Medicor 2013 #3 #4

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Karin Bรถttiger new MF President 8 Nobel Prize theme, including Nobel NightCap 22 Meet the man who inspired Hotel Rwanda 40 Our New Medicinska Fรถreningen President: Karin Bรถttiger 8

The Man Behind Hotel Rwanda: Paul Rusesabagina

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Prelude Christmas is approaching. In the beginning of December last year, I waited for the Swedish university application results. The Nobel Prize coverage of Shinya Yamanaka and John B. Gurdon was very good that year and got me very excited about Karolinska Institutet. I was so impressed by everything about the Nobel Prizes that I could not wait to get admitted to Karolinska.

A year later, I have the great honour of presenting to you the Nobel theme issue of Medicor, featuring the three Nobel laureates of the Medicine or Physiology prize.

It started in the spring, where we joked about photo shoots at Nobel Forum. It felt rather ridiculous at the time. But, we managed to get Richard Horton, Hans Rosling, Maciej Zaremba, and Mattias Klum, to mention a few. So, we went for it.

Through Nobel Forum, we came in contact with the laureates’ attachés, who then helped us planning a date and venue. This was chosen to be Medicinska Föreningen’s Lucia Ball, which we, more or less smoothly, disrupted to get the shots you now can see on our cover and middle spread. There should be a condition called the Balloon Effect, because it does not really matter how old you get or how posh the occasion is; everybody loves a helium balloon!

We are very thankful of Nobel Forum’s Ann-Mari Dumanski, Tatiana Goriatcheva, and the Nobel Committee’s Secretary Göran K. Hansson for helping us arranging the cover photo shoot. We also thank the laureates (from left to right on the cover: Randy Schekman, James E. Rothman, and Thomas Südhof) for letting us work with them. It was an honour. We also send a big thanks to Programutskottet, for their invaluable consideration with our request, and to the hosts, Karin Böttiger (our upcoming student union President) and Wiktor Södersten.

As amazing as it might be to perform a photo shoot with three Nobel laureates, this number features other great pieces. We met the man whose actions inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, Mr. Paul Rusesabagina – a man who despite of massacres and chaos around him calmly managed his hotel and saved more than a thousand lives during the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.

Now that Nobel NightCap (NNC) is over, we publish a few photos from the building week and the party, and NNC themselves thank all volunteers for their contribution.

As an end note, I want to say that the passing of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, as expected as it may have been, was a shock. The greatest freedom champion of the modern world, and my personally biggest inspiration, has moved on. Let us not just hope, but fight, for the betterment of the world, as he did.

Photo by Jingcheng Zhao for Medicor

How to get Nobel laureates into a balloon fight

Medicor Magasin Grundad 2006. Sjunde årgången.

Utges av Medincinska Föreningen i Stockholm ISSN: 1653-9796 Ansvarig utgivare: Gustaf Drevin Tryck och reproduktion: Åtta45, Solna Adress: Medicinska Föreningen i Stockholm Nobels Väg 10, Box 250, 171 77, Stockholm Utgivningsplan 2013: nr 1: maj, nr 2: oktober, nr 3 & 4: december/januari 2014 Kontakta Medicor: chefredaktor@medicor.nu www.medicinskaforeningen.se Frilansmaterial: Medicor förbehåller sig rätten att redigera inkommet material och ansvarar inte för icke beställda texter eller bilder, samt tryckfel. Upphovsman svarar för, genom Medicor publicerat, signerat frilansmaterial; denna(e)s åsikter representerar nödvändigtvis inte Medicors eller Medicinska Föreningens.

For now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Gustaf Drevin Editor-in-Chief Cover photo and design by Jingcheng Zhao for Medicor 2

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Photo by Jingcheng Zhao for Medicor

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medicor

Overture 8 12 19

features

Karin Böttiger new MF president Karin Böttiger, the current Hostess of Medicinska Föreningen, has been elected new student union President.

Read more about her and the Vice President, Elin Ekeroth!

