Up, Up, and Away

Today I venture to Orlando for the annual Diabetes Meetings. For the next few days communication will be erratic as one thing or another catches my fancy.
Today involves multiple airports. Rest assured that I am efficiently packed with an exquisite collection of appropriate warm-weather meeting clothes. And lovely shoes.
I wonder what Mickey’s background strain could be? C57 Black?

Things You Can Learn Online: TSA Edition

Tomorrow I fly again, through the hot muggy skies of Omaha to the hot muggy world of Orlando. As I wait for my flip video camera to upload, I trolled through the TSA site. Omaha’s airport now has one of those fancy imagers. I don’t think it’s on the set of gates I use, but it could be.

So here are potential images from these machines as stolen acquired from TSA:

Images above used backscatter technology; the ones below were generated with millimeter wave:

The images cannot be seen at the screening checkpoint, only at a remote site.

I also learned that my netbook may be screened in its case:

Electronics: Electronics the size of a standard laptop or larger, such as game consoles and full-size DVD players, and video cameras that use video cassettes must be removed from their carrying cases and submitted separately for X-ray screening. Smaller electronics such as e-readers, netbooks and iPads typically do not need to be removed from carry-on baggage for screening.

I have always removed my netbook from the case for screening, but not my Kindle, phone, or iPod. I’m not really clear on why a netbook or iPad can be screened through a layer of neoprene, but a 13” laptop cannot.

My download is almost complete. That’s my cue to go home and pack!

So Long, Anaheim

Check-out time nears, and my laptop has to find its safe case for the trip home. Tomorrow I will be back in Omaha, checking in with my lab peeps and seeing patients all afternoon.

Today’s post was going to be about the Renal Section Dinner last night, with video of the undergraduate and post-doc award presentations. Watching these folks try to line up for a photograph is hysterical; you will have to trust me for now.

I plugged my flip into the laptop this morning and started the upload to YouTube. Everything went well for over an hour. At 95% things were still going smoothly. Then, the message: problem with download.

I do not have time to start over now. Tomorrow I will try again with my hard-wire connection. I will make this available (because everyone’s parents deserve to see this sort of thing).

So stay tuned. I will prevail over my gizmos.

Goodbye Coronado, Hello Home

Today I will leave the San Diego area for uncomfortable airport  seats, and then the colder climes of home. I have survived my 5 day adventure with the contents of my computer tote and a standard roll-aboard suitcase. These included:

• 2 pairs of dress trousers
• 1 pencil skirt
• 4 knit tops
• 2 knit cardigans
• 1 denim jacket
• 2 pairs of shoes (1 worn Tuesday en route)
• 1 pair of jeans (worn Tuesday)
• 1 additional top (worn Tuesday)
• 1 trench coat (worn Tuesday)
• 1 nightshirt
• Assorted cosmetics
• Appropriate undergarments
• Netbook, Kindle, and Blackberry with their chargers

I could easily have packed two more tops to get another day’s wear out of each pair of trousers. So, in theory, I could have gone a week with just the contents of allowable carry-on bags.

That is the art of packing. For other upcoming trips I will not be quite as condensed (mostly because I have already been discussing footwear with other meeting attendees; I have a reputation to uphold, you know).

Photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.

OMG It Is Lovely Here

So I am in the Hotel Del Coronado. Ocean breezes scented with some flower that doesn’t live in Omaha waft through my room.

I will spend all day in a conference room discussing acute kidney injury.

Today’s wardrobe items (photo available via the twitter feed) include a pair of black pants with subtle white and blue pinstripes. A wild-print tee in shades of blue, white, and black is up on top with a black cardigan. My black shoes will finish the outfit; if space had been less of an issue, a pair of cobalt blue patent pumps would finish the look.

The trousers are neutral enough that after 24 hours on a hanger I could wear them again with a different top, extending my carry-on wardrobe another day.

Later today I will discuss the sciencey stuff going on at the meeting. In the meantime, at least I see no dirty snow outside of the window.

And that’s a very good thing.

The Art of Packing

I officially start my 2010 travels today, blogging from Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. When I awoke, Omaha registered 9 degrees; I am heading to the San Diego area where the predicted high for the next 5 days hovers around 70. I will be making a stop in Denver, where I hope my only exposure involves the climate-controlled airport.

