What is making you happy right now

[Flixy]

My declarations were turned down... Because my boss said I have to ask for more

And I have a job interview for something new this afternoon which would increase my salary with about €600 per month, so fingers crossed! First conversation went well and this is I think the final round.

[wiggin]

Marathon Monday in Boston is pretty damn awesome.

[earthJoker]

Just found out that Marathon Monday and Sechseläuten is on the same day (3s Monday of April)



Used to be a holiday when I worked in the city.

[RandBlade]

Twitter Link

[Ominous Gamer]

Turns out the ignorant asshole who ESPN fired for wading into the transgender debate on twitter was none other than Curt Schilling, the same asshole who drove 38 Studios into the ground and tried to bring Rhode Island with it.

[Flixy]

Had my last day at working for a vacation house rental service, tuesday I'm signing a contract at a company that makes a new type of artificial heart valves (and starts in human testing around this time). Quite a big change

Oh, but first, this weekend:

https://www.facebook.com/groezrock/v...4687009783765/

It's going to be cold on the campsite though

[wiggin]

Had my last day at working for a vacation house rental service, tuesday I'm signing a contract at a company that makes a new type of artificial heart valves (and starts in human testing around this time). Quite a big change

Which company? Is it Xeltis? My lab works a lot on implantable cardiovascular devices. Good luck! (Though, full disclosure: I'm not yet sold on the wisdom of resorbable valves/stents/etc.)

[Flixy]

Yep, that's the one! It sounds good as an idea, but I know literally nothing yet about how well it actually performs. Never worked in a cleanroom before either, suiting up was definitely a hassle the first time

[wiggin]

Cool! Are you in manufacturing, then, or R&D or what? Just guessing since you're in a cleanroom. (And GMP rules suck, as you will undoubtedly discover.)

I obviously don't know their technology with any level of detail (they're using some sort of electrospun scaffolds?), but I think there are real issues with the basic idea of bioresorbable CV devices. The mechanical environment is really critical for these devices, and bioresorbable scaffolds often have real issues getting the right elasticity/modulus in physiological loading regimes. This becomes a bigger issue as materials degrade (whose rate may be modified by the individual patient's disease state) and weaken. In theory it should be possible to repopulate and remodel the scaffolds at just the right rate to forestall these issues, but I question whether the technology exists to do that yet. There are also concerns re: cell organization and tissue deposition in vivo - you may get abnormal compliance developing if the valve doesn't grow perfectly after implantation, which can result in all sorts of serious flow problems (regurgitation, coarctation, etc.). Finally, blood-contacting materials are very susceptible to problems, and making something that will encourage cell infiltration and remodeling but won't cause, say, calcification, is a real challenge.

It's possible that Xeltis has solved these issues, which would be totally awesome. But most of the work I've seen on bioresorbable CV implants has been long on promise and short on results. I hope this is different!

[Flixy]

Cool! Are you in manufacturing, then, or R&D or what? Just guessing since you're in a cleanroom. (And GMP rules suck, as you will undoubtedly discover.)

I obviously don't know their technology with any level of detail (they're using some sort of electrospun scaffolds?), but I think there are real issues with the basic idea of bioresorbable CV devices. The mechanical environment is really critical for these devices, and bioresorbable scaffolds often have real issues getting the right elasticity/modulus in physiological loading regimes. This becomes a bigger issue as materials degrade (whose rate may be modified by the individual patient's disease state) and weaken. In theory it should be possible to repopulate and remodel the scaffolds at just the right rate to forestall these issues, but I question whether the technology exists to do that yet. There are also concerns re: cell organization and tissue deposition in vivo - you may get abnormal compliance developing if the valve doesn't grow perfectly after implantation, which can result in all sorts of serious flow problems (regurgitation, coarctation, etc.). Finally, blood-contacting materials are very susceptible to problems, and making something that will encourage cell infiltration and remodeling but won't cause, say, calcification, is a real challenge.

It's possible that Xeltis has solved these issues, which would be totally awesome. But most of the work I've seen on bioresorbable CV implants has been long on promise and short on results. I hope this is different!

Manufacturing, and yes, electrospun scaffolds. That's right now also about the extent of my knowledge so I don't know if they solved these issues (and am not a biologist so I don't know much about those either ). I do know they've put the material in sick children already, so considering they are now doing a more advanced test, I'm assuming it didn't go catastrophic


Groezrock was amazing, though freezing cold (especially at night on the campsite). I'll see if I can find some proper pictures/videos later

[Flixy]

Two weeks into my one month probation period at the new job, and I've been asked to assume an extra (long term) responsibility, so I'm guessing passing the probation won't be a problem I'm also already getting used to the cleanroom dressing and starting to become anal about cleaning everything in there Just the gloves are still a bitch, I can only seem to get them on properly about half the time.

