Thursday, March 16, 2017

Righting the Writing

I'm still trying to write a novel. The outline and overall plot has evolved into a simplified version of what I have previously described on this blog. I still have more than one timeline involved, but I have taken my first scenario, involving the earthquake and subsequent landslide in the Columbia River Gorge and the Native American family caught in it and added a modern day timeline. Gone are the two subsequent sections -- the 'shanghai'd sailor' and the Netanya bombing character. I'm roughly 25% done, concerning word count alone, but feel like I'm missing some key elements that will propel me to the next phase of the story.

In the modern day timeline, I have a 29 year old male who is built from elements stemming from my experiences and a few key friends of mine. For the past three weeks I've been working in a hospital in Wisconsin, consulting physicians and some support staff with a new computer set up. I've had plenty of downtime, and I've tried to write but have found it hard, and have struggled to produce anything I want to keep. However, I've been able to comb through my hard copy of what I already have written and copy edit and identify sections that require re-writing. In general, such intense scrutiny before the overall work is completed, is something I try to avoid. That said, I've never attempted a writing project of this magnitude before. My gut tells me that I should back off of the hard copy scrutiny, as it has served to discourage me. I believe in the story, but through intense inspection I've been focused on a small grove of trees and lost sight of the forest.

In fact, even writing about writing and the inherent struggles should serve to weaken whatever block I've been working through. Working in a hospital for fourteen hours a day, in a three week straight blitz has not served to allow abundant inspiration to flow -- I recognize this, but time is growing short and I must manufacture a breakthrough.

As much as I think my intense editing and rewriting has been detrimental for my ability to continue writing this novel, I do think I learned something about my intentions concerning the core elements of the story -- of what I want to say and what I want the reader to understand. I've gotten lost, as I have subconsciously brought themes into the story, which serve to confuse and distract the reader -- hell, they distracted me! These disorganized, tangential elements are self-indulgent. My biggest obstacle lies in finding a compromise between telling the story I want to and avoiding overwhelming hedonistic digressions.

What kind of things have seeped into the story that I need to address before moving on? Let's see. In no particular order:

  • Stubbornness and harboring of bitterness and anger and what it means for family dynamics
  • Generational differences in worldview, especially concerning economics in the U.S.
  • Hypocrisy that can occur with blind adherence to religious dogma -- especially the dichotomy that modern American Christians have allowed to prosper
  • Anti-science proclivities and the ridiculous, insidious nature from which it springs
  • Human-ness and its transcendence through time and cultures, no matter how disparate

All but the last one I identified after re-reading and editing my initial work. The last one, concerning human nature and how very much alike we all are, in fundamental ways, is exactly what I am hoping comes off the paper when the reader goes back and forth from the two timelines. I include it in this list only because I do see it bubbling up in ways I had not specifically intended -- this pleases me, and is indicative of being on the right track, at least as this is concerned.

Do I continue to build on the other elements I've built into the story? I think I need to, in some fashion with, perhaps, varying intensities. Thankfully, public reception of a novel, written by yours truly, will have little bearing on my career or ability to feed my family. And, moreover, I'm simply writing this for myself -- and in that lies the need to seek balance. I do want people to enjoy it, but that is not the supreme, guiding goal of this project. I have to be comfortable that the only person I really want to love it, is me -- and that is much harder to come to terms with than I would have thought.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

What we've got here is a failure to communicate -- About Failure

Failure is painful. Pain, in general, we avoid. However, like all things we can override our primal drive to avoid pain if we recognize its utility in a cost-benefit ratio analysis. In other words, no pain -- no gain.

Recently I was reading about a high-school teacher's experience concerning the differences between students in 1997, 2007 and now, in 2017. She had numerous things to say, but what stuck with me and, what was the primary driving force of her analysis, was that students today are overwhelmingly lacking self-confidence. She tied this to a fear of failure. They are unwilling to try anything challenging or new without a significant amount of one-on-one guidance and encouragement. Of course, in a classroom of more than thirty students it is impossible to give this type of attention.

While pondering this perspective I became overwhelmed with situations and dynamics that I have experienced and witnessed. Education, ideally, in my mind is a time where failure is a path to learning and growing in ways that initial success -- whether it be by accident or competence, disallows. I started my undergraduate pre-medical studies in my late twenties and because I had that goal of becoming a physician, I felt the pressure to not fail. There were individual tests I failed (not too many, thankfully) but the prerequisite classes for medical school matriculation were very important and a failure would be painful (and while it would be a growing experience I'm glad I didn't have to "grow" in that fashion.) Because of these classes and the rigors involved I came to appreciate my English, literature and writing classes very much. I had one writing instructor for many of my writing classes and after I got to know him I had a discussion concerning my paranoia about my GPA and what it was going to take to get into medical school, and despite my enjoying his classes very much I needed to know what criteria he would use for grading his students. I remember telling him I was concerned that if I tried to branch out, to take risks and write in styles, fashions and themes that I was not already comfortable with, that it would affect my grade. How sad is this? I love writing. I loved his classes and I became a better writer because of them. He was a Ph.D teaching at a University -- he knows how things work and what grades mean for advancement. Obviously, I don't know what he was thinking but I'd like to think that he would recognize the fallacy I'm trying to get into here: that failure is beneficial, provided lessons are learned. I did achieve high marks in all of his classes -- and I think I deserved them, if only because I put forth tremendous effort, which was easy -- after all, it was like a respite from all the chemistry and biology classes -- a chance to exercise the other, starving part of my mind.

I finished highschool in the 1990's. In many ways, in those days, I had a solid, if not misguided, sense self confidence. And while I didn't aspire to further my education at that time, in a rudimentary, incubatory fashion I learned how I wanted to live my life and who I wanted to be through many trial and error type experiences. Many of those experiences, at the time, felt like less like searching for truth than just having fun. And that, precisely is the elixir of youth.

I can easily point to many aspects of modern life that can work to subdue a young person (or, if we're honest with ourselves, all of us regardless of age -- us old fogies simply have the benefit of growing up in a social-media-less environment, among all the other things I'll point out.) However, taking a step back and examining what I think is an important aspect of the human experience will allow a proper framing of what these larger societal shifts and their impact on our emotional life.

Satisfaction and happiness are both dependent functions of an individual's expectations, in any given situation.

I buy a bottle of wine for $10 and I really enjoy it. My expectations were low. The situation was pleasurable. I am satisfied and happy with the purchase and libations.

I buy a $100 bottle of wine. It's okay -- I didn't spit it out. My expectations were high. The situation, while acceptable, lacked in pleasure, relatively. I am less satisfied and happy with the expensive bottle of wine.

And here is the key -- in a vacuum, with mitigating factors such as price, which lead to varying expectations, my enjoyment of the expensive bottle of wine, compared to the $10 bottle, may actually be superior. But it is the function of expectation which dictates which scenario I will prefer.

A child who views the lives of their peers through the filtered lense of social media is comparing their "low-lights" against other's "highlights." Growing from child, to teenager and into adulthood is difficult. It is an emotionally charged out of control train which can leave the tracks.

