Medical innovations

Cleveland Clinic hosts a medical innovations summit annually where they do a Forbes like listing of a Top 10 innovations for the year.

Plenty of jhinchak stuff.....put especially alluring are percutaneous MVR- imagine the prospects for a country like India where rheumatic heart disease is much more so prevalent than the US ; diffusion tractography- I always was amazed at MR neurography as a diagnostic imaging technique and always thought neuropsych testing prior to neurosurgery was so much a crude way of permitting a neurosurgeon to through the complex jangle bangle of cortex; diaphragmmatic pacing - reminds me of one of my patients whom we had a hard time getting off the vent...pity we get to read about just 10 of the 100 or so ideas submitted.

Also interesting to read is the last page: 'where they are now' Sounds like an alumnus page for some residency program. Some treat!!

Sometime in the past I had posted stuff on more low tech innovative medicine. Such contrast!!
But things do work. As their brochure says..the difference between creativity and innovation is the action that follows the idea in the latter.

Optimus Prime..

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."

                                                                                             ------Don Cheadle in Crash

I wonder.......

How one can play out a Halo3 on streets with real people and blood and gore without hemp in your system, which, you choose to intoxicatedly call the J$#*d.

Paisa Pay Pal Pal

Ever and againI fear that the amount of money I make/will make, will become what I judge myself on to have been successfull or not.This sends shivers into my nuts and bolts. The American way of things- or at least the desi version of the AWOT-gain leading to wish,and wish leading to gain; credit, credit traps- muddies up the horizon. Like a creatinine clearance curve, it is the initial few steps you take that are critical to get you on or off the Interstate 90 of your life in the US. For once you have the small luxuries sorted out- Toyota Camry, decent house, purchasing power of nonparity- there seems to be no end as to how much you can want or buy.It is excellent if you don't have the monetary means- it only helps build your credit score. It makes me crave for the dirt and mud and smoke of home at times.I feel more comfortable dealing with mud and grime than greenback slime.

ICU meanderings.....

It has been unusually light this week at the ICU. Have to say thanks for that. I have a loong post thats waiting to be edited and posted....haven't gotten the time to put digit to keyboard for that.Have been diligently enrolled in the mundanities of living the American way. And winter gnaws at the spirit of existence like dementors sucking your souls into their nothingness.Activity peters down to BMR levels( basics mein raada I mean) besides an occassional visit to the gym.The snot that maketh you dries in your nose and your lips shrivel like the leaves whose chlorophyllosophy has been made mockery of by mercury falls and snow flakes.

A slowness comes.......
When thyroxine and cortisol struggle
Against the dominatrix chill
Fat cells fondueplicate, mornings are stiff
Brain is numb,Where's the strife,
This lardaceous life.

Reflective, not reflexive

Long time since I posted anything on my blog. Getting 'settled' into the rut of things does take its toll I guess. Having got the 'hang' of things I want to look into the mirror , stretch out and relax, with my cuppa.........

Came across this delightful piece in the NEJM this week: makes me so happy I trained under DRK. His non expressive "I don't know" makes so much sense when you decide to sit back and look at the larger picture . It is like extrapolating the gestalt logic to each individual person. Like: meet Mr Paul: he has a large nose, a few crepitations down his left infraaxillary area and a few nodes in his armpit: and no, he does not have sarcoid please. Thats Mr Paul. A unique person going by that name, not a syndrome Paul but a Mr Paul.And since when did his name become some Wegener something?

Snaps .....iTrip (ati)

Just back from a back breaking, skin tanning overindulgent trip. Savored every bit of it except an occasional migraine. Needed something close to hold on to before I take the social
lemming- jump into the Indische Ocean across to starting a residency in being non- resident- of- India. So IInd Class sleeper berths and state tourism bus travel was a blessing in disguise. Suddenly I felt like an Amitav Ghosh mated with William Darlymple type of person with a wanderlustful Pico Iyer thrown in for good measure. And the mood, waiting on the fly infested Pune railway station to embark on the "Dadar express" was deliberately Rubaiyat like "ah my beloved fill me the cup that clears...."- I wanna wanna sinfully indulge myself this time like this trip were a juicy hapooos amba that I shall never get to eat again.

I had been reminded some time back by a cousin from a nouveau- riche background that my parents were second class citizens who would never travel by car even if they were to buy one. For once I seemed to be happy with that statement.What with no chakks on the train, lots of laddus and Banganapallis - larger, sweeter and cheaper than the over rated Devgad hapoos- to get softishunderbellied on, backpacking with a Bhavnagri plastic bag through toasty dusty hot AP.......ekdum jhakaasmaal!!!!!!


Some snaps.......







Snap of the main temple at Tirupati. With my 1.3 MP cellphone camera!!!!!!

The sky is my roof, the earth is my playground.Astra Castra Numen Lumen






This is a shot from a distance of the same temple gopuram and the promenade around where folks camp day and night.
The one really great thing in this snap- no, I am not referring to the golden dome inside the temple- is the verdant greenery in the background. If you feel claustrophobic amidst all the sweaty taklu crowd, you can always choose to cool off in the hills around the temple area.










Pushkarni.
Watching the people do their rituals here I thought I got some idea as to why the bathing ghats at Benares are such a draw for folks all and sundry. What could be so interesting about people dunkin themselves in water? Well....come and watch.....





The train rambles along, stupidly, trying to catch up with the sun, as the tracks wind around- sometimes west, running directly into the sun as it arcs into the horizon; sometimes north, disadvantaged by trigonometric inanities of resultant vector and all that stuff.
Life and Times are playing out their parts outside windows with railings like Pozzo and Lucky, while one watches listlessly inert,like an Estragon, as the scenery evolves from verdant green to burnt sienna to orange and magenta to finally pitch black. Only an amber signal light flashes in the distance somewhere.