Docs Watch – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

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

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!

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

SUBJECTIVE

Welcome to Season 2 of Docs Watch! We're back from break with a brand new slate of episodes for you. A slight change this season: we're going to switch to an every-other-week release schedule and see how that goes. But otherwise, it's more of your favorite medically-related movie ramblings!

We're kicking off Season 2 just in time for American Independence Day. So what better way to celebrate than with a discussion of the 1996 classic movie Independence Day? This movie holds up remarkably well, but we do have some questions (natch). Why are the aliens' alien suits so poorly designed? Why don't any of the scientists have better sterile technique? And what IS Jeff Goldblum's day job anyway? The truth is out there.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• YouTube video: Movie buff channel - Independence Day aliens/"the freak show"
• YouTube video: Ella Van Saar - Alien autopsy from Independence Day
• Independence Day Wiki - Harvesters
• If you want a more detailed rundown of sterile technique, check this out: StatPearls - Sterile Technique by Karie Tennant and Cynthia L. Rivers

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 7 out of 10 aliens in parachutes dragged by Will Smith
• Jen: 4.5 out of 5 tiny aliens inside bigger aliens

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

SUBJECTIVE

In the last episode of season one, we talk about TV/film's most favorite medical emergency: the tension pneumothorax! There's drama! There's intrigue! There's therapeutic stabbing! Okay, fine. We get it — it's pretty cool. But some movies do it better than others... Let's talk about it!

(Once again, Claire Temple is the real hero.)

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• An excellent series of X-rays can be found at the Radiopaedia entry for Pneumothorax (by Yuranga Weerakkody, Martin Gorrochategui, et al.)
• NIH US National Library of Medicine, Genetics Home Reference - Primary spontaneous pneumothorax
• M. Noppen, Spontaneous pneumothorax: epidemiology, pathophysiology and cause, European Respiratory Review, 2010
• Wanna know the steps involved in a needle decompression? Check it out at: JoVE Science Education Database. Emergency Medicine and Critical Care. Needle Thoracostomy. JoVE, Cambridge, MA, (2020).
• M. Noppen et al., Music: a new cause of primary spontaneous pneumothorax, BMJ: Thorax, 59(8), 2004

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: Daredevil gets 8 out of 10 black medical gloves, Mad Max gets 2 out of 10 guys on floppy sticks, and Just Like Heaven gets 3 out of 10 paring knives at Italian restaurants
• Jen: on a scale of splenic lacerations, Daredevil gets 0 out of 10, Mad Max gets 10 out of 10, and Just Like Heaven gets 10 out of 10

PLAN

Like we mentioned in the special outro to this episode, we're currently working on Season 2! So while Season 1 is complete, Docs Watch is definitely not over. What medical topics do you want to hear about? Drop us a line at docswatchpod (at) gmail dot com, or tweet at us @DocsWatchPod!

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

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

SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we talk about where the X-men get their powers. Can your DNA give you super speed AND let you control the weather AND shoot lasers out of your eyes AND do whatever it is that Rogue does? Maybe! It's all about the gene activation. It turns out, the power is in you!

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• The X-men that show up in the Deadpool movies (2016 and 2018) are Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
• Veterans Used In Secret Experiments Sue Military For Answers by Caitlin Dickerson, NPR, Sep 2015
• Short-Term Superhuman: If We Create Augmented Soldiers, Can We Turn Them Back? by Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, Sep 2018
• Wikipedia - Weapon Plus
• Pre-serum Chris Evans is a combination of CGI and Leander Deeny.
• Psychic Spies, Acid Guinea Pigs, New Age Soldiers: the True Men Who Stare at Goats by David Hambling, WIRED, Nov 2009
• DARPA - Blood Pharming, Nov 2013
• The Pentagon’s Push to Program Soldiers’ Brains by Michael Joseph Gross, The Atlantic, Nov 2018
• DARPA's Mind-Controlled Arm Will Make You Wish You Were a Cyborg by Maddie Stone, Gizmodo, May 2016
• DARPA's MBA program: Understanding Warfighter Performance from the Inside Out, Jan 2019
• GeckSkin from UMassAmherst
• About Vantablack from Surrey NanoSystems

• Deepa: the genomics of X-men gets a 6 out of 10 DNA rocks
• Jen: the X-gene gets a 7.5 out of 10 radioactive spider bites

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we talk about medical licensing, but with magic! If you wanna be a healer, there are pre-reqs for that. And minimum NEWT scores to hit. Just how heroic is Madam Pomfrey's call schedule? And does the wizarding world's pharmaceutical industry have any kind of regulation?

