The five most-read stories this week on Scope were:
Empowered is as empowered does: Making a choice about living with lupus: Inspire contributor Pattie Brynn Hultquist writes about her experience living with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus and how she became an empowered patient.
Stanford bioengineer develops a 50-cent paper microscope: Manu Prakash, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering, has developed an ultra-low-cost paper microscope to aid disease diagnosis in developing regions. The device is further described in a technical paper.
Student transitions in medicine: putting blinders on: In the latest installment of SMS Unplugged, medical student Moises Gallegos discusses the importance of mentorship and support during medical school transitions.
Talk from the hand: the role of gesture in verbal communication: An Italian study found that the sight of gestures combined with the sound of speech created a whole-body system of communication in which movement played an important role in helping listeners understand language that was unclear.
Secrets of fat cells discovered: Mary Teruel, PhD, and colleagues have studied the life cycle of fat cells and what findings could mean for the treatment of obesity and diabetes.
And still going strong – the most popular post from the past:
The mystery surrounding lung-transplant survival rates: A 2012 article in the San Francisco Chronicle offered a look at the challenges facing lung transplant patients and explored why a significant number don’t live beyond the five-year mark, despite improvements in survival rates.