Home For Dinner Research Articles

Ba L. Tran.

If I could be granted a superpower, it would be teleportation because I could attend any seminar or conference in the world while waiting for reactions and still be home for dinner … My favorite piece of research is the reductive cleavage of dinitrogen by molybdenum trisanilide." Find out more about Ba L. Tran in his Introducing … Profile.

Learning to unplug.

Nestled in a state park, the wedding was a perfect opportunity to take a break from my Ph.D. and celebrate the union of my close friends. But my mind was somewhere else. Moments earlier, as my wife and I were waiting for the ceremony to begin, I took out my phone and compulsively checked my email. I spotted an urgent message from one of my collaborators, outlining analyses they needed me to complete for a manuscript resubmission. I pocketed my phone, but the damage was done: For the rest of the weekend my mind was thrust back into research mode, anxiously trying to figure out how I was going to get the work done. > “I began to push back on my habit of mindlessly reaching for my phone.” Throughout grad school, establishing a healthy work-life balance was a challenge. During a lab rotation, I listened with disbelief as the principal investigator (PI) told me he expected trainees to work 12-hour days 6 days per week. No one else appeared to be bothered by his demanding work routine. His trainees would regularly stay in the lab until midnight, only to return first thing the next morning. I started waking up as early as possible to get into the lab and demonstrate my dedication. But after 1 week, I knew that the research group, with its skewed approach to work-life balance, wasn't for me. For another rotation, I chose a group that had more reasonable working hours. The PI and other lab members went home for dinner, made time for family, and exercised regularly. Instead of racking up hours, they focused on being efficient with the time they dedicated to research. For the first time, I didn't feel guilty for seeking a life outside the lab. Not long after, I signed on to stay in that lab for the rest of my Ph.D. With my new PI's support, I succeeded in staying productive while keeping reasonable work hours, regularly leaving the lab by 5 p.m. Yet, I often found myself thinking about work well into the evening. Instead of unwinding and cooking dinner, I would anxiously ruminate on my experiments. While watching TV, I would scroll through newly published scientific articles during commercial breaks. My conversations with family members and friends always seemed to gravitate toward the status of my research. One evening, my wife asked whether, during dinner, we could talk about something—anything—other than my work. A turning point came during my second year, when that single email hijacked my attention at the wedding. Frustrated, I asked myself, “Have I really achieved work-life balance if, regardless of where I am, my mind is in the lab?” I realized that my habitual email checking was key to my problem. In one instance, I opened an email containing peer-review feedback at 10:30 p.m. and instantly read through the detailed list of criticisms. No wonder I had a fitful sleep that night. So I set a new boundary for myself: Only deal with work-related tasks—opening emails, reading journal articles—when I can give them my full attention. I began to push back on my habit of mindlessly reaching for my phone whenever I had a spare moment. Instead, I forced myself to stop and question whether the time was right. I also began to turn off my phone during some events, such as parties and family gatherings. Although it took time to develop better habits, I was pleased to find that this strategy cut down on anxious mind-whirring when I was trying to relax. I also started to practice being mentally present during activities outside the lab. For instance, I found it helpful to go for an evening walk and try to notice the birds and flowers around me, a practice that drew me out of my thoughts and into my surroundings. It was challenging at first, but as my walk became a part of my daily rhythm, it became easier to ground myself and take these moments to recharge. Now a postdoc, I still catch myself on occasion thinking about experiments when I'm trying to fall asleep at night. But I'm making progress toward being mentally present when I step away from my workspace. By bringing worklife balance to my inner world as well as my schedule, I hope to become a less anxious scientist, a more attentive husband, and a much happier wedding guest.

Timothy J. Brodribb.

Timothy J. Brodribb.

In Rural Towns, Immigrant Doctors Fill A Critical Need.

Immigrant doctors have helped fill physician shortages for years. In the current political climate, are they welcome?

