Life: Is coughing a good workout?

Today is 12/28/2022. I am recovering from a cold (flu?) that caused bronchitis. 

Right with arctic air arrival on 12/21/2022, I felt something was off. In a couple of days, it turned out to be a "chest cold" with lots of coughing. No fever, but with headache, some body ache and yellow mucus.

Ran covid test twice. Both were negative.

So the title question, "Is coughing a good workout?"

[10 cough reps, 15 second break] x 60 sets/day.  

They say coughing takes coordinated use of thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic muscles.

Certainly, the two-day workout left me exhausted.

What about the effects? Am I stronger now? .... maybe. It didn't kill me.

Usually a cold or flu runs its course in a week and gone. I am anticipating the same. 

A half of my winter break is gone. Guess taking care of self is a critical function of a long break, and nursing self should count.

[workout sites: intercostal muscles]

Dance: Energy/momentum lead/follow in Argentine Tango

For most social Tango, step-by-step, or basic-by-basic, figure-by-figure lead/follow can make plenty of sense. Nothing is wrong with it. 

But then, there are songs that are fast (like many Vals), or with a lot of energy (some milonga and Tango), or Tango songs with changing energy flow. You'd want to translate the musical energy and its flow to your dance.

Then, what do you do? One way to do it is to use energy/momentum lead/follow.

A critical ingredient is a good follow, who already has all basic body usage, basic steps, and (at least some) figures by muscle memory. And as premises, (a) she can use them with music or by lead, and (b) she can switch the speed and size of her moves, according to music, lead, or choreography.

Another critical ingredient is a good lead, who also has all basic body usage, basic steps, and (at least some) figures by muscle memory. He also should be able to use them with music, to lead them, and can switch the speed and size of his moves and leads.

Now, instead of using a step-by-step tango, he can just draw his and her traveling paths as lines on the floor in three-dimensional manner. As both do not have to worry about stumbling, he can just cue the next move, and she can just dance it.

A starter example would be, a basic salida. "Side-walk-walk-her cross/uncross-exit" can be done in one continuous flowing motion for both (perhaps with a little pause on the cross for proper phrasing).

Another example is her molinete/continuous giro with his lapis or enrosque. She will be doing her grapevine steps (side-back-side-forward), walking around him. How big her steps are, how deep she pivots, and how fast she moves, depend on the music, the lead, and resulting momentum. Yet, this can be done in one continuous motion with flowing energy.

Your muscle memory and quick yet responsive feet will allow you to create and ride the momentum/energy on the floor.

Tango basic moves are based on either (a) walking or (b) pivot on axis/rotation. You use body weight and counterbalance to move and draw energy line, and to create dynamic moves and further momentum/energy as a couple. Hardly any tiring heavy muscle work (like lifting weights in gym) is involved.

 When we watch an "improvised" demo dance by professional Tango dancers, they are usually using energy/momentum lead/follow one way or another. 

After all, they are on the floor with plenty of spaces around. No need to worry about outrunning and colliding others. And they are supposed to demonstrate something impressive. Then, they use energy lead/follow, which looks much more dynamic, dramatic, and perhaps sporty, than social dances on crowded floor. And spurt of energy can look like a proper musical interpretation if used right.

In fact, they have stockpile of moves they memorized by muscle and can use at will, both in slow and with energy/momentum lead/follow. That is their trick to it. (No tricks, really).

So, do you want to use the energy/momentum lead/follow? Sure, it is still well within a social tango technique and vocabulary (or execution of them). And your dance can look more "advanced".

I say again that there is nothing wrong with a step-by-step, interactive and slow, even intimate tango. A lot of times, such tango is favorable on the social floor to a sporty, showy, but maybe less intimate, dance.

Actually, if she does not have good muscle memory to pull off flowing moves but you try energy/momentum lead, the dance can fall apart.

I'd say, vals is a gateway dance to energy/momentum lead/follow. Fast vals can be a test. Gotta be careful.

But when the song, your partner, and/or choreography call for it and permit it, just use energy/momentum lead/follow. You do not always have to drive under 40mph. Step on the gas pedal and ride the momentum. It is an extended option in your technical arsenal and provides a different kind of tango fun.

PS 

Lead has to be absolutely sure about what he is doing. It helps if you can verbalize for each set of momentum lead flow. Like "Lead molinete", "lead salida", "lead giro then sacada to switch position", "lead to mirror position then gancho", etc.

Dance: the 4th HOLIDAY TANGO WEEKEND 2022 in Dallas, 12/8-11/2022

Event flyer information:

********************************************
4th HTW 2022, Dallas Texas.

We present the 4th HOLIDAY TANGO WEEKEND 2022. The event will take place on December 8th through 11th. In Dallas, Texas at the beautiful Sokol A. Center.

This Argentine Tango event will comprise of Seventeen (17) hours of instruction, four (4) Milongas that include a Special Holiday Tango Gala with Master Performances and Live Tango Orchestra on Saturday night and two (2) practice, and Special Intensive with Celina Rotundo & Hugo Patyn.

Argentine Tango Master
- Adrian Veredice & Alejandra Horvet
- Celina Rotundo & Hugo Patyn
- Jenny Teters & Rod Relucio
- Virginia Vasconi
- Carlos Copello

Dj's
Adis Mesan "Villano"
Koichiro Suzuky
Rod Relucio
Donato Juarez
Guest Performers, Tango Shoes, Dresses and mucho Tango!

visit       www.hugoandcelina.com

********************************************************

After forever time, I went to a proper Argentine Tango event (only for three milongas, though). 

