Beginning the Quest of Deliberate Practice

After reading Cal Newport's post on Deliberate Practice, I was inspired to finally do what I've been saying I should do for every summer since my freshman year of high school: I want to be productive - and productive in a way that doesn't just disappear or end after the summer is over. I would like to begin skill-building. Here is a list of things that I would like to try doing for different reasons:


Skills to Deliberately Build


1) Programming - For the purposes of adding a utility belt for many many many more skills that are highly valuable in this day and age. A technology-driven society needs people who are able to use the technology to its fullest potential for specific purposes, and I would like to maneuver myself into such a position to be that kind of person. Also, I see in the near-future that a strong foundation in programming will be necessary for my fields of interest.


2) Machine Learning - For the purposes of building a sound foundation in building and applying tools for my field of interest.


3) Playing Guitar - For the purposes of balance and general desire to have a more balanced life-style. I enjoy music greatly, but I am only a consumer of music. To produce music, like it was for producing drawings for my drawing class, would be a "soul-filling" practice that I miss and would like to re-integrate into my life as an academic.


4) Blogging - For the purposes of improving my writing and research skills. I plan to be research scientist, which involves communication skills and resource consolidation skills. As well as reading comprehension skills. A highly fruitful skill of skills to build.


Determination of Game-Plan


I only have so much time in the day. As a Dartmouth student, I live on the edge of the 16-hour-day to keep up with my studies and research. Now that it is the summer time, I can see that momentum I built up falling away like sand through one's fingers. However, this perception of my work-ethic is somewhat fatalistic - I built up that "momentum" because I percieved that the obligations of being a college student demanded it. During the summer, I don't see such obligations - but this is only because I don't see an authority figure deligating responsibilities upon me from on high.


Therefore, this is an experiment of will that could open the gates to unlocking much potential.


It will involve an investment of time, money, and intel to be efficient about this. I have a general idea as to how I could do this. I will continue to elaborate in another post.

Independent Research: Alzheimer's Disease

I am currently an undergraduate student that will be working in a bioinformatics lab and I will be doing research on Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder in which the misbehavior of anchoring proteins within the axon of neurons cause the microtubules that span the length of the axon fall into disarray and the neuron is thus unable to function correctly (as in communicate) and will eventually die. This then manifests through changes in memory, behavior, and personality change. It is one of the forms of dementia that develops after age 65. I will be looking at this problem through genetic and neurological lenses.

I plan to use this blog to chronicle my research process which will include general summaries of what I read as well as questions I can ask.

Now to begin.

According to this overview article in NINDS, there is currently research being done on beta-amyloid plaque development and how abnormal tau proteins cause neurofibrillary tangles characteristic of AD. More research is exploring the associated precursors to AD, such as heightened cholesterol and heightened blood pressure. What are other lines of current research into AD? What genetic research is being done?

Beta-amyloid plaques are a distinguishing phenotype of AD. Amyloids are cut-up proteins that occur naturally in cells. Beta-amyloids are protein bits snipped from the amyloid precursor protein. Beta-amyloid plaques are the congregation and grouping of these beta-amyloids to form hard, insoluble structures that then damage neurons. Why and how do beta-amyloid plaques damage neurons? Why causes the formation of beta-amyloid plaques? Is there a genetic basis?

Neurofibrillary tangles result from abnormalities in a protein called tau, which is the building-block for building microtubules which are key in transporting materials through the axon of neuron. What is the genetic basis for the abnormality of tau?

Currently there are no medications that slow the progression of AD, however there are some medications that treat the disease, however their effects are transient on the scale of a few months and a few years. They aid in maintaining memory, thinking, and speaking skills. The medications for mild to moderate AD are Donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and galantamine (Razadyne). The medication for severe AD is memantine (Namenda). How do each of these drugs act? How were they developed?

Here is another source I may find more helpful information.

This concludes my general research on Alzheimers in general. I was directed to look into the ADNI research project as well. The following will include my research on that project.

ADNI is the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. The overview of the initiative was best said on its home site:

ADNI investigates the relationships among the clinical, cognitive, imaging, genetic and biochemical biomarker characteristics of the entire spectrum of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as the pathology evolves from normal aging through very mild symptoms, to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), to dementia. ADNI will inform the neuroscience of AD, identify diagnostic and prognostic markers, identify outcome measures that can be used in clinical trials, and help develop the most effective clinical trial scenarios.

What are the clinical, cognitive, imaging, genetic and biochemical biomarker characteristics of Alzheimer's disease?

ADNI conducts longitudinal studies using clinical, MRI, fMRI, biomarker studies (genetic and "biochemical" what is a biochemical biomarker?).

This is where I stop until next time. I will come back to this and add to this post and possibly split it into multiple posts for the purposes of cohesion and focus.