This post is for my friend H—here’s to healthy bones and calcium levels!

I always thought of bones as dense and unchanging. As with many things I’ve been learning about in my Anatomy & Physiology course (and in Biochemistry), the human body is constantly changing and adapting…right down to specific tissues and types of cellular reactions, the body knows exactly what needs to be done in any given situation. As you’ll see in this post, hormones, calcium levels, diet, and other factors all come together to influence bone health.

What are bones made of? Bone has organic and inorganic components:

• The organic portion decays after death and constitutes 1/3 of the bone weight, consisting mostly of protein fibers that provide flexibility
• The inorganic portion is 2/3 of the bone weight, composed of mineral salts, called the bone matrix. This inorganic portion is 85% hydroxyapatite (the primary way that calcium and phosphorus are stored in bone). This is the part of the bone that remains after death, and it provides strength and storage of minerals while you’re alive.

The living cells of bone are osteogenic cells (osteo means “bone” and genic means “genesis,” which means to make or create). Perhaps now you can infer where the term “osteoporosis” comes from? Osteoblasts make bone matrix; osteoclasts break down bone matrix.

What function do bones have (besides the obvious)?
Bones provide attachment for muscles that produce movement, and provide protection for delicate structures (e.g., brain, lungs), but bones also do the following:

• Act as storage repositories for mineral salts such as calcium and phosphorus
• Produce all formed elements in blood by red bone marrow (hemopoiesis)
• Assist in acid/base balance by controlling release of minerals from storage
• Detoxify: If you have been exposed to environmental toxins, the bones are one place to look for their storage. For example, your bones could store heavy metals until they can be slowly excreted by the kidneys

Most importantly, your bones are a storage repository for minerals that are constantly being exchanged between bones, muscles, and blood, depending on the needs of your body. Calcium is stored in the bone until needed (constantly replaced and removed through the action of osteoblasts and osteoclasts). Calcium is needed for proper function of the following:

• Blood clotting
• Nervous system function
• Cardiac function
• Skeletal muscle function
• Smooth muscle function (found in your digestive tract, reproductive system—smooth muscle can contract, such as during digestion or labor)
• Cofactor for many enzymes (enzymes facilitate numerous biochemical reactions in your cells)
• Second messenger in many hormone systems (e.g., epinephrine).
• Proper tendon and ligament health

What types of stressors do bones respond to?
Some of the osteogenic cells can sense strain on bone, adding or subtracting bone matrix, thus changing bone density and remodeling bone.

• Gravitational stress: Weight gain/loss, pregnancy, fluid gain/loss, eating more/less, all influence bone density. Weightlessness in outer space caused osteoporosis in the early astronauts
• Functional stress: Use of muscles (not to an extreme) causes increase in osteoblast activity. Increases bone mass as muscle mass and strength increase. Overtraining reduces bone mass
• Research shows that as little as 15 minutes of exercise changes calcium levels in the blood of the lower leg

What factors influence bone health? Diet affects bone health. Vitamins A, C, and D are essential for bone health. For instance, Vitamin A and D in milk and Vitamin C in fruit and fruit juices. Specifically, what does Vitamin D do?

• Increases absorption of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium from your small intestine into the bloodstream, controlling the availability of these for matrix formation
• Controls whether calcium and phosphate are deposited in bone or released from bone
• Causes less calcium to be lost from the body in the urine—so influences kidney function

Hormones Affect Bone Health. The following are a few of more than 20 hormones known to affect bone health.

Calcitonin Affects Bone Health. Calcitonin is made by the thyroid gland. Calcitonin is released into the blood from the thyroid gland if calcium is too high in the blood. This causes a decrease in blood calcium, by causing calcium to be stored into the bone matrix. (Remember, osteoblasts generate bone matrix, while osteoclasts break down bone matrix). Calcitonin increases osteoblast activity and decreases osteoclast activity. Calcitonin is important in growing children and also in adults, in response to specific physical and/or mental stressors. For example, during pregnancy and lactation.

Parathyroid Hormone (PTH) Affects Bone Health:

• Made by the parathyroid glands, which are part of the thyroid gland
• Released into the bloodstream if blood calcium is too low, causing blood calcium to increase (increases osteoclast activity, which breaks down matrix to release calcium into blood Decreases osteoblast activity, which prevents calcium from being removed from the blood in order to build matrix)
• Inhibits calcium excretion in urine, to keep calcium in the body and not be lost in urine
• Promotes phosphate excretion in urine, which inhibits matrix formation

Hypersecretion (overproduction) of PTH weakens bones, similar to osteoporosis caused by menopause. In addition, this can cause metastatic calcification (e.g., kidney stones).

Growth Hormone Affects Bone Health. Made by the anterior pituitary gland, growth hormone is not a steroid, but is often confused by the public with testosterone, which is a steroid. You may have heard of growth hormone used in cows—bovine growth hormone. Growth hormone levels usually fluctuate on a daily basis but can increase dramatically with physical or mental stress. At normal levels, with small daily fluctuations, growth hormone is important for the following:

• Important during childhood for proper growth in height, proper development of the skeleton
• Stimulates cartilage proliferation in the epiphyseal plates (growth plates in bone)
• Increases absorption from small intestine of nutrients important for bone health and growth
• Stimulates osteoblasts (matrix formation in bone)
• Even in adults, growth hormone is still important to bone health and metabolism…not just for growth in height

People experiencing extraordinary physical and mental stressors may experience hypersecretion (overproduction) of growth hormone, also known as the General Adaptation Syndrome, or stress response. This has been seen among prisoners of war, such as Vietnam, or in the Nazi death camps of World War II. This stress response includes other hormonal changes, such as increased Cortisol, Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, and Aldosterone. The result is a form of osteoporosis and derangements in metabolism.

In general, hypersecretion of growth hormone in children or adults results in osteoporosis—brittle bones/fractures. This can be caused by stress (physical or mental), tumors, or other causes. (High levels of growth hormone have a paradoxical effect on the body—producing the opposite effect of what happens at normal levels of growth hormone).