The Transmission of Family Food and Mealtime Practices From Adolescence to Adulthood: Longitudinal Findings From Project EAT-IV

ObjectiveTo determine whether family food and mealtime practices experienced in adolescence are carried forward into parenthood. DesignBaseline (Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults [EAT]-I) and 15-year follow-up (EAT-IV) survey data from a population-based cohort study (Project EAT). ParticipantsCohort members identified as parents at follow-up (n = 727). To gain additional data about the practices of both parents in the household, significant others completed surveys at EAT-IV (n = 380). Main Outcome MeasureFrequency of family meals, healthfulness of foods at home, frequency of meals in front of the television, and expectations of being home for dinner. AnalysisLinear regression models tested associations between parent food and mealtime practices reported at baseline and follow-up controlling for demographics. ResultsHealthy and unhealthy home food availability, expectations to be home for dinner, and eating in front of the television in adolescence predicted similar outcomes 15 years later among female parents (effect sizes range: β = .2–.3; P < .001), and to a lesser extent among males. Families ate more frequent family meals when either 1 or both parents reported frequent family meals as an adolescent compared with when neither parent reported frequent family meals as an adolescent. Conclusions and ImplicationsIt is important to invest in parenting interventions that target healthful family food and mealtime practices because of the potential long-term impact on their own children's parenting practices.

Dr. Phil's Art Corner: B52 Landing and Home for Dinner.

Dr. Phil's Art Corner: B52 Landing and Home for Dinner.

Advancement of Women in Emergency Medicine: New Strategies for Different Outcomes.

Advancement of Women in Emergency Medicine: New Strategies for Different Outcomes.

Please Remember, You Are Dealing with a Spatial Form

Please Remember, You Are Dealing with a Spatial Form

A matter of the heart

With this account of two patients I met, I will point to four virtues of the physician in encounters with patients. Two of them are recognized by most proponents of patient-centered communication; Curiosity and Compassion. The other two, Clarity and Courage, are not often mentioned. My first job as a doctor was in an isolated municipality on the west coast of Norway, houses glued to the steep slopes where the fjord bends, this mighty fjord being the only connection to the outside world, 1300 m mountains all around it. Three hours to the nearest hospital by boat and ambulance. No place to become acutely ill. Fortunately, the thousand plus people living there were patient, calm, healthy. Almost every day I could expect to come home for dinner at five, see my children, relax. Night calls were few – and appropriate. One afternoon the last appointment had been canceled. As I was about to leave, my secretary said that someone with chest pain was on his way from a small place some 10 km further into a valley that was even narrower than the fjord. Twenty minutes passed, and, while I hate to admit it, I waited for the patient somewhat impatiently. Finally he arrived. Walking unaffectedly across the waiting room, resiliently, nice skin color, relaxed. Grabbed my hand, presented himself. My immediate thought: I have waited for this? But I greeted him in a friendly manner and invited him into my office.

Margaret Kirby

Despite being told she would have “a stillborn PhD” if she got married, having a pitifully small starting salary as an assistant professor, and having a distinct aversion to the subject of heart development, Margaret Kirby went on to become Professor of Cell Biology at Duke University and one of the world's leading experts on heart development. She even wrote a well-known textbook on the subject.1 Kirby focused her research on cardiac neural crest cells. She had started her scientific life as a neuroanatomist and was drawn into cardiology only after discovering a population of neural crest cells in the heart. She went on to show that these cells control the division of the aorta and pulmonary artery,2 regulate growth factor signaling to the developing myocardium,3 and contribute to the development of the outflow tract.4 These studies caused significant steps forward in scientists' understanding of heart development and the defects that occur when it goes wrong. In the early 1970s, when Kirby was starting her career, women were often discouraged from pursuing science, and those who did tended to be unmarried and childless. Unbeknownst to Kirby, she was helping to forge a path for women scientists who wanted normal family lives. But, she explained to Circulation Research , she didn't blaze the trail by speaking out, she just quietly “worked her butt off.” Kirby retired from Duke University last December and now lives in Copper Harbor, Michigan, running a photography gallery. ### Where Did You Grow Up? In Fort Smith, Arkansas. My father was French; he was born in Paris and moved to America with his parents when he was about 11. They also lived in England, Cuba, and Mexico, so my father's family is pretty exotic. My mother was a 9th generation Arkansan, so just the opposite. They met in …