Tango dancers in their natural habitat. Nice.

Due to covid and other things, this is my first time to physically joining this event, organized  by Hugo and Celina in Dallas. It is 4.5 hours drive from my place.

When they came to OKC, I asked Hugo to teach a lift. It was like, 2018? Covid certainly was a big disruption. 

Upside of covid would be the numerous dance instruction/performance videos emerged during shutdown. For someone who can pick up dance with videos, covid was a godsend.

From the standpoint of milonga participant and show watcher, the event was very fun and entertaining.

They had a pro show on Saturday.

Adrian & Alejandra, and Celina & Hugo are both strong stage tango performers, with aerial lifts and high kicks in their arsenals. Amazing and dramatic stage-style dances.

Virginia & Carlos, from NYC and Buenos Aires, presented more traditional and elegant milonguero-style dances. It was a style all social tango dancers should be aspired to. I am sure I saw him in "the Tango Lesson" movie.

Jenny & Rod are also traveling instructors/performers (e.g., for Tango on the Rocks event in Denver on September). They use neo-tango style moves, with entanglements and intricate ganchos and enganches. In terms of "interesting" dance, their dances were most unpredictable and would be most challenging to understand. I'll check out the videos later.

I danced a Biagi vals tanda with Jenny on the farewell milonga. She was one of the smoothest- and lightest-moving tango dancers I've ever danced. Background-wise, more of a Latin dancer than a ballet dancer, maybe? Just my guess. I do wonder how good dancers come to be.

They are also instructors. I heard their classes were great. 

And milongas were certainly fun. With organizers' efforts, lead/follow ratio was controlled. Floor was not over crowded. Music was good. Thanks, DJs, and local live band Tango Llaneros Orchestra from Dallas. Dancers' skills were quite decent. Tango dancers come with their default style, physical presence and move preferences. Watching the dance chemistry, and how the couple handles the music, was quite fun, too.

As in many dance events, I picked up a few thoughts. Will write them down later.

It was a good event. I recommend.

[People from OKC after Saturday performance and milonga.]

[I wore Kimono and white glasses. Dance event tip; "Wear something identifiable"]

Dance: Can we dance Tango in kimono?

 On a whim, I picked up colorful Haori jackets of Kimono. Six of them. Guess I was in holiday party mode.

They were authentic Japanese, shipped from Kyoto and Okayama, famous production areas for kimono. Yen was still quite weak, and the price looked right on ebay.

Hakama pants are worn as a formal attire in Japan. You can get married or receive an award in it. So it is qualified as formal party dress. 

But you can move in it, as shown in Hakama pants being used for Kendo or Aikido practice. 

My parties are dance parties. I tested Haori jacket + Hakama pants (basically super wide pants) attire in Salsa and West Coast Swing. And they were fine, no problem. 

But these dances are "far apart" dances.

Now, can I dance Tango in Haori + Hakama attire? 

I googled for "Tango and Kimono" video, and got nothing. Well, my attempt might be actually very rare (or perhaps, just don't work?).

As wide pants, Hakama might not be ideal for leg entanglements. But without cuff and with not-too-long length, it is less likely to catch her heel. Probably the wide dark pants can work as background curtain to show her legs, while concealing my leg movements from viewers. A different look.

Wonder how it looks. Might be like some Turkish dance with "floating" look?

I am a scientist. I'll test it in next local milonga and find out. 

Difference from science; even if it does not work for all others, if I can get it to work, it will be fine for me.

If it is fine, I'd bring it to upcoming Tango festival I signed up for a night's costume. An experiment for fun.

[Two of the Haori Jackets I got]

Dance: Know your body type (Book: "how to play sports" by Hiroko Yamazaki)

 With the word "body type", most would think of "fat, skinny, tall, short" kind. 

Or perhaps, "pear, apple, hourglass", or "endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph (if you are into gym work and weights)".

According to Hiroko Yamazaki's book "How to play sports", there are 4 types, in terms of natural tendencies of body usages.

And the types are evident and can be determined by how you naturally stand.

Forward-weighted type A, and rear-weighted type B. Each can be also subcategorized to  "inner-weighted (1)" or "outer-weighted (2)".

A1 and B2 types use the body in "cross" manner, and A2 and B1 types use the body in "parallel" manner.

They are not about shapes, but rather, how you are wired and how you tend to use your body, and prefer particular ways of moving. Think the type is something like right-handed or left-handed. Your body does have preference, correct?

Based on types, how you hold your body axis at which points (type A with solar plexus, knees and feet, type B with neck, hips and feet), and which parts of your body can be more easily moved (for type A neck/shoulders, hips; for type B, solar plexus/ribcage, knees) also differ. Interesting.

How you stand is a big deal in tango dancing. There are many sayings regarding aesthetics.

But you'd also notice, by watching many tango or other dancers, one rule does not fit all.

 

People's natural body usages are different. You may need to accept the differences, and adopt the aesthetics to usages. 

We may have been trying too much to adopt usages to aesthetics.

For example, leg turnout and L-position of feet is generally recommended as an aesthetically good position for tango followers. It does work with many people. 

But you also encounter body types that are nearly incompatible with the turnout.

Then, do you try to "correct" it, against your body type? Or, would you rather learn to look like using turn out, while not forcing yourself too much going against your body's natural build?

Going against natural body type increases the risk of injury. Also, a body moving with maximum efficiency looks far better than a body with forced moves and looks.

Knowing your own body type helps to make the choice.

I checked myself. I am type B1 "rear-and inner-weighted", so a "parallel". 

