Yay, PDF on iPad! - Nature, here I come!

As I mentioned, the Safari browser on the iPad I tested in the store always crashed when trying to open a .pdf file from the nature.com website. Now I found out that the same problem doesn't occur on my iPad (strange...) but, honestly, I couldn't care less, since there is the great app Goodreader, which allows you to open and import files from an integrated browser and also from Safari. You just have to add a "g" in front of the URL and, voilá, it imports and opens the file in Goodreader. You can even access files from your Dropbox, Google Docs, Me or other cloud storages (couldn't find Ubuntu One ...). Tried .pdf files up to 150 MB and still worked.

 

The obstacle concerning contacts management I was able to circumvent using Ubuntu One to sync my contacts to a FREE webserver. I have to repeat FREE this time, since MobileMe costs 79,00 € per year and I think that difference is relevant.
Yay, now the only thing missing is my nature paper to illustrate all this functions with, but I will spend the next years working on that issue ;-)

More iPad Fun

Already having accumulated experience in cutting SIM cards as a Sharp phone user (Japanese phones use hyperSIM cards instead of SIM), I did not waste a second and made a nice microSIM for making 3G networking abilities working. You don't even need a template for that, since it is easy to guess how the microSIM should look like. Only had to look up my providers APN settings again to finish setup.

I had a really annoying experience when trying to organize my email contacts, since it is impossible to define groups on the iPad. Since I am using a trial account of MobileMe I thought "whatever, let's use that one" and met the next obstacle. The me.com website doesn't open under Linux. Gooooood, so Apple wants me to use a specific operating system in order to organize email contacts??? Did I mention how much you have to pay for a Me account? So I switched to Windows (need that for Indesign and friends) and - surprise - found out that Me doesn't work with Thunderbird. I mean, come on, Thunderbird. How exotic is that, eh? Sooo, opened the website (it supports Firefox??? What a feature!) made some nice groups and, wow, instantly they appear on my iPad. More to come :-p

What I need to become a great researcher #1

Now the path to the next scientific breakthrough has been laid! I got myself an iPad :-p Basically any gadget with a half eaten fruit on its back is essential for pursuiting any major scientific goals. Only the pdf support is an underwhelming experience since the safari browser crashed regularly when trying to open papers from nature.com. I hope they will be able to fix that issue.

The Apple Store Munich (where I had to buy it, because finding an iPad in my Town is still kinda difficult ...) has quite a picturesque location, eh? Directly at the Marienplatz; therefore, I just had to take a quick picture (using my Sharp Aquos phone, no fruits on the back :-p ). And, of course, a quick shot of the product that will be hopefully worth the journey.

Breakthrough in autoimmunity!

One of the most important scientific achievements of this year is on the verge of being finished – my master thesis :-)

Right know some friendly folks are reviewing it before final submission and I hope there is no need for too many alterations.

My work was focused on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) but I do not want to leak any more information right know. Honestly, since there is no accompanying publication I do not think there is much important news from my work, but who knows. Or maybe at least a small picture?

Medical implications of this years Nobel Prize (telomere end maintenance)

This years Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded for findings that revealed the crucial role telomeres play in maintenance of linear chromosomes. A recent review in NEJM covers the medical implications of these discoveries. It always gets tricky when alteration of a single molecular mechanism underlies a wide range of pathological conditions but we already seem to have some critical knowledge. The review covers some examples of telomere associated diseases, namely Bone Marrow Failure, Dyskeratosis Congenita, Acquired Aplastic Anemia, Pulmonary Fibrosis and a sometimes associated Liver Diesease. All of these show mutations in genes responsible for certain functions in telomere end maintenance like DKC1 which codes for the telomerase complex stabilizing protein dyskerin, TERC coding for the telomerase RNA component or TERT the telomerase reverse transcriptase itself.

Again there is the major drawback that we have no idea how to make use of this knowledge. We know that telomere end maintenance affects ageing, induces tumors and plays an important role in the above mentioned diseases, yet we do not fully understand why and how we can interfere. Yet.

The Mystery of Swine Flu

Since the Leading Edge Forum published last summer in Cell some time has passed. Back then it was considered obvious that the number of severe illnesses or deaths linked to this specific virus strain did not necessarily lead to the assumption H1N1 could be worlds next pandemic. 6 months later not much has changed. A constant hiss of imminent danger accompanies most news broadcasts covering swine flu and people are waiting in lines to get vaccinated. Fact is, H1N1 viruses are circulating constantly in human population since the ‘70s and are a component of standard annual influenza vaccines. No molecular markers of pathogenicity have been discovered in the current flavor (H1N1 swine influenza) yet. One might even add that most of the deaths resulting from infection with Spanish flu in 1918 were caused by secondary bacterial pneumonia, a complication we would be able to tackle, considering we live in the era of antibiotics and antiviral medication.

Are we missing a quality indicator for physicians wellness?

A recent review in Lancet reminds us that a working health-care system is directly linked to the well-being of its practitioners. What might seem rather intuitive on first glance reveals a rather unpleasant truth. Most health-care systems couldn’t care less about physicians wellness. The review covers in detail the risks associated with fatigued, overworked or stressed physicians trying to cope with superhuman workloads. The persistence of this problem is widely known (and not exclusive to American health-care) and if we are unable to improve this conditions, we should at least keep an eye on the consequences. A first step could be the mentioned “quality of work competence survey” and linking the physicians own perception of well-being with observed efficiency and risk of medical errors. Since we are aware of the potential consequences of unwell physicians I agree that health-care systems could benefit from actually paying attention to it.