Sex Hormones (Testosterone or Estrogen) Affect Bone Health. Sex hormones produce a growth spurt at puberty. At menopause, estrogen levels decrease for women….osteoblasts become less active, so less bone matrix is made, so in some women there is not enough estrogen to maintain bone health. Treatments include calcium supplements, less caffeine and less alcohol, and possibly estrogen supplements. Men typically do not experience a drop in testosterone, and therefore would not experience osteoporosis as the result of changes in their levels of sex hormones.

Cortisol Affects Bone Health. Cortisol is made by the adrenal cortex of the adrenal glands. It fluctuates throughout the day, but can become quite elevated under unusual physical and mental stressors. Normal cortisol levels are important to carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism, and bone health (increases osteoblast activity and decreases osteoclast activity). For post-menopausal osteoporosis, mild exercise and a happy situation would increase cortisol levels slightly, contributing to bone health. At vastly increased levels, cortisol has a paradoxical effect, negatively affecting bone health, similar to growth hormone. Cortisol levels can increase with too much athletic training, trauma, or surgery.

Thyroid Hormones and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Affect Bone Health. Thyroid hormones (triiodothyronine T3 and tetraiodothyronine, also called thyroxine T4) are made by the follicular cells of the thyroid gland, both of which contain iodine. (This is the main reason for iodized salt, to supply iodine to the thyroid gland to manufacture the hormones). Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is made by the anterior pituitary gland. TSH travels to the thyroid gland, where it increases production of thyroid hormones. Without TSH, you can’t stimulate the thyroid to create thyroid hormones.

Hypersecretion of these hormones causes a form of osteoporosis…too much calcium lost from the body in urine. You need proper levels of TSH to get normal levels of T3 and T4 and need proper levels of all three for normal bone growth and maintenance.

Finally, some justice for Rosalind Franklin?

In an earlier post, I criticized my Biochemistry textbook for its failure to mention Rosalind Franklin as a key player in the discovery of the DNA double helix. My A&P textbook is Anatomy & Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function, by Saladin, Fifth edition, Copyright 2010. Maybe it is a sign of the times. I am including their section on Franklin below, as it is the first time I’ve seen a science textbook give credit where credit is due:

Discovery of the Double Helix

Credit for determining the double-helical structure of DNA has gone mainly to James Watson and Francis Crick. The events surrounding their discovery form one of the most dramatic stories of modern science—the subject of many books and at least one movie. When Watson and Crick came to share a laboratory at Cambridge University in 1951, both had barely begun their careers. Watson, age 23, had just completed his Ph.D. in the United States, and Crick, 11 years older, was a doctoral candidate in England. Yet the two were about to become the most famous molecular biologists of the twentieth century, and the discovery that won them such acclaim came without a single laboratory experiment of their own.

Others were fervently at work on DNA, including Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins at King’s College in London. Using a technique called X-ray diffraction, Franklin had determined that DNA had a repetitious helical structure with sugar and phosphate on the outside of the helix. Without her permission, Wilkins showed one of Franklin’s best X-ray photographs to Watson. Watson said, “The instant I saw the picture my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race.” It provided a flash of insight that allowed the Watson and Crick team to beat Franklin to the goal. They were quickly able to piece together a scale model from cardboard and sheet metal that fully accounted for the known geometry of DNA. They rushed a paper into print in 1953 describing the double helix, barely mentioning the importance of Franklin’s 2 years of painstaking X-ray diffraction work in unlocking the mystery of life’s most important molecule. Franklin published her findings in a separate paper back to back with theirs.

For this discovery, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Nobel Prizes are awarded only to the living, and in the final irony of her career, Rosalind Franklin had died in 1958, at the age of 37, of a cancer possibly induced by the X-rays that were her window on DNA architecture.

Also included are pictures of Rosalind Franklin, one of her X-ray photographs, and Watson and Crick with their model of the double helix.

The Devil at 37,000 Feet by William Langewiesche

I'm sharing this article about the Amazon air crash because it provides some extremely interesting ideas about the limits of high-end technology. Here is the abstract:

There were so many opportunities for the accident not to happen—the collision between a Legacy 600 private jet and a Boeing 737 carrying 154 people. But on September 29, 2006, high above the Amazon, a long, thin thread of acts and omissions brought the two airplanes together. From the vantage point of the pilots, the Brazilian air-traffic controllers, and the Caiapó Indians, whose rain forest became a charnel house, the author reconstructs a fatal intersection between high-performance technology and human fallibility.

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A Microscopic View of Life

Here is a glimpse from my biology class. There are four main types of tissue in the body: nervous, muscular, epithelial, and connective tissues. Each tissue is specifically adapted to fill specialized roles and functions within our bodies. The following are some of the microscope slides we looked at. I find the complexity and specialization to be intriguing, beautiful, and miraculous.

Nervous tissue: The cell body of a neuron and its cell processes (axons, dendrites), responsible for transmitting electrical impulses throughout our bodies.

Muscular tissue, specifically skeletal muscle: Highly striated (striped) cells called muscle fibers (lower half of the slide), which are responsible for our voluntary movements. These cells are specialized to contract in response to various types of stimuli.

Muscular tissue, specifically cardiac muscle: This slide is specially stained to see the tiny vertical lines called intercalated discs, which are responsible for cell-to-cell communication in the heart. Note the faint striations in cardiocytes (cardiac cells) as compared to the skeletal muscle slide.

Epithelial tissue, specifically stratified squamous epithelium: Many layers of flat cells comprise the inner lining of the esophagus. Why? The food swallowed is quite abrasive and wears away at the epithelium. By having many layers of cells, there are always new cells developing in the deeper layers to replace the cells being worn away at the surface next to the food. In general, epithelial tissue covers body surfaces, lines body cavities, covers surfaces of organs and glands, and more.

Epithelial tissue, specifically pseudostratified columnar epithelium with cilia: The cilia move mucus up out of the trachea. The mucus captures inhaled particles. In this way, particles from the air don’t travel to the deeper areas of the respiratory tract.

Negativity or Reflection?

