SUBJECTIVE

We've made it to the end of season 2! In the final episode of this season, we're dipping into the world of iZombie to talk about Romeros, misguided proteins, and an unexpected reason why you shouldn't mix drugs and energy drinks.. Now that you know how to make zombies and unmake them, how do you keep one fed and happy? Or at least just fed. There's only so much you can do about undead happiness levels.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• "Why Is It That Zombies Eat Brains?" by Karl Smallwood, Today I Found Out, Gizmodo, December 2014
• "George A. Romero: 'Who Says Zombies Eat Brains?'" by Eric Spitznagel, Vanity Fair, May 2010
• TV Tropes - Brain Food, accessed Oct 2020
• iZombie Wiki - Zombie, accessed Oct 2020
• "Why Don't We Eat (More) Brains?" by Alan Jasanoff, Lit Hub, March 2018
• "Thought for Food" by Heather Arndt Anderson, Taste, December 2017
• "When People Ate People, A Strange Disease Emerged" by Rae Ellen Bichell, NPR: The Salt, September 2016
• Whitfield, Jerome T et al. “Mortuary rites of the South Fore and kuru.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 363,1510 (2008): 3721-4.
• "How a history of eating human brains protected this tribe from brain disease" by Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, June 2015
• Asante, E., Smidak, M., Grimshaw, A. et al. A naturally occurring variant of the human prion protein completely prevents prion disease. Nature 522, 478–481 (2015).
• Hosszu, L.L.P., Conners, R., Sangar, D. et al. Structural effects of the highly protective V127 polymorphism on human prion protein. Commun Biol 3, 402 (2020).

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 3 out of 5 for pneumothorax corner, 5 out of 10 tainted Utopium vials
• Jen: 3 out of 5 lack of stethoscopes for pneumothorax corner, 5 out of 10 cans of Max Rager

PLAN

And that's a wrap for season 2! We'll be taking a short break before coming back with season 3. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time!

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

Got a question or suggestion? Find us on Twitter @DocsWatchPod, or visit us at docswatchpod.com.

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SUBJECTIVE

Now that we've talked about making a zombie, let's talk about unmaking one. In the second of our three zombie episodes, we'll discuss lone microbiologists, dried scab powder, and the power of therapeutic stabbing. Sure, manufacturing a zombie cure from your own blood is impressive, but unless you have detailed lab notes, it basically didn't happen. We're looking at you, Will Smith.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• I Am Legend Wiki - Krippin Virus, accessed October 2020
• "Opinion: The Slave Who Helped Boston Battle Smallpox" by Lashyra Nolen, Undark, Apr 2020
• "How an African Slave in Boston Helped Save Generations from Smallpox" by Erin Blakemore, History, Feb 2019
• "Better Know a Plague: Smallpox" by Brooke Borel, Popular Science, May 2014
• "Facial Masking for Covid-19 — Potential for “Variolation” as We Await a Vaccine" by Monica Gandhi and George W. Rutherford, New England Journal of Medicine, Sep 2020
• CDC - Measles (Rubeola), last reviewed October 2019, accessed Oct 2020
• "I Am Legend's Alternate Ending Explained: What Happens & Why It Was Cut" by Michael Kennedy, Screen Rant, Dec 2019

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 1 out of 10 congealed tubes of Will Smith's blood
• Jen: 0 out of 10 missing lab notebooks

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

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SUBJECTIVE

It's spooky season, which means it's time to talk about spooky things! Like the LIVING UNDEAD! (I want you to picture a clap of thunder and flash of lightning here.) As with vampires, "zombies" is just too broad a topic to cover in one episode, so we're giving you three! In the first episode of our zombie trilogy, we're going to talk about how you make a zombie. Or at least, how Cambridge scientists made zombies and also destroyed all of the UK in 28 days. We'll discuss not-living-not-dead pathogens, RAGE, and why no one should use Ebola as a viral vector for gene therapy.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• "Zoinks! Tracing The History Of 'Zombie' From Haiti To The CDC" by Lakshmi Gandhi, NPR Code Switch, Dec 2013
• "The Tragic, Forgotten History of Zombies" by Mike Mariani, The Atlantic, Oct 2015
• "Response to 'I Walked with a Zombie'" by Amy Wilentz, version appeared in Harper's in Dec 2011
• "A Zombie Is a Slave Forever" by Amy Wilentz, New York Times, Oct 2012
• "How the zombie represents America’s deepest fears" by Zachary Crockett and Javier Zarracina, Vox, Oct 2016
• 28 Days Later Wiki - Rage Virus, accessed October 2020
• Lundstrom, Kenneth. “Viral Vectors in Gene Therapy.” Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 6,2 42. May 2018
• IDSA Ebola Facts - Infectious Diseases Society of America, accessed October 2020
• Science Mag "What does Ebola actually do?" by Kelly Servick, August 2014
• "One doctor's nearly real, totally believable zombie apocalypse scenario" by Gemma Zigman, Hub at Johns Hopkins University, Oct 2012

