need help with your account or subscription? click here to email us (or see the contact page)
join telegramNEW! discord
jump to exam page:
search for anything โ‹… score predictor (โ€œpredict me!โ€)

Welcome to adongโ€™s page.
Contributor score: 144


Comments ...

 +2  visit this page (step2ck_form8#46)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

they really copied and pasted this sh!t on nbme 6-8 huh? couldn't afford another heart sound smh

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (step2ck_form7#20)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

they really copied and pasted this sh!t on nbme 6-8 huh? couldn't afford another heart sound smh

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +0  visit this page (step2ck_form8#1)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

From UpToDate: For patients with SCLC, systemic chemotherapy is an important component of treatment, because SCLC is disseminated at presentation in almost all patients. For those with limited-stage disease, thoracic radiation therapy is used in combination with chemotherapy. Prophylactic cranial irradiation is often used to decrease the incidence of brain metastases and prolong survival. Prophylactic cranial irradiation and thoracic radiation may also be beneficial in those with a complete or partial response to initial systemic chemotherapy.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme18#7)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

This is a case of late post-renal azotemia, as you can tell by the BUN/Cr ratio that is <15 and the 3 day history of pain. They also tell you that the hydronephrosis and lymphadenopathy are compressing the ureters so it makes sense that you would want to stent the ureters. The others are all in the wrong location: Foley catheter (penis), suprapubic tube (bladder), stent in renal arteries (self explanatory).

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
plaguedbyspleen  And just for further explanation (and correct me if I'm mistaken), the BUN/Cr ratio is low because both BUN and Cr are elevated. Think about the increased hydrostatic pressure in the collecting duct pushing more water back into the blood. With water goes BUN. Also keep in mind that this patient has bilateral obstruction of the ureters but if the obstruction was unilateral you could see a normal ratio because the healthy kidney would be compensating. +1

 +2  visit this page (nbme18#30)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Pretty sure this is a case of Legionella. The fact that it didn't show up on culture but a "highly specialized" medium (in hindsight buffered charcoal yeast) yielded gram-negative rods put Legionella on my radar. The headache and dry cough also line up with it but the macrolides threw me off since I thought they were treated with fluoroquinolone. But the sketchy video for macrolides includes Legionella as a target so it worked out.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
epiglotitties  Agree! FA also says that treatment is w/ macrolide or quinolone. Just to add something, a UW question (dont know Qid) specified that sputum gram stain for Legionella will show many neutrophils but few or no organisms, exactly how they presented it in this case. +1

 +1  visit this page (nbme18#22)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Plasmodium vivax/ovale have dormant stages where their hypnozoites can stay latent in hepatocytes and trigger malaria well after the initial infection. The only malarial drug that covers against this is primaquine. The answer choice is just worded funny - "exoerythrocytic malarial tissue stages" basically is the stage where they are in the liver/not in RBC, and chloroquine won't work for those.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme18#9)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

"Finger-shaped" lesions is suggestive of a papilloma and the findings being on the vocal cords and epiglottis make this a laryngeal papilloma. Most common cause of laryngeal papillomas is HPV 6 and 11, per sketchy.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +0  visit this page (nbme24#24)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

I also had no idea what the diagnosis was and purely went off elimination: Can't be fatty acid oxidation bc of the ketonemia, which you wouldn't be able to produce if that was the defect. Glycogen breakdown/synthesis are related to glycogen storage diseases, which the presentation didn't line up well with. Also I was thinking of a pathway that would incorporate glycerol, fructose and galactose which seemed more in line with gluconeogenesis/glycolysis. Between the last two, I went with faulty gluconeogenesis bc that would elad to his hypoglycemia. I don't know how legit or applicable that is to other questions, but thought I'd at least share in case anyone finds it helpful.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +0  visit this page (nbme21#47)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

I knew it had to be X-linked because it said that it was fatal to males who have it in utero, but I had a hard time deciding between dominant and recessive. Ultimately it has to be X-linked dominant because the affected mother in the second generation gave birth to unaffected sons (which can't happen in X-linked recessive). That means the mother in question is heterozygous and her daughters will have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease while her sons have to be unaffected if they live, as previous posters mentioned. I didn't figure this out until way after the test...this one was a doozy. Still not sure that it's XLD because how come nobody in the first gen has it? Guessing it was a spontaneous mutation?