Pathways to successful careers less plentiful now compared to twenty years ago. Many students are paralyzed by what they see as impossible standards for success. Beauty. Brains. Money. Innate coolness. We see these projections of partial reality and our expectations function to decrease the satisfaction and happiness in our own lives.

We also have a President who refuses to acknowledge any deficiency regardless of how obvious. That man is not the only guilty party -- many people in positions of leadership, at all levels see their grip on power depending on their perceived infallibility. Allowing humanness to shine through, to acknowledge the struggle we all share is tantamount to failure. And, with this perspective, people beholden to such beliefs see failure as a finality of defeat. Temporary setbacks and learning experiences are indicative of incompetence. I see this larger trend in society only serving to exacerbate the spiritual flogging of our society.

The Scientific Method.

To explore our world and search for answers of mechanics and etiology, and of course, the ever juicy -- what if?

Experiments that do not work as expected, even failing to prove a hypothesis are valuable. A student who fails a test can take it as a sign he or she is just not good enough to earn a good grade. Or, they can learn, adapt and grow.

Just as science has been demonized and vilified due to its insistence to recognize facts, our young people have had their psyche and sense of self-worth beaten down with weaponized untruths.

People who do not believe in themselves don't believe they need to be treated well. They will not fight for themselves. Politically, they will prefer finger-pointing and blame-shifting rather than objective determinations, leading to leadership which uses these prods to stay in power. A tried and true technique.

But back to the high school students of 2017. Trite admonishments such as 'it is not how many times you fall down, it is how many times you get back up,' while containing wisdom are lost in the flood of inspirational posters and other catchphrases. And these students are not putting themselves in a place to fall down in the first place -- and this is the key dynamic that I believe the teacher was referring to. And I get it. I remember when I was a pre-teenager who wanted to get into skateboarding, being around the older kids and being scared to try things such as drop-in on a ramp for fear of failing. So I found places where no one else could witness my failings and I kept at it until I felt comfortable in my abilities around others.

Social anxiety has become the new 'nerd' in that it is acceptable to blame, or indulge in what is an honest feeling that I would guess (eschewing my solipsism belief tendencies) all of us have, to some degree or another. And like many other things, pushing through and, even when failing multiple times, persisting leads to self-confidence. This is important, as it is a genuine self-confidence, a manner of existing that doesn't necessarily require the bravado of arrogance or rotting pridefulness. Perhaps my upbringing, where I was endowed with a sense of self-worth, leading to a base foundation of self-confidence as a human being, independent of performance, allowed me to grow in a healthier (subjective analysis, to be sure) fashion than some others. Is that what younger people are missing -- is this what happens when life becomes so measured, metered, quantified, judged and evaluated that we come to feel that our self-worth is based on performance alone?

I don't know.

It seems possible. My ramblings and spontaneous musings while trying to write this are insufficient to fully explore this sweeping generalization encompassing a whole generation. In fact, sometimes when I take a step back, I truly think that us humans, through time are surprisingly steady. A small percentage of us fight for and achieve power. Most of us just want to have fulfilling lives, enjoying our family and a modicum of freedom which money can provide. Often I think that indeed, 'the kids are alright.' But, in order to not completely invalidate my musings I will assert that the innate and supreme fundamental human craving to communicate and ultimately feel understood is being fucked with through our means of mass, personalized communication. Loneliness and forced apathy abounds. I feel it too.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Still Searching For That Clinical 'Banger' For The Ending

In no way can I blame my parents for not forcing me to learn to play a musical instrument as a child. However, there are many times where I wish I did know how to play an instrument or at least read music. Many of my friends do indeed pursue music as a passion and even a career. I've often found myself wondering, in awe, how the fingers of a piano player or a guitar strummer can so effortlessly find their place with such precision movement. The closest thing I have experienced involves skateboarding; repetitive movements -- muscle memory that becomes subconscious in that a conscious decision to execute a larger "trick," or in the case of music, a "tune" or "song," is comprised of a symphony of learned behavior. It becomes automatic.

Skateboarding has also been responsible for much of the music I've loved. I grew up in an era which had 411 Video Magazine's monthly VHS offering was eagerly consumed. Each video started with this iconic tune:

The alarm on my phone plays this song. Something subtle in the meaning of the song, buried deep inside my mind, irrevocably lodged in there when I was a teenager gets me amped up -- the perfect alarm song.

Of course, the songs during video parts are even more influential for me than the 411 theme. One of the first skate videos I remember watching was The New Deal's "Children of the Sun." Besides the 411 videos, it was the first video which I watched, and rewatched hundreds of times over. Dave Duren's part had a song from the Smashing Pumpkin's album "Gish" from 1991. Of note, this is before "Siamese Dream" took the alternative music scene by storm in the mid-nineties.

The very nature of skateboarding, in sharp contrast to institutional team sports, has a propensity for it's participants to pursue artistic endeavors. Painting, music, graffiti, writing -- some of my favorites have roots in skateboarding. Shooting a basketball is an individual endeavor, but winning a basketball game is a group effort. Skateboarding has no team, it has no winners or losers! One may point to the many skateboarding competitions in contrarian efforts -- well, sure, a "winner" is crowned but these are judged on a subjective style interpretation. I would even argue that the staunchest competition skaters only do it for the money. And in this lies the most beautiful aspect of skateboarding -- it is an artistic expression of the skater. This is not expressly unique -- gymnasts, skiers, divers, and many others conduct themselves, at the base maneuver level, the same way. However, I propose that the culture and the manner in which skateboarding has evolved -- using urban architecture and utilitarian infrastructure in novel ways, sets it apart. The rallying cry for the past forty years of, "Skateboarding is not a crime" arose from the pushback (and in many cases, understandably so) of using the urban landscape in a manner that is a delight to my eyes. Inspiration is fertilized by tribulation.

Bad Religion, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Tribe Called Quest, Wu Tang Clan, Buffalo Tom, Motorhead, Souls of Mischief, Nitzer Ebb, Sebadoh, EPMD, Bad Brains, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Pennywise, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Stereolab, Fugazi, Superchunk, Seaweed, Tortoise, Slayer and my love of so many more are all rooted in skateboard videos.

I used to always ponder what song I would want for my own video part. When I think about it now, I imagine myself with a highlight reel of clinical moments -- diagnosing that rare condition, calming the anxiety ridden patient and not mistaking the PE for pneumonia. And if I had to now have a song, I would still want to use that age-old trick where I get to choose two songs (think "Yeah Right" by Girl, who had most of their riders get a "B-side" with a different song) and they would be:

The goal is to have more than one video part, of course. Too much good music out there.

Monday, December 5, 2016

Paths to Pathological Apathy

I got the news that another physician had committed suicide a few days ago. Sadly, this is not surprising, but this time it was a person I knew. There has been a lot written recently about physician and medical student suicide and I will leave the numbers and such for other people. What I do want to address is what I perceive to be the underlying reason -- and again, many other smarter and more experienced people than myself have written about this, too. I feel like the suicide epidemic in our society, including physicians, but also other groups seeing huge increases (veterans and children) shares a common cause.

