On The Killing of Mice

I've been killing mice. Those that haven't died of their own volition of course.

Just today, I've murdered 18 mice. A few weeks back, I killed another 23 mice and I'll be doing lots more further down the road. Well, okay, It wasn't I that killed them. My supervisor gassed them, then another person perfused the worms out of them. All I did was count the number of worms present in their system. And anyway, they died for a good cause. To rid the world of schistosomiasis. Okay, well, not the world. Parts of Africa and the Carribean and the Middle East I guess. Still a just cause.

It's interesting how the worms develop in the system. Nice pink healthy livers and lungs become grotesque, deformed nodulous brownish-grey things because the worms lay eggs in them. The spleens become engorged, swelling to about three times its size. The lungs too are affected, becoming hard, scarred things as the juvenile schistosomes pass through on their way to the liver.











Left: Healthy liver.


Right: Schistosome infested liver.














Until next time.

Refresher

As is obvious, I've updated the template of this blog. I know it's been stagnant for a good long while now but it is to be hoped that with this, comes renewed enthusiasm to record the minutiae of life as it goes on.

As to what has been going on, there's really been nothing much to say. Despite erroneous assumptions by a certain friend, I am still continuing with my honours programme. It is simply that there was nothing of significance, or perhaps relevance, to write about.

I must leave it at that as it grows late and I have spent more time than I should have already, changing the template.

Until the next time,

Honours - Week One

So, my Honours year has begun. Week one wasn't too bad. A lot of paperwork to do. There was the staff induction process, where I had to run around, getting my photo taken, my ID card made, my computer login created and I had to meet all the different important people. Not forgetting the safety training I had to do. A whole safety manual, an hour-long fire safety course online, and a two-hour long quarantine accreditation course online. Unfortunately there were no spare computers, so I'll have to lug my 4kg laptop there and back day after day.

As for lab work, that was minimal, only making several buffers and reagents as well as some stock media for use in culturing yeast. I can't believe how much I've forgotten over the last two years though. Simple things I should know and remember... all gone. Sigh. I was also shown some mice I'd be working with and the worms I'll be challenging them with as well as the snail hosts. At least I'm not as squeemish as I used to be about mice... all thanks to my brother's hamster.

That's all for week one. Not a bad start to the project.

Until next time.

New Year, New Toy

I thought I'd start off the new year with a good note, despite several mishaps that marred the ending of the last year (which I will detail soon, or at least, when I get around to it).

Introducing, my new toy:


The Nokia 6210 Navigator. (No... I didn't take the picture myself)

I'd been looking to replace my old phone for some time now. I was really bugging me, the way it's so thick that it bulges out of my pocket everytime I go out with it. When the battery began to die, these thoughts returned in earnest.

After much searching, and considering of various phone models and plans and so on and with help from a couple of people, I finally selected this one (Other contenders were the iPhone and the Nokia 6600 slide/flip as well as the Nokia 6220).

I'm enjoying the phone a lot. It's got high speed internet (although I have to be careful of download quotas), a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, a GPS navigation system and a Symbian operating system. Best of all, at 14.9 mm thick it doesn't stick out of my pocket like my old 21mm thick phone did (well... not as much anyway).

No gripes about it yet, unlike when I first got my N6288.

Until next time,