"One thing at a time"

This afternoon, I was looking for a particular book that I needed for my writing project. While looking, I found another book on my shelf that I had not picked up for years, and it stopped me,, for a good reason. What a journey I have had in terms of friends,,,,and how true this book is. This book was a gift from one of our neighbors for my third birthday in July, 1969. I have a distinct memory of my third birthday party my mother had for me at our house when we lived in the University Housing at the University of Wisconsin (Madison WI). I remember that the family who gave me this book lived a few doors down from us and had two boys a bit older than me. The university housing was likely a cluster of very small duplex housing for many young researchers and their families, but my memory of this is that the house was roomy with living room, Several neighbors were foreign researchers from India, Germany, or Japan like my father was. There were also many young US families at the Universit...

No human, to our knowledge is immune to COVID19. This VIRUS, I will call Mr. V does not differentiate anyone from the members in the Royal Court to an Ordinary like myself.  But some of us are more vulnerable and some of us are more protected. Some of us are surrounded by the resources to fortify the protective walls around us, but some are more vulnerable due to their unfortunate physical conditions, simply their age, or their choices to smoke (per Chinese data, Smokers are at a super high risk to get severely ill if Mr. V visits you and stays with you. No data exists as of the date of this writing about Vaping, but we all know Vaping does not help your lungs at all, so I would consider it a high risk personal practice). And, some are also highly vulnerable because they refuse to accept information and take actions accordingly. If you think you are fine because you are healthy, you may redefine the meaning of what healthy is from the perspective of Mr. V. No lev...

今回、パンパース（P＆G) Japan のご好意で、 第28回 日本新生児看護学会 と 第６３回 新生児成育医学 会の両方の学会に参加させていただくという光栄な体験をさせていただきました。 メインとなる目的は１１月２４日のパンパースジャパン主催の看護学会側でのランチョンセミナーでした。それについて後方で紹介します。 今回はたくさんの方々のご協力とご支援を得て日本滞在中の活動をさせていただきました。その具体的な側面を紹介するために写真を含めた内容とさせていただきます。全ての写真について、このブログでの掲載・利用について提供者、また写っている個人の皆さんから許可をいただいていることを明記いたします。写真の提供をしてくださった方、許可をくださった方々に感謝申し上げます。 成育医学会において新生児の薬剤開発の課題について世界で動いている International Neonatal Consortium （INC) に関する１１月２２日の午後の医学会のシンポジウムが企画され、話す機会をいただきました。このセッションではINCのCo-director マーク ターナー氏から、INCが発足した背景、目的、なされてきたプロジェクトや今おこなわれている様々な努力についての説明があり、さらに、薬剤開発側、規制当局側、治験を行う現場の医師の視点からなぜ世界的な協力が必要であるのかが発表されました。同時に、小児、特に新生児分野の新薬開発が危機にあることが現実である、というディスカッションがされました。私は、どのような関係者が（stakeholders)がこの協力体制には必要となるのかという視点から、看護やご家族メンバーの存在の重要性に焦点を当てて発表をさせていただきました。 看護やご家族というStakeholders (日本語では利害関係者というのだそうですがちょっとニュアンス違いますね） がどのように新生児の薬剤開発という複雑で難しい事業・課題に貢献しているかを具体的な例と実際にご家族やナースメンバーが会議やプロジェクトに参加している写真なども使って話しました。聞いてくださった皆様、ありがとうございました。著名な先生のお一人が今日本で強化すべき部分は何か、、というご質問を最後に投げかけてくだいました。薬剤開発に関してはを新生児を擁護する法律が欧米にはありますが、日本...

So, here I go. I received 5000 word manuscript regarding a research. I was to work hard to reduce it to 4000 words or less while maintaining the impact of the content and refining the content more. The art of working with professional English, so to speak, to ensure that the manuscript contains sufficient background, significance of the proposed/completed research, methods of research, results, implications-discussions, and conclusions in the proper order with clarity, cohesiveness, and logical flow is not a piece of cake. This level of language understanding can never be earned over night or over 10 years, that is,,,,, unless you are a genius. And I am not. For me, the full 4 years of attending the university in the US in my 20's definitely did not accomplish this acquisition of the writing skill at the professional level at all. I was decently fluent conversationally. But conversational English fluency is near one hundredth (1/100) of the skill required for writing well. At...

If you have ever written a cover letter, you know the care you must give to the detail to tailor each to fit the needs or to whom the cover letter is directed to. Well, my son prepared at least 25 or so cover letters this past spring while he was applying to upwards of 30 summer internship positions that were relevant to a mechanical engineering student. He was blessed to have the experience of being interviewed by two. I helped him with some of the cover letters since he had such limited time to get tings done battling the tide of assignments and projects at the same time. I learned so much about various internship job descriptions that are out there enticing engineering students. I also learned what types of job descriptions really lit up my son's face. There are many job duties that many of these job descriptions listed, including things that are general to many and others that are very specific. After a long arduous period of applying and applying for more and writing and w...

Another year flew by for me. Between my 12 trips to Nashville, 6 trips to Japan, two trips to GA, one each to OH, CA, and DC, I spent much of my time being a good travel agent for myself to ensure that I can be at right places at right time. I just read my last post, which was posted about a year ago after I had just returned from Japan spending two weeks to attend a conference and to visit family members. Unlike last year, I do have a tree and my home is somewhat decorated already. It helped that I did not fly away immediately after Thanksgiving overseas, although I did fly out to work, making me away from home total of 12 days since Nov 29th. I enjoyed being able to purchase a tree the saturday after Thanksgiving and my family enjoyed being able to add a few ornaments here and there over the following week. I have many birds on my tree this year as well as my usual musical instruments and others that we have collected over the years. I think of many many friends and family whose ...