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +2  visit this page (nbme23#3)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

By default you should use intention to treat analysis b/c it's the most conservative.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme23#32)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

You can answer by process of elimination. "Competitive interactions" makes you think stimulatory NT. Cross out GABA and glycine. In the cortex so glutamate. Metabotropic would mean there's second messengers involved and the receptor would not transmit calcium. Hence NMDA.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +3  visit this page (nbme23#27)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

If you're confused by the systolic murmur look at FA2019 p.288. ASD can cause systolic ejection murmurs in the pulmonic location (can think of it as increase turbulent flow).

Of course the more important thing is fixed splitting so SMASH away.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +0  visit this page (nbme23#45)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

In addition to what has already been said I think an important point in the question was regulatory adjustments which points more towards arteriolar regulation.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme23#44)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

tricky image but question is asking more specifically about his visual complaints which is just "double vision" so IR entrapment is the best answer

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +3  visit this page (nbme23#10)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

I don't think you're supposed to know any complicated niche piece of knowledge. You have to infer that the pt has a skin lesion and is therefore prone to skin infections, most commonly from Staph aureus.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
07chess  I bet the guy who wrote the question is sitting like "Holly Fuk, I just meant scratching, I didn't know anything about MRSA". And of course, he made poker face in front of colleague test writers with a smile about how he screwed another bunch of us test-takers. +

 +1  visit this page (nbme22#49)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

the patient is pregnant so not doxy. azithro is alternative (see sketchy vid)

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +10  visit this page (nbme22#44)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Dicumarol is in the coumarin family which includes warfarin. It helps if you think about warfarin's brand name Coumadin. Coumadin, coumarin, dicumarol...all the other derivatives have COUM it in some fashion

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
neilfespiritu  Oh coum +3

 +6  visit this page (nbme22#45)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

neuroendocrine cells doesn't always mean neural crest

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
prolific_pygophilic  you're god damn right.... kms +3

 +20  visit this page (nbme22#38)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

literally know every single name they can possibly call this

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
djtallahassee  literally a new name every nbme +11
skonys  I just knew Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine because it was super long and I thought "these fucks will prob ask for the specific name" and then yolo'd on the lecithin part +1

 +0  visit this page (nbme22#2)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

from uworld: fibrates activate PPAR-alpha to increase LPL and decrease VLDL production

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme22#46)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

uworld says somewhere that testosterone increases hematocrit, increases LDL, and decreases HDL

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
passplease  Estrogen increases HDL. Testosterone is converted into estrogen. Why doesnt testosterone increase HDL. Why is my logic wrong? +
avocadotoast  The woman in this vignette has an increased androgen:estrogen ratio, so the effects of testosterone on lipid levels will be greater than those of estrogen on lipid levels. Boards and beyond also states that testosterone causes an increase LDL, decreased HDL, and increase in hematocrit, which is why males with primary hypogonadism can present with anemia and the use of anabolic steroids can present with erythrocytosis. +

 +8  visit this page (nbme22#43)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

got confused by the systolic pulsation of the liver but basically regurgitant blood from RV will go into RA > IVC > hepatic veins

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme22#30)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

hit the kidney so retroperitoneal. leaves only the duodenum and splenic flexure. kidneys are more lateral structures so splenic flexure (at turn of descending colon)

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
jackie_chan  Basically how I reasoned too; left kidney is close to tail, not body, of pancreas so that was out, duodenum is right side, stomach is not retroperitoneal, supraadrenal gland is superior to kidney, not immediately anterior; thus leaves splenic flexure (and its also left side) +1

 +3  visit this page (nbme22#30)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

you need to add an amine (nitrogen) and most biochem processes from sugar --> amine requires glutamine

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +7  visit this page (nbme22#35)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Super annoying they are using the same picture BUT you can answer with process of elimination. No mass in the picture so not nephroblastomatosis or RCC. 4 year old so not amyloidosis. Stem does not really cue you into membranous GN. Instead it talks about UTIs which would have inflammatory processes --> interstitial inflammation.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
skonys  Lol they used this picture in a diff exam and the answer was a wilms tumor though +

 +3  visit this page (nbme21#26)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Cecum is intraperitoneal even though it's part of the ascending colon

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
azibird  How were we supposed to know this? Thanks for the clarification. I picked cecum because FA says Crohn is usually the terminal ileum and colon, so I figured cecum would be the most likely vs the descending colon. +11
kevin  Yeah that's what I thought at first too. Figuring it was a tricky question, I went with descending colon because 1) ascending and descending are retroperitoneal, so we know the latter is for sure right, and 2) cecum has it's own name (ie it's different than the ascending colon), so it probably isn't retroperitoneal in that regard. You can remember ascending and descending are retroperitoneal by remembering the greater omentum wraps around the transverse colon and from anatomy lab that there's a mesoappendix, mesocecum, etc (peritoneal) +

