Flesh and Stone - Health and Science News

Some airlines require obese passengers to pay for extra seat. Are fuel surcharges next?

2008-08-19T14:30:00-05:00

Image of Air Asia plane shot by Khairul Onggon CC

With fuel costs an increasing threat to the airline industry, airlines have left no stone unturned in finding ways to discourage or eliminate excess weight on their aircraft. Some have added extra charges for baggage, some have switched to lighter beverage carts, and others to the dismay of some pilots, have reduced the amount of spare fuel they carry on flights.

The combination of high obesity rates and higher fuel costs has some air travel gurus predicting that obese travelers should anticipate having to purchase an extra seat on most airlines sooner rather than later. In fact, some airlines, like JetBlue and Southwest Airlines already require obese passengers to purchase a second seat.A majority (69 percent) of SmarterTravel.com readers who took part in an online survey favor making obese flyers purchase two tickets. Excerpts from the comments for:

"Those of us who can fit in one seat should not have to suffer because obese people cannot. Unless they have some sort of medical condition, they need to buy two seats. I think the airlines have quite a battle ahead with this situation as it seems the amount of obese people continues to grow rapidly."

"Passengers who are forced to sit next to a weight-challenged fellow flyer should be compensated for the inconvenience. If I pay for a seat, I want my full seat. If the person next to me oozes his or her bulk into the space that I have paid for, then I want compensation in proportion to my loss."

and against:

“I think this is discrimination against obese people. It would be the same thing as not letting someone fly because they were black."

"I think that it is so unfair to punish the consumers, most of whom are loyal multi-flight purchasers, because of the higher costs of fuel. It boils down to pandering to a common base, and if you are in any way different, you are punished. It seems it is fair game to discriminate against the obese, many of whom are medically not at fault for their condition. Who's next? The wheelchair bound?"

According to Airfarewatchdog.com, here are select airlines' policies regarding ticketing for obese travelers:

· Southwest: Passengers should plan on purchasing an extra seat or risk being asked to do so at the airport by staff. If the flight is not sold out, the passenger may claim a refund.

· American: Passengers over 250 pounds should recognize that there may be limitations to the service that the airline can provide. However, it does not require that you purchase an extra seat automatically.

· United: No policy whatsoever.

· Midwest: Like Southwest, passengers are encouraged to know their needs in advance. If staff determine that two seats are required, the seat will be sold at the lowest possible fare, with a refund available if there is one or more open seats on the flight.

· Air France: Passengers with "high body mass" may receive a 25 percent discount on an extra seat, knowing that if they choose to not buy the seat, they may risk not being able to fly.

· JetBlue: You are required to buy a second seat, and there are no refunds.

· Delta: The airline "works to accommodate" passengers with special needs. Upon request and availability, it will try to make sure the next seat is unoccupied. However, if the plane is full, you will most likely be asked to leave the flight and buy a second seat on the next available flight. (You can actually count on this being a fairly typical practice on most airlines.)

SmarterTravel says the topic of additional fuel surcharges for passengers is a hot one that U.S. airlines haven’t had the heart to broach – yet. But Australia’s CourierMail reported that at least one airline, Air Asia X, “is considering charging passengers depending on their weight in a bid to fight rising fuel prices and to "help Aussies lose weight.”

Researchers turn to 3D technology to gauge attractiveness of human body

2008-08-19T11:20:00-05:00

3D images of 77 male and female volunteers were rated for attractiveness by other study volunteers. From their responses, researchers at Brunel University in London conclude that broad shoulders, curvy waists and smooth movement are conspicuous signals that a potential mate is healthy and that makes them attractive to the opposite sex. Less conspicuous cues are symmetrical bodies which also are a sign of health and reproductive quality.

New research from a London research institution suggests that your body proportions, shape and symmetry are sending unsubtle cues about your health and desireability as a reproductive partner.

“It seems that because bodily asymmetries are too subtle to be seen with the naked eye, evolution has instead engineered more conspicuous signals and displays, such as broad shoulders, curvy waist lines or smooth dance moves to indicate mate quality,” according to study lead Dr. William Brown of Brunel University’s School of Social Sciences and School of Engineering and Design.

According to the researchers, the study offers an explanation for the correlation between attractiveness and bodily characteristics like height, breast size, long legs, broad shoulders or a curvy figure. The study also explored the degree of asymmetries between the left and right sides of the body because degree of symmetry or "fluctuating asymmetry" is a widely used marker of a species' -- including humans -- developmental stability, according to the researchers.