Biomedicine now in english The undergraduate course Biomedicine will from 2014 and onwards be offered in English to international students. This is the first undergraduate course to do so.

the healing power of opera music This issue’s “Science...?” section deals with the resonant question of whether or not music really, truly has a healing effeect...

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Nobel Laureates:

Nobel nightcap pictures

The Balloon effect

Did you work before or during or attend NNC? Then perhaps you are featured here in the magazine!

Medicor gave the Nobel laureates balloons to symbolise vesicles - turn and see what happened!

The Man inspiring “Hotel Rwanda” Paul Rusesabagina saved more than 1 200 Rwandans during the 1994 genocide, an act that inspired Hollywood to film “Hotel Rwanda”.

We sat down with him to discuss humanity, politics, and the power of words.

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Vesicle Transport - 2013 nobel prize

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Recension: Mental states of Sweden

Are you sure that you remember the science behind vesicle transport, the mechanism whose discovery finally was awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology?Let Medicor refresh your mind.

Konstarterna kan ge oss många insikter. Medicor åkte till Dramaten för att inspireras av en nyuppsatt pjäs.

medicor

Gustaf Drevin • Editor-in-Chief | Louise Forlin • Producer | Milou Öberg Sellersjö • Associate Editor | Andrey Pyko • Creative Director Johanna Nyberg • Editor of the Campus | Ragashree Dhamodaraiah Setty • Editor of Science and the Nobel Section | Oskar Swartling • Editor of the Arts Vittoria Crispino • Editor of Global Focus | Ruslan Alam • Proof-Reader General | Jin-Yu Lu • Treasurer | Janne Andersson • Senior Advisor | Jingcheng Zhao • Photographer Robert de Meijere • Layout | Martin Kjellberg • Photographer | Nils Ågren • Reporter | Poya Livälven • Reporter | Haroon Bayani • Writer | Blanca Flores • Writer Amanda Kaba Liljeberg • Smörgåsbord | Daniel Truong • Illustrator | Maria Belikova • Photographer | Mimmi Majonen • Writer | Touba Guerroumi • Illustrator | Johanna Wolfsberger • Writer | Sanni Kujala • Reporter and Proof-reader | Nira Nirmalathas • Reporter | Asma Islam • Writer | Vladimir Choi • Reporter | Julienne White • Writer Ruut Seger • Writer | Caitlin Jackson • Writer and Proof-reader | Lucy Bai • Photographer | Sune Sun • Proof-reader Ylva Eriksson • Make-up Artist | Aline Jettel • Make-up Artist

Thank you for the ride, Ali Mahdi, Martin Balsvik, and Josefin Hjärpe.

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Aperture

IN MEMORIAM. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela July 18th 1918-December 5th 2013.

On December 5th, Nelson Mandela passed away after a period of illness. Mandela was the biggest symbol of freedom, hope, and equality in modern history, earning him the name Madiba, an honourable name of his Xhosa tribe.

Nelson Mandela will continue to inspire people striving toward a just world, and the world should not let its grief of his death overshadow the greatness of his deeds.

Madiba, you were fighting not only for all South Africans, but you were fighting for all of us. For that, we thank you.

You will be sorely missed, Madiba.

Medicor’s Board of Editors 4

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Smörgåsbord

Magnetic Tongue Piercing

A newly developed magnetic tongue piercing can, along with sensors on the sides of the head converting its movement into a command, control a range of devices. Scientists chose the tongue to control the magnet because of the body part’s supple capabilities and because the large brain region that controls it is unaffected by spinal cord injuries that paralyses the rest of the body. People with tetraplegia that have tested the device were able to perform tasks three times faster and just as accurate as usual. Further programming of combinations of tongue movements could give a broad variety of commands, like dialling a phone or even typing. •

The skills of happiness

The website Happify wants to teach people how to be happy. According to their research, being happy comes down to mastering five skills: savouring the good in life, being thankful, being aspiring, showing generosity and showing empathy. Happify relies on the science of positive psychology and lets the user earn points in the different skill categories through a series of games and simple activities. At registration, a user profile is set with a self-assessment of how the user perceives life and level of happiness.

