NBME Answers : dr_jan

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submitted by yotsubato(207),

Why is his Libido normal? It's totally expected that he may have reduced libido after his wife died 2 years ago from some horrible prolonged illness.

nala_ula perhaps it's more to do with the fact that he can get erections when masturbating, outside of nocturnal erections which are not mediated by sexual desire. So his libido must be intact since he has sexual desire evident in being able to masturbate. +

nala_ula At least, that's the way I saw it. +

home_run_ball "Testosterone concentration is within the reference range" and the fact that he has no difficulty masturbating = normal libido. Low testosterone would contribute to low libido And if he had low libido he would have difficulty masturbating +

thisisfine The way I made the decision about normal vs. decreased libido is also that he presented to his doctor due to difficulty maintaining an erection while trying to have sex - meaning he has the libido to try to have sex. Does that make sense? +1

btl_nyc It also says there are no signs of depression, which would cause the low libido after his wife died. +

temmy two years is a enough time to mourn...just saying +

temmy thisisfine, it makes absolute sense. That is the same way i saw it +

dr_jan_itor He misses his wife man, isn't ready for other women. Psychogenic ED. physically hes fine (can crank his meat) +

submitted by sympathetikey(252),

Inferior oblique = helps you look up & in.

Also, they said floor of the orbit, so it makes sense that the inferior muscles would damaged.

sahusema I know you're right. I was just so uncomfortable picking an answer with "inferior rectus" because damage to the inferior rectus does nothing to explain the clinical findings of impaired upward gaze. Unless the muscle is physically stuck and can't relax or something +1

emmy2k21 Agreed. Why would a dysfunctional inferior rectus contribute to impaired upward gaze??? I eliminated that answer choice and got it wrong :( +

dr_jan_itor in the last sentence it asks you to assume an "entrapment", so it is actually the inferior rectus which is the cause of the upward gaze palsy. The entrapped muscle is functionally trapped in it's shortened position, thereby not allowing the orbit to gaze upward. +2

submitted by hayayah(330),

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. Don't have to be an alcoholic to get this, just usually is related to alcoholism / thiamine deficiency.

d_holles Yeah the negative EtOH screen threw me off +1

dr_jan_itor Why cant it be early alzheimers and hippocampus? She could easily have been a former prominent physician and member of city council. Am i supposed to assume that simply because shes disheveled and poor hygeine that she must be an alcoholic homeless person? It also mentions no symptoms of nystagmus, ataxia, etc. +1

kimcharito it said broad based gait and nystagmus +1

submitted by g.liller@yahoo.com(12),

Candida is a part of the normal flora of skin, could cause contamination of a central venous catheter. The question states that the organism is purple, budding, did not respond to broad spectrum antibiotics (aka they didn't use fluconazole or amphotericin B). Lastly, they showed it plated on blood agar and there was no hemolysis which eliminates staph (the only other possible contender here.)

Cryptococcus usually involves meningitis in immunocompromised pts. E. coli is gram negative sporothrix is usually transmitted by a thorn on a rose or someone with a history of gardening

hungrybox Also, the yeast form of Candida is gram (+) +3

dr_jan_itor I got thrown off by the part where they said "ovoid" and thought they were implying a cigar shape. I chose sporothrix for the morphology in spite of knowing that it clincally made no sense. +

submitted by tissue creep(22),

Arthropod for sure, but for the record I'm pretty sure this was Chikungunya Virus. Only got this from a UWorld question as I hadn't seen it until then, but apparently the arthralgia is really bad, which is what drew me to the answer.

https://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/index.html

meningitis More like Zika Virus (Same a. aegypti vector) since it says she has rash associated to her bone and muscle pain. I had Zika one time (i live in Puerto Rico). Remember also dengue and Zika are Flavivirus. Dengue can cause hemolysis (hemorrhagic), and Zika is associated with Guillen Barre and fetal abnormalities. +3

nala_ula I'm shocked that I found a fellow puerto rican on this site! Good luck on your test! +

namira dont be shocked! me too! exito! +1

niboonsh Dengue is also known as "bone break fever" which makes me think its more likely to be dengue due to the "excruciating pains in joints and muscles". https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242787/ +1

dr_jan_itor I was thinking that its Murine typhus transmitted by fleas +

submitted by imaginarybanana(10),

don't be a dick? not really sure what more there is to it. The patient doesn't have any other family so this woman should be considered family