A 3D optical body scanner was used to measure body proportions of 77 volunteers (40 males and 37 females) and 87 other volunteers then assessed how attractive the bodies of the opposite sex were (minus the heads), in 360-degree computer-rendered images.

The body scanner uses seven cameras to scan the entire human body in less than six seconds and produces a true-to-scale 3-D body model within minutes, according to study co-author, Dr. Jinsheng Kang from Brunel’s School of Engineering and Design.

“The 3D body scanner accurately extracts hundreds of measurements of the human body, including volume, in six seconds and removes a potential source of measurement error, the human experimenter,” said Kang.

Among the key findings:

When men and women were asked to rate the attractiveness of the 3D images, men rated the female forms with less masculinity most attractive, and women found the male forms with more muscular attributes most attractive.

Typically masculine features correlated with fewer departures from perfect bodily symmetry in males but with more asymmetry in females, suggesting that those with good development and health may have bodies that exaggerate sex-typical bodily features.

“It is widely believed that human beings are attracted to one another as a result of genotypic and phenotypic quality – in other words, their prospect as a mate who will yield higher quality offspring for the chooser,” according to Brown.

“My previous research suggested that bodily symmetry is not necessarily what people attend to when they find someone attractive but nonetheless the physical cues that they do prefer may reveal an individual’s underlying developmental quality (i.e. degree of symmetry). This new research identifies an explanation for the correlation between bodily shape and attractiveness: your body proportions, shape and stature are signals that conspicuously advertise your good development or health and therefore the degree to which you are a desirable reproductive partner. In many species fewer departures from perfect symmetry are associated with good development, health and reproductive success.”

The study, "Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics," by William M. Brown, Michael E. Price, Jinsheng Kang, Nicholas Pound, Yue Zhao, and Hui Yu was published August 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Scientists working on test to protect food chain from human form of Mad Cow Disease

2008-08-15T06:20:00-05:00

Researchers at Kansas State University are developing a test for instantly detecting beef that has been contaminated with tissue from a cow's brain or spinal cord during slaughter — an advance in protecting against possible spread of the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease.

The test would be the first of its kind. The research, done in collaboration with the National Animal Disease Center of the USDA-Agricultural Research Service and Iowa State University, is published in the August 13 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Jürgen A. Richt, DVM, PhD, and colleagues in the diagnostic medicine and pathobiology department write that removal of brain, spinal and other central nervous tissue after slaughter is "one of the highest priority tasks to avoid contamination of the human food chain with bovine spongiform encephalopathy. No currently available method enables the real-time detection of possible central nervous system (CNS) tissue contamination on carcasses during slaughter."

Their test is based on detection of the fluorescent pigment lipofuscin, a substance that appears in high concentrations in the nervous tissue of cattle. The researchers found that it was a dependable indicator for the presence of brain and spinal tissue in bovine carcasses and meat cuts. Small quantities of bovine spinal cord were reliably detected in the presence of raw bovine skeletal muscle, fat and vertebrae.

The research lays the foundation for development of a prototype device allowing real-time monitoring of CNS tissue contamination on bovine carcasses and meat cuts, according to the report.

Citation:

J. Agric. Food Chem., 56 (15), 6220–6226, 2008. 10.1021/jf0734368

Health care practitioners among those caught buying diplomas

2008-08-14T19:35:00-05:00

Image: Conor Lawless, CC

People from many facets of the workforce -- the military, government, education, businesses and health care -- are on a list of almost 10,000 people who spent $7.3 million buying counterfeit degrees from a Spokane-based Internet diploma mill.

Reporters Bill Morlin and Jim Camden of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., have gone through the list and named some who were employed in the health care field:

U.S. Department of Health oncology expert Frank S. Govern purchased a doctorate in health care administration.

Bonita E. Broyles, author of books about prescription dosages and nursing care, bought a doctorate in education.

Michael J. Hoilien, who worked for the Air Force in Fayetteville, N.C.

Marilyn Clark Kennedy, who worked as director of health services for the Barstow, Calif., School District.

Bruce Yampolski, director of operations for the Department of Health in St. Louis, Mo.