American College of Medical Informatics In Memoriam, 2009–2010

In this special section, initiated by Past President Joyce Mitchell in the expectation that it will become an ACMI tradition, we memorialize the lives of the fellows who died during her presidency. There were seven. Six were born a generation before the term informatics was coined and more than 50 years before the founding of AMIA. Six lived through World War II, four through the Great Depression. Two of the deceased— Helmuth Orthner and William Yamamoto —were founding fellows of ACMI in 1984, while three— Allan Pryor , Harold Schoolman , and William Schwartz —were elected the following year. Joachim Dudeck and Mario Stefanelli became fellows in 2001. Most of us are aware of the accomplishments of these men (for details, visit the ACMI wiki), but few are familiar with the lives they lived. Here, aided by the reminiscences of families, friends, and colleagues, we celebrate those lives. (An article about Marco Ramoni , who was elected to ACMI posthumously, appears on page 369 of this issue.) Joachim Dudeck, a physician, recognized the medical potential of informatics early in his career and greatly enjoyed the intellectual camaraderie of others of like mind. In fact, he reveled in it. Joachim treasured his colleagues. He loved visiting them, hosting them, opera-going with them, dining with them, wining with them, discoursing with them, and seeing to their comfort. Joachim was a devotee of fine living and a consummately social being. ![Graphic][1] “When I visited for his 65th birthday conference, I was constantly accompanied by someone from his staff to make sure I got from the airport to the hotel, from the hotel to the airport, and everywhere in between. I was a guest at his home for dinner, as well. And he didn't know me from Adam,” recalls Jim Cimino of the National Institutes … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

Academic Dads: Allies in Work/Family Policies

Academic Dads: Allies in Work/Family Policies

Remember when mom wanted you home for dinner?

Limited information exists about the relationship between family dinner and the quality of children's diets. However, several studies suggest that foods obtained at home have more fiber, calcium, and iron, and less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium than foods obtained away from home. The results of a recent study confirm and extend these observations by showing beneficial effects of family dinner on the diet quality of children ages 9 to 14. Nutritionists and health educators should look for ways to encourage families to increase the number of meals eaten together to improve the eating patterns of children.

Dr. Wohl's Violin: A Family Doctor's Last Act of Kindness

It began as a typical afternoon in the coronary care unit. While trying to finish my charting so that I could get home for dinner with my family, I was paged to the CCU resident's office. In the cl...

Why The Critics Of Globalization Are Mistaken

Being invited to give the Tinbergen Lecture is a privilege for any economist. But for me it is also a great pleasure as it brings back to me memories of, not just a great economist who won the first Nobel prize in Economics, but of a great humanist whose example affected me deeply. I first met him in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when I was a student at MIT and he was a Visiting Professor at Harvard. He was kind enough to invite me, among other students, to his home for dinner. I recall his saying, with a sense of puzzlement rather than deprecation, that many of his Harvard students had come to him just before the final examination, and had asked him: When you put down dy/dx, why don’t you cancel out the ‘d’? Well, that could not have been a question asked by MIT students! Perhaps that was why, when Professor Paul Samuelson, my teacher and then colleague and now friend, wished us to understand why the Stolper–Samuelson theorem worked because the tradeinduced reallocation of resources changed the capital/labor ratios in both goods in the same direction, he said: imagine that the worst student at MIT flunks out and joins Harvard; the average IQ in both MIT and Harvard goes up. But my next meeting was more dramatic. I had gone as a youthful OECD “consultant” to work for 3 months in the Devlet Planlama Teskilati, Turkey’s Planning Commission, in 1962. There I was, staying at a posh hotel, earning ∗ This is the final text of the Tinbergen Lecture delivered to the Royal Netherlands Economic Association in Amsterdam in October 2006. The author is University Professor, Economics and Law, Columbia University, and Senior Fellow in International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations. His latest books, Free Trade Today (Princeton, 2002) and In Defense of Globalization (Oxford, 2004) present the economic case and the social case for globalization and for free trade, respectively in far greater depth than a Lecture permits. Some of the arguments in this Lecture will be developed further in a substantial Afterword to the new edition of In Defense of Glob

