Christmas Holidays

It’s the holidays and it has been a little over week since my graduation. It’s still snowing ‘proper’ snow, which is fine because I have nowhere I really need to be and it is nice just to be able to sit back, relax and watch the snow fall. I hired out my gown for an extra week so that we could take some family pictures in a studio but I soon realised that with the run up to Christmas, most people had hired studios to take family portraits and so our choice of studies was limited. Luckily my uncle (nasir chachu) has a photo studio and thankfully he was available which is great as I running out of time to return my gown.

Advantages of using services provided by family members. You feel much more at ease and in the case of photo’s we took quite a few because a) I blinked quite a lot at the wrong times apparently and b) Dad and Bilal are such posers who were only further encouraged by Nasir chachu, lol. Saeed mamoo and auntie Naseem were also out and about in Leeds shopping and popped in to see how we were getting on. The only disadvantage for using family I would say, are that they don’t let you pay and therefore I feel even worse for taking up so much of their time!

The photo’s that chachu took came out really well (mA) and even my official single portrait from Manchester University was good… well looking at the proofs, I still have to order the real thing. All in all, the day went well and I enjoyed being with my family. The hols were spent at home with my family, watching stuff on TV until the post office opened up again allowing me to post my gown back to the company and breathe a sigh of relief that everything went well.

Returning my gown - I particularly like the tag where it orders me to not to leave the country with the gown. Um... ok, I'll try not to :P

Unfortunately we didn’t have a big family Christmas dinner this year as the Ali family were in Pakistan and as soon as they get back, Auntie Naseem is jetting off to Pakistan for two weeks. It feels a bit like a relay race to and from Pakistan at the moment, lol. Therefore not an ideal time to have a graduation party and I’m afraid my cousin Sara will have to wait a little bit longer. Bilal’s birthday is soon approaching so hopefully we’ll have a combined party then when everyone is back from their holidays and free from exams and what not.

In other news, I am still LOVING the snow! Snowman building has been rife in our area and even my mum couldn’t resist having a go, lol. Pictures of a couple of our attempts are shown below. There is something about fresh snow and Christmas that goes so well together and we haven’t had much of it these past few years. Definitely a welcome change and we’ll enjoy it as long as we can :)

Exhibit A is mum's attempt and exhibit B is Bilal's attempt :)

Unfortunately we think mum's snowman has been going out secretly partying at night. We found him the next morning a little worse for wear, legless shall we say? ;) Legless, geddit? No? Ok, well I found it funny!

Bilal felt it was right to read a janazah for mum's snowman. Talk about getting easily attached!

David Tennant

He may be leaving Dr Who, but I love the fact that David Tennant seems to be everywhere on TV this Christmas season. It is like his final farewell... except he’ll still be around doing other stuff that is NOT Dr Who related.

So the places I spotted DT...

• In the BBC ‘promo slots’ between programmes (promoting Dr Who of course). The TARDIS, DT, the reindeer – love the Christmassy feel of it all.
• As a presenter on ‘Never mind the Buzzcocks’ along with his fellow actors Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins as team members. Laughed non-stop throughout the programme.
• As the (Scottish) ghost of Christmas present in the Catherine Tate show. A hilariously effeminate portrayal that reminded me of Russell Brand.
• His first appearance as a panellist for the quiz show QI. I liked the banter between him Bill Bailey; a little silly at times but that is what the holidays are about – having a laugh with your mates. Also he looked rather handsome in his maroon velvet suit (biased I know!).
• As a guest on ‘The Graham Norton show’. Aah, you just have to watch the clip, lol
• In the BBC’s adaptation of Hamlet where David Tennant starred as Hamlet himself. Not something I often watch but I’m glad I did as I thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially liked Patrick Stewart portrayal of Hamlet’s uncle Claudius was another role that really stood out.
• Whilst randomly flicking across channels, I came across the Cbeebies channel where lo and behold David Tennant was reading Bedtime stories.
• And of course Dr Who; in his final episodes!!!

