The most powerful woman in the world blinded her own son to uphold her beliefs Gorgeous, brilliant, and powerful, the Empress Irene perched upon her throne and contemplated her Eastern Roman Empire. She sought to reunite it with the West through marriage with none other than Charlemagne. Luckily for the great Carolingian king, pleuritis killed […]
Continue ReadingOf Cabbages, Kings, and Paratopes
Giving up ultimate power for peace, gardening and cabbages The Roman emperor Diocletian helped demarcate the separation between the Roman and Byzantine empires. While not a new concept to the realm, Diocletian split the ruling of Rome into eastern and western regions. However, his decision to retire, struck his subjects as a new and perplexing […]
Continue ReadingDo These Definitions Ring a Bell Curve?
The Ancient Roman Calendar Consisted of Ten Months If the words September, October, November, and December have ever triggered the numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 in your head, they do so with good reason. The ancient Romans divided the year into ten months with a month-less winter period at the end where the astronomers […]
Continue ReadingWhen a Blue Dot or Line does not mean a Blue Dot or Line
A closer look at Predictive Values When waging war and winning battles, successful generals consider timing a critical factor. Shall we move at dawn or wait till their supplies run lower? Few empires have witnessed the consistent military success as Rome. For roughly one thousand years, they expanded their empire, obliterated their enemies, and reigned […]
Continue ReadingI positively predict value with prevalence
It has been fifteen minutes, fifteen long minutes. You look at the two blue lines that have been formed in your point-of-care test. One blue line would indicates that the control is working and that the result is negative. Two blue lines is a positive test. You just tested positive for Zombie disease. But how […]
Continue ReadingI Just Don’t Give a Gram!
Gosh, Gram it! Why is it that every time I take a class or read an article that involves bacteria, there is an insistence on explaining whether it is gram-negative or gram-positive? Who cares? After all, you culture bacteria, perform an antibiotic sensitivity test, then prescribe the correct antibiotic. Done and done. No gram-nonsense involved […]
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