Happify will then choose “tracks” of skill achieving tasks that will lead to a fulfilling life. •

Boredom

Zoning out during a lecture or carelessly watching a random TV show would be examples of times one can feel bored.

But it is not as simple as that. Now we can

Maysam Ghovanloo stands behind Jason DiSanto, who has been an advocate of the Tongue Drive System. Photo credit: Maysam Ghovanloo.

be bored in five different ways, making the whole thing a bit more interesting. A German study shows that boredom can be analysed on two 1-5 scales; positivenegative and calm-fidgety. The feeling can then be classified as indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant or apathetic.

Boredom can thus be anything between a distracting feeling of “cheerful fatigue” and a force of good leading to the start of creative processes or self-reflection. •

Bees

Artist Susanna Soares is training bees (yes, bees!) to detect diseases in the smell of patients’ breaths. Bees have an olfactory sense 100 times more sensitive than ours and can, like dogs, be taught to recognise different smells and respond to rewards. “Research has demonstrated that bees can be trained to target the chemical compounds of tuberculosis, lung, skin, and pancreatic cancer as well as diabe-

tes,” Soares says. Though this is still only at an experimental level, Soares envisions a future where these biosensors can be used instead of today’s machines and will be especially useful in developing countries. •

The Digital Lollipop

Nimesha Ranasinghe and his team at the National University of Singapore have developed a device that lets you taste sweet, sour, bitter and salty with the use of silver electrodes. By manipulating electric currents, the Tongue Mounted Digital Taste Interface tricks your brain into thinking you are tasting real food.

The device is thought to be useful for diabetics to still their sweet tooth without inducing blood sugar level increases. •

Christmas Present of The Year? “The Roboroach”

By Robert de Meijere cently launched The Roboroach. It is described as a “backpack” that fits onto a live cockroach, allowing its movements to be controlled by a mobile phone app.

The intention is, according to the company, to introduce curious children to neuroscience and “allow students to do graduate level research early in life”.

For the backpack to work, you need to remove the waxy coating on top of their head and insert a wire into their thorax along with electrodes. Their antennae are then cut and a circuit is

attached to their backs to enable the control of the cockroach’s movements.

Some critics were not pleased.

People have sent emails to the company, claiming it is animal cruelty and that “it teaches children to become psychopaths”. Animal behaviour scientist Jonathan Balcombe compares it to burning ants with a magnifying glass.

Likewise Queen’s University philosophy Professor Michael Allen warned that the device will “encourage amateurs to operate invasively on living organisms”. The company on the other hand, assures that

the insects are treated humanely and that the backpack does not harm them. •

Illustration by Touba Guerroumi

The Backyard Brains Company re-

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medicor

Karolinska

An IFMSA Stockholm Project: IIMC–Institute for Indian Mother and Child

By Nira Nirmalathas According to reports from The World Bank, one third of the world’s poorest people live in India. Dr. Sujit Kumar Brahmochary was one of those who wanted to do something about this.

1989, he started the nongovernmental organization Institute for Indian Mother and Child (IIMC) in West Bengal, in order to improve the situation for people living in poverty.

Initially, it started off with Dr Brahmochary providing free medical care for the poor people in the rural areas of Kolkata. However, he eventually realised that this wasn’t enough to help the people out of poverty and thus expanded IIMC to what it is today, working with education of children, empowerment of women, healthcare programs and other projects. They also have collaborations internationally, receive help from international volunteers and work with sponsorship programs.

One of the organisations IIMC collaborate with is IFMSA-Sweden. IIMCSweden consists of 20 people nationally, working with sending volunteers to IIMC, getting sponsors and informing about the project.

Martin Lundberg, medical student at KI and head of IIMC-Sweden, volunteered in India this summer. “Apart from healthcare, the organisation’s main focus is education, since it is a permanent investment in the development of poor communities. Two educated parents will virtually never have a child who cannot read or write. This makes the sponsorship program an essential part of the organisation”, he says.

”

All students at KI are welcome to apply to work as a volunteer for one month in India. Being a sponsor and applying for months outside of summer, will increase your chances to become a volunteer. Students at lower terms are prioritised since IIMC has found them to be well suited for the work in Kolkata.

