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New Addition to Ponce Medicine: Lieberman's E-Radiology
Physician Gillian Lieberman faculty at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, has created several in-depth radiological collections based on her own work in the specialty of Diagnostic Radiology at Lieberman’s ERadiology. These sites offer core-learning content for first and second-year medical and dental students, in various formats.
This great educational tool will be featured as one of the links for medical students in PonceMedicine.org. It is truly a great resource for students interested early in their medical careers in radiology, for those considering radiology or just those who want to strengthen their radiologic interpretation abilities. And most important of all, this learning portal is totally free!
The exact URL for this learning portal is: http://eradiology.bidmc.harvard.edu/
Feedback is welcome! Please feel free to contact Dr. Lieberman at glieberm@bidmc.harvard.edu.
PSM Featured on Major News Article: Scientists hope to network Facebook-style
ITHACA, N.Y. — Social networking is coming to the science lab.
Cornell University and six other institutions will use a $12.2 million federal stimulus grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a Facebook-style professional networking system to link biomedical researchers across the country.
Participants say by making it easier for scientists to find each other, researchers will be able to improve their ongoing studies and forge collaborations that could lead to new discoveries.
The new network will be called VIVOweb.
"Scientists have problems finding each other," said Michael Conlon, interim director of biomedical informatics for the University of Florida and the principal investigator on the project.
"Right now, the best we have are lists of publications ... but that's not the same as who does what and who is interested in what. This is a way for scientists to discover other scientific work going on among researchers on the network," he said.
Presently, scientists use search engines to find others in their fields or people specializing in other areas needed for their research. But those searches are essentially guesses that glean information from a variety of sources, some of which can be unreliable, said Dean Krafft, who is leading the project at Cornell.
The new networking system will include information added by institutions, academic journals, and researchers themselves, said Krafft, who is chief technology strategist for Cornell's library system.
The network will use emerging technology called the Semantic Web — a faster, more searchable next-generation version of the Internet — to make the information available. The public can access the site but some information will be available only to scientists.
Although users will still view the information on what looks like regular Web pages, the open-source software developed by Cornell actually collects the facts a person wants and assembles its own page.
Developed at Cornell in 2003, VIVO allows users to browse or search for information about Cornell faculty and staff across all disciplines, departments and colleges. Similar networks are now in place at other universities and large institutions, but nothing that transcends multiple institutions, Krafft said.
Participants hope to have the network connected across the country within two years. Eventually, it could connect scientists in all disciplines worldwide.
Also helping create the network is Indiana University at Bloomington. Four other institutions — Scripps Research Institute in Juniper, Fla., Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, Washington University of St. Louis, and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City — will serve as implementation sites.
Médico Boricua hace historia
Por Mildred
Rivera Marrero / mrivera1@elnuevodia.com
Para ‘El Nuevo Día’
Para hacer el
procedimiento, que se desarrolló en Italia y que realizó Pérez por primera vez
en Estados Unidos, se escogió a la paciente de 60 años Sharron “Kay” Thornton
-que quedó ciega en el 2000 debido al síndrome Stevens-Johnson.
Pérez explicó, en
entrevista con El Nuevo Día, que esa condición provoca una quemadura en la córnea,
que se cicatriza y queda totalmente sin lágrimas. Como resultado, no le entra
luz al ojo y la persona, aunque tenga la retina y el resto del órgano
saludable, no puede ver. Puede ser provocada por una reacción a medicamentos,
como algunos anticonvulsivos, organismos como el herpes viral, o como resultado
de una quemadura química o termal, como les ha sucedido a soldados.
“Es bien triste.
Se quedan ciegos en menos de una semana. Son enfermedades bien severas”, declaró
Pérez.
En Bascom Palmer
Eye Institute, en Miami, “estábamos cansados de no hacer nada con estos
pacientes y, después de revisar la literatura, fui a Roma y ahí me convencí”. Pérez
fue a adiestrarse con el apoyo del jefe del departamento, el cubano-boricua
Eduardo Alfonso, y al regreso “era obvio que teníamos que formar un grupo.
Somos tres, el cirujano maxilofacial Yoh Fawatari, el cirujano plástico Tom
Johnson y yo”.
El fin principal
del procedimiento es permitir la entrada de luz al ojo, lo que requiere poner
un cilindro óptico frente a la córnea, pero necesitan un soporte. Para eso es
que usan el diente.
Pérez explicó que
el procedimiento comenzó con la remoción de un pedazo de mucosa oral, del área
del cachete, que se colocó en la superficie ocular para que produzca fluidos
que la humedezcan. Luego, sacaron un colmillo, el cual se limó, se agujereó y
al que se le colocó un cilindro óptico. Ese diente se ubicó por dos meses
debajo de la clavícula para evitar posible rechazo y, luego, se colocó encima
del ojo. Esta última etapa se realizó el 7 de septiembre.
