pink scaly macule with hemorrhagic crust

This post is titled with the words found under the Clinical Information area of my Dermatophatology Report. Tara, assisting with my out-patient procedure, hands the sheet to me before I leave the room.  I also have an image on my phone, of the basal cell carcinoma histology. Dr. DeLuca shoots it for me with her cell phone. Gladly, I leave behind the unwelcome guest that’s been hanging out in my Right inferior Central Malar Cheek.

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If you’re familiar with my work, you know my studies come from real people. I guess it’s time for me to share some of my biological system’s messy stuff.

 

This started last summer, with what appeared to be a dark small cluster on my cheek, though really, I bet it all began years ago. The sun and I go way back and I haven’t always worn sunscreen and cap.

I pick at the cluster until it breaks open. Weeks pass, it doesn’t heal completely, and then months pass. I wonder if maybe I need to stop doing a handstand during Yoga. Over Christmas break, I ask my sister what she thinks about the area. The borders appears dry, uneven – see a doctor, she says. I return to Phoenix and schedule an appointment to see the dermatologist.

A biopsy determines it is basil cell carcinoma. I am scheduled for something called, Moh’s surgery. Because I’m particularly busy and they want me to have some down time afterwards, I wait a few weeks before going in. I kind of wish I’d never waited; there’s never a good time.

Moh’s involves cutting away a thin layer of skin and taking it, right then and there, to their in- house lab. Once under the microscope, the doctor can see the irregular tissue and know to stop or to continue cutting away until it’s all captured and removed.  This afternoon, it takes a few rounds. I don’t really understand what is happening until Dr. DeLuca enters the room the final time and announces, It’s all gone!

I ask a lot of questions and both the doctor and her assistant are great with information. As noted, I ask Dr DeLuca if I can have a photo of what things look like under the microscope. Had I really understood early on, I would have asked for a photo after each cut.

It’s natural for me to research, draw and try to understand…stuff.  While this is a piece of my skin,  I don’t know that I understand everything I see. The larger, darker, odd shaped forms are the carcinoma. Is each area an individual cell or is each area a cluster of cells? The centered  top skin debris makes for an interesting scape/edge, don’t you think?

Basal cells line the lower part (base) of the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin). They produce new skin cells (programmed by their DNA). As the new skin cells are produced, older cells are pushed towards the surface where they die and are shed. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. It can be cause by repeated and unprotected skin exposure to UV rays. It spreads slow and rarely metastasizes. If left untreated it can continue to grow.

#MicroscopicExamination #DisturbinglyBeautiful #HealingWell

 

a day with the college of medicine – tucson

The more you wish to describe a Universal the more minutely and truthfully you must describe a Particular. – Brenda Ueland

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Wednesday’s adventure begins early as Amy picks me up and we make our way to the College of Medicine. Amy is Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Director of Medical Humanities. Her and I have been organizing today’s workshops along with Marianna at the Tucson Museum of Art.

We arrive to the college, art supplies in tow, and head to the University of Arizona Health Sciences Library where the plan includes picking up 3D anatomical models. We learn models cannot be taken out of the library. We want them for a drawing workshop. Amy makes a phone call and locates some elsewhere.

We proceed upstairs (or maybe downstairs), across a ramp, down an elevator (possibly up an elevator), getting closer to…I’m not exactly sure where. Eventually, I find myself walking a brightly lit, purple hallway, lined with (too many to count) larger-than-life reproductions of Andres Vesalius’ series, De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body).

I’ve always admired the compositions and now this wonderful series of dissection drawings appear as escorts down the long walkway.

We arrive to our classroom and as I organize supplies, people come in. The group is working self-portraits this morning, not an easy undertaking. Medical school teaches anatomy, it helps that most everyone I have encountered in this sort of environment has an understanding of the bone structure and muscles of the face. I give some direction, everyone picks out a paper and a sharpie marker (no erasers!) and begins drawing. I notice there is no hesitation.

James, introduces himself as an infectious disease MD. The question of the primary focal point: Is the mask coming off or is it going back on? The secondary focal point is his bow tie.

Brianna, Palliative Medicine, calls her portrait ‘Tejido‘ and because this is her title, it’s appropriate she add a bit of color.

Amy brings a cut of fresh jasmine from her front porch, to include into her portrait.

Yumi’s portrait will include a blue-stoned necklace that represents aspects of  her mother’s life.

Before closing for the morning, everyone shares their drawing, both form and content. I/We learn something relatable about each person present.

Unbeknown to me, we will be moving to another classroom in another building. Before leaving this area, we need to pick up medical models for the next workshop.

