Behind the Medical Headlines! Current Treatment of MS!

A wonderful article is published by behindthemedicalheadlines.com about the current treatment of multiple sclerosis. Click here to view the article.

Key Points (from the article):

• Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a variable lifelong condition. There are several disease patterns, and these clinical sub-types may alter in an individual over time.
• The severity of the condition, in terms of relapse frequency, degree of visability and level of symptoms varies within and between individuals.
• The treatment of MS is aimed at symptoms, relapse and clinical course.
• Steroids are the only drugs shown to be of benefit in acute relapse.
• Beta Interferons, glatarimer acetate, some monoclonal antibodies against adhesion molecules and some chemotherapeutic agents have been shown to alter disease course.
• Future treatments which have not yet been evaluated may include neural growth factors and stem cell therapy.

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Team Neurology4MRCP

Free MRCP Clinical Courses...

Neurology4MRCP will conduct a full clinical course for MRCP UK PACES/ MRCP Ireland part II general medical clinical examination, covering all examination stations and steps. This course is designed specifically for helping Iraqi doctors to be prepared for the MRCP clinical examination and to improve their performances and skills.
Key points:
1- Date: 20-28 April 2007.
2- There will be 3 days concentrating on neurology and neuro-ophthalmology.
3- Venue: Sulaimaniya General Hospital/ Sulaimanyia/ Iraq.
4- Fee: FREE. Registration is open to all (Iraqis and non-Iraqis). To register please contact Neurology4MRCP at Gmail Dot Com.
5- Tutor: Dr. Osama Amin MRCPI
6- We will provide you with: stethoscope, patellar hammer, ophthalmoscope, red head pin, tunning forks (128, 256), tape measure, a peace of cottonwool, pin, tubes (warm and cold, for temperature sensation), and tongue depressor.
Best wishes...
Team Neurology4MRCP

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing"

And

"I will prepare and some day my chance will come"

President Abraham Lincoln

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Dr. O Amin MRCPI

From the website of the royal college of physicians of Ireland , 2 recent announcements:
1- MRCPI general medicine part I, II, and the clinical one are now open in India.
2- The name of the winner of the Canavan Medal 2006.

Best wishes to all future MRCPI candidates, and congratulations to Dr. Phillip Marshal.
Dr. O. Amin MRCPI

Addendum to our Announcement...

Neurology4MRCP Book/ Teaching Best of Fives for MRCP UK and Ireland part I Examinations;

Volume 1: contains the chapters of cardiology, pulmonary medicine, hematology, gastroenterology and hepatology, nephrology, electrolytes, and acid-base disturbance, covered by 320 questions.

Volume 1 has been launched; please revisit us at regular intervals for volume 2. We apologize for the delay in launching volume 2 because the writer is a little bit busy these days.

Thanks

Team Neurology4MRCP

15-4-2007

Neurology4MRCP Book/ Teaching Best of Fives for MRCP UK and Ireland part I Examinations, Volume 1

Preface:

Studying medicine thoroughly is not an easy job, especially if time is running and you are thinking about the pass/fail mark of the examination instead. Many candidates depend heavily on BOFs and MCQs books, as these are easy to read and review; yet, the information they give is usually compacted and bypasses many detailed and important aspects. The two main questions asked by almost all candidates are:

1- What books to read?

2- And how much time do I need to be ready for the examination?

The MRCP UK part I does not differ from that of Ireland, except that the Irish paper I has 50 questions in a true/false question format; paper II is similar in both and covers medicine in short best of five scenarios. The Irish BOF paper may, at times, include scanned pictures, hematology slides, photos …etc, ranging from 7-10 in number; this is not true in the UK counterpart. Many candidates find the Irish part more difficult as they should solve two papers within a 3-hour time window. The examination syllabus and "themes" are the same. The pass mark for the Irish part is between 70-72% (according to examination diet), while that of UK is between 58-62%! The results are published (online) after 28 days in both. The Irish part is more expensive (in all parts) and has a limited number of overseas centers (the bulk of the candidates and centers are in Ireland, but it is expanding gradually outside Ireland).

Use a pencil and a rubber; leave difficult questions at the end to be solved, be careful when filling in (mark) the answer sheet.

At the end of each volume of this book, you will find a sample "answer sheet"; these PDFs can be downloaded from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland website www.rcpi.ie, I put them here for an easier navigation and for you to be familiar with them; please visit its website for more useful PDFs, examination procedures, steps, fees, dates, centers, and FAQs. The MRCP UK central office website (www.mrcpuk.org) contains many useful documents and web pages to answer any query about the examination.

