I agree that the brute force approach will get A grades in o-chem, but don't you think that maybe our doctors ought to learn how to think like scientists? The only difference between a physicist or a chemist and a doctor is the subject matter; They all face unsolved questions and will only be able reach conclusions through deductive reasoning after considering the evidence available to them. While it is certainly unethical for doctors to experiment wildly with their patients, I'm sure that many slashdotters have heard the phrase "let's try medication X.." or "I'm going to run a few tests and then.."
Doctors have to think like scientists. Perhaps another class similar to o-chem in difficulty but more relevant to the medical profession is in order?
A side note: I have worked with several MD-PhDs and they are the cream of the crop (with one or two very ugly exceptions).
Nothing is funnier than the truth.
During my undergraduate career I worked for the Chemistry department and it was my job to watch some of these hopeless pre-med students suffer through o-chem lab. Needless to say, I feel a lot better knowing that a good share of the more inept ones got filtered out so early on in the game.
Now I work in a hospital doing biomedical research. I see a great deal of talented physicians, but it really surprises me how many of the old guard (and plenty of the young blood) are ignorant on important topics relevant to medicine today. While organic chemistry classes in and of themselves don't remedy this sort of problem, I think that those who succeed in them generally tend to be the kinds of people who can keep their minds open and who are able to learn into their old age.
It's true. Flu strains sweep through as much of the human population as they can and then are forced to change by swapping out components with other strains in vivo.
Most influenza strains are classified by their own particular version of hemagluttanin and neuraminidase proteins in the fashion of H#N#, where # is the variant of each protein. Hence the naming of the H5N1 bird flu. Every year, a few lucky flu strains will simultaneously infect a host and, in cells, swap the genes necessary for encoding H and N. If one or more of the new combinations is able to stand up to the immune systems of hosts who have already developed an immunity to the flu in previous years, it will again start its march through the population (which will hopefully develop a new immunity after exposure) and the cycle will continue.
The only reason you should worry about disinfecting your laptop is if you plan on taking it to the jungles of the amazon where the people perhaps are more susceptible to old world flus. In that case, my two cents goes to spraying lightly with pure alcohol and letting it sit in the sun for a few minutes.
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I agree that the brute force approach will get A grades in o-chem, but don't you think that maybe our doctors ought to learn how to think like scientists? The only difference between a physicist or a chemist and a doctor is the subject matter; They all face unsolved questions and will only be able reach conclusions through deductive reasoning after considering the evidence available to them. While it is certainly unethical for doctors to experiment wildly with their patients, I'm sure that many slashdotters have heard the phrase "let's try medication X.." or "I'm going to run a few tests and then.."
Doctors have to think like scientists. Perhaps another class similar to o-chem in difficulty but more relevant to the medical profession is in order?
A side note: I have worked with several MD-PhDs and they are the cream of the crop (with one or two very ugly exceptions).
Nothing is funnier than the truth. During my undergraduate career I worked for the Chemistry department and it was my job to watch some of these hopeless pre-med students suffer through o-chem lab. Needless to say, I feel a lot better knowing that a good share of the more inept ones got filtered out so early on in the game. Now I work in a hospital doing biomedical research. I see a great deal of talented physicians, but it really surprises me how many of the old guard (and plenty of the young blood) are ignorant on important topics relevant to medicine today. While organic chemistry classes in and of themselves don't remedy this sort of problem, I think that those who succeed in them generally tend to be the kinds of people who can keep their minds open and who are able to learn into their old age.
It's true. Flu strains sweep through as much of the human population as they can and then are forced to change by swapping out components with other strains in vivo.
Most influenza strains are classified by their own particular version of hemagluttanin and neuraminidase proteins in the fashion of H#N#, where # is the variant of each protein. Hence the naming of the H5N1 bird flu. Every year, a few lucky flu strains will simultaneously infect a host and, in cells, swap the genes necessary for encoding H and N. If one or more of the new combinations is able to stand up to the immune systems of hosts who have already developed an immunity to the flu in previous years, it will again start its march through the population (which will hopefully develop a new immunity after exposure) and the cycle will continue.
The only reason you should worry about disinfecting your laptop is if you plan on taking it to the jungles of the amazon where the people perhaps are more susceptible to old world flus. In that case, my two cents goes to spraying lightly with pure alcohol and letting it sit in the sun for a few minutes.