This episode guest stars Jen's neighbor's leaf blower!

Also, are you pro or con Krebs cycle? Let us know @DocsWatchPod!

Sidebar:

• We recorded this ep before the one on Harry Potter and concussions, which is what we were referencing at the end of the recording. But don't worry! We have plenty more thoughts on Harry Potter.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Harry Potter Wiki - Healer
• Krebs cycle - Wikipedia
• Harry Potter Wiki - Hospital Wing (of Hogwarts)
• Harry Potter Wiki - Healing Magic
• A Visit to St Mungo's from HP and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling, from the now sadly defunct Pottermore (Wayback Machine link)
• Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - classes currently offered at Ilvermorny (from their official Tumblr :D )

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 15 out of 5 golden snitches
• Jen: for the quality of medical training, scant out of 5 for what's in the text, and 10 out of 2 Skele-gro patents for HP in general

PLAN

Here's our version of what an Ilvermorny pre-med curriculum might look like. And also our proposed class schedules. What would your schedule look like?

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

SUBJECTIVE

In episode 7 of this season, we talk about Mad Max's terrible IV line management and the overuse of dino rex machina. Bedside organization is important even when you're working on a high speed scrap heap in the middle of a desert while being chased by War Boys. Plus, we finally take our highly anticipated trip to Jurassic World and discuss whether you can give good guy T-rex blood to a velociraptor. The main question is this: how many iterations of Jurassic Park do we need to build before someone tightens up these lax security protocols?

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution by Holly Tucker
• AABB - Highlights of Transfusion Medicine History
• The title that both Jen and Deepa butcher is this: Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood), which was William Harvey's description of the circulatory system in 1628
• H. A. Oberman, Early History of Blood Substitutes Transfusion of Milk (pdf). Transfusion, 9(2), Mar-Apr 1969
• Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa transfusion scene (YouTube link)
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, T-rex to raptor transfusion scene (YouTube link)
• Fact-Checking Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom by Carmen Russo, Slate June 2018
• Catherine Bovens and Tim Gruffydd-Jones, Xenotransfusion with canine blood in the feline species: review of the literature. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 15(2), Sep 2012
• Exotic animal blood transfusions: An overview by Stephen Cital for VetBloom

Corrections:

• Deepa was right - it was order, not genus. Which makes sense, given that cats and dogs are definitely not the same genus. Oops!

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: Fury Road gets a 9 out of 10 for guaranteed sepsis; Fallen Kingdom gets a 7 out of 10 for a T-rex to velociraptor xenotransfusion, and a 1 out of 10 for the lack of cut-down, blind stick blood draw
• Jen: Fury Road gets 4.5 out of 5 blood bags (half point deduction for unnecessarily stabbing Charlize Theron a second time); Fallen Kingdom gets 5 out of 5 baby Blues for cuteness, and 1 out of 5 floppy Chris Pratts escaping from lava for believability

PLAN

Shoutouts:

• If you want more info on the history of blood transfusions, check out the Sawbones ep on transfusions.

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we talk about why you should just say no to dueling inside of an actively erupting volcano. At least not without proper protective equipment. (But preferably not all.) Our favorite (not) medical droids make another appearance and are still in dire need of a software update. Who's in charge here anyway? And where's a scrunchy when you need one?

Sidebar:

• We recorded this episode back in 2018, which was when Kilauea erupted.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• Duel between Anakin and ObiWan from Revenge of the Sith (YouTube link)
• What Does It Look Like When A Person Gets Struck By Lightning? - IFLScience
• Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center - Understanding a Burn Injury (Burns Factsheet)
• Mayo Clinc - Burns Overview, has a diagram of skin layer anatomy and brief overview of the different degrees of burns
• Mayo Clinic - Burns First Aid fact sheet
• Parkland Formula for Burns (MD Calc)
• CDC - Key Facts About Volcanic Eruptions (May 2018)
• Falling into lava would be a pretty hot mess by Alessandra Potenza, The Verge, May 2018
• American Thoracic Society - Volcanic Eruptions and Threats to Respiratory Health (2018, pdf), patient education sheet
• The documentary Jen mentioned was either "Please Let Me Die" (1974) or "Dax's Case" (1984), which are both about Dax Cowart.
• Wookieepedia - Bacta

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 2 out of 5 tubes of Neosporin
• Jen: 3 out of 5 volcanoes
• The medical droids, once again, get their licenses revoked.

