amarbledesk.com
a map of nucleations
« Older Entries | posts tagged ‘Uncategorized’ |
2009-2010
01 Jan 2010 04:52 EST
Year completed, year commencing,
spinning through unbounded space,
Half a billion miles of motion,
only to remain in place.
Has the calendar been your master?
Was your year a loss or gain?
Was it evolution, or a
revolution without change?
Don’t defy, though, Time’s advancement;
that way lies proud Phaethon’s end.
Let Time flow, and seize the reins of
your own chariot, Life, instead.
Then when next year’s orbit hurls you
Once more toward eternity,
You can slip these circling chains and
reach escape velocity.
NaNoWriMo begins
01 Nov 2009 21:00 EST
It’s November 1st. I can’t waste much time writing blogs: all my words are reserved for National Novel Writing Month. There is a 50,000-word minimum I have to write and a 100,000-word goal I personally have set.
What am I writing?
I thought science fiction would be my genre, but this story has just leapt out to me. I’m writing a young adult fantasy novel. My Twitter-length synopsis is:
In Rha, a world where humans don’t belong, Gam & his brothers must learn self-reliance when a shadowy enemy abducts their parents.
My slightly longer elevator pitch is:
In the world of Rha, where humans don’t belong, Gam and his two brothers must learn self-reliance when a shadowy enemy abducts their parents. Through conflicts with emperors, fearsome jeweled behemoths, and allies turned traitor, they discover inner strength and magical wonders. But even if they find their parents in this vast, strange world, will their lives ever be the same?
I’m writing this story not just as a NaNoWriMo writing exercise, but as a direct address to my three sons: Sean, 13; Paul, 10; and Luke, 5. They love stories, and they love my stories, so now they’re going to get a long one. I’ve got 318 words written so far. A mere 49,682 to go. Follow my progress at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/506825
Topics: Onyx, Proteolix, and an Autoimmune Fix?
20 Oct 2009 16:08 EST
I read with interest yesterday of Onyx Pharmaceutical‘s acquisition of Proteolix. (Thanks to VentureLoop for the tweet that tipped me to this.) Onyx specializes in cancer therapies, and Proteolix has drug therapies that are useful in treatment of both cancer and autoimmune disorders. Among the products in the Proteolix pipeline are immunoproteasome-selective inhibitors.
Proteasomes are barrel-shaped complexes found in every cell of our body. They are cellular recyclers – their job is to break down old or unwanted proteins and turn them in to peptide building blocks that can then be recycled to make new proteins. An immunoproteasome is the form this structure takes in cells of the immune system. Normally, they play a role in fighting infections, by breaking down proteins from invaders and using the broken-down pieces as a sort of signal for infection-fighting cells. But increased activity of the immunoproteasome has been implicated in many autoimmune disorders, like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, where the body attacks itself instead.
Proteasome inhibitors block the action of proteasomes. Since proteasomes are necessary for the day-to-day life activities of cells, inhibiting them can induce apoptosis (cell death), which sounds bad but which is a great thing when you’re fighting cancer. And immunoproteasome-specific inhibitors are likewise a great thing when fighting autoimmune disorders.
Immunoproteasome inhibitors are being studied as therapies for autoimmune diseases such as RA and psoriasis (where they’ve been shown to be effective in animal models) and potentially many other diseases.
One autoimmune disease that I’d hope was an eventual target for this sort of therapy is Goodpasture Disease. OK, I’m admittedly very biased here: I have that disease. It’s a very rare autoimmune disorder that causes kidney and lung failure; I was diagnosed with the disorder in 1989. It’s a rare enough disease that it’s considered an orphan disease for which there are no specifically-targeted therapies.
Encouragingly, there is good evidence (such as this paper from the journal Proteomics [PDF] and this one from the Federation of European Biochemical Societies) and a good chain of reasoning to indicate that immunoproteasome inhibitors would be effective against Goodpasture Disease as well.
I’m happy to see that this novel kind of research into therapies for autoimmune diseases like Goodpasture’s is bearing fruit. Onyx Pharmaceuticals has been concentrating on cancer therapies. I certainly strongly encourage Onyx to take advantage of Proteolix’s full pipeline and continue the development of proteasome inhibitor-based therapies for autoimmune disorders as well. There are established links between the pathologies of cancers and autoimmune diseases; and there are millions of suffers of these diseases who could benefit from therapies based on this biotechnology.
Boy, do I love this stuff! The intersection of entrepreneurship, innovation, biotechnology, and the hyper-hyper-local. More, please!
[cross-posted to markbeadles.blogspot.com]
Every day is a new day, just like every other day.
19 Oct 2009 15:53 EST
Today is the 15,518th day of my life. [Numerological note: I was born on the 26th. Strangely, 15518 in base 26 is "MOM". Hi, Mom!] Now, you might think that after maybe the first 15,000 I’d have had this all figured out. But, like all days, every day is different. We can’t predict the nature or even the existence of tomorrow. If we can’t stop the flow of the river of time, though, maybe we can build some locks to make our journey across the rapids easier. We rely on watches, clocks, calendars, alarms, reminders, schedules.