As a volunteer at IIMC, you can work with anything from vaccinating patients, dressing wounds, going on rounds - to working with education, teaching English and talking about contraception and hygiene - all depending on your education and preferences. There are also many other projects you can work with. Working as a volunteer at IIMC is a great opportunity to experience a different culture and at the same time help the poorest people in the rural areas.

As mentioned before, IIMC has a sponsorship program where you sponsor an Indian child’s education and medical care. By spending 200 SEK every month (which you can pay alone or as a group),

you can stop hunger diseases, poverty, child labour and help IIMC improve the situation of the people living in poverty (and at the same time increase your chances to become a volunteer).• From the clinic

Interested in becoming a volunteer, sponsor or want to know more about IIMC? Visit IFMSA’s website https://www. ifmsa.se/projekt/institute-for-indianmother-and-child/ Or: IIMC’s official website http://www.iimcmissioncal.org/ For contact: iimc@ifmsa.se Photos courtesy of Martin Lundberg

Wilhelmina Ekström Receives This Year’s Mäster Award!

By Veronica Hansson and Sandra Astnell

Illustration by Touba Guerroumi

Once

a

year,

the

members

of

Medicinska Föreningen grant the Mäster award to a teacher who, for a long time, have managed their education in a personal and engaging way, and/or initiated and implemented sustainable improvements of the education.

Mäster 2013 is granted to Chief Physician Wilhelmina Ekström, head of the orthopaedic section of the course Clinical Medicine for medicine students at Karolinska University Hospital, Solna.

Wilhelmina Ekström has worked in an

exceptional way to continuously improve her course. One example of her pedagogical approache is the individual feedback she gives. Another is that she encourages students to engage in peer-learning and teaching. Another example is the workshops Ekström has held with her students to develop the course’s web-page and an e-based orthopaedic quiz.

Ekström manages the course openmindedly and sensitively for the students’ needs. Appreciated learning activities are kept and further developed. According to

her students, this continuous development is what makes her course one of the best at KI. On the 20th of February Wilhelmina Ekström will talk at a lunch seminar “Toppa klinisk träning med idé, utveckling och engagemang - student och lärare i team”. Please note that the seminar will be held in Swedish. The venue is the MF union house at Nobels Väg 10. Come by and be inspired by the students Mäster! •

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Medicinska Föreningen’s New Leadership Karin Böttiger and Elin Ekeroth are the two Psychology students who will head the student union in 2014 as President and Vice President.

By Johanna Nyberg

Medicinska Föreningen, the larg-

est of the two student unions at the Karolinska Institute, was founded in 1877, almost seventy years after the establishment of our university. Every year, the delegates of FuM place their votes to determine the members of the student council for the following year. Head of the council is the presidium, consisiting of the chairperson and vice chairperson.

After the FuM meeting on November 19th, it was announced that the management of MF 2014 will be represented by Karin Böttiger and Elin Ekeroth. Medicor took the opportunity to find out about their expectations on the important task awaiting.

We sit down on the modern chairs in the bright halls of the Berzelius house on

campus. Karin has just finished a meeting, and Elin arrives shortly after. They both look happy and ready for the challenges ahead. After years of engagement in different parts of the union, these psychologist students have decided to take a year off their studies to dedicate themselves completely to MF. ”I’m so excited to be given this chance to develop my work and further explore this organisation that I feel so strongly about”, says Karin. Elin agrees. She has been active within the committees and sections literally ever since she started her studies. During the first week of her first semester, she joined Blåslaget, and furthermore, she’s now been the president of PsyKI for two years. ”I look forward to getting to know even more students from all the different

programs, and to be able to have a bigger impact on their experiences on campus.”

