iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Avraham Cooper

The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

On our latest episode "Null Neutrophils," @tonybreu.bsky.social asks a fascinating physiologic question: Why is Duffy Null status associated with lower neutrophil counts? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1... open.spotify.com/episode/3SdI...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

If you think you’re tough, consider the tardigrade… In 2007, 3,000 of these tiny animals orbited the Earth OUTSIDE a space rocket for 12 days. >2/3 of them survived the vacuum of space and being blasted with solar radiation. www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

This really feels like science fiction- a bespoke CRISPR gene editing treatment for a baby with a urea cycle disorder www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Thank you so much to @corewellhealth.bsky.social and Dr Steve Doyle for the invitation to speak on the art of medicine at their annual education and research day!

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Yeesh - if Pseudomonas wasn’t a bad enough actor already, it also apparently secretes an enzyme that degrades plastic www.cell.com/cell-reports...

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Each episode, producer @gbuonomomed puts together a paired show notes blog post. For our latest episode, 'Alpha-gal again', we tackle the question: how could alpha-gal be used to treat cancer? curiousclinicians.com/2025/04/24/e... open.substack.com/pub/thecurio...

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The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

On our latest episode, Alpha-gal Again, we share new insights on how alpha-gal could potentially be used to treat cancer! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... open.spotify.com/episode/1GpK...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

This story really blew my mind - that alpha-gal could be an entirely new way to treat cancer using immunotherapy

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The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

This week, @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social shares new insights on the topic of a previous episode: alpha-gal! We tackle the question: How could alpha-gal be used to treat cancer? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... open.spotify.com/episode/1GpK...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

This is such a good album and a monumental achievement!!!

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

Lakshman Swamy (he/him) @laxswamy.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Check it out, new album just dropped 🤩 open.spotify.com/album/5orTSx...

open.spotify.com

I Thought I Was Better

Enemy in the Sky · Album · 2025 · 10 songs

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

15/SUMMARY Salt in wounds causes pain by multiple probable mechanisms. These include: 🧂Increasing local osmolarity, which stimulates osmo-sensitive TRPV nociceptive neurons (the same neurons through which capsaicin signals) 🧂Osmotic stress leading to cellular injury/death

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

14/ Another mechanism seems to be that the local hyperosmolar state induced by salt in wounds also creates osmotic stress on cells, leading to cellular injury and death. This independently activates nociceptive neurons in the skin. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29675710/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

13/ TRPV/capsaicin signaling likely isn't the whole story, though, because in the same study as #11, TRPV4 knockout mice had equivalent (and intense) pain responses to a 10% saline solution. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16213085/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

12/ Glutamate may be a key mediator of salt-induced pain, as it is known to be released after TRPV 1 and 4 activation (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39626870/), and injection of 5.8% hypertonic saline into the biceps muscle leads to spikes in glutamate production. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26485281/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

11/ In a mouse model, mild increases in osmolarity (eg w/ 2% saline) in paw wounds also activated a different nociceptive capsaicin-sensitive receptor from the same family called TRPV4. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16213085/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

10/ This dramatic ⬆️ in local osmolarity stimulates osmosensitive' cation pain receptor channels called TRPV (transient receptor potential vanilloid), similar to how these receptors respond to capsaicin. Example of activation of TRPV1 is shown below. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21779403/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

8/ The degree to which NaCl can induce painful responses in the body has been studied in physiology experiments dating back to the 1930s. In this 1997 study, infusing hypertonic saline into a muscle induced significantly more pain than normal saline. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9060024/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

7/ One of the earliest references I came across for salt causing pain in wounds was from Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE. He recommended adding salt to beef fat to cure boils, but to avoid using salt if the combination caused pain. www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

6/ The Hippocratic authors in ancient Greece endorsed sea water as a wound healing treatment, observing that it helped heal wounds on the hands of fishermen. A few centuries later, Galen similarly recommended salt to aid in wound healing. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

5/ This granted great value to salt throughout the ancient world. Ex: in ancient China, wars were fought thousands of years ago over control of salt flats at Lake Yuncheng, and salt later became a form of traded currency. historycooperative.org/the-history-...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

4/ Likewise, because of its antiseptic and desiccating properties, salt has been used to preserve fresh food going back at least 5,000 years ago in places including China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and southern Europe. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31721796

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

3/ Going back millenia, salt has been used as an antiseptic to prevent decay of organic material. For example, the ancient Egyptians used salt in their mummification solutions. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11677605/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

2/ First, where did the phrase "rubbing/pouring salt in an open wound" originate? It seems to date back at least to the 19th century, if not centuries before, with some proximity to the phrase "rubbing it in". But the observation that salt (NaCl) has physiologic effects began in ancient times.