I’m a big fan of Google Calendar for its ubiquity (it’s available anywhere I can get to the web and syncs with my Blackberry), its ease of use (it looks like a paper calendar), and its shareability (I subscribe to calendars from my church and the YMCA and can easily add event from other organizations). I carry my Blackberry compulsively. My own brain didn’t come with a good memory for schedules and events, so I tote along an extra brain in my pocket. My extra little black rectangular brain is very good at remembering things. Computers are augmented brains, just like cars are augmented limbs. They get us where we’re going better than our natural equipment.
I may have been orbiting a black hole for the past year, though; my perception, my experience of time has been altered — perhaps allowing me a closer view of the strands that make up its structure. Perhaps just spinning me round: Time when you’re seriously ill is undependable. Time in the hospital is interminable. Time in recovery is hour-by-hour. Time with family and friends is far too short.
I’ve not had the constraining luxury of a regular 9-to-5 for a few months now. It’s blissful freedom, but also another clock ripped from my wall. I wandered footloose and fancy free (!) this summer. But I don’t operate well without structure, schedules, and deadlines. They give me something to battle against. I’ve therefore put up some new calendars and clocks on my metaphorical wall, and wound a few watches as well.
I’ve set some interesting and barely-attainable goals for each day and each month. Every day during the month of October I must go to the gym. Every day I must write a blog entry, either here or on my more professionally-oriented blog. Every day I must take active steps to either land an excellent job or start a venture of my own. In the month of November I must write a 50,000+ word novel, which means that every day in October I must be working in preparation. I’ve also set a goal of reducing my material possessions by donating, trashing, or recycling something every week.
The benefits of going to the gym daily are most obvious. Although I’ve made a diligent effort to ‘get to the YMCA!’ every week since my surgery, it’s been limited to 2-3 times a week, and only when I’ve been feeling good. Guess what? Going to the gym every day has me feeling really good. Going to the gym every day is becoming a great habit, even addictive — I’m back to getting a runner’s high after a half hour on the rowing machine. Last week when I mentioned to my doctor that I was well enough to work out every day his jaw dropped (good thing he’s a doctor, they can fix that). Exercise is helping me get through my steroid withdrawal. My joint pain is gone, my mood is much improved, and I’m building significant amounts of muscle mass. My family’s much happier about all of the above.
Folks, I’ve done a wide variety of things in the last 15,518 days. Many of them were supremely challenging, and I’ve discovered that it’s in challenges where I’m at my best. I thrive on unachievable or unbelievable goals. It’s the day-to-day stuff I’m bad at. So I think that complete recovery from my second kidney transplant, writing a young-adult fantasy novel about three brothers, and starting a new business venture is a good set of challenges for the next few hundred days.
Old man river, he just keeps rolling, just keeps rolling along….
Nebula and open-source democracy
09 Oct 2009 01:50 EST
I’m ambivalent and skeptical (ambivical? skeptivalent?) but definitely optimistic about Nebula. No, not the science fiction award (although, hey! Wouldn’t it be great to win one from a novel written during November’s NaNoWriMo?) or the various Messier catalog objects. This Nebula is the US Government’s entry platform into cloud computing.
I’m ambivalent because, first off: the government (inasmuch as you can attribute any unified direction to such a hydra) has been working on getting into cloud computing (under various names and models) for a long time, at least a decade. Cloud computing seems to be the soup du jour, but really we’ve been stirring the cloud computing pot for years now. We just didn’t call it cloud computing or even software-as-a-service back in the nineties when many of us were already building the stuff. So the gov jumping into the cloud is certainly very welcome, but to a large degree was inevitable.
I’m skeptical because, um, well, it’s the government. There are some very very sharp people working in the government, do not mistake me. Unfortunately they’re working for a bureaucratic and politicized organization with a history of being slow, over budget, and off the mark.
Overall, I’m optimistic. There certainly is some fawning commentary about Nebula, but to give credit where it’s due, it’s a great direction for the feds to go. The high-level architecture certainly looks sound, and the claims of the kind of service improvements Nebula could make are in line with the best models for cloud computing, SaaS, and SOA.
One of the best things about the system is that it’s open source. I’m not an open-source devotee, as such; generally I believe that both open and proprietary software have their places in the market. But I firmly believe that in an open democracy the government should only use open-source software (with certain limited exceptions such as legitimate national-security concerns). There are certainly strong theoretical precedents for this, such as the fact that the US Government does not have copyright in its creative works (17 USC 105, 2007). There is legal precedent which supports the concept as well, for example courts ordering a couple years ago that the source code to breathalyzers be released to criminal defendants. These are certainly not dispositive, but at least lend moral support to the idea of democratic open source.
