
Welcome to my daily learning journal. My daily goal is to watch one Ted Talk and one cataract surgery. I also plan to read one journal article and read/listen to a book chapter, short story or significant work.
Here’s today’s list:

1. Ted Talk – Caroline Weaver: Why the pencil is perfect. “Why are pencils shaped like hexagons, and how did they get their iconic yellow color? Pencil shop owner Caroline Weaver takes us inside the fascinating history of the pencil.” (ted.com)
The sub-4-minute Ted Talks are often the most informative. Most enjoyable talk on the history of the pencil.

2. Cataract Surgery – Uday Devgan MD – How to dissect the IOL out of the bag. Dr. Devgan writes, “When we are doing an IOL exchange, the first step is to carefully dissect the old IOL out of the capsular bag. This must be done with great care so that the capsular bag and zonular support are not damaged. Remember that the capsule is just 4 microns at its thinnest and that is about 1/20th the width of a human hair. Using a sharp 27g needle on the dispersive viscoelastic syringe will allow you to slip under the anterior capsular rim, just above the optic edge. We can then inject the dispersive OVD to help dissect open the capsular bag. Then using a blunt spatula we can sweep all around to free up the IOL haptics completely. We then need to bring this 6 mm diameter optic up through the small 4.5 mm capsulorhexis shown in this case. Finally, we explant the old IOL using our twist technique and then we can insert the new IOL. We also address the 1 diopter of corneal astigmatism at the same sitting.”

3. EyeNet (November 2020) – Enjoyed articles by Ruth Williams MD and David Parke MD. The “News in Review” includes a summary to the article “AI Meets Cornea Diseases” with reference to an AAO Virtual presentation (see below).

4. On AAO Virtual, Mohamed F Abou Shousha MD presents his paper, “PA012 Multi-Disease Deep-Learning Neural Network for the Diagnosis of Corneal Diseases.” (Session OP01V: Cornea, External Disease Original Papers.)
The AAO Virtual 2020 meeting is an amazing resource. I look forward to continuing to watch cutting edge lectures which I might otherwise miss during a busy meeting. (Send me your favorite sessions!)

Recto: The fetus in the womb. Verso: Notes on reproduction, with sketches of a fetus in utero, etc. c.1511
RCIN 919102
5. Book Chapter – Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Chapter 27, “Anatomy, Round Two.” The most-illustration intense of all of Isaacson’s book chapters.

6. The Investors Podcast: TIP324: THE GREAT RESET W/ LUKE GROMEN
Excellent discussion between Stig, Preston, and one of their most frequent guests, macro-economist Luke Gromen.