The three main purposes of MF is to protect our students’ rights and interests towards the Karolinska Institute, secure the quality of the educational programs, and to provide the students with a fun campus life. Being the chairperson is a particular assignment. You are not hired in general terms, but serve a commission of trust.”We don’t have fixed working hours or daily tasks, our job is very much depending on what is required at any given time.”, Karin explains. ”Our responibility is to make sure that the whole organisation works properly, and it could be anything from supporting the representatives from the committees in any questions they might have, to help ar-

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Elin Ekeroth (left) and Karin Böttiger (right) are the new Vice President and President of Medicinska Föreningen.

medicor

Karolinska

Photo by: Jingcheng Zhao

excited to be given this chance to /.../ further explore this organisation that I feel so strongly about range a social event.” This means that there are many possibilities to engage in their own areas of interest, together with making priorities on what to devote their time to.

Karin and Elin have decided to divide the work and rewards between them equally, and one of their goals for the year to come is to improve the communication between them, the people working in the union and the students.”It’s important for us to be available, we wanteveryone to know what MF can provide them with, and the other way around.”, says Elin.

Never before has the chairperson, or vice chairperson, position been represented by a psychologist student, but during 2014, both posts will be. ”Since we’re studying psychology, we have a fundamental interest in the human mind and how we relate to others, and I think that is crucial to anyone working in an organisation that combine many different aims, opinions and needs.” , says Karin. Elin, too, believes that her knowledge is a great asset in the leadership and cooperation with coworkers. ”It gives us a solid ground to stand on in the meetings with different people”, she says.

Another point worth noticing is that Elin and Karin are classmates and friends, something they already feel serve them many advantages. Their main focus at the moment is to prepare themselves as much as possible for what to come. It includes attending meetings, reading available material, and planning for next year. ”Since we know each other well from start, we’ve been able to begin the process early, by discussing how we want the collaboration between us to work in our new roles”, says Elin. However, Karin emphasizes the possibility that there could be some issues with their similarities. ”Generally, heterogenity is a good thing in any board, organisation or work environment, since it brings different perspectives on things. Elin and I, on the other hand, is a very homogenous pair. We share opinions in many questions and might often have the same outlook on things.” She continues by explaining that it, therefore, will be necessary for them to be very responsive to input and other point of views. ”Just because we think the same about something, doesn’t automatically mean we’re right, which is important to remember”, she says. Elin adds that although they are alike in many ways, what brings dynamic to their

shared assignments is that they have different backgrounds from past work in the student union. ”Karin has experiences of representing Medicinska Föreningen as a hostess on parties and events, which is a different thing from working in PsyKI, for example.”, she says.

Karin: President 2014

Starting January 1st, Elin and Karin will claim their new positions, and you can easily tell by their excitement that the day is approaching. ”I believe that it willbe a very rewarding and developing year for us, an experience we will carry with us throughout our future careers”, Karin concludes.

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Elin: Vice President 2014

Age: 24

Age: 24 (there will be a grand 25 year party with Karin in August!)

What are your expectations ?

To do great things for the Student Union, which will hopefully outlive next year.

What are your expectations?

To experience an exciting year at the Union, and get to know a lot of new people.

What do you think will be the greatest challenge?

To get into the job as quickly as necessary with all the new information, and finding a balance between the different roles you have as president.

What do you think will be the greatest challenge?

Having time to achieve everything you want.

Favourite place at campus?

Except for MF, anywhere close to “Jönsan-Branca”.

Favourite place at campus?

I have to say the Union house; it already feels like a second home.

Why do you think you were elected President?

Because my qualities and experiences make me a great president. And also because it is noticeable that the union is close to my heart. Or it was simply because I fit to well into the shoes that come with the job.

Why do you think you were elected Vice President?

I think it is noticeable that I go into this with 100%, with a lot of energy and a strong will.

Any spare time activities?

Arranging parties has been an interest for a long time, so now it will be fun to start attending them as a guest [Karin has been the hostess of MF for ! And bring Elin as my partner in crime.

Any spare time activities?

Going to all the nice pubs, and going to Solvik!

Favourite food?

Chocolate. And Jönsan’s soups.

Favourite food?

Cheese doodles.

Strengths and weaknesses?

I have not had many official assignments in MF yet and have some skills to learn. My strengths lie in my organisational superpower and cooperativeness. And I am a fast learner.

Strengths and weaknesses?

I am new on the board so I have a lot of new things to learn. My strengths are that I am effective and resilient to stress.

