Hello June

Here are two blogs that I had stored in my Google Keep. They're not directly related, but what they have in common is that I didn't have time to type them out. They were all dictated using a voice-keyboard. Mostly while walking. I decided that when I got done with teaching I would subject myself to a health gauntlet and visit all the doctors that I had been procrastinating. I was confident that I would be able to convince someone to prescribe me some hormone replacement therapy (HRT). But I was unsuccessful. 

Here's what the doctor sent me. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322587

And here's what I sent back:

High cholesterol (even with fasting) and pruritus (hands, feet, and vulvar) together are perimenopause symptoms. I don't want to ignore the cholesterol issue, which concerns me. Additionally, mood swings have been severe with unexplained crying mid-cycle and 10-days of PMS now.

I have been using Ultimate Hydration Body Cream for my hands and feet, which was one of your suggestions. I've tried Bounce Back Muscle Recovery Body Butter for my legs, sometimes a lotion with cooling menthol can distract my mind from the itching long enough to fall asleep. I have tried aloe vera aftersun with lidocaine, which does not seem to help. I have even tried Moisturizing Coconut Shea Butter Lotion on my vulva when it gets bad. It's so hard to sleep when I can't get any relief.

Yes, antihistamine diphenhydramine HCl at 50 mg does help, but I worry about its long-term side effects. It carries a risk of dependence, and I am 4321 days sober as of today (one day at a time). I don't want to rely on anything that can lead to dependency. This information is relevant to my concerns.

I'm not sure which type of Estroven is recommended; several types exist. I cannot see how much black cohosh is in each tablet. A review article suggests taking up to 120 mg of the drug/day, which is actually three tablets. Some studies showed that black cohosh increased HDL and lowered LDL, but not all studies showed this. More studies showed that black cohosh had no effect on cholesterol.

Now here are some more thoughts that I didn't share with the doctor:

Since meeting with my GP, I started taking a Menopause formula as a daily multivitamin. It contains soy isoflavones. How much of that is recommended for a daily allowance of isoflavones? Is there a danger of overdose? Will these new supplements together help regulate my symptoms? I don't have time to look into all these things! 

How much calcium is too much calcium? Should I add a fish oil supplement? If black cohosh has efficacy comparable to low-dose transdermal estradiol, why can't I take estradiol instead? It seems more prudent to take regulated substances instead of botanicals not regulated by the FDA. Estradiol plus intermittent micronized progesterone had a significant impact on LDL cholesterol.

And furthermore, can we trust the government right now anyway? Why is our country being run by influencers and funding is being slashed for women's health initiatives? We can't win right now! It was a very heavy Month of Mama this year. With my units being cut at CSUN, I can't afford to hire an outside doctor right now and pay for hormones out of pocket.

Mother's Day Musings

I feel like as women we are taught to accept less. To do more with less. To work with scarcity. And create magic. And that's how we are incrementally left with nothing. The gift we want is to be left alone. We're so tired of creating all the magic for others. 

I am dictating this while wearing a bra that I bought 6 years ago that's totally falling apart. It doesn't fit well. It's not supportive. This should be totally unacceptable. Why is it that advertising can make such big promises? But in the end most garments don't even do the bare minimum in terms of fit and function. 

I was doing so well in my Motherhood Maternity era, both during pregnancy and early Postpartum. In my Kindred Bravely era. In my Latched Mama era. In my LuLaRoe era. My Levi's jeggings era. Now that I'm in my Sweatpants era, I really don't give a crap about how other people perceive me in terms of what I'm wearing. Melani Sanders or “justbeingmelani” Instagram started a WDNC club. I appreciate what I learned during my Sarah Wells era and my Ceres Chill era. And I'm ready for whatever is next.

You don't matter

What I hear the medical establishment saying to me right now is your pain is not real. You're suffering is insignificant. Your problems are imaginary. This is what people have dealt with for thousands of years. We don't care about you. We don't care that you're suffering. We do not care that your life is impacted. We do not care that you're not able to sleep. We don't care about your history of substance abuse. We don't care to actually help you. We don't think you matter enough to focus on your problem. Your contributions to society are insignificant or are largely in the past. You do not have enough value to warrant our attention.

We will address each of your symptoms as individual problems, not look at the total sum of what these clues point to. We are going to dismiss your concerns one at a time, chalk it up to a lack of healthy diet, a lack of exercise, and simply a family history of high cholesterol. We're not going to look at the bigger picture and say that this is a new problem that has arisen in the last 5 years. We're going to say that your numbers are borderline anyway, therefore no action is required.

At what time do you realize you aren't going to be able to fall asleep? At what point do you cancel tomorrow's workout? When do you shut off the alarm you had set for tomorrow? At what point do you realize it's too hot in your bedroom? At what point do you start googling symptoms? At what point do you lean into online providers and telehealth? At what point do you give up? I don't want to be the person who has given up on myself. I want to keep moving forward. I want to realize I am only at midlife. I have 45 more years to go. Family tree roots run deep.

References

C. Castelo-Branco, M. Gambacciani, A. Cano, M. J. Minkin, D. Rachoń, X. Ruan, A.-M. Beer, J. Schnitker, H.-H. Henneicke-von Zepelin & S. Pickartz (2021) Review & meta-analysis: isopropanolic black cohosh extract iCR for menopausal symptoms – an update on the evidence, Climacteric, 24:2, 109-119, DOI: 10.1080/13697137.2020.1820477

Gordon JL, Rubinow DR, Watkins L, Hinderliter AL, Caughey MC, Girdler SS. The Effect of Perimenopausal Transdermal Estradiol and Micronized Progesterone on Markers of Risk for Arterial Disease. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020 May 1;105(5):e2050–60. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgz262.

On the plus side, I got results back from the pap smear (normal), the mammogram (normal), and the bone density scan (normal). I got a new eyeglass prescription but there has been a delay. The glasses should be ready for me to pick up in a few days. I am still waiting on the referral for colonoscopy.

women's history month

I am sitting here in office hours and before this I was staring at my reflection in the mirror and I was struck by how I don't look like a professor. I mean, when I think of a professor, I think of someone wearing a tweed suit with suede elbow patches in an imposing leather chair. But I'm wearing jeans, sneakers and a lularoe shirt. Partly because I live in California, and I don't think tweed is something that gets worn here ever due to the weather being so nice. But partly because the dress code here at CSUN isn't a thing. Some people dress like they just rolled out of a dumpster. Which is fine by me. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kayla Kaiser (@hamerk02)

Pinterest thinks my fashion style is Dark Academia, which I didn't even know was a thing. But it is kind of how I picture a professor dressing.