I managed to get clothing for this 5-day adventure into a roll-aboard bag and my computer tote. How? Careful planning and experience!

For today, I start with a pair of dark-wash, straight-leg jeans and a black leather belt that will fill all my needs during the trip. To these I add a comfortable, cotton top with elbow-length sleeves. It will be warm enough on the plane, but comfortable at my destination as well. 

My parents dropped me off this morning; had I been parking at the airport, I would have worn a sensible puffer coat and left it in the car. With delivery and pick-up service from family, I could forego that layer and wear a water-resistant gray trench, the perfect weight for windy evenings along the bay.

On my feet are a pair of 3” black patent slingbacks that are incredibly comfortable and easy to take off for security. They will work with most of my outfits, although I did squeeze in one pair of open-toed shoes. I have no idea when enough snow and slush will clear in Omaha to wear them at home.

I only needed 3 days plus the travel days for this meeting. I easily could have done one or two more days with a couple of additional shirts, as I will demonstrate in the days to come. Had this meeting required cold-weather clothes or dressier attire, I might have had to check a garment bag. In that case, my shoe wardrobe would also expand.

So challenge yourself to carry-on for meetings. Plan your wardrobe carefully (that is what a spreadsheet is for).

Radiation Safety

A question arose this morning about the risks of radiation from backscatter imagers.

Background radiation exposure in the US is ~3mSv (milli-Sieverts, equivalent to ~300 mrem). The lifetime risk of a lethal malignancy from all causes in the US is ~20%. A single 10mSv exposure at age 25 years increases the lifetime risk to 20.05%; however, the cumulative risks of repeated exposures are unclear.

A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis exposes a person to 4.5 – 18 mSv of radiation; a plain film of the same area involve 0.7 mSv (See Adv Chronic Kidney Dis 16:48, 2009 for more on these types of studies).

So what is the danger from these new scanners? According to a posting at How Stuff Works:

According to the Health Physics Society (HPS), a person undergoing a backscatter scan receives approximately 0.005 millirems (mrem, a unit of absorbed radiation). American Science and Engineering, Inc., actually puts that number slightly higher, in the area of .009 mrem. According to U.S. regulatory agencies, 1 mrem per year is a negligible dose of radiation, and 25 mrem per year from a single source is the upper limit of safe radiation exposure. Using the HPS numbers, it would take 200 backscatter scans in a year to reach a negligible dose -- 1 mrem -- of radiation. You receive 1 mrem from three hours on an airplane, from two days in Denver or from three days in Atlanta. And it would take 5,000 scans in a year to reach the upper limit of safety. A traveler would have to get 100 backscatter scans per week, every week, for a year, in order to be in real danger from the radiation. Few frequent flyers fly that frequently.

These scanners appear to offer little danger from radioactivity. The posting referenced above is from 2007 when these devices underwent initial testing in the Phoenix airport. The scanner program generated the cartoon image to the left, although its capabilities are more dramatic as shown on the right-hand portion of the image.

Regarding the diminished image used, the following comment was raised in the article:

Some wonder how, then, the system can actually boost security. And the manufacturer, American Science and Engineering, Inc., admits that distorting the image does decrease the machine's usefulness. What if someone tapes a vial of liquid explosives to his scrotum?

Like deja vu, huh?

Stating the Obvious

While waiting for an elevator during rounds today the following arrived in my email box from Principal Investigator E-Alert:

Reader Question: A month ago I was flying to a convention of my research specialty in San Francisco, and in one of my checked bags was my notebook computer and three discs of raw data (non-encrypted) on about 800 patients we have enrolled in a clinical trial. But the airline lost the bag in transit. Of course, I filed a "lost bag" claim with them, but no trace of it yet. Little hope now. I have heard there is some new law called HITECH that applies to lost data. What should I do at this point? Should I already have done anything?

Expert Comments: Brace yourself, we're going to have to deal with some "alphabet soup" of U.S. government acronyms while explaining your situation.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or HITECH, is the U.S.A. Federal law that requires you take immediate action and notify those affected by a loss of protected health information (PHI).

First, figure out if HITECH applies. In order for it to come into play, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability of Accountability Act of 1996) has to apply to you. It does if you're working with patients. However, does HIPAA apply to the particular data you've lost? If you took all of the identifiers off the data, then you're ok because de-identified data isn't covered by HIPAA or HITECH.

