Until then,

Here’s a video I made last night at Elk Island National Park. I’ve been into Timelapse videos lately, which are a sped-up representation of extended time shots. Check the video out on facebook!

http://www.facebook.com/v/10100813520585054

Vince

We walked right by McMahon Stadium, where the U of Calgary Dino football team and Calgary Stampede (CFL) play.

The security there? Non existent…. We walked right onto the field while the players were doing walkthroughs.

We got kind of lost, and was helped out by a few construction guys who pointed us in the right direction. Everyone’s nice here! We sprinted across 16th Ave, which is apparently a highway, devoid of any pedestrian crossings, and approached the University of Calgary Health Sciences Center.

In the parking lot we saw a bunch of outlets at the head of each parking spot. Tats was amazed as he thought everyone drove electric cars.

Turns out, these outlets are for the engine block heaters installed in cars for the wintertime. See, when it gets cold, the coolant freezes up, even if you use antifreeze. But it regularly gets to 0F and below here, so each car is fitted with a heating element in the coolant sump, and keeps the temp just above freezing so your car can start right up! Guess that will be a modification for my car in the near future.

Inside the Health Sciences Center are actually multiple buildings – interestingly, the way that things are built here, buildings within buildings, underground tunnels, etc… allow access to most buildings without going outside, useful when the weather outside is adverse, which I guess is most days out here.

We met Matiram in Dr. Marc Poulin’s lab, an investigator well known for his work in hypoxia.

There was an experiment going in the hypoxic chamber, but because we are responsible researchers, the subject was not photographed… (Research ethics, right Sue??) The study was looking at various responses to intermittent hypoxia (60 sec on, 60 sec off) to hopefully mimic OSA – Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Cool stuff!!!

We were given a tour of some of the equipment and the work done in the lab. It’s a very busy lab, multiple experiments happening. Met a few other graduate students. It’s always fun chatting science with other students and getting excited over new findings, and trading ideas for collaborations.

We then took off to get lunch, because we skipped breakfast. First stop was the bank, because I hadn’t had a chance to exchange my US Dollars for Canadian Dollars. Canadian money is infinitely more interesting, with shiny strips and different colors! First thing we bought with the new money was Chinese food- asian people in Canada WHAT??

Next stop was the main campus at U of C. There were logos depicting UC – Tats and I laughed because nobody else would get the joke if he brought home a UC shirt. (University of California) Nobody in the bookstore found it funny either. Other stops of note, the Kinesiology Corridor, where the exercise physiology research facilities were, and the fitness center, volleyball courts, etc.

Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics, and they built the Olympic Oval, a facility for speed skating.

Lots of cool things going on, we asked for a tour of the facilities, claiming we were graduate students from San Diego. Here is Tats inspired about picking up speed skating

Youth teams were practicing their speedskating skills, hockey player on the ice, and I think the Chinese speedskating team was visiting and training, doing drills on the artificial track and stuff.

Here are some other pics of buildings and sculptures of the beautiful campus of Calgary.

I can’t praise it too much because University of Alberta is supposedly their big rival. I need to get in that mindset… Go Golden Bears!

Tonight we are planning a full nights rest before taking off to Edmonton in the AM.

Bonus: we stopped at a liquor store to buy some beer, and were outraged at the prices. This couple was buying a 24 pack of Bud Light and the total came to be over $30 dollars. I asked them, is it worth it? Wrong on so many levels… We left with a six pack of Unibroue ‘La Fin du Monde’. Hopefully we will live to see another jour.

Until tomorrow!

Vince

Leaving Helena and the Red Lion Colonial Hotel

2 Gate to the Mountains

3 Gate to the mountains, pier view

4 “Road Trip”

5. Lunch Stop in Augusta…. PS Small Town Montana has some of the nicest people!!!

6 Lunchtime – Fried Gizzards with the spiciest mustard  outside of Philippes in LA (Shawn!)

7 Glacier National Park – Sunroof mounted Cam

8. $25 bucks for a day pass? I’ll come back later…

9. Alberta Border… Super nervous to get my car tossed! Thanks to dad for his super organizing magic in the car.. and to Nicole! (shoutout!)

