Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links (except to my own posts) removed as many no longer active. 

Dispatches from Second Base is the host for this week’s issue of Grand Rounds! You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to Grand Rounds! First, a quick shout-out to Nick Genes, an emergency medicine physician who blogs at blogborygmi (possibly the best blog name ever) and is one of the founders of Grand Rounds. I had no plans to host GR a second time until I saw Nick’s APB for April hosts. I had forgotten how much fun this was until the posts started coming in. So thanks, Nick.

The theme this time is what gives your life or work meaning. One of the loveliest, most contemplative posts I’ve seen on this topic is Nourishing Healthy Seeds from Deb Thomas, who blogs at Debbie’s Cancer Blog. ………..

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Last night a tornado all but wiped out the small town of Vilonia, AR.  I went to school there from the 4th through 12th grades.  I played basketball.  The town and school are much larger than when I went to school there (didn’t live in the town limits or postal zip code).  I have learned of at least one friend who lost her home in the storm, but all the family members are okay.

I know this is nothing compared to Japan’s disaster, but it is my hometown.  KATV has made it easy to donate to the Arkansas Red Cross (as well as the Japan Tsunami relief) here.

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NPR reminds us the Sitting All Day: Worse For You Than You Might Think  (photo credit), so get up and move. 

Yes, exercise is good for you. This we know. Heaps of evidence point to the countless benefits of regular physical activity. Federal health officials recommend at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise, like brisk walking, every day. ….

But now, researchers are beginning to suspect that even if you engage in regular exercise daily, it may not be enough to counteract the effects of too much sitting during the rest of the day.  ……

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Another great interview by NPR.  This one by Terry Gross (Fresh Air) of Dr. Emery Brown on 'What Happens In Your Brain During Anesthesia' :

If you've gone in for surgery, it's likely that your anesthesiologist has told you to count backwards from 100 — and that you'll wake up after a nice deep sleep.

But that's not exactly true.

"Sleep is not the state you're going in, nor would it be the state in which someone could perform an operation on you," explains Emery Brown. "What we need to do in order to be able to operate on you — to perform a procedure which, is indeed, very invasive — is to put you in a state which is effectively a coma which we can readily reverse."  ……..

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NPR had a very interesting segment yesterday on interviewing Amy Stewart, the author of the book Wicked Bugs:  Where To Find The World's Most 'Wicked Bugs' (photo credit)

Japan is home to the world's largest — and most painful — hornet. With a wingspan of up to three inches, the Asian giant hornet can look more like a tiny flying bird.

And if you're a bird — or a bee — watch out.

The Asian giant hornet can inject "a deadly neurotoxin, [which] actually can be fatal," says science writer Amy Stewart. "In Asia, they call it a yak-killer because it has such a potent neurotoxin."  …..

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NPR’s Science Friday is a wonderful site. This past Friday they highlighted three space science videos. One uses candy corn to demonstrate how soap works and the last shows what happens to water balloons in space when you pop them (or how large would rain drops be with no gravity).  Here’s the one that answers the question of how a yo-yo works in space.

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