HOW TO SURVIVE

Histology

Image taken from: http://plaza.umin.ac.jp/~web-hist/gloms.jpg

SPRING 2009
Co-Founders of SD Survival Guides: Samuel Anandan (Class of 2008), Akeem Marsh (Class of 2007)

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

TABLE OF CONTENTS Hello everyone! Welcome to histology, the land of purple and blue. These are the colors youll be looking at through a microscope for the next month, so we hope you like them. This class is quite fast-paced, but studying for it is pretty straightforward. Heres what this short survival guide contains. Topic Introduction to Histology How to Study- Its Pretty Straightfoward Lab- Its Different from Anatomy Exams! Miniboard! Additional Advice from Upper Years Textbooks Pages 3 3 4 5 6 7 8

How to Survive: Structure Histology Samuel Anandan (Class of 2008) Shamyla Farrukh (Class of 2009) Ayanna Lewis (Class of 2009) Charlie Lu (Class of 2009) Prathyusha Yeturu (Class of 2010) Kathy Zhang (Class of 2009) Moury Sultana (Class of 2010) Zubair Hasan (Class of 2010) Jennifer Aquino (Class of 2010)

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

INTRODUCTION TO HISTOLOGY This survival guide is going to be a lot shorter than previous guides, because this class is quite straightforward. Its fast-paced, requires a good amount of studying, but the tests are pretty straightforward, and the miniboard is pretty fair as well. This is almost like anatomy on a much smaller scale. Youre going to be looking at little purple and blue cells with little dots inside them, different types of epithelial cells all over your bodys surface, etc. At the time, it may not seem important, but this stuff has already shown up again in general pathology, so try to learn as much of it as possible. Its not as draining as anatomy, but requires that you keep up with the material, which is almost a chapter a day. Another benefit is that Dr. Kierszenbaums textbook crams a lot of stuff into those nearly 700 pages. Youll find stuff from biochemistry, physiology, immunology, pathology, and even neuroscience, and Ive looked back at the book during those other classes. The main drawback is that, since the book covers these areas in considerable detail, it can be a lot to get through and learn when reading it. I thought the book wasnt the greatest during histology, but in hindsight, its a really good book. Please try and learn as much as possible in this class, itll help out later on.

HOW TO STUDY ITS PRETTY STRAIGHTFOWARD Advice from Ayanna Lewis, Shamyla Farrukh, and Prathyusha Yeturu Histology is one of those courses where the details are just as important as the concepts. Use the textbook as your main study tool for the class and for understanding the background for lab. When you study for this course make sure you pay close attention to all details, because that is what you will be tested on. However, this may be difficult to do because is there is just so much detail in every topic. So to help with this after you have studied the textbook, sit down and make charts for yourself, from memory, that compare and contrast similar items that you read about. For example the blood has many different types of cells that share certain characteristics like having a specific color, size, nuclear shape etc. All of these are characteristics you need to know for every cell, so creating these charts should make it easier to see where these similar blood cells differ. Afterwards, be sure to check your chart against the textbook to

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

make sure that everything is correct. You may also want to draw certain structures from memory and check it against an actual slide, if you are having trouble identifying structures. This is particularly helpful because histology is such a visual course and its important that you can create in your mind a very strong mental image. Before class, it helps a lot if you spend some time skimming the chapter summaries for the topics that will be covered for that day. This way when you get into class you know what to expect from the lecturer. Then when you read the textbook you will be better able to identify what will be stressed on the exams. Advice from Samuel Anandan Theres really not much to say on how to study for this class. The main advice is to read the textbook. Other sources, like BRS, can be of help in reviewing, but the book is seriously all you need to pass this class. Know the book well, and the exams and miniboard should be fine. For the exams, which will be discussed shortly, there are microscope pictures there, but if you look at the atlas and slides during lab, and look at the histologic images in the book, it should be fine. The pictures are great in the textbook, so for review, you can just look through those, as theyre chock full of information themselves, and really are well illustrated. Dont make the mistake I did by taking histo lightly. The fast pace is something you really need to keep up with, and you dont want to ruin your summer studying for this again. Once again, definitely read the textbook carefully, and thats about it! Advice from Kathy Zhang The tests included a few electron micrograph questions on the first exam, and since people didnt take them that seriously, it bore more and more weight in the exams, taking up half the practical portion on the last 2 exams. Its really straightforward, and it gets you easy points, so make sure to study them well. The main thing for histo is to keep up with the work and to study every day. Out of anatomy, histo and neuro, though anatomy is the most physically draining, histo has the fastest pace, and to not keep up can put you in a shaky position before you even know it, so try to stay on top of your work from the very first day.

