Photos of Liverpool

Medicine at University of Liverpool

I'll be doing a few of these posts over the next year. As I'm currently in Year 12 it's around time for me to be looking at Universities and trying to decide where I want to go to study medicine so hopefully this will help me decide.

The University of Liverpool has a five year course for Medicine. It focuses on Problem Based Learning which I personally think it a valuable and extremely useful way of learning as it focuses on real situations that prospective doctor's could be facing and will give people the skill to work out problems independently of lecturers and textbooks.

Here's a break down of the five years :

Year 1 Introduction to science and practise of medicine through clinical cases

Years 2, 3 and 4 Preparation for diagnosing and managing ilness'. Hospital and community based learning gives experience of patients and gives opportunities to interact with patients.

Year 5 Final year with intense focus on preparing to practise medicine through intensive clinical experience.

Currently the entry requirements to study Medicine at Liverpool are and A in Chemistry, and A in biology and an A in a third A Level as well as a B in a futher AS. These grades seem a lot but I expect soon they will get higher with the introduction of the A* grade.

Liverpool University is not far away from the City of Liverpool which is supposed to be a vibrant and lively place. I like the idea of not being far from a city as I think this will add to University experience giving opportunities to go out and enjoy the area. Liverpool also won the City of Culture recently which makes me think it will be an amazing place to go. Finally, the Uni is only a ten minute drive / 49 minute walk (i've checked this out!) from Anfield so hopefully there would be opportunities to watch a few matches when I'm not weighed down with work!

PAT Dogs

Pets as Therapy is a unique charity which allows registered dogs and cats to visit care homes, hospitals, special needs schools and other venues for residents to meet the animals and gain benefit from meeting them. The animals bring everyday life closer to the patients and many patients are thankful for the unconditional love that the animals have for humans.

I think that for the people who love animals visits from PAT animals would make their day brighter and hopefully make the patients happy. I think the charity is extremely worthwhile and that the volunteers and kind to give their time to help. I think we're going to register Scooby as a PAT dog within the next month or two so it will be interesting to see the effects these animals do have on people and it will be good to be able to help the charity continue with its good work.

Progeria

I did a presentation for biology on the disease Progeria last week. I didn't know much about it and I found it really interesting learning about the disease. Only around 1 in 6 million new borns are affected so it is an unbelievably rare disease.

The cause of the disease is quite simple to understand. The LMNA gene is a gene responsible for producing the protein Lamin A.

Lamin A is basically the structural scaffolding which holds the nucleus of a cell together. In progeria the defective Lamin A protein makes the nucleus unstable and this cellular instability leads to the process of

premature ageing which is Progeria.

Children with Progeria will die of heart problems before the age of thirty as currently there is no cure. The Progeria Research Foundation is working towards developing a cure for these children and does some very worthwhile work for Progeria. It has carried out the first ever clinical trial for Progeria drugs and the results are due to come out later this year.

Progeria Research Foundation

Scooby

This is Scooby. He is a beautiful, loyal, friendly failure of a guide dog. And I love him.

Scooby was born with the intention of him becoming a Guide Dog. He is a cross between a labrador and a retriever hence he has two big soft ears that nobody can resist. When we got him he was tiny. You could pick him up with one hand. He was also quite crazy- he loved nothing more than jumping all over my dad, brother and me trying to bite us with his little teeth.

But Scooby was always supposed to be a working dog. He would be doing a job that was so important and could change somebody elses life so much. Having a guide dog gives blind and partially sighted people an invaluable life line and a chance at a more normal life. Throughout Scooby's year with us he struggled with rashes on his skin. We had to take him to the vets regularly and he was on antibiotics around four times during the first year of his life which seems a lot for anyone especially a puppy.

During the year we looked after him we watched him fluorish from a crazy little puppy to a beautifully well behaved dog and all too soon the day came when we had to give him back to the organization because he'd come to the end of his 'puppy walking stage'.

Sadly, Scooby failed to become a Guide Dog. His trainers said it was a shame because he was one of the best behaved and most easily trained dogs there. They said he had a calm and gentle manner and would make the perfect Guide Dog. Sadly it was Scooby's skin problems which lead him to failing to become a guide dog. While at the association they tested him and found out he was allergic to dust and daisies. Dust is unavoidable for him so he has to have tablets three times a day to stop his skin reacting to the dust. The association decided this would be too much for a partially sighted or blind person to deal with and so we were offered to take Scooby back.

Of course we accepted. And now he has settled back in. We still want him to be able to do some good in his life so that the training and money put into him from the Guide Dog Association isn't wasted. The Association recommended we register him as a PAT (Pets as Therapy) Dog which means he'll visit hospitals, nursing homes and other places to meet patients and let them stroke and play with him.

We're going to register Scooby as a PAT dog as soon as all of the paperwork is done which makes Scooby officially our dog and not a Guide Dog any more. I'll post more on here about it when he makes the grade as a PAT dog which I'm sure he will.