Remah Moustafa Ahmed Kamel, Saudi Arabia, bought degrees in obstetrics and gynecology.

The list contains people engaged in many professions that impact safety and health including Nuclear Management Co. employee Duwayne Huss who bought degrees in nuclear engineering and accounting. Nuclear Management Co. operates two nuclear plants in Minnesota.

Of those listed, "826 bought at least one Ph.D. and 41 bought two doctorates. Some of those doctorates were awarded in health-related fields, including at least two naturopathic doctorates, two doctorates in naturopathic medicine, one Ph.D. in medicine and one "medical" Ph.D. An Australian bought a Ph.D. in natural and nutritional sciences. A customer without a listed address bought a Ph.D. in molecular medicine. Another customer, also without an address listed in the database, bought a Ph.D. in veterinary medicine and epidemiology, and a Master of Science in veterinary clinical medicine," according to The Spokesman-Tribune story.

The U.S. Department of Justice had refused to release the list of buyers but The Spokesman-Review obtained the complete list and published it online.

Weird government science policies

2008-08-10T21:50:00-05:00

Here are some examples that suggest government science policies are indeed, weird.

European Missile Shield: Scores political and media hits but experts say it’s not feasible

Turner Brinton, writing for Inside Science News Service commented on the intense media coverage on the proposed $3.5 billion European Missile Shield which the Bush administration wants in place in the Czech Republic and Poland by the end of his term -- and which bitterly angers Russia.

“Recent media coverage of the United States’ plan to install a missile defense shield in Europe has largely focused on the political implications of the shield, paying little attention to the technical difficulties it faces, experts say.

The 10 midcourse interceptor missiles the United States plans on installing in Poland are an unproven defense against a long-range ballistic missile attack, said Frederick K. Lamb, who co-chaired a 2003 APS study on boost-phase intercept systems for missile defense. The existing ground-based midcourse defense system has been tested fewer than a dozen times, scoring six intercepts out of 11 trials since October 1999.

“Not a single test of this system has ever been carried out under realistic combat conditions,” said Lamb, adding, “This system has no demonstrated capability, period.”

The Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan organization that supports effective arms control policies says the tests have been “scripted scenarios performed under operationally unrealistic conditions.”

An Ottawa Citizen article calls the European Missile Shield: “An expensive solution to an imaginary threat.”

“With American spending on missile defence set to dwarf most countries' military budgets, the profits to be made are massive. But weapons makers can't bank on them yet.

Legions of experts think the American plan -- particularly the European "missile shield" -- is a mad waste of money. The technology is dubious. The strategic value is even more questionable."

Offshore drilling

Offshore drilling needs more science, less politics, according to an editorial in the Beaufort (South Carolina) gazette.com:

“Earlier this month, President Bush repealed an offshore drilling moratorium, the same one his father signed in 1990. Congressional bans on offshore drilling were enacted in 1981, and Bush is urging Congress to lift them as well. The move is unlikely.

More than risking any environmental catastrophes or destroying critical natural habitats, attempting to open additional offshore drilling fields is a great way not to come up with a long-term solution to our energy needs and, if you buy the argument that it is, then it's a great way to win the votes of an uninformed, politically blinded or desperate American people. The argument for new offshore drilling, however, is based more on election-year posturing and political brush-offs than science and logic. Americans who believe that drilling off the Eastern and Western seaboards will get us back to $2 or even $3 a gallon gasoline are in for quite a rude awakening.

Offshore drilling won't even make a dent.”

Fisheries

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board says Bush administration policies on NW fisheries are “reckless.”

“The Bush administration has decided to propose a drastic overhaul of U.S. fisheries environmental procedures.

Under the update, “Regional fisheries management councils would assume new environmental authority, even though the councils continue to have members with commercial fishing interests.”

HIV: The Worst Kept Non-Secret in Public Health

In July, David Ernesto Munar, vice president at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and chairman of the board of the National Association of People with AIDS, wrote in POZ Magazine about the growing speculation that government officials were delaying a release of HIV prevalence data in a deliberate attempt to shield the Bush administration from criticism for its failure to prioritize HIV prevention:

“For more than a year, U.S. federal officials have attempted—sometimes in vain—to quell rumors that the number of new HIV infections in the United States is on the rise. The Washington Blade first broke the story in November 2007, reporting that the CDC was poised to raise the official estimate for the number of HIV infections believed to occur in the United States to a range as high as 58,000 to 63,000 per year—a greater than 50 percent increase over the current estimate of 40,000 annual HIV infections.”