Actually, using 2-inch Cuban heels has helped me to compensate for my natural tendency of rear-weighted in tango dancing. For tango, a leader needs to go forward mostly. Rear-weighted means I need extra split second to shift weight to forward from my natural position in order to go forward. The delay can be minimized by my shoes. 

Use of "right and left" axes is intuitively easy for parallel types, but explanations may need to be modified for cross types.

Model/tight roping kind of walk is one of the walk styles fitting tango aesthetics. But as a parallel type, more straight kind of walk is my body's natural motions. 

See? knowing own body type is helpful.

The author Hiroko Yamazaki was competing in Rhythmic Gymnastics in LA Olympics on 1984 as a representative athlete of Japan and placed on 8th. After her retirement from active gymnastics, she remained in coaching position, and led Japanese Rhythmic Gymnastics team to medal-competing position since 2015. 

She was even confessing in her book that she had given "correct for a type but wrong for another type" advices on gymnastics, with mixed results. After learning this body typing and adopting advices considering what advice works better on what body types, her coaching improved. She knows what she is talking about.

In medical research, personalized medicine has become common concept, and its practice is catching up. Maybe fine-tuned sports coaching based on personal body type is in the same trend.

[The book cover (in Japanese), published 7/14/22]

Another tagline/subtitle for this book is "Axis training, rather than muscle training". I like the idea.

Life: Cancer? Stones? Probably Fat.

On a previous post "Life: Slow-moving American medical system" on 9/22/22, I mentioned pain in my upper right abdomen.

Originally, my hospital visit was scheduled on 12/6/22. But they called me after cancellation and I got to talk with an internal medicine doctor on 11/1/22.

"Pain in upper right abdomen" can be caused by many issues. Doctor's diagnostic work is to narrow down possibilities to a diagnosis, so that they/we can move on to therapeutic work.

In established medical practice, doctors follow guidelines and standard procedures based on patient's complaints and diagnostic tests. They are standardised to flow charts. You can find the flow charts used in major hospitals with googling like "pancreatic cancer guideline 2022".

In this case of "upper right abdominal pain or heavy sensation, migrating to back and/or stomach", possible causes and treatments are:

(a) Infection (by virus, bacteria, parasite, etc) and associated acute or chronic inflammation in GI tract.

    We need to treat the infection with antiviral, antibiotic, or antiparasitic, depending on the germ. For acute infection, the pain is dragging on for too long, though.

(b) cancer (in liver, bile duct, gallbladder, pancreas or possibly stomach). 

  By numbers (survival curve with current therapies and 5-year survival rate), none are good. They are difficult cancers and I am not gonna like it. 

  Yet, as a cancer biologist, I have used carcinogens and radioisotopes in the lab before. I cannot just write them off without testing. This possibility is the reason I took this pain seriously.

(c) Gallstones or kidney stone.

  Most likely prediction and common issue.  About 10% of people of my age may carry stones with or without symptoms.

(d) stomach issue (GERD, ulcer)

  Another common issue, although I've hardly had any issues in stomach before.

(e) Liver issue (hepatitis, liver fluke, etc)

  As I work in hospital complex, I got vaccination against Hepatitis B virus and it should still be active. But these infections do happen. Good med for hepC virus came to market in this past decade, which is good news.

There are some others, but blood tests and imaging with ultrasound and/or CT scan can narrow down these possibilities.

So on 11/1/22, I talked with my new doctor. He looked very smart. Following the visit, the lab collected my blood. 

A few days later, I checked out patient portal and they already had blood test results uploaded.

And actually, none of the results were out of ordinary and all were in normal range. Inflammation marker, liver enzymes/liver damage markers, blood cell count, cancer marker, diabetes marker, ... nothing.

At the time, I was relieved. Probably not metastatic cancer or ongoing infection and inflammation. 

But then, what is it?

Probably the doctor wondered the same thing. The doctor's office scheduled an abdominal ultrasound on 11/7/22. So I went. Working in the same hospital complex is a good thing.

I'd never taken an ultrasound imaging before. First time for everything. 30 minutes examination went by rather soon. 

Next day, radiology doctor's report was up.

No stones in gallbladder or kidney (surprise). Visible part of pancreas and spleen were normal.

They found hepatic steatosis (fatty liver). Oh, my.

In the lab, I've seen steatotic liver under microscope. Each cell carries big oil droplets inside. So the liver looks somewhat like a sponge, after slide preparation for microscope that extracts oil components. With gross examination, steatotic liver do look different from "normal" liver. Steatotic liver is, essentially, "foie gras". Might taste good.

Steatosis by itself is a benign and rather common condition. 10-30% of people may carry it without knowing. But for some people, it causes pain, and this might be the case for me. Being Asian is a risk factor for hepatic steatosis.

If steatosis progresses toward steatohepatitis (fatty liver with inflammation), pathological changes and damage accumulate, and the liver can move to fibrosis (damaged liver with scars) and cirrhosis (advanced version of fibrosis). Liver with cirrhosis is a hotbed for liver cancer. You don't want it. And that is the reason this steatosis-steatohepatitis-fibrosis-cirrhosis transition process is getting serious attention in medical practitioners and researchers. 

As of 11/9/22, I have not gotten contacted by the doctor. Next he might want to order another imaging test with CT scan, or he might want to finalize the diagnosis as hepatic steatosis and want me to work on diet, exercise, and/or possibly prescribe or suggest something that can work on steatosis.

Steatosis is a reversible condition. Losing 5% of my current body weight would likely alleviate the pain and other symptoms.