Down another hallway, a male awaits. He and Amy speak before going through double doors. Amy steps back out and waves, signaling with her hands and asking if I would like to come in. I am rolling a crate of supplies which forces me to back into the room. I enter and naturally prop one door open. I turn and slowly realize…I…am…in…THE…anatomy…lab. (Hindsight: Vesalius’ art should have been a clue.) It feels necessary to close the propped door, so I do – meanwhile moving back in awkwardly and uncertain. I pause to look at my surroundings. I feel…a sense of…reverence…for the rows of bodies (donors). It is a large lab and Amy has disappeared into the back which is darkened and seems far away. I note a slight drop in temperature as well as a tad cooler lighting. Though, to my left appears a bright, warm glow of studio lights. Two groups of students are studying (Are they dissecting?) two bodies. Time. Stands. Still. I recall classic “Anatomy Lesson” paintings by both Rembrandt and Galon. I feel stunned and yet honored. I wish I had my camera. I do have my camera. Don’t pull it out. Don’t get distracted. Stay present.

My name is being called; Amy wants me to look at the available models. I walk to the back where she is gathering pelvis bones and shoulder blades. Before we exit the lab, she calls out to the students telling them they are welcome to join us for the drawing workshop and lunch. A few say they may come. We rush out, now rolling a cart as we head (walkways, elevators, ramps, elevators) to the other side of the medical school. We arrive to a large classroom where students are gathering, chatting and eating lunch.

I set out a materials, introduce myself, give instruction and watch as activity begins.

This afternoon’s study focuses on an organ or system of the human body. Everyone has access to a lot of supplies including a variety of mediums.

I move through the group asking questions and sharing thoughts. I want to know the what and why.  A personal story surfaces for each work created.

Amy, who had no plans to draw, picked up one of the medical models and completes a beautiful pelvis. It’s my favorite bone, she says.

She’d shared something with me earlier in the day. Amy! I call out, Tell everyone why you didn’t like your anatomy class. She waves a hand back and forth saying, Because the body is messy!

Today, in the studio, as I work a new drawing – a life-size human study –  I cannot help but think about Amy’s words. #BiologicalSystemsAreMessy

Thank you Amy, for the invite and for the great adventure. Thanks for sharing your world with me.
Thank you to all of you who brought your full selves to the drawing table, made art and shared story.
Thank you to Marianna and the Tucson Art Museum, for all the cool art supplies.
A special thanks to the College of Medicine and the Medical Humanities Program and everyone who made this experience possible.

#NothingInStasis #YouGottaHaveArt #OutsiderInsiderWithNewEyes

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©2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

a lesson in art making with med students

Arriving to the University of Arizona, College of Medicine in downtown Phoenix, I recall Gillian, who was in last year’s workshop. She’d described first-year, medical school experience to be like drinking out of a fire-hose. Her words are with me as people begin filing into the classroom.

It’s the noon hour and some students arrive with lunch in hand. Others stand in the classroom as it is being set up for art-making. They’re still considering whether they might stay and make art or use the time to study. Several let me know they plan to draw but will be leaving early because they have a class. I welcome all of them to come in for as long as they can manage.

Medical models available for art class.

I’ve been coming in to work with first-year med students since 2017. They are completing their first semester as well as preparing to host their annual Celebration of Appreciation. The evening honors the individuals who have donated their bodies to the anatomy lab. I work with students to create a work of art that will hold an experience and honor their donor. I like working with this group. I enjoy coming to know the unique way each and every one of them  experiences their anatomy class and their donor.

I feel like I stand at two ends; I teach the workshop and I learn. #AboutBeingHuman

I make my way to a table where one person ↓ paints the small intestine. I’m curious about the color. Why yellow? She tells me about her donor’s small intestine and describes how bright and floral-like they appeared. The female sitting next to her explains they shared the same donor. She carefully draws the bottom of the brain. She also tells me everything was bright. They both decide the color and form they experienced with this particular person probably had to do with her age. She was young, they inform me. I respond with more questions. What does this mean? What is young?  She was 66 years old.

Somehow we begin discussing the blood-brain barrier. The male at the table says he’d thought it a separate layer or membrane enclosing the brain. Meanwhile, he stands up and uses his hands to imply the curve of the head, the outer edge of the brain. I’m surprised. Do you mean it’s not!? He tells me, in no uncertain terms, it is not a separate membrane, the blood brain barrier is a ‘property’ of the blood vessels! My minds quickly formulates a picture of endothelial cells lining the inside of the brain’s blood vessels. He repeats himself, both times emphasizing the word property.

I move to another table where everyone is working bold compositions that include bright line, both contour and texture, on black paper. One student has a set of medical lung models in front of her ↑.  She describes the experience with her particular donor. The cancer was in different areas of the body including in the lungs. It is the latter that had the strongest impact and now directs her drawing.

Another student ↑ introduces me to the filum terminale. I can tell by how he has laid marks down, that he is working an area at the base of the spine. I sense his excitement as he shares first noting the fibrous tissue.

At another table someone paints ↓ an (beautiful) eyeball on stretched canvas. She was quick to start and I’m impressed at how she’s pulled it all together in such a short amount of time. We discuss mixing a few colors and laying in different quality of lines.