Whilst some papers just listed the different programmes he was due to appear on, others (here and here) felt that the BBC was overdosing it’s viewers with numerous DT appearances. Keeping my bias aside (I’m trying, honest!) I say let David Tennant have his time. I mean after all, how many times do you get to become the Doctor? It is such an iconic role. As for me I’m eagerly awaiting the second part of the final Dr Who episode of this series. Excited to see what happens next and yet at the same time saddened knowing that this will be the last time DT will take up his role of the doctor :(

Some serious organising skills

There’s being organised and then there is this…

Tom's Christmas Lunch

Definitely overkill but funny all the same. It’s puts my minor OCD in the shade, that’s for sure :P

Graduation day

So the day finally arrived. A year of meticulous preparation/planning, many applications, plenty of hard work and even a good dose of panic at times… after all that and more; I am pleased to say that I have successfully complete my MSc with the additional accolade of securing the position of the student with the highest marks within my medical year. It sounds sort of weird but I felt that everything in my life was linked to Aishi, which is true to a certain extent. I also felt that everything good that had happened was because she was with me. She was like my good luck charm and with her gone, I thought everything would come crashing down around my ears. It was a relief when that did not happen and in my mind I still feel that wherever Aishi is, she’s still looking down from above, praying and looking out for us (iA). So yes I am pleased that I was fortunate enough to reach such a level but someone who is doubly thrilled is my mother who has had a huge smile on her face (mA) since the day my marks were released. I’m pleased with my marks but I’m more pleased with fact that my mum is happy and that I am the reason for her happiness and she’s proud of me. Um, does that make sense? Lol.

On graduation day, my ceremony was a morning one, which normally would have been fine except this time, there were a number of reasons which would make it more difficult…

a) I had stayed up late last night making sure everything was ready i.e. everyone’s outfits ironed, tickets were printed etc, which is why I was a bit low on sleep. But not to worry though as the adrenaline soon kicked in!

b) Dad decided he was going to nip into work before heading over to the university, which meant that I would have to print off instructions for him. And because I was travelling in earlier I wouldn’t physically be in the car with him therefore I KNOW to except phone calls everything 15 to 20 minutes from dad informing me he was either lost or late.

c) The car journey from Yorkshire to Manchester with my mum and brother, at peak rush hour. I hate traffic plus Bilal took longer than I did getting ready (!) and because it was absolutely freezing, my car decided it would take longer to heat up. Grrr!

Despite all that, I still made it to Manchester University on time and went straight to the robing room with my mum and Bilal in tow. After making sure everything fit (my cap always feels really weird as I often think it’s about to fall off!), I took mum and Billy over to the Whitworth Hall, which was only a short walk across Oxford Road.

As you can see Whitworth Hall is a fantastic looking building

It was absolutely freezing today and as it was my graduation day I had decided that sense of style ranked higher than practical clothing. Therefore I had a smart but thin trouser suit on (which is why I was dangerously close to hypothermia!) and a lovely pair of court shoes that weren’t really made for running (or walking for that matter :P). But you know it was big day for me and I wanted to make an effort, plus once I had my gown on (thank god!) I didn’t feel as cold. Honest! Lol.

The entrance for the graduating students, where some ceremony took place before we were let in. Plus the inside of the hall is pretty spectacular too :)

After queuing up outside for what felt like an eternity, the graduating students (graduands?) were allowed into the main hall and directed to our seats. Flipping through the programmes that were on our seats, I noticed that that they were very few medics in this ceremony and soon realised we had been split into two separate batches as they were that many of us graduating. Also the ceremony that was due to start at 10.30am was delayed – a good thing for my family as it meant that my dad who was significantly late was still allowed to enter the hall. The ceremony went well (see me at [time] in this video link) and thankfully I didn’t trip up at any point – (it’s an insane fear of mine!). After the ceremony and exiting through different doors, I went to join my parents and was pleasantly surprised to find my supervisor and her post doc; Zareen, had also attended my graduation. I took a few photo’s with Maureen and Zareen and they had a little chat with my parents and cooed over what a cute boy Billy was. Ah, if only they knew him better, lol. I also met up with Chris (my fellow sidekick during my hospital placement :)), took a few pictures with Dad (who had to go to work soon after) and then I went to get some paperwork sorted whilst my family sat and chatted in Muse Cafe. I joined Bilal and mum afterwards. We took some more pictures outside and then we headed home as it was freezing!!!