Maybe I need to cut back on my ice cream. Ouch. 

Fat is far better than cancer, stones, virus or parasites. At least, more manageable by myself.  Lucky me. I should take this as my middle age challenge and start lifting weights or something.

[Photo of "Foie gras" in wikipedia]

Science: Animal Models for Cancer Interception and Precision Prevention Virtual Workshop, 10/13-14/2022

 This two-day workshop is an educational program by NCI/NIH. The theme is Animal Models for Cancer Prevention research.

The NCI funds many groups of researchers. Usually, researchers working on a specific subject  belong to a few study sections, and they are enclosed in the group. But sometimes the NCI program directors attempt to bring those researchers together in different combinations, offering chance to interact with researchers in related but different fields. Interesting, is it not.

For cancer prevention, knowing mechanism of cancer development, and modeling the process in animals, are essential to develop methods (drug, vaccine, etc) to prevent cancer.

Cancers in different organs are considered different diseases. Cancer in pancreas may be driven by different mechanisms or by different set of genes from cancer in colon. So we need to build models for each cancer. 

As such, scientists need different animal models for different cancers and work on different prevention strategies.

Usually, primary study model animals are rodents (mice, rats). With many advantages as a model for research purpose, they are the first choice for developing disease model.

Investigational New Drug (IND) application is a major milestone for drug developers. For startup biotech or pharma companies, whether they can take their drug candidate to IND or not is a determinant of the company's fate or impacting factor on the stock price. Yet, IND is not a magical entity. IND application is basically paperwork and datasets submitted to the government. Companies need to have specific knowledge to file the IND paperwork and compelling datasets proving the efficacy of their drug.

 

The FDA requires two models for IND filing. Hence, they need rodent model and another animal model (dog, cat, pig, etc). With various reasons, primates are fading out overall as a research model. The government and scientists are searching for models with good clinical translation relevance and feasibility. Cost is a factor, too. Non-rodent models are far more expensive.

This workshop covered latest results from cancer model mice, as well as non-rodent animal cancer models.

 

I was not very familiar with non-rodent cancer models. The workshop was a good learning opportunity. There were talks on dog and pig models.

For example, I had no idea veterinarian scientists are running trial for cancer vaccine on dogs. For the trial, about 800 dogs were enrolled with owners' consent, and 400 dogs received the vaccine, the rest received placebo. The trial is assessing if the dogs develop cancers and the vaccine reduce the development. Early assessment did not look very promising, and they encountered some unexpected findings (many cancers found in both groups) apparently. But these stories are at least amusing to me.

The workshop was fun to attend. Online format is a huge plus for convenience.

Book: "Conquering Alzheimer Disease" by Susumu Shimoyama

 Sometimes I buy things from Amazon Japan. Find something of interest, leave it in cart, and once they accumulate, I order them.

Exchange rate for USD to JPY was 115 JPY/USD on Jan 2022. Now it is 144 JPY/USD. What I buy from Japan with USD now is like 25% off from Jan 2022. Lucky enough.

I ordered 24 books. One of the books is this nonfiction/documentary on Alzheimer drug development. Written by Susumu Shimoyama, a nonfiction writer, published on 1/8/2021. Language is Japanese.

Until recently, we did not have drug for Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have seen over 200 failed clinical trials. Huge amount of money and efforts for nothing. Some pharmas went bankrupt or merged because of failed trials.

As in this documentary, Eisai, a Japanese pharma, found Aricept, a drug that helps neuronal functions and thus helps cognitive functions for a while. My mother was taking the drug for her AD if I remember correctly.

Then, amyloid-targeting drug (antibody drug against amyloid-beta protein, a major pathology component of AD) came to the market.

This documentary covers the stories of AD drugs and their developers. 

Each chapter describes different players. Eisai drug development team, international familial AD consortium, AD transgenic mouse generators, AD vaccine and amyloid antibody drug developers, leading scientists on amyloid cascade hypothesis, scientists chasing non-"mainstream" target, and so on.

I really enjoyed reading those. Went through this 330 page book in 2 days. 

 

The stories actually are dramatic. AD is a lethal disease and people die. Before they die, they go through dreaded processes of loss. 

Some of "inside company power struggle" episodes reminded me of "Kousaku Shima", a Japanese manga series. The manga series were about career of a corporate "salaryman" worker and were very popular. As corporate culture and common sense for work environment have changed quite a bit in this past 20 years, I am not sure if the series are still popular, though.

The book ends with the FDA approval of Aducanumab, an antibody drug for AD, on 2021, under somewhat controversial circumstances. 

Controversial as it was, it was undeniable that the FDA approval gave some momentum and hope to AD drug developers. Now, second anti-amyloid drug is about to launch, and other drugs are being tested. 

New drugs that work represent humankinds' progress and answers to people's hope.

Also, new drug is where the money is.

As a researcher/scientist, I have a few ideas as well as questions on the AD drug field. Yet the progress in 35 years portrayed in this book was undeniably important.

[book cover]

Many American AD researchers and scientists were interviewed and appeared in the book. This book ought to be translated to English.

Life: Slow-moving American medical system

 I am a lucky guy. I've hardly had any major sickness or injury in my life. 

Knee injury in skiing and ACL reconstruction was the biggest injury. But it was oh-so-many years ago. Although I quit skiing and was cautious in taking on martial arts exercise afterwards, I've been walking, jogging, hiking, dancing and doing everything else just fine.

As such, I've stayed away from hospitals and doctors, other than annual flu shot and covid vaccinations. 

