Thursday, December 08, 2005
I found two interesting articles on the NY Times today. First, it's a sad day for constitutional freedom as the House and Senate worked out a compromise bill that made permanent 12 provisions of the "Patriot Act" and renewed for 4 years two more controversial provisions. Great. I don't think most Americans even know what the consequences of this law could be; I'm not a huge slippery slope fan, but there are some great dangers to increasing the government's ability to secretly monitor our private lives. I'm tempted to find the "I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway" bumper sticker for my car.
And second, "Dog's Genome Could Provide Clues to Disorders in Humans." According to this article, "the researchers chose to sequence Tasha's genome because boxers are quite inbred, easing the decoding task. Also, because of her sex they did not have to bother with a Y chromosome, which is particularly hard to decode." (I agree-- the Y is definitely less useful... I suppose they might've found the dog "crotch sniffing" gene or clues to the human "Sunday football and beer" gene)
And, "the dog genome is a wonderful playground for geneticists." Those silly scientists. Can you picture it: the DNA helical slide and monkey bars, or the amino acid swingset...?
who is this writer, and what fun drugs is he on??
And second, "Dog's Genome Could Provide Clues to Disorders in Humans." According to this article, "the researchers chose to sequence Tasha's genome because boxers are quite inbred, easing the decoding task. Also, because of her sex they did not have to bother with a Y chromosome, which is particularly hard to decode." (I agree-- the Y is definitely less useful... I suppose they might've found the dog "crotch sniffing" gene or clues to the human "Sunday football and beer" gene)
And, "the dog genome is a wonderful playground for geneticists." Those silly scientists. Can you picture it: the DNA helical slide and monkey bars, or the amino acid swingset...?
who is this writer, and what fun drugs is he on??
# posted by Joanna @ 6:31 PM
Sunday, December 04, 2005
It's December and welcome to winter in southwest michigan!
I was lucky that October in Marquette was a beautiful autumn, with an extended color season. I was able to enjoy walks outdoors in the woods all month. And yes, I did some work too :) I spent two weeks in the hospital with the residents doing hospital medicine. Then I worked with 7 doctors during the next 10 days in the clinic. That was a whirlwind! or so I thought, until...
Pediatric ICU at Sparrow in Lansing! It was a good learning rotation; I had lots of experience working on the floor, writing notes, learning from the intensivists. I had 7 (SEVEN) nights of call, which involved working one day from 7am until 12-1pm the next day. Some nights I was able to help with admissions, but I still had to call a senior resident to co-sign orders. By the end, I was wiped out and almost took a month off. But of course, me being me, I couldn't just do that!
Right now I am in Grand Rapids at Butterworth doing OB/GYN. I'm working with interns and residents and doctors, trying to get as many catches as I can in 3 weeks. I'm really impressed at the number of deliveries each day. Where at Munson I'd watch 3 women and 2 might deliver that 12-hour shift, here there are 5-6 women at any time in labor on the two Labor and Delivery floors, and there might be 10 deliveries each day... or more, I have a hard time keeping track.
Last thursday I stayed overnight to be on call, and continued to follow one woman while picking up another 4 eventually through the night; I took an hour nap because I had to, but my adrenaline picked up after that. I had one delivery, was paged just after that for a delivery next door, then paged again for another delivery next door (pheromones, maybe??); that third one was covered by two residents, so I went downstairs to do an H&P on a new patient, who was ready to push not long after and I delivered her baby too! What a night!!
I visited Traverse City this weekend, because I haven't been home in two months; I've really missed my apartment, and my friends, and the town. It was a nice relaxing break.
Saw my entire family for thanksgiving, which was great! Pete and Anne are expecting their third child in April! Josh is 2, and Emma (the princess) is 4 already! Chris and Dena are preparing for their spring semester in England; Lorenzo is in kindegarten, and Aidan is talking up a storm at almost-3 years old. Mark is back from Montana and might go back out next summer. My mom cooked 4 pies and two dinners... who says you forget how?
I was lucky that October in Marquette was a beautiful autumn, with an extended color season. I was able to enjoy walks outdoors in the woods all month. And yes, I did some work too :) I spent two weeks in the hospital with the residents doing hospital medicine. Then I worked with 7 doctors during the next 10 days in the clinic. That was a whirlwind! or so I thought, until...
Pediatric ICU at Sparrow in Lansing! It was a good learning rotation; I had lots of experience working on the floor, writing notes, learning from the intensivists. I had 7 (SEVEN) nights of call, which involved working one day from 7am until 12-1pm the next day. Some nights I was able to help with admissions, but I still had to call a senior resident to co-sign orders. By the end, I was wiped out and almost took a month off. But of course, me being me, I couldn't just do that!
Right now I am in Grand Rapids at Butterworth doing OB/GYN. I'm working with interns and residents and doctors, trying to get as many catches as I can in 3 weeks. I'm really impressed at the number of deliveries each day. Where at Munson I'd watch 3 women and 2 might deliver that 12-hour shift, here there are 5-6 women at any time in labor on the two Labor and Delivery floors, and there might be 10 deliveries each day... or more, I have a hard time keeping track.
Last thursday I stayed overnight to be on call, and continued to follow one woman while picking up another 4 eventually through the night; I took an hour nap because I had to, but my adrenaline picked up after that. I had one delivery, was paged just after that for a delivery next door, then paged again for another delivery next door (pheromones, maybe??); that third one was covered by two residents, so I went downstairs to do an H&P on a new patient, who was ready to push not long after and I delivered her baby too! What a night!!
I visited Traverse City this weekend, because I haven't been home in two months; I've really missed my apartment, and my friends, and the town. It was a nice relaxing break.
Saw my entire family for thanksgiving, which was great! Pete and Anne are expecting their third child in April! Josh is 2, and Emma (the princess) is 4 already! Chris and Dena are preparing for their spring semester in England; Lorenzo is in kindegarten, and Aidan is talking up a storm at almost-3 years old. Mark is back from Montana and might go back out next summer. My mom cooked 4 pies and two dinners... who says you forget how?
# posted by Joanna @ 7:24 PM
