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Real-Life stories – why I chose medicine

We asked several medical students why they chose to study medicine and to give some advice to those considering it as a career choice.

Read their stories below

"A career in medicine has always been at the forefront of my mind, I may not have got there in the orthodox way by leaving school and heading straight to medical school, but finally I am there!

After school I went to university to study biology at both BSc and MSc level. I was not the kind of student at my school that was deemed academically good enough to study medicine. I enjoyed the degree but knew a career in biological research was not for me, and on completion of my thesis I started a job with a pharmaceutical company as a sales representative. I enjoyed my job, it was straightforward, social and well-paid, it was a role I was able to fill well, but it was not in any way what I saw myself doing for the rest of my working life. After much debate and advice, I had nothing to lose in making a massive effort to get into medical school. The only job I knew that I wanted to do was medicine. I secured a place on an Access to Medicine course, which got me back up to speed and into the swing of studying again, and from there I secured a place at medical school. Getting the acceptance letter was a very emotional and life-changing day. One I will never forget.

Studying medicine is a privilege, to me medicine is the ultimate career. What other career can you chose which provides constant mental stimulation, a continuous opportunity to learn and progress, flexible working and a decent salary. But most importantly, a career in medicine empowers you to help people, to be respected by others and to feel job satisfaction in a way that is impossible to feel in many other careers. The opportunities are endless, and the choice vast, however along with this comes huge responsibility to individual patients, the population as a whole and the team in which you are working. In addition, the NHS may receive a great deal of press about its status, but at a time where many people are being made redundant, doctors are still in the same demand. I had to put a great deal of thought into the viability of studying medicine at the age of 27, although jobs are not guaranteed they are still readily available." (Kate, Brighton)

"Why medicine? I'm a geek; I love science, and I love challenges. I also really enjoy working with and understanding people. I chose medicine because it offered me the opportunity to integrate these interests and apply them in a very practical profession. From examining patients to phlebotomy to suturing, it's not just about memorizing information, medicine is very much about applied skills. I'm now in my fourth year and I find it hugely rewarding to put together all the pieces of the puzzle- the history elicited with good communication skills, the knowledge of human biology and the findings from examination and investigations to suggest a diagnosis and be told it was the right one! Medicine is my second degree and the decision to stay a student for another 5 years when my friends were all in gainful employment wasn't an easy one. But it was the right one for me." (Catherine, Aberdeen)

Available at: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/why-study-medicine/why-i-chose-medicine Accessed: September 7, 2023.

Responda à questão abaixo com base na tirinha a seguir:

Fonte: https://www.thequint.com/neon/fun/10-times-calvin-and-hobbesgot-adulting-101-on-point. Acessado em: 06.04.0223

T E X T

Can you learn in your sleep?

    Sleep is known to be crucial for learning and memory formation. What's more, scientists have even managed to pick out specific memories and consolidate them during sleep. However, the exact mechanisms behind this were unknown — until now.

    Those among us who grew up with the popular cartoon "Dexter's Laboratory" might remember the famous episode wherein Dexter's trying to learn French overnight. He creates a device that helps him to learn in his sleep by playing French phrases to him. Of course, since the show is a comedy, Dexter's record gets stuck on the phrase "Omelette du fromage" and the next day he's incapable of saying anything else. This is, of course, a problem that puts him through a series of hilarious situations.

    The idea that we can learn in our sleep has captivated the minds of artists and scientists alike; the possibility that one day we could all drastically improve our productivity by learning in our sleep is very appealing. But could such a scenario ever become a reality?

    New research seems to suggest so, and scientists in general are moving closer to understanding precisely what goes on in the brain when we sleep and how the restful state affects learning and memory formation.

    For instance, previous studies have shown that non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep — or dreamless sleep — is crucial for consolidating memories. It has also been shown that sleep spindles, or sudden spikes in oscillatory brain activity that can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the second stage of non-REM sleep, are key for this memory consolidation. Scientists were also able to specifically target certain memories and reactivate, or strengthen, them by using auditory cues.