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Karolinska

Flix:

“Walt Disney – eller Snövit och sju som härjar”

By Johanna Nyberg Utanför

Bristol

i

Sundbyberg

faller ett envist duggregn i novembermörkret, men neonskylten ovanför den gamla biografen lyser inbjudande rött över Sturegatan. Om en timme börjar den sista av höstens fem föreställningar om Walt Disney, framförd av de åtta tjejer som imponerade bäst under uttagningarna i september.

Ordförande för Flix, Veronica Andersson, hälsar glatt i entrén och visar genast runt i lokalerna. Fikapausen förbereds, dekoren till första akten är på plats och bandet sitter redo med sina instrument bredvid scenen. Biljetterna är slutsålda, men ingenstans skymtar tecken på nervositet. “Vi är mycket lugnare nu än vi var förra hösten. Förberedelserna har fungerat så bra i år, alla har gjort en otrolig insats och mottagandet har hittills varit väldigt positivt”, förklarar hon. Totalt står nästan 60 personer bakom produktionen, alla med särskilda uppgifter och ansvarsområden. Veronica poängterar att showen inte ska vara det centrala, utan samarbetet på vägen dit. “Vårt mål med Flix är att vi ska ge utlopp för kreativitet av alla slag, inte bara för de som står på scenen.” Flera av medlemmarna i årets uppsättning har medverkat i tidigare föreställningar, men bara en av dem i ensemblen. Trots varierande erfarenhet är det en väldigt samspelt grupp, menar Veronica.

Viktiga egenskaper hos en ensemblemedlem är närvaro och improvisationsförmåga, eftersom publiken när som helst kan påverka berättelsens gång

Foto av Maria Belikova. Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney och Shirley Temple kämpar om strålkastarljuset.

genom att ropa exempelvis “omstart!”, “på spanska!” eller “ombytta roller!”. För att inte framträdandet helt ska förlora sitt sammanhang utgår historien från ett väl inövat manus. Veronica Hansson är en av två författare till årets spex om Walt Disneys väg till framgång. Tillsammans med Sara Ström berättar hon det vi inte visste om hans äventyr i 30-talets Hollywood.

Walt arbetar, i väntan på sitt genombrott, tillsammans med sin bror Roy som städare på teatern där Greta Garbos nya film ska ha premiär. Uppmärksamheten hotas dock av piloten Amelia Earharts flygning över Atlanten samma dag, och bröderna blir, tillsammans med bland andra den självcentrerade åt-

Reportrarna besökte slutföreställningen, där skådespelarna satsade allt.

Foto av Maria Belikova.

taåringen Shirley Temple och tystlåtne Charlie Chaplin, indragna i kampen om strålkastarljuset. “Inspirationen är tagen ur Snövit och de sju dvärgarna, och här visar vi hur han fick idén till att göra film av sagan”, berättar Veronica.

Klockan slår 19.00 och på scenen bjuds en färgfest av sång, dans, imponerande improvisationer och roliga rim. För den uppmärksamme blir spexet mycket riktigt en skildring av historien om Snövit, med en missnöjd Shirley som Butter, brodern Roys visdomsord som “före peng kommer stolsben” symboliserar Kloker, och lömska Garbo speglar den onda styvmodern.

Historien hamnar ofta, på initiativ av publiken, i galna sidospår och till hjälp att leda ensemblen tillbaka till manus finns de båda regissörerna, Jesper Berggren och Gabriel Thorstenson, och Veronica Andersson. “Vissa gånger lyckas det och andra inte, men det viktigaste är att vara lyhörd för publikens upplevelse“, ler Veronica. Tårtkrig är ett av de oplanerade inslagen, liksom att Amelia Earharts flygplan ett flertal gånger slår i marken och går sönder. Spontanitet genomsyrar showen, och det går inte att ta miste på åskådarnas förtjusning.

Efter slutlåten, som förkunnar att vi “aldrig sett ett spex så bra” får skådespelarna blommor och beröm. Veronica Andersson andas ut och skojar att hon som ordförande “kanske borde be om ursäkt för kaoset”. Ingen ur publiken verkar dock vara i behov av en sådan.

