Soma Purana

My goal is now 1000 classes in 1000 days. After that, I don't plan on having anymore targets. Probably I must do some reflection on what this yoga has done for me. Let me first say what it has not. I did not lose a single pound of weight all this time. As a matter of fact, I gained about 20 lbs. Now I have begun to lose a few pounds. I have a bigger belly, disappointing. I don't suppose weight gain is caused by yoga. It is just diet. I don't have much interest in my work. No, I am not saying Bikram caused me to lose interest in work. That is just the result of aging, I am 63 now. I have stomatitis (mouth sores) occasionally flare up and cause much discomfort. I still do, Bikram did nothing for it. I used to be plagued by frequent knee pain with Bikram. It has not gone away completely. But it happens very rarely. In general, my knees are much stronger. What benefits did Bikram do to me? Even as I am losing interest in my work, I am gaining much interest in continuing

I wanted to suggest what type of experiences a US visitor should plan to acquire. My brother's family will visit us in West Windsor, NJ some time in the future. So I started making my list below what experiences I would arrange for them. This list is not in any particular order. I will continue to update this list. Take them to a Trenton court and see how a trial is conducted. We all see court trials on TV and movies, but that does not reflect reality. Depending on time availability see both a civil trial and a criminal trial at least one full day each.  Take them to Mercer County community college and let them sit through an entire class period (either my class class or another professor's class). This will give them an experience of how students interact with each other and with the professor. My feeling is they will see this interaction is quite different from what they have experienced in India. Take them to Princeton University and sit through a public talk, a classro

Ian Johnson had posted this post: http://www.returnyoga.org/2012/07/09/dandayamana-janushirasana-the-ego-stands-naked/ So true!

How many times the  term "equality" appears in the originally written US constitution? Answer : zero times. How many times the  term "equality" appears in the 27 amendments to the  US constitution? Answer : exactly once. The 14th amendment says, no state shall " deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." A single reference, boy, how powerful it has been! This is a cornerstone of american civil rights.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316376/posts

This question did not ever occur to me. Did it occur to you? We should always challenge status quo. I came across an article  that neuroscience and Buddhist beliefs agree that "the self" ever-changing. Doesn't seem far-fetched to me. I have seen numerous people who have changed so radically between their childhood and adult lives or even between two adult ages. We have heard the expression "you are not the same person anymore." Most mainstream religions seem to suggest that self is fixed. Some say self is indestructible, not even death eliminates the self. But interestingly radical transformation of "self" is visible in people who were not religious before became deeply religious (e.g., George W. Bush). Do you think Dalai Lama would be such a kind-hearted person if he were not chosen as the Lama and instead his life as farmer or a bank clerk? Religion always muddies up the water, if you ask me. While it says "the self" is fixed,

R proposed to S and S accepted. On 9/20 Pari and I went for dinner at Doasi Place with Anupam and Rumu. We had a wonderful time. On 9/21 we went to see a musical "Little Women" at Kelsey Theater. N came home on 9/21 and stayed with us for a few hours and drove back that night to Brooklyn. An eventful day!

I was discussing my friends Anupam and Rumu about the level of students that we teach. It is the usual diatribe about how bad they are, etc. I think it is difficult for professors to put themselves in a typical student's shoes. It is not always easy to for anyone to understand everything a professor teaches. In differential calculus, there is something called epsilon-delta definition of a limit which everyone hates. It is not all that critical and the sky doesn't fall if you skip teaching it. But most professors gamely go thru the ritual of teaching it and spoiling their hour and and their students feel they just sipped world's worst drink. My take on this, if students don't understand it, skip it. If it is really important condense it, simplify it, teach it in a way one can follow. Buddha understood this very well. He devised three different means or vehicles for imparting his teachings depending on the level of his audience. All three aim for the same Buddhahoo

I have missed class on a few days in the last hundred days. But as before, I made it up by doing doubles on other days. I am waiting for 1000 to happen and then I will take a day off!

Interesting reading here .

These days, I come across so many words I am not sure what they mean. For instance, I started reading a research article and came across three terms in the short very first paragraph  that I had heard before but forgot their exact meaning, "sympathetic nervous system", "cohort", "prospective study." Thank god for Google to quickly find the meaning on the net and move on.

There are less than 100 glycobiologists in the entire US. Freeze is a one of the most talented one. Listen to his talk at a conference here .

Harrison Ford plays the glycobiologist in the movie. He studies a rare genetic disease called Pompe. Watch and listen here . The movie is based on the true story.

You should read this "The illustrated guide to a Ph.D."