I am a proponent of education. I have several degrees, with a possible third degree in progress. As a student, college was a transformational experience for me, which I would not trade for anything. My experience as a teacher and as a tech support person in higher education, has been, like any job, surprising, challenging, sometimes unpleasant, sometimes rewarding...sometimes in complete opposition to the values of a liberal education.

It is my liberal education that taught me to always question, critique, and analyze the world around me. And so I do not accept this world I experience at face value. I will always be wondering why and what if and for some reason, I guess I will always see the irony in things.

I hope that I can share my view of the world without being negative. I hope that I can critique and analyze without being negative. I have high standards and believe we can always be better, but we'll never get there without reflection and analysis. This is the core of what my education was all about.

An Impending Pandemic = Suddenly We Care About Technology?

For years we have offered technology workshops to students, faculty, and staff. We publicize these workshops on the web, via email, in brochures that are sent campus wide. Even during a significant upgrade, like switching from Office 2003 to Office 2007, we were lucky to get five people attending each session. There simply has never been any push from the administrative level, or from department heads, for staff or instructors to advance their technology skills.

Our new teaching & learning center, formed to encourage professional development, does not address technology. There are no plans to employ an instructional technologist, even though instructors are struggling to integrate technology into their curriculum. They see technology as the domain of the IT department. This means that our people who understand assignment design and pedagogy don’t understand technology, and our technology people don’t understand assignment design or pedagogy. People who train others on technology, and who are sometimes invited to classrooms to teach technology, get caught in this conundrum.

The attitude here is that curriculum is one thing and technology is another, separate thing, and if instructors want to assign students to create a website or make a video, they just order up the technology training and have someone else teach and support it, and patch it into their syllabus like a band aid. The problem with this is, for many disciplines, there is no division between technology and curriculum. Take journalism for example. The instructor is the only person who can provide a meaningful context for the technology. As an IT person, I can teach the technology, but I cannot teach how a journalist or a market analyst or someone in another discipline would use the technology. It is the instructor who has the potential to blend the mechanics of the technology with the best practices of their particular discipline.

And this is where the anti-technology sentiment is most troubling to me. Instructors ask me to come to their classrooms and teach beginner students who are not computer science or information systems majors to design and develop websites, after receiving one short training session. We just provided two full weeks of instruction for three sections of a three credit course because the instructor can’t support his own technology-based assignment, but he is also unwilling to modify his assignment. Because departments are at risk of losing their accreditation because they haven’t incorporated technology into their curriculum and they are looking to me to fill that gap, rather than learning the technology themselves, even though that technology has become a core component of their discipline. We’re asked to teach old technology, advanced technology that isn’t appropriate for beginners, and things that seem pointless.

Integrating technology into curriculum is a struggle, an after thought, no one’s responsibility but that of the IT department, which just received almost three quarters of a million dollars worth of budget cuts.

But suddenly, now that this institution is worried about an impending flu pandemic, about the possibility of having to GIVE BACK TUITION MONEY, now they are concerned about instructors’ ability to maintain communication with students, and continue sharing course content in a pandemic situation. Because guess what this means??? That you’ve learned how to put your course content online. That you’ve learned to use email. That you know how to access your files from home. That perhaps you have even experimented with new, online tools for communicating with students, such as instant messaging, and an abundance of free online tools for holding virtual meetings. Above, all, that you've TAKEN OWNERSHIP of your skills and your ability to teach and learn and communicate in the highly virtual twenty first century.

Emails were even sent out from administration about using new “social distance” tools to keep courses running if your class can’t meet face to face—things like instant messaging and virtual meeting tools. I found this announcement to be extremely out of touch with the technology skills of instructors. Do administrators seriously think that, when stricken down by the swine flu, instructors will finally be motivated to learn to use new technology tools? That after we have cultivated an anti-technology attitude, now, when faced with a pandemic, people will suddenly be interested in advancing their technology skills?

Now, they are concerned about this.

Maybe if technology had been a priority all along, most of our course material would already be available online right now, instead of a small fraction of it.

I can see the official press release already: “We had a comprehensive pandemic preparedness plan in place and took systemic measures to provide training and support for these procedures.”

I wish I had no opinions about things. It would make things a lot easier. I would just go to work, complete tasks, not think about them, and leave. But I think it’s really sad that this is what it takes for people to care about technology.

Be an Advocate for Women’s Equity in Higher Education: Part 4

Part 4, with names changed...

The chair of the Status of Women says, “The Commission has historically been concerned with issues of fairness and giving a voice to those who don’t have one. I’m afraid that Limited Term Employees have no Norma Rae to rally them.”

In 2006, after scrutiny about its long term use of approximately 2,500 limited term employees, UW-Madison implemented an LTE reform plan: use LTE employment only for seasonal or irregular functions, set wages for LTE appointments at or above the living wage defined by the City of Madison as 110 percent of federal poverty rate for a family of four, and begin a five-year plan to convert existing LTE positions that are not seasonal or irregular to permanent status.

According to the Director of Classified Human Resources at UW-Madison, they currently have 1600 LTE appointments. According to the March 2009 report of the advisory committee, 288 of these positions are identified for conversion to permanent status (the rest are seasonal or irregular positions). Since the LTE reform plan was implemented in October of 2006, 50 LTE positions have been converted to permanent status, creating the equivalent of 36.4 new FTE positions. In addition, the committee reports that 89% of LTEs are now paid at or above the living wage of $10.92 per hour.

When asked whether LTEs have any rights, our HR representative says it depends on what you mean by rights. “In terms of progression and transfer, LTEs have no rights,” she says. But she cites a sexual harassment situation as an example where LTEs have the same rights any employee has. She adds that LTEs are told about their limited rights when they are hired. “When an LTE starts they sign documents saying they don’t have the rights or benefits that regular, permanent employees have,” she says.

