Week 8:
Blast From the Past

July 30, 2022

Happy Week 8!

This past week, everyone learned so much, especially at journal club. The topic was electroencephalograms (or EEG for short)! A German psychiatrist named Hans Berger is credited with the invention of the EEG. Dr. St. Louis shared that in the early days of the EEG, it was used to assess strokes and tumors in the brain. If you think about it, that doesn’t quite make sense since EEGs are designed to analyze brain waves on the cortex (the outer most layer of the brain). Typically, impairments like a tumor lie within brain structures. Scientists would pump air into the nervous system in order to “see” ailments within the brain. Doing this was extremely uncomfortable and provided very little information. It’s a good thing this practice is now outdated and the EEG is back to its original purpose: recording electrical activity in the brain.

The article we read for journal club informed us on all of the fun things EEGs do. We also learned the proper placement for the EEG cap as well as what Mayo Clinic’s standards require. We also learned about some very cool technology: BCI, or brain computer interface. This technology analyzes brain waves and translates them into functions. For example, if an individual had a neurodegenerative disease like ALS (Lou Gerhrig’s Disease), they would be able to use a P-300 Speller to translate brainwaves to letters, and letters to words!

The interns were able to watch the classic EEG technology in action! Dr. St. Louis was the patient for this exercise. Jack and Emma showed us how they put the cap on a patient, how they paste the electrodes onto the scalp, and how the computer programs work.

Dr. St. Louis had a variety of tests to complete–all of which had different purposes. Some of the tests he completed included a P-300 task, an N400 task, and one of my favorites: the Flanker Task (focusing on selective attention to identify the direction of arrow). It was very enjoyable to watch Dr. St. Louis complete each task. It was especially cool to see his brain wave activity while he was doing each requirement. There were points where, if he messed up, he would become disgruntled and we could actually see the rise and fall of his frustration!

This week had a lot more scoring and patient charting! We were down to the final handful of patients to score, so we were able to learn a new skill. Olivia taught us how to unarchive patient files. This required a bit of time to grasp since there are so many steps involved. When we’re unarchiving, we’re converting files from one program to files readable by another program. The first program that we use can’t score muscle activity – which is the basis for the research that we are conducting! Hypnolab is almost a 20-year-old software, so it is very particular!

I also wanted to share an update on our 3rd project! We found out that the project is actually a subsection to research that is already taking place. This is great news for us because we won’t have to start from the very beginning. It also means that the 3rd project would be significantly shorter than anticipated. All we, the interns, would need to do is score patient files for muscle activity! We still haven’t started this project yet, but when we do, it will go very quickly!

This week at Thursday’s Downtown, we all played a classic foosball game. It was super fun to have a bit of competition amongst the group! The score was very close, but Dalin and I took the crown for victory!

Our Friday activity was once again a Thursday activity. Dalin, Nolan, and I tried Crumbl Cookies for the first time! We had a lovely conversation while enjoying the treats. One of my favorites was the company’s signature chocolate chip cookie – which, originally, was the only type of cookie they sold!

Since we were scoring and charting for the majority of the week, we decided to make a group playlist! Everyone started adding music of all kinds – we had hits from the 1950’s all the way to today. We turned it into a game of sorts: after each song, you would rate it on a scale of 1 – 10. There wasn’t a winner, but it was interesting to see who would have been given the AUX cord if we were in a car!

One of my highlights from this past week was shadowing in the reproductive endocrinology and infertility clinic! I started the week off in Clinic with Dr. Ainsworth. We met with a few patients. One of the most notable of the patients was a same-sex couple doing a reciprocal IVF (in vetro fertilization)! Reciprocal IVF means an egg from one individual would be used to create an embryo that would then be placed in the other individual. It was interesting to learn all about the types of IVF. And, while there were some tough conversations the day I shadowed, it was still amazing to see how strong and resilient the patients were. Dr. Ainsworth made a point to share a lot about which areas of the brain were affected by treatments for infertility. The primary areas of the brain affected are the pituitary gland (an area that produces and stores hormones) and the hypothalamus (home to the endocrine system)!

I also had the opportunity to shadow Dr. Ainsworth again. This time for a handful of procedures. I was able to watch 2 egg retrievals and 1 embryo transfer. I took in everything I could from this experience – it was incredible to see. One thing that kept the serious procedures light-hearted was the music being played in the OR. The staff picked 1980s hits from acts like Journey and Joan Jett. I was the DJ of the room and was asked to turn the music up for everyone!

After the procedures were over, Dr. Ainsworth asked if I wanted to see the embryology lab. Of course I did! I met with the embryologists, who explained to me the basics of an embryo. I was even able to watch a fertilized egg (a zygote) split–suggesting identical twins! This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’m incredibly glad I was able to experience!