Cafe Muse provided my parents with their much needed cup of tea :)

On our way home, Bilal decided he wanted to celebrate the occasion further by going out to eat, however mum didn’t feel right as Dad was at work and not able to make it. After a bit of discussion we ended up at Mumtaz and got table by the window. It was a lovely to be able to take my mum somewhere nice where she could sit and relax whilst someone else tended to her. We placed out orders and whilst waiting for the food to arrive, we saw the first few flakes of snow fall. Strangely the road outside the restaurant was rather quiet as opposed to the usual hustle and bustle we had become accustomed to in this part of town. Bilal started to panic about getting home as he felt that because my car wasn’t a huge 4X4, we would end up stranded on our way home. I tried explaining that this was highly unlikely but Billy wouldn’t have any of it and even wanted to cancel our food order. FYI, if Bilal ever rejects the opportunity to have food, you know something is seriously wrong. Mum thankfully calmed him down and they resumed their chitchat whilst I turned my attention back to the window.

From the welcome warmth of restaurant, I watched as the brilliant white flakes of snow fell against a perfect backdrop of the inky blue evening sky. I’m not an overly soppy person but it just was so beautiful. It was mesmerising watching the flecks of pure white float gracefully towards the ground. Slow at first but soon picking up the pace, the snowflakes were falling thick and fast, arranging themselves together to form a faultless white layer over everything in sight. The area surrounding the restaurant was definitely no countryside picture, but the deserted street coupled with the fresh snowfall and the dark navy sky managed to make the area outside the restaurant look picture perfect.

Our driveway being covered snow... and it's sticking! Yay!

The remainder of the evening was spent teasing Bilal, chatting with mum and enjoying our meal. Eventually we made our way home safely despite Bilal’s dire predictions (!) and I’m currently sat at my bedroom window watching the snow fall which hasn’t let up since we arrived home. The back garden is now covered a thick blanket of snow, as is the driveway and it seems a shame to disturb it at all. But it inevitably will be as everyone rushes around trying to get jobs done before the Christmas winding down begins. Hmm, looks like it will be white Christmas this year after all :)

The last login

The last time I will ever log into my Manchester University account. I don't why I felt the need to share this, but I just did :)

Besides I think I left just in time. They've changed the portal colours from a nice blue to shocking pink. Not my colour really to be honest, more Sara or Iram's thing really ;)

Phew! I have no outstanding loans/fines or books borrowed. No more modules that require me to enrol and my exam timetable cheerfully announces that all exams are now finished :D

Sweden ban and niqab ban

Why is there such uproar about the Minaret ban in Sweden? I don’t understand why people can’t grasp why this IS (probably) a good idea for Sweden. I mean how would you feel if people started building numerous churches, temples and synagogues in a country that is primarily Muslim? Not so nice when the situation is reversed is it? And besides can I just point out a few things… firstly, Sweden hasn’t placed a ban on building actual masjid’s, just the minarets that accompany them. And secondly and probably the most important point of all in my opinion… Sweden is NOT a Muslim country and therefore we should respect their views. Yet when you do try and explain this to someone else, you get accused of not being a ‘good’ Muslim!

Whilst we’re on the topic of bans, what about France and the furore over the niqaab worn by Muslim women. Again I agree with France to some extent. France is NOT a Muslim therefore we must learn to respect their views. Also in this current climate of terrorism, people are very frightened therefore it is easy to see why people may be wary of someone in a full niqaab (where only their eyes are showing). The whole point of the niqaab/ hijab is to preserve your modesty and not draw attention to yourself and yet nowadays, the total opposite occurs. As a Muslim girl, I often find myself paying more attention to ladies that choose to wear a full niqaab and yet I feel differently about the hijab as you are still observing your faith but at the same time your face is visible. I do not agree with is the treatment of those women who have chosen to wear the hijab, have endured. No one has the right to degraded other people like that. I find hijab’s acceptable and don’t see why they should be banned. So in conclusion; Niqaabs - no, Hijabs - yes. Simples.

Which brings me another topic (What? I’m on a roll, lol) about females and appropriate Islamic dress. Introducing the Islam friendly swimsuit...

I’m not sure what you all think, but oh my god! Why would you choose to wear that?! Seriously if I had to wear that, I’d rather just give up swimming, lol. If you are that desperate to swim. I am pretty sure that there are ‘ladies only’ swimming classes held in most swimming facilities. Besides, wearing that would surely just draw more attention to yourself? Yet at the same time I don’t think the French need to ban it, I mean whatever happened to personal freedom?

Depressing times...

Seriously how much bad luck can you get? I'm guessing Gordon Brown is probably feeling the same!