For some, working as an LTE can be a stepping stone into permanent state employment, which guarantees higher wages, better benefits, and union representation. Karen is the advocacy model needed to promote “limited term” workers into permanent positions throughout the UW-System. Gaining equal rights for Wisconsin Women working in “limited term” positions in Higher Education is critical to women’s economic success in Wisconsin. We must be the ultimate model for our own liberal education learning goals –for students to “develop and use skills for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusivity in civic and professional contexts.”

Karen—who made so many changes for her limited term employees—currently serves on the Chancellor’s Diversity Committee and contends that we can all inspire positive change. “I look at my circle of influence and say ‘what can I do?’” she says. “When I became a manager—I could do something. That’s what we have to do with diversity. Look at ourselves as one person making a difference.”

Be an Advocate for Women’s Equity in Higher Education: Part 3

Part 3 with names changed...

My colleagues and I worked many years as LTEs before we were able to apply and compete for our own permanent positions. If not for our manager, Karen, who crusaded to get equal rights for her LTEs, I am confident that we would all still be “limited term.”

In 1976, Karen took a job doing data entry for the Admissions office. “I spent eight hours a day typing in information off the application into a computer terminal,” she says. Less than four years later, she was promoted to the Registrar’s office. While working full-time, Karen earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a Master’s of Business Administration. Today she is the Associate Director of the IT department.

Karen's department has successfully converted all of their long-term limited term employees to permanent state employees. Converting LTEs to full time equivalencies (FTEs), or permanent positions, is not impossible, but it does require challenging the status quo. Karen converted available FTEs, from retirements and position vacancies, into permanent positions that long term LTEs could interview and compete for. Karen found support from her department director. “He knows you have to treat people well, build up a staff that cares, to get good performance,” Karen says. Karen also gathered support from other department managers. “I just said we would make do with less people, or cut services. I had to convince the other managers that our group would take on more if we could have the FTE.”

Karen says the problem occurs when there is money available to fund a position, but no FTE, which is set by the state. For example, Student Senate wanted my position and funded it, and so it remained a limited term position.

Our Human Resources representative says this model would be different for other position classifications. For example, for a University Services Associate position to be converted to a permanent position, it would first have to be posted for any permanent employee in the UW System to transfer into. If no one transfers into the position, the interview process begins. The interview candidates are selected based on their Civil Service exam scores. So it’s possible that the LTE wouldn’t be selected to interview and compete for the permanent position. Once hired as an LTE, it is very hard to become a permanent worker.

Our University Equity, Diversity, and Inclusiveness (EDI) fellow says that to date, EDI has been focused on UW System student-centered equity initiatives (e.g., the Equity Scorecard), but he hopes there is a lot we can do with LTE equity at the campus level. “This is a flawed system that we have routinely supported,” he says. “The system has created, in some cases, second class citizens within their own departments.”

He adds that we have only just begun to have the necessary conversations about LTE equity issues, but that staff equity relates to student success, which we are all responsible for. “With the way we do business now, diversity, equity, and inclusiveness should be engaged in the service of student success at every level…everyone is responsible for student success.”

Be an Advocate for Women’s Equity in Higher Education: Part 2

Part 2 with names changed...

According to a University of Wisconsin Press Release, the definition of LTE appointments is for UW System campus units to carry out short term or seasonal work. One LTE position is limited to no more than 1,043 hours, or six months, of full-time work per year. However, an individual may hold one or two LTE positions, resulting in ongoing part-time or full-time work.

Our University currently has 144 limited term employees, according to our Human Resources representative, who also says that about fifty percent of these LTEs have two positions, meaning the number of LTE positions is likely around 200. This constitutes about 27 percent of all University staff (classified staff and LTEs), or 13 percent of all University employees.

Many in “limited term” positions are working long term without receiving the benefits that permanent state employees receive. In a May 2009 survey of xxxx’s LTEs, 24% reported working less than a year, 22% reported 1-2 years, 14% reported 3-4 years, 11% reported 5-6 years, and 29% reported six years or more. The average length of “limited term” employment was 11.6 years.

Survey respondents represented a variety of positions, such as custodial, clerical, police, early childhood education, marketing, communications, event planning, and technology support. In addition, 84% were female (72% of all current LTEs at our University are female), 26% reported they are the sole provider for their families, and 59% had a baccalaureate degree or higher.

LTEs qualify for minimal benefits, depending on how many positions they have and the number of hours they work. LTEs qualify for the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) when they are expected to work at least 600 hours within a 12-month period. Once eligible for WRS, LTEs become eligible for health insurance coverage, and have the option of paying the full premiums for a variety of other benefits, such as supplemental dental and income continuation insurance. Some of these benefits are explained below.

LTEs are paid a minimum of 20% less than permanent workers for doing the same work. According to the LTE Handbook, LTEs start at 20% less than the minimum rate for the Civil Service position classification, with wage increases up to the minimum rate for that Civil Service position classification. This minimum rate is the most an LTE can ever earn, while a permanent employee in the same position classification can earn up to the maximum rate plus receive wage increases as negotiated by union contracts.

To become a permanent state employee, I had to interview and compete with others, including permanent state employees, for the position I had worked in for three years. My wages increased $5.51 per hour—over $200 more per week—for doing the same work, along with annual wage increases as negotiated by union contracts, vacation, sick leave, personal and legal holidays. However, in some ways, my LTE service doesn’t count. An employee’s seniority date is the original date of employment as a permanent employee. Although I’ve worked for the University for five years (3 years LTE and 2 years permanent), I earn vacation benefits at the rate of a two year employee—a difference that amounts to 32 hours/year of vacation time.

Treatment of LTEs, in terms of wages and performance, varies widely. Thirty-seven percent of survey respondents indicated they receive annual performance evaluations from their managers, and 41 percent indicated they do not; 21 percent indicated they receive annual wage increases, and 45 percent indicated they do not. In my three years as an LTE, I was given annual performance reviews and received two fifty cent raises.

In this difficult time of budget cuts, the workload only increases without any reward for limited term employees. One person wrote on the survey, “My boss has continued to give me more on my plate, and I have kept up with his demands. All the while staying at the same pay for 6 years.” Another wrote, “I've worked as an LTE for 9 years now. What does LTE stand for? Limited Term Employee. They are taking advantage of LTEs by not giving them vacation, sick days, paid holidays and personal days.”