“Cuando le
quitamos el vendaje, yo creía que (la oportunidad de éxito) era 50 y 50. No sabía
qué iba a pasar y fue increíble. Le puse un antibiótico que es amarillo y ella
me dijo: ‘Eso es amarillo’ y todo el mundo empezó a llorar”, recordó Pérez.
Pérez, de 45 años,
estudió en el Colegio San José, en Río Piedras, luego fue a Washington
University a estudiar premédica y, de ahí, a la Escuela de Medicina del Recinto
de Ciencias Médicas. Posteriormente, hizo investigación en los Institutos Nacionales
de la Salud y estudió las especialidades de inmunología y oftalmología en
hospitales de la Universidad de Harvard.
What is the place of a woman in today's society when you want a career? My perspective
By Sarai Ambert-Pompey
We have come a long way. We can vote, we wear pants but we are still viewed out of place in the workplace by some. A majority that thinks we should stay at home baking cookies and raising kids as what they think God intended. My aim is not to change minds but to give a quick perspective into my own balancing act.
Passionate
path
Motherhood with a career, wifely duties, community, and
self respect, together in the land of equality is often a misunderstood
combination. Someone asked rhetorically, “when is the appropriate time for a
woman doctor to have kids?” Another person said after taking some time to think
about it, “when is it ever?” It is
allowed by law, but, when is it consider
appropriate? How many times do they look at applicants and they notice she is a
mother or a wife and they wonder, “Will she be able to go through with it?” I
do not intend to offend anyone with my path. I want to do what I love, live
passionately. I walk a passionate path with determination and dedication
without sacrificing my integrity and family.
Strive for
greatness
I am not perfect. No one is. Although we have
limitations, we can strive for greatness in whatever is important to us. It may
sound optimistic but a well plan schedule and the ability to adapt when necessary
and can take us closer to goals pragmatically. These are skills I learned
competing in Judo in college. I like to cook on the weekends, cooking is a
family legacy. Most of my study I do during the week. I like some weekend
outings to the park, beach, or just hanging out at a bench somewhere with the
family and friends. During vacation time, we visit our families including all
our nieces and I indulge on old fashion home cooking and old embarrassing stories
from our childhood. The visits include occasional discussion about nutrition,
my father’s obsession, followed by who has what disease in the family or
showing me a weird rash. (I think every medical student has had that happened
to them.) It is not about reaching greatness but try our sincere hardest to
reach for it. All my life I have always been a curious person. I love learning
and I love helping others as best I can.
The great
balancing act
I have been called a failure already because I do not
have straight A’s. Sure A’s are fabulous but not at the expense of neglecting
my family and myself. I enjoy spending at least one meal a day with my family
and talking about anything. My main focus in school is to learn my craft, and
learn it well. Grades are relative and certainly not objective of our
capabilities. A well balance education should also include community service
and extracurricular work. I get to know the community I will service and fine
tune qualities necessary to maximize my future residency experience and career
in general and that will help me to achieve my goals happily. Happiness is a
very important influence in our lifelong decision or at the very least it should
be a consideration. Balance implies prioritizing my time. I may not attend this
one party but I get to get my work done and family time.
Your personal
support army, the other teachers
My daughter taught me things schools could not about
development of mind, body and soul of a human being. At the same time, she
helped me solidify the knowledge I did learn from Obstetrics, Development, and
Pediatrics. I am lucky to have made the time to enjoy her and our family life. The
early mornings I do not get to see my daughter because of a clerkship schedule,
I am confident that she will be okay because my husband will make sure of it. I
can always count on him to care for both myself and our daughter. This enables
me to dedicate lots of time to study at home with frequent snack, bathroom,
hugging and “kissing and making it all better” breaks.
Women are view differently now than before but like
most things you cannot generalize everyone’ life journey and categorize it. I
can only speak for myself and hope to help other put into perspective other’s
place in this society. My place is
exactly where I was meant to be. I was born to be all these things. I get to do
what I love, my dream career and my dream family. Regardless of how I am viewed
I do my best to reach my own high standards. And I do like baking cookies.
Emociones Destructivas
''¿Cuáles son las raíces del comportamiento destructivo? ¿Cómo podemos controlar las emociones que gobiernan esos impulsos? ¿Podemos aprender a vivir en paz con nosotros mismos y con los demás?''.
En el
libro Emociones destructivas (2006), Daniel Goleman subraya aquello que los
budistas han denominado como los ''Tres Venenos'' de la humanidad: el odio, el
deseo y la ignorancia. Típicamente, estos denominados ''venenos'' -cuyo efecto
se incrementa cuando sucumbimos a los denominados ''excesos''- pueden estar
asociados a una serie de emociones ''negativas'', entre las cuales, no pasará
desapercibido el tan temido coraje.