 +4  visit this page (nbme21#8)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Euthyroid sick syndrome = levels of T3 and/or T4 are abnormal, but the thyroid gland does not appear to be dysfunctional. The classical phenotype of this condition is often seen in starvation, critical illness, or patients in the intensive care unit. The most common hormone pattern is low total and free T3, elevated rT3, and normal T4 and TSH levels.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +2  visit this page (nbme21#39)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

FA19 p.233 cortisol has a permissive effect on catecholamines

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +1  visit this page (nbme21#25)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

unequal BP/pulses in the arms is a big key for aortic dissection

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

 +9  visit this page (nbme18#18)
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Increased pressure is in the Bowman space (NOT the glomerular capillaries) so the only pathology listed that would cause backward build up of pressure is BPH

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
peyerpatchkids6  Does anyone know why its not diabetes? +1
michaelshain2  because the NBME said so, obvs! +3
cbreland  Diabetes would have non-enzymatic glycosylation causing increased GFR and hyperfiltation. The stem is referring to increased back pressure (Inc hydrostatic at bowmans space) which alludes to decreased GFR +1
victorlt14  @peyerpatchkids6 that's because NEG of the efferent arterioles could increase GLOMERULAR pressure; No increase in BOWMAN'S space pressure; That would have to be due to one of those post renal azotemia causes. Made the same mistake. +




Subcomments ...

submitted by step_prep5(246), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Key idea: IgA deficiency classically leads to Anaphylaxis to IgA-containing blood products + Atopy + Autoimmune disease + GI/sinopulmonary infections (IgA involved in mucosal immunity)
  • Anaphylactic transfusion reaction: Respiratory distress/wheezing, angioedema, hypotension, hives/urticaria
  • Urticarial transfusion reaction: Angioedema, wheezing

https://step-prep.org/tutoring/

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
sassy_vulpix  Patient is a known case of IgA deficiency and we still gave them blood products with IgA? +4
adong  clerical error clown face +


submitted by embeemee(1), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

what is "allergic nonhemolytic transfusion reaction"? i thought it was the febrile one, but febrile is listed separately

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  if this presentation were not as severe it would just be "allergic" as opposed to anaphylactic +


submitted by seagull(1933), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

The positioning of the arm on presentation is different that what I was taught. I thought the arm was held in extension. I might be wrong here.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
sassy_vulpix  Same, I was confused between extended and flexed too. It says flexed in FA Step 1, but on one of the uworld questions during step 1 it had said extended. +
adong  lol FA step 1 says "extended/slightly flexed" lol. i guess the more important part is the pronation +


submitted by step_prep5(246), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Middle-aged patient with a history of metastatic breast cancer who presents with triad of hypotension, jugular venous distention and distant heart sounds who also has electrical alternans and pericardial effusion, all consistent with a diagnosis of pericardial tamponade often secondary to breast cancer metastasis to the pericardium
  • Key idea: Although cardiac tamponade is often confirmed with an echocardiogram, if your index of suspicion is high you would proceed directly to therapeutic pericardial window due to significant morbidity/mortality associated with condition

https://step-prep.org/tutoring/

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  Also an echo was already done in the question stem +2


submitted by buttercup(18), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Beck's triad: muffled heart sounds, jugular vein distension, and electrical alternans. This patient has cardiac tamponade. The fluid has to be removed.

A pericardial window is a cardiac surgical procedure to create a window from the pericardial space to the pleural cavity. The purpose of the window is to allow a pericardial effusion (usually malignant) to drain from the space surrounding the heart into the chest cavity.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  Beck's triad is hypotension** +


submitted by deezmd(2), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

i dont think it said she was on NSAIDs anywhere in the question stem and i thought that they had a synergistic effect with opioids, thus should be tried prior to changing opioid management.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
imtheman  Agreed that was my thought process. +
adong  yea same bc we always think about multimodal pain control...alas we are not in real life -.- +


submitted by sizario(2), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

how come this couldn't be decreased FSH? Doesn't estrogen have negative feedback on FSH/LH?