Stem cells; from the beginning – yes? (Part 2)

Stem cells are unique in that they are unspecialised (blank cells if you like) and are able to proliferate which simply means that they can multiply and make exact copies of themselves. Stem cells are also pluripotent meaning that they have the potential to become any type of adult cell and this process of specialisation is known as differentiation. Stem cells can differentiate into one of three types which are collectively known as the germ layers. The three types are as follows;

Ectoderm – The outer layer. Gives rise to the epidermis (skin), hair, pigment cells, central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), sensory neurons and facial bones/tissues.

Mesoderm – The middle layer. Gives rise to the circulatory system (heart, blood and vessels), kidneys, gonads (ovaries/testes), muscle, bone and connective tissue.
Endoderm – The inner layer. Gives rise to lungs, thyroid and digestive organs i.e. stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas etc.

The diagram below illustrates the process of how stem cells are produced.

The maturation of stem cells

After conception, a tiny cluster of cells is formed which is called a blastocyst aka outer layer trophoblast. Stem cells can be derived from one of the following four origins.

Embryonic – cells are taken from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst.
Fetal – the embryo changes into a fetus and cells are extracted at the fetus stage.

Cord Blood – Cells are taken from the umbilical cord and placenta after birth.

Adult – cells are taken from adult tissues and are found in a variety of locations such as; brain, eyes, liver, skin, muscle, bone marrow and blood (see diagram below). Research into other possible sources of adult stem cells is still ongoing.

On second thoughts, the stages of maturation may be a more appropriate description of where/how stem cells can be derived. And herein lies the crux of problem; the reason why stem cells cause so much uproar in the media…

The main focus of protestors is the use of embryonic stem cells. In order to obtain embryonic stem cells, the human embryo has to be destroyed. As the embryo is classed as a human being, the destruction of the embryo amounts to murder, which is morally wrong. Furthermore manipulation of embryos could lead to reproductive cloning which in turn would to human life being devalued.

The utilitarian argument is that it is not fair to assume that embryo’s have an equal value as human life as they cannot survive independently outside the womb. In the natural female cycle, a lot of zygotes do not get implanted in the womb and are lost due to natural causes. Therefore rationally it is fair to say that a lot more embryos are lost naturally as opposed to the number of embryo’s that are used in research. Also as the embryos have no distinguishable organs, this means that they are no more human than a skin cell and should not be treated any differently. So there you have both sides of the argument, but where does that leave us in practical terms?

Please note that reproductive cloning is a different issue compared to therapeutic cloning i.e. developing therapies for diseases – think Dolly the sheep.

• Therapeutic cloning – adult cells for use in medicine and is an active area of research (see diagram below)
• Reproductive cloning – Involves making cloned humans
• Replacement cloning – theoretical possibility; combines therapeutic and reproductive cloning. It would entail the replacement of an extensively damaged and failing body via cloning followed by whole or partial brain transplant.

Embryo research in Britain is controlled by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Agency (HFEA). Although there are no laws at present to stop human cloning, the manipulation of embryos does require a licence that has to be issued by the HFEA and the UK government are also looking into bringing in legislation to make human cloning illegal for reproductive purposes.

State of affairs to date in the UK

Quoted from Wikipedia:

On 14 January 2001 the British government passed the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001 to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 by extending allowable reasons for embryo research to permit research around stem cells and cell nuclear replacement, thus allowing therapeutic cloning. However, on 15 November 2001, a pro-life group won a High Court legal challenge, which struck down the regulation and effectively left all forms of cloning unregulated in the UK. Their hope was that Parliament would fill this gap by passing prohibitive legislation. Parliament was quick to pass Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 which explicitly prohibited reproductive cloning. The remaining gap with regard to therapeutic cloning was closed when the appeals courts reversed the previous decision of the High Court.

The first licence was granted on August 11, 2004 to researchers at the University of Newcastle to allow them to investigate treatments for diabetes, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, a major review of fertility legislation, repealed the 2001 Cloning Act by making amendments of similar effect to the 1990 Act. The 2008 Act also allows experiments on hybrid human-animal embryos.

 Places where cloning is illegal:

• In Germany, for example, all embryo research is banned. Any attempt to clone a human would therefore be outlawed.

• Legislation is already in place that would prevent human cloning in Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and most of Europe and Australia.

• Guidelines are in place in Argentina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Singapore and Korea.

• In the United States, there is no federal law specifically banning human cloning but some states, such as Michigan, have civil controls.

