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USMLE Strange Names and Concepts!

5K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  nsesereso 
#1 ·
I just got the shock of my life when I found out that Tacrolmus and Sirolimus have different mechanisms of action...who NAMED them SIMILARLY??? who...??? who...??? someone was trying to really mess with a student...

(the funnier part is that Tacrolimus and Cyclosporin are similar and in action and have similar side effects)

I tend to be a very good guesser, and my guessing depends on pattern recognition, trends, similar names, etc. So I decided to start this thread to point out some of the outliers that could make me a bad guesser...

Please add others as you come across them...

Here are a couple of others...

- They call it Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but is not found anywhere near the Rocky Mountains...

- They call it pyoderma granulosum, but it has no pus, and has no granulomas...
 
#2 ·
Cortisol and Glycogen Synthesis

...just found another one...

- Cortisol increases glycogen synthesis...you would have thought that as a hormone that increases glucose levels, cortisol and other glucocorticoids would decrease glycogen synthesis and increase glycogen breakdown, but not so...it does exactly the opposite...so this is good to take note of...the exceptions

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"The USMLE is basically a test of exceptions" - Dr. Sattar (paraphrased)
 
#5 ·
Yes and we all know that hypercalcemia is one of the causes of acute pancreatitis. But among the features we see in acute pancreatitis is hypocalcemia. This is worthy of note as well.
This makes sense mechanistically due to saponification of fat. Death of the peripancreatic fat (because destructive enzymes are leaking from the pancreas) causes Ca to be trapped, dropping systemic calcium levels.

It helps me to know the mechanism.
 
#4 · (Edited)
*pyoderma granGRENOSUM. It's an inflammatory necrotizing destruction of the skin. Think gangrene of the skin with WBCs.

I also differentiate Sirolimus and Tacrolimus by saying Sirolimus and the Standing Stones. Sirolimus is derived from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and is also called rapamycin. What does rapamycin inhibit? The mammalian Target Of Rapamycin (mTOR).
 
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