As I reflected on the latest bad news, a question that was asked of me in an interview came to my mind.

"What is the largest problem facing our society today?"

Of course, this can be taken in many different directions, and I've never been asked that before in an interview (although I love these open ended questions -- my main problem is staying focused -- which is hard when you have so many (good?) things to say!) and as such, I hadn't really thought about this. After a moment's reflection I said: "apathy."

At that moment I was not looking at 'apathy' as a component of the suicide epidemic, but just something that has been on my mind concerning the larger American public in general. But they are tied at a level that I hadn't been able to put together at that moment.

Now, most of my days are filled with people who are filled with passion -- and for this I am thankful. However, I'm not seeing patients these days and I get to select who I spend time with. But even with these people (those lucky enough to see me regularly) and myself feel powerless -- which is the spark for apathy. Many of us feel it in our jobs where the joy and satisfaction that comes from a job well done is often futile, and at worst brings repercussions.

Many veterans have written and spoken about the terrible disillusionment that came from the noble desire to serve their country and protect their fellow citizens only to feel like they were nothing more than a political pawn in a grand money making scheme. A dreadful sense of powerlessness descends and, especially in a rigid power structure like the military, apathy is the safest and most natural reaction.

Humans do not thrive when they are powerless, when they have no hope, when nobleness is usurped by corruption.

Physicians today, in America, especially young, aspiring or in-training physicians are choosing a path which has disparate material rewards per unit-of-effort put forth -- this is why many of our brightest young people choose finance, or even computer engineering. The time, debt and liability that comes with being a physician is unparalleled and unless we can find satisfaction in what we set out to do in the first place, apathy will set in.

I place no claim on understanding why everyone who commits suicide does so -- but one aspect of the act itself that is noteworthy is the inherent self-empowerment (in what could be called a perverted form, to be sure) that comes with such a decision. To what degree this element plays has to be varied and individualized.

Perhaps in future posts a more detailed exploration of what makes physicians feel powerless is warranted. Undoubtedly as the years go by I will have a better understanding, too.

It doesn't mean anything to the suffering loved ones to repeat the mantra that 'suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,' in the face of suffering -- I acknowledge that. But when a young life so full of promise and already acting as a conduit for good into this world is snuffed out, I don't have a lot else to say to the rest of us who are approaching this same threshold.

Friday, November 11, 2016

I've avoided writing or posting about it. I've, mostly unsuccessfully, tried to avoid reading all of your writings or postings about it.

Like most people I had strong feelings throughout the election cycle.

For a long time I thought the Republican-come-lately's campaign was in cahoots with the DNC and HRC in order to ensure her victory.

Which says such negative things about the whole process, or at least, about my outlook on the whole process.

And in that incredible thought of mine -- that the election of our very President of these United States of America could be that corrupt -- is why I think our Reality Star just had his pilot reviewed and a new season approved.

I've spent a lot of these past six months travelling around the country. I've been up and down the West Coast, in the bible belt, Florida, the Carolinas and around the Northeast. I've met a lot of nice people -- many of whom were going to vote for Trump precisely because of his political exogenous nature. Most were highly disapproving of the essence of his character. Some went on and on about the supposed corrupt nature of Hillary, but most recognized her as a symbol of the establishment -- and this is key -- it is this element, not her gender which people voted against. This is my optimistic side speaking, to be sure.

The relative large numbers of third party voters speaks for this. And truly, I believe plain misogynists, willingly-ignorant fascists and racists, in whatever proportion they truly are in this country -- and in my first hand experience through face to face interactions is a minority, all but sealed the deal last night. It doesn't seem like many have lost when betting on the lowest common denominator of a fragile and fearful human psyche.

I do believe this nation is worse for the wear under the leadership of the 45th President.

We've seen disrespectful discourse of all kinds, striking at the tender and inflamed nerves of our society, once again highlighting the worst of us as a whole. As I've stated above, I do think that the most significant element of this outcome is the symbolic vote of non-confidence in the status-quo. But what a very painful and terrible price. This is a more dangerous place for women, minorities and vulnerable people of all kinds not because those who bought into the Tower Of Power are rapists and bigots but because it empowers those among us who are prone to the baser violence of human desire.

I've written in the past about various ways current event information is disseminated and the sea-changes therewithin. Mark Zuckerberg denies that Facebook's fake news and algorithm enforced "echo chambers" had any affect on the election. I assert that it did. I also put forth the idea that one who views Fox News as a legitimate news source is much more likely to find themselves gleefully mashing that "share" button. But is this my echo chamber speaking?

Verily, I say unto you: it is better you lose both scrolling fingers than spend one more moment in Facebook related despair.

I'm seeing and hearing much hypocrisy from a lot of people -- and one thing comes to mind and is worth remembering: the non-partisan nature of this type of behavior. It is simply human nature. And while, in general I agreed with the First Lady and HRC that when "they go low we go high" I see the fiasco during the primaries with Bernie Sanders as going very low and the leadership of the DNC had no intention of the primary process having any meaning other than the pre-ordained one. The people who were (are) itching for a major party to eschew big money and power were disenfranchised from the process before the real election even started.

Before, when I said that I thought that Clinton was using her old family friend to ensure her victory, is precisely why I now, with the benefit of hindsight, am not surprised with this outcome.

One last thought on the current state of FaceBook.

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Ender vs Roland; The Final Battle

Between work and residency interviews I have been travelling a lot in the past few months. Recently, during another drive up and down I-5 I tried to listen to the audio book The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, the first in a series of novels by Stephen King. In my teenage years I devoured Stephen King novels. I don't think I've touched one since. What I remember makes me think that most of his work should stay in the teenage years. However, I had a conversation with a friend who was excited about the series being turned into a movie and emphatically encouraged me to read the The Dark Tower series again. I was unsure whether or not I had started this series before, but after getting into the audiobook, I was reminded that I indeed had. I was also reminded why I didn't continue the series.

Wikipedia states that the King's work is inspired by a poem by Robert Browning, published in 1855. And, it is clear that his inspiration is reflected in the flowery, prose-like text. It is so full of adjectives and abstract descriptions of everything and everyone that I found myself having to refocus my attention every few minutes and try and see if I remembered where the story had gone. Similar to driving up and down I-5, where the miles blend together and the mountains between Redding and Ashland seem like just a passing moment. Was it just this way because I was listening to, instead of reading the novel? I was curious and it made me wonder whether I would, now, think differently of the style of writing if read versus heard.

I spent more time pondering how I write, and what styles I subconsciously adhere to (ending a sentence with a proposition is a style that I actually think is okay, seeing as how that "rule" stems from Latin grammar and the Oxford Dictionary people are on wax stating that this rule is not appropriate for modern English written communica.) I also recently listened to Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, another novel I read as a teenager, but also one that has stood the test of time in fantastic fashion. In some ways, it translated to an audiobook perfectly. It also represents that type of writing that I would like to emulate (not the quasi-anti-semitism part) especially the action scenes that he penned. How does one go about writing an action scene that is engrossing to the reader? It is a difficult task. And one that I am struggling with currently. In a way, I'm hoping that writing about it will allow the words to flow and the action to become naturally apparent on the page.

