172 Round (2/2)

This time, even Ling Ran who was in the middle of his surgery raised his head for a moment to look at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan, who was four feet and nine inches in height, could not even reach Ling Ran's height when he was sitting. However, a strong thirst for knowledge, and a strong desire to carry out surgeries emanated from her round face and round eyes.

”Your lecturer let you graduate?” Huo Congjun found it unbelievable. If the postgraduate students under him were to simply conduct experiments like this...

Yu Yuan smiled slightly and said, ”My lecturer wanted me to publish that thesis, and I did so in a Tier 1 journal.”

”Regarding nosocomial infections[1]?” Huo Congjun suddenly recalled.

Yu Yuan nodded and said, ”Yes.”

Huo Congjun gasped for some reason, while Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin were shocked.

The so-called Tier 1 and Tier 2 journals were part of a type of ranking system for journals. They were both journals of the Science Citation Index (SCI) grade. The journals that ranked in the top five percentile in terms of impact factor would usually be categorized into Tier 1 journals in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). Meanwhile, those that ranged from the sixth percentile to the twentieth percentile would be classified as Tier 2 journals.

A researcher or a clinician could claim to be an expert if their thesis was published in a Tier 2 journal. If one's thesis was published in a Tier 1 journal, others would call him an expert.

For example, Su Jiafu's greatest wish was to have his thesis published in a Chinese core journal. Most of these journals were not worthy of SCI, which meant that they could not even compare to Tier 4 journals, which were made up of journals in the last fiftieth percentile.

Most researchers did not even dare to dream to have their research papers published in a Tier 1 or even Tier 2 journal.

Huo Congjun remembered how Yu Yuan entered Yun Hua Hospital six or seven years ago. She had come armed with a Master's degree certificate and a thesis published in a Tier 1 journal. However, through the course of her three years of housemanship, Yu Yuan neither published another research paper nor showed her talent as a clinician. She was like a carp that sank to the bottom of a pond, at most making some splashes on the surface of the water. It was like she had become a nobody.

”It's also a very good beginning for you if you start participating in limb replantation surgeries. You can learn something new.” Huo Congjun did not know what to say anymore. But one thing was clear: no matter how good a resident doctor was, they would have to perform their tasks in accordance to the department's arrangement unless… they were as good as Ling Ran.

When Huo Congjun saw Yu Yuan nod, he showed concern and said, ”Ling Ran, don't tire yourself out. Rest for a bit after each surgery. If there're any menial tasks, just let your assistants do them.”

Even though Lu Wenbin and Ma Yanlin's eyelids twitched, they maintained the smiles on their faces. Ling Ran agreed to the suggestion and continued carrying out his surgery.

”Yu Yuan, do learn well from Ling Ran. Observe more, ask less, and listen to orders.” Huo Congjun's tone was slightly stern, mainly because Ling Ran had no title, and had to rely on Huo Congjun's authority to be able to control his assistants.

Yu Yuan hummed in acknowledgement and adjusted the position of her spectacles. If it were not for the fact that the pair of black plastic spectacles looked too cheap, that movement would have made her appear more attractive.

Even so, Lu Wenbin who had experienced a long draught of loneliness in the operating theater, could not help but strike up a conversation, ”Doctor Yu, what did you get from your analysis in your Master's thesis?”

”What do you mean?”

”That thesis about the university's female students' colorectal diseases.”

”Oh.” Yu Yuan nodded her head rhythmically and said, as if she was reciting from memory, ”44% of the female students had colorectal diseases. Among them, 70% of them were inflicted by hemorrhoids, while basically half of them had anal fissure[2], anal cryptitis[3], and constipation. Further investigation showed that there were two cases of anal fistula[4] and one case of colon polyp[5].”

”You're talking about… female university students?” Lu Wenbin suddenly felt that he had asked the wrong question.

Meanwhile, out of curiosity, Ma Yanlin continued to stir the conversation towards the wrong direction. ”Why?”

With both her hands placed flat by her sides, Yu Yuan spoke very logically while evaluating Ling Ran's movements, ”In conclusion, one's habits of exercising, taking breakfast, drinking water, eating junk food, and defecating, has a greater effect on colorectal diseases. This is also something that is even more interesting to note: The restrooms in the university usually had squat toilets, and the university's female students did not have the habit of washing their anuses after defecating…”

”Who would do this in the toilet?” Lu Wenbin was extremely speechless.

”However, after people defecate, since a part of the skin around their anuses is composed of striated muscles[6], it is very hard to clean them thoroughly just by wiping with tissue paper. Because of this, the residual fecal matter will pollute the skin. Aside from that, long-term irritation weakens the local immune system, hence increasing the probability of colorectal diseases…”

”Why are we talking about this?” Lu Wenbin heaved a loud sigh and said, ”Forget about it. I won't attend my school reunion this year.”

”You use sitting toilets and bathe often. It should be fine.” The circulating nurses who were bored throughout half the surgery had taken the opportunity to chip in.