Next to her another student ↓ focuses on the Circle of Willis. She’s decided that it resembles an alien. I agreed after looking at her drawing.

I make my way back to the first group and to the student who’d informed me about the blood-brain barrier. He’d completed several fine hand studies ↓ using graphite. He shares his very real and very human reaction to his donor’s hands.
At the end of the afternoon, I can’t help but consider the ways we can be confronted by our humanness. Certainly, studying human anatomy is a unique way to learn about another. It’s also a very unique way to learn about one’s self. #ArtMakingDoesThisToo

Practical Teacher by Robin H Melillo

Thanks everyone, for showing up, and sharing your experience. #artmaking
Thanks Cindi, for inviting me to come back. #artinemedicine

I catch Cindi (Director of Art in Medicine) photographing a student and her completed drawing.

#CeremonyOfAppreciation #ProgramOfArtInMedicine #UniversityofArizona #ArtAndAnatomyWorkshop #GottaHaveArt

no woman is an island

It’s October, when I open this email from Ms. Porter:

I am the art director for the Hastings Center Report, the leading academic journal in the field of bioethics.
Our journal uses fine artwork to illustrate important articles about ethics in the fields of medicine and biotechnology.

Her introduction is followed by a long list of the wonderful contemporary artists whose work has appeared in the journal.

I am writing to request permission to reproduce your collage Fly (detail), as is shown on the “Today I Am a Fly” page of your website. I would like to use the work on the cover of a special report “Gene Editing in the Wild: Shaping Decisions through Broad Public Deliberation,” which will accompany the November-December 2021 issue of the Hastings Center Report.

This report examines the ethical challenges of so-called “gene drives.” These are scientific interventions that would alter the biology of certain pests, such as mosquitoes and other insects, to drastically reduce their populations in areas where they are harmful to people and the food supply. Are such human interventions ethical, and how much say should the people in these areas have about whether they should take place? What is the best way to accurately inform the public about the positive and negative effects of such interventions?

Ms. Porter informs me, distribution is worldwide.#TodayIAmAFLYWorldwide

A sincere thank you to the Hastings Center, for including my work on the cover of this fine publication.

I spend time with the journal and I pull this quote from an essay titled Giving Voice to the Voiceless in Environmental Gene Editing, on page S66.

If the river could talk, it would say to us, “Let me flow; let me splash; let me do what I should do. This is my blood; this is flowing through my veins. I’m part of an entire environment, and I have a part to play in that.”
—JoAnn Cook, former Grand Traverse Band Tribal Council member¹

To read the special report →  Wiley Online Library

If you want to know more about the organization or order of a hard copy of this or other Hastings Center Report specials reports → The Hastings Center.

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The blog posts titled No Woman is an Island acknowledge the people and/or organizations who support me and the work I do.

©2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

a practice of art-making…with the medical students

Cynthia Standley, Director of Art in Medicine, reaches out to see if I am interested in facilitating another Art and Anatomy Workshop for first-year students at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine.

I am. Yes!

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Day 1: Thursday
I arrive to a classroom that includes a variety of art supplies (traditional and non-traditional) as well as a selection of medical models available for reference. Medical students enter the classroom and I can feel their excitement.

I introduce myself and speak about the general purpose of the workshop. Many students are here to make an artwork for their Ceremony of Appreciation, in honor of their willed body donors. Others are here only because they want to make art. Everyone is welcome.

Supplies have been chosen and almost immediately, I see some students begin to put something down on drawing paper. They’ve arrived, eager and prepared.

We have a thoughtful, creative and fun-filled afternoon. Below, I share process shots as well as completed artworks.

Composition ncludes some donor history.

There’s a little fashion mixing it up with the optic chiasm.

The bronchial tree.

I move from student to student, discussing each composition, including materials, form and content. I get a good sense of their ideas as well as their observation skills. I also appreciate and enjoy their imagination. 

Day 1 comes to an end with a photo of a few of the participants and their art.

Day2: Friday
On this second day, a larger group arrives. I’m please to see some students from the day before.

The workshop begins with introductions, followed by another afternoon of art-making.

In each eye is a galaxy…

I see a labyrinth…

Title: Whole

See the figures? Or do you hear them?

 

Happy Digestive System

Carefully representing areas of the brain.

Wonderful work is completed!

I hope each of you had fun and learned something that you didn’t know before.

Here is what I learned:
Tea bags (of all shapes) can be used as a collage element! #VeryCool
I now know, the smallest bone in the body is called the stapes. It was pointed out to me by a student and discussed with the group at the table. #HelpingMeToRemember
I better understand how students learn from their body donor. I got a sense of the subtle way in which human connection is formed. #Honor

Thanks to everyone who participated. Thank you Cindi, for inviting me back.
My best to each of you.
#Appreciation #Creativity #Observation #Fun #ArtAndMedicine

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©2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

a concoction of small life

organizing pathogens

In the studio, I think about how to group this series of small works. Arranging and rearranging, until maybe, I am satisfied. 

