— Donte Collins

Sylvia Plath // Fyodor Dostoyevsky

people who work/study in quantitative bio-adjacent fields, rise up. computational neuroscience where you get to see someone's thoughts in feelings in graph form??? so cool. biophysics where you can pass blood plasma through an electric field to determine whether a patient has cancer or not?? unbelievable. biomedical engineering where you can literally build a device to pump someone's heart and be the difference between their life and death??? oh my god. disease modelling, being able to predict AND prevent communities being affected by disease on a large scale through your analysis of data??? i love science

— Sylvia Plath (via lunamonchtuna)

Sylvia Plath, from Three Women: A Poem for Three Voices [ID in alt text]

It’s wild to me that we don’t take women’s health care seriously. We should have better treatment for things like endometriosis and PCOS. I’m in the most excruciating pain, can barely walk and the most I get is an IUD (that is no longer working) thrown at me. But don’t worry, we have tons of cosmetic surgeries directed at women. Buccal fat removal, Brazilian butt lifts, face lifts, etc. All the medical research has gone into making women look more appealing to men and none of it is directed towards women’s health conditions.

ScienceAlert

Mysterious Viral DNA in Human Genome Linked With Psychiatric Disorders

Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses.

Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses. These sequences, known as human endogenous retroviruses (or Hervs), date back hundreds of thousands to millions of years – with some even predating the emergence of Homo sapiens. Our latest research suggests that some ancient viral DNA sequences in the human genome play a role in susceptibility to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Hervs represent the remnants of these infections with ancient retroviruses. Retroviruses are viruses that insert a copy of their genetic material into the DNA of the cells they infect.

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"to endure!"

vincent van gogh ("trees and undergrowth") robert lowell [How will the heart endure?] vincent van gogh [I must endure bad times and the waters will rise, possibly as high as the lips and possibly even higher, how can I know beforehand? But I’ll fight my fight and sell my life dearly and try to win and pull through.] rainer maria rilke [To be loved means to be consumed. To love means to radiate with inexhaustible light. To be loved is to pass away, to love is to endure.] joan didion [Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it.] elena ferrante [maybe not even a very orderly mind can endure the discovery of not being loved.] elena ferrante [I will give what I can give, I will take what I can take, I will endure what has to be endured.] han kang [The feeling that she had never really lived in this world caught her by surprise. It was a fact. She had never lived. Even as a child, as far back as she could remember, she had done nothing but endure.] victor frankl [What is to give light must endure burning.]

Women’s health is a mess, I know this. Research is unthinkably underfunded and doctors seem to do nothing but ignore you and prescribe birth control.

But it’s not all bad, and when you feel hopeless, consider that there are people just as mad as you, who work in research and medicine.

They may have found a cause for morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum! Connecticut just announced a new huge research center just for endometriosis! There’s more and more research about the connection between vitamin D and fertility! Diagnostics and hormone tracking gets a little easier every year!

Here are a few of my favorite recent breakthroughs in women’s health:

Hawes, Geoffrey. “LinkMed to Provide First At-Home Fertility Monitoring in U.S.” EIN News, October 20, 2022. https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/596793974/linkmed-to-provide-first-at-home-fertility-monitoring-in-u-s.

He, Yanan, Jixin Li, Yanjun Qu, Liyuan Sun, Xibo Zhao, Han Wu, and Guangmei Zhang. “Identification and Analysis of Potential Immune-Related Biomarkers in Endometriosis.” Journal of Immunology Research 2023 (January 10, 2023): e2975581. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2975581.

Hill, Matthew, and Rhiannon Yhnell. “Device Developed in Bristol Offers ‘revolution’ in Hormone Understanding.” BBC News, June 21, 2023, sec. Bristol. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-65961378.

Medical Xpress. “Early Blood Test May Unravel Secrets of Pregnancy Loss,” May 17, 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-early-blood-unravel-secrets-pregnancy.html.

Medical Xpress. “Extra Vitamin D during Pregnancy May Increase Chance of a ‘Natural Birth,’” February 6, 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-extra-vitamin-d-pregnancy-chance.html.

PR Newswire. “Gynov Helps Women Cope with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome with Two Key Ingredients,” October 20, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gynov-helps-women-cope-with-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-with-two-key-ingredients-301654438.html.

PR Newswire. “QvinTM Menstrual Blood Diagnostic Device Receives FDA Approval in Thailand,” February 2, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qvin-menstrual-blood-diagnostic-device-receives-fda-approval-in-thailand-301736890.html.

Sommer, Constance. “Decoding Endometriosis: Recent Research Fosters Hope.” Medscape, February 2, 2023. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/987811?src=rss.

Watson, Clare. “Scientists Think They’ve Found The Cause of Morning Sickness.” ScienceAlert, June 21, 2023. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-think-theyve-found-the-cause-of-morning-sickness.

- 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚑 𝚜.

– Audrey Hepburn