Medical Imaging Informatics: How It Improves Radiology Practice Today

Medical Imaging Informatics: How It Improves Radiology Practice Today

Bourbon Peru, 1750–1824

In his most recent book, John Fisher has come, in some ways, full circle to examine the final decades of Spanish rule in Peru. Over 30 years ago, he published Government and Society in Colonial Peru: The Intendant System 1784–1814 (Athlone, 1970). Although it contains important information about economic life in the late colonial Andes, the book was chiefly an analysis of how the Bourbon reformers instituted the Peruvian intendancies and their impact in the viceroyalty. Bourbon Peru covers some of the same ground but ranges far more widely, both in terms of the themes and the period analyzed. It synthesizes the conclusions Fisher has reached over an eminent career studying the impact of the Bourbon century on Peru. Bourbon Peru, it should be noted, is essentially the same as Fisher’s El Perú borbónico, 1750–1824 (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2000) but lacks the illustrations contained in the latter.Although the book concentrates on the period after 1750, on the grounds that the change in ruling dynasty had comparatively little impact in the Andes prior to that date, Fisher does provide a chapter that sketches the characteristics of the Peruvian viceroyalty prior to that date. The next three chapters analyze the political, economic, and social structures of Peru and the influence of Bourbon policy on them. Fisher is particularly good in summarizing the impact of changes in commercial policy, a subject that he has written about elsewhere in considerable detail. His previous study on the late colonial mining industry provides the foundation for his contention that, despite pessimism about Peru’s future following the viceroyalty’s dismemberment in 1776, the expansion of silver production at Cerro de Pasco and other mines in Lower Peru financed commercial expansion and a somewhat unexpected prosperity. These ideas are, of course, not new, having been argued by Fisher and others previously, but they are succinctly and clearly elaborated here.Fisher’s evaluation is dependent, of course, on his perspective. He is most interested in Spain’s relationship with the colony. What seemed prosperous to the royal treasury (the revenues of which increased rapidly) or to the merchants importing European goods did not necessarily equate to economic well-being for the growing population of Indians and castas. The imperial reforms tightened metropolitan control over the colony and extracted more profit from it. It is less clear what impact they had on the health of economic sectors such as agriculture, which received less attention from Bourbon officialdom.Chapters 4–6 focus on colonial social structures, with an eye toward how they affected the Great Andean Rebellion of the early 1780s and then the movement for independence. Creoles may have helped provoke the Túpac Amaru revolt, but they quickly concluded that “preservation of their stratified and unequal social order” depended “upon the exploitation of indigenous labour through a variety of semi-coercive institutions” (p. 84). They accepted the oppression of the Bourbon reforms as the cost required to maintain the colonial order. Heightened imperialism contributed to the Great Rebellion and to the 1813–14 revolt spearheaded by Mateo García Pumacahua, but it was insufficient to provoke widespread creole support for independence. Much of the turmoil of the final years of colonial rule stemmed from attempts by the elites of Cuzco and Arequipa to assert their autonomy from Lima rather than from Spain. Unlike in Mexico, in Peru no sense of nationalism developed uniting racial and regional groups. Fisher contends, in fact, that Peru retained its colonial social and economic structures until 1850, long after political independence had been imposed.The book does reflect certain idiosyncrasies. For example, although the previous chapters are chiefly synthetic interpretations of existing research, Fisher builds the chapter dealing with independence on his own new primary research. Those who do not read Spanish will have some difficulty, as the quotations have not been translated into English. The book also contains the occasional idiosyncratic comment that should delight historians familiar with research in Lima. Fisher recounts, for example, his initial experience as a graduate student in the City of the Kings. A prominent Peruvian historian invited the young British scholar to his home for dinner. Also present were the historian’s gaggle of students, who were invited to listen to the conversation and observe the meal but to participate in neither.Bourbon Peru is a thoughtful, mature synthesis that makes rewarding study for all those interested in the late colonial Andes. It marks a relatively brief but valuable starting point for anyone interested in eighteenth-century Peru, both in terms of interpretation and bibliography.