Eventually I pull out all (all!) of my under the microscope studies from the last year and recall a conversation with Tapoka.

Me: I can’t call a whipworm a microbe, can I?
Tapoka: I think it is a microorganism as it is small but it has many cells. I believe microbes are usually single celled like a bacteria would be.

According to my handy-dandy Medical Meanings, second edition glossary:

Micro– is a combining form, usually used as a prefix, that is a near borrowing of the Greek mikros, “small, petty, trivial”.
And…
Microbe– is a concoction of micro- + the Greek bios, “life”, proposed in the late 19th century to designate any minute, living organism; useful as a generic term for the gamut from viruses to protozoa.

Based on everything I’ve learned and considering the last year we’ve had, I have no appreciation for the meaning of mikros including words like petty or trivial. 

I tack all my work up. It appears I have a concoction of small life on the studio wall.

I know human body as ecosystem with diverse population living within. Some of those organisms cooperate, others (most?) compete with each other and with host. Microbes manipulate. Survival…
#cooperation #competition #life #NothingInStasis 

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FYI: UPPERCASE (50th edition) published a few of my pathogens. Magazine out in July!
Click on image to see expanded version.

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©2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

schistosoma mansoni and its intermediate host, a snail

Five months have passed since I last focused on the Public Engagement series with Maria Duque, at Sanger Institute. The focus: parasites and Neglected Tropic Diseases (NTD’s).

I meet a new scientist (#5 out of 6) who introduces me (and you) to yet another malicious actor/parasite and its destruction/disease.

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When I first connect with Dr. Sarah Buddenborg, it’s November and she is at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, in the UK. We finally meet via zoom, on a Monday afternoon, this last May. She’s in transition mode, having returned to the US, to begin a new position a week from the day we speak.

Upon introductions, I learn she’d received a PhD in Biology, at the University of New Mexico. I tell her I received my MFA at New Mexico State University. We both agree the NM desert is great landscape. 

Side note: During this pandemic, when the lab Sarah works in, shuts down, she works tracking Covid-19 cases. Curious, I ask a few questions, and then I force myself to stay focused on the blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni. (We’ll talk Covid sequencing another time!).

Sarah works on the parasite, S mansoni.

“It’s truly an incredible worm, she says, with separate male and female adult worms that fit together like a hot dog inside a hot dog bun! …I’ve worked with S. mansoni for over 12 years now, only recently switching from looking at the snail host stages to the sexual development and sexual differentiation of males and females.”

I confess, from the various parasites on the list, I choose this one because its intermediate host is a snail. I imagine a coiled worm and a spiraled snail could make for engaging, line compositions. 

Schistosoma mansoni (shisto = split and soma = body).

 

I spend an afternoon sketching these ↑  adult parasitic worms only to get a sense of their fascinating architecture.

-The male (with suckers, oral and ventral) has a gynaecophoric canal (gunaiko = female and  phoros = bearing). This ventral groove is where the female fits. (See her ↑ in there!)
-They mate for life. (Though rumor has it the female can wander to a new mate.) 
-They are big enough to see with the naked eye.
-They live inside the portal vein of their human host. (Eek! Is this right?!)
-They lay about 300 eggs a day. (Which land in host’s liver…ugh!)
-They travel against gravity, in this case, against the flow of blood. 
-These worms wreak some havoc.

I set up the snail and detail in some of its anatomy.

 

Keep in mind, I choose this parasite because I want to draw a snail. As I begin to understand the poor creature is the intermediate host, I don’t want to add eggs or larval stages to the composition. I want to leave this ↑ snail the whole and complete focal point. #safe #sound

Here is how this stage of the worm’s life cycle plays out:
Eggs are excreted into freshwater ↓ via urine or feces, from an infected human.
Question: Can eggs be seen with the naked eye?

Eggs hatch releasing free-swimming, ciliated (note hair-like ↑ edge) miracidia (from the Greek meaning youth) into surrounding water. The miracidia burrow into (Sarah uses the phrase “takes over“) tissue of a freshwater snail, specifically Biomphalaria glabrata.
Questions: Does the snail suffer? How long is the snail able to survive such a hijacking of its body?

Inside of the snail, miracidia lose their cilia, developing into mother sporocysts through asexual reproduction, eventually emerging are daughter sporocysts, further morphing into the fork tailed cercaria phase. #Shapeshifter

Sarah’s photo background influences my composition.

Sarah shows me this one ↑ photo as she emphasizing tens of thousands of cercaria are released by the snail and will eventually borrow (penetrate) into a human host.

Interesting note: temperature, light and chemistry play important roles in how this bug navigates.

Sarah explains how the parasite enters the definitive host (human), and how worms maneuver through that system, where they end up, and how the whole cycle gets repeated. She also talks genomics and sequencing and assembling sex chromosomes, showing me a karyotype and quickly running through a few details about the female and male. 