LAB ITS DIFFERENT FROM ANATOMY Advice from Samuel Anandan

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

Histology lab is quite different from anatomy lab. In anatomy, the body was your 3-D textbook, and you really needed to learn a lot from lab, or at least thats how I found it. In histology, the slides supplement your reading and stuff, but you can learn just as well from the atlas, textbook, and other sources. Lab is really what you bring to it. There are faculty TAs, including Dr. Gresik, Dr. Tres, Dr. Yu, and another Dr. Yu. They are really helpful, but lab is really what you make of it. For the first two tests, I really didnt pay attention in lab, but I did pay attention for the third test, and it was quite helpful. In your lab handbook, therell be a discussion of whats on the slides, including what you should look for. Try to find all the stuff listed there, and if you have trouble, ask the TAs. The stuff you have to identify can come up as questions on the practical portion of the exam, but usually they are secondary questions, more on that in a bit. In lab, you have your own microscope, but you have to share a slide box with a lab partner. Youre split up into three groups based on last name, but you can choose your own lab partner. The atlas we used last year was the one by Gartner and Hiatt, but it appears you have another recommended atlas. Which ever one works best for you, use that, and try to find all the stuff you need to. But remember that most of the important, high-yield type of identification stuff would be in the textbook, so again, thats your main source of information for this class. Advice from Ayanna Lewis, Shamyla Farrukh, and Prathyusha Yeturu For the lab portion of the exam make sure you pay attention in lab. Preparation for lab is essential for getting the most out of lab when you are there. Before you get into lab take the time to look at pictures relevant to the material to be covered that day. The textbook has a bunch of really great ones with really good descriptions too. Another great source of pictures with descriptions is the University of Iowa website (youll get the actual web address in your lab manual). Whichever you use make sure you are consistent about prepping before lab. Everything will make more sense if you do. Once in lab you and your partner should read through the lab manual and identify all of the structures the lab manual highlights on the slides. Use your textbook as a reference during lab to see what the structures should look like under the microscope. If you are having trouble finding a particular structure ask a TA for help. Finally, make sure you pay attention when the TAs go over the electromicrographs (they are pictures of highly magnified structures) in class. The TAs will highlight what structures are important to know for the test.

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

EXAMS! The histology exams are fair and not so bad if you really read the chapters carefully and pay attention. This is something I learned more or less the hard way, as I didnt study as hard as I shouldve the first test or two, and if you dont know the material, the tests can be very challenging. And why is that? Because the questions are a sort of double whammy, in that you need to know multiple facts just to answer one question. For example, you could be asked something like thisWhich is true of neutrophils? a. b. c. d. e. They are a type of white blood cell (WBC) and stain purple on H&E preparations. They are a type of red blood cell (RBC) and stain pink on H&E preparations. TEXTBOOKS They are a type of WBC and stain pink on H&E preparations. They are a type of RBC and stain purple on H&E preparations. They are the least abundant type of WBC and stain blue on H&E preparations.