One LTE wrote, “I think it's hard for a university to state it's concerned about equity when they essentially create second-class citizens within its own workforce…being an LTE can make you feel worthless; no matter what you do, or how well you do your job, there are no promotions or rewards…Your heart breaks when you resent your child for being sick, because it's another day without pay.”

Be an Advocate for Women’s Equity in Higher Education: Part 1

I am going to post in segments my article about higher education's use of “limited term” positions that keep women in low paying jobs with few benefits. Names are changed...


“Across Wisconsin, I see talented and tenacious women poised to lead this state's economic growth -- if only we clear obstacles from their path.”
-Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton

When Karen became the manager of a campus help desk and software training group, she quickly realized that her staff was comprised mostly of women who had worked five to ten years in “limited term” status with low wages, earning a minimum of 20% less than permanent workers in the same job classifications, with no vacation, sick time, personal or legal holidays, and in some cases, no health insurance.

I experienced these inequitable conditions. In 2003, with four years of professional work experience and a Master’s degree in progress, I was hired as the coordinator for Karen’s software training program—a position that had existed in limited term classification since 1995 and remained “limited term” for twelve years, until 2007. Almost three years into my employment, my mom suffered a massive stroke. As a limited term employee (LTE), I had no vacation, sick leave, personal or legal holidays. Fortunately, my co-workers showed their support by taking up a collection, which helped pay my bills while I took unpaid time off to be with my mom during her four-month hospital stay.

Karen became concerned about people she supervised working long term in “limited term” positions while studying the attributes of successful companies, as part of her MBA coursework. “Successful companies took care of their people, and then the people in turn worked hard,” Karen says.

Despite Karen’s concern, the status quo at this institution is to maintain “limited term” positions for many years. “I know people who worked here in various offices as LTEs for more than 20 years,” Karen says, now the Associate IT Director. “I do think this is a significant problem here and I believe it may even be worse statewide.”

While a common response among managers and administration is “this is the system we’re stuck with,” or “people have choices,” Karen challenged the status quo for her “limited term” employees...

Renegade Immune System

My eyelids were red, stinging and burning. I was extremely sensitive to light. I had a dentist appointment one morning, and I almost cried with that light on my face. In the past my symptoms had been redness, acne, and flaking skin on my cheeks, nose, and forehead area. This eyelid situation is ocular rosacea, or blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids). I debated going to an ophthalmologist but I knew what he or she would do: prescribe antibiotics. I had just finished a six week round of antibiotics that completely screwed up my body and triggered rosacea symptoms that were worse than before I started the antibiotics.

I began a twice daily regime of washing my eyelids with Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo, and also putting a warm washcloth on my eyelids at night (recommended in many things I read online). It helped, but the symptoms persisted for about two weeks. I stopped taking my multivitamin and lysine supplements, meaning levothyroxin (for hypothyroidism) was the only thing I was still taking. I noticed that my hair was falling out, and I had bursts of tingly electrical sensations in my fingers and toes. One morning I woke up and felt like my face was swollen…especially under my eyes. My eyes felt like they could pop out of my head at any moment. I had no appetite. My eyes felt gritty. Suddenly I realized, could it be the levothyroxin? I looked online, and I was horrified by the side effects: swelling of the face, hair loss, etc. When I received this medication, the pharmacist told me to take it on an empty stomach and “just start feeling better.” My TSH (the stuff that tells your thyroid to produce more thyroid stuff) had ranged from 4-6 for the past few years, which was too high, in my primary physician’s opinion (I have since read, and was told by a nurse, that some physicians consider TSH as high as 10 to be normal). How could doctors have recommended that I take a medication that can promote inflammation, when they know I have a condition where I am already susceptible to inflammation? I specifically asked my dermatologist if the levothyroxin would be a problem and she said no.

I called my primary physician and talked to the nurse, to let them know that I was stopping the levothyroxin. When I explained this, the nurse said, “You should be assessed by a physician before stopping your medication.” She insisted I go to the walk-in clinic that day. She made a comment about inflammation moving into my throat, which made me panic. I was already extremely emotional about this situation.

Reluctantly, I went to the clinic and explained all the problems I’d been having to the nurse, who then said, “Are you usually this emotional—this labile?” She then asked if pregnancy was a possibility. I resented this, as I am familiar with the term labile, a clinical term that was frequently applied to my mother by medical professionals during her four month hospital stay and stroke rehabilitation. I believe it is a convenient way for medical professionals to discredit you, and therefore not have to look at you as a whole person.

Then the doctor came in, and I told her all the same things. She said she didn’t think my face was swollen, and she said, “You’re really upset about this, aren’t you?” She told me my TSH was down to 3.62 (I’d had my blood drawn that morning). I asked her what normal range is and she said it is very wide, like .5 to 6. She said most people feel best when their TSH goes down to 2.0-2.5. She looked up the levothyroxin side effects on her computer, read off hair loss and facial swelling, but then said that these things can also be caused by stress.

When I explained to her my concerns about long term use of antibiotics, especially the side effects, she told me to eat a cup of yogurt every day.

Then she told me that if I think it’s the levothyroxin, then I should quit taking it for at least two weeks and see if the symptoms go away.

Well that was a huge waste of time!

My symptoms improved dramatically after I stopped taking the levothyroxin. I have no doubt it was aggravating my rosacea. What if my TSH level is my body’s natural way of trying to reduce the inflammation I’ve been experiencing for so long? Obviously I experienced more inflammation at a higher metabolic rate.

