Words of the Week

Hello, I'm starting a blog about neurology. Some of you may have been familiar with my medical school rants which I called Word of the Week. I hope to continue the same style here picking out an interesting/off-beat topic from the world of neurology, and using that to learn some important neurology principles.





I will try to post something about once a week, so keep your eyes out for the fun and super-excitement that is about to begin. Invite your friends and even some random strangers on the street to get in on the ground floor of what I'm sure will soon be a very large bus of wannabe neurologists.





So all of you neurologists-to-be that are tuning in, I don't want you to appear foolish by not understanding the title of the blog. The nucleus ambiguous is aptly named as it is a tiny little spot in the brain stem that most medical students have to squint and look cross-eyed to find. It is in the medulla oblongata (of "Waterboy" fame) which is at the bottom of the brain stem. The nucleus ambiguous' main job is to power the muscles in the back of the throat. The message is sent through the vagus nerve which is the tenth of twelve nerves to leave directly from the brain stem to the head and neck. We call these the cranial nerves. Those muscles innervated by the Xth nerve (we neurologists like Roman numerals as they look smarter on the page) help you to swallow and make sounds like the Klingon kkkklh sound. So, the next time you successfully swallow a piece of partially chewed Salisbury steak, you should say, "THANK YOU, BEAUTIFUL NUCLEUS AMBIGUOUS!" No, really, you should say it out loud, and it doesn't need to be restricted to when you eat Salisbury steak, feel free to pipe it out with any delicacy in your gullet.



All right, I'm mainly trying this one to see how it works. I may need to restart as as I've looked into it ambiguous is sometimes spelled ambiguus when referring to the nucleus. Don't want to offend the anatomists right from the beginning. However, I may just leave it ambiguously there, just to see what happens. See you all later.