Welcome back, my blogging friends!
As promised, I am writing an additional post to better explain the weekly happenings. Similar to last week, I will provide a brief overview from Monday and Wednesday’s internship days, then I’ll summarize the list of studies that Dr. Chong is performing or assisting in.
Monday, Monday, Monday!
We had another Department of Neurology meeting, and of course, I got lost. When I arrived at 8:56 AM, Dr. Chong had already left for the meeting, leaving me a note saying it was in the same room as last time. This isn’t helpful if I don’t remember how we got there. So after wandering around for a couple minutes, panicking only on the inside, I had the bright idea of going to the lobby’s information desk. Success! I made it to the meeting, 10 minutes late, but still in one piece. And that's my snippet of independence for you!
Discussion in the meeting was most of the same stuff as last week, the need for more people to enroll and the status of all the studies. Then I spent the rest of the day putting the scores from questionnaires onto a spreadsheet. A pretty uneventful day. Have some knowledge: The data from the spreadsheet is usually triple-checked!
Halfway There Wednesday!
I now see the value of these triple-checks for when I came in this morning, Dr. Chong had gone over my work and discovered some numbers in the wrong boxes. Thank goodness those were caught or else the results would've been a bit inaccurate. Lesson: It's always helpful to have another pair of eyes proofread one's work to minimize errors.
Today I also sat in on the first patient for the new study comparing recovery times between males and females post-concussion. She was an 18-year-old healthy control. The questionnaires were the same ones used for the study comparing PTH and chronic migraine. Read on to learn more about the different studies that I've been mentioning throughout my posts!
Now that I’ve covered what I’ve done this week, I will list Dr. Chong's studies and give a quick summary of each:
- A Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Classifier to Accurately Diagnose Persistent Posttraumatic Headache and to Differentiate it from Chronic Migraine
- Principal Investigator (the person in charge of the study): Todd Schwedt & Colleagues
- Funded by the Department of Defense
- Because of the difficulty for clinicians to diagnose whether a patient has post-traumatic headaches or migraines, this study will hopefully find out whether symptoms and brain MRI findings can help distinguish the two
- GOAL: Determine if symptoms and brain MRI results can help to differentiate people with post-traumatic headaches from people with migraine and from people without headaches
- Sex-Specific Profiles of White Matter Repair Following a Concussion
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Catherine Chong & Colleagues
- Also funded by the Department of Defense
- GOAL: Compare male and female recovery times following a concussion using MRI brain results
- Structural and Functional Neuroimaging in Patients with Headache Disorders
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Catherine Chong & Colleagues
- Funded by Mayo Clinic AZ
- This research study is being done to better understand whether changes that are seen in the brain in people with migraines are also seen in people with chronic headache disorders (similarities and differences between MRI & sensory testing)
- GOAL: Improve ability to diagnose and treat these conditions
- Functional Networks in Migraine
- Principal Investigator: Dr. Schwedt and Colleagues
- We are conducting this research to study adults with migraine. The aim is to study possible effects of migraine on the way the brain functions.
- This study will help us understand why some patients with migraine are more sensitive to light, noise, and touch
- It may also help determine why some patients with migraine transform from having infrequent headaches to having very frequent headaches
- Funded by the National Institutes of Health
- MRI & sensory testing (cold & heat to determine pain thresholds)
- Groups: Chronic migraine, episodic migraine, healthy
- GOAL: improvements in ability to diagnose and treat migraine
Alright, that's all for now. I hope that helped clear some things up. And certainly comment below if you still have questions. Thanks for continuing to follow along, and I'll see you in tomorrow's post!
Hi Kiri! What an interesting second week of research! I can't believe you had a chance to relive those elementary days when we colored anything possible because it was so fun. I was wondering if you're going to use any of Dr. Chong's research to help your study. Would some of it be applicable and how would you use it?
ReplyDeleteNice project! I can't wait to see more.
Hey, Robert! Yes, it was fun getting to revert to a childlike state, if only for an hour. Dr. Chong has got a lot of research going on right now, so no, I haven't really decided yet how I'm going to use it exactly. This week I'll be posting an update that I'll probably be taking out the "sports-related" part of my research so that it's more applicable to Dr. Chong's studies. Keep an eye out for that post! I'm thinking as we get results from the studies, I'll have a more concrete idea about what I'll be using for the project. The general idea will be to use reporting of symptoms, recovery times, and pain sensitivity (something to do with the questionnaires) as a way to find gender-based differences. Thanks again for your comment!
DeleteI've been in Mayo Clinic before and I'm surprised you were only ten minutes late to the meeting! I probably would have accidentally missed the entire thing because I would be walking in circles. Do you know what caused the concussion for the 18 year old and does the cause of the concussion have an effect on anything?
ReplyDeleteYes, the world is basically a giant maze. I guess I should just get used to it. So, the 18-year-old is actually a healthy control, meaning that she's never gotten a concussion before. It was also interesting to note that she had never had a serious migraine before and she even rated her most intense headache as a 1 on the pain scale 0-10. She was perfectly healthy, like me. Maybe I should've participated in the study...haha, only kidding! Thanks for your comment, Week 3, here we come!!
DeleteHey Kiri! I'm sorry you got lost, but I'm sure you will figure out how to get around in no time. That coloring book looks pretty awesome. I was wondering what kind of data you'll be collecting soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Grayson! I'm getting the hang of it, just don't ask me for any directions! This week I'll be looking at some MRI brain scans. At this moment, I don't know a lot about what MRIs show us, besides a black and white image of the brain (and I'm guessing certain measurements like how big it is, etc.). I'll be sure to let you know in my Week 3 posts what information the MRI brain scans collect. Have a nice day!
DeleteHi Kiri!
ReplyDeleteThat woman that fell off the horse and hit by a car seems like she had a pretty tough day. The summary of each study was really helpful. So you focusing on recovery time difference between males and females?
Hey, Mary! I know right, I was literally so shocked that woman is still alive after learning what she's been through. She's very fortunate. As for my research, the tentative plan is to look at the symptoms subjects report, recovery times, and pain sensitivity. I'll hopefully be able to get that information from the scores on the questionnaires as well as the findings from the MRI brain scans. I'll keep you posted!
DeleteHi Kiri.I have taken note that majority of your patients seem to be female already? Are you going to have an equal amount of subjects between male and female? Thank you once again for your amazing writing with just the right amount of humor.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Isabella! I'm so glad you're enjoying my blog! Discussion about participants is a topic actually discussed at the weekly department meetings. Part of the status update is making sure that there's an equal ratio of males to females. Subjects for these studies also come in on days that I don't have my internship. Maybe that's where are the males are hiding. ;D Thanks for your question!
DeleteHi Kiri! Im glad you are having so much fun with your project. Have you been able to compare any of the scans yet, or are you still only collecting the information for the study?
ReplyDeleteHey, Rachel! I can't believe it's already the third week into my project. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. Also, you're in luck, for I'll be looking at some MRI brain scans tomorrow. I'll let you know what I find out in my Week 3 posts, so stay tuned!
DeleteHey Kiri, Hope you had a lot of fun this week, hope those coloring police don't catch you! The studies sound very interesting. Cant wait for your next post, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHi, Michael! Yes, it would be tragic if I got caught for the punishment I receive for violating the coloring-inside-the-lines code is that I would have to color 50 additional drawings that must stay inside the lines. ;D Thanks for commenting, and I look forward to writing for Week 3!
Delete