View the remainder of the expert comments

Comments by Kristen H. West, J.D., Associate V.P. and Director, Office of Research Compliance, Emory University Atlanta

The expert goes on to more details about the relevant laws and notification requirements- you can follow the link above if you want more. Only the commentary addressed the real issue:

Why would you check a laptop?

1. Laptops are fragile. Don’t let that aluminum exterior fool you; that screen is just waiting to be cracked. Have you watched the way checked bags are handled? Remember those Samsonite commercials when they gave apes at the zoo luggage to destroy? You really want folks to play catch with your computer in a tote bag? Really?
2. Laptops are valuable. Even if it is years old and you have to duct-tape the CD drive closed, someone can pick it up and sell it for a few bucks. Your checked bags have to be accessible to TSA for search; do you really think everyone who touches luggage is immune to thievery? Really?
3. Even in puddle-jumper jets like those by Embraer  you can usually keep your laptop. Roll-aboard bags must be gate-checked, but surely you have a padded tote for the laptop that will fit under the seat in front of you or in those tiny overhead bins. Even when the compartments are filled, the attendants can usually check the tote but tuck your laptop in one of their cubbies during take-off and landing.

My next question:

Why were you traveling with all those data?

1. Planning to work in the airport or on the plane? And you checked your laptop?
2. Planning to work during the meeting? Then why are you going? You are supposed to be meeting- learning, networking, and interacting. Not analyzing your own data in your room.
3. Planning to work in the evening? At a convention of your research specialty in San Francisco? Go out and socialize; the best collaborations in science begin in bars!
4. IRBs require data protection plans. At my institution, we specify that data will be coded and password protected on our servers. Any hard copies will be kept in locked areas accessible only to the PI and other approved personnel. So why did you think taking them on a trip was appropriate?
5. If you absolutely need to access large data sets, invest in some sort of cloud computing. Your institution may be able to set up remote server access for you, and other options are out there. I subscribe to DropBox. Up to 2 Gb can be stored for free, and the applet synchronizes the most recent version with all computers you install it on. Other services also allow you to store files and access them via any internet connection with appropriate security measures.

The bottom line: The scenario described should not have occurred for a whole bunch of reasons. Traveling with a laptop often allows me to accomplish something during delays at O’Hare (as well as sharing my ongoing deep insights with readers of this blog), and I love my Lenovo Ideabook S10 netbook. I would never, never, ever check it!

It’s a Four Letter Word

I have received several emails and texts from my family, wishing me well:

Did you hear Omaha is getting up to 12 inches of snow tomorrow?

They have already cancelled school!

Think you’ll get home? We’re supposed to have blizzard conditions by the time you land!

S.N.O.W.

Four letters that may ground me tomorrow evening. Of course, my “well-wishers” keep “warning” me about this coming onslaught.

I wonder what they want me to do about it?

I can’t leave earlier. If I could, I would not have a direct flight. A layover in Chicago or Milwaukee is unlikely to improve my chances of landing in Omaha.

And it’s not like I can control the weather. If I could, Omaha would be perfect. Like 72 degrees from mid-January through May, then 85 and sunny for June-August. Autumn would bring 70 degree days with a touch of crispness in the evenings for football games. We would have 2 to 3 weeks of “winter” with just enough snow to dust the evergreens over Christmas and New Year days.

Think what the NCAA would pay me to guarantee a College World Series with no rain-outs!

Since I can’t make this happen, I will just have to go with the flow of snow tomorrow. Now quit telling me about it; I can get weather reports in DC!

Photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.

It’s ExtraORDinary

I have a confession. A dirty little secret. Nothing that threatens life, my marriage, or the free world. But something that no other traveler in the US is likely to admit:

Yup, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. I have had my share of really bad days there – 9 hours trying to find a good chair, and several hours of delays with my entire family during a layover on that first day they banned carry-on liquids. It’s a really busy airport, with way too many people running around without apparent direction. Folks are often surly or rude as well. And yet, I still find stuff to love.

I first appreciated the architecture of the B and C concourses in the original Home Alone movie. Ceilings seem to soar and become part of the air above, even when the fog rolls in off of Lake Michigan. The halls look wide and expansive, without the tunnel effect of many older terminals. If you ignore the jostling around you, the concourses are truly beautiful.