I felt so good after I stopped the levothyroxin, and my nephew was visiting and we were doing all sorts of stuff that I slacked off on trying eliminate glutens and eat mainly fresh fruits and veggies. I ended up at a lot of fast food restaurants. Then, one day this week I ate a tuna salad with honey mustard from Subway for lunch, and immediately after, I felt terrible. My eyelids began to swell, and I was extremely bloated…I’ve since read that canned tuna can trigger rosacea flare-ups; it’s one of several foods that can induce a histamine release. I also read about protein digestion and sugars…protein is the most difficult food for your body to digest…eating sugars along with protein can interfere with the protein digestion, meaning that the food will linger in your stomach for way longer than usual, creating a perfect environment for toxic yeasts, fungi, and bacteria, creating an unhealthy intestinal environment. Also, your skin is a major way through which your body eliminates toxins…at this point, let me remind you, that my dermatologist told me that nothing causes rosacea.

I am reading Rosacea: Your Self-Help Guide by Arlen Brownstein, a naturopathic doctor, and Donna Shoemaker, a nutritionist. It is the most helpful and thorough resource I’ve found on rosacea, including various medical approaches to managing rosacea, as well as in depth information on nutrition and your digestive tract. I am convinced that long term use of antibiotics has completely upset the natural balances of my body, especially my digestive tract. I also believe that I may have a problem with glutens and with some meats. This is an opportunity to improve the overall health of my body. I went to the farmer’s market yesterday and the organic local foods store, and bought many fruits and vegetables I have never even tried before.

I have begun talking with a naturopathic doctor, and I am very hopeful that this will be a positive experience. “This sounds like a renegade immune system issue,” the naturopathic doctor said when she replied to my email. “Make sure you know what your triggers are.” Somehow I sense that this isn’t going to be a ten minute doctor visit in which I’m written off as labile and sent away with a prescription in hand.

The Big Old Machine

I just got off the phone with the director of Human Resources. She feels that my article about higher education’s use of limited term employees (LTEs) in long term positions, for low wages and few benefits, is extremely negative and would have a detrimental effect on LTEs. In fact, she said she “panicked” when she read it. The final article is much different than my earlier post, and has not yet been published anywhere. At this point I don’t know if it will be…

In reflecting on my past ten years of work experience, I now view corporate software development as an animal, like a sleek, fast leopard, or a fox—small, yet cunning, sly, and powerful. In the end, looking out ultimately for itself. This is why I left. I thought higher education would be different. I thought I would be happier. And as long as I was ignorant about the inner workings, I was. After five years, I now see higher education as a big, old, archaic machine, professing to teach the values of liberal education and to promote equity and diversity, yet clinging to ancient philosophies about employment, which result in keeping those who have the fewest rights silent and in their places. Perhaps I will be proven wrong. My article has the support of several committees and is being circulated to the higher ups…

Hopefully I will not get laid off tomorrow…

I do not intend for this article to harm anyone; however, I do feel that this is a serious social equity issue that needs to be better understood in our academic community, and perhaps even by a general audience.

Here are some things the HR director said, and which reflect a common attitude among management: people take these jobs knowing what they’re getting in to, this is the system we’re stuck with, these people sign statements of their limited rights when they start working here…ok, all of which might be fine, if you were truly using LTEs to do short term work, like seasonal or special projects. But when you’re using them to do the same work that permanent state employees do, work that is not limited term, denying them equal wages and benefits IS A PROBLEM.

The whole experience of writing this article—the fear and reluctance of many schools to even talk about this issue—is destroying any remaining belief I have in this institution actually practicing and promoting the liberal education values it professes to teach.

A few hours after my conversation with the HR director I realized why I was so surprised. I wasn’t expecting a positive reaction. But I was expecting corrections. Like you got this number wrong or this fact is not actually true. But there were no corrections. Just her vague, high level statements attempting to instill fear.

I was educated by this institution…two degrees and many thousands of dollars. More and more, the words of a wise friend come to mind: “You cannot educate people to be free thinkers and then penalize them when they question the system.”

NYTimes says no natural remedies for rosacea

The New York Times article Natural Remedies for Rosacea? poses a question that many rosacea sufferers ask – are there any effective treatments for rosacea that don’t include the use of antibiotics or other prescriptions? This article also presents understandable definitions of different types of rosacea.

It is great to see articles on rosacea in a publication like the New York Times. However, it is discouraging to find an unsatisfying answer to such an important question. Surely there are good natural treatments out there somewhere???

This article says, "Self-care and dietary measures may also aid in the management of roscacea, but there are different forms of the disease, and each may require different treatments." According to what I've been reading by rosacea sufferers, diet may play a huge role in this skin condition. I am trying to find out, by reading books and changing my diet, and I'll let you know.

Rosacea May Be Caused by Immune Response, Not Bacteria

This is part of my exciting research about rosacea. I'm also practicing a new skill I learned today in regards to social media. I'm posting this to my blog directly from the Medline site, just by clicking the SHARE feature and then selecting Blogger!
Rosacea May Be Caused by Immune Response, Not Bacteria

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Goodbye Minocycline

Due to intolerable side effects, I have stopped taking my dermatologist prescribed daily dosage of the antibiotic, minocycline.

I began my own research and am currently self-medicating. I am not a doctor and I realize I don’t know what I’m doing; however, no one knows my body better than I do. Also, I am extremely dissatisfied with mainstream medicine’s treatment (or lack thereof) of rosacea. Taking antibiotics long-term and treating the symptoms but not the cause is not an option for me, especially when the only thing they will prescribe ruins my life. Also, I have seen two dermatologists and neither were willing to work with me or be flexible at all in their recommendation that I take these antibiotics, despite the side effects I endured.

SO, here I am. One suggestion is that people with rosacea may have a lysine deficiency. I took Biochemistry last semester, and actually knew what this meant! L-Lysine is an essential amino acid, meaning it is critical to the human body, especially for tissue development, and it cannot be produced by the body so it must be obtained through the food we eat or through supplements. I began taking 1,000 MG/day of lysine a week ago, and I could see the effects within a few days. (Added benefit: I bought a bottle of 100 500 MG pills at Target for about $2.50). The redness and postules on my cheeks are almost gone. It took almost a month on antibiotics before I noticed my skin was looking better. However, my eyelids continue to be puffy…some days worse than others. But I’m not even convinced this is necessarily rosacea, but perhaps an allergy or sensitivity to something. I am also going to work on converting to all natural products in terms of detergents, shower gel, shampoo, etc.