ASSESSMENT

How 28 Days Later makes zombies

• Deepa: 3 out of 10 product placement Pepsi cans
• Jen: 1 out of 10 infected eye blood drops

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

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SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we're heading back into outer space to talk about maybe the most iconic alien of all time — Alien! I mean, the xenomorph! From Alien! What a great and confusing movie. Why is everything so wet on that spaceship? Why didn't the crew have fire safety training? Why are we storing milk and spaghetti inside robots??? Really, we're left with more questions than answers. We'll discuss why you should be careful what you put in your mouth (Spoiler: the answer is worms), mutagenic tumor fluid, and how bad company policies can create more than just a toxic work environment.

Sidebar:

• We mention that malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, and this is true! But there are four other species of Plasmodium (specifically, P. vivax, P. ovale, P. malariae, and P. knowlesi) that can also infect humans and cause malaria! They usually cause milder disease. A lot of the discussion about malaria is about P. falciparum because that is the species responsible for the vast majority of deaths from malaria.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Center for Disease Control: About Parasites, last reviewed, Sep 2020, accessed September 2020
• Wikipedia - Parasitism, accessed September 2020
• Wikipedia: Malaria , accessed September 2020
• Center for Disease Control: Taeniasis, last reviewed, Jan 2013, accessed September 2020
• Center for Disease Control: Cysticercosis, last reviewed Jul 2019, accessed September 2020
• Wikipedia - Dracunculus medinensis, accessed September 2020
• Center for Disease Control - Parasites - Guinea Worm, last reviewed May 2020, accessed September 2020
• "Exclusive: Battle to wipe out debilitating Guinea worm parasite hits 10 year delay" by Leslie Roberts, Nature News Article, September 30, 2019.
• Xenopedia, The Alien vs. Predator Wiki - Xenomorph life cycle, accessed September 2020
• Xenopedia, The Alien vs Predator Wiki - Chestburster, accessed September 2020

ASSESSMENT

Of the parasite life cycle in Alien:

• Deepa: 4 out of 10 spaghetti robots in milk
• Jen: 3 out of 10 highly mutagenic fluids

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

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BONUS EPISODE!

We joined Laurel Hechanova and Audrey Nieh on their show Podcast of a Lady on Fire, which is a cathartic exploration of the filmmaking, themes and community involved in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, to discuss 18th century French abortions, ineffective butt kicks, and usefully toxic teas.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, we just have four words for you: Lesbian. Period. Romance. Drama.

Once you do see it, be on the lookout for Post-PoaLoF Syndrome. Symptoms include ennui, the profound urge to stare at the ceiling, downloading Duolingo, mild heart pain and shortness of breath, tearfulness, and a sense that you'll never be the same.

Our recommendations: Lie down. Elevate your feet, preferably on an embroidered pillow. A good cup of (non-toxic) tea and a croissant. Watch Portrait on Hulu eleventy billion times, and listen to Podcast of a Lady on Fire to join the awesome community around this film.

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 10 out of 10 twigs out of the paste
• Jen: 10 out of 10 wobbly step stools

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

Got a question or suggestion? Find us on Twitter @DocsWatchPod, or visit us at docswatchpod.com.

Also, if you also love Portrait of a Lady on Fire, then listen to Podcast of a Lady on Fire! You can find them here: https://linktr.ee/poalof

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SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we're taking a trip to Westeros to examine the cutting edge medical practices of Samwell Tarly. It turns out he has shockingly sharp scalpels and shockingly bad PPE practices. We'll discuss greyscale and greyscale-esque infections, why you shouldn't operate during a candle shortage, and rock people (again). Also, we'll give you yet another reason why colonialism is bad. As if you needed any more.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Game of Throne Wiki - Greyscale, accessed September 2020
• Game of Scenes - Sam cures Jorah Mormont - Game of Thrones S07E02 (Feb 2019, accessed September 2020, YouTube link)
• FilmComicsExplained - Greyscale Virus (Game of Thrones Explored) (Dec 2017, accessed September 2020, YouTube link)
• Monigues Holloways - Tyrion and Jorah fight the Stone Men, 5x5 Game of Thrones Season 5 (HD) (Aug 2015, accessed September 2020, YouTube link)
• NIH US National Library of Medicine Genetics Home Reference - Leprosy, accessed September 2020
• National Organization for Rare Disorders - Leprosy, accessed September 2020
• CDC - Hansen's Disease (Leprosy), last reviewed Feb 2017, accessed September 2020
• Wikipedia - History of leprosy, accessed September 2020
• Monot M, Honoré N, Garnier T, et al. On the origin of leprosy. Science. 2005;308(5724):1040-1042.
• Bennett, Brian H et al. “Leprosy: steps along the journey of eradication.” Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) vol. 123,2 (2008): 198-205.

