I Have No Desire To Fit In. No Plans To Walk With The Crowd. I Have My Own Mind, Heart And Soul. I Am

Changes in the heart at birth

A newborn’s body undergoes many changes to adapt to life outside the womb, one of the most dramatic being the heart. Before birth, very little blood is sent to the lungs - most is diverted away from the lungs through a vessel called the ductus arteriosus. Before birth, the ductus arteriosus is as large as the aorta.

The placenta helps the baby “breathe” while growing in the womb. 

Oxygen and carbon dioxide flow through the blood in the placenta

At birth, the baby’s lungs are filled with fluid. They are not inflated. 

The baby takes the first breath within about 10 seconds after delivery. This breath sounds like a gasp, as the newborn’s central nervous system reacts to the sudden change in temperature and environment.

Lungs inflate and begin working, moving oxygen into the bloodstream and removing carbon dioxide (exhalation).

Lungs become distended, the capillary network dilated and their resistance is reduced drastically so that a rich flow of blood can take place.

Pressure in the right atrium sinks in comparison to left 

pressure turn around in the atria causes the septum primum to be pressed against the septum secundum and the foramen secundum becomes functionally closed. 

Towards the end of the first year, it has also grown together in 99% of the babies –> the hole between the left and right atrium is closed.

Fluid drains or is absorbed from the respiratory system.

Cutting of the umbilical cord gets rid of the placental low resistance area, increasing peripheral resistance in systemic circulation. 

pressure in the aorta is now higher than that in truncus pulmonalis 

 pO2 pressure in the aorta increases since the blood is now oxygenated directly in the baby’s lungs

Triggering a contraction of the smooth musculature in the wall of the ductus arteriosus - closing

Atrial Septal Defects

The ductus arteriosus closes within the first day or two.

However this doesn’t always happen smoothly - resulting in a congenital (from birth) heart defect - ASD (atrial septal defect)

The severity of the defect depends on the size of the hole -it may be very small (less than 5mm) with minimal leakage, allowing the individual to live a normal life. Location also plays a role in blood flow and oxygen levels.

ASDs are defined as primum  (linked to other heart defects of the ventricular septum and mitral valve) and secundum defects (a single, small or large hole). They may also be more than one small hole in the septum or wall between the two chambers.

The hole may stay the same size, or grow with the rest of the heart during development and consequently will be monitored throughout childhood development, then more infrequently throughout adulthood.

Study Tips Based on Your Hogwarts House

Just finished rewatching all 8 of the Harry Potter films last week… and I thought why not make my first graphic related to it? So, here’s study tips for each of the Hogwarts houses! I know some of these doesn’t apply to everyone, but I had really fun time making this :) Hope this helps!

"If you're going, I will too."

•Tim Drake

”If Bruce taught me anything, it's that you have to have a gameplan for everything. Even death.”

So I was recently asked for advice on how to study history so I thought I’d share my tips and tricks.

When In Class

- Taking Notes. When you take notes (in university/college) I recommend audio recording the lecture (with permission of course), I love to use OneNote for this as you can keep your recording in the same place as your written notes.

- LISTEN! I like to pay 100% attention in my lectures and then listen to the recording immediately after while writing notes. This means that I’m focusing on how the lecturer links their points and understanding the material, not just copying it down from what they say.

When Revising / Studying

First! you must remember that history is a narrative. Meaning that it is a story following a logical order if you understand the sequence of events its so easy to understand the history.

Make Flashcards (I like to use Quizlet as I can access my flashcards whenever I need them). Flashcards can include dates, key figures/events.

Plan Essays, A great way to prepare for exams is to prepare practice essay questions, it allows you to create links in your knowledge and connect your ideas - (there’s no point in memorising something if you don’t know where you could apply it.

Teach Someone! (or just pretend to), this is my favourite technique for memorising information, it means that you can understand 

When working on an Essay 

Plan what you need to do! Research, plan, write, reference, check. It makes you feel accomplished and motivates you to tick more things off of the checklist.

Finish at least 2 days before the due date. This gives you plenty of time to leave the essay and come back to it for a final read through. Fresh eyes are the best eyes

Feel free to  share your own tips and let’s ace this together

xoxo

This really does sum up every damn thing that my family members have done and continue to do so and claim they are absolutely right and need to be respected cause they are older. It's amazing (being sarcastic) how they completely depend on me physically and financially but have the nerve to spew all sorts of nasty nonsense, and yet I sit here and take it. What in the world is wrong with me! 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

oh, to fly with you again

books by asian authors

this by no means is a comprehensive list of books, but this may give you a starter point as to where to start reading more about asian experiences and learning about asian culture. hopefully, you will find something you enjoy!

graphic novels

such a lovely little war: saigon 1961-63 and saigon calling: london 1963-75, marcelino truong: the story of a french-vietnamese boy and his family during the vietnam war

almost american girl, robin ha: memoir of a korean girl who moves to america and experiences racism and sexism in high school 

year of the rabbit, tian veasna: the tale of a family’s drive to survive the brutal khmer rouge regime

banned book club, kim hyunsook, ryan estrada and ko hyungju: memoir of a girl attending college in korea during the 1980s dictatorship and taking part in a banned book club 

cat diary: yon and mu, junji ito: horror comic about a guy who adopts two cats who terrorize him 

nonfiction

why we swim, bonnie tsui: swimming’s history, from olympic champions to japanese samurai swimmers

minor feelings, cathy park hong: essay collection of asian experiences of racism in the US

reading lolita in tehran, azar nafisi: an english professor’s experiences during the iranian revolution

all you can ever know, nicole chung: memoir of a korean girl adopted by white parents

family in six tones: a refugee mother, an american daughter, lan cao: memoir of a mother and daughter, the former of whom was a vietnam war refugee

fiction

on earth we’re briefly gorgeous, ocean vuong: a lovely, poetic letter from a vietnamese son to his mother

little fires everywhere, celeste ng: literary novel about a quiet suburban town and seemingly perfect family that changes once a traveling artist and her daughter move to town

the kiss quotient, helen hoang: super feel good romance featuring an autistic protagonist and a hunky swedish-vietnamese love interest

evil and the mask, fuminori nakamura: thriller novel that blew my head off

the windup bird chronicle, haruki murakami: literary novel about a man’s wife who disappeared suddenly and the mysterious journey he embarks on to find her again

pachinko, minjin lee: the multigenerational story of a family of koreans in japan during the early 20th century

prophecy (the dragon king chronicles #1), ellen oh: ya novel set in a korean fantasy landscape about a girl assigned to be the bodyguard to a prince during a demon invasion

run to me earth, paul yoon: the story of 3 orphans struggling to find their way in laos

in addition, i’d like you to notice these two lovely lists by @papenathys and @gaaaandaaaalf at these two links [x, x]. these lists are of south asian writers specifically, if you’re interested in them! 

add on your favorite books by asian authors if you’d like in the notes :)

[edit: sorry it was incomplete when i queued it. good thing i checked haha]