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
Gallstones are the hardened precipitates—“stones”—of the substrates found in bile. The liver makes bile to help digest fats, and the bile is stored in the gallbladder. When there is an excess of a particular substance in the bile (eg, cholesterol or unconjugated bilirubin), gallstones form in the gallbladder. Gallstones can be as small as a…
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Blood glucose is proof that you can have too much of a good thing. While glucose serves a critical role as fuel for many of our bodily functions, it must remain in a very tightly controlled range. If the level goes too low, you can fall into a coma. If glucose is too high, damage…
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Stimulant medications are drugs that increase alertness and attention. They also elevate heart rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Stimulants are used to treat many conditions, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), chronic lethargy, narcolepsy, and obesity. Examples of stimulants include caffeine, amphetamines (such as dextroamphetamine), methylphenidate, and modafinil. Cognitive-enhancing drugs serve a similar purpose, increasing memory,…
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When you hear the word blood, what do you picture in your mind? Most likely, your brain conjures up an image of thick, red liquid. But what would blood look like if you removed all the red cells? You’d be left with a murky yellowish liquid that would clear up once you removed the white…
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In the fed state, glucose is used by almost all the cells in the body to generate energy. But even when we are not fueling it with food, our bodies still run well, such as during sleep. Gluconeogenesis is the process of synthesizing glucose from noncarbohydrate precursors. The major substrates (substances that enzymes act on)…
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How do we survive in a complex environment filled with harmful organisms that thrive on colonizing us? Our heroic defender is the immune system, a network of organs and cell lines that exist with the mission of protecting the body from harm. While we often recognize the pathogen-fighting capabilities of the system, we can sometimes…
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It might not be the flashiest anatomical structure, but if you want to stand upright, and keep your retroperitoneal organs (like your kidneys) in place, the posterior abdominal wall is pretty important. Located at the back of the body, bounded by the lateral abdominal walls and the posterior parietal peritoneum, the posterior abdominal wall is…
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Mitral stenosis (MS) is narrowing of the mitral valve. In the normal cardiac cycle, the heart relaxes during diastole and allows blood to flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle through the open mitral valve. When the mitral valve is narrowed, blood flow becomes restricted (Figure 1). Excess volume and pressure build up…
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A macrovascular complication of diabetes, diabetic nephropathy is progressive, chronic kidney disease seen in patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, usually after at least 10 years of hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels). The three main lesions that are seen in the kidney in patients with diabetes are glomerular lesions, vascular lesions,…
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Differences in ion concentrations inside and outside a cell cause a difference in the charge of the intracellular and extracellular environments. This electrical polarization of a cell relative to its environment is referred to as cellular membrane potential. This potential serves as an energy source for a variety of cellular functions and as a way…
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