For All Indians currently residing in the US...

Please consider this a serious word of caution. A lot of Indians, including us, currently reside in the United States. We, of course, are here legally, either studying or working with a valid visa (including a green card), or are in the status of a dependant of a valid visa holder. A few of us (like the children of my friends) are even American citizens by birth or naturalization.

Some of us speak English fluently, some haltingly; some speak it with a heavy Indian accent, some with no accent, and some with an American accent. Almost all of us pay their annual Federal, State and City taxes, and all of us are contributing to the society and economy of this country in some way or other. We have friends and families here, and are busy in building our lives and careers.

Doesn't matter. All that matters is that we all have skins of various shades of brown. And it has just started mattering a whole lot in the State of Arizona.

Johns Hopkins as a cash cow for Baltimore?

Curious opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun today, titled: "Tax-exempt Hopkins must help balance city budget", by one Jay Hancock.

The piece is confusing, to say the least. Hancock opines that Hopkins and its non-profit affiliates should pay Baltimore city, seemingly indicating that the city should regard Hopkins as a cash cow, milking it for revenue as much as it can. He takes the examples of the relationships between Cambridge and Harvard/MIT, and New Haven and Yale. But are the economics, demographics, management and administration of Cambridge, MA, and New Haven, CT, comparable to those of Baltimore, MD?

Later Hancock acknowledges Hopkins' immense contribution to the city in form of many thousands of jobs, millions in research grants that faculty at Hopkins bring, and millions in revenue spent on services and products, as well as the provision of top-quality medical education. As Hopkins rep Tracy Reeves indicates, Hopkins' academic & medical services already pay the city $10 million/year (parking & licensing fees, energy and telecom taxes), plus spending millions on security (that arguably is the city's responsibility).

What is it, then? Does Hancock mean to say, “Oh, we know Hopkins is doing a lot, but Hopkins needs to do more”, and that's about it?

As one commentator asks in the comment section, what about taxing the multitudes of churches of various denominations in and around the city? Or the entities providing so-called spiritual services need not concern themselves with the welfare of the city?

Prayer Therapy? Are you freakin' kidding me?

Snake oil comes in various forms and shapes, and its salesmen (perhaps I should use the PC term, 'salespersons') are of various hues and creeds. The commonalty between many of them lies in their relentless push to gain mainstream acceptance, which, of course, would mean more funds and more followers. They are not hampered or thwarted by the inconvenient fact that their brands of quackery, often founded on religious/mystical beliefs, are not supported by hard empirical evidence, or indeed, rationality. Undeterred, they plod on, championing superstitions, promoting lies, feasting on the fears, uncertainties and vulnerabilities of disadvantaged people.

Take, for example, the Church of Christ, Scientist, founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879 in Boston, which purports to tend to the sick using "Christian Science", a hodge-podge of elements of the Christian faith and severely evidence-challenged practices that combine airy hand-waving and crazy superstitions. According to an article published in the New York Times today, the faith's central scripture, written by Eddy who claimed an inspired understanding of the “science” behind Jesus’ healing method, expressly forbids medical care, and relies instead on Christian Science healing - a form of spiritual healing, based on Eddy's understanding of the Bible. Disappointed that existing Christian churches would not embrace her discovery of the "science" of healing, Mary Eddy created her own church, which trains its practitioners to "help" patients with "transcendental prayer intended to realign the patient's soul with God".

This is wrong on so many different levels.

Does acupuncture work in depression control? Nope.

This past weekend, the New York Times published an article on a study from Stanford University, where the authors apparently found benefit from acupuncture in pregnant women with Major depression. Given the track record of acupuncture (which features a resounding lack of evidence that it works), my skeptical antennae started twitching. I ferreted out the original study in the Obstetrics and Gynecology journal (link to full text here), and read it through thoroughly. This report - of a single randomized clinical trial (RCT) study with less than 150 subjects - claimed that an acupuncture regimen, specifically designed for a particular individual, could significantly reduce depression in that individual. As I suspected, the paper made a whole lot of science-y sounding, but nonetheless vacuous, arguments; their predominant talking point seemed to be that multiple exploratory analyses were done on the observed outcome. This assertion is always suspect; for an RCT, it shouldn't need so many exploratory analyses at the study stage, and the outcome measures should have been determined prior to the initiation of the study. As a friend of mine pointed out, "exploratory analyses" frequency means "fishing expedition", which is what this paper seems to have done in plenty. Unfortunately, the mainstream media coverage of this single study has been far from ideal; the news report has been worded to make it seem like a breakthrough or a major milestone in research, which is the impression the general public is left with - eventually to their detriment.