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  FSH/LH wouldn't be the answer to why her libido is low tho +


submitted by saffronshawty(30), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

I get that the bruit = Renovascular disease. But why is it not hyperaldosteronism when there is hypertension + hypokalemia + elevated bicarb

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
saffronshawty  OHHH wait, is there secondary hyperaldosteronism due to the renal artery stenosis? that explains things.. +2
adong  yea elevated renin +
notyasupreme  I think it's because of the location.. I was between those two choices, but figured one said the adrenal veins, when this is 2/2 renovascular stenosis +1


submitted by step_prep2(66), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Patient with signs of major depressive disorder (too severe of a presentation for simple adjustment disorder), who should be treated with an anti-depressant, with Bupropion being the only antidepressant listed
  • First-line antidepressants: SSRIs, SNRIs, Bupropion, Mirtazapine
  • Benefits of bupropion: Mild stimulant effects, patient with comorbid cigarette use, helps patients with weight loss, favorable sexual side effect profile

https://step-prep.org/tutoring/

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
tinylilron  Bupropion= anti-depressant; Buspirone= treatment for General Anxiety Disorder +
lindasmith462  I mean it was def the only decent answer but its also third line at best in adolescents - especially one who isnt sleeping well.... its specifically approved in peds for depression refractory to SSRIs +1
charcot_bouchard  OMG IKR! This one was such a BS> like i know that Bupropion is not first line in paed. Also that line HE IS CONVINCED he is worthless and useless....like hinting some sort of delusion (depression + psychosis). Chose resperisone...later changed to bupropion because even in depression plus psychosis u need to treat depression first plus antipsych +
adong  worthlessness isn't delusion tho...that's just depression +1


submitted by step_prep2(66), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Middle-aged man with diabetes who presents with severe pain in the scrotum, fever, and confusion with bullae and crepitus over the scrotum/perineum and a leukocytosis and elevated glucose concentration, most consistent with Fournier gangrene
  • Key idea: Fournier gangrene is a form of life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis of the perineum/scrotum most commonly seen in patients with obesity or diabetes mellitus who require urgent surgical intervention (should NOT be delayed for imaging)

https://step-prep.org/tutoring/

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
tinylilron  not even if the patient is clinically stable... wouldn't the surgeons want a CT scan to help prepare them for surgery??? +1
adong  Doesn't matter bc this would be a surgical emergency +


submitted by step_prep3(25), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Patient with Cushingโ€™s triad (bradycardia, hypertension and irregular respirations) which is a sign of elevated intracranial pressure with a CT scan showing a high-density peri-ventricular hemorrhage, most consistent with a hypertensive bleed
  • Key idea: Common causes of brain bleeds include trauma, hypertension and cerebral amyloid angiography

https://step-prep.org/tutoring/

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
seagull  Bathrooms are very common areas of falling for the elderly/everyone. However, those tend to result in intracranial hematomas. This is a very significant brain bleed. HTN is classically associated with lacunar infarcts which honestly are not as massive as shown. THis might be a ruptured berry aneurysm from HTN but we couldn't know for sure. Not a great question but he has pre-existing HTN so I guess we'll go with it. +6
saffronshawty  bruh, i straight up thought that was a tumor lol +21
lindasmith462  I still dont get how this isnt' amyloid angiopathy - its the most common cause of spontaneous parenchemal hemorrhage in pts >60 (sure this guy is only 57 but NBME loves to give just off age ranges) and is especially seen in people doing routiene activity - HTN would have to be a SUDDEN increase in blood pressure - which he doesnt have a history suspicious for..... like if they said he was running or something sure +2
aoluwatayo  according to FA step 1, Intraparenchymal haemorrhage is most commonly caused by HYPERTENSION( charcot-bouchard microaneurysm).occuring in basal ganglia > thalamus > Pons > Cerebellum. Other causes are; Amyloid angiopathy in elderly, vasculitis and neoplasm +
osler_weber_rendu  Amyloid angiopathy is commonly restricted to one lobe acc to UW +
merpaperple  I thought this was a tumor too. Brain tumors look more like discrete solid masses (eg https://radiologyassistant.nl/img/containers/main/brain-tumor-systematic-approach/a5097978407bd7_calcification-2.jpg/0f040f73ea87585a751f39222d4a0b1c.jpg). Intracranial hemorrhage is more diffuse and "fluffy" (eg https://media.sciencephoto.com/image/c0271775/800wm) +1
adong  lol i feel like that second pic has more well defined borders. tbh i think the best way is probably to look at the intensity of the lesion. for bleeds it's almost as white as the skull bone +1
beans123  bright white is blood on these scans +
drzed  if it was a brain tumor, it would be intraventricular, which means that it would be an ependymoma. Those tumors are not only slow growing (not explaining his sudden onset of symptoms), but more common in children. You can't have a tumor the size of half your brain SUDDENLY knock you out--it would be a gradual development of symptoms. +1