The 3^rd edition of this book covers the most important themes to read and has many questions from past examinations; many questions were updated, added, and re-edited. The neurology chapter has been removed to be in a separate downloadable PDF. The book is divided in 2 volumes.

After publishing "One Year of Hard Work" (670 Neurology questions for MRCP UK and Ireland part I&II, with BOF, MCQs, and pictures at http://mrcp-neurology.ueuo.com/index.htm), this is our second high quality FREE MRCP book.

I would like to sincerely thank and acknowledge Free WebHostingArea.Com (Orgfree.Com and Ueuo.Com); without their excellent server and free services, this book would not have been possible. In addition, special thanks go to our visitors for their kind feedback and support.

Dr. Osama Amin MBChB MRCP(Ireland)
Neurologist and Head of Team Neurology4MRCP

April 2007

Download the 3rd edition of the book (the name of the 2nd edition was "720 Teaching Best of Fives for MRCP UK and Ireland Part I").

Our MRCP UK and Ireland FREE" 720" book is in revision and re-edition!

MRCP UK and Ireland / Neurology & Ophthalmology courses

From the website of EalingPACES:

Neurology & Ophthalmology courses: Saturday 19 May 2007.
This is a one-day course providing focused teaching in neurology and ophthalmology. Neurology / Ophthalmology PACES will allow you to quickly update your neurological and ophthalmological examination techniques under exam conditions.

The course starts at 9.00 am and ends at 5.30 pm. The course includes Neurology stations, Ophthalmology stations, patients and practical demonstrations. The course content is targetted to the Neurology and Ophthalmology conditions commonly encountered in the MRCP PACES exam.

- The structure of the stations

Candidates will rotate though sessions as follows:

There will be 24 stations, each lasting 15 minutes.

Half the sessions will feature Neurological, and the other half Ophthalmological cases.

The cases will directly reflect the types of conditions which come up regularly in the PACES exam itself.

Teaching is provided qualified neurologists and ophthalmologists

Candidates will be able to examine patients in detail, and will receive immediate feedback on performance.

The course fee includes tea/coffee and a buffet lunch. Candidates should bring along their own equipment, eg ophthalmoscope, tendon hammer etc. Ealing Hospital is unable to provide any accommodation for candidates attending this course. The venue page provides details of helpful accommodation agencies. Any cancellation must be received in writing. In the event of cancellation more than 10 days before your allocated course, a fee of £50 will be deducted. If less than 10 days notice is given, a cancellation fee of £100 may be deducted. If your place can be rebooked we will waive the cancellation fee.

- Postal Applications
	If you prefer to apply by post or fax please click here and print the form (you can fill it in online or offline). Do take into account, however, that it is only through booking online that you will be able to guarantee yourself a place here and now.

- The Neurology & Ophthalmology venue
	All courses are held in the Outpatients Department of Ealing Hospital, Uxbridge Road, Middlesex UB1 3HW. The venue page provides instructions about how to get there.

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Best wishes to the future candidates
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

PacesNeuro!

St. George Hospital / London:
A one day neuro/opthalmo course, emphasis on examination techniques, commonest PACES cases extensively covered, taught by neurology / ophthalmology consultants and SpRs only.
You may visit their website.
Best wishes...
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

RCPI/Dun’s Library – Suspension of Library Services March-June 2007

From the official website of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland: Dun’s Library – Suspension of Library Services March-June 2007

Essential re-organisation work needs to be carried out on Library functions and activities between March and June 2007. During this period, it will not be possible to deal with any new requests from researchers wishing to consult material from the Library, nor to conduct any genealogical searches. The College regrets any inconvenience that this may cause but wishes to assure any intending users that the Library will be fully functioning again from July 2007.

RCPI-occupational Issues and Epilepsy!

Occupational Issues and Epilepsy - Dr. Norman Delanty, a PDF that can be download from the official website of the royal college of physicians of Ireland.
Best wishes...
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

RCPI; Canavan Medal!

From the official website of the Royal College of Physician of Ireland. Best wishes to all future MRCPI candidates.
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

Neurology Course for MRCPI / MCRP examinations

From the IICN Website:

The Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience will hold a one day preparatory course in neurology for candidates for the MRCP examination. The course will be held on Friday, May 25th 2007 at St. Vincent's University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4. The focus of the course will be on detailed clinical examination and teaching clinical cases.
Programme
Taking a comprehensive history and neurological examination
Clinical case examination - 'Long' cases
Clinical case examination - 'short' cases
Video presentations of cases with question and answer session.
Reservation
To reserve your place on the course please complete the application form using the link to follow Application Form. Please forward your application and course fee (€400) to:Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, P.O. Box 351, Limerick.Please forward payment by cheque, bank draft or money order payable to Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience. We regret that we do not have a facility for payment by credit card.
For further information or queries please contact the Institute at info@iicn.ie or by telephone 061 203040.

