 What's up YouTube, welcome back to my channel. It's time for another episode of Wet Read, which is a recurring segment where I go over current events in radiology and medicine. This is episode number three, and let's get into it. The topic for today is PA Week. Every year from October 6th through 12th, we celebrate National PA Week, which recognizes the physician assistant profession and their contributions to healthcare. And since my better half happens to be a PA, I feel like I have an even greater responsibility to help spread the word and raise awareness about their field. So for those of you who do not know what physician assistants are, they are advanced medical providers that go through thousands of hours of difficult medical training and are able to diagnose illness, develop and manage treatment plans, prescribe medications, and often serve as a patient's principal healthcare provider. They are also able to counsel on preventive care, perform procedures, assist in surgery, and even perform clinical research. I'm sure you're probably sick of me talking about how valuable PAs are in my field, interventional radiology. During my training, I've had the opportunity to work with and without PAs. And I think all of my colleagues and myself would agree that there is no way we would go back to the days without PAs. The PAs I work with are able to see patients in clinic, see their own consults, and even do procedures on their own. And with the ever-increasing demand of healthcare, I cannot stress to you how valuable it is to have a PA as your colleague. So if you are a current physician assistant, physician assistant student, or future physician assistant, thank you for everything that you do and thank you for making healthcare a better place. And if you post anything about PA Week on social media, make sure you tag me, especially on Instagram, and I may even repost it. Next, let's talk about Sia, who is a 43-year-old famous Australian singer-songwriter who just shared with the world that she has struggled with a long-time diagnosis of a disease called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I'm willing to bet most of you guys have never even heard of Ehlers-Danlos disease, so let me tell you the details about it. For starters, Ehlers-Danlos is a term used to describe a group of rare genetic connective tissue disorders that are characterized by certain features, including joint hypermobility, stretchy skin or skin hyperextensibility, and fragile tissues, including blood vessels. Ehlers-Danlos occurs in approximately one out of every 5,000 people, and as mentioned before, it is an inherited condition. So as a radiologist, why do I even care about this disease or why do I know about this disease? There are certain associations with this disease that I should be aware of as a radiologist because some of them can be very serious and even fatal. For instance, Ehlers-Danlos can affect the blood vessels which can weaken them and lead to increased risk of vessel rupture. Specifically speaking about the aorta, which is the largest blood vessel in the body, and if it ruptures, it can be fatal. There's currently no treatment for the disease and prognosis depends on severity of specific subtype of the disease. For instance, people with the vascular subtype of this disease have a median life at expectancy of around 48 years, with many having a major event before 40. And by major event, I mean, possibly something as serious as a ruptured aorta. Now let's get to our final topic for today, which is again about vaping. Since my last video, linked up here, there have been more than 1,000 vaping-related lung injuries reported across 48 states in the US. I think in my last video, they were around like 200 or so just to give you frame of reference. There have now been 22 confirmed deaths in 19 states. We still aren't 100% certain of the cause. However, almost 80% of the cases reported using THC-containing products. Since the cause is still unknown, the CDC is recommending all people refrain from e-cigarettes and vaping products until further information is known. And while we are on this topic, let's talk about the latest research out of NYU that showed that e-cigarette vapor causes lung cancer and potentially bladder cancer and mice. The study exposed 40 mice to e-cigarette vapor with nicotine over a 54-week period. The study showed that 22.5% of the mice developed lung cancer and 57.5% of the mice developed a pre-cancerous bladder lesion. What's interesting is that none of the mice exposed the e-cigarette smoke without nicotine developed cancer, which makes you think there may be a link between nicotine and cancer in these mice. Now, in case you're wondering, the amount of e-cigarette smoke the mice were exposed to was similar to what a human would inhale if they regularly vaped over a three to six-year period. Now, of course, the study had its own limitations. For instance, there were only 40 mice in the study and the mice were actually surrounded with the smoke instead of inhaling it, which could have led to whole-body exposure. So what does this all mean? Well, for one, this highlights that more research needs to be done in this field to better understand the relationship between e-cigarette use and cancer in humans. And that concludes this episode of Wet Read. I hope this helps you guys stay up to date with what's going on in medicine and healthcare. If you have any comments, leave them below. If you have any recommendations, also leave them below. If you want me to keep doing this, let me know in the comments. As always, make sure you smash that like and subscribe button. 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