submitted by step_prep(148), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Pregnant woman with no prenatal care presents with painless vaginal bleeding and a friable ulcer on the cervix, concerning for cervical cancer
  • Key idea: For the NBME exam, if a patient has no prenatal care, then they want you to assume that the patient does not consistently engage in care and likely does not get regular pap smears
  • Note: Fundal placenta excludes placenta previa as a cause (important cause to consider in setting of painless 3rd trimester vaginal bleeding)

https://step-prep.org

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
seagull  When I hear ulcer on the cervix while pregnant. I dont go jumping and claiming cancer. I think more was needed to clarify this question (as I say about all questions I miss - fml). Maybe a hx of abnormal pap smear or non hpv vaccine hx, something else. +5
stinkysulfaeggs  I also found it interesting how much she was bleeding. People go with cervical cancer undetected all the time, right? Why did this particular ulcer bleed through a pad every 2 hours all of a sudden? +2
lindasmith462  especially because she just had an ultrasound (despite no prenatal but w/e) ~ 2 months ago. like at some point shes had a gynecologic exam how did a cervical cancer so bad that she has that much bleeding develop in 2 months. does she have secret HIV? is she henrietta lacks? +2
adong  Really poorly written question but if you do elimination: not a polyp or acuminata base on the exam, not previa because of the ultrasound. The only thing left that ulcerates on the cervix is cervical cancer +1


submitted by step_prep(148), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
  • Patient with risk factors for spastic bladder (MS) has presentation consistent with urgency incontinence (urge to void immediately with loss of urine before reaching the bathroom at times), which is caused by detrusor hyperactivity/instability
  • Stress incontinence: Loss of urine with cough or increased abdominal pressure, caused by urethral hypermobility or sphincter deficiency
  • Overflow incontinence: Incomplete emptying of bladder leading to leak with overfilling; patient would have increased postvoid residual

https://step-prep.org

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
tinydoc  But why is the answer not MS? Is it just because the way the question was worded asked what is the cause of the patients symptoms as opposed to what is the underlying cause? +1
drmohandes  MS is episodic, this thing is lasting for 6 months. +
osler_weber_rendu  Many times MS causes a neurogenic bladder rather than overactive +1
adong  Overactive bladder is a type of neurogenic bladder though. I agree that detrusor hyperactivity is just a more specific answer +1
namesthegame22  Weird wording! +


submitted by mariame(16), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

The stem says that he has a history of lower GI bleeding however upper endoscopy and colonoscopy show no abnormalities. With that said you can rule out all of the answers except for Angiodysplasia.

Angiodysplasia is confirmed with angiography. Tortuous dilatation of vessels that cause hematochezia.

FA2019 380

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  Another factoid that would support the angiodysplasia diagnosis is that they are associated with aortic stenosis, which would explain the cardiac findings at the beginning of the stem (light-headedness and tightness in his chest with exertion). +1
plaguedbyspleen  Hate to be the "actually.." person but the light-headedness and chest tightness with exertion is more likely due to anemia and the myocardium not getting enough oxygen during times of higher demand. Physical exam did not show any murmurs and ECG was normal. +5
drdoom  @plaguedbyspleen this site was made for "actually" people. this is your tribe. welcome home, friend. +4


get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

The question stem mentions 3 subsets of patients: a) Some patients were inconsistent with taking medication or "not adherent" to medication regimen b) Some patients discontinued the drug they were randomized to completely c) A subset of these patients in point 'b', who stopped the medication were then prescribe the medication from the comparison group.

The ultimate question however is regarding whether patients under point 'a'(as above) should be included or excluded.

Ideally this depends upon your study protocol. In essence you may have an 'Intention to treat protocol' or an 'Adherent protocol'. As part of an adherent protocol you only include patients or study subjects (as referred to in basic science research) you only include those patients that strictly followed the protocol and exclude everyone else. This is mostly how basic science protocols are designed.

