Cell 2 Soul: The Humane Health Care Blog

Marginal Notes: The Inflammatory Response

I sat next to the Chinese woman and stared out the salt-streaked window at the white-capped waves, conscious of the slight pitch and roll of the ferryboat.  She was a Ph.D. biologist who headed a lab devoted to pharmacological research for treatment of dermatological disease.

“Thirty years ago,” she continued, “we treated the pain of rheumatoid arthritis with almost no thought to attacking the disease at the root of the problem—autoimmune inflammation.  Now we have mapped the biochemical cascade of the inflammatory response—cytokines, prostaglandins, interleukins, complement—and we are in the process of designing drugs to block these agents to prevent tissue destruction.  It is all so fascinating.”  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

Marginal Notes: The Naïve Narrative

 

In his recent column In Defense of Naïve Reading, Professor Robert Pippin speaks to the state of literary criticism as it is taught on university campuses.  His contention is that, although the current trend is to scrutinize the literary arts through the lens of the natural scientific research model — with the ultimate end of developing a “science of meaning” — creative works themselves were never crafted to serve research.  Rather, their authors penned them as works of art, works meant to speak to us at the deepest level of our being. I was reminded of these words during small group discussion at our recent Cell2Soul gathering on Nantucket. more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

A New Disorder

Unconquerable Soul

Paul Miller, a lawyer who was born with achondroplasia dwarfism, overcame discrimination because of his disability and became a leader in the disability rights movement, died on October 19, 2010 at his home on Mercer Island, Wash. He was 49.

More than 40 times after graduating from Harvard Law School, Mr. Miller received rejection letters from law firms. Full NY Times Obituary.

It is important to be reminded of unconquerable souls who live in our midst. When so many "healthy" people look on themselves as disabled -- what fires ignite people like Paul Miller?

Marginal Notes: Nantucket Bound

How Melville's Ishmael got from Manhattan to New Bedford is unclear; but for the record I drove to Hyannis, taking the Bourne Bridge across the Cape Cod Canal and pulling into the Yarmouth lot shortly before eleven o’clock on a crisp clear Friday autumn morning.  The shuttle driver dropped me off at the dock just in time for me to pay my passage on the high-speed ferry to Nantucket.

On board the M/V Iyanough I elbowed my way through the mass of humanity in the main cabin to the upper deck, where I found an open spot on the fantail.  I stood at the head of the port ladder and looked out over the harbor as the boat’s engines kicked in.  Slowly we backed out of our berth and turned toward the channel that led to the open sea.  more»

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

A Soldier's Recollections from Long Ago War

Recently, a patient held me in thrall with a story from the European theater of World War II.

"I saw my father cry only twice.  The first time was at my brother Bob's wedding.  The second was when the doctors at the former Fort Devens Hospital told my parents, at my discharge from the service in 1946, that at the most, I had three years to live.  The doctors had diagnosed me with mitral insufficiency due to rheumatic fever.

This is how it began...  Read on: Download Armand's Story

The author, Armand Perreault, is an energetic 92 year-old retired French teacher from North Adams, Massachusetts.  If you wish to contact him, I will forward messages since I do not think he uses email.

 

 

 

 

Marginal Notes: Thought to Thought

Photons fly and strike the rods and cones of another human retina, triggering biochemical impulses transferred via the optic nerve to the occipital lobe of another human brain—reception of thoughts, ideas, concepts, emotions, problems, solutions—the stuff of life. >>more

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."

The Name of it is Autumn I

"Spring and Fall," (to a young child) by Gerard Manley Hopkins has always resonated with me.  Like this season, it is ineffably beautiful, yet suffused with sadness. (You can click on embedded album to enlarge photos if you want, then click on "Full Screen" and hit play button to see slideshow)

 

Margaret, áre you gríeving   
Over Goldengrove unleaving?   
Leáves, líke the things of man, you   
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?   
Áh! ás the heart grows older          
It will come to such sights colder   
By and by, nor spare a sigh   
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;   
And yet you wíll weep and know why.   
Now no matter, child, the name:           
Sórrow’s spríngs áre the same.   
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed   
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:   
It ís the blight man was born for,   
It is Margaret you mourn for.

Marginal Notes: Holistic Solutions

My neighbor and I stood side by side with our necks careened back, staring up at the south face of my house.  Scattered throughout the cedar shakes along the periphery there appeared a string of holes expertly drilled into the wood—the work of a woodpecker, most certainly. >>more

 

Brian T. Maurer has practiced pediatrics as a Physician Assistant for thirty years.  His "Marginal Notes" column appears periodically in the Cell2Soul Blog. The title "Marginal Notes" is taken from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "I love a broad margin to my life."