I ask Sarah what draws her to this kind of work. She notes the travel and the field work in the small villages where transmission is highest and how this has allowed her to witness the suffering. She knows the impact of her work. 

Thank you Sarah!
And welcome back to the US. 

TBC…

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©2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

plasmodium stages and cycles or is it cycles and stages

Last week I explain the malaria parasite’s life cycle involves two hosts and includes two cycles with various stages.

Recap: the first cycle includes a pregnant mosquito of the genus Anopheles passing sporozoites (through it’s saliva) into an (in this case) human host.

Question: I don’t clearly understand what comes first, the infectious mosquito or the diseased human the mosquito bites?

One malaria life cycle includes parasite maturing in human liver cells and in red blood cells.

In a human, the plasmodium parasite, in the form of sporozoites, enters blood vessels, making their way to the liver and multiply in hepatocytes (liver cells), eventually bursting the cell ↓, to exit as merozoites.

Parasites stages of transmission in liver cells.

Enter merozoites ↓ into red blood cells where parasite continues to develop in stages↓.

↑
1 Red blood cell (RBC)
2 Ring Stage
3 Trophozoite Stage – Greek, Trophē, food or nourishment and zōon, animal.
4 Schizont Stage – G, schizoto, split or cleave + ōn (ont-), a being.
5 Merozoite – G. mēros, share + zōon, animal.
(note: ↑ the RBC bursts releasing more merozoites in the bloodstream and infect more red blood cells)
6 Gametocytes (Sexual development) G. gametēs, husband or gametē, wife + kytos, cell (some merozoites develop into gametocytes (sexual form of parasite).

Meanwhile, a new mosquito arrives to feed upon the infected host, and while enjoying a blood meal, ingests gametocytes. In the stomach of this mosquito, microgametes (male) penetrate macrogametes (female) producing a zygote.
And the sporogonic cycle continues.

Come on…what a process and aren’t these great words! There’s more! ↓

1 Gametes – Greek  gametēs, husband; gametē, wife
   and Zygote G. zygōtos, yoked
2 Ookinete (midgut) – G. ōon – egg + kinētos, motile. 
3 Oocyst (grows and bursts) G. ōon – egg + kystis, sac.
4 Sporozoite (released in mosquitos salivary glands) G. sporo,– the sewing of a seed + zōon, animal.

Eventually the mosquito makes its way to another human host only to perpetuate the malaria cycle.

Malaria comes from the Italian mal aria which translates to bad air. It was thought that malaria was caused by noxious air coming from the marshlands. Something was coming out of those marshlands but it was not the air that caused malaria, it was a mobile bug, inside the mosquitoes, that laid their eggs in the wetlands.

I am intimidated at the start of this particular study. With Alejandro’s help, I figure things out. Once I get going, the cycle unravels as I move from one stage to the next…etc.

I feel a sense of respect for this parasite. I only nick the information but feel like I could do a whole detailed series of large works on this one bug alone – there is so much more wonder to it. #cyclesandstages #stageandcycles
#NothingInStasis
___________

I ask Alejandro for one more bit of information to share with me.
Monica, to be honest, I have been working on Plasmodium for over 10 years and I still find myself discovering new things about it that fascinate me.
Mmmm…What about: this parasite has been affecting humans for so long and so strongly, that it’s considered the most powerful force for recent selection of human genetic variations. Meaning that people with variations in their DNA that confer resistance to this disease are selected, even if that has some side-effects (like sickle-cell or alpha-talassemia).

Otra ves, gracias Alejandro!

more → Alejandro Marin Menéndez 

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

an anopheles mosquito and the unicellular organism it transfers

Alejandro Marin Mendez is enthusiastic as he introduces himself to me and tells me about his work as a scientist.

Thinking he lives in Spain, he corrects me and explains he was born in Spain and currently lives in France. He mentions other places he’s lived as well as languages he’s learned. This is the life of a scientist, he happily notes.

We discuss Covid-19 restrictions and then go to the topic of Malaria.

He begins, I focus my research on the malaria parasite, which is called Plasmodium and it is unicellular.

There are 5 species of Plasmodium that affect humans: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale and P. knowlesi. It’s a vector-borne disease which means that it’s transmitted by mosquitoes (of the genus Anopheles).

According to the World Health Organization there are over 220 million cases of malaria infections reported in the world (mainly in the Southern hemisphere) and causes a 400,000 death toll per year, most of them being children under 5 years old infected with P. falciparum. Basically, it’s a massive health burden across the globe, especially affecting children in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The parasite needs to invade the RBC’s (red blood cells) as part of its life cycle. In the process of invading and egressing in and out of RBCs in a cycle that lasts between 24 and 72 hours, depending on the species, is when affected people develop all the symptoms (fever, anemia, headaches, muscular pain and in severe cases cerebral comma and death). Within the human body it mostly reproduces asexually, while later in the cycle it produces gametocytes that will commence sexual reproduction (2 cells give 1 cell) within the mosquito. I find that bit fascinating, that an unicellular organism has asexual and sexual reproduction across it’s life cycle!