Cool! Are you in manufacturing, then, or R&D or what? Just guessing since you're in a cleanroom. (And GMP rules suck, as you will undoubtedly discover.)

I obviously don't know their technology with any level of detail (they're using some sort of electrospun scaffolds?), but I think there are real issues with the basic idea of bioresorbable CV devices. The mechanical environment is really critical for these devices, and bioresorbable scaffolds often have real issues getting the right elasticity/modulus in physiological loading regimes. This becomes a bigger issue as materials degrade (whose rate may be modified by the individual patient's disease state) and weaken. In theory it should be possible to repopulate and remodel the scaffolds at just the right rate to forestall these issues, but I question whether the technology exists to do that yet. There are also concerns re: cell organization and tissue deposition in vivo - you may get abnormal compliance developing if the valve doesn't grow perfectly after implantation, which can result in all sorts of serious flow problems (regurgitation, coarctation, etc.). Finally, blood-contacting materials are very susceptible to problems, and making something that will encourage cell infiltration and remodeling but won't cause, say, calcification, is a real challenge.

It's possible that Xeltis has solved these issues, which would be totally awesome. But most of the work I've seen on bioresorbable CV implants has been long on promise and short on results. I hope this is different!

You might find this interesting

http://www.xeltis.com/wp-content/upl...t-AATS-EN1.pdf

Though it's not that clear on the side effects But basically the material has been in humans for about two years now and the patients are apparently fine. Though those were not actual valves, which is of course different.

[wiggin]

Two weeks into my one month probation period at the new job, and I've been asked to assume an extra (long term) responsibility, so I'm guessing passing the probation won't be a problem I'm also already getting used to the cleanroom dressing and starting to become anal about cleaning everything in there Just the gloves are still a bitch, I can only seem to get them on properly about half the time.


You might find this interesting

http://www.xeltis.com/wp-content/upl...t-AATS-EN1.pdf

Though it's not that clear on the side effects But basically the material has been in humans for about two years now and the patients are apparently fine. Though those were not actual valves, which is of course different.

Happy to hear the job is going well. It's hard to glean any useful scientific or clinical information from the press release, but certainly I hope it will work in a valve! That would be awesome. Good luck.

[Aimless]

Congrats Flixy! If they offer to upgrade your heart-valves think v carefully before accepting

For my part, I think I've finally found a "good" life-insurance, courtesy of the oldest life-insurance company in Sweden (and possibly the world?). I've become a bit of a worrywart in my old age but this is also a bit overdue and I'd like to make sure my mother is financially secure for a while if anything were to happen.

[Aimless]

https://plus.google.com/u/0/10367439...ts/1aeEKJiqdeF

Happy but TERRIFIED

[Loki]

Late April Fools? I hope it's better than that genius pilot.

[Wraith]

Late April Fools? I hope it's better than that genius pilot.

That was an ashcan copy. It was only made to hold onto the rights. It was never meant to be good, just fast & cheap. IIRC, the whole thing was filmed in a single day.

[Loki]

Given the sheer incompetence of everyone involved, I'm going to wait for the "major studio" release before becoming optimistic. Hopefully, it's not MTV.

[Aimless]

WOO

taxes done

took several minutes due to having to report expenses in order to get deductions r/t apartment sale and because the tax office's website is being hammered right now I do not envy people who have to spend a ton of time working this stuff out or have to do it on paper.

I heard some of my colleagues moan about the high tax-burden on young doctors the other day. I'm v early in my career and am getting back what amounts to a net median monthly salary in Sweden even though we belong to that privileged group of people who can live well, save money and live relatively free from that constant feeling of financial insecurity. They should be moaning about the govt. getting a low-interest loan or something (because it isn't even interest-free). Young childless doctors in dual-income households Sweden have it cushy. We have working-conditions and contracts that would make overworked junior doctors in other western countries go green with envy. We don't have an income problem, we can count on being able to repay our debts quickly, we don't have an unmanageable tax-burden compared to others in our society. What many people in this group seem to have is a spending problem and a lack of perspective. To some extent the spending problem is influenced by eg. the broken housing market. But to imply even for a second that we're as a group financially burdened is ridiculous.

