C Diff

 Oh, the joys of C. diff.

In case you haven't heard of this, C. diff is short for Clostridium difficile, a group of bacteria that gets into your colon (or may already be there) that is typically outcompeted for resources by all the other bacteria in one's gut.

However, too often, going through a round of "broad-spectrum" antibiotics -- antibiotics that weaken or kill almost all bacteria except C. diff -- removes the competition and allows the bad bugs to multiply and cause major diarrhea, and sometimes can damage the colon. The condition itself is referred to as C. diff.

The Wiffee had a tooth extracted last month, and her dentist put her on a round of clindamycin to prevent an oral infection. (A "prophylactic" use of antibiotics -- never a good idea, in this retired microbiologist's opinion!) And guess what? Now she has C. diff!! Clindamycin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic and, I discovered, is especially notorious for setting a patient up for C. diff.

So -- I've been more of a caretaker than an artist for about 1.5 weeks, and we're both running out of steam. We've been advised to place The Wiffee in an assisted care facility until this is over with -- at my age and condition, it really is more than I can handle, particularly since diarrhea and not eating much has weakened her considerably.

C. diff can be a recurring disease, but we're hoping that won't be the case here. Anyone who wants to pray for us and especially for her -- please! Feel free!

Mark Junge

www.MarkJunge.com or www.SouthwestSpaces.com

Scanning electron micrograph of Clostridium difficile

Learning from Jill

Usually I blog about my artwork, but this time I thought I'd blog about my other passion -- science; specifically, microbiology.

I earned a Master of Science degree at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in California. My graduate advisor was one Dr. Jill Adler-Moore who, sadly, died recently of cancer.

Her celebration of life memorial was this morning, and the comments people made about her got me to thinking about my own life, which was so deeply impacted by Jill.

Dr. Jill Adler-Moore

Jill was an energetic, hard-working positive person who doubled as a cheerleader and friend to many of her students, including me. Her own passion for science and research rubbed off on everyone who worked with her, and I never realized how much of my scientific thinking came from her.

I know I can be quite intense when discussing scientific matters and I ask a lot of questions, something one learns to do in grad school. I'm the stereotypical skeptic when it comes to science topics and especially when it comes to microbiology. Many people who are not scientists don't understand this is how science works, and they easily believe what they hear about topics -- for example, immunology and the Covid-19 vaccines -- from the mass media.

I've learned that most people don't think like scientists. And it's frustrating to try and discuss things with them. But I'm grateful Jill taught me to pursue answers and seek the truth as best as we can perceive it.

Jill also taught me that failure is not necessarily a bad thing, because we're more likely to learn from our failures more than we would from our successes where we may not learn anything new at all.

The labs/jobs I worked at following grad school don't, of course often see it that way. In a way, working in real life was kind of a let-down after working with Jill in grad school.

In short, Jill changed my life! My life is better for having known her and worked with her. We stayed in touch after I finished grad school and often met for lunch when we discussed -- what else? -- scientific advancements.

By the way, Jill pioneered a treatment for systemic fungal infections by incorporating the highly toxic antifungal drug Amphotericin B into microscopic fat bubbles called liposomes. When the drug is packaged this way, it greatly reduces the toxic effects of the drug, a higher dose of the drug can be given and the patient is spared the chemotherapy-like side effects of Amphotericin B. A similar approach is being being developed for anticancer drugs.

Jill was a mentor, teacher and a good friend. As Jill's husband said at the memorial service: "We are all diminished by our loss." I totally agree.

RIP, Jill.

More Microbial Surrealism

I'm slowly but surely adding to my portfolio of surrealism paintings based on things I've seen under various types of microscopes. (Being a microbiologist has its benefits!)

A Quarter Past Tomorrow        20" x 24" / 51cm x 61cm

 A Quarter Past Tomorrow shows the sporulating structures and threadlike hyphae ("hy-phee") of one of the common green bread molds -- Aspergillus glaucus. My intent was not to make a scientific illustration, but to produce a work of fine art in the tradition of French surrealist Yves Tanguy.