10. I survived! Study permit good until Aug 31 2015

111. Southern Alberta is FLAT FLAT FLAT. Tatsuya slept a good 3 hours….

112. WE GOT SOOOOO LOST IN CALGARY. Downtown Calgary!

Tomorrow: VIsiting Matiram at University of Calgary, Hypoxia Chamber experiment!

Skee ya!

GORGEOUS

views….

I got smart and thought… Hey… I can open the sunroof and extend my tripod through, so I can get above-car shots….Here’s a particularly nice shot that turned out..

To see the behind the scenes, check out the video posted on My facebook…

http://www.facebook.com/v/10100423688731214

Then Tats and I went to visit Walter Wray at the University of Utah. When I was an undergrad at UCSD I worked with Walt and Russ Richardson in Vascular Research… They’ve since moved their lab to the VA.

Ultrasound Doppler and Knee Extensor Ergometer

Then we had lunch with some grad students from the Exercise and Sports Science (ESS) department at “The Point,” a nice restaurant unlike any hospital cafeteria I’ve ever seen, in the Huntsman Cancer Center, on the North Campus of the Medical School of the University of Utah. Great view of the city…

Tatsuya looking out over SLC thinking… “I might just move here…” (seriously).

We then Left for Helena, MT…. on a 475 mile, 7+ hour journey that took us through Idaho…. snooze…. Trucks… Bugs on the windshield… But curiously full cell phone reception

Crossing into Montana the scenery automatically gets more interesting:

We decide that we won’t get into Helena in time for any restaurants to still be open, so we Yelp’d a cool little steak house in Butte, MT.

Awesome food… great steaks should be ordered Rare (Rare+ in my case). Tatsuya likes his run through a warm room… or “Body Heat Restored” as Mike would say. Best Filet Mignon I’ve had to date. And I’d know! Stop by this place: Derby’s in Butte, MT if you’re ever driving through.

Finally, we’re at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel in Helena, where I finished off the night with a local brew: Cold Smoke Scotch Ale, brewed in Missoula.

Tomorrow: International border crossing into Canada! Our posts on Facebook and stuff will probably be less plentiful once we cross…. Wish us luck!

Hash House a Go Go for breakfast. My treat since Tats was a good sport about watching me win money last night.

Bit of a wait…

Great food though!

Hit the road… 2 more states to go:

Obligatory Border Pic

Entering Utah

Rolling into Salt Lake City (Technically not SLC, Sandy, UT)

Then finally using my Birthday Dinner at Benihana’s all the way in Downtown SLC

Casa de Wray for the night.

And GOODNIGHT!

Plan: Leave SD at 5:00PM to get to LV by 10:00PM or so.

Actual time left: 8:45PM

Here’s what happened: There’s a ton of crap that I own… and it all needs to fit into my modestly sized sedan. Well, we didn’t finish packing up until about 7pm. All the while having friends and family come by to wave us off… Sorry guys!

7PM. Should leave now right? NO….. Not without car keys! So goes the search for car keys. Everything gets unpacked and double and triple checked, the apartment gets combed through…. I go into the dumpster diving around for my keys.

8:05PM Rui suddenly shouts out that he finds it in the side pocket of a backpack that I swore I had double checked…

Me: Knee deep in rotten milk/water/hot garbage mess of a dumpster feeling relieved and extremely exasperated at my ineptitude. I hop in the shower and contemplate tossing my Rainbow sandals. Family and friends commence re-packing the car.

8:15PM Get into the car, key into the ignition, turn….. No start. Dead battery from the lights on while looking for keys and repacking. Extreme Frustration.

