The Rx Bricks Podcast
Your High-Yield Med Content on the Go
Build your foundation of medical knowledge and close your learning gaps brick by brick. We’re turning our high-yield multimedia learning library, Rx Bricks, into an immersive audio experience—so you can turn downtime into high-yield learning time.
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Latest Episodes
Eukaryotic cells reproduce themselves by going through the cell cycle, which divides one cell into two. The cell cycle comprises two main phases, interphase and mitosis, both of which are further broken down into steps, as well as a separate resting phase. When a cell divides appropriately, this allows our bodies to fix damaged tissue…
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Hyperthyroidism is an elevation in the serum thyroid hormones T3 and T4 (thyroxine), caused by excess thyroid hormone production from the thyroid gland. This can result from an abnormal thyroid gland (primary hyperthyroidism) or increased synthesis of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) by the anterior pituitary gland (secondary hyperthyroidism) or by overdosing on thyroid medication (exogenous…
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You probably know that the kidneys play an important role in maintaining blood pressure within the normal range. You might also know that they do this by regulating blood volume and the degree of arterial contraction or dilation (the systemic vascular resistance). But do you know how the kidneys do this? The answer is the…
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Glycolysis is the first step of metabolism and the biochemical pathway by which glucose is converted into pyruvate. Some cells use glycolysis to make pyruvate to use in other metabolic processes; others, like erythrocytes, rely on glycolysis as their main means of energy production. Because glycolysis is central to energy production, it is tightly regulated…
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In your reading about thyroid diseases, you have run across a number of symptoms, physical exam findings, tests, and diagnostic strategies. You have also encountered the diagnostic overlap between the various syndromes and diseases like hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, Graves disease, and thyroiditis, which can be confusing. How can you keep all this straight? The purpose of…
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People who play tennis or golf, or even those who get wrist or shoulder pain from working on their computers, likely are familiar with pain around the joints of the upper extremity. Is it rotator cuff tendonitis or subacromial bursitis? Tennis elbow or olecranon bursitis? Similar conditions can affect the lower extremity: jumper’s knee or…
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*** Rx Bricks Season Pass https://go.usmle-rx.com/brick-season-pass/ *** Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is one of the most dreaded acute complications of diabetes mellitus. It is a medical emergency. When patients with DKA arrive at the emergency department, they are clearly ill, with vomiting, diarrhea, disordered breathing, and mental status changes—even unconsciousness. Up to 2% of patients with…
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*** Rx Bricks Season Pass https://go.usmle-rx.com/brick-season-pass/ *** Some of the most dreaded chronic complications of diabetes mellitus come from injury to the blood vessels. Such injury may lead to blindness, renal failure requiring dialysis, and early death from heart attacks. These complications develop slowly over years and can be divided into two groups based…
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Cushing syndrome is a cluster of clinical features resulting from exposure to excess glucocorticoids (hypercortisolism). Most of the abnormalities in Cushing syndrome are caused by high levels of cortisol itself, but an accompanying excess of androgens and mineralocorticoids like aldosterone may also add to the syndrome. Cortisol is produced continuously in the adrenal gland. It…
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Getting the air to our lungs in the first place can be challenging enough. How do we get the oxygen out of the air once we have it in our lungs? This huge job comes down to one tiny unit: the alveoli-capillary unit. In this brick, we take a look at how the exchange of…
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