Also, rosacea has something to do with inflammation (that’s actually why they prescribe the antibiotics, because of the anti-inflammatory effects). And, certain foods have inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effects. Who would have thought! As a result, I am working on eliminating virtually all red meat from my diet, and greatly reducing the amount of dairy I consume. This means I am working towards a fruit and vegetable based diet, with the exception of fatty fish, with have omega three fatty acids, like salmon and halibut.

I realize that this is a situation that will require ongoing attention—I do not in any way think that taking a supplement is going to cure all my problems. However, I feel extremely empowered and relieved, after being given no options by dermatologists, and spending lots of money on topical and oral antibiotics, that I’m finally getting information that puts me more in control. I believe that environmental factors like foods and other things we come in contact with have a huge impact on our bodies, and these are the things that doctors never tell you. Apparently, they can make a lot more money just prescribing drugs like antibiotics.

Yeast Infection in a Bottle

There is a red butterfly flaring across my cheeks. The dermatologists are booked a month out, so I let it go for a week, then I go to Urgent Care. It burns and flares. I expect them to give me some sort of cream. Instead, the Medical Assistant brings in four different doctors and a nurse to gawk at my face.

“Sorry, hope you don’t mind,” he says. “It’s just that we don’t get to see stuff like this very often. It’s a good learning experience for us.”

I feel like a freakshow. Finally he informs me I might have lupus, an auto-immune disorder where the body attacks its own tissues. He has my blood drawn, instructs me to pee in a cup, and gives me firm directions to follow up with my primary doctor for the test results.

My test results are negative for lupus. “It’s probably rosacea,” my primary doctor says. “I’ll get you in to see a dermatologist right away.

“You have rosacea,” the dermatologist proclaims, almost instantly after meeting me for the first time.

Isn’t there some test they should perform, or something to validate this diagnosis, I wonder. Plus, it seems suspiciously coincidental that this alleged skin condition has appeared out of nowhere, immediately after experiencing the most stressful time in my life, in which my mom almost died from a stroke and spent four months in the hospital. So I ask the dermatologist what causes rosacea.

“Nothing causes it. It just happens. Especially to people with fair skin.”

I have since researched this on the web, and found no legitimate causes for rosacea, but still this answer is unsatisfactory to me. Even more unsatisfactory is the recommended treatment: topical and oral antibiotics. Long term. That’s it. It’s the anti-inflammatory component of the antibiotics that seem to help with rosacea symptoms, the small red bumps I get on my cheeks and nose, the swelling and redness in my eyelids. Yes, you heard me. Despite all the hype about our overuse of antibiotics, and the resulting increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, this is the only treatment for rosacea: go on antibiotics, forever. Fun. Especially for women, who know about the consequences of using antibiotics long term…aside from reducing the effectiveness of birth control pills…you get to have…yeast infections! Shortly after I started taking these antibiotics, I experienced my first yeast infection. I was horrified. Soon after that, I stopped taking the antibiotics and went to see another dermatologist, convinced that this dermatologist would give me a different treatment option. He didn’t. And he was even more abrupt and impersonal than the first one. So, for several years, I took the antibiotics off and on….staying off the antibiotics until my rosacea symptoms reappeared….going back on the antibiotics long enough for my rosacea symptoms to disappear and my next yeast infection to surface.

The last time I went back to the dermatologist, she made no attempt to hide her impatience.

“You might as well quit expecting a miracle to happen and just start taking the medicine,” she told me. It was so blunt and impersonal that I laughed out loud. She had no interest in my personal circumstances, like stress factors in my life, or the terrible side effects of these medications.

She did follow it up, then, with, “I mean, I’m sorry to be so direct, but you might as well face the facts. You need to stay on the maximum dosage for at least a year. Then I can help you taper it off to a more minimal dosage. This isn’t something to mess around with. Especially when your eyes start to be affected.”

So now, in addition to 100 mg twice daily of minocycline (AKA yeast infection in a bottle), due to the yeast infection issue, once per month tablet of fluconazole. Plus a topical gel antibiotic, which, as the pharmacist said to me last time I filled the prescription, “You don’t want to take this long-term, because it will permanently thin the top layer of your skin.”

As I read all the warning signs about taking these medications long term…permanent yellowing or graying of your teeth and gums…is dangerous to a fetus…toxic to children under 8…extreme sensitivity to sun….discontinue immediately if you feel short of breath or light headed…and the list goes on…I’m still experiencing the discomfort of my most recent yeast infection, I’m beginning to wonder if the risks outweigh the benefits. I wish for doctors and medical professionals who treat more holistically…the whole person rather than just the symptoms, doctors who give options other than medications or surgery.

(Un)limited Term: Same Work as Permanent State Employees, With Low Wages and Few Benefits

Here is an excerpt from the first part of an article I'm working on. I've omitted references to the name of the state agency that I'm talking about.

We’ve all heard the myth about the lush benefits of state employees, but limited term employees do the same work as permanent state employees, for less money and few benefits. In the economic downtown and the state budget crisis, limited term employees are the most vulnerable.

In 2005, my 60-year-old mother suddenly suffered a massive stroke that resulted in a four month hospital stay. Although I had worked full-time for the University for three years, I had no vacation or sick time. After emergency brain surgery, my mom remained in a Critical Care Unit for two weeks. Luckily, my department showed its generous support by taking up a collection, which helped make my mortgage payment while I took time off to be with my mom. I had no vacation or sick time because I was classified as a limited term employee (LTE).

According to a University of Wisconsin Press Release (http://www.news.wisc.edu/releases/12948 ), the purpose of LTE appointments is for campus units to carry out short term or seasonal work. LTEs are limited to no more than 1,043 hours, or six months of full-time work, per year. However, an individual may hold two LTE positions, resulting in ongoing full-time work.