However, in the past a few years, I started feeling funny sensation in my upper right abdomen and back. I had some pulsing pain around my liver a few weeks ago. I am fine, but the sensation/pain is a nuisance.

I am a cancer biologist. I've seen many tumors in mice in person and photos of human cancers. This kind of long-lasting abdominal pain/sensation makes me nervous. Just get to see a doctor and ask a diagnosis should be a much better way than speculating by myself.

Speaking of speculation, most likely it is gallstone or related inflammation. Imaging analysis should pick up gallstone, kidney stone or tumor (I'm not gonna like it. I attended a lecture on Hepatocellular Carcinoma last Friday. They presented survival curves from recent clinical trials for liver cancer, and they did not look too promising. Treatment benefits were there, but small. Liver cancers are still "difficult" cancers for sure...I digress). Blood work should detect liver damage or inflammation (hepatitis) if any, which can be followed up with other diagnostics to determine the cause and therapy strategy.

What should be done is there as routines for hospital staff.  They can answer what this is. And we can determine what to do next.

I am from Japan. I don't know recent situations in Japan, but I was used to get to see a doctor quickly, in a matter of hours and days at most, when sick.

American medical system moves like glacier for me.

After the pain episode, by the book, I asked my primary care physician to refer me to internal medicine.

2.5 weeks later, I got a call (yesterday) that the referral got through. They made an appointment with a doctor on December (now is Sept 22),......2.5 months later.

I'd get to see a doctor if it is an emergency, like stroke, heart attack, serious injury or acute infections (...would I? I hope I would). But for non-emergency, the system seems to be moving so slow. And I doubt covid patients are still clogging up the hospital system.

Seriously, some aspects of American life are like those in third world countries. 

Well, maybe because I am not very familiar with the medical system and there may be a fast lane (I did ask around, though). Or maybe the hospital system seriously needs work. Or maybe it is just such a time and we have not recovered from the covid impact on medical system (I saw some doctors and nurses quit).

I know the doctors, nurses and hospital staff are working hard for what they are supposed to do and for what they can. I am not trying to be a Karen. But from the standpoint of a patient, there are improvements to be made.

What can I do to make improvements?

Science: Translational Advances in Cancer Prevention Agent Development (TACPAD) 2022 (9/7-9/2022)

Translational Advances in Cancer Prevention Agent Development (TACPAD) is a scientific meeting sponsored by the Division of Cancer Prevention, NCI (National Cancer Institute) and the Office of Disease Prevention, NIH (National Institutes of Health).

The three day virtual meeting presented talks from the researchers in the NCI cancer prevention group.



In recent years, the NCI cancer prevention program went through significant changes in its portfolio (i.e., what kind of research topic they fund and support). Notably, increase in immuno-oncological approaches to prevent cancers (with target-specific drug, vaccines [peptide, DNA], etc).

Reflecting the shift, many talks were about cancer vaccines targeting cancers in different organs (lung, colon, ovary, oral, pancreas, etc).

Yet, there also were more familiar topics; inflammation, target-specific drugs, and so on.



Many talks were about clinical trials, meaning that the cancer prevention approaches are moving from lab animals to the clinic. Some did not show good efficacy, others looked promising. We will see if they go up the ladder further.



Recent advancements in technology are also showing in the presentations. Data science approach is combined with model-based laboratory studies.



A thing about cancer prevention research is that we are dealing with generally healthy population even with a higher risk of developing cancer, instead of cancer patients with existing cancer.

Risk-return in clinic is assessed conservatively. Some approaches used in cancer therapy (an emergency situation) are (unfortunately?) not an option in prevention research with the fear of side effects, although they are proven effective on the specific cancer. An example is immune checkpoint inhibitor. There are many things to consider in translational science application to the public.



I saw cancer prevention research results steadily advancing toward clinical application. It is good.

 [TACPAD meeting webpage]

Science/Life: Professor M.H. retirement party; see your career from an end

Professor M.H is Professor in Cell biology department. She had been working on an enzyme related to liver cancer. 

She is wife of my postdoc-era boss. They are the reason somehow I came to OKC, and the first people I met in OKC. I was staying in their home for a few days before I found and settled in my apartment in this strange city.

Her retirement party was today. 

They came to this institute in 1999-2000. Her active tenure as professor encompasses 22-23 years.

There were speeches from her colleagues and herself. How one defines success in his/her life is his/her prerogative. But a Professor's main work are research, teaching, and administration. The speeches portrayed her accomplishments in each of these three categories. And the portrayal sounded good.

Sometimes it is good to think from the end (or an end). At the end of her tenure, her accomplishments in the 22-23 years were counted as tangible events. We should actively design our own events as well. Well, things do not go as planned in many occasions, but we should have vision for the future as a part of our own pursuit of happiness.

While seeing her retirement, in these days I am working on my career also. This is such a time to look back the past, and to work on the future with vision.

Dance: diagnostic tips to dance with salsa beginner-followers

No doubt, dancing with beginners is trickier than dancing with advanced/intermediate dancers.

Most social dancers start with salsa dancing. That also means, you'd encounter a lot of beginners in salsa/Latin socials in this back-to-school season.

I went to a Latin social full of beginners. 

I hope salsa instructors teach them soon enough. In the meantime, here are my tips to dance with beginner-followers.

On the social dance floor, I usually take a moment to assess her skill level. Pay attention to the following;

Before dancing

Is she wearing dance-appropriate shoes?

   Platform, rubber-sole, shaky high heels are causes of tripping or twisted ankle. Be extra careful to dance with her.