    However, the mechanism behind such achievements remained mysterious until now. Researchers were also unaware if such mechanisms would help with memorizing new information.

    Therefore, a team of researchers set out to investigate. Scott Cairney, from the University of York in the United Kingdom, co-led the research with Bernhard Staresina, who works at the University of Birmingham, also in the U.K. Their findings were published in the journal Current Biology.

    Cairney explains the motivation for the research, saying, "We are quite certain that memories are reactivated in the brain during sleep, but we don't know the neural processes that underpin this phenomenon." "Sleep spindles," he continues, "have been linked to the benefits of sleep for memory in previous research, so we wanted to investigate whether these brain waves mediate reactivation. If they support memory reactivation, we further reasoned that it could be possible to decipher memory signals at the time that these spindles took place."

    To test their hypotheses, Cairney and his colleagues asked 46 participants "to learn associations between words and pictures of objects or scenes before a nap." Afterward, some of the participants took a 90-minute nap, whereas others stayed awake. To those who napped, "Half of the words were [...] replayed during the nap to trigger the reactivation of the newly learned picture memories," explains Cairney.

    "When the participants woke after a good period of sleep," he says, "we presented them again with the words and asked them to recall the object and scene pictures. We found that their memory was better for the pictures that were connected to the words that were presented in sleep, compared to those words that weren't," Cairney reports.

   Using an EEG machine, the researchers were also able to see that playing the associated words to reactivate memories triggered sleep spindles in the participants' brains. More specifically, the EEG sleep spindle patterns "told" the researchers whether the participants were processing memories related to objects or memories related to scenes. "Our data suggest that spindles facilitate processing of relevant memory features during sleep and that this process boosts memory consolidation," says Staresina. "While it has been shown previously," he continues, "that targeted memory reactivation can boost memory consolidation during sleep, we now show that sleep spindles might represent the key underlying mechanism." Cairney adds, "When you are awake you learn new things, but when you are asleep you refine them, making it easier to retrieve them and apply them correctly when you need them the most. This is important for how we learn but also for how we might help retain healthy brain functions." 

    Staresina suggests that this newly gained knowledge could lead to effective strategies for boosting memory while sleeping.

    So, though learning things from scratch à la "Dexter's Lab" may take a while to become a reality, we can safely say that our brains continue to learn while we sleep, and that researchers just got a lot closer to understanding why this happens.

From: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/Mar/2018

T E X T

Can you learn in your sleep?

    Sleep is known to be crucial for learning and memory formation. What's more, scientists have even managed to pick out specific memories and consolidate them during sleep. However, the exact mechanisms behind this were unknown — until now.

    Those among us who grew up with the popular cartoon "Dexter's Laboratory" might remember the famous episode wherein Dexter's trying to learn French overnight. He creates a device that helps him to learn in his sleep by playing French phrases to him. Of course, since the show is a comedy, Dexter's record gets stuck on the phrase "Omelette du fromage" and the next day he's incapable of saying anything else. This is, of course, a problem that puts him through a series of hilarious situations.

    The idea that we can learn in our sleep has captivated the minds of artists and scientists alike; the possibility that one day we could all drastically improve our productivity by learning in our sleep is very appealing. But could such a scenario ever become a reality?

    New research seems to suggest so, and scientists in general are moving closer to understanding precisely what goes on in the brain when we sleep and how the restful state affects learning and memory formation.

    For instance, previous studies have shown that non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep — or dreamless sleep — is crucial for consolidating memories. It has also been shown that sleep spindles, or sudden spikes in oscillatory brain activity that can be seen on an electroencephalogram (EEG) during the second stage of non-REM sleep, are key for this memory consolidation. Scientists were also able to specifically target certain memories and reactivate, or strengthen, them by using auditory cues.