PLAN

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

SUBJECTIVE

In this episode, we talk about the casual child endangerment of the wizarding world's favorite full contact sport, Quidditch! Is Madam Hooch up to date with brain injury management guidelines? Does Hogwarts even have a concussion protocol if they don't have a "What to Do if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Shows Up at Hogwarts" protocol? Gravity still applies to magical worlds, and so does blunt force trauma. Which means that there is a woeful lack of helmets. What's the liability insurance sitch at Hogwarts?

Sidebar:

• During the recording, Jen's neighbor decided to run a leaf blower in the street on and off, so that's faintly in the background. Sorry about that.

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• CDC Childhood Injury Report, 2008
• Quidditch Through the Ages (Indiebound link) by Kennilworthy Whisp (J. K. Rowling), Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015 edition
• Wronski Feint, Harry Potter Wiki
• Wales vs Germany, Harry Potter Wiki archived from Pottermore — the segment of the Daily Prophet talking about Thorsten Pfeffer
• Injuries in Quidditch: A Descriptive Epidemiological Study, Rachel Pennington et al, International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, Oct 2017
• Injuries to polo riders: a prospective evaluation, Matías Costa-Paz et al, British Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol 33, Issue 5, Oct 1999
• (Half)-Blood (Prince) Sport: The Busted Bodies and Broken Bones of Muggle Quidditch by Claire McNear, The Ringer, Jul 2018
• CDC HEADS UP to Brain Injury Awareness — general info on how to recognize a concussion or other brain injury, what you should do, and precautions to take
  • CDC Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion, main page
• Shout out to The Office S2E12 "The Injury" — Dwight Schrute's concussion is a pretty good depiction (though most concussions don't make you a nice person and are not hilarious)
• US Quidditch Rules — US Quidditch was founded at Middlebury College in 2005
  • US Quidditch YouTube channel
• The Ringer: Binge Mode, HP Extra: Quidditch Special
• Harry Potter casts a spell on accident prone children, Stephen Gwilym et al, BMJ, 331(7531), Dec 2005

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 0 out of 5 for safety, 1 out of 5 for rules that make sense, 4 out of 5 for whimsy
• Jen: 5 out of 5 for whimsy, 0 out of 5 for safety

PLAN

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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

SUBJECTIVE

In episode 4, we ask the important questions about the Aquaman cinematic universe (and also spend a not insignificant amount of time thirsting after Jason Momoa).

(I mean, look at him.)

Anyway. What is up with the physiological class stratification of Atlanteans? Is blonde hair a curse? Why is Pinocchio so important to this movie? AND WHY WON'T ANYONE TALK ABOUT THE DINOSAURS??? We answer none of these questions and answer a bunch of other ones in this ep!

OBJECTIVE

Resources, Citations, and Mentions:

• How Fish Gills Work, Today I Found Out, Sep 2011
• The Multifunctional Fish Gill: Dominant Site of Gas Exchange, Osmoregulation, Acid-Base Regulation, and Excretion of Nitrogenous Waste - David H. Evans, Peter M. Piermarini, and Keith P. Choe; Physiological Reviews, Vol 85, Issue 1, Jan 2005
• Pulmonary ventilation–perfusion mismatch: a novel hypothesis for how diving vertebrates may avoid the bends - Daniel Garcia Párraga, Michael Moore and Andreas Fahlman; Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Volume 285, Issue 1877, April 2018
• Do Whales Suffer From Decompression Sickness? by Sara Mynott, Nature: Saltwater Science, May 2013
• The breathing response of whales and other marine mammals is also triggered by carbon dioxide, but not until much higher levels than in people. — How do Whales and Dolphins Sleep Without Drowning? in Scientific American, Feb 1998
• Karathen is, in fact, Julie Andrews!
• The Depths Below - Ring of Fire, NOAA
• Undersea Volcano Eruptions Caught On Video, Discovery YouTube channel

Corrections:

• Some sources say to NOT vent fish. Some sources say to do it. So... we don't know.
  • Venting: A Guide to Releasing Reef Fish with Ruptured Swimbladders, Florida Sea Grant
  • Rockfish Barotrauma Information, California Department of Fish and Wildlife

ASSESSMENT

• Deepa: 7 out of 10 invisible chest gills
• Jen: 3 out of 5 crab people for narrative coherence, 5 out of 5 Khal Drogos for Jason Momoa
• Overall DC cinematic universe scale 15 out of 10 (only outpaced by Wonder Woman which is at 2000 out of 10)

PLAN

Special thanks to Butterscotch Shenanigans for letting us use their podcast equipment! Check out their game dev comedy podcast Coffee with Butterscotch!

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