I have found some exciting writings on rare genetic diseases. I am still reading this one . It is very interesting reading written by non-biologist Matt Might about a rare deadly diseases his young son has. Matt who is a computer science professor in the university of Utah won an award for best online science-writing. You may also want to read the same story written in a shorter version by a journalist here .

Frank Macfarlane Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his clonal selection theory which explains how our body's adaptive immune system works. 

In Epigenetics, we learn about methylation and acetylation. acetylation may not really be considered epigenetic marking since it is not heritable by mitosis.  Also, acetylation is marking on histone N-term tails which do not affect DNA directly but can be considered as chromatin remodellers by eating into histone's positive charge. Histones methylation does not alter the charge of the histone. H3K4me means methylation of the 4th Lysine (K) residue on histone 3. DNA Methylation, on the other hand, can occur on CpG islands in the DNA and can modify transcription.

Shashi is with us. On 3rd, Fri we went to NYC and took the Circle Line tour with Syl and her parents. Then went to a restaurant on the boat called Frying Pan - Neeraja also joined us. On 4th Sat went to East Brunswick to see Fireworks. That was spectacular. Today (7/5) planning to go see Cranbury fireworks. Actually, didn't do Cranbury. 

This post is meant evolve with time. I don't think any of the yoga methods is meant for losing weight. Some may indeed lose weight. But that should not be your focus to start or continue yoga. Losing weight requires dieting. I did not lose weight. Actually, I gained about 15 pounds in two years. The ones who regularly practice yoga but haven't lost a pound might say they gained muscle mass. The fact is I don't even look like I have lost weight.  Regular practice is important. If you don't practice regularly, then the yoga seems like a painful chore. I do yoga every day and I look forward to it.  It does not become easier. I have been practicing Bikram yoga non-stop for two ears but I still feel achy after every practice. I find difficulty in every one of the 26 asanas in Bikram yoga. I do find improvements in my asanas; they don't come soon. In my case, I can sense a slight improvement in an asana after many months.  I believe yoga helps in many aspects of

On Monday June 22, 2015, I finished 730 Bikram yoga classes in 730 days. Actually, it is 731 classes. It is strictly not in a row since the yoga studio was closed on three days due to snow and I missed two days due to vacation. But I made up by doing doubles on six days.

For the first time, went to New York city Times Square and did Bikram yoga out in the open. It was a fantastic experience. Parvathi and I first went to Brooklyn to Neeraja's place. Dropped her new bike and and took the subway to proceed to Manhattan Times Square. Unfortunately, Parvathi had to register and go to one place and Neera and I went another. We met up after a full 90-minute yoga class. Rajashree Choudhury, Donna Rubin, and Jennifer Lobo conducted the class. Donna and Jennifer led the standing series and Rajashri led the floor series. Parvathi was in the location where Rajashree was there which was great. Neera and I were in another location where Rajashree and othrer instructor's voice came over the speakers and two outstanding yogi's practiced on the stage for us. They were Joseph Ensinia and Charly Seamon. Charly was Neeraja's instructor. I spoke to both afterwords and Charly said a strange thing. She said, she recognized me because I looked just lik

N started her work after graduation with Paul Latham Design . The projects started to shrink in that firm and she started looking for another job (Joyce Silverman Interiors ). She started her work at the new design firm on the same day as her last day with Latham. In fact, she worked part of the day with Latham and rushed to her new work.

A good video ...

I saw a a good explanation in this video .

Here is the link to the paper. Very interesting paper. Pretty long, I am still reading it...

As I continue my quest to learn more and more in genomic science, I am finding how critical it is to understand statistics. Here is a good article that was published in NY Times.

Absolutely wonderful movie. The best performance by Rajesh Tailang in the main role of Mahendra Saini. The movie is very realistic. A moving tale. The innocence,  simple living, perseverance, integrity are the hallmark virtues of Mahendra Saini's character. This movie has been highly rated. http://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/siddharth-movie-review-a-mystery-with-no-simple-or-cliche-solution/2014/08/13/dc84748c-2178-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/movies/siddharth-follows-a-fathers-search-for-his-son.html?_r=0

John Nash, a celebrity of my town West Windsor, was killed in a car accident with his wife Alicia on May 23, 2015. So sad. John Nash, a brilliant mathematician received Nobel prize in Economics. He was portrayed in the award winning The Beautiful Mind, a movie. I never got to meet Nash. When I went to library and borrowed the movie Beautiful Mind, the library person said that he came to library often. His adult son, Johnny Nash, who lived with his parent  also hung around in the library or a pizza shop in West Windsor. Johnny also suffered from schizophrenia and is unemployed though he has a PhD in mathematics and a brilliant mathematician himself.

  "Say Hello to the 100 Trillion Bacteria That Make Up Your Microbiome"  Another more detailed paper "From Structure to Function..." I am planning to dnate $99 and get my microbiota ...