    However, the mechanism behind such achievements remained mysterious until now. Researchers were also unaware if such mechanisms would help with memorizing new information.

    Therefore, a team of researchers set out to investigate. Scott Cairney, from the University of York in the United Kingdom, co-led the research with Bernhard Staresina, who works at the University of Birmingham, also in the U.K. Their findings were published in the journal Current Biology.

    Cairney explains the motivation for the research, saying, "We are quite certain that memories are reactivated in the brain during sleep, but we don't know the neural processes that underpin this phenomenon." "Sleep spindles," he continues, "have been linked to the benefits of sleep for memory in previous research, so we wanted to investigate whether these brain waves mediate reactivation. If they support memory reactivation, we further reasoned that it could be possible to decipher memory signals at the time that these spindles took place."

    To test their hypotheses, Cairney and his colleagues asked 46 participants "to learn associations between words and pictures of objects or scenes before a nap." Afterward, some of the participants took a 90-minute nap, whereas others stayed awake. To those who napped, "Half of the words were [...] replayed during the nap to trigger the reactivation of the newly learned picture memories," explains Cairney.

    "When the participants woke after a good period of sleep," he says, "we presented them again with the words and asked them to recall the object and scene pictures. We found that their memory was better for the pictures that were connected to the words that were presented in sleep, compared to those words that weren't," Cairney reports.

   Using an EEG machine, the researchers were also able to see that playing the associated words to reactivate memories triggered sleep spindles in the participants' brains. More specifically, the EEG sleep spindle patterns "told" the researchers whether the participants were processing memories related to objects or memories related to scenes. "Our data suggest that spindles facilitate processing of relevant memory features during sleep and that this process boosts memory consolidation," says Staresina. "While it has been shown previously," he continues, "that targeted memory reactivation can boost memory consolidation during sleep, we now show that sleep spindles might represent the key underlying mechanism." Cairney adds, "When you are awake you learn new things, but when you are asleep you refine them, making it easier to retrieve them and apply them correctly when you need them the most. This is important for how we learn but also for how we might help retain healthy brain functions." 

    Staresina suggests that this newly gained knowledge could lead to effective strategies for boosting memory while sleeping.

    So, though learning things from scratch à la "Dexter's Lab" may take a while to become a reality, we can safely say that our brains continue to learn while we sleep, and that researchers just got a lot closer to understanding why this happens.

From: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/Mar/2018

TEXTO 

    Aos 60 anos, Rossmarc foi confinado na cadeia Raimundo Pessoa em Manaus, dividindo uma cela com 80 detentos. Dormia no chão junto de uma fossa sanitária. Para manter-se vivo usava toda a sua inteligência para fazer acordos com os detentos. Lá havia de tudo: drogados, jagunços, pseudomissionários, contrabandistas etc. Fora vítima do advogado. Com toda a lábia, nunca fora a Brasília defender Rossmarc. Por não ter apresentado a defesa, foi condenado a 13 anos de prisão. O advogado sumira, Rossmarc perdera o prazo para recorrer. Como era estrangeiro, os juízes temiam que fugisse do Brasil. O juiz ordenou sua prisão imediata. A cela, com oitenta detentos, fervilhava, era mais do que o inferno. Depressivo, mantinha-se tartamudo num canto, remoendo sua história, recordando-se dos bons tempos em que navegava pelos rios da Amazônia com seus amigos primatas.

    Visitas? Só a de Pássaro Azul. Mudara-se também para Manaus e, sem nada dizer a Rossmarc, para obter dinheiro, prostituía-se num cabaré. Estava mais magra e algumas rugas se mostravam em seu rosto antes reluzente, agora de cor negra desgastada. Com o intuito de obter dinheiro, tanto para Rossmarc pagar as contas de dois viciados em crack no presídio, como para as custas de um advogado inexperiente, pouco se alimentava e ao redor dos olhos manchas entumecidas apareciam, deixando-a como alguém que consumia droga em exagero. As noitadas no cabaré enfumaçado e fedorento deixavam-na enfraquecida. Mas não deixara de amar o biólogo holandês. Quando fugira do quilombola, naquela noite, jurara amor eterno e não estava disposta a quebrar o juramento.