NIGMS soliciting comments on research training

As a part of its commitment towards research training, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH is seeking comments from predocs, postdocs and other interested parties on a strategic planning process focusing exclusively on training and career development. The NIGMS recognizes that as science, the conduct of research, and biomedical workforce needs evolve, it is essential to ensure that the training activities meet current needs effectively and anticipate emerging opportunities, and that they contribute to building a highly capable, diverse biomedical research workforce.

Between March 2 and April 21, you can provide your input at:
http://public.nigms.nih.gov/2010TrainingSP/

Many of their important and coveted training and research awards, such as the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for postdocs and senior fellows, are highly competitive and geared towards promotion of their mission of generating a scientific workforce in biomedical research. Unfortunately (from my perspective), these awards are often restricted to citizens or non-citizen nationals of the United States or permanent residents. To me, this restriction seems counter-productive, because it excludes a wide group of talented, young and motivated individuals who are from other countries on a visa, but are nonetheless engaged in cutting edge research work in this country. Perhaps merit of the research proposals and research credentials should be the criteria for selection.

I encourage you to put forth your constructive comments at the above website.

A brrrrief Burrrrlington sojourn...

Snowed upon, wet and cold in Baltimore, the missus and I accepted an invitation from a close friend in Burlington, Vermont, to spend the New Year's Eve and the New Year's Day with his family. Did I say 'snowed upon, wet and cold'? Check, check and check. What was I thinking? Not a warm, sunny climate - for sure. [Yeah, S, my brother, remember that we love you. A lot.]

Anyhoo, what we were not prepared for was the massive amount of snow and relentless snowing that we encountered. From 7 a.m. Saturday to 7 p.m. Sunday, a record 32.5 inches of snow fell on the city of Burlington, according to the National Weather Service. It just came on and on and on. From the report:

Nor’easters typically move north along the coast, but strong winds blowing south forced this ocean storm to back up from near Nova Scotia to near Maine.

“What happened in the Champlain Valley, we were under this northerly wind that just didn’t stop,” National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Sisson said. “And what that did was focus the heaviest snow on the eastern part of the Champlain Valley. It’s unusual for something to stay so stationary for such a long time.”

During that time, Burlington remained under the “tail end” of the storm, which usually produces heavy snow, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Whittier said.

Roads were white, fields were white, trees were white with cotton-like snow deposited on the leafless branches; irregularly-shaped mounds of snow stood by the roadside where people had parked their cars. There were icicles formed, like stalactites, from the edge of the roof of houses and stores, and even from the edges of car front and back fenders, wheel wells and so forth. It was surreal. I have never quite seen anything like it. Snowploughs, snow-blowers and snow-shovels were generously employed by denizens of Vermont, but that barely scratched the surface. Towards the end, it seemed that one could jump into one's backyard from the second-floor window and drown in the snow. Road conditions were slippery and dangerous.

Click to embiggen

At the same time, it was good to see that the Vermonters' holiday spirit was not much dampened; we visited the downtown mall at Church street on Saturday, and people were there, enjoying, braving the snow.
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And now, a visual of the scary, non-stop snow shower on our way home.

Let it snow...

Oh, I know, I know... I usually reserve my blog space to rant about stuff I see... But occasionally, even I am taken in by unplanned diversions, such as the spectacle of a snow storm from our window. It was brilliant - particularly since I was indoors, inside the warm cozy room...



But a part of me couldn't help wondering what happens to those unfortunate people that don't have a roof over their heads; I have seen so many of them in NY city and in Baltimore as well. A heartening report from the New York Times says that the city of New York Reaches Out to Those Who Won’t Come In, where the Department of Homeless Services outreach workers keep checking on homeless people - who refuse to be taken to a shelter - for frostbites and hypothermia, and provide access to medical care if necessary.