THE STORY OF YOUR DRUGS

In 2007, a paper from Dr. Daniel Drucker’s lab was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation titled The role of gut hormones in glucose homeostasis. The paper reviews the actions of gut hormones that regulate glucose levels and the discovery of one hormone in particular, a glucagon-like peptide-1 or GPL1. A little further back in time, Dr. John Eng, an endocrinologist at the Veterans Administration Center in the Bronx, released a paper about Exendin-4. Dr. Eng had been looking into identifying new hormones and heard about certain snake and lizard venoms that produced an enlargement of the pancreas. The pancreas is where our bodies produce insulin and Dr. Eng was curious. What if this could be useful in treating diabetes? One of those hormones is Exendin-4.

Exendin-4 turned out to be very similar to GLP1. Then, around the same time Dr. Eng was playing around with Exendin-4, Dr. Josephine Egan, in collaboration with Amylin Pharmaceuticals, found that injecting diabetic mice daily with Exendin-4 stabilized their blood sugar levels. Several trials later, gave us Ozempic. All from a peptide from gila monster venom and patented by Dr. Eng. This is just one of an infinite number of examples of how basic scientific research leads to big developments in fighting diseases. It is also the kind of research not possible without federal funding. Early studies in Ro ribonucleoproteins by Dr. Judith James gave birth to the Rheumatology Research Center at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. This center currently has a long list of clinical trials going, because of federally funded basic research.

Right there, in my home state! 

This time every year, an independent outside group of scientists gather together at the FDA to compare and collaborate on data for developing the flu vaccine. Flu viruses change every year either through antigenic drift where the virus’s genes mutate or through antigenic shift where two different flu strains swap genetic material. Through sequencing the most potent flu strains, scientists can predict what the sequence will be in the next flu strain and then vaccines are designed around those predictions. This meeting determines the effectiveness and safety of the flu vaccine you will receive in the Fall. That meeting has been cancelled this year. NPR talked to one of the vaccine experts on the committee, Dr. Paul Offit.

I think there's a value in having an independent committee that looks at the data, holds it to a very high standard. That's a process that makes sure that we can have the best science behind the decisions we make. - Dr. Paul Offit.

A similar meeting has also been cancelled at the CDC. This is going to result in a large delay in making the vaccine for this year’s flu and producing enough to ensure the safety of the public. This is what happens when we freeze money for science and force massive blind layoffs of Federal employees. I selfishly have chosen to highlight a small portion of the destruction forced by the DOGE, mainly because there is so much happening right now. I only have so much energy, but here is the current list of agencies where federal employees are being fired:

• Department of Education (includes the Federal Student Aid office)

• Department of Homeland Security (half of those cuts are in the Federal Emergency Management Agency- FEMA, including our Coast Guard)

• Department of Energy (including the National Nuclear Security Administration)

• United States Agency for International Development

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

• Department of Veterans Affairs

• Department of Agriculture (including cuts the US Forest Service- wildfire response and prevention)

• Environmental Protection Agency

• Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Interior (our National Parks)

• Office of Personnel Management (Human resources for the government)

• General Services Administration

• Small Business Administration

• Internal Revenue Service

• Department of Defense.

I am a middle class tax bracket citizen. I have required and received help and or aid in some form from more than half of these agencies. I relied on information from HUD and the first time home buyer benefits when I purchased my house. My family receives benefits from the Gold Star Family program, a federally funded program. I have a lifetime pass to the National Parks through this program. I would not have been able to pay for graduate school without federal loans. Chris would not have been able to pay for any of his college education without federal funding. This is just a drop in the bucket. I can assure you that we all have benefitted from federal programs and I don’t even mind paying federal taxes to contribute to the benefits. I do mind that so much of the federal tax burden lands on the middle class and poor. Trump’s new tax proposal is set to increase my federal taxes by $1,500 while 4% of the country who makes almost one million a year gets a tax cut of $7,000. Want to get really mad? Check out this graph. Did the 77,284,118 people who voted for Trump know he was going to raise their taxes by fifteen hundred dollars? What about their representatives? Did they willingly support candidates who refuse to stand up to a tyrant and allow for an increase in their taxes? Is abortion and the removal of trans rights really worth this tax increase to them? 

After about my third gin and tonic Saturday night, I looked at Michael and said “I’m just so angry all the time and so much of it is directed at things I have no control over.” I can’t fix what’s happening. I can’t reason with those who support this fascist. This administration is by far not making America great, but they are doing a fine job of making it harder to be an American. I know that when I write these entries, the only people reading are those already part of the choir. Michael reminded me that we just keep doing what we’ve been doing. As soon as the Ivanhoe Farmers Market opens, we’ll buy produce there and we will be very mindful of how and where we spend our money. We have a local election in April. We will vote to improve Kansas City schools. I will continue to send money for aid to Ukraine and Palestinians. I will continue to send my weekly accomplishment list to the Nazi. I keep preaching to the choir.

And I will remember that this battle is going to be a long haul. So I need to pace myself and give myself some grace.

THANKFUL FRIDAY

Today, I turn forty seven. I thought about this post last week and how I was going to say that this is the first month I’ve missed a period since I was maybe fourteen, but then my period started. It was almost two weeks late and included a little extra gore than usual. This had me doing an extensive search of medical journals to see how seriously I should take all this extra gore. It took an awful lot of digging to determine that it was probably due to a lack of ovulation. So, in honor of turning another year older, my ovaries are creeping into retirement and spitting out dust balls.

How fitting.

At first, I was a little sad because nothing really says “YOU’RE OLD” like an internal organ ceasing to function because it has reached the end of its life cycle. Then I got really annoyed at the level of research I had to do in order to determine that what was happening to my body is considered to be normal. Apparently, perimenopause and menopause are the real life Fight Club. The one thing I do know is that I have one to ten years of unpredictable menstrual cycles before it is really over. It is hard enough to get the appropriate attention for women’s health needs during their reproduction life stage, unless it is to restrict their reproductive rights. Forget any attention addressed to a woman’s needs when that stage ends. Remember when I said that thing about everything being a social construct? A woman’s aging body is so deeply rooted in a social construct of silence and invisibility that it will take multiple generations to rid this garden of the weeds.

But the revolution has begun. I’ve pre-ordered my copy of Karen Walrond’s new book, Radiant Rebellion (you should too) and I have a feeling it is going to be my handbook for fighting the war on growing older. It is not a war to fight aging, but a war against the negative ideas of aging.

Old, young, it’s all a perception and there are no rules. Recently, I was in the coffee line with a graduate student who was bemoaning adulthood and how difficult it was being a grown up. She is twenty five. Here was my tidbit of advice. I told her that there is no such thing as being a grown up. Sure, there are daily responsibilities that we didn’t have as children, but that doesn’t mean you now have to leave behind the joy and sense of play of childhood. I will even argue that you can maintain an aspect of being carefree. There are no rules other than the ones we place on ourselves. There may be outside voices with advice on how you should feel and act at a certain age, but they don’t know and really are probably only trying to sell you something. Take care of the basics like food, shelter, yearly health checks, and then do or behave any way you please.

I’m taking my own advice. Today is just a celebration of surviving another rotation around the sun. My aging body just makes me a target for the snake oil industry of anti-aging and as someone who tends to think of literal meanings of words, anti-aging sounds ridiculous and impossible. I will have none of that. Life cycle. Our lives are cyclic. My body is just cycling back to pre-teen age.