Category Archives: Uncategorized

Why does valproic acid cause elevated ammonia? Ah, serum ammonia. A lab that is often sent and often a head-scratcher. Sometimes an altered patient with cirrhosis and the most textbook asterixis will have a normal serum ammonia. And other times a patient has a sky-high ammonia and you have no idea why. Have you everContinue reading “Episode 116 – Ammonia Rising”

The Curious Clinicians welcomed Dr. Mark Shapiro to the show to learn about the art of the question, and so much more! Mark is a hospitalist and physician leader in California, but is best known as an extraordinarily talented podcast interviewer and inspiring speaker. If you’ve listened to Mark’s podcast, Explore The Space, you’ll knowContinue reading “Episode 115 – The Art of the Question, with Dr. Mark Shapiro”

What’s with the black mold growing inside Chernobyl? In a recent Curious Clinicians episode about the tragedy of Chernobyl and the public-health effort to distribute iodine pills to the victims, we mentioned that the reactor that exploded (and even some of the wider fallout area) is now host to a curious organism: A black fungusContinue reading “Episode 114 – The Mold that Eats Radiation for Breakfast”

Why does calcium deposit in blood vessels? Ever heard of bone forming inside blood vessels? Even if you haven’t heard it expressed in those exact words, you most likely have come across the concept of vascular calcification. And in certain instances, fully formed bone is precisely the endpoint of calcium deposition in vessels.  The earliestContinue reading “Episode 113 – From Vessel to Bone”

Why was iodine given to people exposed to radioactivity after Chernobyl? Chernobyl. Even those who don’t actually know where it is or what happened there use the word as a metaphor for catastrophe and irrevocable destruction. At 1:23 in the morning on April 26, 1986, in the northern Ukranian city of Pripyat, a nuclear powerContinue reading “Episode 112 – Wherefore Iodine?”