The Word Of The Day Is Tachyphylaxis

From Rang and Dale's _Pharmacology_ Chapter 2:

Often, the effect of a drug gradually diminishes when it is given continuously or repeatedly. Desensitization and tachyphylaxis are synonymous terms used to describe this phenomenon, which often develops in the course of a few minutes. The term tolerance is conventionally used to describe a more gradual decrease in responsiveness of the drug, taking days or weeks to develop, but the distinction is not a sharp one.

I also found this interesting, having experienced it myself:

It is a common experience that many side effects of drugs, such as nausea or sleepiness, tend to subside even though drug administration is continued. We may assume that some kind of physiological adaptation is occurring, presumably associated with altered gene expression resulting in changes in the levels of various regulatory molecules, but little is known about the mechanisms involved.

It's amazing to me that such commonplace occurrences in pharmacology are so poorly understand! So much of medicine is still a mystery.

And finally, this one sentence made me incredibly nostalgic for my days as a synthetic chemist and for biochemistry: "It is no exaggeration to say that the ability of proteins to interact in a highly selective way with other molecules-- including other proteins-- is the basis of living machines."

Springtime In Ithaca

Spring is here. Which apparently means rain and fog. I tried to capture the view down the street but I still have an annoying smudge that shows up on all my photos despite trying to clean the lens. My father is getting me a new Nikon point and shoot as a present and I am going to enjoy having photos that don't have a smudge in them! Thanks, Dad.

I finished my last final this morning. I asked for an extension on my very last exam and got one. I've never asked for an extension before in my life. It was a rough semester. You know something is wrong when I don't blog for two (three?) weeks at the end of the semester...

Now it's time to attend to all the things I didn't do while I was studying, like cleaning my room. And reading for fun. I'm also hoping to get in a short trip to Boston over the weekend.

HP-- Sadly I don't know of a Christy Freeze. I only have one friend in Nashville, and she's in research.

Ember-- Open invitation to come visit me anytime during your road tour. I'll put you up (which may not be much but you'd have a place to stay) and do my best to point you in the right direction of the music community in Ithaca (which I know a modicum about). And happy belated birthday. 22!!!

Hard At Work

I've been hard at work this week. We have less than two weeks until finals start and so there is lots to do!

One of the things I find helpful for learning anatomy is drawing stuff out on my white board (of course, I STILL remember that there is NO stuff in anatomy:) Above is my effort at a depiction of the four compartments of the ruminant stomach. If this looks complicated, it's not. I had yet to add in the blood vessels running in the grooves on this depiction!

I'm getting excited about my trip to Nevada now that the end of the semester is in sight. I'm still nervous about passing my classes, as always, but either way this semester will soon be behind me and that can't come soon enough!

Back By Popular Demand: Pileated Woodpecker Photos

Block Headed Bully Love: Pit Bulls I've Lived With And Pit Bulls I've Loved

Over the years I've lived with many pit bulls. These two are the latest: Petri (above) stayed with my roommate and I for a month and a half recently and Tovah (below) belongs to his girlfriend but often visits or stays over.


Above: This summer I lived with a giant mastiff/pit mix, Elle (you might recognize this photo from earlier on this blog). But the biggest, most muscular pit bull that I ever lived with was Pete, who belonged to my friend Dr. Cool in San Jose. I even wrote a post back then about how much I liked pit bulls.


Above: This lady is the reason I fell in love with pitties. Nibbles was a backyard dog living in my old neighborhood in San Jose. The very first time I met her, I was walking down the sidewalk and she came charging at me from out of nowhere, totally terrifying me. She stopped at the end of the driveway, just a few feet from me.
I had no intention of befriending her, but I was lonely and she was lonely and when another neighbor introduced us in a friendly way, I was hooked. Nibbles was unsocialized, but underneath her fearfulness and bad manners, she was a sweetheart just longing for belly rubs and attention. I would bring her over to spend time in my backyard, take long walks with her, or go spend time with her in her backyard. Sadly, she never went inside anyone's house. When I broke up with my significant other, one of the hardest parts about moving was leaving Nibbles behind.

Below: I can't forget to include the two best trained pit bulls that I know, Lilo and Zrrbrt, who belong to EB and D:

This isn't a breed that everyone cares for. They have a bad reputation in the media and that makes many people afraid of them. However, they've always been one of my favorite breeds because they bond so closely with their people. Sadly, in the past two years I've had a few bad experiences with pit bulls myself and have come to realize that there are quite a few unstable pit bulls out there. I think this is probably due to the massive overbreeding that has been going on for quite some time now.
It takes a dedicated and responsible owner to have a pit bull, especially because they have a tendency to be dog aggressive, which can make them difficult to manage. But if you're interested in learning more, I highly recommend BADRAP's website as a source of good information about the breed (not to mention they are a fabulous rescue group that pulled the most solid, stable, sweet dogs from the San Jose shelter when I was there).

Photo Contest: Your Input Needed

So Cornell has a student photo contest with cash prizes. I don't want to use my favorite pileated photo because they keep it (and rights to it I think) but I picked these three from my collection of favorites. I can only submit two and am leaning towards the top two since in them the animal is looking at the camera and they are more saturated than the cheetah too. Let me know your favorite two and if there are any that you have seen on my blog that are more memorable than these three, with the exception of my beloved pileated. Thanks! HT

PS They are judged based on originality of the animal and its environment and suitability for framing.

Ithaca On A Foggy Morning

I've been consumed lately by my two anatomy classes, neuroanatomy and ruminant anatomy, but not so consumed that I couldn't appreciate the beautiful fog cloaking the scenery this morning. It's been snowing every day. Definitely not spring yet!