Monday, August 29, 2011

Eid Mubarak!

Last night, when the imam started to read Surah Al-Falaq on the last raka'ah of tarawih prayer, he began to cry. It hit me, we'll soon say goodbye to the holy month, Ramadhan. For me, this year's Ramadhan was not the best. No.. It was me who wasn't giving my best. Lack of preparation perhaps was the main reason (blame the happyou and ronbun! haha #evil grin. ups, no evil during Ramadhan :p). Huff.. I think I'm going to miss the atmosphere of Ramadhan in Sapporo. Actually doing Ramadhan fasting here is special. Away from your family, you find a new family. Iftar which was held everyday in the mosque gave you the chance to meet your brothers and sisters from many countries, the chance to taste their food (some fit the tongue, some didn't though), the chance to see, experience, and understand differences. Unique. Furthermore, the tarawih prayer was the best of all. One day, one juz, led by two imam, one from Egypt, one from Saudi Arabia. Can't find it back home indeed. Such a luxury. Ya Allah, may You let me meet Ramadhan again next year. Aamiin.

To perform Eid Al-Fitr prayer is another story. In Japan, where muslim is minority, getting permission to hold prayer outside the mosque is not easy for sure. Moreover there will be speaker which might cause disturbance to the neighbourhood. Alhamdulillaah, just like last year, this year Eid Al-Fitr prayer will be held on a park. The feeling of being able to keep your faith in the middle of 'desert' is irreplaceable. 1 Syawal, tanoshimi ni shitemasu :)

However, back home, this Eid Al-Fitr will be the first time to celebrate without my grandma as she passed away few months ago. Even I who can't go home (again) feel very sad :(. Her face, her voice still very clear remain in my memory. May Allah forgive her and accept her good deeds.

Anyway, apart from anything, may Allah accept our fasting and all of our 'ibadah during Ramadhan, also forgive our sins, so that we will be as pure as newborn baby after this month over. Aamiin..

Taqabbalallaahu minnaa wa minkum shiyaamanaa wa shiyaamakum. Please forgive me for all mistakes I did as I've already forgiven yours.

Eid Mubarak everyone!

Eid Mubarak

graphics18.com | Eid Mubarak | Forward this Picture
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

pushing the limit

Finally I can encounter my laziness to write :p. 


Studying abroad is not just letting you see other part of the world, but also experience different environment. And most of the times, it can be very different, shocking, so called culture shock. Let's forget those parts of first time tasting bitter green tea or hearing noisy slurping sound from people eating noodles. I've already coped that 2 years ago. This time the shock dealt with something deeper, the working spirit. It's not a strange thing to see hard working students spend more than 12 hours at campus (well, there must be break times though) and still come on weekends. Although I'm not that geek (happy to say that), sometimes I did work weekends and once or twice did spend more than 12 hours at campus (and I hate it). Being influenced, huh? Well, it's more like a you-have-no-choice-other-than-do-the-experiment-unless-you-don't-want-to-graduate thing. Not lazy, but there also time for relaxing, right? (personal excuse :p). During these 2.5 years, I already understand that level of hard work by Japanese. However this time, this time, I experienced way above the what-I-thought the topmost hardworking level.

My experiment wasn't as smooth as it should be. Three months before final presentation, which was at the end of July, I hadn't obtained the expected result. My work was to isolate compound from fungus fermentation culture, but I even still had on-going incubation of culture, still did trial and error experiments. So anxious when my friends said that they already finish their works, also the thesis, and the presentation slide a month before the D-Day. 

Me? Three weeks to D-Day, just start purifying sample with HPLC. Two weeks to D-Day, still analyzing with NMR and MS. My daily supervisor and one Japanese student helped me (I appreciate it..). But, I couldn't show final results in my first slides version, 7 days before D-Day. Once I had the NMR results, my sensei and one post-doc researcher helped me determine the chemical structure. On that same day, they could figured out the compound (thankfully). The next two days were time to search articles regarding that compound. 

