of that meeting there was quite a fuss.

being always on neutral ground(and insyaAllah will always do),i’d like to tell u guys a story that was inspired by that event.

There was a group of people(not PATIs) on a raft going somewhere(perhentian island would be nice),it’s a long journey and some of them are new to the raft,and some of them had been on it for a long time.suddenly one of the newcomers realised that he and the others always stumbled on a piece of knot lying in the middle of the raft.he then out of ignorance decided to do all the rafters a favour by cutting part of the knot.in the process,with loud cheers from the others who was also equally disturbed by the knot’s presence(it was a big knot),an old rafter noticed it and prevented him to do that(with harsh words),in the perfect world,people don’t say bad things to other people especially when he/she is doing something good(everybody agrees on that).

most of the other rafters may not like the way the old one treated the new one,but it’s a necessary thing to do to prevent all of them drowning.he was one of the raft many builders,and avid maintainers(though sometime not willingly),he knew which knots not to be touched and which ones that can be adjusted.to a lesser observer it might have been a cruel aimless thing to do to a helpful fellow young rafter,but most others albeit their silence,know that they can tolerate with people littering(or even crapping) on the raft,but “nobody touches the knots rule” apply to all.

the end of my story

note that:
-they’re on a raft not a cruise,it’s a hard life for every of them.

that’s all folks,cite ini mmg ada kaitan dengan yang sedang hidup dan akan mati.heh.soryy if i have unintentionally hurt people with this boring story.

wallahualam,wassalam

ps:owh yeah,how can i forgot to put some x-men in there,wolverine and cyclop was on the raft,but the boy that eliminate mutants’power was on it too,so eventhough they’re famous x-men,they are equal with the others,wolverine fishes,and cyclop’s a sloppy joe,the special boy just cowers in a corner.

last friday i got a chance to assist prof zharkin to do a laparatomy(open surgery of abdomen),i still can’t fully believe i did it(it went like..zapp)..

those who are..not very fond of blood shouldn’t read this..readers’ discretion is advised…there’ll be lots of blood in this one…

here’s what went down,the day started like usual,only it’s the last day of our gynecology cycle,we knew that,on that day there’ll be an operation cause om thursday he asked if anyone was interested to assist him(bear assisted him in a laparoscopic cystectomy that day),nobody seemed to give a definite answer though(long day,hungry)..he even suggested us to throw dices to decide..there were incoherent mumbilings,but no decision…

so that day after the rappart he asked again”who’s going to help me?”,seeing that no one is responding i raised my hand(thinking it’s just a laparoscopy again).then he told us”u?ok..today’s gonna be a laparotomy..and a difficult one cause the patient was already operated before”..it seems that during the rappart the doctors already talked about her,she’d been operated for peritonitis when she was 11,now she has a bilateral ovarian cystoma,it’s quite rare,so,”u do it ,prof”.it seems that i was trying to catch up my reading when they’re were talking about her…

my eyes were still not blinking when he got up to change into his surgical suit”see u upstairs”…i knew it was gonna be a long operation.immediately i remembered..owh owh,got to train my stiches n knots.fortunately im was good enough to lend me her mask to train on(it had a 4 long holders,not the rubber type) and jimi reminded me of the 3 fingered knot style..

upstairs i trained my “thumb to fingers” moves(one at a time,u touch ur right fingers to ur left thumb,n vice versa,then quckly rotate ur hand,so that it’ll be a sequential motion,hard to expalain in here,but it’s easy,i knew it since i was 10,never thought it was a regular exercise for surgeons)to increase my flexibility and dexterity.

then,the prof called me to scrub in with him,wearing plastic gowns,washing our hands with soap,antiseptic,and alcohol.he taught the proper techniques to do all of it(not going to jot them down),inside the OT,we were dressed by the nurses: another set of operation gown,gloves,then washing our gloved hands with antiseptics again.