In a world that loves hyperbole and is quick to label current events as "the greatest or worst of all time" how does one try to write an event that is awe inspiring? My personality, which is inseparable from my writing, defaults to a fact based narrative that allows the reader to assemble the story and magnitude in their own mind. When I describe a tremendous earthquake that causes half of a mountain to slide into a wide river gorge, pushing the river high onto the opposing canyon wall it seems impossible to understate the awesomeness of this scene. But writing it how it deserves to be described pushes me into using words that are commonly used in any sports article or (boo! hiss!) political news story. If Orson Scott Card was writing it he would simply describe what was going on, providing the facts that lead the reader to realize what a momentous event they were "witnessing."

I am a scientist now -- a scientist of the human condition, more commonly known as a physician. That is a limited description of a physician however -- the art of medicine is a thing for a reason. Being a physician allows for the marriage of science and humanities unlike any other state of being that I know of. I embrace this marriage and I like to think that this dynamic plays into my writing. When one side becomes more dominant I become uneasy, and I think that the The Dark Tower is, for me, too full of conclusions in the form of adjective overdose. When each character, landscape and interaction is given a paragraph of lengthy description I am unable to build a scene for myself. I want the building blocks, not a finished product for my mind's eye while reading fiction. And this is why I want to exchange my audiobook for another one -- good thing Audible had a bunch of free credits with my Amazon account.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Did the original Bridge of the Gods have a toll?

This is my first rough draft of the second chapter. Struggles remain with this story and in some ways I feel compelled to just get stuff onto "paper" so I can clean it up and reorganize while knowing full well that I may not even like what I have. The idea of writing about historical events in fiction is so very intriguing to me and in that sense, I really want to make this work. However, my thoughts of how to do so are divided and it is showing in the writing -- the action is happening too fast -- huge momentous action scenes, such as an earthquake causing a mountainside to fall into a river, creating a huge wave that sets a canoe on the opposite shore's cliffside is a crazy, Hollywood-esque scene. I start and finish it with a few paragraphs. In chapter two, I have a man tumble down a huge set of rapids, nearly drowning and then saved within a few paragraphs. Perhaps I'm writing short story yet and I just haven't come to terms with it yet! And that is okay -- I'm used to being told things by my subconscious that I may not really like.

Chapter 2

            The early flames of panic began to lick the mind of Nuua-Slingit. His canoe was laden with pelts and grains and admittedly, a canoe the size he was piloting really needed two people to safely navigate. He had seen the rapids as he ported his canoe and goods while going upstream. He was now coming upon them as he headed back home, downstream. The violent nature of the rapids, with huge boulders and boiling pools of green water made the decision to circumvent the water an obvious decision. This was his first trip from his home with the Clatsop people on the coast at the mouth of his river, to the Walla Walla tribe, who lived on the same river but three weeks east, into the dry lands.

As he approached these rapids from the eastern aspect he was on the north side of the river and unbeknownst to him, there was no place to pull the canoe ashore, as there was on the south side. A rocky shelf that abruptly ended, plunging into the river was all that the north shore provided. He had frantically tried to grab the rock to slow the canoe but only earned bloody and torn hands. When it became obvious he would enter the rapids with his canoe, he jumped into the cold water and held on to the side of the canoe in hopes of pushing off into relatively quiet pool close to shore. As soon as the canoe hit the first drop it pushed the back of the canoe, where Nuua-Slingit was holding on, violently sideways. He was flung backwards. The last thing he remembers is the searing pain in his back and gasping for air as his breath was knocked out of him.

            The small village of fishermen on the south side of the river had seen this seen unfold – they had yelled to him but the river was so wide that Nuua-Slingit could not hear them. One of the men had run to a small canoe on the sandy beach positioned downstream from the rapids. He paddled out into the river to find what he assumed would be the body of the unfortunate sailor. To his surprise Nuua-Slingit was alive, but bleeding and not breathing. The man pulled his upper body into his canoe and turned back to the river’s south shore. Nuua-Slingit coughed and river water shot out of his mouth. He began to gasp for air. By the time the rescuer had circled around to head to the south shore, the debris of the destroyed canoe and cargo was slowly bobbing away from the rapids.

            Nuua-Slingit’s survival was looked at with awe by the people who lived in this small village. Hundreds of people had accidently gone through the river’s gauntlet in the people’s memory and very few had survived, most were never found. For the first day he was delirious, refusing water and food and speaking gibberish. The eldest man, who functioned as the tribe’s doctor for most of his life, stayed with Nuua-Slingit in the same long-house. Through observation, the doctor recognized, by pressing his ear to his chest, that breath sounds were decreased on the patient’s right.  Also, the rise of the ribs was not the same, with the left side moving more. He had seen this previously and had learned from his mentor to craft a dried lambskin tube and insert it into the throat and push until the tube was in the chest. By marking the tube intermittently while it lay on the patient’s chest he could tell how far the tube was inserted. The tube was inserted and the doctor placed his moth around the end of the tube protruding from the mouth. Matching the inhalation pattern of the agitated patient he blew hard into the dried lambskin tube. He repeated this until the chest rose symmetrically.

            The days turned into a week and the delirium continued to slowly fade. Instead of fighting the sips of water offered by the doctor, he eagerly took them. His appetite returned with vigor.

            Nuua-Slingit stood by the fire for many hours after the others had gone to sleep. He had improved significantly in the past weeks since he had been recuperating from his disastrous canoe accident, but still struggled to sleep from the pain while lying down. Initially, the pain from his body weight pressing against his fractured ribs was enough to find sleep while in a sitting position. That had abated, but still, the very act of breathing was enough to keep all but the most desperate slumber at bay. Rib fractures are notorious slow to heal, as they must remain in motion. Nuua-Slingit had broken his arm as a child and knew the pain of a fractured bone.

            Despite the pain and the growing fear of how he was to get home, Nuua-Slingit began to enjoy the sleepless nights as best he could. The doctor, who was busy during the day tending to his own family and the ailments of the tribe would often stay up and talk with him. Nuua-Slingit was a young man, all of 23 years old and recently married with a baby one the way. He supposed that the baby may have already been born, as he planned his return to coincide with the delivery.

            The doctor told many stories – stories of triumph and heartbreak with all the people he had treated in his life. Nuua-Slingit’s favorite topic was the stories of how the rapids had formed – after all, the fishing village was close enough to the water’s edge so that the whitewater’s roar was ever present. Also, as he grew stronger he began to feel a sense of pride, albeit somewhat misplaced, that he had survived his calamitous accident.

            Ten generations earlier, a direct ancestor of the doctor was one of the few survivors from the tribe that inhabited the small fishing village, which at the time was not so small. A great shaking of the earth powerful enough to cleave the towering mountain on the north side of the river struck during a warm summer day. There was still evidence of this landslide, as the shear cliffs that apparently were only on the southern aspect of the mountain peak were striking. No trees grew there. The doctor said that if one were to climb one of the surrounding mountains and gain a bird’s perspective, it became clear that a landslide had pushed into the river, creating a bow in what was mostly a straight and broad river, for dozens of miles on either side. The river was noticeably narrower at the point where the rapids were, and clearly, the rapids were nothing more than the collapsed mountain that deigned to bury the river.