Aunque el
coraje puede convertirse en una herramienta positiva para enfrentar ciertos
obstáculos o para ser capaz de perseverar ante situaciones difíciles, puede
transformarse, a su vez, en un arma mortal si se utiliza vilmente en contra de
una persona o de uno mismo. Tomando en cuenta estos aspectos, resulta sabio
preguntarse lo siguiente: en estos momentos de su vida, ¿qué situaciones específicas
no marchan como usted espera? ¿Qué emociones le detienen y no le permiten
evolucionar en su misión de vida? ¿Qué decisiones son prioridad en su trabajo y
están paralizadas por el efecto de las emociones ''destructivas''? ¿Cómo
influye el coraje en sus decisiones o en su relación con los demás?
A continuación, encontrará algunas alternativas para lidiar con el poderoso bebedizo del coraje, esa emoción embriagadora que llega a nuestras vidas de manera imprevista:
1.
Reconozca su estado de coraje e identifique su fuente de origen: Esta emoción
transitoria que experimenta, ¿está asociada a una persona o un evento? ¿Corresponde
a alguna situación no resuelta o a un hecho del pasado? Cuando siente coraje, ¿dónde
lo siente? Si le otorgara un color a su coraje, ¿cuál sería? ¿Qué situaciones
incrementan su coraje (disminución de horas de sueño, que no haya podido
almorzar o cenar, que algún ruido le perturbe cuando lleva a cabo determinada
tarea y otros).
2.
Establezca la diferencia entre actuar y reaccionar: Muchas veces actuamos de
forma impensada, en vez de actuar con responsabilidad. Para actuar -en vez de
reaccionar- resulta necesario centrarse en la situación que provoca el coraje,
las acciones que lo propiciaron y los asuntos relacionados: no coloque toda su
atención y energía en la persona. Recuerde: su coraje no corresponde
necesariamente al individuo identificado, sino a una acción o evento asociado
que puede ser resuelto si asume responsabilidad –la capacidad de responder por
sus actos. Establezca un espacio propicio al diálogo.
3. Nivele
su estado de coraje: Si se siente fuera de control, le recomiendo que practique
el hábito de tomar una respiración profunda en situaciones similares. Posterior
a varias respiraciones, cuente hasta veinte y piense en un momento de su vida
en que se haya sentido totalmente relajado. Tenga siempre esta imagen lista
para que pueda evocarla en momentos de este tipo. En algunas ocasiones, es
necesario alejarse de la situación y la persona involucrada hasta que se sienta
preparado para enfrentarlas con madurez: a algunos individuos les resulta
adecuado esperar un mínimo de 24 horas. Le recomiendo que hable con una tercera
persona de confianza. Colóquese, además, en los zapatos de la persona
involucrada: ¿qué situaciones puede que usted desconozca sobre esta persona,
que de alguna manera le permitan a usted comprenderle más allá de esta situación
de coraje? Aprenda a mirar a los otros con los ojos del amor incondicional.
4. ¡Escriba
y libérese!: El papel puede ser un instrumento muy valioso para descargar
nuestro coraje. Escriba todo aquello que le perturba, sin editar. Una vez
finalice, elimínelo o rómpalo en pedacitos. No descargue su coraje al entregar
su narrativa y la catarsis allí plasmada a la persona que usted asume como ''la
que le provocó'' el coraje. La energía ni se crea, ni se destruye: mejor transfórmela
en una experiencia de crecimiento.
5. Conviértase
en recurso de apoyo para que otros manejen su coraje: Sea capaz de escuchar
activamente a aquellas personas que han pasado por una situación similar. Permítale
que hable, se desahogue y termine su discurso, antes de usted sugerir algo o
interrumpirle abruptamente. Muestre empatía: ''está bien sentirse enojado, es
natural que esto suceda''. No utilice preguntas o comentarios que contribuyan
al incómodo estado de coraje. Mantenga la calma e induzca paz y armonía:
utilice un tono de voz adecuado y manténgase relajado. Sirva de modelo para su
interlocutor y notará que el estado que está enfrentando irá desapareciendo
poco a poco.
Family hails Sonia Sotomayor's Puerto Rican roots
by By Emanuella Grinberg CNN
MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico -- Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor may not have been born in Puerto Rico, but friends and relatives say she is Puerto Rican through and through. Her roots go back to the southwestern town of Lajas, a sleepy "pueblito" known as a gateway to the island's picturesque Caribbean coast, where Sotomayor's mother was born in 1927. They extend to nearby Mayaguez, a small city on the coast where many of Sotomayor's relatives live today. "They grew up in an era of great poverty," Sotomayor's cousin, Jose "Tito" Baez Gonzalez, said of his and Sotomayor's parents. "Their lives were filled with struggles."