And now in August it's finally being reported that the HIV infection rate in the United States is much higher than estimated. The numbers were released by the CDC at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this month.

According to an Aug. 2 NPR report:

“Kevin Fenton, who heads the CDC's AIDS prevention efforts, says the new data give the clearest picture yet of the U.S. AIDS epidemic.”

"What the data actually show is that the 2006 estimate of roughly 56,000 new infections is substantially higher — it's about 40 percent higher than what had previously been estimated," he says.The old estimate had been 40,000 new infections a year, 16,000 fewer.”

Newsflash! Climate change does affect public health

After withholding its findings about the public health and environmental health risks from carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the public and Congress for seven months, the EPA finally and quietly released its mandated report, Draft Technical Support Document: Endangerment Analysis for Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the Clean Air Act in July.

The Supreme Court in Massachusetts vs. EPA ruled last year that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act but the EPA doesn’t appear anxious or willing to work in that capacity despite its own findings:

“The challenges presented by population growth, an aging population, migration patterns, and urban and coastal development will be compounded by changes in temperature, precipitation, and extreme climate-related events. Climate change will affect where people choose to live, work, and play. Among likely climate changes are changes in the intensity and frequency of precipitation, more frequent heat waves, less frequent cold waves, more persistent and extreme drought conditions and associated water shortages, changes in minimum and maximum temperatures, potential increases in the intensity and frequency of extreme tropical storms, measurable sea-level rise and increases in the occurrence of coastal and riverine flooding. In response to these anticipated changes, the United States may develop and deploy strategies for mitigating greenhouse gases and for adapting to unavoidable individual and collective impacts of climate change.”

The public comment period for the report remains open until September 4.

The Bush administration keeps resisting science

J. Thomas Butler, Camden, Del., provides a litany of examples in his LTTE in delawareonline.com:

“The Bush administration announced that the Environmental Protection Agency will not issue regulations to control greenhouse gases. [described in an entry above.] ....This is consistent with the Bush-Cheney approach to science. They insist on pouring money into abstinence-only sexuality education, despite research that shows it does not delay sexual activity, reduce disease or the number of teen sex partners, or increase the use of condoms.

The Bush budget annually omits funding for the Safe and Drug-free Schools and Communities program, which requires that most funding go to programs shown to be effective.

Bush has blocked research on stem cells from human blastocysts, on ideological grounds. The amount of death and suffering because of eight years of lost research is immeasurable.”

Endangered species

In his SfGate.com blog Thin Green Line, Cameron Scott asked, with a hint of hope: “Weird Science On The Wane?

“A federal judge granted environmental groups led by the NRDC issued a temporary injunction against the Fish and Wildlife's plan to delist gray wolves as an endangered species. The ruling basically called bulls—t on the science the Bush administration relied on to justify the move. A key passage of the ruling [PDF] reads:

(1) the Fish & Wildlife Service acted arbitrarily in delisting the wolf despite a lack of evidence of genetic exchange between subpopulations;

and (2) it acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it approved Wyoming's 2007 plan despite the State's failure to commit to managing for 15 breeding pairs....”

This can be an on-going list. Share your favorite.

Another species of mouth bacteria identified

2008-08-11T00:15:00-05:00

A new species of mouth bacteria, Prevotella histicola, was recently identified by scientists at King's College London Dental Institute and Cardiff University School of Dentistry. Prevotella is a type of microbe associated with periodontal disease and tooth decay, as well as infections in other parts of the body. The term histolica means "inhabitant of tissue."

The researchers isolated the bacteria by studying both healthy tissue and tumours in the mouth.

Tooth decay and gum disease are caused by changes in the microbes normally present in the mouth.

"The healthy human mouth is home to a tremendous variety of microbes including viruses, fungi, protozoa and bacteria," said professor William Wade from King's College London Dental Institute. "The bacteria are the most numerous: there are 100 million in every millilitre of saliva and more than 600 different species in the mouth. Around half of these have yet to be named and we are trying to describe and name the new species."

Wade said the fact that the species was isolated within oral tissues, both in oral cancers and normal, healthy tissue, confirms that oral bacteria can invade both tissues and individual cells.