With clinical research however being completely per protocol is difficult and that's where the intention-to-treat protocol apples. This is to accommodate the subjective nature of human subjects in clinical research. Following up with human subjects is but obvious harder than manually handling mice or pigs in the lab. So in such cases as long as the study team has followed protocol in contacting the patient and playing their role all patient data can be included even if there are some minor protocol deviations due to logistical issues. All these deviations need to be reported to the IRB ofcourse and specified in the manuscript in the most appropriate manner.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
handsome  what is IRB? hehe idk lol +
adong  A helpful fact I learned that helped it make sense for me is that the reason you do intention to treat is because it can "approximate/represent" how people will react to following through with treatment in real life. If a treatment that is being tested is a hassle and patients drop out, maybe that would actually occur in the real world and thus it is a very practical tool for these scenarios. +
sd22  I was tripped up by the word "efficacy." Efficacy refers to testing under ideal conditions, which I likened to per-protocol, while effectiveness refers to testing under real-life conditions, which thought was closer to intention-to-treat. Since it said efficacy I thought they were looking for per-protocol, but I guess you just assume they're looking of ITT. +


submitted by sugaplum(487), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

phenylpropanolamine is an alpha agonist that stimulates urethral smooth muscle contraction. - from uptodate, however, it also says it is not recommended treatment anymore

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
ugalaxy  ฮฑ1 stimulation (via ฮฑ1 agonist) constricts the bladder sphincter thereby, preventing sudden bouts of micturition during coughing/sneezing (abdominal stress). +10
sammyj98  I thought that B3 stimulation stopped urination +9
adong  @sammyj98 B3 would facilitate bladder relaxation +
hvancampen  @sammyj98- were you thinking of oxybutynin? (thats what I thought of!) According to FA, its used for urge incontinence not stress. +2
drzed  Nah he/she's talking about Beta-3 receptors which are Gs coupled. Gs increases cAMP thus it would cause smooth muscle relaxation -> bladder relaxation! +1
donttrustmyanswers  From Mayo: "There are no approved medications to specifically treat stress incontinence in the United States. The antidepressant duloxetine (Cymbalta) is used for the treatment of stress incontinence in Europe, however." +1
nreid4  @hvancampen oxybutynin is an M3 muscarinic antagonist, not B3. +
alienfever  I thought about B3 agonist as well and got this wrong. I think maybe B3 agonist can be used for bladder (URGENCY incontinence) where the main issue is detrusor over reactivity. In STRESS incontinence however the problem has nothing to do with detrusor, so we use ฮฑ1 agonist to constrict the sphincter. +2
fatboyslim  (FA 2020 242) Mirabegron is a B3 agonist. B3 stimulation causes detrusor muscle relaxation, hence it is used for URGE incontinence, not STRESS incontinence. I think the drug they are referring to is Ephedrine? Also, remember "O"xybutynin (muscarinic antagonist) is for "O"veractive bladder (urge incontinence) +1
handsome  what is the educational objective of this question? what is the author trying to ask and want us to learn/know? +
bcher  @handsome I would add another line to the table on FA2020 p237: alpha agonists; +alpha-1 receptor which causes bladder sphincter muscle contraction; treats stress urinary incontinence with sphincteric incontinence +
l0ud_minority  I thought that females didn't have the internal urethral sphincter only external thus a more appropriate drug for stress urinary incontinence would be something that affects the nicotinic receptors????? Am I missing something??? If this was a male then yes alpha 1 receptors are located on the internal urethral sphincter and stimulation of them would help with symptoms in question. +


submitted by hayayah(1212), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Coloboma is an eye abnormality that occurs before birth. They're missing pieces of tissue in structures that form the eye.

  • Colobomas affecting the iris, which result in a "keyhole" appearance of the pupil, generally do not lead to vision loss.

  • Colobomas involving the retina result in vision loss in specific parts of the visual field.

  • Large retinal colobomas or those affecting the optic nerve can cause low vision, which means vision loss that cannot be completely corrected with glasses or contact lenses.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
mousie  thanks for this explanation! +1
macrohphage95  can any one explain to me why not lens ? +
krewfoo99  @macrophage95 Lens are an interal part of the refractive power of the eye. Without the lens the image would not be formed on the retina, thus leading to visual loss +5
qfever  Do anyone know why not choroid? +1
adong  @qfever, no choroid would also be more detrimental to vision since it supplies blood to the retina +3
irgunner  That random zanki card with colobomas associated with a failure of the choroid fissure to close messed me up +13
mnemonicsfordayz  Seems like the key to this question is in what is omitted from the question stem: there is no mention of vision loss. If we assume there is no vision loss, then we can eliminate things associated with visual acuity (weird to think of in 2 week old but whatever): C, D, E, F. Also, by @hayayah 's reasoning, we eliminate E & F. If you reconsider the "asymmetric left pupil" then the only likely answer between A & B is B, Iris because the iris' central opening forms the pupil. I mistakenly put A because I was thinking of the choroid fissure and I read the question incorrectly - but it's a poorly worded question IMO. +2
mamed  Key here is that it doesn't affect vision- the only thing would be the iris. All others are used in vision. Don't have to know what a coloboma actually is. +5
azibird  The extra section of that Zanki card specifically says that a coloboma "can be seen in the iris, retina, choroid, or optic disc." Don't you dare talk trash about Zanki! +3
fatboyslim  Honestly, I didn't understand what they were trying to ask...NBME has some weird wording sometimes +1
weirdmed51  you are a smart boy @mamed +
weirdmed51  @azibird ...upvoting @irgunner cos you went crazy there buddy๐Ÿ™ƒ +


