Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 28

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 28th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):

	sunlogrobert My dogs are great supporters of podcasts, audiobooks and recorded lectures? Guess why? ;-) 10:32 AM Dec 28th from web
	Scobleizer How do you listen on twitter, @oregonkat asks. http://search.twitter.com -- put your co. name in there. competitors. Your name. Etc. 4:12 AM Dec 28th from web
	Scobleizer How to make Twitter work for business, @oregonkat asks. Use it to listen, listen, listen. Copy @zappos -- get all your employees on it. 4:04 AM Dec 28th from web
	kevinrose A guy just crossed the street with a full length fur coat, gold chains, and a purse. San francisco is awesome 9:00 PM Dec 27th from txt

	doctoranonymous Patient on phone: "I didn't have time to come into the office this week. Why don't you help me and just call this med." 2:34 PM Dec 27th from web
	timoreilly Great #quote from Kepler: "I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses" 11:25 AM Dec 27th from twhirl
	loiclemeur an expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less. I am too much expert these days. 11:49 PM Dec 25th from twhirl
	BiteTheDust I reckon 1000kms East or West and North and South to the coast and beyond I am the only twit! 9:48 PM Dec 25th from TweetDeck
	lancearmstrong Kids and I emailed Santa (santa@santaclaus.com) and got a response. So cool! 9:12 PM Dec 25th from TwitterBerry
	Berci My brother-in-law told me Twitterers are absolutely not normal to be on Twitter on Christmas night... :) I said it's called commitment 1:18 PM Dec 24th from TweetDeck
	biz debating the usefulness of having business cards created for Twitter employees—maybe it's too old fashioned? 1:01 PM Dec 24th from web
	AllergyNotes All PR professionals & hospital administrators should read this: 5 Stages Of Twitter Acceptance http://tinyurl.com/7sl7na 11:37 AM Dec 24th from TweetDeck
	kevinrose At breakfast, they have a "healthy elvis" grilled peanut butter and banana sandwhich.. Hmm 10:58 AM Dec 24th from txt
	DrCris @AllergyNotes If you follow more people you start to see twitter as a party conversation - if you are there, you are there. If not, fine. 9:58 PM Dec 22nd from TweetDeck in reply to AllergyNotes
	ruraldoctoring I'm interested in the retweeting frenzy. What's next? Pre-tweeting? "I'm planning to tweet about this later, this is merely a concept tweet" 9:54 PM Dec 22nd from web

Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.

You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.

Does your New Year's resolution include dancing?

**This week's giveaway is a $10 card to both DonorsChoose & BuildaBearville**

Then you are in luck! The Revelette's are looking for new members:

The Revelettes, Chicago's hippest and hottest performing go-go troupe, are inviting Chicago's cheekiest chicas to don their white boots and join the go-go revolution! Auditions will be held Monday, January 26, from 7:30–9:00pm, at Joel Hall Dance Center, 1511 W. Berwyn. The Revelettes perform 1960s-inspired go-go to beats from the past four decades at such venues as darkroom, Betty's Blue Star Lounge, Empty Bottle and The Double Door.

Check out photos, video, and info at www.myspace.com/revelettes

They also performed, quite patiently, at the Bitch fundraiser I held in May. So they're kewl, ya know.

And no, I'm not going out for the troupe. First, I'm an awful dancer and second, I can barely find time to knit much less practice & perform. Revelettes come in all sizes, shapes & colors, so don't let your holiday extras keep you from trying out. Do let me know if you audition and make it. Good luck!!

A Roger Ballen’s photograph and the search for genetic diagnosis

The blogger PrecordialThump asks: "Like many of Roger Ballen’s photographs this leaves me speechless… One of his many gritty portrayals of the human condition. Diagnosis anyone?"

The Roger Ballen's Platteland photograph from 1993 has been posted multiple times on the web and many visitors have tried to find the likely diagnosis behind the brothers' striking appearance: "it isn’t enough that the twin brothers Dresie and Casie possess wildly protruding ears and tree trunk like necks but Ballen photographs them with gossamer like drool dripping from their thick pouting lips."

Berci Mesko, a future geneticis, seems to have found the correct answer - Fragile X syndrome.