Best Wishes From Team Neurology4MRCP

"To study medicine without reading textbooks is like going to sea without charts, but to study medicine without dealing with patients is not to go to sea at all".
Sir William Osler

Team Neurology4MRCP

MRCPass Dot Com

I did the free MCQs section at MRCPass; I concentrated on the neurology questions and found them to have a good quality. Overall, the website offers 500 free best of fives for MRCP part I with free notes and rapid reviews .
Best wishes...
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

PasstheFRACP Dot Com

This website is dedicated originally to those preparing for the fellowship of the royal college of physicians of Australia. There are useful past papers and clinical notes that i recommend to be viewed. It contains many freely downloadable "docs" and "pdfs".
Best wishes...
Dr. O Amin MRCPI

After taking a good history and performing a thorough neurological examination, we should ask ourselves 3 questions:

1- Where is the lesion?

2- What is the lesion?

3- Why?

An efficient neurologist will answer these questions accurately in 85% of cases. In the MRCP UK and Ireland part I examinations, such questions are very common, and also very easy to make mistakes without a proper prior study. Here, I tired to put the common examination "themes" regarding this topic together in a simple best of fives question format.

Download the mock from our official website.
Thank you for visiting our websites…

Dr. Osama Amin MRCPI

The best of many type of questions when 2 or 3 options are chosen out of 10 is usually a source of fear, suspiciousness, and unconfidence in the MRCP UK and Ireland part II written. Although the number of such questions is not that big, but each question may "carry" a double or triple number of marks. Many candidates got confused by these questions as time is running out and short and the options' "list" deserves a "good look". When you practice on this type of questions, you will see that it is very easy to score a full mark. I've made this mock a little bit difficult so as to make you think profoundly as in a real exam. I admit that the number of questions is small, but the idea is "make the ball roll".

Download the mock, and see more.

Best wishes to all future candidates. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any suggestion, feedback, or help.

Dr.Osama Amin MRCPI

Medical Master Class...

This website aims to help candidates prepare for the MRCP(UK) Examination (All Parts). It is also an invaluable tool for continuing professional development.

Although it is expensive, but i think it worths the price, and many questions are updated and added at regular intervals.

Key features:

• Unique on-line practice facility for both MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 examinations
  
• Over 2000 questions (equivalent to 20 examinations)
  
• Take mock MRCP(UK) Part 1 and Part 2 examinations on-line
  
• Interactive 3mrt® Mind Map technology, allowing you to view Medical Masterclass Mind Maps, create your own Mind Maps and monitor your self-test performance.

All the best...

Dr. Osama Amin MRCPI

Case Histories and Data Interpretation for MRCP Ireland Part II Written

I've received many emails asking me to make Neurology Mocks for MRCP part II Ireland examination. This part II examination is composed of 3 papers: case histories (60 marks), data interpretation (50 marks), and best of many (150 marks); the time is 3 hours. You may start with any one of these, but I would advice to start with the "best of many" paper as it has the bulk of the marks and is easier to read and to solve. The time is enough for those who are well prepared.

Each paper is like a "magazine", is to browse from left to write; some questions may take 3 pages, but generally each question covers a page.

Use a pencil and a rubber, as you may change your answers. Some answers are long, others are short (one word). The problem is that many candidates are unable to fully express and write down the answer (some answers are right, but they are incomplete and may deduct marks!), and may make many syntax errors (may deduct marks also). Don’t use abbreviations.

This mock "imitates" the examination paper, covering neurology case histories and data interpretation. Each question is followed by an empty line (for you to write the answer as in a real exam).Don't over write or go to other spaces. The answers are given in blue color; the explanations are in green color. This is supposed to be your questions' papers, before and after answering it. So, you will know what you are facing really in the true examination (almost all candidates don't know the "shape" of the papers or how to fill in).

This is the first and only free teaching neurology mock for the MRCPI part II examination, with tips of "how to answer", and imitations of the real "papers" so as to anticipate what you are going through.
Best wishes to all future candidates. Please don’t hesitate to contact us for any help:

My email: mrcpfrcp@gmail.com
Our webmaster's email: neurology4mrcp@gmail.com

Download the mock from our official website, and you may see the related web-page.
Thank you for visiting our websites…

Dr. Osama Amin MRCPI
Neurologist and Head of Team Neurology4MRCP