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medicor

Karolinska

A Scalpella Anniversary Celebration - the choral pride of MF turns 40

By Johanna Nyberg Being the oldest union associa-

tion of Medicinska Föreningen, chamber choir A Scalpella was founded in 1973.

Two years ago, the members decided to celebrate its four decades of existence with an anniversary concert, and a party to top it all off. Conductor Sofia Ågren gathered all the songs A Scalpella had sung together since she started leading the choir four years earlier, and the singers chose to vote for their ten favorites of the bunch. Samuel Rhedin, one of the current choir members, describes the result as ”the best of A Scalpella”.

On a sunny Saturday in October, it was time for the performance, held in Sankt Johannes church. On the stairs

the afternoon brought the listeners through a wide range of songs from different continents and centuries

outside, people were lined and dressed up, and the excited conversations of the audience to be, revealed pride and high expectations. When everyone had been welcomed and seated, the singers lined up along the sides of the majestic church and embraced the audience with the pretty tones of a Norvegian bridal march. The afternoon brought the listeners through a wide range of songs from different continents and centuries. Presumably, the most known was Elton John’s Circle of Life, which we all recognise from the Lion King. It was performed according to Sofia Ågrens own arrangement, but with the mandatory introductional ”roar” included.

To end the concert in the best way possible, former members of A Scalpella were invited up to sing the final two songs together with the choir. ”About 80, of the almost 350 people in the audience, were

Photo by Lucy Bai

former choir members”, says Samuel Rhedin. One of them was Ann-Charlotte Granholm-Bentley, who joined in 1978.

During her years in the choir, they spent many weekends on Solvik, sang at the Lucia ball and went on tours. ”We managed to sing the correct lyrics, and not to fall off the stage, almost everytime”, she says.

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Karolinska

Transformation of the Biomedicine Bachelor With internationalisation in sight, Karolinska Institutet launches its very first global bachelor’s programme next year – The bachelor’s programme in biomedicine. Starting in autumn 2014, the teaching language will be English throughout the entire course.

By Mimmi Mononen

So far, the courses given during

the first year of the programme have been run in Swedish, after which the teaching language has been switched to English. According to the programme director Lars-Arne Haldosén, analysis of the labour market will be carried out in order to establish a modernised, international bachelor’s programme that is well adapted to the recent changes and needs within the academy and life science industry. It remains to be seen how the syllabus of the study programme will be adapted to the labor market, and the only thing we can do for now is – well, to wait and see.

the transformation implies more international undergraduate students In practice, the transformation implies more international undergraduate students at the campus, both exchange students and so called free movers. In that sense, fortunately for Karolinska Institutet, updating the biomedicine programme does not only polish the international profile of our university, but it also implies income for the institute in form of tuition fees from the students coming from countries outside EU. According to the website of Karolinska Institutet, the total fee per non-EU/EEA student will be 540 000 SEK. For many prospective Swedish students, the change means more intensive start of their studies and higher requirements for proficiency in English language in order to keep up with the teaching. As the current undergraduate biomedicine

present, the opportunities for internastudents can let out a sigh of relief, the tional students to come to Sweden and prospective Swedish biomedicine stustudy at the bachelor’s level as degree dents need to be prepared to compete for students are limited by the small numthe admission against a number of interber of programmes offered in English. In national students. The long-term effect that sense, the establishment of Englishof the increasing competition for admistaught bachelor’s programme follows a sion is that it enriches and develops the current trend as an increasing number of quality of the biomedicine programme, English-taught courses and programmes which is a benefit for all the biomedicine keep appearing in other students regardless of an increasing num- Swedish universities. their background.

Whether the study The international- ber of English-taught programme in biomediisation plans for bio­courses and procine will go through a medicine at KI do not end in changing the grammes keep ap- transformation in other than the teaching teaching language of pearing in other Swed- means language stays a mystery. the bachelor’s proish universities.