submitted by alexb(53), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Since there were "small amounts of meconium" I thought it couldn't be atresia. Turns out atresia isn't always absence of lumen, it can also be abnormal narrowing of lumen, allowing just a small amount to pass through...

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  I don't think that's true, atresia literally means closure/absence of the lumen. I also got tripped up by the meconium but that could be just GI epithelium that was shed while in utero etc. I wouldn't change your definition of atresia. +2
srdgreen123  one thing i would say is that in the case its due to failure of recanalization and not due to failure of formation like other types of atresia, so its possible that when it was de-canalized, it was not 100% closed allowing for some meconium to pass +


submitted by pitaziki(-5), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Why is the answer fibularis brevis and not fibularis tertius? How do you distinguish between the two from this vignette?

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
gainsgutsglory  tertius is an anterior muscle and overlays the dorsum of foot as it fans out to the toes. Does not relate to the lateral malleolus. +
adong  wrong question to post on agree with above +1


submitted by gh889(154), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

From ShoryukenHadooken on reddit:

What the question is getting at is the sympathetic chain was spared. It was a terrible way of wording it.

Your anterior hypothalamus is responsible for cooling features and is under parasympathetic control. A lesion would cause hyperthermia.

Your posterior hypothalamus is responsible for heating when you're cold and to generate the Fever response and is under sympathetic control. A lesion would cause hypothermia.

In this question it is simply asking a person gets sick, hypothalamus was spared, what happens.

Answer: hypothalamus will still be able to elevate set body temperature to battle infection.

Hint: IF they give a question similar to this but reworded to include a lesion of the sympathetic fibers or of the hypothalamus, you would in turn NOT be able to generate a fever response to infection. The hypothalamus would be entirely under parasympathetic control

This adds more context to the fact the Q states that the sympathetics was spared

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
oslerweberrendu  So, this says sympathetic also spared and hypothalamus also spared. Then what was wrong with this clinical case?? +1
adong  i think the sympathetic system is actually impaired b/c it's cut before it can "outflow"...at least it's the only way this makes sense +4
suckitnbme  I agree. I think the question stem is saying the sympathetics were lesioned. Not that they were spared. +4


submitted by sinforslide(63), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Male internal genitalia -> Intact SRY , testes, and testosterone.

No female internal genitalia -> Presence of MIF (antimullerian hormone) and intact Sertoli cell function.

Female external genitalia -> No androgen present, which is required for male external genitalia formation.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
d_holles  Not sure I understand why T is wrong, but DHT is correct. +1
d_holles  I thought about this some more -- DHT forms external genitalia while T forms 'male genital ducts'. That's why the correct answer is DHT, not T, since the PT had +ext genitalia, but -internal genitalia. I was thinking that the PT had CAIS, but that would lead to testes only w/o male genital ducts. See FA2019 p608. +24
d_holles  *I meant -ext genitalia, +int genitalia +
adong  T is wrong because you still need T to make the internal male organs which he has based off the MRI +2


submitted by usmlewarrior(8), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

If both HCTZ and loop diuretics were provided as an answer choice, further clue that hctz would be the answer choice is the presentation of the patient "feeling funny". This suggests hypercalcemia (psychiatric overtones) which is a side effect unique to HCTZ.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  there wasn't any loop diuretics... +
the_enigma28  Good explanation!! +


submitted by hello(429), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

The Q stem states FOXO is a transcription factor that responds to insulin signaling by altering the transcription of metabolic genes --> therefore, FOXO is a transcription factor involved in metabolism. This should make sense because insulin-receptor activation has a role in regulating metabolism.

This Q asks about reversible ways that insulin reguates FOXO transcrption factor activity.

Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis is irreversible. Eliminate all choices except for B, D, and H.

Insulin-receptors function through PI3K signaling. PI3K signaling involves phosphorylation of serine --> serine phosphorylation is a reversible process. Eliminate H. FYI: protein/amino acid phosphorylation is always reversible.

You are left with choices B and D.