When I worked at Claremont, I did wear clothing that could be classified as Dark Academia, but it was certainly more colorful than this. I don't wear muted colors very often.

I'm thinking about Women's History Month and the contributions of women to academia and STEM fields. I'm thinking about why more women don't want to enter academia or if they do, sometimes how they get pushed out. I'm thinking about my own biases and concepts of what a professor should look like and how it causes me to feel some cognitive dissonance when I AM a professor but my reflection in the mirror doesn't look like what I think a professor SHOULD look like. It's a mind trip!

I'm thinking of classism, sexism, racism, homophobia, and wage gaps. I'm thinking of how teachers are expected to make teaching their vocation, excluding any possibility of having a life outside of work. How we are expected to work all the time, making it difficult to balance raising a family and maintaining friendships.

https://www.cta.org/about-us/history

Expectations of society: You may not dress in bright colors, dye your hair, or wear short skirts. You must clean the schoolhouse. You can't leave town. You can't go on dates or go downtown. You have to go to bed early. You can not have a spouse. Yeah. I've read that teachers were once highly paid, but then someone got the great idea to let women do it, and the reason was that women would do more work for less pay than men.

I'm not even sure what the point of this blog post is, but I know I watched the movie "Nyad" last night and it was so powerful. She was so determined and didn't accept that she wasn't strong or young enough to do something that had never been done before. And she was willing to fail hugely before succeeding even though society wasn't very supportive of sponsoring someone her age.

I just have to remember that I AM MAKING HISTORY right now. By existing as a woman in STEM. By wearing bright colors as a teacher. By providing an alternative to the pale male and stale professor tropes for the next generation, to possibly see themselves in acadmia. Like Diana Nyad, I'm doing it.

January 2021 thoughts

Happy New Year! My big accomplishment of last month was using up all my Hoopla borrows. I have been binging on the "Jessie Hunt" series by Blake Pierce in audio book format. I rarely use all my 15 borrows, so any month I do is a good month. If you don't Hoopla, it's an app from the Public Library that lets you stream audio/video or read ebooks.

I'm grateful for this group keeping me writing microblogs that I can string together later. It's nice to have a twice daily reminder to write stuff down. My sister's baby was born in October and she didn't get a baby book. Not sure why I'm so obsessed with keeping records, but I think it's because I have a pretty bad memory. I hope that if everything is in the cloud, I can look at it later and remember. And if not in the cloud, I will have a few selected printed memories.

I have started telling stories to LO from memory. It's interesting trying to come up with a long enough story to help him fall asleep. I tell him memories from my life, e.g. how I met daddy, my first half-marathon, trips I took for work. I tell him any fairy tales, fables or movie plots that I can remember. It's nice. No nightlight. No pages to turn or rip. He doesn't know what I'm saying but it seems to do the trick. Then after he's asleep, I put on the audio book to put me to sleep.

We went out for a walk today. Saw lots of other families. Even one who had a kid within 2 weeks of our baby's age. I commented to DH that if not for COVID we would have asked for their phone number and set up a playdate and maybe even taken turns babysitting each other's kids. These are our neighbors. This is our neighborhood. Simple as that. But because of COVID, we stay away from each other. It's so sad and we didn't plan to have our babies in isolation. Never forget this bumper community. We all know some of what each other are going through, even though we each have a unique journey. I don't know how history will remember this time, but I hope HERstory will remember how we all jumped online and gave freely our ideas and support for each other.

Jan 3: I just started following Evolutionary Parenting. So far winter has been brutal because DH wants the house at 70 degrees and I am happier at 63.

Jan 4: My Fit4Mom group meets outside, wears masks, and the instructors do temperature checks. I stopped going in person because for me it isn't fun working out in a mask, the restrooms are closed, and it's a 25 minute cross-town drive. They have daily Zoom workouts so I am still working out, just not out of the house.

We almost ran out of disposable diapers and so DH actually started using cloth. It was the most buy-in I've ever seen and it was glorious.

Also I challenged DH to be fully in charge of all timing of LO's meals and sleeps. He decided when, where, what, all of it. I enjoyed the mental vacation immensely.

I have been avoiding stupid work virtual modules on harassment, data security, etc since I went on mat leave. Did the 1st one out of four that I'm behind on this morning. LO was playing independently then crawled over to me and bonked his head on the leg of the desk. It was approaching naptime so I put him in a carrier. We've mastered BFing in the carrier, so that kept him distracted for a bit. But he wouldn't go to sleep. Bounced and swayed, no nap. Sang Alouette, Gentille Alouette (highly recommend) and a fit of giggles. Finally finished the stupid 1 hour module and put baby down for a nap. Only 3 more modules to go...

It used to be so easy to sit down with a cup of coffee at the computer and knock this stuff out. Now I want to spend my precious few productive minutes doing ACTUAL work like updating syllabi and preparing lessons. I'm sorry but I really hate these virtual training modules. I wish I could pay a task rabbit to login as me and do them.

Had a dream about circumcision last night. LO was crying and saying 'don't take my duckie.' WTH? We didn't circumcise because of COVID lockdown and LO's hernia surgery was traumatic enough. DH said it probably won't happen. So I think I was dreaming of LO whimpering because he was ACTUALLY whimpering because he's teething. And I know he's fond of his 'ducky' because he grabs it during every diaper change, but he certainly can't say entire phrases yet.

Started calling Albert SHARKNADO 🦈because he is a biter. When he bites while breastfeeding, I end the nursing session.

I think this is the phrase "sleep when the baby sleeps" coming back to bite us. My husband does this too, like always defaulting to trying to get LO to sleep and then wondering why it doesn't work.

We only fed LO one meal yesterday because DH got home early from work and our nap/activity schedule was all off. The baby is still BF so it's ok. But I get tired of always being the one to think of feeding and nap schedules. Sometimes like yesterday I wait to see if DH will spontaneously feed LO but that's ridiculous. DH doesn't even responsibly feed himself. He waits until he's super hungry and then eats junk food. Like why would I even think he could be reliable in feeding LO?

I just keep hoping DH will come around. The trouble starts when we're both here. DH can be very good about feeding LO when mommy's not around.