Her physique

   Is she tall, short, or in the middle? Looks heavy or light? Is she athletic, trained or untrained? Does she look like she can move? Dance is done with body as the tool, and this kind of initial body diagnostics is a part of social dance. But there is always a room for surprise.

Basic footwork

Is she doing basic steps?

    At least this much needs to be taught at first, before going on to the main floor.

Is she stepping on time?

    On 1 and On 2 are confusing. But at least, everyone should listen to the song and figure out the step timing and be consistent.

Does she have quick feet, or is she slow to respond? 

      How she moves is a big giveaway. If her feet are slow (as with many beginners), she can stumble easily. Be extra careful.

Attitude

Is she willing to dance?

Is she having fun, or nervous and stiff?

Is she willing to follow-and-dance?

    If not, I may just dance double solo. Still can be a good time.

Partner work

Can she follow cross body lead?  

      If so, that means she can match direct lead-input to her body frame to her footwork. A good start.

Does she have arm frame (not noodle arm)?

     A follower with noodle arm is unleadable with arm/hand input. You may need to stick with two persons solo dance or body lead.

Does she follow her hand?

     "Follow her hand" requires internal coordination in her body. Arm frame needs to be there, which also needs to be connected to body and her feet. You lead with your body and the energy flow goes through direct contact point(s), which is mostly your hand(s). Beginner followers may not know how to respond, and the response may be late or feel forced. In the case, that much is what you can now. Force it, and you may get elbowed unintentionally.

Can she do both inside spin and outside spin?

      Inside turn (she spins toward her centerline) and outside turn (she spins toward outside) have distinctive energy flow patterns. Inside turn is continuous, while outside turn has a moment of pause/pushback. Proper response requires proper frame.

    ***********************

I am happy if a beginner follower can do this much. At this stage, they might already be at an intermediate dancer-level. Social salsa is not complex or difficult to have fun.

Intermediate dancers can teach beginners. In fact, many of local social dance instructors are intermediate dancers. Nothing is wrong with it.

From "advanced" dancers, I want to see some "wow" factor, something to distinguish themselves. Advanced dancers need to present awesome dances that are inspiring, so that they make others want to dance like them.

That is my definition of "advanced" dancers. Have nothing to do with his/her contest points or data on CV, but just the convincing power of his/her dance here and now. The standard is high, but I can hope.

Everyone is a beginner at first. Is there anyone who becomes an advanced dancer among these new beginners? I wonder and hope.

PS  Maybe due to this late summer weather, I feel so sleepy recently. I may need to rest up. I even bought a bottle of melatonin and going to test it on myself. Will deep and fast sleep at night fix this sleepiness? N=1 experiment on me and I'll see the result soon.

     

Science: "Unlock Even More Possibilities with Single Cell Sequencing" core facility technology meeting

 Yesterday (8/11/22), our research core facility and "new" technology vendors (incl. 10X genomics, illumina) were setting up a 4-hour symposium, titled "Unlock Even More Possibilities with Single Cell Sequencing". 

These "new" technologies are combining sequencing and imaging (called "multi-omics with imaging"), providing us users a lot more data and information that were not obtainable before.

There are a few companies competing for this "multi-omics with imaging" niche. For researchers, "available options" in hand tend to prevail or get used. But it is helpful for us to know strengths and shortcomings of different technologies, companies, and platforms. 

From the standpoint of PI (Principal Investigator) or technology user, our initial questions for new technologies are actually quite simple, including;

   What can they do

   What question/hypothesis can they help us to answer

   Will they be advantageous in obtaining grants and writing a paper

   How much do they cost

   How much do I need to budget

   How much preparation, manpower or trouble to use them

   How much help can I get from the core and vendor to effectively use them

Guess these are quite simple "what's in it for me and for my science" questions and practical questions on implementation.

PIs' have different levels of liking for new technologies. Some are more innovator or early adaptor, others may be more like late majority. 

But, as science is "show and tell", in most cases "just do it" is the best approach.

I've used some new technologies, and also have wanted to use other new technologies. The thing is, the new assays may not come with great support for new users (they fix things while flying) and are usually expensive. 

When one experiment costs 10k+ dollars, we need to think seriously about the return/outcomes and actively look for the money. Although the outcomes would almost be guaranteed to be published or be useful in some ways, $10k+ is not cheap.

So I listened to the symposium. Presenters are from different corners of medical biology, but all were using the single cell sequencing technology. 

The differences in interests were intriguing. But what a technology can do is basically the same. I saw essentially the same kind of presentation over and over. Guess this experience did help me to familiarize myself to the technology.

As technologies advance fast, sometimes it is our understanding that lags behind. Big data reading and interpretation will be increasingly important in the near future.

Will software and AI cover us scientists (or even replace us)? For description and identification segments, it is likely. But we still have a room to contribute in interpretation-hypothesizing-testing segments.

How will the technologies evolve in next 10, 20 or 30 years, I wonder during the meeting. It is good to have time to think about future science.

Science: AAIC (Alzheimer's Association International Conference) 2022 (7/31-8/4/2022)

 Some years ago, a part of my research branched out from cancer to Alzheimer's disease. Last year I wrote a grant to fund the Alzheimer's disease related study. The "big" grant was not funded, but scored, which led to a small grant that allows us to "fix" the big grant and resubmit it.

So the Alzheimer's-related project continued. To familiarize myself to the broader Alzheimer's disease research field, I budgeted to attend AAIC 2022 conference in the small grant.