            Proudly the doctor told Nuua-Slingit how his forbearer survived when no one else did. He was saved by the river itself, as he fished with his net in the river, in his canoe, when the earthquake occurred. The massive movement of soil, trees and boulders pushed into the river creating a wave of gigantic proportions, one that lifted the canoe high into the air and as the wave crashed over the land, destroying the village and all living things in and around it, his ancestor was behind the crashing wave and ended up being gently deposited on the steep hillside that overlooked the village and river. As the water receded he watched from the side of the cliff as his loved ones and all he had known were swept into the river in a swirling mass of logs, trees, animals and people. The river itself had saved him and this was why the people who lived here revered the river and made their homes as close to the river’s edge as possible.

            Nuua-Slingit delighted in his imagination of what life was like for people who lived long before him. In his village there were stories of an earthen bridge that traversed the river, and this was collaborated with other stories the doctor told him during the cool sleepless nights. The landslide had come to rest on the south side of the river. It had created a damn, with a lake quickly forming behind it. The former place of the village was now a part of the earth, swallowed up with no trace left other than the debris floating to the sea. The lake continued to grow and push against the damn. Over the years, with the lake now many times wider than the original river, it pushed out the dirt from under the damn. At this point, the damn had become a conduit between the northern and southern tribes, which before had to rely on boats to ferry people and goods to each other. The river bed downstream still had water in it, but until larger tributaries further down stream joined the river, it was only a ribbon of flowing water with a mud field on either side.

            The river is relentless and turned the damn into a bridge. The lake drained and a surge of water pressed towards the ocean, yearning to make up the lost time. The shallow rapids that nearly killed him were the collapsed remnants of that earthen bridge.

Nuua-Slingit was nearing full health and he set out to build a canoe that would take him home to see his wife and firstborn child.


Rebecca Schoenecker I create works through weaving, embroidery, printmaking, drawing, painting, and animation. Embroidering my drawings onto vintage found fabrics, such as table runners and doilies, I create unusual character and object driven narratives. As a printmaker painter, and animator, I produce brightly colored images and stories of personas in flux. I am inspired by old objects and places that tell stories: Antique and thrift stores, old creepy dolls with moving eyes, fabrics with stains, bright coloring books, marionettes, old buildings, fables, fairytales, and ghosts. I create iconic, anthropomorphized characters. They are creatures that understand the power of their beauty. They are both trapped by it and exalted because it. Intrinsically, the characters search for an identity that parallels that of their physical allure. Without clear distinction between bug and beast, myth and reality, beautiful and disgusting, the characters are torn between all-powerful and completely incapable. The search for identity is exposed. Ideals are altered; as an embroiderer, I change the meaning of decorative objects by imposing new stories onto them. As a storyteller, I create personalities searching for beauty and balance within dangerous landscapes.


1471-2202-13-118 1471-2202 Research article
A genome-wide signature of glucocorticoid receptor binding in neuronal PC12 cells
 PolmanEJ Anneliesjpolman@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl WeltenEJenniferjenniferwelten@hotmail.com BoschSDannydanny_bosch@msn.com de JongeTRobertrtdejonge@gmail.com BalogJuditJ.Balog@lumc.nl van der MaarelMSilvèreS.M.Maarel@lumc.nl de KloetRonaldEe.kloet@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl DatsonANicoleN.A.Datson@lumc.nl

Division of Medical Pharmacology, Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 CC, the Netherlands

Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, 2333 ZC, the Netherlands

BMC Neuroscience

Cellular and molecular mechanisms

1471-2202 2012 13 1 118 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/13/118 10.1186/1471-2202-13-11823031785
107201224920123102012 2012Polman et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Glucocorticoid receptor Neuronal context Glucocorticoid response element PC12 cells ChIP-Seq

Transcriptional regulation by GR is complex and several molecular mechanisms have been described involving both homodimers and monomers of GR. Direct binding of GR dimers to Glucocorticoid Response Elements (GREs) in the vicinity of target genes, a process known as transactivation, is the classical mode of action which generally results in a potentiation of transcription 5 . However, GR also exhibits extensive crosstalk with other transcription factors (TFs), and besides simple GREs composite sites exist that contain a binding site for another TF in close proximity to the GRE, resulting in either a synergistic activation or a repression of transcription 6 7 . Furthermore, GR monomers can also exert effects on gene transcription by indirectly binding to the DNA via an intermediate DNA-bound TF in so called tethering response elements 8 , mostly resulting in a repression of transcription of the associated gene, a process referred to as transrepression. This extensive crosstalk of GR with other TFs not only vastly expands the range of GR-control on physiological processes compared to the classical GRE-driven transcriptional control in simple GREs, but it also underlies the highly context-dependent action of GCs.

Several TFs have been described that participate in this crosstalk with GR, including Oct1, Ets1, AP-1 and CREB at composite GREs and NF-κB, AP-1, CREB, Oct-1/2, STAT6, SMAD3,4 and PU.1/Spi-1 at tethering sites 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 . However, most of these crosstalk partners of GR have been identified in studies on the immunosuppressive and the tumor suppressor properties of GR 17 18 19 , while very little is known about crosstalk partners in a neuronal context.

In neuronal cells GR regulates the expression of a wide diversity of genes involved in general cellular processes such as energy metabolism, cell cycle and response to oxidative stress, but also clearly is involved in regulating a wide variety of genes important for neuronal structure and plasticity 20 . Despite the fact that many neuronal GC-responsive genes have been identified 21 22 23 , it remains unclear whether these genes are primary or downstream targets of GR. The onset of high-throughput sequencing combined with chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq) has made it possible to characterize genome-wide binding sites of TFs and today several studies have used this approach to identify global primary GR-targets in a variety of cell types, including human lung carcinoma cells (A549), mouse adipocytes (3T3-L1), premalignant breast epithelial cells (MCF10A-Myc), murine mammary epithelial cells (3134) and pituitary (AtT-20) cells 24 25 26 27 . These studies have yielded an unprecedented insight into genome wide GR targets as well as molecular mechanisms of GR-signaling, but perhaps one of the most striking findings is the low degree of overlap in GR binding sites when comparing different cell types, indicating that GR occupancy is highly cell type specific 25 . Therefore, in order to gain insight into global GR primary target in neurons, it is essential to characterize GR binding in a neuronal context. So far no studies have taken a ChiP-Seq approach to characterize GR-binding in a neuronal context.

The aim of the current study was to analyze genome-wide GR-binding sites (GBS) in rat neuronal PC12 cells using ChIP-Seq. The PC12 cell line is derived from a pheochromocytoma of the rat adrenal medulla and can be differentiated into a neuronal phenotype by stimulation with nerve growth factor 28 . NGF- treated PC12 cells stop dividing, develop neurites, display electrical activity and develop many other properties similar to those of sympathetic neurons 28 29 . They are considered a useful model system for neurosecretion and neuronal differentiation 30 and have been extensively used to study neuronal function in relation to GCs 31 32 33 . In this study, besides identifying the binding sites of GR in neuronal PC12 cells, we analysed which genes were located in the vicinity of the binding sites, which gene ontology classes were overrepresented, whether GR-binding resulted in regulation of gene expression of nearby genes and the motif composition of the binding sites.