In more cheerful news my sis signed mum up to audition for a fun play and she got a part as an extra of sorts along with some other people that seem fun. It's been a rough couple of months for her and she hasn't been on stage since her college days so she's v excited. It also looks like if all goes well we might be able to build her a nice house back home in farawayistanabad in a few years and as much as the thought scares me I know that it's gonna be better than if she's forced to stay in Sweden for much longer. This country can suck all the joy out of an immigrant's soul. So fingers crossed

[GGT]

Young childless doctors in dual-income households Sweden have it cushy. We have working-conditions and contracts that would make overworked junior doctors in other western countries go green with envy. We don't have an income problem, we can count on being able to repay our debts quickly, we don't have an unmanageable tax-burden compared to others in our society. What many people in this group seem to have is a spending problem and a lack of perspective. To some extent the spending problem is influenced by eg. the broken housing market. But to imply even for a second that we're as a group financially burdened is ridiculous.

I'm kinda surprised that any medical student/intern/resident in Sweden has complaints! Like you said, other westerners would be green with envy. Not sure the disparity can be attributed to loan burdens and housing costs, since your Swedish peers live in clean, modern apartments with their stipend. They'd be appalled if they saw the US equivalent.

[Aimless]

AND I finally managed to recover a crashed firefox session with an atrociously large number (so large that I'm ashamed to even hint at its size) of important tabs!!!

Goodbye all other crappy useless browsers, until next time.

[wiggin]

I just learned that Stephen Hawking's official title is a professor of Theoretical Cosmology. What makes me happy is that this means that whoever came up with the title thought that there was a chance they'd have to name a professor of Applied Cosmology. I really hope that some day we need that title.

[Flixy]

Psv are champions again! Last match of competition If the party's as good as last year it will be amazing

http://bbc.com/sport/football/36187511

Shame it's the last year with philips as shirt sponsor, end of an era

[Ominous Gamer]

Home buying attempt 1, first offer made...

[Ominous Gamer]

Offer accepted! Now to get past the inspector and appraisal...

[Timbuk2]

Wow! Place looks really good Minous.

Always amazed at how much space you merikans have compared to the little properties we put up with.

Looking at your pic above, place that size would command an asking price of $3m - $4m round where I live.

[wiggin]

Wow! Place looks really good Minous.

Always amazed at how much space you merikans have compared to the little properties we put up with.

Looking at your pic above, place that size would command an asking price of $3m - $4m round where I live.

Really depends on where you are in America. Places with lots of urban sprawl - especially the farther you are from the city center - are quite inexpensive (figure maybe $250k ballpark for a 3-4 BR on a quarter acre?). But in high density/demand areas with strict zoning rules, the sky is the limit. For a fixer upper 3BR with considerably less land, I would probably need well in excess of $1m, and my area isn't even that exclusive.

Blame building restrictions.

[earthJoker]

$4M? That's even expensive for our standards.

[Ominous Gamer]

Its a 4 bedroom 2 bath. Its ADA designed, so its massively open inside. Master bathroom is larger than my sons current bedroom. All new stainless steel appliances. It was a flip from what we can tell, on the market for 2 weeks compared to everything else we were interested in going in a matter of days. Offered $245,000 to their asking price of 248,500 and they accepted within hours. Inspection is Friday and wire transfer will be done tomorrow.

Best part is the voluntary HOA. $35 a year for what amounts to nothing more than a committed neighborhood watch.

[GGT]

Its a 4 bedroom 2 bath. Its ADA designed, so its massively open inside. Master bathroom is larger than my sons current bedroom. All new stainless steel appliances. It was a flip from what we can tell, on the market for 2 weeks compared to everything else we were interested in going in a matter of days. Offered $245,000 to their asking price of 248,500 and they accepted within hours. Inspection is Friday and wire transfer will be done tomorrow.

Best part is the voluntary HOA. $35 a year for what amounts to nothing more than a committed neighborhood watch.

Congrats! I hope it turns out well for you, including the voluntary (?) HOA fees. If it's a flip, hopefully the inspectors can tell if the dry wall and flooring isn't from China, and doesn't pose a health risk to your family. And since you're essentially buying a school district, a police force, and public services that are either below sea level or in a flood plain/hurricane zone.....I hope it ALL works out.

[Ominous Gamer]

Offered $245,000

Appraisal came back at $244,000. Guess the past couple years of watching house flipping shows on HGTV paid off. We put it on our agent to see if she can get the price down those last few bucks.

Mortgage agent told us to find homeowner's insurance. fun times ahead.