The Pathology Guy -- Online Help

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This page was last modified March 2, 2010.

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Interested in an obscure disease? Obviously, I cannot be your doctor, cannot substitute for a physician of your own, and cannot diagnose or treat over the 'web. Whether you are a medical student seeking a study guide, or a sick person seeking answers, you must understand that these notes, and any correspondence we may have, are provided for informational purposes only, and with the understanding that I am not engaged in rendering medical or professional services. If you, or someone special to you, is sick, you need to review all information carefully with your health care provider. No physician can know everything. However, I'm honest and interested in being useful. And if there's something you need to know, I can probably help you find it. E-mail me at scalpel_blade@yahoo.com and let me know how I can help. No texting or chat messages, please. Ordinary e-mails are welcome. This is completely confidential.

If you are still looking for information, and you are in the U.S., I suggest you use a Medline search from any public-service health-information site. You can find articles which you can probably get by interlibrary loan, as well as the names and institutions of researchers publishing on the disease in which you're interested.

The following pathology lectures cover the content of an introductory medical school course in pathology. They are up-to-date, but are no substitute for your own doctor's advice! They contain references in {braces} to the "Slice of Life" videodisc. Send me an E-mail request scalpel_blade@yahoo.com if there's anything else you would like. No texting or chat messages, please. Ordinary e-mails are welcome.

Perspectives on Disease Introduction to Pathology. What are the common diseases? World health. Terminology. Fatal diseases yesterday. Fatal diseases today. Lifestyle-related disease. Inherited disease and birth defects. Non-diseases. New diseases. Iatrogenic disease. Unconventional treatments. History of pathology. What is "science"? Pseudoscience. Medical ethics. "Holistic Medicine". Blood gases. Electrolytes. Reference ranges for the common lab tests.

Cell injury and adaptations How not to fail in medical school. What is Pathology? The language of disease. The politics of disease. Why I am not a multiculturalist or neo-Marxist. Chemical and physical injury. Apoptosis. Hypoxic injury. Coagulation, liquefaction, caseous, fat, and fibrinoid necrosis. Birth defects. Hypertrophy. Hyperplasia. Metaplasia. Dysplasia. Anaplasia.

Accumulations and Deposits Fatty change. Fatty ingrowth. Melanin. Hemosiderin. Lipofuscin. Anthracosis. Myxoid change. Mitochondrial abnormalities.

Inflammation and Healing Acute inflammation. The neutrophil as "Rambo". Chronic inflammation. Regeneration. Healing.

Fluids and Hemodynamics Edema. Thrombosis. Infarction. Disseminated intravascular coagulation. Hemorrhage. Congestion. Hyperemia. Shock.

Genetics Made Sensible Genetic terminology. "Before you ask me to read yet another book on creation science...." Chromosomal problems. Down's syndrome. Edward's syndrome. Patau's syndrome. Cri-du-chat. Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. Brachmann-Cornelia de Lange. Klinefelter's. XYY. Turner's. Hermaphrodites and intersex states. Autosomal dominant diseases -- "why". Marfan's. Ehlers-Danlos. Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Familial hypercholesterolemia. Autosomal recessive diseases -- "why". Albinism. Alkaptonuria. Lysosomal storage diseases. Tay-Sachs. Niemann-Pick. Gaucher's disease. The mucopolysaccharidosies: Hurler's, Hunter's, Sanfilippo's, Morquio's. The leukodystrophies. Glycogen storage diseases: Von Gierke's, Pompe's, McArdle's. X-linked inheritance. Fabry's. Fragile X. Mitochondrial inheritance. Leber's. Myoclonus epilepsy. Polygenic inheritance. McCune-Albright. The politics of genetic disease. "Did you forget about the ninth commandment, Pastor?": why I am not an anti-biotechnologist. Genetics, common sense, and common decency.

Immunity I -- Mechanisms of Immune Injury Immediate-anaphylactic injury. Antibody-mediated cytoxoicity. Immune-complex disease. T-cell mediated injury. More.

Immunity II -- Autoimmunity Systemic lupus erythematosus. Scleroderma. Sjogren's. Polymyositis- dermatomyositis. Fibrositis-Fibromyalgia.