Fragile X (FXS), or Martin-Bell syndrome is a genetic syndrome caused by mutation of the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome (increased CGG repeats). Escalante's syndrome is synonymous with the fragile X syndrome. This term has been used in Brazil and other South American countries. Fragile X is the most common form of inherited mental retardation.


Prominent characteristics of Fragile X syndrome include an elongated face, large or protruding ears, and low muscle tone. Image source: Wikipedia, Free Art License.

About 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 6000 to 8000 females have Fragile X syndrome.

What is "fragile" in Fragile X syndrome?

In 1969 Chris and Weesam first sighted an unusual "marker X chromosome" in association with mental disability. In 1970 Frederick Hecht coined the term "fragile site."


Location of FMR1 gene on the X chromosome. Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Aside from intellectual disability, prominent characteristics of the syndrome include an elongated face, large or protruding ears, flat feet, larger testicles in men (macroorchidism), and low muscle tone. Speech may include cluttered speech or nervous speech. Behavioral characteristics may include stereotypic movements (e.g., hand-flapping) and atypical social development, particularly shyness and limited eye contact.



Video by FRAXA - Fragile X Research Foundation.

References:
Roger Ballen, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Roger Ballen's photos on Google Image Search.
Fragile X syndrome, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Fragile X Syndrome. Genetics Modules, Duke.edu.
Image source: Dresie And Casie, Western Transvaal, 1993, by Roger Ballen, Guardian, UK.

BOY am I tired of sexist boy stories

**This week's giveaway is a $10 card to both DonorsChoose & BuildaBearville**

Why yes, I am still wrestling with my review of "The Trouble with Boys" and it doesn't help that I feel like each week there is a story that makes me hurl with its gendered way of looking at the world, its demeaning look at boys, and its patronizing stance on girls. A few days before Christmas TIME & Yahoo! gave me a real treat:

So why no modern manlings in the east wing? I have a theory, born of careful historical analysis and solipsism: It's impossible to be elected to the White House if you have young sons, because that would mean you have to campaign with them.

Campaigning and raising sons are mutually exclusive. Campaigning requires lots of travel, enormous amounts of time in the public eye and months and months of sitting down quietly listening to the same guy talking while wearing your good clothes. It's like 11 straight months of being in church when you're the preacher's kid - with long car rides in between. It's torture on adults, let alone children. But it's worse for boys. Try this experiment: next month ask your son to be on his best behavior in front of other people, from now until November 2009. See how far you get.

"Boys are generally more competitive, risk-taking and defiant, which makes them less manageable," says Meg Meeker M.D., author of Boys Should be Boys and Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.

Are you serious? The fact that two adorable and smart young girls are moving into the White House isn't good enough for some people? Why don't the Obamas have a son? Are boys a liability because, again, the theory is that they can't sit still.

I guess that it is lucky for George HW Bush that lil George was grown and didn't embarrass his papa at conventions with his drinking, drugging & potty mouth. And heaven forbid if the Bush Twins acted like 12-year-olds towards the press like sticking their tongue out or something childish like that.

During the past Presidential race, John Edwards campaigned with both of his young children, a son and a daughter. According to the NYTimes, both were less than happy to be listening to stump speech after stump speech. Did dear Emma Claire fall victim of her scampy brother? Or did she have her own feelings of boredom? And of course we'd never see the precious & well-behaved Obama daughters interrupt Daddy's work in public right?

Sure, I'm not an elected official and I'm not campaigning for an office, but I do appear at my fair share of public events and being the feminist mom I am, I bring my daughter to them as well. She was about 2 when I gave a speech to a group of veterans on Memorial Day. As I stood at the podium staring out at men who had gone to war to defend our country only to be ignored once they returned home, my daughter was pulling at my leg. At an end of the year dinner a few years ago, my daughter brought her camera and made sure people knew she was taking photos. She also kept saying, "Shhh...mommy's talking!" Even as I type this, she's not sitting nicely & patiently even thou a trip somewhere is her reward for letting me work.