I'm sad DH spent $350 on a third vacuum. I feel like I do extra work around here to save $12. He doesn't clean. I begged him to just use what we have, which works fine BTW. He just 'fixes' things by throwing money at problems. But... I DID find out why he doesn't use one of the vacuums we already have by talking it through. He used our current second vacuum ONCE on the day he bought it. While I was pregnant he wanted a lightweight vacuum so I wouldn't have to carry the one we keep upstairs up and down. Our townhouse is two levels. Anyhow, he use it ONE Time Only and ended up knocking over and breaking a lamp. Now he just doesn't ever vacuum. I guess he got traumatized. So now he's buying a super pricy cordless vacuum and at least I know why. Still I asked him to buy me a $10 push broom while he's at it. I want it to clean the garage so I can do my fitness in there while DH is out at work. I've been wanting it for months so I think it's a fair compromise.

Our Walmart (Porter Ranch, Los Angeles, California) shut down for "cleaning." With regards to COVID: We [as a nation] have demonstrated the outcome when a patchwork of half-hearted strategies are used. Wonder how different the outcome would have been with a consistent directive.

Jan 15: Had spent winter break planning to teach remotely. Got a last minute change in schedule. Now teaching an in-person lab class. Tiny bit more pay. Lot more COVID risk. Possibly less prep for teaching. Possibly less grading time. Definitely more contact hours (time away from LO). Childcare now more complicated.

Researching how and where to get COVID test. Talking with colleague about how to handle if a student gets sick. His answer: Nobody got sick last semester. Yeah sorry. The # of cases is 4x higher than the last surge over the summer and 10x higher than baseline so I anticipate someone testing positive. What if it's me?

I find it irresponsible to not have a plan in place and in the syllabus for what we'll do if any of us test positive. Gonna call my insurance and ask how many tests are covered. If I can, I will get myself tested weekly. If our sports players and elected officials can get daily tests, I can too.

Trying to stay positive. Trying to get information. Don't know when I can get vaccination. We're dispensing Tier 1 now, which is health care workers and seniors. Tier 2 is teachers. They're saying seniors have to wait until February at least. I will likely be interacting with students in-person before then.

I know we will be wearing masks and social distancing. It will be my job to ensure everyone (all 8 students) stay in compliance. It's hard to do lab work in glasses, goggles and a mask. I know: whaaaaa. <sarcastic crying, playing tiny violin> I know Healthcare workers have to wear lots of PPE these days. I just need to adjust my thoughts. I was not planning for this.

I taught a lab last semester but it was virtual. I wore all the PPE so I know I can do it. But I wasn't looking after the students in person. It is hard to get them to keep their goggles on in non-COVID times. They always complain that their goggles fog up. Just imagine how much worse it will be with masks. Ugh.

Jan 20: Had a Zoom work meeting yesterday. My colleague who has 3 kids pointed out again that my LO is the perfect age to be in quarantine. As opposed to her school-age kids which are driving her crazy. While this might be true, it's just so unhelpful to play pain Olympics. I love staying home with LO. I'm sorry her kids stress her out. I hate that she aggressively compares her experience to mine. Moms with older kids will never know what we who gave birth right when lockdown started have experienced.

This post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases has my mom second-guessing her trip to be here for LO's 1st bday. Fine. I don't want her getting sick. But it's a FUCKING LONG GRIEVING PROCESS for us parents of pandemic babies. We lost a lot and continue to have our joy stolen with each milestone. I am getting renewal notices from stuff we signed up for like museums, parks and zoo memberships. I dreamed of taking the baby on outings. We paid those memberships and didn't use them once. Seeing the renewals is another reminder of what could have been. We are learning quietly about extended family members who have died of COVID-19. We continue to quarantine. I just can't get excited about inauguration day because it feels like a different figurehead but Pandora's box is already open. It doesn't solve the immediate problems.

I know some of my panic is because 1 in 3 people in my county are infected. I start in-person teaching next month. I only have 8 students in the classroom but that means 3 of us might be infected at any given time. They are opening up a vaccination drive-thru on campus but only people over age 65 are invited to sign up at this time. There's probably no way I will be immunized before I begin teaching. Gah. Sorry for the rant. On a positive note... I did a Zoom workout on Saturday with the lady who was my fitness instructor while I was pregnant in pre-COVID times when we did in-person workouts. She remembered me and got to see LO through Zoom. It was cute. She did a nice meditation at the end of the workout.

Jan 21: For the nails 💅 morning is better than evening. It's so bad here I do like just the index finger on both hands then wait until the next feeding. Then do just the middle finger on both hands. Like that until I eventually get to all fingers.

Jan 22: I wish for a solid skin care routine. I feel at a complete loss. It's not a priority. With working part-time (10.5 contact hours + grading & prep) and caring for LO full-time, it is enough that I shower every other day. But my skin on my face is suffering and I need a total reprogram. I just don't have the energy after making decisions about LO all day. I did get a facial roller for myself after meditating on my goals for the new year. A friend sent me a night serum. So I guess I'm on my way, but I just have to get all the way in. When I was teaching full-time at a prestigious liberal arts college, I was expected to look a certain way. I had a vanity set up in my bedroom and took great pride in keeping up my appearance. That was 8 years ago. On a positive note, I had a craving yesterday for a maxi-dress. My friend sent me one in the mail about a month ago. I put it on and tapped into my mother goddess energy. I put LO in a ring sling and felt like an Instagram model.

Jan 23: My friend told me her husband didn't get good at "dadding" until their kid was 4 or 5 years old. Maybe the long view is something to look forward to. I know I get so resentful when I feel all the feelings. I rarely get a break and my husband's specialty is supervising naps (so he can sleep too). He rarely initiates LO's meals. But, when our babies aren't babies anymore, maybe our DHs will be able to watch them for longer periods of time. I know we still BF so I'm needed every 2 hours or so.

I am WEARY today. Tired to the bone. Crying for no reason tired. Classes start in 2 days. Feeling fine about it. I must have faith that we'll figure out a new routine. Maybe it's the emotional hangover from inauguration week. Maybe it's because LO is clingy, teething and up at all hours of the night nursing. I am so grateful to Mashup Mom for a weekly meal plan. I did a bunch of cooking early this week and then ate leftovers. I did get a bit sad that I'm not losing weight, but it isn't my main priority right now. Put photos in LO's baby book for months 9 and 10. Also crawling and standing milestones. No birthday plans for LO. I guess we'll play it by ear with where we're at with vaccinations and community spread at that time. Sad but better safe than sorry.