Understanding the composition of the oral microbiota helps scientists develop new prevention measures and treatments for oral diseases. Some antimicrobial therapies already in use include antiseptics for preventing periodontal disease and antibiotics fore treating periodontal diseaseis.

Citation:

Downes J, Hooper SJ, Wilson MJ, Wade WG, Prevotella histicola sp. nov., isolated from the human oral cavity, Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2008 Aug;58(Pt 8):1788-91.

"It's like something out of the Third World"

2008-08-06T02:15:00-05:00

In its July 26 coverage of the ninth annual Remote Area Medical Health Expedition (RAM) the Roanake Times ran a story and photos and reported that many camped out at the fairgrounds the day before the free clinic opened to ensure they would be seen by health care professionals. "It's like something out of the Third World," said an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

People came from as far away as Indiana to receive free health care at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Southwest Virginia July 25-27. Photo: RAM

Over three days medical staff provided free care to 2,670 patients, valued at $1.7 million, surpassing the 2,506 served at the same location in 2006.

RAM also has free clinics scheduled in Tennessee, where it is based, as well as in Kentucky, Louisiana and internationally.

Can you hear us now? Americans grow impatient for reform

Numerous citizen advocacy groups are crisscrossing the country this summer with health care reform messages.

SEIU’s Road to Health Care, Huntington, WV, 5/12/08. Photo: SEIU

SEIU’s Road to Health Care team has been on a bus traveling across the country this summer and will stop at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions to publicize the plight of people hurt by the health care crisis.

The Cover America Tour sponsored by Consumer Reports Health is half-way through its summer road trip across the country. The tour began May 28 in New York and is collecting videotaped personal stories from Americans who face challenges getting affordable, high quality health care.

Morgan Jindrich of Consumers Union held a t-shirt at the CU booth at the Conference for Media Reform, Minneapolis. Photo: K Stone

The high cost of health care is causing a real strain on American families,” said Meg Bohne, campaign organizer for Consumers Union. “Many Americans fear losing their job-related health coverage or worry that they may face financial ruin if they get hit with a serious illness.” CU invites people to submit their own stories online, or request that the bus stop in their town.

The Health Care for America Now coalition launched a $40 million campaign July 8 that will include 52 events in 37 states as well as a TV ad campaign. HCAN has proposed a set of principles to cover every person in America with quality affordable health care.

Many more resources and personal stories (in print, audio and video) are available from Cover the Uninsured, an ongoing project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Harvard Medical School professor: U.S. health system nearing collapse

2008-08-05T23:05:00-05:00

Throughout his hour-long talk, Relman, who favors a non-profit system with salaried physicians, kept a single slide on the jumbo screen which read: “A healthy man has a thousand wishes; a sick man has only one.” Photos: K Stone

In his 2007 book, A Second Opinion: Rescuing America's Health Care, Dr. Arnold Relman, professor emeritus of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, unraveled the myth that investor-owned medical care facilities are more efficient than comparable non-profits. In fact, he provided evidence that for-profit health care systems often provide lower quality services at higher costs.

The senior physician-academician and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine didn’t pull any punches when he delivered the keynote address at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) annual meeting last week in Houston.

While physics-based medical technology has undeniably improved medical diagnosis and treatment, that same technology is overused and its expense is contributing to America's exorbitant healthcare costs, said Relman.

Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on high-tech medical imaging and therapy, contributing a slice of the $2.5 trillion spent on healthcare in the U.S., said Relman. That cost is bankrupting the system and reform is badly needed, he added.

Relman outlined what he sees as the reasons behind technology overutilization: profits for those who invent, manufacture, sell, prescribe, and supervise technology; little or no analysis of technology's cost-effectiveness or routine comparisons with less expensive technologies; popular demand for new technology; and insurers willing to reimburse for most technology once it is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Relman’s message was that many -- investors, technology companies, scientists, physicians, health care facilities and the FDA -- are culpable for creating the world's most expensive system that fails to provide care for 50 million of its citizens.

He told the AAPM audience that the most expensive physics-based technology, proton beam therapy, is commonly used as a treatment for some conditions such as prostate cancer when other less expensive therapies may be just as effective.

If you don't believe the U.S. healthcare system is in free fall and needs overhauling then Relman advises: “talk to the 'green-shaded' economists at the Congressional Budget Office" and other economists who are predicting a collapse of the healthcare system.