The AAIC is a major research conference for Alzheimer's disease research. Over years I've attended different meetings from different organizations; Cancer Research (ACS, AACR), Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Yeast biology, Cell Cycle conference, and so on. They came with different flavors and had different cultures. I was curious about the AAIC and Alzheimer's disease research.

Due to some delays in analysis with expensive new technology (we do not get a hang of it until we actually do it, don't we), we did not get to present results in the AAIC22 conference. Well, that is okay. We will know the results in a few weeks.

Anyhow, I signed up for the AAIC 2022 meeting online/virtual. The meeting itself was hybrid, offering actual meeting in San Diego with an option to watch symposiums and posters online.

To be honest, in covid time I've come to like virtual conference. Apparently I am not very fond of business travels. I am fine with attending sessions while sipping tea in my office. Virtual meeting cost much less, too ($250 to be exact).

The sessions were quite interesting. There were a lot of talks on immunological aspects in Alzheimer's disease development. Disease disparity (e.g., racial differences in clinical trials) appeared to be a hot topic.

Yet, the conference gave me an impression that how incomplete our understanding on Alzheimer's disease still is.

I may be speaking from the standard of cancer research, where the major frames of understanding seem to have been already established, much better than those for Alzheimer's.

In other words, there is still so much work to do in Alzheimer's disease research field.

For example, for cancers, personalized medicine approach has increasingly become common. Clinician colleagues discuss treatment strategy based on test results of genomic mutations from each patient's cancer.

In AAIC22, there were talks about different types of Alzheimer's. But molecular signatures for each type are vague, and treatments for the different types are yet to be elucidated.

As our methodologies are rapidly advancing and clinical/disease data keep piling up, I'd imagine, 10-20 years from now, AAIC would look quite different. They may be talking about Alzheimer's disease subtypes and causes, and treatment or prevention options for each subtype. Current therapies of 2022 would be obsolete and things of the past.

As a "newcomer", I do not have much emotional investment in current treatment strategies. I am fine if current treatments become obsolete. They have not shown great efficacies anyway.

Clearly there are unmet needs in current medical practices in Alzheimer's disease. 

How can we address them?

Bottom line. We do not have effective therapies for Alzheimer's disease as of 2022. That makes now an interesting time for scientists.

[AAIC22 virtual conference landing page, boasting nearly 9,000 attendants]

Dance: Wild Wild Westie (W3) 2022; brief introduction to WCS events; raw energy of social dance

 Wild Wild Westie (W3) is a West Coast Swing (WCS) event in Dallas, held on July 4th weekend since 2012.

Holding a national-level dance event is a lot of work for organizers; inviting traveling pros as judges and/or as performers/teachers/MCs/DJs, booking hotel with big dance floor(s), mobilizing not a small number of volunteer staff, and above all, needing to attract dancers, so that the event can go on financially. 

In Texas in 2000's, there were big WCS events like Americas Classic in Houston (January) and Dallas Dance in Dallas (Labor Day). They both went belly up in 2010's. No jinxing. 

The W3 basically replaced those events in 2010's, along with Novice Invitational in March.

In 2020-2021, covid shut down all dance events. West Coast Swing communities in this region also took hit from covid. Currently in mid 2022, WCS communities are more or less in recovery phase. 

I had not been to big (3+ days) WCS event for a long time.  As life threat of covid is reduced with vaccination and improvements in other treatments, I felt like going to a big WCS event. I love this dance after all. So I made this July 4th weekend a mini dance vacation. 

I left OKC on Saturday, drove 4 hours, got tested for covid (this event is a covid testing event with vaccine requirement), joined the event in the evening for watching competitions/shows and late night social dance. I spent Sunday for the same, then came back on Monday July 4th. Glad to see familiar faces and to meet new people.

What you see in WCS event:

Big WCS events are usually structured like this; they have leveled competitions for novice (meaning WCS competition novice, not total beginners), intermediate/advanced, and champions. These categories are defined by points each dancer accumulates in WCS contests. Winning/higher placements gives you more points at a time. Levels are aligned from amateur contests to more interesting/show-worthy contests. 

The point system is not exactly the ideal system, as it assumes dancers' current levels are proportional to points (it is not. But it may make sense to encourage personal engagement and growth). As such, point system can work as a barrier to established dancers like professional dancers in other dances. But a better system is hard to find.  

To some, WCS points are brownie points. To others, the points are tangible awards for their efforts, sum of good memories, and/or something that may come with perks. 

If you are committing to WCS contests, read the rules, practice the dance and sign up.

I digress. Competition categories include Jack and Jill, Strictly Swing, Pro-Am, and Routine ("Classic" and "Showcase" defined by lifts/drops/non-swing dance moves allowance). They are also categorized by dancers ages, from junior to sophisticated (age 35+) and masters (+50).

In addition, there are workshops and classes. They can teach many subjects; patterns, drills, contest mindsets, choreographed moves, connection, etc.

And social dances in between the contests and in late night. This social dance hours are for all, both for active contestants and for "just dance and have fun" people, who may or may not be former contestants or otherwise very good dancers. 

Good thing about social dance is that people don't care about titles. Sure, the way they dance gives away who are (likely) pros and who are not. But asking dance is a lot simpler in WCS than, say, Cabeceo ritual of Tango.

Now, a note on dance levels. I am talking from a spectator's standpoint here.

Some dances are clearly divided to (a) stage dance by pros and to (b) dance by amateurs, like ballet, jazz/contemporary, and ballroom. Pro performers in these dances are (or they better be), convincingly professional performers, even to layman's eyes. These stage dancers with "trained" look make Broadway shows and National TV-level stage shows.