So the fact that it’s open source, and the fact that the architecture looks reasonable are good signs. Keep your eyes on Nebula and its evolution.
"Is 0 Odd or Even?" Are you serious?
29 Sep 2009 22:10 EST
Eugene Volokh of the eponymous Conspiracy took a poll of his readership, asking Is 0 Odd or Even? Look ye upon the poll results and despair!
This, gentle reader, is why we don’t do mathematics by popular vote.
An odd number of Kudos to Eugene for exposing such innumeracy. An even number of kudos to about half his readers….
first post
16 Sep 2009 19:38 EST
Today I quietly launched markbeadles.blogspot.com and markbeadles.com. Evidently September 16, 2009, will be forever marked as my blogoversary date.
Excelsior!
Ready for admission
20 Dec 2008 14:35 EST
The nurse coordinator from OSU transplant called yesterday with admitting instructions. Shark and I are to report to OSU at noon on Monday. She gave the usual instructions to bring a list of my medications (a long list indeed), loose confortable clothing, a robe, pajama bottoms, and slippers. After admission, I’ll be taken to the 9th floor until I’m taken to surgery early Tuesday morning. Surgery should last about 3 hours for each of us.
After surgery I’ll be in the “special care unit” (4-bed mini-ICU for organ recipients) for 24 hours so the doctors and nurses can play with all the tubes they’ve inserted into me. They’ll bring Shark down to see me on that night. We will be in different rooms post-surgery so that, in the words of the nurse, we can each concentrate on our own recovery.
She said I’ll be staying in the hospital for 4 days after the surgery…meaning I should be home on Saturday! Woo hoo!
Here we go again…
19 Dec 2008 01:11 EST
In four days, my good friend Shark and I are going to be admitted to OSU Hospital, whereupon doctors will render us unconscious, remove a kidney from him, and then insert it into me in the wrong place. Which is exactly what I’ve been hoping for for many months now.
I have Goodpasture’s Syndrome. It’s a blessedly rare disease which, in short, causes your body to completely destroy its own kidneys as if they were foreign bodies; while it’s killing your kidneys it’s also attacking your lungs. Its cause is not entirely known. It struck me quite suddenly when I was a young man of 22. I was on dialysis for 2 years after that, then in 1991 received my first kidney transplant from a very young man who had died in an automobile accident.
During dialysis I continued my classes at Michigan State University. After the transplant, I graduated; somewhere in between those two things I married the most wonderful woman in the world. After I had my first transplant, I fathered three children, traveled the USA and the world, and embarked on a successful professional career. Life with a kidney transplant freed me from the shackles of dialysis and allowed me to live a completely full and normal life. Although my transplanted kidney had declined in function gradually over the years, it still served me very well for 17 years, longer than the original owner who tragically died at 16.
In May of 2008 my monthly blood work came back with bad news: the transplanted kidney was no longer working well. Subsequent testing proved that the kidney was on its last, um, legs. Doctors told me that they could keep me going for a few more weeks to maybe months, but that I would need a new kidney again, and soon.
In May I had few symptoms. But by June I began to become very ill. The kidneys filter toxins from the body, regulate blood pressure and electrolytes, balance your fluids, and produce hormones that control red blood cell production and parathyroid function. All these things began to go wrong in me. I lost 10+ pounds very quickly, and became extremely weak and anemic.
In September I started dialysis. Since then I have undergone dialysis three times a week for 3+ hours each session. This treatment has greatly improved my health and helped make me ready for surgery. However, dialysis is very rough on the body and is not a good long-term treatment compared to a transplant.
When we found out I needed another kidney, a number of friends and family graciously offered their very flesh to help me. After an interminable series of invasive and annoying tests, my friend Shark persisted and is considered to be the best candidate. Surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday.
After Tuesday, my #1 job is complete recovery. Years of kidney disease have wracked my body; I suffer from arthritis, muscle wasting, brittle bones, and an enlarged ventricle in my heart. Once I get the transplant, my regimen of getting back into the peak shape of my life begins. I figure if my friend is good enough to actually give me an organ, the least I can do is make sure that the organ lasts as long as possible.
So on this blog I’ll keep the world posted on my surgery, recovery, and progress toward my goal.
Another update. Don’t you love updates?
02 Dec 2008 21:02 EST
Don’t you just wish I’d hurry up and get the transplant already? I know I sure do!
Anyway – Shark has a CT renal angiography scheduled for Monday. This is used to take a picture of the vessels to his kidneys, in order to determine which kidney to use, how its vessels are set up, and to make sure there are no physical abnormalities.
According to the folks at the transplant clinic, this procedure is one of the last things they do before the actual surgery.
Keep your kidneys crossed, everybody!
about mark beadles
I write the things you read here. Polymath renaissance redneck. I build software, stories, and young men. More...on the desk
around the web
in the vault
-
