David Steensma, MD

Barred owl with wings spread.

It is unusual to see a barred owl on the ground, especially during the day. But this guy was doing some sort of maintenance in the dust alongside a remote hiking trail.

The owl was not injured. It flew away when it saw me, but not before posing for a nice photo.

#UnusualBirdBehavior

Interesting! Did not know this… I wonder if there are other languages that use a similar term.

"Blood poverty" was not a commonly used construct, but "Poverty of the blood" was used as a synonym for anemia in late 19th/early 20th century - especially from iron deficiency in young women, more frequently termed "chlorosis". See for example this 1892 paper, and a 1909 book by a McGill physician.

Found this advertisement for "Blood Poverty" tonic - "Women naturally suffer more than men" - in a 1925 New Zealand newspaper.

While the first recorded use of 'cytopenia' was a 1906 paper per OED, it means 'cell poverty' - from the Greek πενίᾱ (peníā), poverty or lack.
@shematologist.medsky.social

Wow - Is that your home freezer or the grocery store?!

February 1st is National Ice Cream For Breakfast Day - looks like you are well prepared 😊

Frost flowers on thin ice.

A small stream runs through the woods behind our house, and this morning “frost flowers” were on the surface.❄️ I’ve never seen them before!

They can form on thin ice on chilly, windless days when the air is much colder than the surface ice. Water vapor rising up from the surface quickly refreezes.

Blue skies and blue reflections in suburban Boston this morning ❄️

Beautiful!

Effect of Plasma and Blood Donations on PFAS Levels in Firefighters in Australia This randomized clinical trial examines the effect of blood or plasma donations on serum levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances among firefighters in Australia.

I am guessing this is where the panel’s recommendation came from:

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The £100K treatment and £200K per year maintenance figures are for phlebotomy of 50 people rather than just one.

There are data that phlebotomy or plasmapheresis decreases PFAS levels.

Not saying this is the right approach, just that it is not the same as Bryan Johnson’s young blood nonsense.

I was walking along a trail yesterday and noticed this Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) - the plant that “vinca alkaloid” anti-cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine were isolated from back in 1961. They’re still used today, especially vincristine for acute lymphoid leukemia and NHL.

Last night I imaged NGC891, the “Silver Sliver” galaxy, an edge-on spiral galaxy with a prominent dust lane about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda. It is sometimes called The Outer Limits galaxy because it appears in the credits of the TV show.
#astrophotography #galaxy

My latest Mayo Clinic Proceedings stamp vignette on medical history is now online, about the "Dear Doctor" postcards of the 1950s & 1960s. Most were from Abbott Labs, touting sodium pentothal.

Author link with 50 days free access to the article"
authors.elsevier.com/a/1kN0a5qq8b...

#Deltiology

Carolina wren fledgling having a bad hair day

It’s really terrific to have this

It’s interesting when we think about how much being iron deficient or anemic impairs function & health outcomes. But in 1900, the top causes of death in the US were pneumonia & influenza, TB, and GI infections a so human history is a long battle against the microbes and prob any little edge mattered

Another factor may be iron-avid microorganisms that have been common causes of death historically (and still today in some places): E. coli, Yersinia, Salmonella, etc. Similar to hepcidin-driven iron sequestration, absolute iron deficiency can have a protective effect against growth of pathogens.

How fun to be back @danafarber.bsky.social today (for an SIV).

The drive in is just as much of an adventure as it always was…

Nice to see friends & former colleagues in person -

Eek! In a chair?! That would be like attempting a digital rectal exam without asking the patient to undress: uncomfortable & uninformative.

Alas, the physical exam is becoming a lost art - but hopefully since these were MPN clinical trialists they’d be better than average at spleen examination.

Thought this was interesting: correlation between spleen length by palpation on physical exam in myelfibrosis versus spleen volume by centrally reviewed radiographic imaging, from a clinical trial described at #ASH24 by John Mascarenhas. There's a trend, but exam is not a super accurate measurement.

The late-breaking abstract session in on-demand video form also makes great "background music" while packing up in your hotel room #ASH24

Starting the first ever @ash symposium for mid career hematologists #ASH24

“The safety profile was generally manageable” is a statement utterly devoid of meaning #ASH24

As promised, the answer key to yesterday’s @ash-hematology.bsky.social #ASH24 crossword puzzle - hope you enjoyed it!

Snazzy!

The annual #ASH24 hematology-themed crossword puzzle - the 13th one that @ASH_hematology has asked me to create for the @ash-hematology.bsky.social “ASH News Daily” conference newspaper.

I’ll post the answers tomorrow…

Not everyone with very short telomeres has a gene mutation detected. In some series as many as 40% of patients do not have a clear associated mutation. If the telomere length assay was done by flow FISH and is <1% in both granulocytes and lymphocytes that’s consistent with a short telomere syndrome.

Let me know how I can help

One week on leukemia call I got so many pages, I drained a fresh battery in a single week.

Peterson saw 572 bird species that year. At the time he was the record holder for a “Big Year” of birding. That didn’t last long, though - in 1956 Stuart Keith followed Peterson and Fisher’s route and saw 594 birds.

I apparently was the first person to check this book out in a while.