Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cryptococcus

(Here's a picture from google images of Cryptococcus neoformans. I thinks it's kind of pretty.)

For my first installment of things you didn't know existed but will now haunt (or interest) you...

Cryptococcus neoformans is a encapsulated yeast first discovered in 1894 by a pathologist named Busse. It enters the body via the lungs and host responses range from being an asymptomatic infection to pulmonary disease to meningitis to disseminated disease. Cryptococcus infection is increasing in incidence as HIV becomes more and more prevalent all over the world. In the US about 5-10% of AIDS patients will get C. neoformans and in Zimbabwe, for example, approximatley 85% of AIDS patient get the disease. AIDS, however, is not the only cause of immunosuppression, organ transplantation, steriod use, and even malignancy can result to crytococcus setting up residence in the body.

Prior to 1955, if Cryptococcus entered the brain of a person he or she had an 80% of dying, but since Amphotericin B (nicknamed, Ampho-terrible because of its side effects) was invented mortality has been greatly decreased. Once someone with HIV has this fungus, they are treated intensively for weeks to months with Ampho and then given a lifetime of antifungal medicine to keep it from returning. Even if you are not immunosuppressed but you get infected with this in your lung, you are looking at 6 months to 1 year of medicine (fluconazole) to rid yourself of it.

All this to say, Cryptococcus is a bad boy with a pretty face. Oh yeah, one aside, stay away from aged pigeon droppings because that is where it grows best!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Children's Books


One of our friends is a elementary school teacher and she talks about having a room for kids to learn in that is word-rich. Meg and I want to have a family that is word-rich so we are reading to our little one everyday. Right now she really only wants to sit down for about half a Dr. Seuss book, but that's not much shorter than my attention span.

The Little Blue Truck is our current favorite because of its rollicking (an adjective used on the cover of the book) illustrations. The story is about a blue truck who is friends with all the animals who live along an ambling country road and he speaks to them all as he slowly goes by. But one day, a dump truck with "big, fat tires" came barreling through just missing little ducky on the road and eventually ending up stuck in a puddle of "muck and mire". No one but Little Blue comes to help the leviathian when he cries out. And despite all his effort he "couldn't quite budge the heavy load" until his animal friends heard his cries for assitance. The dump truck learns his lesson "that a lot depends on a helping hand from a few good friends". Morality is so simple in children's stories, do we make it too complex? One thing is for sure, stories are much better with pictures.

Monday, March 14, 2011

I Have A Dream Speech


Before last week I had never heard this speech in its entirety. The emotionality, rationality, spirituality, and patriotism of the speech are woven so richly together that it seems that King takes the nation's hopes, ideals, and skepticisms and knits them into his dream of racial equality. As you watch, King sticks very closely to his notes until the very end, and then history begins happen. Right after he encourages the audience to go back to their neighborhoods and peacefully fight for the end of segregation and for better schools for black children is when he begans to vere from his prepared speech. Nothing he says was new to his followers, he'd been preaching like this for years in the sanctuaries of southern churches, but is new to the nation. He goes back and forth seamlessly quoting the Constitution to "Let Freedom Ring" to the Bible to negro spirituals resonating each time with self-evident truths of each person's equal claim to dignity. His vision is still moving today because so much of what he envisioned for us in this speech is yet to come to fruition. I just wanted to share this video because it should not be put on the shelf as an interesting historical event, but as a call to action for us all.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Lent and Blogging

Could there be any plausible connection between Lent and blogging? Traditionally the Christian church has celebrated Lent through a time of penance and abstience. Thus, my Papa used to give up his least favorite food every year, watermelon, and my dad became a teetotaler for 40 irritable days! (Just kidding Dad, if you ever read this.) So this year I have decided that, not only am I going to give up some cherished delectables, but that I am going to actively pursue some good things. One of my goals is to take action in my life. I tend to be one who prefers quiet thoughtfulness over direct action and I'm feeling a bit imbalanced. So blogging, despite its obvious narcissitic tendencies, is a way for me to grow my creative side. I got some help from my friend Will who encouraged me to do this by resurrecting his blog recently. So think about some things to give up or take up for Lent and consider blog reading as an option!