then the operation start,besides the prof,there’s another female surgeon,an anaesthesiologist(she was really cute),2 more nurses and the whole group.
basically the operation went:
1-incision of the abdomen(quite difficult due to the already scarred abdomen,so the prof just followed the scar to minimise the trauma)
2-exploring of abdominal cavity-seems that the cyst already adhered to the anterior abdominal wall,so the prof had to remove it manually)
3-removing the right cyst-had to do it meticulously to avoid more trauma to ovary and tube,cyst was in ovary(10cm in diameter or bigger),then the ovary is stiched back with hemostatic stiches
4-perforating the left cyst-smaller,filled with fluid,so didn’t have to remove it,just made a few holes and stitch.
5-the cool part-the prof offerd me to touch and chenck the consistency of the uterus(hard,muscular),tubes(soft),the ovaries(granulous)
6-closing back the abdominal cavity-lots of bleeding due to many new vessels from previous scar
7-bandaging the wound-with antiseptic measures
8-bladder catheterisation-the shameful part for me,not going to write why,falah n bear told everyone already

in term of assisting what i did was:
1-bothering the surgeons by blocking their view-how many times the prof said”zamani,don’t block the operating filed”
2-drying any excess blood with gauzes-learnt how to pick new ones and how to put the used one on the tray,the nurse reminded me to use all the sides(membazir amalan syaitan)
3-holding the clamps,holders,expanders,other things(i dunno their english names,and i dunno thier russian names too)-while yet again,blocking the surgeons’ view
4-stiching an “uncontinuous stich”
5-tying a few knots-”tightly zamani,or the wound will open”
6-remembering the names of all the muscles of my legs,hip,back and arms while adjusting them to the most comfortable position every 5 minutes-it’s a long.. operation
7-trying not to sleep and laugh at every joke the surgeons made

what i learnt :
1-stamina and concentration is something i still lack
2-never pick anything around the field with fingers-”that’s good,but next time use a pincer,zamani”
3-how big was the responsibility-even the prof was stresses,with all his experience he still was,i saw his face during the operation and when it was finished
4-i forgot most of the muscles’ name
5-a few czech,kazach,and uzbek words-the prof knows them all…

it was an exciting day for me and a (very)challenging one for the prof(operating while teaching me),but in the changing room after that he still smiled and asked”was it interesting for u?”….”of course sir”

wassalam..wallahualam

for the first time ever in the history of volgograd state medical university,malaysian held an orientation day for the new juniors….albeit not all of the seniors and juniors showed up,it’s still a nice occasion to remember.

i managed to polish(orr tarnish)my oratory skills today,giving a briefing bout the virtual library..for the guys who was there today,i know,i should have stopped before the “special spherical room that prof x and magneto built to find mutants”.i was there to get ahmad and i was..satisfied..heh(please remember the”buku cara2 memikat awek yang hebat”.

this was what i supposed to point out:
-a library without books,only a list of books that the member have in his/her collection
-easier to find the books we’re interested in,due to the lack of resources here
-by reading the books,we’ll be a happier and/or more knowledgeable doctors..blabla..cause a doctor should not only know bout medicine but also bout other stuffs(e.g it’s helpful to know that most cows raised in malaysia are from kedah-kelantan mix or nama manja mereka “lembu KK”,and the best way to pick a date is not by throwing rotten eggs at him/her)
-doctors should be not only book smart but also street smart(so we’ll not be doing faux pas at an hourly routine)
-maybe u’ll be charged afew roubles for each book u borrow(i was not behhind this idea)
-i think i’d end it with a saying”know everything about something,and know something about everything” or a nice”u r what u read”

hope this will help to clear the mist bout the “library yang ajaib”(i’m also thinking bout naming it “kutub khanah”)
..really sorry bout the jokes,but what can u expect from someone wearing a superman t-shirt?

ilaliqa’….

new vocabs today:cogency,verisimilitude,connive,digress,expat,manna,Passover,Eucharist,synoptic