This is just cool

(title unknown part 2)

Yeah, there was no title last time, I was just being lazy.

Here's one more video.

We'd heard about this idea that was going to be tried out, but I'll confess I didn't know they had started using it already. "Access to care" is something we hear about a lot and this quarter we started our Pediatric Dentistry class. Nationally 80% of tooth problems occur within 20% of the population. Here in California, 40% of kids will have at least one cavity by the time they're 5, and 50% will have a cavity by the time they're 6. Not a statistic any dentist at the school is proud of. The goal is to prevent this from happening and try to help the (usually) underserved/undereducated/lower socioeconomic families take care of their teeth before problems happen. If teeth need to be pulled early because of severe decay, that causes problems in the permanent teeth growing in, which leads to more decay, which leads to those people losing their teeth at an earlier than average age. The goal is to help people keep their teeth their whole life.

Near the end of last year, a professor gave a great lecture on Animal dentitions. He had a collection of various animal skulls and went through a lecture of various animals and animal types and the teeth they have and what they're used for. One point he emphasized was that if animals don't have teeth, they die. And even most who die (aside from being eaten) with their teeth, die due to a tooth infection/abscess. Especially herbivores. He had the skull of a gorilla who died from a tooth abscess and passed it around. There were actually multiple abscesses, but only one was really big and made a hole deep into the center of the skull and got into the large veins there and blood stream. Crazy.

Fortunately we can pull teeth out or fill them or crown them, or replace them, sort of, but that's not so fun. Nothing is as good as real tooth.

Moral of the non-story: Take care of your teeth, and help your kids take care of their teeth. Recommendations from the Pediatric dental association: Have an exam on your kids just after their first teeth come in, and have a "dental home" for them by the time they're a year old. Easier said than done, I know. Grace has seen a dentist once in her life about 6 months ago and she's almost 4, but Em or I brush her teeth every night as part of her bedtime ritual.

Part of a table that I'll be tested on tomorrow for the "Pedo" Final is about flouride for kids. Ideal is about 1 part per million in drinking water for a mostly topical effect to help keep teeth from dissolving/decaying. Since our water is fluoridated to that level, we don't need to use a fluoride toothpaste for Grace while she's this young, especially since she gets good care of her teeth. Kids that don't get fluoride in their water and help taking care of their teeth, fluoride supplements are recommended up to .25mg day for under 3 years old, up to .5mg/day for up to 6, and up to 1mg/day up to 16.

Look at that, I must be ready for the final (except that I had to look those numbers up just now...)

A couple of videos for your enjoyment. (Edit: Seems like the first one didn't show in Google Reader. The video can be watched Right Here but I've switched it to the youtube version)

My favorite part is the "pirates" line.

Make sure you catch the last few seconds of that second one.

Extra Edit: Found this one on facebook. Check out

Camarillo, California Slideshow Tribute from Memory Makerz on Vimeo.

There's an extra special little picture thrown in at 4:48 that many of you will appreciate. I'm not sure who sponsored this to be made, but I've got a strong suspicion its the family that appears near the beginning. There's also a Facebook page for Camarillo with some good pictures and stuff.

Tidbits

Randomness:

Exposure to cold is a really good way to increase thyroid activity and metabolism for up to 48 hours.

There are 2 types of fat cells in all mammals: White and Brown. White is typical energy storage and makes up the vast majority of human fat. Brown fat is reserved purely for heat-production and is what hibernating mammals live off. Humans can be induced to make and use more of it by exposure to cold, but it seems to be limited to about 500 calories or so, which translates to much less than a pound of body fat. The molecular mechanism for the difference is REALLY REALLY cool, but I'll save it for another time.

Growth hormone release is triggered by: sleep, starvation, low blood-sugar, and stress, among other things. Apparently your body gets prepped to use and store whatever nutrition/energy/mass it can get its hands on when your caloric intake isn't high enough to maintain your body weight and complains to you whenever that's the case.

We just noticed that as well as Grace speaks, she can't/won't say the "th" sound. We started practicing during her bedtime stories at night. She thinks it's funny. It's apparently also normal to pick it up between 4-7 years old. She loves her preschool lesson book that Em and her work on together and keeps asking Emily when she gets to go to school. She's also very conscious of when other kids are sad and tries to be their friend.

Leif is starting to army-crawl around the floor. He also knows what balls are for. A few days ago at a toy store, he kept reaching for a bin of bouncy balls. I handed him one totally expecting it to go straight to his mouth since EVERYTHING else does, but instead he throws it and laughs his head off when it bounces. Over and over again he does this. He also moves his hands (not his arms, just his hands) like crazy whenever he's excited, like an orchestra conductor. His hair still has an orange tint to it, and we love noting the similarities and differences between him and what Grace was like at that age. He definitely loves food much more.

The "humoral defense" or antibody response of our immune systems is absolutely crazily fantastic. The cell-mediated and innate-immune defense is pretty cool too, but the whole idea of antibodies is way-out-there awesomeness.

Speaking of antibodies, one reason why a vaccine against bacteria that cause dental cavities (streptococcus mutans) isn't used is because antibodies against the strep bacteria attach to heart muscle proteins and cause problems there. Weird.

I found this interview of Darren Aronofsky talking about the interplay of science and spirituality he portrays in one of my favorite movies, "The Fountain". Anyone familiar with the story of the Garden of Eden might pick out the reference in the first picture (from the movie) of the "cherubim and a flaming sword" guarding the way of the tree of life. I really enjoyed the interview and thought it is the glimpse into his thoughts and aspects of the movie which make the movie really great, which every other review or synopsis of the movie totally misses.