Yes, boys have a repuation for being louder and girls have a similiar repuation for being quiet, but the reality is that both can be victims of "ants-in-the-pants-itis" when the cameras are rolling or a parent is in the spotlight. So please, can we stop this "boys can't sit still" crap? They can...I married one of 'em.

Case of the Week: Constipation and Uncontrolled Hypothyroidism

The Case of the Week series features a different article from Clinical Cases and Images each week:

Constipation as a Chief Complaint of Uncontrolled Hypothyroidism

A 61-year-old AAF was admitted to the hospital with a chief complaint of bilateral knee pain for 2 weeks. She was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis (OA) and opioid pain medications were started. The patient's last bowel movement was one week prior to admission and she did not have any BM after that despite multiple laxatives.

Laboratory results



TSH was 41.40 mU/L.

What happened next?

Read more at Clinical Cases and Images.

The image in the upper right corner shows thyroid histology. Source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Keep the feedback coming -- we are listening to you

You can use any comment section under any post or article to submit feedback. All comments are emailed to the editor immediately after you hit the "submit" button. Keep the feedback coming. We are listening to you and our goal is to make the Clinical Cases and Images as useful as possible to all readers around the world.

Submit your own case

Do not forget to use the online form to submit your own case for consideration and inclusion in this collaborative resource which has become the most popular free online case-based curriculum of clinical medicine. You will be credited as an author with each case you submit.

References:
Starting "Case of the Week" Series in Response to Reader Requests. Clinical Cases and Images - Blog, Nov 2008.
Clinical Cases and Images: About Us.
Complete List of Medical Abbreviations and Acronyms.
Image source: Thyroid histology, Wikipedia, public domain.

GIVEAWAY:: Happy Birthday to me!!

In celebration of the end of my Jesus year and the start of my Payton year, I am giving away TWO DonorsChoose $10 Giving Cards AND $10 for BuildaBearville.com. Each card has BOTH of those great gifts.

If you need help finding a DonorsChoose project, why not this fun project?

We would like to complete a research project on African American heroes and women heroes during black history and women's history month.

In order to complete this project we will need plain white t-shirts for the children to create their hero t-shirt. Once the children have completed their research on the Internet, they will use the information to create a hero t-shirt. They will iron on a picture of their hero and a few facts about them. Then we will allow them to be creative and decorate the shirt.

To enter, just comment and leave your email addy so I can get in touch with you. You can get an additional entry if you Twitter this contest and let me know about it by commenting here with a link to your tweet.

Deadline for entering is January 2, 2009!

TED Talks: Does happiness have a price tag?

Benjamin Wallace: Does happiness have a price tag?

"Can happiness be bought? To find out, author Benjamin Wallace sampled the world's most expensive products, including a bottle of 1947 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 8 ounces of Kobe beef and the fabled (notorious) Kopi Luwak coffee. His critique may surprise you."

Link via Loic Le Meur.

Related:
Dan Gilbert: Exploring the frontiers of happiness
Matthieu Ricard: Habits of happiness

Experienced happiness is largely set by personality, it will temporarily respond to changing circumstances. The Lancet, 2010. http://goo.gl/ot3Kx
Looking for happiness in a dark place - NYT, 2011.

Whew!

Christmas is over and it wasn't as hectic as it could had been and that is due mostly to the sad fact that my dad, younger sister & her son didn't get into Chicago because their plane from NC was canceled twice on Tuesday. The weather sucks right now. Our daughter was heartbroken that her beloved lil cousin wasn't going to be sharing Christmas with her, but she seems to have understood.

And because of the cancellation of our family Christmas dinner, I was stuck with a 10 lb ham in my fridge. I don't eat ham - It was for my husband, sister & dad. Yeah....we cook big on holidays. So on Christmas eve I spent a few hours on the phone looking for a home for the lil piggie. The kid & I ended up taking it to the Lincoln Park Community Shelter. It was a nice lesson in giving & appreciation for what we have.

We've had snow, fog, and now it's pouring rain. Ugh.

Hopefully I can get back on the writing wagon especially since I've been slacker girl the past few days. Today was cleaning day and most of the house looks good. The living room still needs some work and our bedroom is its usual mess. I still need a new closet. I swear that will do the trick!