I managed to put it in my slides and showed them at the second practice, 4 days before D-Day. But it wasn't enough. I had to explain about NMR results (which I tried to avoid before) and did last practice 2 days afterward. Oh, no.. I didn't know how to interpret the result, what to explain. I even didn't know where to start, although I tried to read the principles and watched videos about it in Youtube. In the middle of panic, I asked my senior's help (it was already 9 pm, night before the last practice day). Kindly he explained the very basic way to interpret an NMR chart (why didn't I do this earlier? aaargh..). Okay, that night I worked on my slides and went home at 11.30 pm. 

Last practice, 2 days before D-Day, finally I had the assignment of NMR data and the bioassay result in the slides! What an achievement for me! So instant learner I was. Still had to do revision here and there, but I already could see the whole picture. That night I went home at 12 am. 

Thought I can take a short breath for a while, a day before D-Day, I found out that the carbon NMR chart taken at Research Center only has 27 peaks, while the one taken at Agriculture Faculty has 28 peaks. One peak was missing. That made me had to take two confirmation analysis that night. One was done overnight. Huh? The presentation would be the next morning! The machine was set so the measurement could be finished at 8 am, while my turn was at 11.10 am. So nerve-testing. I made finishing touch to the slides, wrote guidance for the presentation, and called my parents (needed emotional support the most) that night. Came home at 12.30 am. My body understood me and didn't complain at all, though I was forcing myself (thank you..).

D-Day finally came. I took the results at 8 am, submit the slides to the organizing committee at 8.30 am, and comforting myself. Fyi, the last results looked even worse than the NMR chart. Nothing but line of sharp needles. The post-doc researcher came at around 9 am and helped me interpret the result. As the mystery was solved, nothing needed to be changed in my slides. Fiuh, thanks God. 

My turn, 11.10 am. No nervous feeling at all. But for the first time I did a presentation while reading to a text. Yes, it helped me to manage the time (because we were given 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for Q&A session), but it would be better if I can memorize those words, thus being able to interact with audience and looked more confident. Thinking that within limited time of preparation, I could reach this point, no other expression except just to be grateful. Though the Q&A was quite shaggy, I got many applause (why? I think my charm could appeal the audience, haha :D). 

It was over!! I wanted to screamed like that.... but.... my daily supervisor ruined the atmosphere. He (dared to) discuss the questions given at Q&A session! Just wanted to disappear from that room since my head was heavy (as a result of having not enough sleep and forcing brain to the max), but you know, how can I? I answered reluctantly until finally he stopped (thank you..). Closed the day with a hamburger party with lab mates (to celebrate me and my friend's master presentation). At least I had tasty halal chicken burger to pay off the busy days ;). 

As my head was getting heavier, even had to take a pill, I truly learnt the word of HARD WORK, pushing the limit of myself. Precious lesson from Japanese. But.. do it for the second time? Umm.. I will choose to finish my work earlier :p.  




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Friday, June 24, 2011

macha

抹茶大すき！


Almost 2.5 year in Japan has made my tongue get accustom with Japanese food (well, mostly). Like and dislike are common since I'm originally from a country where spices are abundant and Japanese food is very, how to say, plain?. Yes, I mean preserving its original taste (read: eat it raw and use minimum seasoning). 


However, if we talk about maccha or green tea, you will find my eyes full of enthusiasm :D I love green tea, in every form. I am happy to find green tea cream cake, green tea ice cream, green tea chocolate, including make my own green tea pudding. Seems my list (and my happiness) will still continue. Yesterday I found green tea purin. Very delicious and addicting. 


Today I bought another cup. Yummy.. 



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turning


As I register to Digital Photography School weekly newsletter, today I received this week's edition. Through one click to another click, I was surfing some professional photographer's site, admiring their works, and being even more curious of how they can produce such beautiful photos. And that happened to be poisonous. 

In my old blog in Multiply (www.mutiaralsidharta.multiply.com), I highlighted my passion of being a women scientist in my current field. However, now it weakened. Shoo, I should have known myself who is easily bored. Being a scientist means firm goal, tons of hard work, eternal patient, wrapped with never-wilted enthusiasm. I'm not sure I have stock of energy to keep myself on track until I can reach the goal. Somehow I don't find the idea interesting any more. My visual brain always associated something with colour or light; I see grey or dim light. 

Maybe it's just a temporary feeling. Or on the other hand, a chance to choose other way? I have large interest in photography and it keeps growing. Not once thoughts of switching my path come across my mind. I remember a story of Bara Patirajawane who decided to become chef instead of building his career in diplomatic world like his father, because of his love and passion on cooking. The guts. That is the most important thing I don't have enough right now. 