On this last trip, I crossed from B to C concourse. These terminals are parallel, unconnected halls of gates. Between them is a giant jet parking lot, under which runs a tunnel. A tunnel can be utilitaritarian or it can be this:

The photo really can’t do this crossing justice. Moving walkways are centered between walls of lit glass bricks. Overhead are wavy neon tubes in the full spectrum of colors, presenting an amazing light show. While you run or stroll through the corridor, a new-age version of Rhapsody in Blue accompanies your journey, a version that sounds as if fairies are tapping it out on tiny chimes. Very Disney-esque.

There are some issues with the airport. The older terminals could use some more updating, and better shops would help during long delays. Overall, it is an amazing building.

And good thing, because I spend many hours there every year.

On Meetings Large & Small

For the next few days I will be communicating from a conference on the role sex plays in the kidney and in cardiovascular disease in general.

I have commented at length on planning and packing for meetings, and on various aspects of larger meetings I have attended. These included Experimental Biology and the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

Smaller meetings are different (duh). For about 3 days I will be with a group of people with very similar interests. We will talk together, eat together, drink together, and sleep together (in the same hotel, not the same room). These meetings are a great “breeding ground” for new ideas and approaches. While big meetings should generally include a personal session of touristy behavior, smaller meetings are more intense. And, ultimately, more valuable, even though some may see them as less prestigious than their larger brethren.

When I get bored, I will twitter about random thoughts (@phlane), and I will try to update the blog once or twice. I just finished my last book, About Face, and I should post another What I’m Reading on Sunday. After all, I will have time to burn in airports!

The Last Day of a Meeting

I have the privilege of attending a number of biomedical meetings throughout the year, and the misfortune to often be programmed on the final day.

Remember Charlotte's Web? The fair is ending and the magic of Wilbur's win is still fresh in his mind. He then finds out that Charlotte won't be returning to the farm with him.

I'm reminded of that bittersweet moment as I look around at abandoned brochures and notices. Most people look like I feel - a bit dazed and ready to leave. We will remember the people, the fun, and, of course, some science, but right now the party is over.

Of course, we don't get in a truck and drive to the farm. Most of us get to experience air travel, the final hurdle between a successful meeting and home. I'm wondering when we will get that Star Trek transporter physiology figured out, so we can just beam ourselves where we want.

Spring: Thoughts of airports...

Spring. The weather is warmer, the birds are singing, and it's time to start traveling! For those of you not in academic medicine, the year has a distinct rhythm. Very few meetings seem to happen between mid-November and March. I believe this is because of family holidays and bad weather during these months. Once spring hits, it's open season on meetings.

It's not just the chance to present science and eat out with your peers. No, committees, study sections, advisory groups, and specialty interest groups all seem to want to fly somewhere they are not. It is like some sort of weird, non-migratory behavior. We generally avoid blizzards this time of year, but thunderstorms can still ground planes and thwart the best planned travel. It pays to travel with entertainment - books, movies, and other toys can make 9 hours at O'Hare seem like 9 hours, not 18! I know, I've done it a few times.

For those of us who log a bit of air travel each year, the airport time can be the worst part. There are signs all over the airport about the 3-1-1 rule: carry-on liquids need to be 3 oz max, you put them in a 1 quart ziplock bag, and each passenger gets 1 bag. If you want more information about this, click on the picture- it will take you to the TSA website with more than you every could want to know! 3-1-1 has been the case since September 2006. Even so, there are still people in line who try to carry on big bottles of stuff. DON'T BE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE. YOU JUST LOOK DUMB.

A number of airlines now charge for checked bags. I believe this is a mistake; I would charge for any carry-on that won't fit under the seat, and give that second carry-on bag as a bonus to my frequent fliers. After all, stowing carry-on luggage is the biggest bottleneck in boarding the plane. When I rule the world things will be different, but in the meantime this does not mean that ANYTHING can be carried onto the plane to avoid these fees! I've seen people trying to put king-size bedding sets in the overhead compartment. It's insane!

Finally, watch where you're going in the airport. I am amazed at how many people just seem to have no clue that someone is in front of/beside/behind them. Try to be polite and considerate; someone will be delighted with your attitude. Especially at O'Hare.

That's enough rambling and ranting for one day. Feel free to say hello if you see me in the Red Carpet Club at O'Hare or Denver or one of the other places I go this year. I will have my nose buried in a really good book.