In another show of the tedium of histology, here's my quote of the day: "They called the protein cyclin because it cycles through the cell cycle."
Thankfully, during the afternoon we had an anatomy lecture taught by the coolest radiologist. She is very big on teaching using case studies and participation rather than straight didactic presentations. Generally, her lectures give a little background information and then transition into her guiding us through unknown radiographs. And by guiding, I mean having us guess what's wrong with the patient at whose scan we are looking and then telling us why we are wrong or right (but mostly wrong) and then giving us candy regardless. She's great at turning a stupid guess into a valiant attempt with solid, though flawed, reasoning behind it.
Some fun pathologies we saw today included the “apple core” presentation of colon cancer, the blockage of the ileocecal valve between the small and large intestine by a large gallstone, and the pinching off of the duodenum of the small intestine by an annular pancreas. This last one is especially cool because it only makes sense if you know the developmental history of the pancreas. The pancreas actually starts out in the fetus as two smaller glandular organs on the right side of the abdominal cavity and, as the mesentery rotates during development, the two proto-organs merge into one and settle on the left side of the abdomen. If, however, these pancreatic pieces get tangled around the duodenal portion of the small intestine, they can block-up the whole GI tract, resulting in intractable vomiting for the infant in question.
TIL: If the sigmoid colon is enlarged from years of constipation, it can twist itself off exactly like a balloon animal's legs, causing the colon to occlude and fill with gas. The characteristic x-ray image for this condition, called a sigmoid volvulus, looks like a giant coffee bean that points to the right upper quadrant of the abdomen.
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