WARM UP:

One Joke: 

• Q: Does an apple a day keep the doctor away?

• A: Only if you aim it well enough.

One Fact: 

Humans can glow in the dark! Kind of. The light emitted is too weak for the human eye to detect.

One Quote:

"People often think that something "far off" will make them happy. That moving to a new place or getting a different job or meeting someone new will change how they feel. But happiness will always be withheld if you believe it is somewhere else. The secret is to find happiness in the people and places that are close to you. See the beauty in the things that are nearby."

– James Clear

One Guess…Name That Disease: (Answer at bottom)

• Description: A type of cancer that forms in the lining of blood vessels and lymph vessels. The epidemic subtype is most common and is typically caused by a combination of immunosuppression (secondary to HIV/AIDS) and infection by human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8). Organ transplant patients are also disproportionately affected by this disease.

• Signs and Symptoms: Presents with visible nodules or blotches that may be red, purple, brown, or black. Lesions are usually papular and found on the face, trunk, and lower limbs. The mouth, genitals, and intestinal tract can also be affected.

• Diagnosis: Definitive diagnosis can be made only by biopsy and microscopic examination.

• Treatment: Patients with a few local lesions can often be treated with local measures such as cryosurgery. More widespread disease may require radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Treating the cause of the immune suppression is key in slowing the progression.

• Prognosis: There is no cure but can often be treated successfully for many years.

HEALTHCARE HEADLINES:

** Nursing schools are turning away thousands of applicants, despite a nationwide nursing shortage. Limitations on available teaching faculty and clinical placement opportunities are driving the decision to turn away nearly 80,000 nurse applicants last year alone.

** Google your patient’s medical history? Google announced new AI search capabilities to help clinicians quickly access information from different data sources across the EMR and bring it all to one place though Google’s Vertex AI Search platform.

TOGETHER WITH FULTON:

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WATER COOLER WONDERS…the stuff we found interesting this week:

** Record: A Canadian man with an iron stomach (and perhaps recturm?) ate 50 of the world’s hottest chili peppers in record time, under seven minutes. He went on to eat 135 peppers in one sitting. Each Carolina reaper is about 200-400 times spicier than a jalapeno pepper!

** Chart: Houston, we have a problem. A space junk problem, that is. There are now about 20,000 pounds of junk floating around in space. This includes inactive satellites, rocket parts, and missile debris. The US issued its first fine for space littering last week, as Dish Network was fined $150k for failing to remove an old satellite.

** Map: Winter is coming. Check out this map of where to expect the first frost on the ground across the country. Seneca, Oregon had frost on July 7th, but Orlando, Florida doesn’t usually see frost until January.

** Explanation: If you’re reading this newsletter, then congratulations for surviving another Friday the 13th last week. Find out why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.

TGIF:

A fox smoking a cigar? A kangaroo playing the air guitar? An owl with a case of the Mondays? Check out this year’s finalists for the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

Want more pet humor? He’s a funny compilation from Comedy Central with a bunch of comedians talking about pets:

THANKS FOR READING!

At The Hyperthalamus, we’re on a mission to educate and entertain health care workers. Because we believe work should be a fun place to hang out with your colleagues and make them feel dumb for not knowing the answers to our trivia questions.

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Disease Answer: Kaposi's Sarcoma