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

1/THREAD As the old idiom goes, one deliberately causes additional pain by "pouring/rubbing salt in an open wound". But this is also literally true. Physiologically, why would it hurt so much to have salt poured into a wound?

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

I’m always amazed by our similarities and homologies with bacteria. Our version of a foreign nucleic acid sensor called STING, which activates interferon, is almost identical to the version that bacteria use to sense and defend against viruses. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

Matt Siuba @zentensivist.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Looks like this year at #CHEST2025 I’ll be talking about some combination of: - Invasive hemodynamic monitoring - #ThePeoplesVentricle - VA coupling at the bedside - Portopulmonary hypertension See you in Chicago!

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Very interesting and insightful perspective on whether zoster vaccines reduce dementia risk from @chrisworsham.com and Bapu Jena t.co/EBUyx3kRbT

t.co

https://time.com/7275048/shingles-vaccine-dementia-christopher-worsham-anupam-jena/

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

The mechanism of petrichor explained!

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The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Why do humans have such a keen smell for the scent of rain aka petrichor? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1... open.spotify.com/episode/4eDF...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

I love this episode… why does freshly fallen rain smell so good??

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

This week, we dive into a question inspired by nature: Why do humans have such a keen smell for the scent of the rain? And why does fresh rain smell so good? podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... open.spotify.com/episode/4eDF...

podcasts.apple.com

107 - The Smell of the Rain

Podcast Episode · The Curious Clinicians · 03/27/2025 · 34m

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Was truly an honor to give this talk for OSU Internal Medicine Grand Rounds. In times of uncertainty, curiosity and humanism can help us find joy as clinicians.

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

Lynn Fussner @lynnfussner.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Inspiring IM Grand Rounds presentation from the one and only @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social on curiosity, humanism, and joy in medicine

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

My writing website is live! Huge thank you to the endlessly talented Miriam Hiersteiner for designing it www.avrahamcooper.com

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Excited to share a little piano piece I wrote and presented at the 2025 OSU College of Medicine Arts Festival!! medartsgallery.squarespace.com/work/cooper

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Classic but very cool study. Does aspirin reduce the risk of cancer metastases? www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Lakshman Swamy (he/him) @laxswamy.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Ooooh our latest editorial is out on stories in the icu!!! These are the papers I get excited about writing 😁 I hope you enjoy it! aacnjournals.org/ajcconline/a...

aacnjournals.org

Narrative Reflection in Critical Care | American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC) | American Association of Critical-Care Nurses

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Lakshman Swamy (he/him) @laxswamy.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

So excited to share this!! Available now www.criticalcaregame.com 🤩🤩🤩 @critcaregame.bsky.social #medsky #boardgame

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Reposted by Avraham Cooper

The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Why don't we (yet) have oral insulin? In our latest show notes blog post, 'Oral Argument', we discuss how researchers hope to create an oral insulin option (including a strategy inspired by cephalopods)! curiousclinicians.com/2025/01/09/e... thecuriousclinicians.substack.com/p/oral-argum...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Crazy cool study investigating alpha-gal gene therapy for refractory solid cancers (leading the immune system to ‘reject’ the cancer like an organ transplant) www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

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Avraham Cooper @avrahamcoopermd.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

This was a fun episode! Imaging the future of insulin therapy.

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The Curious Clinicians Podcast @curiousclinpod.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Why don't we (yet) have oral insulin? In our latest episode, 'Oral Argument', we discuss how researchers are working to make an oral insulin option possible (including a strategy inspired by cephalopods)! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/1... open.spotify.com/episode/1DEt...

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