palm update - Hover over images for additional commentary.

10/24/03 12:05 pm

went to west regional at 9.15, arrived at 10 ... Met with anesthesiologist... That went quickly enough, about an hour. No food after 8pm Monday. Will be in the hospital Tues night - leave weds. At very minimal risk going under- more danger riding to the place by car.

Then, I rode 45 more min to us health works to get my surgery clearance done...-not so good. The nurse there had an huge attitude problem (and a booty to match) ... Said that there was no way that the results would be back in time for Tuesday. I call the doc back, and telegraph that to his schedule person who arranges tests for me at the hospital I was just at an hour ago.



12:47 pm back at west regional. I'm weary of traveling to wait. I have an urge to sleep. I wish that I could've gotten this all done at once rather than pointless hours on the road... The travel takes a lot out of me.

1:26 pm just did blood, pee and EKG... Waiting on chest X-ray now. Sandy is hilarious! Husband, 2 step kids, 1 natural, greyhound, 2 cats, and a back yard full of wildlife.



1:40 pm - Lots of folks ahead of me, I wonder how long it'll take? They all look sleepy.

2:03 pm X-ray at last


2:13 pm waiting for the ride home no ACIM today, just on call tonight.


2:40 pm - The driver guy is from Uruguay.


/palm update

3:10, I'm home! Yay!

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3208983.stm

The tiny round worms can live up to six times longer than usual

A tiny round worm can live six times longer than normal if certain genes and hormones are tweaked, according to a report in the journal Science.
The worms - Caenorhabditis elegans - had a metabolic hormone inhibited and their reproductive systems removed.

They went on to stay healthy and active for a human equivalent of 500 years, which is the longest life-span extension ever achieved by scientists.

Researchers say some of these findings may hold true for mammals.

Scientists from the University of California found they could double the lifespan of C. elegans, if they caused a mutation that inhibited insulin signaling.

Insulin, which is a metabolic hormone, regulates the energy molecule glucose within the body. In human terms, these animals would correspond to healthy, active 500-year-olds

Researchers discovered that if they inhibited insulin signaling more strongly the worms lived even longer, but they entered a quiescent - or lethargic - state.

Removal of the animals' reproductive systems also had a dramatic effect - the worms' life span increased by 60%. This was not due to infertility, the researchers said, but altered hormone signaling.

Manipulation of the worms' insulin signaling combined with removal of their reproductive systems, produced life spans of six times longer than normal.

"In human terms, these animals would correspond to healthy, active 500-year-olds," said Dr Arantes-Oliveira.

"This indicates that extreme longevity can be un-coupled with quiescence."

She added: "These lifespan extensions, which are the longest mean lifespan extensions ever produced in any organism, are particularly intriguing because the insulin pathway controls longevity in many species, including mammals."

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A review of A Passion for Sharpened Steel, the history of fencing. Sharp stuff: There exists footage of a samurai sword slicing through a machine gun; and Arab swords were tested by placing them motionless in a stream, where they were expected to slice passing leaves in two as the current pushed them against the blade.

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I wonder if there's such a thing as "tragic relief".

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oh i wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder who, who wrote the book of love?

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Flesh-Eating Infection Strikes Fishermen, Surfer In Volusia

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Several fishermen and at least one surfer in Volusia County, Fla., have reportedly contracted a mysterious infection that eats at their flesh, according to a Local 6 News report.

Doctor Jeff Parks, an Ormond Beach dermatologist, said he has treated eight patients, including two who were hospitalized, in the last two months with the painful and contagious crater-like lesions.

Parks says the disease has been found in patients who had been in the ocean. Bacterial infections are common among commercial fishermen and others who handle fish.

But Parks says he is perplexed about why so many people contracted this particular strain of bacteria.

Surfer Gerald Harbrodt was recently treated after an infection called methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, entered his body through an open wound as he swam in the Atlantic Ocean, said his mother, Jonelle Harbrodt.

Harbrodt said the infection spread across her son's body in less than a day.

"There was a large space vacant of skin, and it was oozing," Harbrodt said.

MRSA bacteria create the same life-threatening lesions experts are treating on turtles and fish in Central Florida, according to Local 6 News reporter Tarik Minor.

Fisherman Jim Freeman told Local 6 News that he knows of eight fishing boat captains infected with MRSA.

"It starts out as a white pimple, but the minute you pop that pimple it starts boring," Freeman said. "It will go to the bone. Doctors say once it goes to the bone, you either have to cut your arm off or cut your leg off."

The exact cause of this type of MRSA is not known, according to Local 6 News.

Health officials said MRSA infections must be treated immediately.