My brain finds it hard to keep up….unicellular, P. falciparum, vector borne, RBC cycles…
I quick-note (aka doodle quickly) with stuff laying on my desk.

female Anopheles mosquito

My take:
An infected (and pregnant) Anopheles mosquito (vector) bites (sucks nutritious blood for maturation of its eggs) a human (host), injecting the malaria parasite (via its saliva glands) into the bloodstream (in the elongated form of a sporozoite).

The sporozoite (infective agent) enters the liver (hiding from the immune system) and multiplies (asexually) within liver cells (polyhedral hepatocytes). Liver cells eventually burst, sending what are now merozoites (who escape) out into the blood stream.

Did I get this right? Correct me if I didn’t.
Some merozoites (rounder form of the parasite) enter (bind to the surface) erythrocyte (aka, blood cell), where cycle continues in further complex stages: Ring stage, Trophozoite stage, Schizont stage (mature sporozoites)…while other merozoites develop into gametocytes.

Whew…there’s more but I’ll leave it for another day…

work in progress

Early in the zoom call, Alejandro referred to the parasite as a serial killer.

The last thing I ask: Do/does the parasite, in its various stages, communicate with each other?  I paraphrase here ↓ (cuz I found it complicated).
He explains, the parasite is basically a single-celled organism. (This doesn’t answer my question.) He says, we can talk philosophically or perhaps spiritually, and perhaps we might consider it communicates. Perhaps. And then he goes into the molecular and hypotheses…

…serial killer…silently creeping…plasmodium falciparum…

mosquito goes dark. work in progress.

Muchas Gracias Alejandro. Me gustó hablar contigo!
_________________

Alejandro Marin Mendez is a scientist and an avid bicyclist. He’s combined the two things he loves into a Public Engagement initiative where he brings cutting edge science to Secondary Schools and the general public, around the world.
For more  → scicling.org.

#circles #cycles

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

aspergillus hyphae

Hyphae (plural) are the branching filaments that make up the structure of a fungus.

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Friday, I have questions for scientist, Ana Alastruey-Izquierdo. Saturday, she has answers for me.

Sunday morning, out for a run, I wonder how to approach a second study of aspergillus. Looking around, I know the fungus is all around me. I come across a dead tree and have the idea to gather twigs for drawing texture and interesting mark-making.

Drawing implement or Aspergillus/Fugus carrier?

Though I don’t want to simplify Ana’s work, I do want to get a general sense of the bug.

Where in the body does aspergillus end up? (I think breathing pathways…nose, lungs. How about the liver?) How and what sort of damage does it cause? On a scale from 1-10  how bad/problematic to a person – is this fungus? (I hope she doesn’t cringe at the latter.)

It can go almost anywhere, Ana explains. We daily breath thousands of Aspergillus spores. It is in our lungs. People with a healthy inmune system usually clear it up and it does not go further. There are some persons in which an allergic response is developed and this causes allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA).

The other important group are people that have problems with the immune system (cancer, transplants, HIV, people under corticosteroids, diabetic…etc). In these patients Aspergillus enters into the lungs and if it is not cleared by their immune system it further develops infections and can lead to invasive aspergilosis that if not treated has 100% mortality. Mainly Aspergillus causes respiratory infections but as I said, it can diseminate in people with impaired immune systems.

Ana continues… How bad/problematic for a person with Aspergillus depends on the immune system. Mortality is arround 40% but can reach 80% if we are dealing with strains that are resistant to antifungals. 

The problem with antifungal resistance is that it is not frequently screened. There aren’t many commercially available methods to test for it.  Often it is only performed in developed countries and sometimes restricted to reference or very specialized labs.

And regarding the rate from 1 to 10, if you are immunosuppressed or have an underlying disease it can be very problematic, like an 8 or 9. People that are at high risk for developing invasive fungal infections, like hematological patients, receive antifungal prophylaxis by default. But if you are healthy, no problem.

I work and consider her words and the value of this education.

textured substrate

work in progress

Aspergillus Hyphae, Mixed media on wood, 8″ round

Please feel free to leave questions and/or comments.

More about the work of → Ana Alastruey Izquierdo

#artistmeetsscientist #artmeetsscience #publicengagement

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One of the best parts of this particular Public Engagement Project is that I connect with scientists in other parts of the world.

It’s a pleasure to meet you Ana, albeit virtually. Thank you for teaching me about this beautiful but potentially nasty fungus.

Mucho gusto en conocerte Ana!

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

international steam day

Today we celebrate science, technology, engineering, art and math. Good time to announce an art and science project in the planning! #STEAM

I introduced you to scientist (y amiga) Maria, originally from Colombia, now in the UK (Sanger Institute). In 2018, we discuss a public engagement project, originally scheduled for 2019 and includes travel. A glitch brings a pause to things. We reconnect to one more time look at working together (pandemic restrictions nix travel).