Identification and genomic distribution of GR binding sites in PC12 cells

Figure 1

Figure 2

Genomic distribution of GBS relative to nearby genes

Additional file 1

Table S1. list of all 1183 GBS.

Click here fo file

Table 1

Nearest TS (bp)

Gene symbol

Gene description

dopa decarboxylase

NEDD4 binding protein 2-like 2

filamin A interacting protein 1

protein tyrosine phosphate, non-receptor type 1

parvin, alpha

cell division cycle 2-like 6(CDK8-like)

FERM domain containing 8

period homolog 1

cytochrome b-561

ArfGAP with FG repeats 1

sorting nexin 7

Cohen syndrome homolog 1

C10q and tumor necrosis factor related protein 1

interlukin 20 receptor, alpha

amiloride-sensitive cation channel 1, neuronal

cytochrome P450, subfamily 51

tyrosine hydroxylase

pa-6 (partitioning defective 6) homolog beta

phosphatidic acid phosphatase type 2 domain containing 3

signal recognition particle 9

cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 4

chromo domain helicase DNA binding protein 2

discs, large homolog 2

Ewing tumor-associated antigen 1; similar to ETAA16 protein

chromogranin B

heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2

H2.0-like homeobox

zinc finger protein 36

SH3-domain GRB2-like endophilin B1

zinc finger protein 90

coagulation factor III (thromboplastin, tissue factor)

rabphilin 3A-like (without C2 domains)

tyrosine hydroxylase

SNF related kinase

aminopeptidase O

coiled-coil domain containing 99

discoid in domain receptor tyrosine kinase 2

PDZ and LIM domain 5

syndecan 4

solute carrier family 18 (vesicular monoamine), member 1

hypothetical protein LOC688105; LOC360590

5’-nucleotidase domain containing 2

solute carrier family 18 (vesicular monoamine), member 1

RAB11a, member RAS oncogene family

sortilin-related receptor, LDLR class A repeats-containing

chemokine (C-X3-C motif) receptor 1

Top 50 of significance GR-binding sites

Reliability of ChIP-Seq data

Figure 3

Validation of GR binding sites and effects on mRNA expression

GR-binding sites and regulation of nearby genes

Overlap with GR-binding sites in other tissues is limited

Figure 4

Venn diagram representing overlap between GR-targets in different ChIP-Seq studies. The overlap of GBS identified in PC12 cells is compared to those genomic regions bound by GR in two other ChIP-Seq studies in human lung carcinoma cells (A549) 26 and mouse adipocytes (3T3-L1) 27.

PC12-specific GBS are located nearby genes with a neuronal function

Table 2

Neuronal PC212 unique GBS

GO Term

Enrichment score

neuron development

cytoplasmic vesicle

neuron projection

metal ion binding

blood vessel development

cell motion

identical protein binding

biogenic amine biosynthetic process

protein tyrosine kinase activity

Additional file 2

Table S2. GO PC12 unique GBS.

Click here fo file

GR binding sites represent both transactivation and transrepression modes of action

Figure 5

Significance of GR-binding sites with and without a GRE

Figure 6

MEME de novo motif discovery within GBS

Figure 7

The most frequent motif-combinations within the GBS

Different biological processes are regulated via transactivtion and transrepressive modes of action

Additional file 3

Table S3. GO GBS with and without GRE.

Click here fo file

Table 3

GBS with GRE

GBS without GRE

GO Term

Enrichment score

GO Term

Enrichment score

cell motion

neuron projection morphogenesis.

protein kinase binding

cytoplasmic vesicle

vasculature development

metal ion binding

protein dimerization activity

phospholipid binding

metal ion binding

catecholamine biosynthetic process

regulation of apoptosis

protein complex assembly

muscle cell development

regulation of myeloid cell differentiation

neuron projection regeneration

cell adhesion

actin filament binding

cytoplasmic vesicle

synaptic transmission

Reliability of ChIP-Seq data

Genomic binding sites of GR by far exceed GR-responsive genes

Genomic location of GBS

Tissue-specificity of GR-binding reveals a neural signature

Potential crosstalk partners of GR of relevance for neuronal function

GR operates in conjunction with an extensive network of other TFs. Previous studies in a non-neuronal setting, e.g. involving the immune system, muscle and adipose tissue, have generated extensive knowledge on GR-binding to the genome, the motifs that are recognized by GR and the transrepression partners that it can inhibit by protein-protein interaction 19 40 41 42 . However, confirmation of this knowledge in a neuronal context is lacking.

Zfp281 is a GC-box binding transcription factor and is involved in the regulation of genes implicated in pluripotency of murine embryonic stem cells 54 55 . Recently, we identified GC-box associated motifs in flanking regions surrounding GREs of hippocampal CORT-responsive genes. The presence of a GC-box motif in close proximity to the GRE correlated with GR-binding in the hippocampus, but not in other non-neuronal cell types 56 . We hypothesized that GC-boxes may play a role in determining tissue specificity of GR binding to a defined group of GREs. The GC-box motif we identified in hippocampus resembled the binding motif of the MAZ TF which is in fact very similar to the Zfp281 motif identified in neuronal PC12 cells (Figure 6). According to Allen Brain Atlas 57 , both MAZ and Zfp281 are very highly expressed in the mouse brain, especially in the hippocampus. Either one might be a novel crosstalk partner of GR in a neuronal context.

Gabpa, also known as nuclear respiratory factor 2 alpha (NRF2a), is a DNA-binding unit of the GA binding protein transcription factor which is involved in the nuclear control of mitochondrial function in neurons 58 59 . Gabpa responds to an altered energy demand within primary neurons by altering the expression of mitochondrial genes 60 and has been implicated in neuronal viability after brain injury 61 . Prrx2 is a member of the paired family of homeobox proteins, and is mainly known for its essential role in orofacial development 62 . It was recently discovered to be a novel pituitary transcription factor 63 . Otherwise very little is known on this TF and it has not been linked to GR-signalling before.

The transcription factor GATA1 is known to play an essential role in hematopoiesis 64 . GR was reported to interfere with GATA-1 function and inhibits the expression of erythroid structural genes 65 . Zbtb3 was observed in over 80% of the GBS that did not contain a GRE and was encountered in all frequently observed combinations of TFs binding sites in tethering GBS. Zbtb3 belongs to a family of transcription factors, many of which are important for B and T cell differentiation. A recent modeling study indicated that Zbtb3 may be a remote homologue of the Drosophila GAGA factor which is involved in both gene activation and gene repression and plays a role in the modulation of chromatin structure 66 . Zbtb3 contains a BTB domain, which plays a role in protein dimerization and transcriptional repression and interacts with histone deacetylase corepressor complexes such as NCoR (nuclear receptor corepressor) and SMRT (silencing mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor) 67 68 69 . Relevance for the brain has not been indicated yet.