Also, surrounding the mold are small golden-yellow spheres. These are the bacteria species, Staphylococcus aureus, the cause of the MRSA infections that becoming increasingly common. I considered making the Staph much bigger, but in the end, I decided to keep things approximately to scale -- and bacteria are much smaller than fungal growth.

The green balls that form the sprays on the ends of the vertical growths are reproductive spores. If you've ever watched mold growing, you'd see it starts out as a white, cottony mass, then it turns fuzzy and green. The spores are what gives mold its color.

Aspergillus species are normally benign unless your immune system is down and you inhale lots of spores (which are all around us). Then it can cause a pretty nasty infection in the lungs and even disseminate to other parts of the body.

That concludes today's microbiology lecture. Enjoy the painting. More to come, possibly with greater liberties taken when I present these mysteriously beautiful organisms.

Finally, I'll be creating a website soon just for the surreal works (with links back and forth to my western landscapes site). The new site isn't created yet, but the URL is www.SurrealMark.com. I'll let you know when it's up and if I'll be offering these paintings online, or if the site will be strictly a portfolio with information on where to acquire the art.


 

TOO-O-O-O Busy!!!

Yikes! It sure got busy lately; sadly, too busy to make art!

First, I started teaching again, for the first time in almost three years, at the local community college. General Microbiology. Most of the students in my class are future nursing school students, which I like: I always get a nice bunch of people.

Class started two weeks ago. But then, ONE week ago, I came down with a (mostly) chest cold. Good grief!! You'd think a microbiologist would be able to avoid getting sick, but not necessarily. I didn't even go out or have contact with people at the time I would have contracted the virus! So I have no idea where I got it.

So, between teaching, preparing for class, grading papers and then being sick (and being just plain tired), I haven't been able to paint much. I hope that changes soon, but it may not until the semester is over -- six more weeks. (Summer Semester uses a compressed schedule, so it isn't as long as a "real" semester otta be).

Meanwhile, I'll keep fighting off this cold, enjoy getting an actual paycheck for awhile, and get back to painting ASAP. Be back soon!

A Cold Virus

A Bunny Named Bunny

Referring to my previous post, I could mention that Bunny #3 (named Bunny), was my favorite. I attended California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (aka Cal Poly Pomona), California, where I received both a Masters and a Bachelors degree in Microbiology (more about all this another time).

One of the classes I took in my undergrad years was Immunology and Serology. Part of the lab work was to inject cute little albino bunnies with stuff (nothing that would make the bunnies sick), then collect blood from them and go through an isolation and purification procedure to get the antibodies the bunnies made against the stuff. When the academic quarter was over, we had a choice of bringing the bunnies home (only catch -- we had to donate some of our own blood for the same class), or leave the bunnies there. If we left them, they ended up in one of the zoology classes' labs where, sadly, they would endure open-heart surgery and then would die. Needless to say, I took my team's bunny home.

Over a period of a few months or so, Bunny had the free run of an enclosed patio. She could hippity-hop around, hide, eat or do whatever she wanted.

The best part was when I called my girlfriend (now my wife). The phone was by a door that led out to the patio. So I'd sit on the doorstep, talking on the phone, often for an hour or more. Bunny would come over, go in betwen my legs and turn around, facing away from me. Then she'd settle down while I petted her until well after the phone call was finished. None of the other bunnies or the guinea pig seemed to appreciate the affection the way Bunny did.

One of Bunny's favorite places to be petted was just a little above her nose. I noticed that when a male and female are together, the male will lick and nibble the female there, and the female seemed to be in bunny heaven when he did.

Bunnies also like being petted and rubbed around the base of the ears. So--if you have a bunny or the next time you're in a bunny's company, consider letting it know how cute you think it is by petting it in those places.