FOXO is a transcription factor --> transcription factors mediate gene activity by shuttling between the cytoplasm and nucleus. Regulating the location of FOXO transcription factor (i.e. cytoplasm vs. nucleus) will therefore reversibly modulate FOXO-mediated metabolic gene activity.

This leaves you with the correct answer: Choice B.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  A better way to think about it is insulin acts through MAPK which is a serine/threonine kinase +1
amy  I intepretated Nuclear/Cytoplasmic shuttling would be the result of serine phosphorylation, so the reversible modification is only on serine phosphorylation, which lead to nuclear/cytoplasmic shuttling, but the shuttling itself is not under modification. I got it wrong. +


submitted by strugglebus(189), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Lysine is used in elastin and collagen cross linking; it is cross linked by lysyl oxidase to make collagen fibers

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
charcot_bouchard  Thats my brother from UFAP mother +4
smpate  but glycine and proline are used in elastin too. Seems like you'd have to know about desmosine though that's not in first aid. Or maybe you can infer lysine since it's charged and is probably more important in maintaining stability? +
adong  the only thing we know about cross-linking is with LYSYL oxidase, hence lysine +5


submitted by aj32803(4), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Uworld specifically says that Psoas abscess means the patient will prefer flexion to avoid stretching the muscle. That's why Psoas did not make sense to me since the patient preferred extension, which would be stretching out the muscle.

On the other hand it's right on the vertebra and it's associated with TB.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  it's confusing but i think b/c psoas acts to flex at the hip, staying completely flat would keep the muscle from being contracted. uworld is talking about the psoas test which would end up hyperextending the psoas muscle which would elicit pain (psoas test can also be done with active flexion against pressure which would explain the not wanting to flex). +3
kamilia20  First ideal to my mind is that:patient is a TB, TB prefer psoas +


submitted by dr_jan_itor(87), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Can anyone answer why this one can't be F. Beta thalasemia major? I was thinking becaues of his anemia and the "european descent" which includes the mediteranian europeans. Unless NMBE writers think that european only means the ones with extra white people lol

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
dickass  European implies northern european (they even specified the patient was a person of pallor), mediterranean descent is usually implied by country of origin or by straight-out writing 'mediterranean'. +
poisonivy  The MCV is normal, thalassemias are microcytic anemias, that hint helps to rule out the thalassemias. However, I got it wrong, not sure why it cannot be a homozygous mutation in the ankyrin gene +2
adong  @poisonivy, other commenter pointed out it's autosomal dominant so best answer would be heterozygous +


submitted by ye2019(4), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Physical exams showed tenderness of costophrenic angles, which are the places where the diaphragm (-phrenic) meets the ribs (costo-). Not the Costovertebral angle tenderness that we think to hint renal disease.I got confused with this point.

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  honestly think this was a typo. hot trash +2
neovanilla  Assuming it was not a typo, how would the costophrenic angles be tender in this condition? ...From crying...? +1


submitted by step1soon(51), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

Anything upper lip + above โ†’ basal cell carcinoma

Anything lower lip โ†’ Squamous cell carcinoma

FA 2019 -pg 473

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  it's saying upper vs lower lip. this pt has it on the nose +4


submitted by lancestephenson(41), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

This is LITERALLY the same photo they used to describe the 4-year-old boy with diffuse cortical necrosis from NBME 18. Can someone explain what's going on here

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
lancestephenson  *Tubular atrophy, not cortical necrosis lol +
charcot_bouchard  Can u fuckers talk about spoilers +1
adong  same photo because the end gross pathology is the same. whether it's due to cancer or whatever the 4 year old boy had (some sort of obstruction IIRC) it ends with atrophy of the kidneys +
j44n  they used the same kidney on NBME 17 for posterior urethral valves lol +2
j44n  this is probably the most famous kidney in medicine +3
meja2  Why would you add a spoiler like this? some of us haven't done form 18 yet.....smh +1
epiglotitties  @meja2 They literally wrote in all caps warning you about upcoming spoilers... not their fault you kept on reading? +


submitted by hhsuperhigh(49), visit this page
get full access to all content โ‹… become a member

This is how my brain farted while I was doing this question.... I wanted to choose TBG deficiency, but I kept thinking that if TBG is deficient, that means there are less or no binding proteins in the blood. And how can the free T4 be normal? Shouldn't free T4 increase if there were less T4 binding protein? ...

get full access to all content โ‹… become a member
adong  free T4 wouldn't increase because it would be sensed by the pituitary and TSH would drop until free T4 normalizes +3


search for anything NEW!