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas Day...whether or not you celebrated anything.

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 27

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 27th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):

	grahamwalker I secretly spread holiday cheer by playing Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas Album from the iPhone in my pocket whilst walking around in the city. 4:24 PM Dec 22nd from web
	ColonelTribune How ironic: Dozens fall ill after Christmas party for a county health department in S. Illinois. http://tinyurl.com/8gtr4c 3:51 PM Dec 22nd from web
	gruntdoc The rest of the Family is away; the cat's inconsolable. She's sluking around crying "they left me the dumb one". 11:28 AM Dec 21st from TweetDeck
	scanman getting odd looks frm neighbor in bus as I'm viewing cardiac CT lecture video on iPod. Potential unwelcome consult, this being India! 10:13 PM Dec 20th from Vakow!
	AllergyNotes Twitter: "I know that there is always a friend, at any time, which has the answer I am looking for about anything" http://tinyurl.com/9qynx5 9:25 PM Dec 20th from TweetDeck
	Stammy "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." - Einstein 4:26 PM Dec 20th from TweetDeck
	Scobleizer Hah, @jasoncalacanis on Gillmor Gang just said "blogs must be destroyed." 3:37 PM Dec 20th from TweetDeck
	chrisseper @AllergyNotes One whiff of a tweet at my wedding and my wife would have ended me. Right there. Right then. 3:07 PM Dec 20th from TweetDeck in reply to AllergyNotes
	AllergyNotes RT @problogger "Must Follow on Twitter - Physicians, Triathletes and Horse People http://tinyurl.com/7l7u5q" - How are they related?... :) 2:59 PM Dec 20th from web in reply to problogger
	kanderson Waiting for the wedding to start. Sitting beside my beautiful bride. 1:57 PM Dec 20th from Twinkle
	losanjalis As requested by my fellowship advisor, making list of needs and list of wants in career/life. My question -- why can't they be the same? 7:20 PM Dec 14th from web

	KidneyNotes Taking photos in Central Park. Fingers too numb to tweet. 1:06 PM Dec 20th from Tweetie
	AllergyNotes Twitter for research? For example, peanut allergy vs. sesame allergy http://tinyurl.com/a5uuh4 vs. http://tinyurl.com/9gu6q9 12:47 PM Dec 20th from TweetDeck
	AllergyNotes Come to think of it, I could not follow myself at the rate of 50 updates/day but there are so many interesting things on the web today :) 10:57 AM Dec 20th from web
	AllergyNotes Subscribed to @timoreilly (again). Let's see if I can keep it up this time. Could not follow @guykawasaki (too many updates). 10:55 AM Dec 20th from web
	Scobleizer Tim O'Reilly answers FriendFeeders http://www.kyte.tv/ch/6118/... http://ff.im/lzo5 12:33 AM Dec 20th from FriendFeed
	steverubel Dataopedia is an amazing site. Pulls together all kinds of great web site info in one place. http://dataopedia.com/ 6:58 PM Dec 19th from Ping.fm
	HowardKurtz Blago dismisses sound bites, then serves up a stream of them. Come and get me, coppers. 6:07 PM Dec 19th from web
	zappos I think lots of marketers have trouble understanding Twitter b/c they try to be interesting rather than try to be interested. 5:38 PM Dec 19th from web

Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.

You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.

Google Zeitgeist 2008 Top Searches for "What is" and "How to"

Google Zeitgeist 2008 Top Searches for:

What is...

1. what is love
2. what is life
3. what is java
4. what is sap
5. what is rss
6. what is scientology
7. what is autism
8. what is lupus
9. what is 3g
10. what is art

How to...

1. how to draw
2. how to kiss
3. how to write
4. how to cook
5. how to tie
6. how to hack
7. how to run
8. how to cite
9. how to paint
10. how to spell

I hope the searchers found the answers they were looking for.

Image source: Google.com, incorporated in the blog post under the "fair use" doctrine in United States copyright law.

There is a Santa Claus

In 2006, Dr. Charles linked to the wonderful editorial response to a letter of a 8-year old girl who doubted that Santa Claus existed. It was published in the New York Sun in 1897. Not much has changed since then. Apart from the fact that Dr. Charles' blog is no longer active, of course.