Shourai ni dou naru ka na~ I still have to do my experiment and write my thesis for next month. Perhaps I would better finish those first.       
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Friday, June 17, 2011

an old man and Clark statue

Last Tuesday morning was gloomy enough to start the day. Not just it was raining (and didn't stop even until night came), I woke up extremely late, around 10.45 am. In my lab, we have 'core time' from 10 am to 5 pm, when everyone should be 'around'. Guilt struck me although I don't know to whom should I address that feeling to. 

Then finally after taking a shower (not want to skip in these sweating days) and got dress, I rode my bike to school (with normal speed, surprisingly). On the way, inside the campus, while I was still on my bike, suddenly I heard someone said, "....doko desuka? (Where.... ?)". No one else was there on the side walk and no one else was riding beside me, that must be for me, so I pulled my break (suppose to say 'pull' for bike, right?). An old man approached, I pulled my jacket's hood a bit, and he asked, "Where is the Clark statue?". After I explain the direction, he looked across the road, likely to call for his wife who was looking at the campus map. And I left, with a smile, naturally. 

Helping an old couple, in the middle of light rain, 'lost' inside the campus to find a famous person's statue (and perhaps take a picture with it) scene was enough to lift my mood. Simple as it is. Sometimes (even most of the times) simple happiness is enough to warm your heart.  


***

 William S. Clark was the one who found Sapporo Agricultural College in 1876, now Hokkaido University. He is famous for his words 'Boys, be ambitious', also his pointing posture. Hokkaido University has half body statue of him and it becomes quite famous photo spot for visitor. 


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Thursday, June 16, 2011

from the core

Published online 15 June 2011 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2011.368

News

Genome study solves twins' mystery condition

Sequencing ends years of speculation over children's rare disorder.
Erika Check Hayden

twinsGenome sequencing suggested a new approach to treatment for twins Noah and Alexis Beery, shown here with their parents.Life Technologies
Two years ago, 13-year-old Alexis Beery developed a cough and a breathing problem so severe that her parents placed a baby monitor in her room just to make sure she would survive the night. Alexis would often cough so hard and so long that she would throw up, and had to take daily injections of adrenaline just to keep breathing. Yet doctors weren't sure what was wrong.
In a paper published today in Science Translational Medicine1, researchers led by Richard Gibbs, head of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston, Texas, describe how they sequenced the genomes of Alexis and her twin brother, Noah, to diagnose the cause of her cough — a discovery that led to a treatment. Today, Alexis is playing soccer and running, and her breathing problem has gone, says Alexis's mother, Retta.
"We honestly didn't know if Alexis was going to make it through this," Retta Beery says. "Sequencing has brought her life back."
At age 5, the Beery twins had already been diagnosed with a genetic disorder called dopa-responsive dystonia, which causes abnormal movements, and had been taking a medication that was apparently successfully treating the condition. When Alexis developed a worsening cough and breathing problem, the twins' neurologists did not think it was related to her dystonia.
The twins' mother Retta Beery, whose husband Joe is the chief information officer at Life Technologies, a biotechnology systems and services company headquartered in Carlsbad, California, pushed for the childrens' genomes to be sequenced to find a definitive answer. The company helped fund the study at Baylor, which used Life's SOLiD sequencing technology to find that the twins carry mutations in a gene called SPR that encodes the enzyme sepiapterin reductase, which was previously linked to some cases of dopa-responsive dystonia.
Sepiapterin reductase enables the synthesis of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. The twins were already taking a dopamine precursor for their dystonia. So the study suggested that they might benefit from taking a chemical precursor of serotonin, 5-hydroxytryptophan, as well. A month after starting the treatment, Alexis's breathing problem had disappeared. Noah's handwriting has improved and he is also able to concentrate more in school, Retta Beery says.