Jan 26: My department gave me a third class to teach at 6:37pm on Saturday. Class starts in 75 minutes and I'm mostly ready. But dang! That was some last minute $&!#.

Jan 28: Our wedding anniversary is in March and I just asked DH if there's anything he wants to do. We will have been married 13 years if we make it 2 more months. I feel my identity is "mom" now and also "teacher" because I'm working. It seems like "wife" comes last (or not at all). DH was like... isn't it enough that we're doing our part to propagate our species by raising LO? What do you want, to lock ourselves in the bathroom and get freaky for 20 minutes? I'm like... No thank you. But I am a little jealous of all the pregnancy announcements. Glad some of us are getting lucky. We are staying home because of the pandemic, so going out to celebrate is not an option.

Jan 30: Thanks to a recommendation from one of you all I got arch supports in mid-October. I pushed through workouts despite a lot of foot pain. Gradually my feet got stronger. Now I can exercise (and everything else) without arch supports. I also started taking collagen in my morning coffee in mid-November. Can't say for sure it's working, but I am much stronger. I still feel pain in my knees but I probably just need to stretch more. In September I started weekly meal planning. Mid-November I started following Mashup Mom and shopping at Aldi. It has reduced my stress and provided healthy food for my family. Another brilliant recommendation from this group. As a scientist, I would love to know cause and effect. But in terms of health, a holistic approach is not focused on one variable or one outcome. On the whole I feel better.

I totally want one of these. we're using this piece of crap right now. I have it wrapped in a sheet but it's not comfortable.

Pregnancy Part 16

There are only two weeks left of fall. We have entered the rainy season here in Southern California. We survived Thanksgiving. We watched the birth video at our Bradley class. We toured the labor & delivery suites at the hospital. I helped out with Operation Firefly.  It is 10 days until our next OB appointment, the one where I will do my glucose tolerance test.

Here is a round-up of the symptoms for the past month:

Week 22 - Nov 4-10 headache, neckache, backache, heartburn, abdominal itchiness

Week 23 - Nov 11-17 acne, abdominal aches, heartburn
Week 24 - Nov 18-24 heartburn, headache, tender breasts, Braxton-Hicks contractions

Week 25 - Nov 25-Dec 1 heartburn, tender breasts, heart palpitations
Week 26 - Dec 2-8 heartburn, headache, leg cramp, heart palpitations

I get check-ups from a nurse via phone through my health insurance. I told them about the heart palpitations and they suggested I call my OB, who suggested I call my PCP, who suggested urgent care, but I'm refusing to go to urgent care because of exposure to sick people. I plan to just wait until my next appointment and see how my blood pressure reading is at that time.

I tried to write a blog post earlier in the week but I was just too exhausted to actually write anything. I had planned to teach a lesson (at this very moment) about how writing can help you learn new things, but I asked my students to RSVP whether they wanted to attend class or not and 7 out of 9 people said they would rather not attend. The other two didn't respond, which I take as a no. I got so sick of students giving me excuses why they couldn't be in class and I have so little energy, I just made an executive decision to give them the option to vote. I'm not going to waste my energy getting upset that the students aren't attending class.

We got rid of some more e-waste from our home and office. I love the Nicole Bernson SAFE Center. Seriously those people rock my world. I did a bunch of letters of recommendation for students applying to PhD programs. It was hard because I had some old files that are no longer accessible, so I had to just start from scratch.

The Thanksgiving holiday was a good one. My aunt and her new husband came to stay with us. We had a nice dinner ready and waiting for them when they arrived in town. The next morning we had a nice breakfast and then walked to campus. They sat in on my lecture and then we walked home. It has been fantastic weather, cool and humid, with super-clean air. I am loving it. Then we did all the shopping for the big meal. Thanksgiving day we watched a live stream of the Macy's parade, which is one of my annual traditions. We started preparing the food, baking a pie crust, chopping veggies, etc. My cousin came over and baked a sweet potato pie while my aunt took a nap. We baked a pecan pie and I made a layered banana pudding. We got the shrimp boil going and it was super easy and fun.

When I start to feel a bit of pain in my belly, it has been helpful to kind of swing it side to side. I don't know if that settles the baby or just distracts me from the pain. Putting on music and doing a bit of light dancing has really been helping me beat the blues. I find I have a very hard time just sitting, my back gets really stiff and I just feel miserable and restless.

The day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) we avoided all the shopping craziness and took a public transportation adventure to Exposition Park. We went to see the space shuttle and an exhibit about dogs that we've been wanting to see for months. It was great for me to do all that walking because like I said, it's been torture to just sit still. I also had the tastiest ice cream at the Grand Central Market.

Over the past two weeks, I had the occasion to enjoy a particular food so much that I actually started bawling over it. One was a fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon roll. The other was the banana cream pudding. I get some strong cravings, I assume due to pregnancy and/or nostalgia, and when I get to eat exactly what I wanted, the emotion is just so overwhelming.

After our guests left, we had a few days of just sitting around the house with our feet up. One thing I did was use a Black Friday promotional code to order our travel system (stroller + car seat). The price dropped from $449 to $229 and then I had a 20% off coupon on top of that. I think about it all the time and I'm checking the FedEx tracking constantly to see when we can pick it up. Someone purchased the first item from our BabyList registry. I realize not everyone will follow what we picked out, but it is really nice that at least for those who enjoy shopping from a registry, it's there to give them an idea of exactly what we would want.

We also spent about 3 hours dealing with Sprint to decide what to do with our cell phones. I enjoy my phone a lot and I feel bad getting rid of it if it is working fine. So we decided to purchase our devices instead of upgrading to the newer model.

I found it hard to return to work after the 4-day weekend. I started chanting to myself "Keep it Simple" to just remind myself that I don't have to be amazing, I just have to show up and not get too dramatic. I had a fun time learning EquatIO with some women at my university. It's a program that helps you make your equations accessible for those who are blind.