Cell culture and harvest

Peak calling and mapping

The single-end read sequences were aligned to the reference rat genome (RGSC v3.4) using the CLC genomics workbench 3.6.5 (Aarhus, Denmark), according to the default settings which allowed up to 1 mismatch per read or 2 unaligned nucleotides at the ends. Subsequently, DEX-induced peaks were detected using the CLC workbench peak finding algorithm in which the null distribution of background sequencing signal was set for both treatments at 1200 bp and the maximum false discovery rate at 5%. Further settings were left at default. Using Galaxy (http://main.g2.bx.psu.edu/) 37 70 71 , Refseq genes in the vicinity of the GBS were determined. As a reference genome Rattus Norvegicus 4 (rn4) was used. Data was visualized by uploading wiggle-files containing the raw ChIP-Seq data on the UCSC genome browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu).

Motif search

The regions containing the GBS were trimmed to 200bp-width sequences and screened for de novo motifs using MEME 70 72 . The 500 most significant GBS were screened for motifs consisting of 8 to 40 nucleotides. The 15 most significant motifs were given as output. Using TOMTOM 73 , the identified motifs were compared against databases of known motifs.

Comparison of PC12 GBS with other datasets

The genomic regions identified in the PC12 cells were compared to two published datasets consisting of GR-bound genomic regions in human A549 cells 26 and in mouse adipocytes 27 . For this purpose, the significant regions of the published datasets were converted to rat equivalents using the Galaxy website (http://main.g2.bx.psu.edu/) under default conditions. Subsequently, these rat regions were compared to the PC12 GR-bound regions and overlap was calculated using Galaxy 37 71 .

Gene ontology analysis

The nearest genes surrounding the significant GBS were analysed with The Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) v6.7 (http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/home.jsp). As a cutoff, the biological processes (BP) that had a Benjamini-Hochberg p-value <0.05 were considered to be significant. Clustering all the identified GO-terms according to their functional annotation was performed under medium classification stringency (standard setting at DAVID).

Additional file 4

Table S4. mRNA primer sequences.

Click here fo file

Additional file 5

Table S5. ChIP primer sequences.

Click here fo file

AP-1: Activator Protein-1; ChIP-Seq: Chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with next generation sequencing; Ddc: Dopamine decarboxylase; DEX: Dexamethasone; Gabpa: GA binding protein transcription factor, alpha subunit; GATA1: GATA binding protein 1; GBS: Glucocorticoid receptor binding sites; GC: Glucocorticoid; GR: Glucocorticoid Receptor; GRE: Glucocorticoid Response Element; Kcnab1: Voltage-gated potassium channel subunit beta-1; MB: Myoglobin 2; MT2a: Metallothionein 2A; Narg2: NMDA receptor-regulated gene 2; NCoR: Nuclear receptor corepressor; Nfasc: Neurofascin; NRF2a: Nuclear respiratory factor 2 alpha; Per1: Period circadian protein homolog 1; PMSF: Phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride solution; Prrx2: Paired related homeobox 2; SEM: Standard error of the mean; SMRT: Silencing Mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor; TF: Transcription Factor; TH: Tyrosine Hydroxylase gene; TSS: Transcription Start Site; VEH: Vehicle Treatment; ZBTB3: Zinc finger and BTB (bric-a-bric, tramtrack, broad complex)-domain- containing 3; Zfp281: Zinc finger protein 281.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions

RTdJ was involved in the bioinformatical analysis of the data. JB and DSB were involved in the ChIP procedure. JEW helped with the validation of the ChIP-Seq data. JAEP carried out the cell culture, the ChIP, the experimental validation of the data, performed the data analysis and helped to draft the manuscript. SMvdM and ErdK critically revised the manuscript. NAD conceived and designed the experiments, coordinated the study, was involved in data interpretation and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Australian Government coat of arms

Prime Minister of Australia

The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP

Criminalising secret payments between employers and unions

20 March 2017

Prime Minister

Minister for Employment

This week the Turnbull Government will introduce vital legislation banning secret payments between unions and employers.

The new laws will criminalise payments or other benefits passed between employers and unions that could have a corrupting influence.

Any union leader who is willing to accept benefits from an employer is placing themselves in a highly compromising position.

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption found that such payments corrupt union officials and should be banned.

Penalties will apply equally to employers and unions. The person offering or making the benefit will be subject to the same penalties as the person soliciting or receiving it.

If money changes hands between an employer and a union, both parties have an obligation to honestly disclose these payments to their employees and members.

These vital changes will deliver on three key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

The Turnbull Government is acting to ensure that employers and unions act in the best interests of their employees and members.

Bill Shorten and the Labor Party should now support this reform, to clean up the unfair, secretive, and often corrupt payments that have tainted Australian workplaces for decades.


USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe

USIFLEX Ductile Iron Pipe is designed to meet the unique requirements for underwater installations.
- Bottle-tight, flexible joint without the use of bolts.
- 350 psi for sizes 4" - 12" and 250 psi for sizes 14" - 48".
- Maximum joint deflection of 15 degrees.

Product Downloads

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  • USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe 4"-48"

    USIFLEX® Pipe is a simple, rugged, bottle-tight flexible restrained joint without the use of bolts. USIFLEX Boltless Flexible Joint Pipe is ideally suited for underwater installations where the high cost of equipment and manpower emphasizes the importance of ease and speed of assembly. USIFLEX Pipe may also be used for other types of installations where an appreciable amount of joint deflection and a positive lock against joint separation is required.

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FAQs // USIFLEX® Ductile Iron Pipe

No. The asphaltic coating is applied to the outside of Ductile Iron pipe in accordance with ANSI/AWWA C151/A21.51 to minimize atmospheric oxidation for aesthetic reasons. If soils are determined to be corrosive when tested in accordance with Appendix A of ANSI/AWWA C105/A21.5, DIPRA and its member companies recommend that polyethylene encasement in accordance with the AWWA C105 standard be installed for corrosion protection.

The ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 procedure used for calculating truck loads on buried Ductile Iron pipe, which is based on the teachings of Spangler and others, employs the same methods used in ANSI A21.1, the older design standard for Cast Iron pipe. The approach for calculating truck loading is adequate at any depth of cover. However, depths of cover less than 2.5 feet are generally not recommended under roads and highways due to the possibility of high dynamic loading. When 2.5 feet or more of cover cannot be provided, the procedure in ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 can still be applied. However, if impact factors higher than 1.5, which is incorporated in the standard, are anticipated, then such impact factors should be employed. Further, in those shallow covers, maintenance of the road surface over the pipe may be more of a concern than serviceability of the pipe.

The procedure for installing gaskets is simple.  However, a large part of the reliability of the seal depends on cleanliness of the joint at the time of installation.  Considering the variety of conditions that may be encountered in transit or at the jobsite, it would not be possible to ensure joint cleanliness if the gaskets were pre-installed by the manufacturer.  Pre-installation would also expose gaskets unnecessarily to ultraviolet exposure and even vandalism.