New York-born Sotomayor is the first Hispanic to be nominated to the Supreme Court. Friends and relatives credit some of her success to a working-class ethic inherited from her parents, who left Puerto Rico in search of a brighter future.
The impoverished Puerto Rico that Sotomayor's parents knew in the 1930s was vastly different from the mostly-Americanized island of today. But in many ways the struggles of Sotomayor's parents, particularly her mother, Celina Baez, mirror her own. 
Watch cousin Tito Baez and friends say how humility and love of food mark Sotomayor »
When Celina Baez was 9, her mother died and her father abandoned the family, leaving her to be raised by her eldest sister and brother. The young Celina Baez soon showed the fortitude and strong will that relatives say also characterize her daughter. Sotomayor has said that the few happy childhood memories her mother has shared involved education. Each day Celina Baez would run home from school to teach imaginary friends before doing the chores -- and an emphasis on schooling was something she passed on.
Like many Puerto Ricans from her era, Celina Baez headed for the mainland at 17, joining the Women's Army Corps in Georgia. She eventually settled in the Bronx, where she married Sotomayor's father, Juan -- a transplant from San Juan's Santurce neighborhood with a third-grade education, who did not speak English. They had two children: Sonia and her brother, also named Juan.
Sotomayor's father died when she was 9, leaving her mother to juggle two jobs and borrow money to get her nursing degree. Both parents and their histories had a powerful impact on Sotomayor, according to Emmalind Garcia, an appellate court judge in Puerto Rico who became close to Sotomayor after they met in San Juan about 15 years ago.
"When you have a parent who struggles because he can't speak the language, or maybe he doesn't have a lot of education, it makes you work harder to prove yourself," Garcia said. "But Dona Celina also set the example for her children that education was the best way to elevate yourself from poverty."
Relatives in Mayaguez used many of the same words to describe mother and daughter: humble, simple, caring and courageous. They spoke admiringly of their continued fluency in Spanish and their love for typical Puerto Rican dishes like rice and beans and "mofongo," a dish of mashed plantains and spices. Watch friends describe what the nomination means to them as Puerto Ricans »
"The values of Puerto Ricans are centered normally on just one thing -- the family," said Tito Baez, who runs the family bakery in the Manatiales neighborhood. "Although her values are very North American, naturally, because she was born and raised there, I believe her roots are pure Puerto Rican," he said. "She has loved us with the same support as if she were born here and lived here with us."
His sister, Leonor Baez Santana, remembered summers playing jacks and other games with her cousin in her mother's home."My aunt sent her here to Puerto Rico to be with us and she behaved very well," she recalled.
As an adult, Sotomayor would make time to go to Mayaguez, a city of 100,000 known for its mango trees and brewery, whenever she was on the island, her cousins said. The two-hour drive from San Juan is flanked by suburban sprawl, from McDonald's and Walgreens to Walmart and Pep Boys. Mayaguez itself has the framework of a Spanish colonial town with modern touches. At the center is the tree-lined Plaza de Colon, where residents meet in the shadow of a water fountain with a statue of Christopher Columbus. Around the square are the Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria Cathedral and City Hall, and small businesses like Subway and Payless Shoes.
The bakery that Sotomayor's relatives have owned for more than 50 years sits at the foot of hills to the east, amid colorful concrete homes designed to withstand hurricanes. "Panaderia y Reposteria Tito's Bakery" is a nondescript joint with the markings of a typical New York City corner store: refrigerators stocked with fruit juice and soda, display cases holding sandwiches, fresh baked goods, and pastellitos, or small pastries, stuffed with cheese and ground beef. Next door, the bakery prepares cakes and special orders, and above is a home for more of the Baez family.
The only sign of a connection to their famous relative is a stack of newspapers featuring Sotomayor, piled on a stand next to a video lottery terminal. "People's reactions were astonishing, the pride that they feel that a Puerto Rican, an adoptive daughter of Mayaguez, has been nominated for this charge," Baez said at his home in the hillside district of Rio Hondo.
"She's not just a part of our family, she belongs to Puerto Rico," said Baez, a burly man in his 50s with a friendly disposition, even as he apologetically declined to provide details about his family's history. Instead, he took CNN to his favorite place in Mayaguez to pick mangoes, on a road to the Cerro las Mesas hills. The fruit within reach was all gone, so Baez apologized again and moved on to a scenic lookout point.
"Her profession, the space she has now, it has not gone to her head. She doesn't have an ego. She has her feet firmly planted on the ground," Baez said. That attitude is a testament to Celina Baez, Sotomayor's friend Garcia believes. "She raised a doctor and a judge. It's an incredible accomplishment for a woman from a poor village in Puerto Rico."