Immunity III -- Vasculitis, Amyloid, Immunodeficiency Wegener's granulomatosis, polyarteritis nodosa, Amyloidosis, Common variable immunodeficiency, Wiscott-Aldrich, Ataxia-Telangiectasia, lots more.

Immunity IV -- Retroviral immunodeficiency AIDS / HIV. Includes references to articles that helped me overcome my own homophobia.

Neoplasia I -- What is cancer? Benign vs. malignant. What do cancers look like? Tumor nomenclature.

Neoplasia II -- Causes and Effects of Cancer "The essential "cause of cancer", once mysterious, is now clear." Classic carcinogenesis work. Nowell's law of tumor progression by clonal selection. Knudson's two hits. Oncogenes. Anti-oncogenes. Carcinogens. The Delaney clause. Aflatoxin. Betel nut. Mate tea. Pickled fish and vegetables. Cigarets. Vinyl chloride. Chromium and nickel. Asbestos. Cadmium. Arsenic. The media flaps: electric fields, agent orange, cellular telephones. The Ames test. Effects of tumors on the host. First-hit cancer syndromes: familial polyposis coli, Lynch's non-polyposis colon cancer, Gardner's syndrome, multiple endocrine neoplasia, Peutz-Jegher's, retinoblastoma families, von Hippel Lindau, Von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, Li-Fraumeni p53 syndrome, BRCA-1 familial breast cancer, familial melanoma. Fragile- chromosome syndromes. Cancer politics. Cancer quackery.

Kids' Diseases Terminology, Cystic Fibrosis, Galactosemia, "Children Do Not Vote".

Aging "Our bodies are programmed to wear out." Why I do not believe in the free-radical "theory" of aging. Body changes of aging. Progeria syndromes (Hutchinson's, Werner's).

Infectious Disease Viruses, Common Bacteria, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Syphilis, Lyme Disease, Malaria, Worms, more.

Environmental Lung Disease All about tobacco. Why I spell it "cigaret". Asbestosis. Silicosis. Black lung. Caplan's syndrome. Bagassosis. Byssinosis. Farmer's lung.

Violence and Poisoning Homicide. Suicide. Accidents. Manner of death. The Medical Examiner's Office. Blunt force injury. Sharp trauma. Chop wounds. Electrocution. Burns. Freezing. Drowning. Torture. Ways to avoid getting murdered. Why you should not commit suicide.

Vessels Atherosclerosis. Vasculitis. Buerger's thromboangiitis obliterans. Raynaud's disease and phenomenon. Aneurysms. Arteriolar sclerosis. Takayasu's disease. Temporal arteritis. Kawasaki's disease. Lymphedema. Thrombophlebitis. Superior vena cava syndrome. Inferior vena cava syndrome. Lots more.

Heart The proarrhythmias fiasco. "Athlete's heart": why it's good. Congestive heart failure. Ischemic heart disease. Atherosclerosis. Cocaine heart. Prinzmetal's. Stable and unstable angina. Syndrome X. Myocardial infarction. Dressler's pericarditis. Sudden cardiac death. Hypertensive heart disease. Cor pulmonale. Congenital heart disease: Tetralogy of Fallot, Transposition of the great vessels, Truncus arteriosus, Tricuspid atresia, Ventricular septal defect, Atrial septal defect, Patent ductus arteriosus, Eisenmenger's, Coarctation, Aortic stenosis, Dextrocardia / situs inversus. Bicuspid aortic valve. Calcific aortic stenosis. Barlow's mitral valve prolapse. Rheumatic fever. Infective endocarditis. Marantic endocarditis. Lupus Libman-Sacks endocarditis. Carcinoid heart. Endocardial fibroelastosis. Myocarditis: viral, Chagas, sarcoidosis. Cardiomyopathy: dilated, alcoholic, hypertrophic, restrictive- obliterative-amyloid. Cadaveric spasm. Pericarditis and pericardial effusion. Atrial myxoma. Pulsus paradoxicus explained.