     Enquanto Pássaro Azul se prostituía para obter os escassos recursos, Rossmarc, espremido entre os oitenta detentos, procurava desesperadamente uma luz no fim do túnel. Lembrava-se dos amigos influentes, de jornalistas, de políticos, e cada vez que Pássaro Azul o visitava, ele implorava que procurasse essas pessoas. Pássaro Azul corria atrás, mas sequer era recebida. Quem daria ouvidos a uma negra que se dizia íntima de Rossmarc, o biólogo que cometera crimes de biopirataria? Na visita seguinte, Rossmarc indagava: 

    — E dai, procurou aquela pessoa?

     Para não magoar o amado, ela respondia que todos estavam muito interessados em sua causa. Dizia, entretanto, sem entusiasmo, com os olhos acuados e baixos, para não ver o rosto magro e chupado de Rossmarc. Entregava-lhe o pouco dinheiro que economizava, fruto da prostituição, e saia de lá com os olhos rasos d’água, tolhendo os soluços.

    Numa noite no cabaré, Pássaro Azul conheceu um homem gordo e vesgo, que usava correntões de ouro. Dizia-se dono de um garimpo no meio da selva. Bebia e fumava muito, ria alto, com gargalhadas por vezes irritantes. Entre todas as raparigas, escolheu Pássaro Azul, que lhe fez todas as vontades, pervertendo-se de forma baixa e vil. Foram três noitadas intermináveis, mas Pássaro Azul aprendera a administrar a bebida. Não era tola, como as demais, que se embebedavam a ponto de caírem e serem arrastadas. Era carinhosa com o fazendeiro e saciava-lhe todos os caprichos. Não o abandonava, sentava em seu colo gordo e fazia-lhe agrados fingidos. Dava-lhe mais bebida e um composto de viagra, e o rosto gordo se avermelhava como de um leão enraivecido. Então, ela o puxava para o quarto sórdido. Na cama, enfrentava como guerreira o monte de carne e ossos, trepando sobre suas grandes papadas balofas e cavalgando, como uma guerreira. O homem resfolegava, gritava, gemia, uivava, mas Pássaro Azul não parava aquela louca cavalgada.

[...]

(GONÇALVES, David. Sangue verde. Joinville: Sucesso Pocket, 2014. p. 217-218.)

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    In almost every discipline, success comes from a combination of talent and determination. But if you listen to most famous figures describe their life journeys, you’ll soon hear them exaggerating their hard work, while strangely diminishing the role of their innate abilities.

    Thomas Edison may be the most often quoted, with his claim that “genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration”, but many other variations exist. Just consider Octavia Butler’s advice for new writers. “Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. As habit is more reliable than inspiration, continued learning is more reliable than talent.” The Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo also emphasises the blood, sweat and tears that went into his training. “Talent without work is nothing,” he said, when asked about the secrets of his success.

    Such narratives may be beneficial for celebrated figures who wish to appear humble and wise. But recent psychological research shows overemphasising the importance of hard work would be prejudicial in many professional situations — thanks to a phenomenon known as the “naturalness bias”. These studies suggest people have greater respect for those with an innate gift than for those who have had to strive for their success.

    In consumer psychology, the term “naturalness bias” is often used to describe our preference for natural over synthetic goods. “On some fundamental level, we believe that the closer something is to its original state, the less adulterated it is, the more desirable it is,” declared Malcolm Gladwell, the author of a study on the topic. As says Chia-Jung Tsay, a professor at University College London School, “The naturalness bias is very generalizable across domains, ages and cultures.”

(David Robson. www.bbc.com, 22.05.2023. Adaptado.)