In our Bradley class, we watched a video of natural childbirth. The woman was pretty calm throughout the whole thing and she had a good amount of patience. Her doctor was also super calm. It was almost freaky. It was interesting to see the hospital right on the same day. Unfortunately, they have only so many labor & delivery rooms, which were all full at the time of the tour. They did show this video and recommended we watch another two videos that were filmed at our hospital.
https://www.ellentube.com/studios/momsplaining/momsplaining-with-kristen-bell-babies-babies-everywhere-part-1.html
https://www.ellentube.com/studios/momsplaining/momsplaining-with-kristen-bell-babies-babies-everywhere-part-2.html

Even though I can't ride my bicycle right now and I won't be going to this weekend's Metro BEST ride or CicLAvia - The Valley, I still went out and helped hand out free bike lights during CSUN's operation firefly. It was hard being on my feet so much on Tuesday, I even took the afternoon on Wednesday off and went home to put my feet up. I had such a headache on Wednesday. I guess it's getting pretty real that the third trimester is just around the corner (i.e. next week!)

It's almost time to pack the "hospital bag" and I'm not sure exactly what to put in there. I have some pregnancy apps that make recommendations, but I guess I'm just finding that all a bit overwhelming right now. A few things our hospital suggested are PILLOWS and NIPPLE CREAM so I guess I will start making that list and packing that bag.

In other family news, it's one week until we see "A Christmas Carol" at the Glendale Center Theater. My nephew just had surgery yesterday to repair a torn ACL. So we will be visiting with them in Newport Beach in two weeks (Babymoon Part 4, I guess). That way they won't have to travel up to see us on Christmas day. Then, we're having a Christmas dinner at our house in about 2.5 weeks. My brother-in-law will be staying the night with us. Dear husband has a week off (between Christmas and New Year's Day) so I'm really looking forward to relaxing at home together.

In other work news, it's 1.5 weeks until our department holiday pot-luck and white elephant gift exchange. I enjoy getting together with my colleagues and playing this fun game, but it does mean that I need to get all the ingredients for the dish I will make (banana cream pudding again) and buy two gifts for exchange. Not to mention holiday shopping for family, which I suppose we will do this weekend.

I got such a great gift from my "Secret Stork" which was arranged through my reddit monthly bumper group. I spoke with a colleague who has had 3 deliveries (the 3rd was a set of twins at age 39) and she told me that it's good to read about other people's experience of pregnancy, whether through an online community, a blog or an actual book. It can help normalize all the strange feelings. I remember reading lots of other people's blogs about infertility and pregnancy after IVF and it was a big comfort to me, which is partly why I keep writing these pregnancy posts. This year will be among my most active in blogging, so I feel encouraged that this pregnancy experience has given me so much to write about.

Fertility Part 9

I have been following The IVF Diet for 15 days now, today is day 16. I feel my mood is pretty mellow but I am still tired of all the work it takes to make these meals. At least I will be able to look back and say, "I did everything in my power to prepare my body for pregnancy."

April 21-27, 2019, is National Infertility Awareness Week. Infertility is defined as the inability of couples to achieve pregnancy after over one year of trying. As I'm sitting here kind of forcing myself to eat oatmeal with coconut milk, I am thinking of all the other couples out there who have been where I am now.

Infertility sucks. I know cuz I’ve struggled with it for almost a decade. This week is National Infertility Awareness Week, and we need to talk openly about this issue. If you’re going through it, you’re not alone. ❤️ An article I wrote in @cenmag in 2016: https://t.co/klItZt0p7S

— Linda Wang_C&EN (@l_wang_cen) April 23, 2019

Here are some blogs and stories that I found really helpful for myself.

THE DIET
http://www.bubblesandbumps.com/my-30-day-ivf-diet/
RISKS, SIDE-EFFECTS, DELAYS
http://www.whitneyanderick.com/a-real-life-guide-to-mild-and-moderate-ovarian-hyperstimulation-syndrome-ohss/
TO DO GENETIC TESTING (OR NOT)
http://iamrefusingtosink.weebly.com/why-you-must-test-your-embryos-my-story-of-regret.html
https://meetthehopefuls.com/2015/08/20/ivf-2-cycle-update-and-pgs-results/
THE TWO WEEK WAIT
http://withgreatexpectation.com/ivf/sample-meal-plan-two-week-wait/
THE JOURNEY
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/my-ivf-life

We've broken many of these pieces of advice, but I did find many of "The Egg Whisperer" videos to be calming and reassuring. Thank you Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh for keeping it real, I love your videos.

Candace Farris is a bright shining light and I am so grateful for her videos. She found very few resources within the minority community, so she decided to start putting herself out there.

We survived Easter (the stress of seeing family, meeting expectations) and every time someone else ate a piece of carrot cake, I ate a roasted chicken breast. Happy Ishtar!

Blended Learning

In the last two years, I've had some ideas about "microlearning" and "personalized learning" as well as aligning all content to "global objectives" and I'm using the technology at hand to move in the direction of implementation. But the road is rough and fraught with danger!

Based on my experience of attempting a flipped classroom last semester, this semester I'm going back towards an interactive lecture model with some new features. I had been using Poll Everywhere to assess student knowledge and then deliver minilessons according to whether it was needed or not. As I understand it, this is referred to as "Just in time teaching" or JITT. 

To deliver the content (assigned reading, interactive tools) to the palm of student's hands, I have set up the "Remind" app. The day's content and related materials are deposited into "Wakelet" and then the link to that wake is pushed out via text message and email using Remind. There are some flashcards on "Quizlet" and I hope to stream & record lectures on "Zoom."

I had the great fortune of attending the seminar of Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, FIU professor of physics and astronomy, who converted her GE science course into a performance called "Let's Get Astrophysical!" She converted light from stars into sound. Then she programmed a keyboard with all the space sounds. Her students spend the semester doing the costumes, set design and choreography for this show. That's how she gets her students active. She's on sabbatical this semester here in California and teaching the course at CSU Channel Islands. They're doing a performance the first weekend of May and you can bet I will be there.

Speaking of performances, I was reading the Drag Race board on Reddit and someone posted a link to this video. I found it particularly refreshing. Dr. Terenzi spoke about how she blended music, art and fashion with biology, chemistry, geology and astrophysics. She described how during her graduate work she took great pains to look as plain as possible. Now, late in her career, she can finally let her hair down and have the confidence to be herself. She acknowledged that she serves as a  powerful role model for the women in her physics class. She said, "they look at me - I set them free." Now she doesn't have to stress to "fit in."

Brave warriors!

Intelligent, intuitive, nurturing

Tenacious, persisting

Creative, juggling schedules

Honest, ready to elevate self and others through collaboration and reflection.