Bronze age refers to the human historical period 2000 BC - 500 BC. Iron age is from 500 BC to 20th century AD. Iron is plentiful on the earth's crust much more than copper and tin that bronze is made of. But, the only reason bronze age came first was because bronze melts at a lower temperature than iron. The melting points of these materials are: Copper:    1,085°C Tin:    232°C Bronze:   950 °C Copper:    1,540°C

I have completed in 2015, so far, 7 MOOCs. R Programming - Johns Hopkins Intro to Physical Chemistry - U Manchester Vital Signs: Understanding what the body is telling us - UPenn The Civil war and reconstruction 1861-1865 - Columbia Intro to Nutrition - Wageningen U, Netherlands Statistics and R for Life Sciences - Harvard The Civil war and reconstruction 1865-1890 - Columbia

I have heard that Mysore is a famous place for advanced yoga practice and training. I just found out about Ashtanga Yoga Institute, Mysore. I am watching one of the Youtube videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUgtMaAZzW0 I intend to post after completely watching the video.

ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) is the energy currency of life. ATP is produced by using up glucose molecules. If we have plenty of oxygen a single glucose molecule will create 30 ATP molecules through the complete process of cellular respiration.. If completely oxygen deficient, only a net of 2 ATP molecules will result. In addition, in oxygen deficient conditions, lactic acid is produced as a byproduct and builds up in the muscles.

I thought these two meant the same. They are not. Heart rate is the rate at which your heart beats per minute. Pulse, on the other hand, is the  mechanical pulse of blood flow through the capillaries felt, for instance, at the base of the thumb at the the wrist. Pulse is also measured as a rate per minute. Generally, the heart rate and pulse rate should be the same. But, when the pulse rate is lower, say, 50 when heart rate is 70, it means there is a problem in getting the blood to that arterial point.

Completed and received the certificate: 1. "HIST1.2x Civil War and Reconstruction - 1861-1865" taught by the famous historian Eric Foner. Completed and waiting to receive the certificate: 1. PH525.1x Statistics and R for the Life Sciences - Harvard U 2. NUTR101x Introduction to Nutrition – Food for Health 3. Introduction to Physical Chemistry - Manchester U Courses in progress: 1. "HIST1.3x The Civil War and Reconstruction - 1865-1890" (Notice different period). 2. R Programming - Johns Hopkins 3. Vital Signs: Understanding What the Body Is Telling Us - UPenn

I didn't know the meaning of this word before. Actually, my father when he owned small amount of lands in Munganahalli, allowed part of his lands (about 1/3rd) tilled and harvested by a Harijan family in return for a share of the harvest. This is sharecropping. It was employed to some extent in US during reconstruction in the aftermath of the civil war which freed the slaves. Sharecropping has its advantages - the risks and rewards are shared between the owner and cropper. The basic disadvantage is you lose the economies of scale which didn't matter much back in my village days.

I just finished reading 2009 long article "The Cost Conundrum"  in The New Yorker. The article is about spiraling healthcare costs in the US. It is a well researched paper which influenced policy. I have started reading Gawande's book "The Checklist Manifesto." This is also a beautiful book. The summary is basically using a checklist while performing hospital procedures. You might say, checklist? what is the big idea? But, a simple checklist in surgery reduced deaths by more than 30% and dramatically cut costs.

I was reading the  14th amendment and was struck by Section 2 of the amendment which limited the right to vote to only male citizens. The  14th amendment was passed by congress in 1866 as part of reconstruction of the battered nation and ratified in 1868. Change takes time. Even though the civil war which was so costly in terms of life and property was fought to restore the rights of negro Americans in slavery, the nation was not enlightened enough to address the sex bias. It required another 50 years to allow right to vote to all citizens. The 19th amendment took care of that - " The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."  The 19th amendment was passed in 1919 and ratified in 1920. 

I would like to dig into the nutritional value of honey that is claimed over the centuries. GloryBee, for instance, states "Honey is a pretty amazing substance and there is a lot more to it than just a sweet tasting treat. Honey plays a crucial role in the life of a honey bee and can also be very beneficial to the human body." BillyBee states "Honey has more nutritious elements than refined sugar. It's a concentrated source of energy - quickly digested and readily absorbed - and contains no fat. Honey is pure because no other ingredients are added. But what puts honey first among sweeteners is its truly unique flavour, its look and natural character." There are many such claims on the Internet. A PubMed paper published in 2007 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17877657) claimed benefits beyond nutrition, in "wound healing and as an alternative treatment for clinical conditions ranging from gastrointestinal tract (GIT) problems to ophthalmic condit

On 2/21 Sat morning (5AM) , I noticed -2 degF on my (outside) thermometer.