Now, you may see this question, and know that a neutrophil is the most abundant type of white blood cell. However, unless you studied the types of staining, you may not recall what color they stain as, and this question now becomes a guessing game. With histo, its almost an all-or-none type of learning. You have to know almost all the material in his book, or you can get tricked on questions like these, which are kind of like two questions (asking you what neutrophils are, and asking you how they stain) combined in one. By the way, the answer above should be C, but you can double check that as you study . Theres also a practical portion to the exam. However, you wont be actually looking into microscopes for this part. Instead, you get a nice, high-quality color section with pictures of histological sections, and therell be a question or few for each picture. Usually, if I remember right, these questions were secondary. So, you may have a picture of a sarcomere, with a question like this-

The highlighted structurea. Consists of thin filaments only. b. Consists of both thick and thin filaments. c. Consists of thick filaments only. d. Contains titin. e. Contains CapZ.

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

This question may not be the best example, but it illustrates the basic point that, although you may know that the highlighted region is the A band, you have to know more about it in order to answer the question. You can cram the atlas or textbook pictures beforehand and simply remember that the A band is in the middle of a sarcomere, but taking time to read that the A band is where muscle contraction occurs because of the interaction of light and heavy filaments will get you to the right answer, which should be B. So, just memorizing little purple dots or blue lines on a slide wont always help you with these practical questions. The electron micrographs in the textbook Ultrastructure are very good to review for the test. Just looking at the relevant electronmicrographs and descriptions the day before the test should be enough to help to identify those structures on the exam. This is an expensive book though, about $90, so you probably would want to share a copy with a friend or a group of people. The basic thing about these histo exams is that theyre tricky if you dont know your material fully, but if you do, theyre fairly straightforward. So, once again, and I cant reiterate this enough, please read the book very well, itll help on both the written and practical portions, and make your life a lot easier come miniboard time.

MINIBOARD! Advice from Charlie Lu This is the only class youll take this semester that you dont need to do additional studying for the miniboard. Dr. Kierzenbaums tests will be much harder than the miniboard questions. Youll only need to worry about

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

reviewing, which can simply be done the 1 week between the class final and the miniboard. One thing you shouldnt forget to focus on for the miniboard are the lab questions. I remember this being the hardest part simply because I couldnt identify the pictures. Pretest has good lab questions & Im sure you can find additional sources online. Advice from Samuel Anandan Speaking of the miniboard, this may very well be the easiest miniboard youll take for a while. It does include cell biology, which you last saw in Molecules to Cells, but the textbook covers all the relevant cell biology, and if you feel the need to review it, BRS has it in there as well. Most review books should have a good cell biology section as well, since medical cell biology is usually taught with histo, I think. For the miniboard, reading the textbook and mastering the material during the class should be enough to pass comfortably. Before the miniboard, Id recommend looking at the pictures in each chapter again, and maybe read BRS for a quick review, and do those questions, including the comprehensive exam at the end. But this really shouldnt be the miniboard to worry about. Dont take it too lightly, but dont stress out too much over it either. Study well in class, and this should be fine. ADDITIONAL ADVICE FROM UPPER YEARS Advice from Zubair Hasan The hardest part of histology for me was the lab component. I felt that the lab time itself did not correlate well with the lab portion of the exams. To help with this, upper years recommended looking at Youtube videos called, Shotgun Histology. The narrator looks at slides similar to ours and discusses them, so you know what youre looking at and in what context. Combined with reading the slides on the website cited in the lab manual really helped me improve on the lab portion of the exams. As for the written portions, I found that reading the textbook a few times over really enforced concepts. What I did to make sure I paid particular attention to every detail was to take detailed notes on the chapter; this forced me to learn material and repeat it a few times. When it came time for review, I just re-read my notes, since the textbook could be too dense for a review. Advice from Moury Sultana Histology sucked. It is a well-taught course and it's also boring. Dr. Keirszenbaum is an awesome lecturer and his book is Gold. Unfortunately the topic is not as thrilling as anatomy and the lab time gets to be annoying because it's just looking at slides for like 2 and half hours. Everyone is going

How to Survive Guide Structure: Histology

to tell you to read the book because the book is all you ever need for histology. So push yourself to read ahead as much as possible, it makes lab time more worthwhile and it makes the lectures seem so much more relevant and easy to understand. Study EM pictures, get that black and white book and make sure you look over EMs the night before the exam because they are fairly easy and can gain you solid points. Use the UIowa website as much as possible because they basically eliminate the need for lab time. In fact, look at UIowa slides during lab, you'll enjoy it more. Histology is more fast-paced than anatomy and you'll find yourself dedicated more time to it and this is key to doing well. You seriously need to study histology like crazy and not slack off or get discouraged by how boring this class is.