The last few weeks we connect on Zoom to talk art, science, microbes, parasites and education (yes, yes…and a little politics).

A new plan is emerging. #process

Maria works to organize a list, including scientists from the US, Belgium, Ireland, Uk, Portugal, Germany, Uruguay, Malawi, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia and Australia. She includes their organism (microbes and parasites) of interest, the disease they cause, and the organs in the human body affected.

I narrow down 5 – 6 scientists from the list. I’m open, Though I naturally gravitate to particular organisms and organ systems. I believe 3-4 have agreed to work with us so far.

General idea (as of now) includes I meet each scientist and with their help (their research material), I create a visual. #WhereArtistAndScientistMeet #Intersection

You’ll get a glimpse into the process. You learn. Perhaps you participate…
Do you have questions? Do you have information? Do you want a create a visual of your own? I don’t know, you tell me. Let’s see…
#SomethingCreative #AnExperiment #Engage #Educate

Phase 1, in the planning. We’re thinking about a name that includes all the characters involved.
…The Artist, the Scientist, the Microbes and Parasites…
#Art #Science #Collaborate

I’ve been reading (thanks for info Robin @ Phoenix College).
Art… it brings a lot to the picture… →Interdisciplinary STEM education reform: dishing out art in a microbiology laboratory.

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

look, see, teach / look, see, learn

The act of drawing remains a fundamental means to translate, document, record and analyse the worlds we inhabit. The role of drawing in education remains critical, and not just to the creative disciplines in art and design for which it is foundational.*

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I am detailing the above work when I receive something in my Canvas inbox from a student taking Anatomy and Physiology 201. I don’t know the sender but clearly she attends the college where I teach drawing in the Fine Arts department, so I don’t hesitate to open the email.

The message is sent to only a few people and includes an image file of a human brain. It appears she needs help identifying particular areas.

Confused to receive the email, I soon realize she’s thinking I can be of help to her. I appreciate understanding this and I also like knowing the one response she did get…is correct.

Someone else sends her an on-line course book. I take the opportunity to look through it. It seems like another world from what I teach. (But is it?)
#Look #See #AndLearn

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I’m thinking…
about next Fall and whether I will return to PC to teach drawing. Right now  I don’t know about a full semester of on-line drawing instruction.
#Observation #HandsOn 

*Why drawing needs to be a curriculum essential by Anita Taylor

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©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

in the beginning…is the line

“Drawing takes time. A line has time in it.”
-David Hockney

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In this first assignment based on inner and outer contour, beginning students draw a complex natural object. Our college campus grounds are full of pinecones. They walk by them most every day. Now, I ask they study one.

They work a number of days on this one drawing. I particularly note the group’s patience and concentration as we move through the process. They arrive on time, grab their pinecone and draw. They appear careful observers from the start.

The first critique of this new year goes well. We talk about the quality of the lines,  general composition and all various challenges it took to compete these striking studies.

Here are a few…

Angelica’s Pinecone

Gisela’s Pinecone

Julyssa’s Pinecone

Aday’s Pinecone

Alex’s First

Luc’s The Pine Cone Maze

Juan’s Pinecone

Janera’s Pinecone

The class includes a group of returning students ↓ who get to pick their subject matter and work in mixed media. Basically they pick up where they left off last semester. Naturally they include various elements of design in their compositions including value, though they need to emphasize line/edge.

And they do a fine job holding the afternoon critique.

Edith’s The Dried Flower

Angel’s Duality : Typo Phobia

Angel’s in-class assignment ↑ is in mixed media drawing while her homework is the same seed pod completed ↓ in marker. Good idea Angel, I could start assigning this set up to future classes.

Angel’s Lotus Pod : Duality, marker

Seb’s Avalanche

Eamon’s Now That’s What I Call Pod Racing

Aine’s Artichoke

Basically students learn to look closely and see their subject matter. I ask they always  consider the lines they use to describe what they see. Most of them (Drawing 1) do this with a variety of fine markers and no eraser.  All the while coordinating eye, hand and brain…process is key.

Good start everyone!

giving and receiving (the art of cooperation and conflict)

Organizing notes and/or…
What I learn (try to figure out and detail) along the way in my study about obesity and the microbiome/gut bacteria …

Newborns, breast milk and HMO’s…

Galactose (molecule) is one of the sugars (a building block for HMO) found in breast milk.

Oligosaccharide from the Greek, oligos, a few, and sácchar, sugar.
Human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) are sugar molecules found only in human breast milk. HMO’s, while indigestible in a newborn, encourage the growth of health promoting bifidobacteria. Think: fertilizer designed for fitness enhancing microbes.