Strategies for reform

The medical community should enact reforms that ensure the continued introduction and availability of worthwhile new technology, while curtailing procedures that cannot be justified. Diagnostic and surgical procedures should not be left solely to physician discretion; the FDA should take a more active role in regulating the adoption and use of diagnostic and surgical procedures, Relman said.

Views similar to Relman's are being voiced more openly as the United States nears a change in the White House and amid citizen demand for a change in priorities and policies. But neither Sen. Barack Obama nor Sen. John McCain is addressing the healthcare situation in a meaningful way in their presidential campaigns, according to Relman.

"Both say they want to achieve near universal healthcare coverage, either government-aided versus market-focused," but neither plan indicates a method for controlling costs, Relman said.

The economic incentive to overuse expensive medical technology even when its advantages are unproven or marginal should be removed, said Relman.

AAPM President Gerald White Jr., a medical physicist in practice in Colorado Springs, CO, said he invited Relman to speak at the presidential address to spur discussion among his organization’s members.

White acknowledged that the topics raised by Relman may have caused attendees some "dissonance," but he hoped it also leads to some "cognizance."

Relman was surrounded by supporters after giving his presentation, “Technology and the crisis in the U.S. Health Care System,” to the American Association of Physicists in Medicine July 28 in Houston.

CNN’s ‘Black in America’ erroneously portrayed cause of health disparities says expert

2008-08-01T09:20:00-05:00

Thomas LaVeist, a health disparities expert at Johns Hopkins is concerned that one of the segments on CNN’s popular series “Black in America” fed into old and “bogus” theories about why blacks are unhealthy compared to whites and other groups.

LaVeist said he was alarmed when he saw the segment touting the pseudo-scientific “salt-sensitivity theory” as a key reason for health disparities among racial groups. “I commend CNN and Soledad O’Brien for tackling this very important topic, but to expose an audience to this theory is very troubling and disappointing,” said LaVeist who is director of the Center for Health Disparities Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Paging Dr. Gupta

O’Brien made the curious choice to interview Roland Fryer, a Harvard economist, on the health disparity segment. In his comments Fryer reintroduced the discredited salt-sensitive theory as a key reason for the poorer health of blacks. According to the theory, Africans taken as slaves survived transatlantic voyages only if their bodies were predisposed to retain salt. Those survivors, according to the theory, populated the black gene pool with offspring who also maintained salt reserves.

“This bogus theory just won’t seem to die,” said LaVeist. “Even though public health researchers have discredited the theory it continues to be promoted by people who are not knowledgeable about the field. Promoting unproven theories as a key cause of the enormous health gap between African Americans and other ethnic groups will likely widen the gap further.”

“I respect professor Fryer, but quoting an economist as an expert on health disparities is like interviewing me for a story about why gas prices have spiked,” said LaVeist.

Decades worth of research by every major institution concerned with public health has identified the main reasons that black health lags behind that of whites and other groups:

Less access to quality healthcare
Higher levels of poverty
Exposure to higher levels of environmental toxins
Higher levels of tobacco and other harmful products
Less healthy diets
More stressful living environments

Inspiring "Last Lecture" Professor Dies

2008-08-01T09:10:00-05:00

Carnegie-Mellon computer science professor Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” given last September to several hundred students and faculty members at the university, was posted to YouTube primarily for the students and teachers who could not attend.

It immediately went viral and has been viewed over 6 million times. At the time, Pausch’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer a month earlier had offered him about 2-5 more months to live. Whether it was because of his remarkable attitude, or his medical care (which he characterized as “spectacular”), or both, he outlived his diagnosis by several months when he died on Friday, July 25.

On March 13, 2008, Pausch provided a poignant testimony to Congress on behalf of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, saying that pancreatic cancer is the “4th leading killer amongst cancers,” and “it is one of the only cancers that you can point to and say—in the last 30 years we have made no progress.” He encouraged substantial government grants and funding for pancreatic cancer research saying “the smart people work on what there is money to work on. If the money’s there, I bet anything that by the time my kids are my age, we’ll have it licked.”

Pancreatic cancer has been linked to heredity.

Pausch was a devoted Star Trek fan, and has a cameo role in the upcoming Star Trek movie as a result of a personal invitation from the director, J.J. Abrams.

Pausch's book, “The Last Lecture,” was a runaway bestseller shortly after publication. Rob Kall, publisher of OpEdNews, reviewed it on April 21.