Argentine Tango and WCS were born from social dance. In 110+ years of history, AT went through this pro/am separation. Someone in a book "Tango Tips" described stage AT performance as "professional deformation". I laughed, but true, what pros do on stage shows is so far apart from the hug and walk, what social Tango dancers do on social dance floor.

WCS is younger and is still going through this pro-am separation. Some (few) dancers are polished to the level of Broadway shows. Most are not.

"Most are not", but in general, followers (usually women) are better dancers in WCS, same with Argentine Tango. 

Perhaps it is due to the differences in the lead/follow roles. Leaders' primary job is support, then lead, then dance and look good, in this order. Refining dances and becoming appealing dancers are late in the agenda for leaders. Alpha-male type dancer-leader are rare and far in between.

Followers' primary job is to "follow and dance and look good", at the same time. In contests, they hardly survive without some form of appeal. They are better, because the selection is tougher? Maybe.

As followers are better dancers, it can show in the dance. Sometimes it looks like "one-woman show", when follower being strong dancer and the lead focusing on his support role. Each couple, especially leader, needs to think how they can create nice dance. 

Note on Lead and Follow roles:

Which is tougher, follow or lead? It is up to you to decide. And you can literally decide after you try them both. In the W3, there were lots of dancers with "switch roles", and even a class for that. I usually lead, but can follow and dance. I can tell you, following is lots of physical work, as the main "moving parts" is the follower in WCS. 

After all, WCS is a swing dance, and swing motion has both slow and fast aspects. WCS dancers usually use "slow" time for anchor and play, and use "fast" time for smooth moving to create the mix of slow/fast (swing) motions. Leader tends to stay in the middle playing the role of support and visual center point, and follower moves around like the swinging seat.

Speaking of physical work, in fact, you can see much faster speed of energy flow in higher level WCS dancers than, say, novice and masters. Having quick feet and fast response time is an indicator as advanced (or younger) WCS dancers. There is no immediate cure to fix immobile or all slow follower in WCS. Overall smoothness and the swing motion cannot be achieved without both partners bringing knowledge and physical ability to the dance floor. 

On social dance:

I did late night dance for two nights (seriously, after such a long time). I do not always like late night dance, because in late night dance people tend to lose concentration and go to autopilot mode. Crèche moves with overactive frame can be the norm.

But the late night dance floor was filled with raw energy. After these years including covid. What fun it was.

I did lots of watching as well. The social dance may not always look polished. But who cares. Something interesting is coming out of all these energy and experiments. WCS is alive and well there. I love it.

I hope WCS communities come back from covid disruption soon, safe and sound.

PS  Covid variant is on the rise again and there were reports of tested-positive at the event. They went to immediate quarantine and masking. I checked myself yesterday and was negative. We'd have to deal with covid like this for some time.

Science: "Cancer disappeared!" news on early June 2022 (cancer journal club in the lab)

 A few weeks ago, many major news outlets reported this news, sensationally titled "cancer disappeared!".

The news was based on a report on New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), published on 6/5/2022. The journal is highly regarded.

Link to the paper.  https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2201445

We picked up the paper for our journal club in the lab.

Background. 

(a) Immunotherapy reagent (PD1 blocker) has shown success in various cancers, including metastatic (stage 4) colorectal cancer. 

(b) PD1 blocker indicated particularly good efficacy on a subset of cancers with mismatch-repair deficient characteristic.

(c) Standard colorectal cancer therapy is initial treatment with chemotherapy drugs (combination of DNA damaging drugs such as fluoropyrimidine and platinum compound oxaliplatin), followed by chemoradio therapy then surgery. 

(d) But the response rate for the standard therapy is up to 25%. The current therapy comes with complications, toxicity and fertility challenge. Much to be desired.

In the report, the group in Sloan Kettering Memorial Cancer Center hypothesized that single reagent PD1 blocker could be effective in patients with mismatch-repair deficient, localized (stage 2 and 3) rectal cancers.

They enrolled 16 patients with mismatch repair-deficient rectal cancer and stated treatment with PD1 blocker every 3 weeks for 6 months.

 In the planning, (Plan A) if the single drug treatment work, no chemo or surgery, and (Plan B) the PD1 blocker treatment should be followed by chemoradiotherapy then surgery (=standard therapy).

They monitored the cancer at the start, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. 

Amazingly, the cancer literally "disappeared" in 100% of 12 patients who went through the 6 months treatment of PD1 blocker. 

In all clinical monitoring parameters (imaging analyses with MRI, PET, endoscopy, digital examination, histopathological analyses on biopsy samples), rectal cancers were not seen. They did not even have to pull out the Plan B/follow up with chemoradio therapy then surgery.

If we point out something cautionary and less rosy, 

(i) mismatch repair-deficient colorectal cancers are about 5-10% of colorectal cancers. 

(ii) This is a phase2 trial with small size of white patients in single institute. 

(iii) If the cancer ever comes back or not in a long term remains to be seen.

(iv) They did not talk about the cost, but PD1 blockers are not cheap. 

Yet, the way cancer disappeared with only mild to moderate side effects if any was indeed newsworthy.

Cancer is a collection of many diseases. They reported a very effective way to deal with mismatch repair-deficient, stage 2/3 rectal cancers. Highly promising.

Cancer is "cured" like this. You can call it a trench warfare. By conquering one type of cancer at a time, we'd eventually have effective ways to "cure" many other types of cancers.

[For non-medical practitioners. gross alert]

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[Figure 1A from the paper. An example of "cancer disappearance" over time]