So which countries completely outlaw human cloning at this moment in time. Well it is a little confusing but I would think the answer quiet simply is none of them and what we really need is for all the countries to get together and produce an international set of rules that are applicable to all countries.

Stem cells; from the beginning – yes? (Part 1)

Transplants have been and still are a huge step forward in the improving the lives of people via surgery, but that’s only just the surface of it. The future now seems to be growing body parts and organs that are tailor made for the patient. This in turn would decrease the risk of rejection plus the patients would not have to take immunosuppressants for the rest of their lives, which inevitably weakens their immune system.

Bearing in mind that a lot of time, effort and money is required for further research, it seems that stem cells are a promising way forward, allowing the regeneration of the patient’s own bone and tissue either within their own bodies or within a lab environment and the transplanted.

An exciting new field it may be, however along with its’ vast treatment potential, stem cells also seem to bring about a lot of controversy; politicians, government, the public, even scientists themselves. Furthermore the media have this amazing ability to take something completely out of context and misrepresent it to the general public making the topic seem either very confusing or poorly/wrongly understood.

In one of my previous posts (on curing baldness) a lot of people seemed confused by the topic of stem cells and I ended up emailing them to explain certain details/concepts further (not that I am an expert in any way but I just have a general interest in the area).

I wanted to write a new blog post on some upcoming research but realised that it probably won’t make much sense unless I explain the basics first. My problem is I’m not sure where to start. If I was teaching a tutorial, basics principles for scientists would lead to talks on cell ultra structure and culturing methods etc. I’m pretty sure that’s NOT what we’re aiming for here. Well not yet anyway. It reminds me of what a professor once said to me – ‘Simplicity is key. Enquiring minds will follow, just believe in yourself’. Imagine a yoda-esque glow around him if you will :P

So this is my attempt at explaining the basics... :)

Stem cells – update

A further update on upcoming stem cell research:

Ethical stem cells approved - 2nd December 2009

Firstly the USA approved ethical stem cells – great news. They have proper guidelines to stick too, no gray areas, which makes conducting research a lot easier. I mean there will always be protestor’s, but then it would feel rather odd if there weren’t any! :)

The stem cell boob job - 26 November 2009

The stem cell boob job involves taking fat from your thighs to boost your bust, which sounds like every women's dream. Probably not considered a major life saving health intervention but for every medical advance there is usually a cosmetic process that also reaps the rewards; some good and some bad.

Part of me feels this process is safer compared to silicone implants, which are basically an unnatural foreign material being inserted into your body. Plus there are the dangers of the material leaking and causing unwanted chemical and immune reactions. But there are some issues with this new process i.e. is it safe? Does it work? Stem cells also run the risk of genetic changes, which may be detrimental and possibly permanent in the long term. There are always pros and cons; an element of risk for every procedure; cosmetic or otherwise. I suppose we should all be thankful for what we have and how we are but if someone is really that desperate to change something about them, then it goes without saying that every process should be well thought out and researched before signing up for it.

Japanese nail show

Whilst scanning the newspaper, these pictures caught my eye and well, what can I say? Some amazingly intricate and creative designs created by a fantastically talented group of people. I would definitely class this as a work of art :)

Location: Tokyo Nail Expo in Japan.

More pictures and information can be found here and here.

It’s all in your head…

It is stuff like this that makes me think that I am slowly turning into a hypochondriac. As you learn all the theory of the human body, you find yourself mentally ticking symptoms that you might have and possibly diagnosing others around you. Some people do become quite paranoid about this kind stuff and usually in ends up being nothing, which is great news.

I saw seven different GP’s and only one spotted my brain tumour - 24 November 2009

And yet when you hear stories like the one shown above, you can’t help but go into panic mode all over again. Can you even imagine being in that woman’s place, I means she saw seven different GP’s and yet not getting any closer to finding out what was wrong! And then to find out you have brain a tumour… I mean that is as big as it gets in terms of major illnesses! Those kind of stories strike fear into your heart and I hope no one ever has to go through that kind of ordeal. Or be turned away and told that you’re imagining it and then to only go and find out something is really wrong.

With regards to doctor’s who say that their patients imagine their symptoms, it reminds me of this rather weird story*. Most of us know about phantom limb pain – common phenomenon where people with missing limbs often state that they are still able to feel the limb even though it is no longer there. Previously it was assumed that this condition only existed in the patients and that it was all psychological changes with no physiological basis. However doctors have discovered in one particular women how it actually cause physical changes in her as the doctor’s can actually observe distinct biochemical and neurological changes in her via MRI scans etc. How weird is that?