As residents of the Presidio we got invited to be among the first previewers to the brand new "Walt Disney Family Museum" over at the Main Post here in the Presidio (for Free!). It's a museum of Walt Disney's life. It was incredible, and we didn't even get to read half of the stuff throughout the museum due to having Grace and Leif with us. We spent over two hours in the gallery, mostly just looking at the pictures and watching video clips. Really amazing. The end of the gallery concludes with descriptions of his final days and death and collected tributes to the man. Made both of us want to cry. The museum opens to the public October 1st and will have a small cafe, store, and movie theater (which will show classic Disney films). Grace is begging us to go to Disneyland now.

I have poison oak on my hand. Probably from my shoe from picking blackberries. There's a nice stripe of bumpy itchy rash (also known as contact dermatitis, or type-iv/delayed hypersensitivity reaction, for those of you so inclined. No antibodies involved in this one).

I started playing Farmville on Facebook at the request of a classmate and somehow got hooked. Now I spend at least 10-15 minutes each evening managing this dumb farm.

Em and I went to the California Dental Association convention downtown with the kids last week and walked around the exhibit floors. The name tag they gave me had my name and the title of "Dentist" on it, not "Student". Some classmates there were excited thinking that they'd get treated with more respect. It was funny getting addressed with "How are you doing today, Doctor?", "Doctor, would you like to participate in our special offer today?" "Where is your practice located, Doctor?" Weird. It was REALLY nice being able to tell them I was a student and not interested in buying anything right now, but just there to get ideas. Instantly made the pushy sales-people back off while the really nice ones weren't phased and still pleasant to talk to and eager to demonstrate their products without a commitment to sell. I told Emily, next time we go, we'll switch badges so she can be the dentist and I can be the "guest" and see what happens. We also surprisingly ran into a really good family friend and neighbor of my parents who was working at the Oral-B/Crest exhibit, Kevin Malan. It was fun seeing him.

Wow

At school, healthcare reform comes up a lot lately, and Emily has taken up listening to talk radio in the car instead of the same 10 songs played over and over by every radio station. This has sparked a fair bit of political thinking in my brain. Today, 5 of us sat around a table at lunch and discussed various possibilities, advantages, and disadvantages of various ideas being discussed in the government committees and why or why not they should be adopted. It was a pretty good discussion, I enjoyed it much. Last night, Emily and I tried to figure out what was more important, education or health, since the government provides a certain level of education to anyone of any income that ranks highly among all countries and noone thinks twice about it. We don't know the answer and I brought it up at lunch today without getting a satisfying answer from anyone either.

On digg this evening, a link to a video clip of Bill O'Reilly supporting the public option had this very well written post as the first published comment responding to the video. Very much worth thinking about and strongly considering. No, this doesn't mean I'm a communist or socialist or even left-leaning. It's a satirical comment that drives a VERY strong point about the success of our government in dealing with various institutions. I'll stop talking and just let you read for yourself.

"I am a conservative.
This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level
determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its
valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

The final comments concluding our discussion at lunch today involved the unique structure of our government that prohibits any one party, entity, or person from obtaining a control of power; how political movement and debate occurs slowly and independent of short-term passions; that this is all by design by the founding fathers and adjusted by direct and indirect influence of majorities of people in this rather large country seeking to get along and stay unified; and that the whole thing works pretty good.

If it comforts anyone, I am not afraid of what the future holds for this country. Actually, I am pretty hopeful on the whole.

Plotical

I'm risking writing this later in the evening. My senses may not be complete and my judgement may be impaired. Plus, I should be studying (like always).

I've heard/read that the planned optional speech from President Obama to school children across the country planned for tomorrow is causing a stir. I hope anybody who is paranoid of a speech from the President of the United States to kids actually takes the time to read the speech, which is HERE for anyone to read beforehand. As a kid I would have been pretty excited to hear a speech from the President of the United States, especially if he took the time to speak directly to kids. I probably wouldn't have remembered what he was saying even as he spoke it (listening is not a strength of mine), but I would have enjoyed the experience anyways.

It is an excellent speech and most kids who listen to it will probably zone out in the first 30 seconds, because it is pretty innocuous and contains nothing new or revolutionary or even political.

I highly encourage anyone to look at facts and entire pictures from primary sources (information directly from a witness of the event) and not through second, third, or fourth party sources who tend to filter what they present to viewers and listeners as it suits their purposes. With so much information so readily available through the internet, it is becoming EXTREMELY easy to verify whether information is legitimate and I personally am becoming mistrustful of any second or third party provider of news without checking from multiple sources.

A good rule of thumb: If it makes you angry, afraid, or excited, it's probably not an entire picture of the situation and worth double- or triple-checking elsewhere. Real life and real politics are pretty boring 99% of the time. The other 1% involves the start of wars, major natural disasters, and emotional outbursts of public figures (which we look at and shake our heads in shame over, oblivious to our own outbursts and flaws simply because they are not broadcast onto a TV screen or news site, which we would likely mistrust as prejudiced, biased, or *direction*-leaning if it made us look bad anyways).

I actually enjoy most of President Obama's special-event speeches. Whoever writes them does an excellent job and I find very little to disagree with them since most are based on good broad principles which can inspire the vast majority of us to live up to and not usually on specific policies. I wish I was getting a break in class lectures to enjoy an excitingly unusual speech from the President of the United States of America (whatever his name or party is). I also enjoy his pictorial and metaphorical style, even though it's misconstrued and misunderstood by many.

I know many of you might get perturbed by the political views of this cartoon, but I find it timely and funny anyways.