Respiratory Normal. Pulmonary congestion and edema. Pulmonary embolus. Pulmonary hypertension. Adult respiratory distress syndrome (diffuse alveolar damage, shock lung). Neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (hyaline membrane disease). Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): myth and reality, including some things we'd all rather not hear. Emphysema. Chronic bronchitis. Asthma. Bronchiectasis. Obstructive sleep apnea. Pneumonia. Pneumonitis. Hamman-Rich interstitial pneumonitis. Sarcoidosis. Goodpasture's disease. Eosinophilic pneumonias. Lipid pneumonia. Alveolar lipoproteinosis. Lung cancer: Squamous, Adenocarcinoma, Large Cell, Small cell (oat cell). Larynx. Pleural disease. "The fellowship of those who bear the mark of pain."

Red Cells Anemia. Iron deficiency. G6PD deficiency. Pyruvate kinase deficiency. Abetalipoproteinemia. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Sickle cell disease. Hemoglobin C disease. Hemoglobin SC disease. Immune hemolysis. Microangiopathic hemolysis. Hypersplenism. Thalassemia major. Thalassemia minor. Hemoglobin H disease. Hydrops fetalis. Anemia of chronic disease. Spherocytosis. Sideroblastic anemia. Pernicious anemia. Fish tapeworm disease. Folic acid deficiency. Blackfan- Diamond. Aplastic anemia. Polycythemia.

White Cells & Spleen Pelger-Huet. Aplastic anemia. Hodgkin's disease. Non- Hodgkin's lymphomas. Burkitt's lymphoma. Acute leukemias. Chronic leukemias. Hairy cell leukemia. Histiocytosis X (eosinophilic granuloma, Letterer-Siwe, Hand-Schuller-Christian). Plasma cell myeloma ("multiple myeloma"). Bence-Jones proteins and M-proteins. Benign monoclonal gammopathy. Agnogenic myeloid metaplasia. Polycythemia vera rubra.

Coagulation Thrombin time. Prothrombin time. Partial thromboplastin time. Clot retraction. Urea solubility. Fibrin degradation (split) products. D-dimer. Platelet aggregation studies. Osler-Weber- Rendu. Thrombocytopenia. Von Willebrand's disease. Hemophilia A. Hemophilia B. Factor IX deficiency. Autoimmune ("idiopathic") thrombocytopenia purpura. Thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura. Bernard-Soulier giant platelet syndrome. Glanzmann's tired-platelet syndrome. Essential thrombocythemia. Hypercoagulable blood. Protein C deficiency. Protein S deficiency. Antithrombin III deficiency. Antiphospholipid antibody (lupus anticoagulant). Protein C cofactor deficiency. Hyperhomocystenemia. Disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Mouth Trench mouth ("Vincent's angina"). Dental caries. Periodontal gum disease. Ludwig's angina. Leukoplakia. Mucocele. Ranula. Mouth cancer. Tongue cancer.

Gut Esophageal atresia. Tracheo-esophageal fistula. Achalasia. Cancer of the esophagus. Helicobacter. Gastritis. Stomach ulcers. Duodenal ulcers. Celiac sprue. Tropical sprue. Whipple's disease. Crohn's regional enteritis. Ulcerative colitis. Colon polyps. Colon cancer. Anal problems. The cow's milk flap.

Liver and Biliary System Biliary atresia. Hepatitis A. Hepatitis B. Hepatitis C. Hepatitis D. Hepatitis E. Chronic persistent hepatitis. Chronic active hepatitis. Cirrhosis of hepatitis. Alcoholic liver disease. Wilson's disease. Hemochromatosis. Autoimmune hepatitis. Gallstones. Biliary cancer.

Pancreas (including Diabetes) Acute pancreatitis. Chronic pancreatitis. Cancer of the pancreas. Type I diabetes. Type II diabetes. Macroangiopathy. Microangiopathy. Diabetic eye disease. Diabetic foot disease. The cow's milk connection. Insulinoma. Glucagonoma. Somatostatinoma.

Kidney Uremia. Cystic disease of the kidney. Polycystic kidneys. Nephritis. Nephrotic syndrome. Rapidly-progressive glomerulonephritis. Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. Diabetic glomerulosclerosis ("Kimmelstiel-Wilson") and other diabetic kidney disease. Amyloidosis. Minimal change ("nil") disease ("lipoid nephrosis"). Focal-segmental glomerulosclerosis. Wegener's granulomatosis. Small-vessel polyarteritis. Goodpasture's disease. Lupus nephritis. Acute tubular necrosis ("vasomotor nephropathy"). Pigment nephropathy. Fanconi syndromes. Cadmium and lead poisoning. Cystinuria. Kidney stones ("nephrolithiasis"). Hypertension in general. Benign essential hypertension. Malignant hypertension. Secondary hypertension. White-jacket hypertension. Results of uncontrolled hypertension. Hemolytic-uremic syndrome. Renal cell carcinoma. Wilms tumor.