Chalking up a win

The discovery is a win for genome sequencing in the clinic, which has already been used to guide cancer treatment2 and to diagnose and treat a handful of rare diseases whose origins are difficult to discern, and so hard to treat3.
"This study represents a good example of how genetic diagnosis of a rare genetic condition directly impacts treatment," says Joris Veltman of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands.
Indeed, work like this is giving scientists hope that they will soon be able to 'solve' the genetic origins of almost all rare diseases and conditions. This is important because the rarer conditions by definition afflict fewer people than major killers such as heart disease, and so attract little funding for studies. Nor is it possible to organize large clinical trials into conditions that affect so few people.
There are also relatively few medical doctors who are expert in diagnosing rare diseases, so these conditions are often undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, and available treatments go unused. This is something Retta Beery knows all too well. Her children were incorrectly diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of two, and did not receive their correct diagnosis — and first effective treatment — until the age of six, after being subjected to hundreds of tests. And Alexis endured six years of inconclusive tests before sequencing pinpointed the cause of her breathing problem, Retta Beery says.
The work published today suggests that sequencing could shorten diagnostic odysseys like these, because it tests for all possible genomic mutations at once, thereby guiding the way towards treatments aimed at particular biochemical pathways, and does not need to be ordered by specialists in rare diseases. Gibbs predicts that 90% of disorders caused by single gene defects will be solved in the next three to four years.

The big question is when whole-genome sequencing will be inexpensive enough for routine clinical use. Gibbs estimates that the study released today cost about US$100,000, including $30,000 to sequence each twin's genome, and took two months. But some companies are offering sequences for as little as $5,000 to $7,500. Researchers think that when sequencing drops to $1,000 per patient, it will become more widespread."The availability of unbiased whole genome or exome sequencing will make an enormous impact on our opportunity to diagnose and treat patients with rare disease," agrees Veltman, whose centre is now offering exome sequencing — sequencing just the coding regions of genes, rather than the whole genome — to patients with disorders including intellectual disability, blindness, deafness, movement disorders and hereditary forms of cancer.
Beery says that for other families who need it, that day cannot come soon enough.
"It's ridiculous to think of the amount of time and money that we and our insurance company have spent, and the amount of suffering our kids went through, when they could have had their blood drawn once and got the answer," Beery says.


References

  1. Bainbridge, M. N. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 3, 87re3 (2011).
  2. Jones, S. J. et al. Genome Biol. 11, R82 doi:10.1186/gb-2010-11-8-r82 (2010).
  3. Worthey, E. A. et al. Genet. Med. 13, 255-262 (2011).


Solved from the core. Only hope that the excellency of this kind of method can reach common people. Hmm.. definitely not in the next 10 years. 

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

masih tentang Ikal

Padang BulanPadang Bulan by Andrea Hirata

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Sepertinya saya berharap terlalu tinggi. Setelah tetralogi Laskar Pelangi yang fenomenal, saya menunggu-nunggu karya Andrea Hirata berikutnya yang mampu membangkitkan imajinasi dengan keunikan cerita, kecermatan diksi, keindahan kalimat, dan kelihaian dalam mendeskripsikan karakter, situasi, budaya, semuanya. Yang mampu mengaktifkan tombol kesenangan, membuat saya menari-nari bersama semua tokoh diiringi irama riang, tak henti bahkan ketika saya menghabiskan lembar terakhir.

Sayangnya Padang Bulan, bagi saya, tidak demikian. Cukup dua bintang untuk karya dua dalam satu ini. Aroma Melayu tetap kuat tercium dalam pilihan kata, bentukan kalimat dan saya suka itu. Namun, kali ini Ikal dewasa terlalu naif dan membosankan. Dan kehadiran tokoh baru, Enong, pun terasa hanya tempelan. Tidak banyak kejutan yang disajikan, bahkan saat terungkap bahwa A Ling hanya mak comblang antara Zinar, yang secara kasihan dicemburui Ikal di sepanjang cerita, dan istrinya. Unexpectedly flat. Dari awal hingga akhir, intinya satu: Being desperate of love is exhausting and, unfortunately at the same time, has the highest possibility of making fool of yourself.

Saya baru mulai membaca Cinta di Dalam Gelas. Semoga harapan saya terbayar.


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[as published in my profile at goodreads]
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Friday, May 27, 2011

moving in

It's sad to say that I'm moving out from multiply, after 5 wonderful years there. Just want to start a new blog life using the same Google account for my other blog. 

So, here I am. Having a fresh start at blogspot. Hope I can manage my blog regularly. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. 
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