aesalmon Questions like this usually hinge on asking if you're going to follow the rules or not though, obviously the one asking her to lie and say she was her sister is wrong, but the correct answer is obviously breaking the hospice center's "policy" - presumably if the physician is sending her to hospice then they don't work there so why would the Dr. be able to just tell her its fine? +

hungrybox Yeah, I got this one wrong with the same logic as you, aesalmon. +

emmy2k21 I genuinely interpreted this question as though the two women were in a relationship because of the quotes "my close friend". I figured significant others would be allowed to visit simply. Ha seems like I'm the only one who read too far in between the lines! +

dr_jan_itor @emmy2k21 I also thought the quotes implied a lesbian relationship and that the patient was afraid to share this (they grew up at a time when it was heavily stigmatized). So i was thinking, of course you and your "special friend" can stay together. I know this is not just a phase +

et-tu-bromocriptine Anything particularly wrong with A (Don't worry. I'll call you right away...")? It seemed like the most professional yet considerate answer choice. Are we supposed to imply that they're partners based on those quotation marks around "close friend"? Because otherwise it seems like too casual and less professional than A, almost as if it's breaking policy. +

submitted by usmleuser007(84),

Can someone please explain why can't alcohol be correct in this setting?

niboonsh rhinorrhea is specific to withdrawal from opioids (aka heroin). Look at page 554 in FA2018 +3

dr_jan_itor what if the alcoholic just has a concurrent rhinovirus infection ;) +1

submitted by whossayin(2),

the question was very poorly worded in my opinion, anybody else agree?

niboonsh yea it was a dumbass question, whoever is writing these questions is undoubtedly a crazy genius but homeboy (or homegirl...homeperson?) needs a few grammar lessons. +

yex I agree. We know that it is a teratogen, but how does that question directs you to think about teratogenic effects instead of something physiologic? +1

dr_jan_itor The questions in the NBMEs by default are reject questions. So highly selective to be awful questsions. I am recieving regular heads up that the stems on the real thing lately are like 10-12 lines long. So these questions are not anywhere near like the test. NBME has f'd us good for this particular round of practice forms. +

submitted by hayayah(330),

By age 75, the thymus is little more than fatty tissue. Fortunately, the thymus produces all of your T cells by the time you reach puberty. They are long-lived and that's why you can lose your thymus without impairment of your immune system.

sweetmed Memory T cells live for six months or less in healthy humans (Westera et al., 2013), whereas naive T cells can live for up to nine years +1

whossayin so the bone marrow does not take the role of the thymus? +

dr_jan_itor @sweetmed, does that mean that if someone loses their thymus, they would develop imunodeficiencies appx 9 years later as the naive T cells have died off? +2

hpsbwz @dr_jan_itor no, because once all of the thymocytes become T-lymphocytes, they are stored in lymphoid organs until they're needed. this is why removal of the thymus in MG does not cause any immune system deficiency. +

submitted by beeip(56),

Thought this would be something regarding "bariatric surgery," but nope, just "no starchy foods, because you're pre-diabetic."

hello Yep, seems that because the patient has prediabetes, he should avoid eating excessive starchy foods. +

yotsubato such a BS question IMO +2

yotsubato such a BS question IMO +

breis I put nuts thinking of "fats" and that with a bariatric surgery they may have problems with absorption.. +1

teetime This isn't right because the bariatric surgery will cure the prediabetes. It's dumping. +

dr_jan_itor Why should he avoid eating excessive starchy foods? To avoid gaining weight? It doesn't matter what macronutrients he eats if they are calorie controlled. +

submitted by strugglebus(60),

Propanolol is a non-selective Beta blocker. So your HR will decrease (B1), which will cause a compensatory increase in TPR.

home_run_ball ^ Above is partially right: Propranolol is non-selective Beta blocker: Beta1 stimulation causes inc HR, therefore blocking it will dec HR and dec Cardiac output Beta 2 stimulation causes vasodilation, therefore blocking it will CAUSE UNOPPOSED alpha1 activation --> therefore increasing total peripheral resistance. +7

amarousis so why tf do we give beta blockers for hypertension -.- +2

dr_jan_itor I would also add that the patient was previously on an a2 inhibitor (clonidine), which he ran out of. So he is rebounding on that with upregulated a1 receptor activity. Adding labetalol would cause a greater degree of unopposed alpha, increasing tpr +