*The date of the article was 1st April... I wonder if it was an April Fool's joke :P

Eid ul Adha

Eid namaz at Shahkotla Majid

Eid-ul-Adha marks the end of Hajj – the holy pilgrimage made by Muslims to the city of Makkah or Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

What an amazing feeling it must be to perform Hajj! I hope one day I get to go to this special with all my family (iA), but until that day I shall make do with watching other people’s video’s/ documentaries, which where I came across a particular clip. I honestly never knew you could go inside the Kabah! I mean I’m pretty sure not anyone can gain access but the fact that some people can actually go inside amazes me. Well, you learn something new everyday :)

Anyhow hope you have a lovely time with all your families and wishing everyone Eid Mubarak in advance :)

Twitter – lists, retweet function???

Lately Twitter have been adding new features etc and only been piloting them on a small beta test group. This feels slightly odd, I mean why the secrecy? Hmm... Twitter lists – personally I like this feature. Lists are great! Did I, err, mention that I like organising stuff? ;P Retweet – initially I thought this was good but I’ve quickly realised that if I do retweet someone else’s tweet, I cannot add my own comments with it at the same time. This is a little annoying so twitter please can you fix this?

Seasame Street

Woowoo!!! It's the 40th anniversary of the children's programme - Sesame Street.

I remember during my initial years at primary school, I religiously used to watch the programme during lunchtimes at home. And everyone had different favourites, even between my sister and I. Aisha loved 'Big bird', 'Count von count' and the 'Cookie monster'. I, on the other hand liked 'Elmo' (the cute one), 'Groucho' (the grumpy one) and 'Bernie and Ernie' (my first real taste of sarcasm).

My attempt at collecting all the different doodles together that were produced by Google all week long to commemorate the occasion.

Someone at in the department actually made some little cupcakes that kinda similar to the one shown below! The effort/dedication required to make all those cakes! Also how obsessed was the person with Sesame Street? I have to say the cakes were really delicious though :)



Just as an aside, the last cartoon reminds me of someone I worked with at a previous hospital department :P

Medicine and Health Conference

The first conference of the new academic year; held at Weetwood hall, which is a beautiful place. I wanted to wander around the grounds after the conference to wind down and take some snaps. But unfortunately the weather had others ideas as it was freezing and beginning to rain :( The conference itself was very interesting and the research was divided into either clinical, lab based or health interventions. The poster room was slightly cramped but I still made my way around the room and catch a glimpse of all of them. Point to note – I’m pretty sure that at conferences etc, all posters are suppose to be a standard size, but in this case the sizes varied wildly starting from the usual A1 size right to an A4 poster. Some huge were but very simplistic and easy to follow whilst others were much smaller but crammed with so much text that it made your eyes hurt. I can understand people wanting to get across as much of their information as possible but sometimes you just need to know when to stop.

In terms of the oral presentations on the day, despite being on the clinical team, I enjoyed all of them equally. More to the point I understood most of them but whilst talking to people during breaks I was surprised at how many people were confused by say the lab based talks. A bit worrying seen as the room was full of medics or medical researchers. Actually to be honest, towards the end of the day I started drifted off a little bit on certain topics such as genetics – something you do need to be alert for. I did feel bad about it but to fair it had been a long day. Another thing that surprised me was that this conference was suppose to be a way for the junior medics/researchers to get some conference practice and therefore it was very informal to put everyone as ease. Some audience members however took the whole thing very seriously and completely laid into the presenters during question time. I felt this was very unfair as it was hardly helping to build up their confidence. Other conferences in the future will be much tougher and more critical of their work which is why this conference was meant to be an ‘easy one’ – one where they could get some practice and gain some confidence. So I say shame on the meaner audience members.
Anyway to conclude, we had to pick three posters/ talks each for the prize session at the end. Below is a selection of the topics that I found interesting and voted for as the best in my opinion.

POSTERS:
1) Gwen Powel – “Lives not worth living”: an exploration of how healthcare professionals make decisions about serious handicap. #3
A model that describes how medics make life and death decisions. Very intesreting talk by the researcher.
2) Jayne Hutchinson – Do women who take supplements have a greater risk of cancer? #23 *
Clear easy to follow poster and an interesting hypothesis.
3) Nicola Kingswell – Mend your own teeth. #32 *
Development of a protein paint that can applied to a patients tooth which in turn stimulates replacement/growth and the build of healthy enamel.