8:20PM Run around asking neighbors for jumper cables, realize roommate has cables in his car, fetch spare keys to get cables. Car is up and running. Hooray! Wait. New Daytime running lights Dad installed stop working.

8:45PM Finally 3h45m after planned departure, tearful goodbyes and farewells. Off to Vegas, embarking on the trip of a lifetime.

Bonus: Tripod mounted D300 set on interval timing shooting to 5s intervals 999×1 shots all the way through. Hence the in-cabin cam. Look for Time Lapse Video soon!

1:35AM Arrive in Las Vegas

2:30AM Crazy coincidence, running into Brandon Katz at the Venetian. Put down $10 on red at Roulette, double my money.

2:45AM Tats comes back from checking us in, we start to play Craps. Play the minimum Pass Line, $15.

3:45AM Up $200 on the night playing craps. Tats wants to walk away. and Sleep (after all he had been up at 3:00AM and run America’s Finest City Half Marathon. I disagree

4:30AM Up 360 on the night after playing craps and Black Jack. I look at Tats and laugh. We go up to the room and sleep.

Day 1 Completed. I used up all my bad luck in SD, replaced it with $360 reasons to smile in Vegas. Next up, Salt Lake City!

The plan:

San Diego, CA to Las Vegas, NV – 331 Miles

Las Vegas, NV to Salt Lake City, UT -  420 Miles

Salt Lake City, UT to Helena, MT – 475 Miles

Helena, MT to Calgary, Alberta, Canada – 409 Miles

Calgary, AB to Edmonton, AB – 186 Miles

Here we go!

Here’s a little bit of news: I’ve decided to attend the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to continue on for my PhD!

First impression…. even before I landed……. DANG IT’S COLD! The captain came on the announcer and informed us it was currently -20F…. I literally don’t know what that meant until I got off the plane!

The view of the frozen tundra that is Alberta

One of the many snow covered parks on the Medical Campus. Stunning

I visited the campus in mid-February, and met some of the people I’d be working with; namely, my future adviser, Dr. Michael Stickland- a well known and up-and-coming PI in exercise and gas exchange. His primary responsibility is to the Pulmonary Research Group, in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr Stickland showed me around the University and I was quite impressed with the extent of the laboratory space, and most of all the collaborative efforts between clinicians and academic research staff.

The newly built Edmonton Clinic, a beautiful building, isn't it? http://www.edmontonclinic.ca/

Alberta is known for their oil, their beef, and beer! Interestingly, the Northern Oil Sands are the second largest oil reserves in the world, after Saudi Arabia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athabasca_oil_sands Unfortunately, you can’t just stick a pipe in the ground and wait for oil to come out, the oil sands require extensive and expensive extraction techniques. Now that oil is well over $100 a barrel, the need for oil has really afforded the province of Alberta a great wealth of revenue! The Alberta Heritage Trust affords research and educational funding coming from the revenue from the oil production up North. The result is a trickle down effect that benefits everyone.

Downtown Edmonton, a great view from my hotel room. Lit up, just on the edge of the river vally is the Capital.

Some more details about my future at University of Alberta: I’ve been offered full tuition and a nice stipend, in return for student teaching and work as a graduate research associate for Dr. Stickland. I will technically be a PhD student in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. My work will be in pulmonary physiology, studying exercise and gas exchange. I hope to be able to bring in my previous work in exercise physiology here at SDSU and UCSD and make significant contributions to the field!

The Butterdome, Home of the UofA Golden Bears and Pandas!

Until next time…

Vince

Corbett Hall, one of the many Clinical Research Facilities on Campus

The University of Alberta Hospital

For blood collection we need to heparinize the syringes to prevent clotting in the samples. A little bit about heparin: Anticoagulants – How It Works

Anticoagulants are complex organic or synthetic compounds, often carbohydrates, that help prevent the clotting or coagulation of blood. The most widely used of these is heparin, which blocks the formation of thromboplastin, an important clotting factor in the blood. Most anticoagulants are used for treating existing thromboses (clots that form in blood vessels) to prevent further clotting. Oral anticoagulants, such as warfarin and dicumarol, are effective treatments for venous thromboembolisms (a blockage in a vein caused by a clot), but heparin is usually prescribed for treating the more dangerous arterial thrombosis.