These days the temperature never seems to get above freezing even for a short time. When I woke up this morning, I noticed the outside temp was 3 deg F. My heater was struggling to warm the home to 68 degF.

I saw an interesting graph in a research paper "Interaction of Aging and CKD" (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2771919/). Acronyms CKD=Chronic Kidney Disease eGFR = estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate ESRD=End-Stage Renal Disease "Older patients are less likely than their younger counterparts with similar levels of eGFR to progress to the point of needing renal replacement therapy ." "the relative risk of death associated with a given level of eGFR is attenuated at older ages" "These observations are of more than academic interest because the overwhelming majority of older patients currently classified as having CKD have mild to moderate reductions in eGFR and are no more likely to die than their age peers with “normal” renal function"

The story of Josiah Gibbs absolutely fascinates me. See Wikepedia for the complete story. Gibbs is famous for "Gibbs energy G." He was the first to receive an (from Yale in 1863) engineering PhD in America. Obviously, he was at Yale during the Civil war but he did not volunteer or was conscripted in the war due to his illnesses and poor eyesight. He had astigmatism for which  the optometrists back then didn't know how to solve, so he had to grind his own lenses. He spent three years in Europe after college and then returned to Yale where he spent the rest of his life. He pretty much spent his entire life in the same house. He had sufficient means through inheritance from his father and taught free at Yale. Later, Johns Hopkins offered a professorship to him with a salary of $3000 per year. Yale came to know about this and offered to increase his salary from zero to $2000 per year. Gibbs said fine and stayed at Yale! What amazes me is the versatility of scientists l

The so called "Blizzard of 2015" came and went. More than two feet of snow was expected. We got in our place about six inches. Very few places in north est (New England and eastern Long Island) were truly affected. We didn't even lose electricity. Glad blizzard was a flop. But the temperatures are brutal. It is 7 deg F right now.

Fat in the food we eat and the fat in our our body is called triglycerides. Each triglyceride molecule is really three fatty acid chains attached to glycerol. An example image is shown below. Fatty acid may be either saturated or unsaturated. "Saturated" means saturated with hydrogen, i.e., all carbon carbon bonds are single bonds. "Unsaturated" means one or more carbon carbon bonds are double bonds. The term "Saturated" or "Unsaturated" really refers to fatty acid and not to a triglyceride molecule. SFA is saturated fatty acid MUFA is monounsaturated fatty acid (one double bond) PUFA is polyunsaturated fatty acid (more than one double bond) Double bond decrease melting point. 

In this brief post, I just want to focus on words. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) - also called heart disease. "Cardio" means heart. "Vascular" means blood vessels. So, CVD refers to a class of diseases that involve the heart and/or the blood vessels.  The most common form of CVD is coronary heart disease (CHD). Coronary arteries – the blood vessels providing blood to the heart muscle  Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.  Heart supplies blood to other tissues. But its own muscles need oxygenated blood too. So, these coronary arteries represent arteries that supply blood to heart muscle. In CHD, coronary arteries  become narrow and rigid, restricting blood flow to the heart.  CHD is also called ischemic heart disease.  ischemia   is a restriction in blood supply to tissues Another common form of CVD is stroke.  in stroke, the arteries supplying blood to the brain become blocked and blood flow is impaired.

Yesterday and today are pretty much washed out due to the blizzard. Schools and colleges closed yesterday and remain closed today. My Bikram yoga classes were canceled yesterday and today, which means I have to do two doubles later to make up. It didn't look like it was snowing hard when I looked out and probably it is not done yet. Glad Raghu is here so we two can clear the snow later from the driveway.

Milk, cheese, egg have no fiber at all. The best sources of fiber are (g per 100 g) wheatbran (40!) dried apricot (8.5) muesli (8.5) walnuts  (8.0) oatmeal (7.5) avocado (6.4) chickpeas soaked (5.4) lentils soaked (5.0) whole wheat bread (6.9), carrots (3.4), broccoli (3.5), string beans (3.4) are also great sources.

The numbers show percentage (by weight) of nacronutrients in some common foods. Table sugar, of course, is 100% sugar (basically, a disaccharide with glucose+fructose). Honey is 75% sugar because, the rest is water. The only macronutrient in OJ is pretty much sugar, but it is 10% because the rest is water. Wheat, rice, corn, oats all have respectable amount of protein, and the carbs are almost fiber.

I thought brown rice is different variety or species compared to white rice. I found out, brown rice is just less processed rice. White rice is produced by removing a layer under the husk called bran and germ. Both brown and white rice have similar amounts of carbohydrates and calories, but brown rice more nutrients (vitamins and minerals).