TALKS:
1) Juile Burke – Injectable, biomimetic self-assembling peptides for skeletal tissue engineering. #7 *
A fun, lively and engaging talk on some very promising research.
2) Huiru Zou – Switching on dental pulp stem cells to rebuild teeth. #12 *
Using pulp cells to rebuild teeth naturally.
3) Yamuna Mohanram – Can dental pulp stromal cells repair bone under favourable microenvironments? #13
Using the pulp cells to stimulate and provide material for the growth of other bones.

All in all an interesting conference where much was learnt, well for me anyway.

* Indicates some of actual prize winners on the day. And yes the dentistry group are a pretty sly bunch :P

And so it begins...

Another year :) It's only been a month and I'm already amassing a collection of manuals, handbooks, readings lists and so forth .

Samia - who is Samia? I think you'll find it's SAIMA! :P

Honestly I'm not having a rant but personally, I reckon my name is pretty easy to remember. Part of me loves the different versions of my name (in terms of spelling/pronouncation) that people come up with; it makes for an interesting conversation. Just for future reference people, Saima/Sam/Simi/Saims is fine, Samantha/Susan is pushing it, Simon is a huge no, no. Are we all good now? lol :)

The best days of my life - I totally agree! :D
I can't decide whether the new uni logo (on the white envelope) looks better or the old one (on the brown envelope)?Caught unprepared on a visit to the library resulted in me having to get a library bag... in neon green! lol. And I had to pay... :(

Also it seems that the postgraduate society is keen to play matchmaker with fellow medics in the faculty. Here are a few excepts from some Facebook emails that I received, lol
Email 1:
We now have over 80 members, and are excited about the events to come! Which brings me to item 2: our next event, a Speed Dating/Meeting evening on 15 October. Come along to have a drink, and meet other postgrads for a quick flirt or friendly chat...Email 2:
We're getting a hot reply for the speed-dating, which is excellent, and thanks to everyone who has gotten back to us so far. I don't want to alarm the girls, but the RSVP count is unfairly balanced towards the fairer sex. So guys, the girls are up for it: what say you?...
Email 3:
Our next event, the Speed Dating/Meeting, will be held tomorrow, Thursday 15 Oct, at the Faversham Pub (on the rear side of campus), at 7pm until 10pm. Those of you who RSVPed before Monday will be given priority for the speed dating, but anyone else who would like to can (and should!) still come along for a drink just to meet others.
I know societies are pretty eager about keeping everyone well informed but it seems kind of pushy seen as I got the aforementioned emails (as well as few extra ones!) within a relatively short space of time. Also the excerpt from email 2, did make me laugh – “I don't want to alarm the girls, but the RSVP count is unfairly balanced towards the fairer sex”... Yea I totally believe that the organiser was having a minor panic attack when they realised that, lol. And just in case you're wondering - No I did not go ;)

Other good news, my external hard drive has finally arrived! Woohoo! I love getting packages from Amazon, lol. Also it'll avoid the whole 'Oh-my-god-my-laptop-has-had-a-meltdown-and-I-think-I-have-lost-all-my-data' drama. Usually accompanied by me having a minor panic attack a few months into my dissertation madness, closely followed by me running over to my cousins house clutching my laptop with a sad sad look on my face. I'm glad we can all laugh about it now though eh? :P

Leeds university logo changes –

The University of Leeds has always featured in my life in one way of another...

- When I was 18 years old, being interviewed for my undergraduate degree at different universities. I came to Leeds University, had a great day and got slightly nervous during one my interviews as my interviewer was an extremely good looking professor!

- Attending lectures with my other fellow medical students at Leeds University.

- Popping in and out of the adjacent hospitals near Leeds university, when Aishi was ill

- Now I’m back here doing my doctorate :)

We all change over time and so has the university over the past few years. Whilst searching for a logo to put onto my work, I found a number of the old logos, the various changes it underwent and the final product.

They’re phasing out the individual school logo’s now; good and bad.

I honestly can’t decide which I prefer.

Nick Griffin

Oops! I didn’t watch it myself but oh my, did I hear about it... a lot! Newspapers, TV reports, family discussions, even meeting up with friends. The guy is definitely getting the attention he wanted... probably just not the type he wanted ;)

Raising doctors the beta way

You see what I* did there? Ok… well I thought it was good, meh!