Prominent investigator wins diabetes research award

Prominent investigator wins diabetes research award

Robert Penn Warren: "Mad for Poetry"

By any measure Robert Penn Warren is one of America's most prominent literary figures. His published work includes twelve books of poetry, eleven volumes of prose, and twelve novels. Warren is best known for All the King's Men (1946), a novel based on the life of Huey Long, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize. In his later years Warren produced his finest poetry and received two more Pulitzer Prizes for poetry volumes, Promises: Poems, 1954-1956 (1957) and Now and Then: Poems, 1976-1978 (1978). In recognition of his poetry he served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 1972 to 1988 and was appointed the first U.S. Poet Laureate in 1985. Warren coauthored with Cleanth Brooks Understanding Poetry (1938) and Understanding Fiction (1943). These texts shaped the study of literature in classrooms throughout the nation for over four decades and introduced the study of literary texts to generations of students. Warren taught at Louisiana State University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and Yale University. His many students included novelist and screenwriter David Milch, known for his award-winning work with Hill Street Blues, N.Y.P.D Blue, and Deadwood. Warren maintained lifelong friendships with Cleanth Brooks, Eudora Welty, and C. Vann Woodward. Their combined achievements in the fields of literature, literary criticism, and history significantly shaped our understanding of American letters and the American South in the twentieth century. When I taught at Yale in the 1970s Cleanth and Tinkham Brooks invited me to their home for dinner and mentioned that they had also invited Robert Penn Warren and his wife Eleanor Clark. The evening sparkled with talk of writers and animated tales about the South. Both Warren and Brooks showed their passion for the English language and its use in the American South. At one point during the evening Brooks speculated as to whether the word referred to a male or female hog. After considerable debate, Warren declared that he would phone his brother on their family farm in Kentucky to resolve the issue. His brother indicated that the word shoat referred to a male hog. I visited Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark each year in their homes in Fairfield, Connecticut, and West Wardsboro, Vermont, until Warren's death in 1989. In 1987 the University of Mississippi Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow cosponsored a Robert Penn Warren symposium with Yale University at the Beinecke Rare Book Library. Russian and American scholars, including Cleanth Brooks and C. Vann Woodward, presented papers on Warren, and afterwards we all traveled to Vermont where we spent the July Fourth weekend with the Warrens. Robert Penn Warren and Eleanor Clark were incredibly generous in sharing their home and hospitality with admirers and aspiring writers. This interview was recorded with Warren before dinner at his home in Fairfield, Connecticut. Since he had spoken so often about All the King's Men he chose to discuss other parts of his life and work. He talked about childhood memories, his experiences with the Fugitives at Vanderbilt, and his interviews with black civil rights leaders such as Aaron Henry in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and Malcolm X in New York City. Robert Penn Warren was a devoted friend to so many people. His deepest love was reserved for his wife Eleanor Clark and their children, Rosanna and Gabriel. He continued to write poetry until the end of his life. After his death I visited Eleanor at their home in Fairfield to personally express my sadness over the loss of her husband. Snow was on the ground as we walked through the field behind their home, and I felt Robert Penn Warren's spirit was with us. I was a bookish boy. My family was very bookish. My father was always reading to the children at night. My grandfather [maternal grandfather, Gabriel Telemachus Penn] was very bookish. …

The Grand Inquisitor

The Grand Inquisitor