Dear Editor--

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
~VIRGINIA O'HANLON

From Twitter:

lancearmstrong Kids and I emailed Santa (santa@santaclaus.com) and got a response. So cool! 8 minutes ago from TwitterBerry

References:
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

The best B-movie EVER!

For your holiday viewing pleasure:



Join the B-hive!

CNN: Want to live to 100? Live Okinawan-style

CNN: Want to live to 100? Live Okinawan-style

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 26

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages you find useful, amusing, or both. Here is the 26th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top):

	doctoranonymous Must.... Back... Away... From.... The... Sweets.. At... The... Office -- 2:00 PM Dec 19th from web
	pierre For those of you keeping track, our neighborhood rooster has a snooze button: one crow every 8 minutes for 45 minutes, pre-dawn today. 1:16 PM Dec 19th from web
	davewiner People in the eastern U.S.-- more snow headed your way. Hugs, California 7:52 AM Dec 19th from web
	BiteTheDust 1 medication error per patient day in US hospitals. http://bit.ly/bzKw 6:58 AM Dec 19th from TweetDeck
	Scobleizer I love Twitter. It tells me when I'm wrong. http://tinyurl.com/3u2nu7 6:43 AM Dec 19th from web
	Scobleizer Or, show me all conversations that happened on first three hours after Chinese earthquake. http://search.twitter.com doesn't do that. 6:31 AM Dec 19th from web
	Scobleizer Twitter is a data black hole. Quick, pull out all Tweets that contained words Obama and McCain on election night. I can't do it. 6:30 AM Dec 19th from web
	leolaporte Thanks for the responses. I had no idea how undisciplined we American drivers are. I shall hug the right lane henceforth (except in the UK). 12:59 AM Dec 19th from web
	loiclemeur So the funny thing is that everybody calls me to tell me Arrington is irrelevant but they call me talk only about him for an hour. Yeah well 11:50 PM Dec 18th from twhirl
	KidneyNotes It's eerily silent when the batteries die in your electronic stethoscope. 10:50 PM Dec 18th from Tweetie
	loiclemeur @kevinrose I always love when you email me but even more when you notice that I answer you 10:32 PM Dec 18th from twhirl in reply to kevinrose
	steverubel Other than Microsoft Office, everything else I do is in a browser. I suspect that my Office use will be browser based in a few years too. 9:45 PM Dec 18th from web
	leolaporte Cultural question: it seems that even on a 3-lane highway (like the A11) the French stick to the right lane except for passing. True? 7:20 PM Dec 18th from web
	kevinrose broke 80k followers, welcome all, thanks adding me. hopefully I can provide you w/something of value, like this: http://tinyurl.com/6nuzge 5:58 PM Dec 18th from twitterrific
	lancearmstrong Btw, this control was for blood AND urine. 4:32 PM Dec 18th from TwitterBerry
	lancearmstrong UCI control. They flew a guy from Germany for it. That makes a ton of sense. 4:27 PM Dec 18th from web
	EdBennett http://twitpic.com/tzgw - Live by adwords and die by adwords - the up and down traffic of revolutionhealth.com This graph say it all 3:16 PM Dec 18th from TwitPic
	HowardKurtz Google's top search this year: Obama. Yahoo's top search: Britney. If I were Yahoo, I don't think I'd use this in my ads. 1:36 PM Dec 18th from web
	TrueB It took my mom a while to figure out YouTube, but now all she does is look up funny videos of cats riding on roombas. 11:22 AM Dec 18th from twitterrific

	AllergyNotes It's interesting to see how people who would never keep a blog are prolific Twitter posters. Microblogging is easy http://tinyurl.com/566rsp 10:09 AM Dec 18th from web
	AllergyNotes CEOs' Take on Twitter: Tweets From the Chiefs http://tinyurl.com/566rsp 10:04 AM Dec 18th from web
	johnbattelle In conversation with @fredwilson, a thought occurred: Blogs are slow food, Twitter is fast food. But the nutrition in in the mix. 8:53 AM Dec 18th from web

Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people.

You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and
visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.