Of the most interesting nuggets of wisdom Dr. Terenzi shared with us were that she got to where she is now by consistent, slow progress over the course of 18 years. She has worked her way up to an administrator at the college level, so that helps her make changes. Also she is motivated by the fact that "If you don't engage [students] they'll leave, sleep or drop the class."

I asked her if she had anything to share about installations in museums. She advised for kindergarten age, keep it simple and beautiful. Her work was a piano like in the movie "Big" where if a kid jumped on a square it would make the sound and display an image of a pulsar for example.

For high school age, she emphasized that it is essential to help people find a "home" in science. The performance art she creates is intersectional so that a science major with artistic aspirations can feel a sense of belonging. They engage in merchandising, marketing, styling. It's instagrammable artistic expression of science. She is "promoting a collaborative mind." The stars have their own unique voice and language, so it is an activity that promotes inclusion. She tells her students, "Your Ideas Matter. Every Idea is Important. If we don't have ideas - as a society - where do we go?"

Beat the Blues week 2018

This week at CSUN is all about mental health awareness, anxiety and depression. Our students reported factors affecting their academic performance include:

1. Stress 
2. Anxiety 
3. Sleep difficulties 
4. Work 
5. Depression 

The American College Health Association National College Health Assessment II (click here to read the entire ACHA-NCHA II Report) supports the delivery of health care and prevention and wellness services for the nation's 20 million college students. The data is collected every 8 years, starting in the year 2000 (Y2K).

One of the cool events we heard (the barking) was a bunch of therapy dogs on campus. I feel so grateful that I have a personal therapy dog waiting at home for me at the end of every day.

A couple of healthy strategies for me that have been working are:

1. gratitude
2. asking for help

I've written about the struggle for work/life balance in this blog from 2009 when I was about midway through my PhD to 2012 when I was a newly-defended PhD. I documented tales from the "teaching postdoc" at the Claremont Colleges in 2013 and my transition to CSUN in 2015.

2018 has been a great year. I have so much to be thankful for. I was just tracking what we've accomplished with our nonprofit, Bikecar101 this year. It's interesting how we incorporated in 2014 and we are still pushing the active transportation conversation in Los Angeles.

I love my Faculty Development colleagues. I have grown so much as a teacher in the past several years. This blog has allowed me to look back at my thoughts and feelings about a teaching philosophy and finding my place in academia as a part-time lecturer, and I've come a long way.

Commit to be fit family #CSUN60 pic.twitter.com/R9JcJFS2vk

— Dr. Kayla A. Kaiser (@hamerk02) October 13, 2018

We've spent some time in the gym, working on our fitness. I used MyFitnessPal to track the foods I was eating to find some balance in the nutrition department. I certainly am not an avid runner as I once was, but through our Commit To Be Fit (CTBF) family, we are starting to run again.

I have found some time for rollerskating at Skateland and Moonlight Rollerway. What the skating does for my body is lets me release all the tension in my neck and shoulders. I love the music and the good vibes that I get from the other skaters. I'm not a great skater, but I enjoy it.

Right now, I'm writing about mental health because it's been a month of ups and downs. At the beginning of November I was so overwhelmed that I made a TO DO list with 26 action items. Then I obsessed for a while about how I could ever possibly get all those things done.

Reviewing that list gives me some sense of peace because even though I added more tasks, totaling 35 action items, I've crossed off all but 9 of them. The reason I made the list is that I was just doing one task after another and NOT doing the most urgent items first.

With all the tasks listed in no particular order, it allowed me to prioritize and start getting stuff done. So in conclusion, that's how I Beat the Blues. Being as this is my Thanksgiving blog, I am grateful for all the people (and pets) in my life that support me physically, professionally and psychologically.

Why Blog? Part II

Why start a blog?

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2013/04/12/why-grad-schools-should-require-students-to-blog/
somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of students will quit their doctoral programs
1/3 of that attrition will happen at the dissertation-writing stage
if you write regularly, it will be less overwhelming when you get to that point

Riley Elliott TEDxAuckland

1.8 million scientific articles are published every year
50% of them are read only by the author and the editor
90% of them are never cited and shared
Nowadays people gather information from social media, television, and the internet
http://youtu.be/GA8RsnezFIg
people in academia these days are promoting their journal articles on social media and blogs to increase traffic and citations

Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c7/c7h.htm.
The Internet is the main source of information for learning about specific scientific issues such as global climate change and biotechnology. Americans are now about equally likely to rely on the Internet as on television as their primary source of general science and technology (S&T) information.
Many Americans continue to give multiple incorrect answers to questions about basic factual knowledge of science or the scientific inquiry process. In the United States, levels of factual knowledge of science have been stable for more than a decade.

Identify your audience

The average reading level of Americans is between eighth and ninth grade. NPR’s story was written at an 8.2 grade level. http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/21/153024432/sophomoric-members-of-congress-talk-like-10th-graders-analysis-shows
it is important if you are writing a blog on a scientific topic to keep the blog readable and relatable

Some of my writing

Going Green Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.69
The Inagural Blog Post Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 5.92
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 8.92
Fountain of Youth Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 9.27
A scientific abstract Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 14.79
http://sarahktyler.com/code/sample.php

BLOGGING is all about creativity.

Your original ideas can take center stage, uncensored. Here are some best practices:

• Use Categories (tags)
• Create an engaging Meta-description (first 160 characters) = your thesis statement
• Focus on having an Eye-catching title 
• Include In-text links (hyperlinks) which will increase traffic to your blog
• Embed Social sharing buttons such as "tweet this"
• Use Hootsuite to promote repeatedly, also use Editorial calendar to Schedule Posts
• Learn how to use Headings (H1) in html code to improve readability
• Include Images (convey emotion, illustrate a metaphor, evoke curiosity, complement your title)
• Include factual content (with sources) and write professionally (edit and proofread)
• Create a careful bio that established credibility and a way for readers to contact you

Review web analytics for the kinds of questions people type into search engines like Google or Bing that deliver visitors (this was also part of the ACS Reactions talk in San Francisco and the CalBikeSummit)

How long should each post be?

Your word count per post may vary between 100-1000 and that’s OK. Link to longer content.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/

Link your social media (or don’t).