We got an email recently telling us about how although Facebook and Twitter are becoming a growing trend in society, we should be mindful of the way in which we use them in our lives both professionally and personally. And I suppose this applies to everyone regardless of their chosen careers.

It seems that in the medical area, Twitter is acceptable for say sharing opening hours etc, but not consultations or having personal conversations with your patients which obviously is wrong and lacks common sense.

I’ve know classmates in previous years who have got into trouble for posting certain Facebook updates which may contain personal details of other people (very rare occurrence) or perhaps adding the relatives of a patient as a ‘friend’ on Facebook (weirdly more common, especially with guys – sorry to be stereotypical!)

I think it goes without saying that – yes, technology is useful but we should be careful about how and when we use it. I particularly like this final article 'Raising doctors the beta way' – a clever title, which I borrowed for my post :P

* I say ‘I’ but I actually borrowed the title from this article ;p

They live on

Definition of death: the termination of biological functions that define a living organism. It refers both to a particular event and to the conditions that result thereby.

Death is something that is celebrated, embraced and feared all across the world. It has no qualms, about who it encounters - social class, religion, gender, age; these all are irrelevant. If there is one thing we can be certain of in life is that eventually, one day we will all die. Some people have a hard time adjusting whilst others seem to accept it effortlessly. No matter how prepared you think you may be, spiritually, practically etc, somehow it never seems enough. What’s worse than your own death is losing a loved one; knowing that you can’t help and leaving you to helplessly watch on. There is nothing that can compare to the feeling of losing a loved one and it is something that I feel you never really get over.

When I read this story, I found it incredibly sweet and sad at the same time. I was amazed at how such a small young mind was able to accept her imminent death and not only that but she had the strength to see her family through the tough times that would follow after her departure and help them in her own special way.

ARTICLE:
To say that “Notes Left Behind” is a book about a 6-year-old girl who died is accurate, but woefully inadequate. By filling her family’s house with hidden messages of love and hope, Elena Desserich continues to celebrate life long after she succumbed to pediatric brain cancer...
Please continue reading the article here.

Wedding invite

A friend of mine recently got married and it was a lovely day. Unfortunately some of her family abroad couldn’t make it to the ceremony and as there was a delay in the wedding DVD, she decided to place bits of the wedding video online. Whilst searching for it, I come across a plethora of wedding videos, first dances and what not. I have no idea why this particular one stood out and I’m sure many will think that there are better videos out there. Whilst watching it I just thought what a way to make an entrance - a fun couple for a) having the initiative to do it and b) for getting their family to join in :)

Also whilst we’re on the topic of weddings, I might as well mention a few other bits and bobs :)

First up a paper clipping of someone’s wedding announcement wedding announcement. It’s such a different way to announce your wedding compared to the other announcements in the paper. It definitely brought a smile to my face reading their story. Knowing how the couple got together makes you feel a part of it and makes it a lot more personal. So cute! :)

Flicking through the articles online, I found this. So the writer’s main focus of the article was on Kate Moss and the number of celebrities that were present at this wedding. However it was the final two pictures right at the end that caught my eye. How many weddings have you heard of where the bride and the mother-in-law wear matching outfits? Isn’t the general rule assumed to be that you do NOT upstage the bride on her wedding day?

Also I love listening to guests that give the newly wedded couple advice on how to build a successful marriage. Social scientists have felt the need to add to this barrage of advice by conducting some scientific research. According to this research, wedded bliss only lasts a year after which the magic fades – which let’s face it, is kind of depressing isn’t it? The article states that if you make it past the 3 to 5 year mark, then they may be some hope for the couple. Personally I believe life is what you make it. Running along this same train of thought, another article suggested that accepting misery and conflict is a key part of a happy and healthy relationship. So I guess the take home message there is that it IS good to argue... err sometimes.

I have to say this latest article is perhaps my favourite so far. Experts have discovered that the key thing is for men to have a smarter and younger wife (who is preferably not a divorcee); if they would like to have a long and happy marriage. Switch the situation around however (older woman and younger man) and the odds are not in the couples favour. Ooh err, somewhat sexist and ageist? Honestly, I cannot wait for the next new piece of social research, lol. :)

Demetri Martin

Another favourite comedian of mine… :)

Demetri Martin and some of his quotes.