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 6 out of 10 pasty greyscale ointment packets
• Jen: 4.5 out of 9 banded armadillos for Sam's lack of precautions, 9 out of 9 banded armadillos for Sam's precipitating the discovery of sterile technique

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

Got a question or suggestion? Find us on Twitter @DocsWatchPod, or visit us at docswatchpod.com.

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SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we move on from vampires to talk about robots! Specifically, robot organs. Like, why does a robot need organs? And if it did need organs, why would it need human organs? We'll discuss robot face putty, building biosynthetic organs, and some incredible applications of 3D printing. Also, can we PLEASE change the stylistic standards of scientific papers to allow for some ENTHUSIASM??? This stuff is amazing!

Sidebar:

• Regarding the Pregnancy and Birth episodes, we wanted to apologize for the gendered language we used throughout our discussions. We know that nonbinary, genderqueer, and transgender people can also get pregnant and give birth. The way we talk about it is a relic of our training, and we're trying to do better. We're sorry if we hurt anyone through our carelessness.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Wikipedia - Artificial Heart, accessed August 2020
• UCSF - The Kidney Project
• Wikipedia - Tissue engineering, accessed August 2020
• What’s new about new synthetic organs? by Brian Owens, Nature News Blog, July 2011
• Tissue engineering: How to build a heart by Brendan Maher, Nature News Feature, July 2013
• Yong, E. Lab-grown kidneys transplanted into rats. Nature (2013).
• On the Road to 3-D Printed Organs by Emma Yasinski, The Scientist, February 2020
• 3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life by Marissa Fessenden, Scientific American, May 2013
• Skylar-Scott MA, Uzel SGM, Nam LL, et al. Biomanufacturing of organ-specific tissues with high cellular density and embedded vascular channels. Sci Adv. 2019;5(9)
• Laronda, M., Rutz, A., Xiao, S. et al. A bioprosthetic ovary created using 3D printed microporous scaffolds restores ovarian function in sterilized mice. Nat Commun 8, 15261 (2017).
• 3 Theories Explaining Why Robots Bleed by Tonya Riley, Inverse, September 2016

• Deepa: 3 out of 10 silver/blue/clear Playskool organs
• Jen: 3 out of 10 flubber skin putties

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

Got a question or suggestion? Find us on Twitter @DocsWatchPod, or visit us at docswatchpod.com.

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SUBJECTIVE

We have finally arrived at the culmination of our very own Twilight saga! In this episode, we discuss the infamous Bella Swan birth scene, placenta separation anxiety, and why postpartum hemorrhage kills. ...especially if you don't do anything to stop it. It turns out venoms, uteruses, and rocks really don't mix, no matter how many syringes full of morphine you have on hand.

Sidebar:

• Interested in playing Pregnancy/Birth Trope Bingo? Here's a bingo card for you to download and use!

Edited to add: Regarding the Pregnancy and Birth episodes, we wanted to apologize for the gendered language we used throughout our discussions. We know that nonbinary, genderqueer, and transgender people can also get pregnant and give birth. The way we talk about it is a relic of our training, and we're trying to do better. We're sorry if we hurt anyone through our carelessness.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• TV Tropes - Birth Tropes, accessed July 2020
• Best and worst childbirth scenes in science fiction and fantasy by Charlie Jane Anders and Kelly Faircloth, io9, September 2010
• Movieclips - Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (6/9) Movie CLIP - Childbirth (2011) HD (YouTube link, November 2012)
• Movieclips - Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (7/9) Movie CLIP - You're Not Dead (2011) HD (YouTube link, November 2012)
• StatPearls - Placental Abruption (Abruptio Placentae) by Pamela Schmidt; Christy L. Skelly; Deborah A. Raines. Last Update: July 5, 2020.
• Wikipedia - Placenta, accessed July 2020
• StatPearls - Stages of Labor by Julia Hutchison; Heba Mahdy; Justin Hutchison. Last Update: March 27, 2020.
• ACOG Practice Bulletin, October 2017 - Postpartum Hemorrhage
• Evensen A, Anderson JM, Fontaine P. Postpartum Hemorrhage: Prevention and Treatment. Am Fam Physician. 2017;95(7):442-449.
• NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine - Cesarean Section - A Brief History, Last updated: 26 July 2013

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 2 out of 10 syringes full of venom because the equipment is set up properly
• Jen: 0.5 out of 10 extremely aggressive scalpel incisions for the OB suite

PLAN

Subscribe to our medical ramblings on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Rate, review, and tell your friends!

Got a question or suggestion? Find us on Twitter @DocsWatchPod, or visit us at docswatchpod.com.

Theme Music and SFX: Kevin MacLeod (CC BY) - RetroFuture Clean, Danse Macabre-Big Hit 2