Consider connecting your blog to your facebook or twitter feed.
Content first = write what you know
Adopt a publishing schedule = one post per month or one post per week, for example
Let your content be driven by a theme = goes together with identifying your audience
Keep it professional = blogs are public and your identity may or not be anonymous
http://chrisguillebeau.com/how-to-start-a-blog/

Does my blog matter?

Hundreds of millions of blogs are online today. Thousands more are started every day. Anyone can start a blog in 5 minutes, but very few will start blogs that matter.
http://fizzle.co/start-a-blog-that-matters
If the purpose of your blog is for yourself only, then you don't have to worry about number of visitors. I prefer to keep my blog ad-free, which compromises the amount of traffic that google will direct to my site. However, I feel it makes my page more readable so that the audience is organic and focused on my content. Also, I use it to uncover themes in my life and to track events and items that I have recycled so that I can manage my tendency to hoard physical objects that I have attached sentimental value to but that are really arcane pieces of junk.

How to engage effectively

Blogger has a feature where you can follow other blogs like yours. Alternative is RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary
Another idea is to create a “Follow this blog via email” listserv.
Use the 411 formula to manage your engagement
4 retweets, 1 response back, 1 original posting = 30 minutes per day
People following you for one reason don’t want to hear about stuff in your hobby area
Blogging is such a great way to get expertise out.
When you read/follow a blog, make sure to comment to get your name out.
It is good to engage people. Start lively dialogue. Could be a link to a potential employer to connect you with a job. People within companies support blogging.
It brings people closer to customers, companies can build loyal following.
I learned this at the Virtual Networking for Grad Students event at University of California, Riverside
http://events.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?comp_id=33367:20101104153000

hosted by Jan McCorkle, UCR Career Services

Blogging by the numbers

43% of bloggers use Wordpress
35% of bloggers use Blogger
16% of bloggers use Tumblr + TypePad + Posterous
6% use other platforms
31 million bloggers in the US
81% never make $100 from blogging
Wordpress has 42 million blogs
329 million people view a blog
25 billion pages are viewed each month
500,000 new posts a day
400,000 daily comments
35% actively blog at least one time per month
65% haven’t updated their blog in one year or more
60% of businesses have a business or company blog
http://www.jeffbullas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/State-of-Blogging-in-2012.jpg

Between 2007 (launch) and the end of 2011, Tumblr hosted over 39 million blogs
Based on the 19-digit ID for Blogger, there are at least 38 million Blogspots (June 2009)
http://pulsed.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-many-blogspot-blogs.html

Above all, don't be afraid

There are so many blogs out there, it's unlikely that you will garner a huge audience, so go ahead and write your heart out. You may just find a kindred spirit or two out there who really get a kick out of what's going on in your mind.

Why Blog?

I recommend watching this video with the subtitles (CC) turned on since the resolution is terrible! My how technology evolves!



So yeah, the video above was recorded with a Sony Handycam DCR-H38. The operating manual is copyright 2007. We bought that camera for our wedding instead of hiring a videographer. Then, on the day of the wedding, nobody could find the tripod so the footage of our ceremony has mumbled voices of my sister-in-law saying that her arm is about to fall off. Luckily, it was a 20 minute deal.

Anyhoo-- the Sony Handycam DCR-H38 had 340K "actual" Pixels for video, which if you're savvy at the metric system is 0.34 Megapixels. It was one of the last cameras to use cassettes. The DVM60 cassette was so-called because it holds 60 minutes of footage. The battery only works for 95 minutes of continuous recording, so that was enough to record the "Chemistry TA Workshop" mini-lessons when I taught the course in FA14.

It was pretty tedious using my super-old Gateway laptop (which I got in 2002 as a graduation gift after my bachelor's degree) with IEEE firewire to transfer the students' minilessons from the camera to the computer to post them to YouTube. I had to remove everything else from that computer to make room for the 3 or 4 video files and then transfer those to another computer on a flash drive so that they could be put online for students to view and critique.

By the time we arrived at FA15, I was the proud owner of a GoPro Hero4 Silver. The videos are considered HD and the max resolution is 3840 x 2160 = 8294400 or 8.3 Megapixels. Thanks to a tech-savvy student, I record my lectures using the 1080s / 60 / Wide setting when I teach in a classroom with a larger whiteboard than the one shown below. So that's 1920 x 1080 = 2073600 or 2.1 Megapixels.



I started recording every single lecture in CHEM 100, 101 and 102 (intro and gen chem) and posting them to YouTube. This was tedious and I never found any evidence that it was useful for students. Also, creating captions for the videos was nearly impossible, with the exception of one semester where I had a hearing-impaired student who requested a transcriptionist and that generous lady cc'd me a copy of the transcript. These playlists are unlisted but I can always share one video at a time for students who miss class and say "What did I miss?" It was also useful for me to reflect on my teaching style and the extent to which I was delivering "another boring lecture" most days.

The GoPro Hero4 saves to a microSD card, which I have 32GB. The memory and the battery are good for about 2 hours, which is plenty long enough to record a 75 minute class session. Initially, I left the camera inside a plastic case which made it easier to mount stably on a tripod, but I found that that dulled the audio quality. One side-benefit of recording your lectures is that students tended to make fewer interruptions such as taking text messages or arriving late or leaving early. Perhaps a side drawback was that students were more shy with asking questions. I don't know this for sure, I didn't ask them, but I suspect it was the case. Our biology colleagues have several "smart" classrooms that enable lecture-capture, so many of our students are used to this luxury. I don't know any other chemistry professors in our department that have tried this.

With the GoPro Hero4 I had to spend quite a lot of time downloading the video, processing the video from AVI to MP4 so that the file could be uploaded to YouTube. The whole process took a minimum of 8 hours for 4 x 12-minute minilessons.

I wrote this post about smartphones and tablets in my classroom exactly one year before I got my first smartphone, yes I was a late-adopter. I had a blackberry-like device from 2011 until 04/23/16.



The Samsung Galaxy S7 which I used to record the video above in FA16 has the capability to record UHD (3840 x 2160 = 8294400 or 8.3 Megapixels), but the default setting is FHD (1920 x 1080 = 2073600 or 2.1 Megapixels). The memory available is only 32GB so there's no sense in increasing the filesize. The nice thing about capturing video on a smartphone is that it automatically goes to the cloud, eliminating the need for cables and such.