Pausch posted an online diary in which he kept well-wishers up to date with his progress. His last entry was on June 26th. A friend posted for him on July 24, “because we know that many folks are watching this space for updates.” That post revealed that the professor was in hospice. He is survived by his wife, Jai, his three children, his mother and sister, and millions of people around the world who were inspired by his continuing attitude of finding the joy in each day.

During his remarkable journey he spoke several times of crafting a “safety net” for his family and he received many “fan” letters from people whose hearts had been touched (including mine, which is below).

April 13, 2008

Dear Jai and Randy,

I was one of the lucky ones to see Randy's "Last Lecture" video just days after it was posted, and I have been following your remarkable journey since. I thank you for sharing so much of your adventure with the world.

My husband died in a plane crash when our daughter was five. We had no financial safety net. In fact, I lost the house and five businesses. Nevertheless, I discovered that the most important safety net is the human spirit, and my daughter and I danced through our rock-strewn path to find our way, turning stumbling blocks into stepping-stones. She is now 30, she put herself through med school, survived the trauma of last year at Virginia Tech, and will be a doctor in a year.

I woke up this morning with a pressing desire to share a couple of thoughts with you, learned from my own journey. I have read your website, I know from my personal experience that you have plenty on your plates besides reading this, I don't expect nor want you to spend precious time crafting a response. Still, I felt compelled to share these thoughts.

I have heard Randy say on a couple of interviews that he believes that your daughter may be too young to remember much of her dad. Granted, my five-year old was much older when her dad died, but I want to share with you that not all the memories are the result of remembering actual events. Much more of the memories are from the re-telling of the stories, which become the family mythology. I made a little book of photos of my daughter and her dad, and often story time was a rich recounting of fun times with her dad: the day they bundled up to play in the once-in-a-lifetime snowfall in Louisiana, the two of them on his motorbike, riding ponies, or singing at the organ together. She even knows every detail about her amazing birth—when I went into labor, and the trip to the hospital, and the magic of her delivery—because of the photos and the stories that I have told her through the years. She certainly wouldn't have remembered that, otherwise!

And we celebrate her dad's birthday every year - with a cake and a party when she was younger, and a lunch date when she got older. But always with the stories.

So your daughter's memories will not diminish, but grow, as time goes on, inspired by the photos and the stories of other family members. I believe that this is how the fabric of a rich family heritage is woven, whatever the length of the lifetimes of its members.

The one thing I would have liked to have, and which brings me to the reason I am writing, is a recording of my husband reading aloud one of my daughter's favorite books. I would have liked to sit with her on my lap at story time, turning the pages, as we both listened to her father speak the words. Even for grandkids, it would be lovely to have the voice of the grandfather they never knew, as part of their experience. And for the choice of a book, I would have picked something like "The Velveteen Rabbit." And if I could have chosen more, they would have included another favorite, "Goodnight, Moon," and all seven of C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," a timeless read for any age.

I wouldn't have thought of this idea except that as my daughter got older, and I hired a babysitter when I had classes or meetings in the evenings, she wouldn't go to sleep until I came home to read her a story. So, as a problem-solving measure, I recorded her favorite stories. Then the babysitter played the recording and turned the pages of the book, as my daughter drifted off to sleep, hearing my voice. (As a busy single mom, in order to save time, I made the recordings as I was actually reading the stories to her. The unexpected bonus was that her comments and our interactions are also on the tape.)

On a similar note, when her grandmother died, I made my daughter a simple quilt from mom's clothing. It was healing for me to make it and healing for my daughter to have it. (They don't call quilts "comforters" for nothing!)

You two are shining examples of how we are not our circumstances and that we always have the choice of the attitude that we hold in any situation, perfectly illuminating my motto, which is a quote from Martha Washington:

"I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances."

Thanks for the legacy that you have given to your children and to the world—the importance of focusing on the fun in every moment. I believe your remarkable examples of how you both choose to face the "hand you have been dealt," is serving to raise the consciousness of society, away from the perception of victimhood, and toward self-empowerment and joy. And the richness of that legacy cannot but have an extraordinary and beneficial effect on your children. Thank you.

Meryl Ann Butler

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator, and mom. A native of NYC, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, 90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon. This article was originally published on OpEdNews where Butler is a frequent contributor.