For mechanical joints, the gland should be slipped some distance back from the plain end of the pipe with the lip of the gland facing the bell.  The inside diameter of the mechanical joint gasket is smaller than the outside diameter of the pipe.  Brush the plain end of the pipe and the gasket with an approved pipe lubricant as supplied by the manufacturer.  The gasket must then be stretched over the plain end of the pipe with the thinner side of the wedge facing the bell.  The lubricant allows the gasket to slide more easily into the bell and become equalized as the gland compresses it to achieve a reliable seal.

The TYTON JOINT® and FIELD LOK 350® gaskets have a stiff rim called the heel bonded to a circular cross section called the bulb.  After correct installation, the heel will fit into the first groove just inside the bell.  The bulb will enter the bell first and will be compressed between the inside of the bell at the gasket seat and the outside of the pipe to achieve a seal.  The gasket diameter is larger than the bell opening, so a technique must be followed to allow the gasket to be properly fitted inside the bell.

For smaller pipe, up to about 20”, draw a loop of the gasket towards its center forming somewhat of a heart shape.  While holding the loop with one hand, start fitting the gasket heel into the groove of the bell with the other.  Gradually release the loop while pressing the gasket evenly into position around the inside circumference of the bell.  It may be necessary to firmly seat the loop with the heel of the hand to ensure it is fully seated.

As pipe size increases, it will be necessary to use an increasing number of loops to facilitate gasket installation.  In the largest sizes, it is not uncommon to have as many as eight loops, evenly spaced around the gasket.  Regardless of pipe size, if the gasket has been properly installed, the leading edge of the rubber should be slightly below the smallest part of the bell opening all around the inside circumference.  If any part of the gasket is sticking up, it must be worked until fully seated, or the gasket must be removed and re-installed.

Once the gasket is properly seated, continue with the assembly procedure to make up the joint.

The external trench load in ANSI/AWWA C150/A21.50 consists of earth load plus truck load. The earth load on pipe increases as the depth of cover increases; the truck load increases as the depth of cover decreases. Therefore, the maximum depth of cover normally is limited by the earth load and the minimum depth of cover is limited by the truck load. For lower pressure classes of pipe in sizes 14 inches and larger installed in a Type 1 trench, this band of allowable depth of cover is limited, or even non-existent. Also, for higher pressure classes of pipe in sizes 14 inches and greater, it would normally be more economical to specify a better trench and a lower pressure class of pipe than a higher pressure class of pipe and a Type 1 trench. Improved bedding is desirable, particularly in larger pipe sizes, to improve uniformity of axial support under the haunches.


Learn More
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA) are chronic diseases characterized by activation of the immune system and production of antibodies. Thus, rheumatoid factor, anti-animal IgG antibodies and heterophilic antibodies in plasma samples from arthritis patients can interfere with immunoassays such as sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(More)
INTRODUCTION A key phenomenon in rheumatoid arthritis is the formation of lymphoid follicles in the inflamed synovial membrane. C-X-C motif chemokine 13 (CXCL13) is central in this process as it attracts C-X-C chemokine receptor type 5 (CXCR5)-expressing B cells and T follicular helper cells to the follicle. We here examine the role of CXCL13 and its(More)
BACKGROUND In the search for valid biomarkers in inflammatory diseases, cytokine serum concentrations are often measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and correlated to disease activity. Interleukin-33 is a relatively newly described cytokine, which holds a promising potential as a biomarker for different diseases including atopic dermatitis.(More)
BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is often characterized by the presence of rheumatoid factor, anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, and bone erosions. Current therapies can compromise immunity, leading to risk of infection. The interleukin-20 receptor (IL-20R) axis comprising IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 and their shared receptors activates tissue(More)
Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is characterized by inflammation and new bone formation and can be treated by inhibition of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-17A. IL-26 is considered a proinflammatory cytokine, predominantly related to Th17 cells. In the present study, we investigate IL-26 expression in SpA patients, and examine the in vitro production of(More)
INTRODUCTION In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) immune activation and presence of autoantibodies may precede clinical onset of disease, and joint destruction can progress despite remission. However, the underlying temporal changes of such immune system abnormalities in the inflammatory response during treat-to-target strategies remain poorly understood. We have(More)
INTRODUCTION OX40 and its ligand OX40L are key components in the generation of adaptive memory response and provide necessary co-stimulatory signals for activated effector T cells. Here we investigate the dual roles of the membrane and soluble (s) forms of OX40 and OX40L in plasma and synovial fluid and their association with autoantibodies and disease(More)
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FM (Frequency Modulation)

FM (Frequency Modulation) Involves one frequency affecting another. FM can be applied as an effect or used as a form of synthesis (see below).

The frequency of an input or carrier sound is modulated by a second (modulator) sound. When the modulating frequency is low and the waveform is simple, such as a Sine WaveThe purest of sounds, looking like a sequence of hills and troughs, the sine wave (or sinusoid) creates the sound of a single frequency with no harmonics or interference.More infoSine Wave, the result is a vibrato. When the modulating frequency is higher, a more complex sound quality is generated.

This modulator usually sound has a frequency that is within the range of human hearing (20Hz – 20kHz). FM synthesis is able to easily create complex sound qualities.


Contents Index

John Turberville Needham

John Turberville Needham, 1713-1781, English scientist and Catholic priest.

Needham's Observations upon the Generation, Composition, and Decomposition of Animal and Vegetable Substances (1748) offered what he considered to be proof of spontaneous generation. His claim that sealed flasks of broth produced animalcules even after the broth had been boiled suggested the microbes had developed from inanimate matter, although his experimental techniques were apparently faulty. Three years after this publication, Maupertuis challenged his findings in his Système de la nature.


FAQ – Personal Training, Coralville

Q.Isn’t Personal Training for athletes or young, active people?

A. Personal training is part of your Allied Healthcare Team. That means we help people in all phases of life achieve different fitness goals. In fact, it may be more important for older adults and those with health issues to hire a trainer to guide them through safe and effective exercises to maintain their quality of life, avoid medications, and reduce medical bills. Talk to your doctor about the advantages of working with a certified and competent trainer if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, or arthritis.

Q.I already have a gym membership. What is the advantage of having a personal trainer?

A. Many people with an interest in improving their fitness need help clarifying their goals or establishing a routine. Others benefit from the guidance of a leader with the skills to assure safety and effectiveness. And some people need to be accountable to someone in order to meet their daily/weekly/monthly goals. Even those who regularly workout on their own at a gym or at home can benefit from the knowledge and variety of exercise a professional trainer can offer.

Q.What does it take to be a personal trainer and how do you determine your rates?

A. The contact hours you spend with your personal trainer are just the beginning. NMF trainers maintain certification and this requires current CPR certification and continuing education in the form of workshops and examinations for renewed certification every two years. Our trainers must also purchase liability insurance. They spend hours developing your protocols,  researching fitness and nutrition information, and managing records & communicating with clients. The NMF Studio is a leased facility, and we have taxes, equipment, maintenance, software, and website costs associated with our program.