It is commonly known within the realm of state employment that many individuals have been working in one or more LTE positions over long periods without becoming permanent, full time equivalency (FTE) employees, and without receiving the wages and benefits that accompany permanent state employment. In a recent survey of the University's 141 limited term employees, 76% of the 69 respondents indicated that they were limited term employees for a year or more, with 27% reporting six years or more as limited term employees. The average length of LTE employment was 11.6 years. Respondents were from a variety of University departments, including custodial, childcare, clerical, technology support, recreation, marketing, and more.

Those working two LTE positions, or full-time, are eligible for health insurance, dental insurance, and retirement savings. Those who are working only one LTE position, part-time, must pay half the premiums out of pocket. LTEs, no matter how many years they have worked for the state, get no vacation, sick time, personal or legal holidays, or any other benefits that permanent state employees receive. LTEs cannot participate in University committees or governance, nor are they eligible for grants, scholarships, or professional development funds, such as those available to permanent, University classified staff. LTEs have no job security, and under state law, they are prohibited from collective bargaining (http://slac.rso.wisc.edu/isthmus-june22-2001.html )

LTEs are generally paid less than permanent full time workers, even if they do the same work. Sixty five percent of survey respondents said they earned less than $20,000 per year before taxes, and 26% reported they are the sole provider for their families. In addition to low wages, 84% of survey respondents were female. And despite their low wages and few benefits, limited term workers are highly educated: 58% had a four year college degree or higher.

When I went through the confounding process of transitioning from a limited term employee to a permanent state employee (my job was advertised publicly and I had to interview and compete with others, including current state employees, for the position I had worked in for three years), I gained an almost $5 per hour wage increase for doing the same work. I also gained union representation, annual wage increases as negotiated by union contracts, sick time, vacation, paid holidays, personal days, and more...

My Problem with Science Education

And here is my fundamental problem with science education. As I’m reading my Biochemistry textbook (published in 2007) I notice that scientists who made (apparently) important discoveries are highlighted in the sidebar of the textbook, complete with their picture and a profile of their scientific accomplishments. It’s not long before I start to realize they’re all male, and this starts to bother me. So one afternoon I sit down and go through the entire book, scouring the sidebars for examples of female scientists. There are 14 scientists featured and only one female scientist, Marie Curie, who is labeled as a “pioneer in radioactivity.” This is the kind of thing that urks me. And it gets worse.

Let me reiterate that this textbook was published in 2007.

Chapter 22, on ribonucleotides, in its discussion of DNA and RNA, features Watson and Crick as the discoverers of DNA, for which they later shared a Nobel prize. There is, of course, no mention of chemist Rosalind Franklin, whose work was the basis for Watson and Crick’s discovery, which they never got her permission to use, nor did they ever give her any credit. Although this is a highly disputed and controversial topic (there are numerous books written about it, such as The Double Helix, by Watson and Crick), there is no mention of this in the textbook. Black and white. Definitively. Watson and Crick discovered DNA. Whatever.

And it’s not like there aren’t opportunities to feature female scientists. For example, there is an extended discussion of the polyamide Kevlar, used in place of steel in bulletproof vests, and how the uniform system of hydrogen bonds that holds the polymer chains together account for the “amazing” strength of Kevlar. There is a picture of the hydrogen bonding pattern, but no mention of the female chemist Stephanie Kwolek, who synthesized Kevlar while working as a chemist for DuPont.

Why does this matter? Because I’ve done research on the lack of women in science and engineering fields, and the research says that women need to see examples of positive, successful women in science and engineering. Textbooks like this inadvertently send the message that science is a male domain.

Avoiding Science & Other Thoughts

My decision to avoid science was pretty much solidified the first semester of my freshman year in college, during Chemistry 101. The professor was a callous, stern older woman who gave long lectures without betraying a trace of emotion, multiple choice tests that required rote memorization, and long, boring labs with titrations that I found tedious and uninspiring. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I’d known how titrations could be used to develop a medication for a sick child, or to find the cure for a disease. Although I got As and Bs in Chemistry, Precalculus, and several Computer Science courses, I assumed I wasn’t good at science. I’d always been an A student in high school, and when that didn’t come as easily in college, I took no more science courses than the minimum requirements for my B.A. It wasn’t until twelve years later, after my mother had a stroke that I began to rethink my decision to avoid science. Research on the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields includes many strategies for creating gender-inclusive STEM classrooms: smaller classes, increased percentage of female faculty, outreach programs as a bridge between high school and college, cooperative learning vs. competition, recognition of different communication styles, hands-on projects, group work, and content that is relevant to society. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I’d experienced a different type of science classroom.

There have been two times in my life when it seemed that the universe grabbed me and shook me out of my complacency. The first, when I was evacuated from the corporate headquarters of the company where I worked, from the Sears Tower, on September 11th, 2001 and was subsequently stranded in Chicago. After four years of feeling ambivalent about my place in the corporate world of software development, I quit my well paying job, sold my house, and went to graduate school.

The second time was in November of 2005, when my 60-year-old mother had a stroke that deprived the left side of her brain of oxygen, and left her with permanent left-side weakness. Ironically, this experience, the biggest test of strength and courage my family has ever known, has also been a blessing. I would never want my mom to suffer again, but she has led me to value every moment, to believe that I have the ability to change my direction if I’m not happy. And it is seeing my parents, happier together than they’ve ever been, which is my foundation.

My plan with the Master’s degree was to pursue teaching at the college level. That was before I learned that teaching English at the college level with only a Master’s degree essentially pays minimum wage, and offers no promise of any (let alone permanent) employment. And isn’t this surprising, given that our English dept. relies on almost as many instructional academic staff working in these tenuous circumstances, as they do tenure-track PhDs. This is just as bad, if not worse, as the abuse of limited term employees in higher education (but this is all another story).

Alas, I just met with my manager, and he made no mention of the agenda-less meeting drama! I am so surprised I expected that he would have a diagram about it, which he would narrate. He had another diagram, which he did narrate, but at least for now it sounds like I’m free to make my own decisions about meeting agendas.

I’m writing this all just as I found out about yet another tragedy with a friend’s struggle to have another child. My heart breaks for her, and yet I am without words. It makes all my complaints this week seem so trivial.