How do you know that you are a redneck?

We recently purchased a house near Southern Pines NC for our anual jont to the South for horseback riding in March after skiing in Aspen. This is redneck territory as I met our neightor on her front porch with white legs because she was in the process of her annual leg shaving. It seemed to go rather well. She is a dear sweet person who currently has very smooth legs. The place we purchased is rehab in the most general sense of the term. Although Jeff Foxworthy said that we should find a car buried in the front and didn’t, pretty much everything else including several washer, dryers the odd stove and an number or rum bottles were there. The most interesting find was a decade old bottle of pickled pigs feet. It is a different culture for us Yankees. Hopefully our cold blood will adapt.

HIV tests everyone

My R&D groups developed several HIV tests, some still used around the world. They included rapid onsite tests, high volume screening tests and confirmatory tests. Many of these products received FDA approval. The Centers for Disease control and the World Health Organization
http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/dls/ila/hivtraining/ are now pushing rapid testing as it is the most reasonable testing method for developing countries as a large health infrastructure is not required. Such rapid testing makes sense even in certain situations in developed countries. A single visit can give an immediate result although confirmatory testing should also be carried out in a timely manor. No test is perfect. We once proposed to make a rapid confirmatory test but could not get support from an FDA advisory panel who wanted to rely on the expensive and old fashioned western blots. So, it is possible to perform rapid screening and rapid confirmatory tests. The market for confirmatory testing is smaller than that for screening tests so there is not much of a commercial pressure to create such rapid confirmatory tests. At this stage, government support would probably be required. The picture is of the Orasure rapid test for HIV. I consulted on HIV testing at Orasure a number of years ago but not on this specific rapid test. It is gratifying that such HIV rapid tests are now getting the support that they deserve. My groups developed a rapid test using different technology that is currently be used by the millions in Africa. This test was discussed in a previous blog.

The curse of Indian food

Blue skies with white whispy clouds complement the sailboats floating quietly in the moring field. The effects of yesterday’s Indian lunch near Harvard square with biochemical friends seems to have warn off so that I can more readily enjoy such a picturesque visage. That makes two Indian meals that were accompanied by significant discomfort in the space of the a month. The food wasn’t very spicy but there must have been some onerous type of molecule hiding in the yellow curry that severely impacted my digestive system.

A check out of the Windchaser showed it to be in good shape but after a run of the engine to charge the batteries it was away home. The meeting yesterday with such great minds had gone well and hopefully will result in a mutually beneficial future. Regardless, is was pleasant to visit with old friends discussing past adventures and future potentials.

Chemical screening tests for the detection of cancers

For lunch, a couple of old biochemist friends from Harvard and MIT and I enjoyed Indian food just off Harvard square while discuss consulting strategies and new opportunities in biotechnology. The conversation drifted into new markers for cancer detection. Upon arriving home there was an Email from another consultant asking for advice on another cancer test. A number of such tests exist but few have value in screening the general population (PSA for prostrate cancer is an exception although even that test is criticised for too many false positives). Most cancer markers are chemicals that we all have but become elevated when cancer is present. The problem is that early cancer detection requires the measurement of low levels very close to the levels in people without cancer. This means that there is a high rate of false positives if the measurement is very sensitive as the levels seen in an early cancer are very close to the normal levels. The false positives are expensive to work up and cause unneeded concern. Once the cancer progresses the level will rise and is more easily distinguished from the normal levels. Many such markers have utility for following the course of the disease and the success of therapy. The overall problem is that cancer cells are normal cells that are dividing without proper control and contain no unique chemicals that can be used to unequivocally identify them.

Gnome sited on Groton Rail Trail

While cycling on the rail trail this Gnome was spotted taking a rest. While overall a nice fellow he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. Perhaps he works for travelocity and was doing research on travel opportunities on the rail trail.

Sailing in Casco Bay

Yesterday my wife, her mother and I enjoyed beautiful blue skies, pleasant temperatures and stiff breezes as the Windchaser bent to the wind. Being Sunday, there were many other sailors on the water enjoying beautiful views while providing them to folks on shore. Our poodle enjoyed the adventure except for extreme healing that made its positioning difficult in the cockpit well. This annoyance was compensated for by snacks along the way. The only difficulty was that the pickup buoy on the mooring became tangled in the pendent. I had dropped my passengers off at the dock and was single handing. Untangling the pickup buoy required leaning over the side during a slow pass and giving it a yank. Thus freed, the rest of the operation went without a hich.

Bone density analysis and a patient’s medical history

The medical community continues to make progress toward a fully digital future. People may no longer have to struggle trying to read a doctor’s handwriting. I recently talked to a company trying to improve the situation by automating much of the data collection, transmission and archiving in this area. The digital future means that there will be fewer transcription errors and critical information will be available to medical personnel in a timely fashion. There is always the issue of confidentiality but such issues are not insurmountable obstacles. This last year I had too many interactions with the medical community due to knee and back injuries. Several times, I was asked to provide a medical history. It improved with each recitation as additional ancient maladies came to mind. I know I should keep a list no matter how depressing. However, hopefully in the not too distant future doctors will not have to rely on my pain and or drug (therapeutic not abused) compromised level of recall. There should be a living document recording my diseases as they occur that would be available to emergency room and other health professionals as required.

Wedding in Vermont

Over the weekend we attended the wedding of the daughter of old friends. It was a big Irish wedding with great ceremony, food, drink, dancing and comradre late into the evening. The wedding was at a new catholic church with the reception in tents at the family home on a hillside facing Mt Ascutney. Our best wished to the new bride and groom.