February Blog- Carnival Season

Spring service hours: 0

Fall service hours: 42

This month has been getting back to the full swing of things. We covered reproductive and neurological pharmacology, both of which are very interesting topics to me. In the reproductive module we touched on topics like contraceptives. One part that really stood out to me was the relationship between smoking and estrogen containing contraceptives. Learning that smoking significantly increases the risk for thrombosis was pretty alarming and really brought out some interesting questions about the role of estrogen receptors. The neurology module was similarly informative. Neurological disorders have always interested me, and learning about some of the pathology behind prominent disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and epilepsy as well as the pharmacological treatment methods for treating them was very informative. One of the surprising bits of information was during our discussion with Dr. Mostany when he told us about one of the genetic predispositions that leads to the development of Alzheimer’s at an alarmingly early age. We also covered topics like opioids and drug addiction, which are topics that I have been looking forward to covering due to their relevance to past work and research I have done. Opiate painkiller addiction is a prominent issue in my community back home and the information we covered gave me a more informed perspective at the pharmacology behind painkillers and physiology of addiction to them. It is an increasing epidemic on a nationwide scale, and I continue to be interested in ways to help this problem. I have an upcoming presentation about novel opioids as a part of the neuropharm class and looking forward to researching topics like abuse resistant opioids. At the end of the neurology module we had the opportunity to do another simulation that touched on some of the topics we learned about and let us apply that knowledge to a realistic scenario. It was a helpful review before the last exam before spring break. 

Outside of the class, the city social scene has started to really pick up, especially as we approach mardi gras. On the weekends off I have been able to see some of the many parade opportunities that this city has to offer for carnival and upcoming Mardi Gras. I got to start off the month celebrating my birthday at the Chewbacchus space themed parade. The creative costumes and floats were very innovative and I appreciated the more homemade feel to them. Another favorite of mine was the Barkus parade that featured the dogs of New Orleans and was a wonderful mob of people and their pets meandering through the streets. Unfortunately the parade was cut a bit short for me because the parade missed a turn, but there were plenty of dogs to go around. As we approach Mardi Gras, there are numerous options of things to do, and I am quite excited at the week-long break ahead of me.