In this case, this heparin was derived from porcine intestinal mucosa, and we plan to give little to none of it to our subject, again just for sample quality purposes.

The back room, dubbed the post-doc room, has been partially converted to become a psuedo-clean room. This is where the sterile prep will happen, where the arterial lines will be inserted and eventually removed. Prior to the study we had the floors stripped and cleaned, and after every study I wipe down ALL surfaces with antiseptic (Lysol)

 

Everything all setup… except for our subject, who forgot their shoes at home…

I should say from here on out there will be less pictures, as more pressing matters were at hand. Any pictures with the subject included will be blurred to protect their confidentiality.

The blue luer-lock 3-way stopcocks were assembled on the 3ml syringes, and then heparin was flushed in and out of each, making sure no air-bubbles remained in the syringe. Why might bubbles be a problem?

Well, since our primary measures involve arterial pressures of O2 and CO2, introduction of an atmospheric air bubble would increase PaO2 and decrease PaCO2, since PatmO2 ~ 150 torr, and Patm CO2 is nearly 0.

Here’s a blog entry with some exercise physiology content in it for you…. This is compiled Arterial Blood Gas data from the subjects who have participated in our studies. ABG collection is fairly simple if it is a single sample, requiring a bit of local anesthetic and usually a fine (25ga) needle and 3ml syringe, or larger if needed. The problem with this:

1) We aren’t doing just 1 ABG collection, we are doing 16.
2) We are collecting during exercise, and sticking our subject with a needle 16 times while they are riding at their ventilatory threshold will be challenging and exasperating to both subject and physician
3) Since exercise increases core temperature, pressures of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide will fluctuate. (Remember PV=nRT from physics and chem)

So the answer is to cannulate the artery (radial artery) so we can have unobstructed and frequent access to the arterial blood. To answer the temperature issue, we place a sterile temperature probe inside a piece of extensioin tubing, and it will record temperature while the blood flows past it during collection. Other data we can collect by using a radial artery catheter: direct arterial pressure measurement and direct heart rate measurement.

The procedure itself is substantially more complicated than placing an intravenous line (IV), and requires quite a bit of sterile setup and equipment. Directly from my checklist:

Exercise-SVI Study
Arterial Catheter Supplies

General prep (Set up night before):
1% lidocaine
4×4 sterile gauze (1 pack)
4×4 non-sterile gauze
Betadine pads (6)
Alcohol pads (9)
16G needle
18G needle
25G needle
Non-sterile gloves –large for Peter, Box of medium
3M micropore tape
3M bandage wrap
5 mL syringe (1 slip-tip)
10 mL syringe (3 luer-lock)
Tourniquet
Atropine sulfate – 1 mL
0.5 mL syringe
Double male luer-lock connector (1)
Razor
Bandaids (3)
BioZ electrodes
Digital thermometer + covers
Stopwatch
Extra chux to go under patient’s arm
Biohazard trash and Sharps containers
Temp Probe and box
Extension tubing with hub for probe

Check Crash Kit: Advanced Cardiac Life Support

Arterial line:
20G BD angiocath (2)
500 mL saline (1)
3-way stopcocks (2 white locking w/ swivel male)
6” extension tubing (Included with Transpac IV Monitoring kit)

For sample collection:
3 mL syringes – luer-lock (17)
3-way stopcock (17)
Sterile gloves – Vince size 8

Sterile field
10 mL syringe – slip
Heparin
16G needle
Labeling supplies (masking tape and sharpie)

This is it for now, will post the setup procedure next time!

-Vince