Effects of Genital Herpes and those who study it

Quality of life issues:
Upon diagnosis of genital herpes, people can experience a number of negative feelings related to the condition. One study surveyed people about their first episode of genital herpes. Findings showed proportions of people who experienced:

depression 82%
fear of rejection 75%
feeling of isolation 69%
fear of being found out 55%
self-destructive feelings 28%
All of these proportions reduced over time.

The impact of genital herpes included:
partial or complete cessation of sexual activity
total or partial loss of interest in sex
decreased sexual pleasure
sex life more inhibited and less spontaneous
anxiety related to sexual desirability
increased masturbation
increased depression

In order to improve the well-being of people with herpes, a number of support groups exist, both physically and with a presence on the Internet.

a joke

I've heard this before, but I still like it:

“Doctor, doctor, please kiss me,” said the patient.

“No, I’m sorry. It would be against the code of ethics,” replied the doctor.

Ten minutes later the patient said “Doctor, please. Kiss me just once.”

“No, I’m sorry. It would be inappropriate, “ he said.

Five minutes later, she asked again, “Please, please kiss me!”

Look,” said the doctor, “it’s out of the question. In fact, I probably shouldn’t even be fucking you.”

American Graffiti

This morning, my uptown 6 train pulled into the 68th street stop and I saw a middle-aged man in an MTA orange vest and blue pants, his back towards the train. He was calmly writing with a sharpie on a poster advertisement for a TV show. At first I assumed that he was cleaning it up somehow, but he had just finished writing "rid us of this tyrant, bush". If he has the time to write graffiti in train stations, who knows what the train operators are doing instead of their job.

Plaque Forming Units

I took this cool picture of a plaque assay, which is when cultured cells are infected by virus to determine the virus' concentration. The virus is diluted in series and duplicate wells are infected. The discernable plaques that are visible by immuno-staining arise from cell to cell spread of virus. These plaques can be counted and the concentration is established as plaque forming units per ml (pfu/ml).

$2,500 for twenty black mice

Will,

I noticed that my special order came in from the Jackson Lab yesterday. I just wanted to be sure to email you and remind you to tell your staff that extra special care should be taken when handling these mice. They are a VERY expensive and hard to come by knock-out strain. They are also likely to be immune-compromised, so they should be changed last in that room, etc.

THANK YOU so much.


Jamie

PS The carbon dioxide tank in the biohazard facility is empty

Red Light Winter, see it NOW

This off-broadway show is very engaging, partly because of the intelligent dialogue and partly because of the well-acted sex scenes. To be honest, there was a little too much weenie shown for a venue as small as The Barrow Street Theatre. As an added bonus, the protagonist Matt (played by Christopher Denham) borrowed his hair and beard from Will H. circa February, 2006.

This is a must see for anyone who has been to Amsterdam.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/theater/reviews/10red.html?pagewanted=print

The play closes on June 25th, so go get those 20 dollar student tix.

new Galen twins

my father found our replacements while travelling in Japan:

The city of cuzinly love

So I survived my talk at UPenn and then met up with cousin Andrew for dinner at his house. His girlfriend Mara writes for the food section of a Philadelphia paper. She was grilling aligator tail, rabbit legs, and ostrich. I asked the professional photographer on the shoot to spare a few frames for a portrait.

of mice and women

If only ordering a bride were this easy:

From: Ken
Date: Jun 2, 2006 9:33 AM
Subject: RE: Jax#1603509
To: Benjamin Galen

Good morning Dr. Galen.

The colonist is just waiting to get a couple more females out of her colony and should have the order ready in 2-3 weeks.
I hope this information helps.

Best regards,
Ken


Ken
Customer Service Representative
The Jackson Laboratorywww.jax.org
Phone - 1-800-422-MICE (6423)
Fax - 207-288-6150

Union Square Studio

This is where I was tonight, according to Wikipedia

"The Studio
Famed for its groundbreaking parties, the Factory was the hip hangout for artsy types, amphetamine users, and the Warhol superstars. This is where Warhol would make his silkscreens and lithographs. In 1968, Andy moved the Factory to the sixth floor of 33 Union Square West, near Max's Kansas City."

Tuesday's Symposium

Last, but not least:

6th Annual Herpesvirus Symposium

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

BRB II/III Auditorium - Lobby


4:30 - 4:45 PM Benjamin Galen, graduate student, P.I. Betsy Herold – Mount Sinai School of Medicine
“Polarity of HSV invasion is linked to accessibility of nectin co-receptors”

4:45 PM Reception (registrants only)

poverty sucks

my brother flew a private plane to seattle. Just a little jealous.