I had a great time using Pearson LearningCatalytics in Spring and Summer 2017, but I didn't teach the Chemistry TA Workshop (CHEM 500) in FA17 since I was busy at that time teaching Physical Chemistry lab, which runs concurrently. I'm preparing to teach CHEM 500 again this FA18 and I'm considering my options for recording the students. In FA16, I recorded about half their lessons with the GoPro and half their lessons with the Samsung Galaxy S7. I meant to ask them which they preferred since I split them randomly. Some of them had their first lesson with the GoPro and some of them had their first lesson with the Samsung Galaxy, then I switched it, but I forgot to ask them at the end if they had a preference. To be honest, I used my phone when the GoPro was dead and vice versa.

When the video was recorded on my phone, I backed it up to my Google Photos and then shared the link directly from there. So I think that's my answer. Unless my Google Photos gets completely full of MiniLessons. Another thing I do is use my smartphone to digitize students' lab notebooks. Then I grade them on the photos, which I can zoom in. Some students' handwriting is soooo tiny. Also if the printouts of the data are low quality, I can enhance the contrast digitally. But those photos are also taking up room in my cloud. When does one have time to clean all that out? Oh yeah, summer!

I want to tell my students about blogging. That blogging is "WRITING TO LEARN" and sometimes you discover things about yourself like I just did. I just convinced myself that the resolution of the GoPro and the Samsung are equal but the workload after acquiring the video is more streamlined on a smartphone. Although-- I just learned on the Amtrak from a train friend that you can pair your GoPro with your smartphone and automatically videos can go from the GoPro to the smartphone to the cloud, which I have yet to figure out. Maybe it's not worth it. But I do need to get some kind of tripod that holds my phone. That would be handy.

I want to tell my students that sometimes when you sit down and you think you're going to write about blogging and then you end up writing about what camera you plan to use next semester, that's a good thing. It takes the stuff you're worrying about and puts it out there. It gets the ideas out of your head and into the cloud. I firmly believe that the internet is now an extension of my brain. I mean, my brain is amazing, but it's also nice to dump some thoughts into the blogosphere and clear my head.

Here is a nice step-by-step tutorial for those interested in starting a blog.
http://onlinecourselady.pbworks.com/w/page/12763791/blogger
And this takes us full circle to the first video embedded in this post, Why Blog?

Topics for a future post: Camtasia, Snagit and HP5. See follow up lesson plan here.

So much science!

I love teaching the introductory chemistry courses. It engages storytelling, explaining, defining and illustrating of fundamental ideas in my field of study. Last week, I substituted for my friend. The goal of the lecture was to cover Chapter 1, which was a daunting task considering I had 75 minutes to speak about only 28 slides. One of her slides had a URL that directed me to the embedded video below regarding the Law of Conservation of Mass. I found it underwhelming, what about you?


I spoke about atoms, molecules, reactions, and how chemistry is everywhere! I spoke about the good old 'Scientific Method' where you begin with an Observation followed by Hypothesis and then Experiments and lastly Results and Conclusions. After the class was over, I realized that I could have told a better story using more web-based resources. There's so much information publicly available and so much more behind various paywalls of academic publishing, I decided to pick one story and dig around to show you what resources I could use if I were to do the lesson again.



First of all, the Poisoner's Handbook is a fascinating account of how forensic science developed alongside environmental pollution and criminal homicide. There is a section there about leaded gasoline which is something students may be curious about if they have read the gas pumps having "Unleaded" gasoline. There's a reason the lead was added to fuel (to reduce engine knocking) and there was a reason that the lead was banned from fuel (it made people crazy).



I also chose the topic of lead poisoning because I love going to the Protein Data Bank and reading the stories they post on the Molecule of the Month. I love looking at the rendering of the protein, changing the colors and attributes, manually manipulating its orientation and putting it on auto-spin to appreciate its contours and crevices. What I like about this story is that it involves atoms (lead), small molecules (dimercaptosuccinic acid, DMSA) used in chelation therapy, large molecules (aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase or ALAD a.k.a. porphobilinogen synthase) and molecular assemblies.

DMSA-mercury(II) chelate

Another interesting part about this story is that I came across the picture of DMSA-mercury(II) chelate using text-based google image searching. Apparently there are people who advocate the adminstration of DMSA to rid the body of toxicity from mercury amalgams (tooth fillings). http://zap.intergate.ca/dmsa.html I looked at that structure because I was wondering which of the groups on the DMSA would bind to the metal. We call ligands that make two contacts to the metal "bidentate" meaning like they are a set of teeth that chomps down from top and bottom. The rendering above shows DMSA making four points of contact. I had a feeling it wasn't right.

EDTA-iron(III) chelate

The only ligand I think of that makes that much contact is ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) which is considered a hexadentate ligand, making six points of contact. As it turns out I'm not the only chemist that was "triggered" by the rendering of DMSA-mercury(II) chelate and it was a graduate student who posted it to Wikipedia based on their own idea of what it would look like (not on a crystal structure). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Dimercaptosuccinic_acid

So I created the small molecule in two dimensions using ChemSketch, then copied that structure and optimized it in ChemSketch3D. The teal spheres are carbon atoms. It's possible to rotate that small molecule just like with the protein. The only thing I couldn't figure out how to do in ChemSketch is how to make the coordinate-covalent bonds between the ligand and the heavy metal atom. Maybe it's possible and I don't know how to do it, or maybe it isn't possible in that software.

I also explored the enzyme ALAD in the BRENDA (BRaunschweig ENzyme DAtabase) and MetaCyc (Metabolic Encyclopedia). These two sources of information tell me what the enzyme does and what other enzymes are related (structurally similar), and which organisms express this enzyme, and what steps in a pathway leading ultimately to the symptom of anemia are inhibited by the presence of lead. It's also a great way to get towards journal articles that can explain how we know what we know about this enzyme.

References

Camina, Casas, Castano, Couce, Gato, Herbello-Hermelo, Sanchez, Sordo and Torres. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 104 (2010) 599-610.

Andersen and Aaseth. Environmental Health Perspectives 110 (2002) 887-890.

George, Prince, Gailer, Buttigieg, Bonner Denton, Harris and Pickering. Chemical Research in Toxicology 17 (2004) 999-1006.

Choiniere, Scott, Gelb and Turecek. Analytical Chemistry 82 (2010) 6730-6736.

Erskine, Duke, Tickle, Senior, Warren and Cooper. Acta Crystallographica D56 (2000) 421-430.

George, et al. Figure 4

To be continued...