Advice from Jennifer Aquino The most challenging aspect of this class is the pace. It moves really fast. The first test was my lowest one out of all the histo tests. I didnt have a groove. But then I found one and it totally worked for me. So here it is. Unlike anatomy, for this class I actually had to read the chapter BEFORE class. So I would read the chapter and take notes. I would try to figure it all out on my own before lecture. I would also go through all the boxes in the book before lecture. I would sit in lecture and use it as a review. I would quiz myself. So as the professor was talking, I would be saying stuff like: ok, I know that crap, I read that but didnt really pay close attention, etc. So I used the lectures as a way of quizzing myself. After lecture I would review the chapter that correlated to the lecture again (Remember, I did my hardcore reading with notes before lecture and after lecture I do it again with the notes this time). I would then read for tomorrows lecture. So studying everyday is a smart choice (especially if you want some weekend time to breathe!). Anyway, closer test time I would sit down with my histo book and go through all the BOXES and really know them and explain them to myself. Then, I would finish by going through the notes and I would end with another quick review of the boxes right before an exam. The boxes have pictures that he uses for the practical exam. I remember for the first exam, there was a collagen picture right out of the book. So boxes are great. Also, the electron micrographs come straight from the assigned book. Just know them and youll be fine! Dont cram like I did for the first exam. If you know them and review them, youll get easy points on exams. In my opinion, this is a very independent class. I didnt find group studying helpful only because the class moves so fast that you have to read on your own everyday and everyone has their system. So Id say, study on your own and throw an occasional quiz

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question with your study buddy here and there. For the miniboard, THERE WAS SO MUCH CELL BIO. It wasnt a 100% histology miniboard. So I would recommend doing pretest, and the first couple of chapters of the Histology BRS for cell bio because Histology and Cell Bio BRS has stuff on cholesterol, collagen, etc. For the miniboard I used pre-test and I used his book. But if I could do back in time, I would have done more cell bio. Good thing, if you remembered youre biochemistry though! Thank goodness for Pinol Roma! I had his slides in my head during that miniboard. Study everyday, keep up, be efficient and use your time wisely. Hard work pays off! TEXTBOOKS Here are some of the histology books available. Theres another atlas recommended by the department, so you should look into that and see if it works for you. But the textbook is the number one source for passing histo and the miniboard, its like gold! Textbook Name
Histology and Cell Biology: An Introduction to Pathology BRS Cell Histology Biology and

Editi on
2nd 5th

Description
The MAIN SOURCE for this class, and a good reference for future classes in Sophie! A good review before the miniboard, or to brush up on cell biology. Also good for questions before the miniboard, or even class exams. Required textbook with useful pictures of electron microscopy. The atlas we used last year. Pretty good pictures, definitely handy to use in lab. This PreTest edition has anatomy and histology in one book. I didnt use it, but PreTest is usually gold for the miniboards, so worth a look.

ISBN 03230452 78 07817857 74

Cell & Tissue Ultrastructure

Color Atlas of Histology

2nd 4th

07167703 34 07817982 80 00714374 95

PreTest Anatomy, and Cell Biology

Histology

2nd

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Good luck with everything and please dont hesitate to ask for help if you need it. This course goes by extremely quickly so if you find yourself struggling after the first exam you need to get help immediately, either from a TA (they are all really helpful), Dr Kirszenbaum, or a fellow classmate whos doing well and willing to help. Enjoy!