Ureters, Bladder, UrethraBladder cancer, cystitis, interstitial cystitis, lots more.

Men's Problems Hypospadias. Epispadias. Peyronie's disease. "Accidents can happen". Urethritis. Epididymitis. Torsion of the testis (testicle). Testicular cancer. Prostatic hyperplasia ("benign prostatic hypertrophy"). Prostate cancer. Male sexuality.

Women's Problems Limited text (we have a strong OB-Gyn course). The Bendectin fiasco. The Pap smear fiasco. Female genital mutilation ("female circumcision"). Fetal monitoring. Female sexuality.

Breast Fibrocystic disease of the breast. Sclerosing adenosis. Breast cancer. BRCA1. The implants fiasco.

Skin

Bones Osteogenesis imperfecta, Fracture terminology, Osteoporosis, Osteomalacia, Osteopetrosis, Osteoma, Osteomyelitis, Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, Ollier's disease, Gardner's disease, lots more.

Muscles Myasthenia gravis. Eaton-Lambert. Pompe's and McArdle's. Duchenne and Becker Muscular dystrophy. Myotonic dystrophy. Facioscapulohumoral dystrophy. Kugelberg-Welander. Charcot- Marie-Tooth. Werdnig-Hoffman. Emery-Dreyfuss. Mitochondrial myopathies. Kearns-Sayre. Rod myopathy. Nameline myopathy. Central core disease. Central tubular myopathy. Inclusion body myositis. Rhabdomyolysis. Myositis ossificans. Gas gangrene. Alcoholic myopathy. Polymyositis. Myotonia congenita. Periodic paralysis. Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Athletic training (good). Anabolic steroids (bad).

Joints Rheumatoid arthritis. Felty's syndrome. Osteoarthritis. Kaski-Beck. Alkaptonuria / Ochronosis. Polymyalgia rheumatica.

Thyroid Thyroglossal duct cyst. Thyroid nodules. Hashimoto's disease. Graves' disease. DeQuervain's subacute granulomatous thyroiditis. Cretinism. Iodine deficiency. Papillary, follicular, medullary, and anaplastic thyroid cancers.

Adrenal, Parathyroid, Thymus, Pineal Addison's disease, Cushing's disease, Conn's hyperaldosteronism, Adrenogenital syndrome, Neuroblastoma, Pheochromocytoma, Hyperparathyroidism, Hypoparathyroidism, Pseudohypoparathyroidism, Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism, Thymoma, Myasthenia Gravis, Pinealomas, Pinealocytomas, more

Pituitary Panhypopituitarism, Simmonds' disease, Sheehan's syndrome, Pituitary adenomas, Cushing's disease, Acromegaly, Craniopharyngioma, Empty-sella syndrome, Diabetes insipidus, lots more.

Nervous System Cerebral palsy, Arnold-Chiari, Dandy-Walker, Hydrocephalus, Cerebral edema, Hydrocephalus, CNS trauma, Bacterial meningitis, Viral meningitis, Encephalitis, Leukodystrophies, Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease / Kuru / Spongiform encephalopathy / prion disease, Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia, common-sense psychiatry for real doctors, Binswanger's subcortical leukoencephalopathy, Astrocytoma, Oligodendroglioma, Ependymoma, Medulloblastoma, Meningioma, Multiple Sclerosis, lots more.

Eye Glaucoma. Cataract. Retinitis pigmentosa. Lots more.

Ear Otitis externa, Otitis media, Barany's, Meniere's, Labyrinthitis, Deafness, Waardenberg's syndrome, Usher's syndrome, lots more.

Porphyria Acute intermittent, Erythropoietic, all the rest, plus the acquired forms.

Introduction to the Hospital Lab

Adrenal Testing

Glucose Testing

Renal Function Testing

Liver Testing

Arthritis Testing

Quackery

Alternative Medicine -- A Guide for Physicians

Preventing "F"'s -- A Guide for Tough Teachers