Stuff I find particularly interesting…
Breast feeding promotes a diversity in the microbiome that may set up an individual for protection against future obesity (amongst other things).
Breast milk varies over the period of lactation and the growth of bacteria varies in different populations.

And then there are the short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) …

Butyrate (a most essential SCFA necessary for homeostasis)

SCFA are another product of microbial (friendly gut bacteria) fermentation (of indigestible dietary fibers). This source energy for the cells lining the colon kill pathogens and protects against dysbiosis.

Included in my drawing are the 3 most common examples of SCFA’s which are butyrate↑, propionate↓ and acetate↓↓.

(Yes…fun to draw out  and paint all the ball and stick models.)

Propionate (Greek protos, first and pion, fat) produces glucose in the liver.

 

Acetate (taken up by astrocytes/glial metabolism)

Takeaways…
The right food early in life trains the immune system via the microbiome.
Changes in diet (those SCFA) drive changes in gut microbes. Fiber rich foods (plant based) allow host and microbes to have mutualistic relationship (cooperation).
Microbes harm and/or help us (the host).
Junk food allows for conflict (harm).

…and then there’s hormones…

Insulin (Ribbon diagram) allows the body to use glucose for energy or store for future use.

Ghrelin (ribbon diagram) in the stomach – stimulates appetite and promotes fat storage.

Questions…
Does some food fuel pathogens and promote their growth?
Does some food inhibit or kill pathogens?
Do pathogens play a role in obesity?

#PortraitOfVeronica #GottaHaveArt #ThisStuffIsFrickinComplicated

ps. The title of the post came after a Yoga class the day after the holiday.

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©2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ

speaking of diversity…

I’m still in the GI tract, looking at the microbiome as it relates to obesity.

Energetically, I’m in the solar plexus, the space below the rib-cage and behind the naval. This area governs digestion and metabolism. (Note: I have a very different picture of this nowadays.) Symbolically, it is the center holding our willpower and self-esteem. One of my Yoga teachers refers to it as the city of jewels.

Out of balance, the area can carry either excess energy or an energy deficiency. A balanced solar plexus can wake up ones sense of personal power.

The area holds (for you) a bright yellow light. #Fire

I think about optimal well-being which includes the whole person … physical, mental and social well-being (body, spirit and mind).

Here are a few personal details about my cousin …

Veronica has 3 children. They hold space in the composition ↑ as sperm meets egg (3x). Her children are adults (she’s a grandmother).

The day I photograph her, I note long fingernails and dark purple nail-polish. This last week I give the study a manicure and pedicure.

Veronica has numerous tattoos. Three flowers ( 2 blue and 1 🌸) are added to the top, left foot (our right, her left).  FYI…the immune system keeps those tats in place!

Puncture the skin and immune cells kick in. Macrophages (remember the big eater) work to gobble up invaders, in this case, the ink particles. Yes, they hold the color in place! Should the dermal macrophages be destroyed, new ones step in and continue holding that ink. The purple floating shapes ↑ to either side of the flowers – represent this (cool) hand-over system.

For years I’d not seen the small pastel of Veronica as an infant. It was on the wall during our photo shoot. I include a portrait of the portrait ↑ in the drawing as I consider a newborn’s microbiota.

Do you know breast fed babies have a more diverse microbiome while formula fed babies have a less diverse microbiome? Human milk oligosaccharide (HMO) is particularly interesting. The energy rich substrate, individual to each mother, varies throughout the period of lactation. Infants can’t absorb HMO… but microbes can.

I don’t clearly understand until now, how a high-diversity of microbes might lead to better health conditions for an individual. I mostly focus on who we are feeding – the good microbes and/or the bad microbes. And while this does play into things, so does supporting a well diverse population of microbes. With diversity, perhaps no one microbe can cause a problem (reduction in pathogenic infection).

And speaking of diversity…

Each time I’ve spoken to Veronica, she brings up the word diversity. She’s indicates in one way or another, the importance of inclusion and the recognition of a variety of individuals in terms of personal and work environments, organizations…etc. There is so much more to this idea, she says, so much more….

Veronica will be finishing up school very soon and probably a new career adventure to follow soon after.

I’ve completed 11 life-size humans – diverse in so many ways. When I am done with this one – it will be #12!Thanks for trusting me to bring your uniqueness into the mix Veronica.

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Some thoughts…
This work in particular is valuable to me because right now I look at obesity (and the microbiome) through the lens of Evolution Medicine. I am particularly drawn to the idea of adaptation and how the concept applies to health and wellness.  Though always aware, I am even more clear on how everything we do has a cost and/or trade-off.  I’m more inclined to consider how this applies specifically to the care of the human body and the individual.

My understanding of the microbiome feels like I’m working a complicated puzzle. Things come together one piece at a time. At this point, I almost feel like I could go back to each drawing and add a microbial element.

What the body holds is incredible…I understand  more and more one human study at a time.

#GottaHaveArt

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©2019 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MONICA AISSA MARTINEZ