It is neither known if this gramme. On the conwill initiate a snowball eftrary, the vision for the fect, leading to increasing the number future is to increase the co-operation beof English-taught undergraduate protween Karolinska Institutet and universigrammes at Karolinska Institutet. Whethties abroad in order to enhance the exer it does or not, inevitably it leads to change of students and lecturers, thereby several improvements as it increases the improving the exchange of knowledge visibility of Karolinska Institutet abroad, and experience. The modernisation of and makes biomedicine students better biomedicine education at KI will also prepared to the international labour marhave implications in the context of the ket within the life science industry and global master’s programmes in the form academy. of Karolinska-Kalevala co-operation – a project between Karolinska Institutet, University of Bergen, University of Copenhagen, University of Eastern Finland, and University of Turku. Aim of the project is to establish an international master’s programme by autumn 2015.

Bachelor’s programme in biomedicine at KI is undoubtedly the harbinger of international biomedicine undergraduate programmes in Sweden. However, it is not the first of its kind considering the fact that Umeå University already has an English-taught bachelor’s programme in life science in its catalogue. At the

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Karolinska

Students and Depression One step forward, two steps sideways. Student depression is a frequently occurring, but seldomly openly acknowledged problem at universities. It is time to bring this issue to the front, because too many students feel left out and alone, but many suffer from this problem.

By Asma Islam

The student health center at KI

estimated a total of fifty students seeking help during 2013. The number was roughly the same for the years 2011 and 2012. These students are the ones who decided to seek help but there might still be many who have decided to cope by themselves.

Emotional states like anxiety and depression are complex. The reasons that lead students to such conditions could

range from the very simple ones like study pressure to the more complex ones like drugs and alcohol. Psychologist Simon Nilsson of the KI student health centre expands on the different contributing factors and solutions -“Some of the students feel stressed or are having trouble sleeping or more existential thoughts and feelings that are making them worry about the future”. The strive to value oneself only from his or her own achieve-

ments can take it’s toll. And to add more to the misery, the social media might play a unique role. A depressed person is usually very sensitive to negative critique, more prone to compare him or herself to others. It is important to keep in mind that these forms of communication just gives us glimpses of the good moments of life and not the complex or hard times.

As Simon nicely puts it: “I think that the endless pursuit of happiness can really make us miserable and tired because sooner or later we will fail. We can’t be happy and under the influence of “comfortable” emotions all the time, we are not designed to”.

Illustration by Touba Guerroumi

the endless pursuit of happiness can really make us miserable The student community needs to open up regarding such issues and remove any existing stigma. When it comes to the KI health care center and the staff, there is no taboo. The students are advised to visit even when they just want to have someone to talk to. During depression, emotions like guilt and shame could prevent a student to talk about the existing problems. When asked about tips that would help the students in any way, the word exercise was mentioned more than once. In addition to exercise, one other key is to do things that used to make you happy. Seeking help might seem overwhelming over the fears of discrimination, but it will only speed the recovery.

Isolation, on the other hand, fuels the state of depression.

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Science

Diabetes Epidemic amongst Wealthy Indians In the Western world, diabetes has been a common disease for over a century. In recent decades, however, many underdeveloped countries, including India, are starting to reach to reach the same level of prosperity as the West and consequently have had to deal with the same diseases.

In India’s case, diabetes has become a tremendous problem. The causes for the diabetes epidemic in India can be traced to lifestyle changes and genetics.

By Haroon Bayani Globalization has brought sever-

al benefits for India. Indians have become wealthier, their standard of living has increased immensely and millions of Indians have become middle-class. Thus, Indians have been able to afford the same luxuries that Westerners have taken for granted, such as cars, cell-phones and fast food. And even though millions of Indians have indeed improved their standard of life and taken the step into middle-class, the drawback has been increased prevalence of diabetes. It is estimated that well over 43 million Indians have diabetes, predominately Type 2, and according to the WHO, the number will rise by 80 million before 2030. This will result in a healthcare disaster, as costs for treating diabetics will grow drastically. Additionally, the costs of diabetes are not solely based on healthcare costs but also as a toll on economic productivity (Kapur et al. 2006).

One of the main factors that has caused the diabetes epidemic is dietary changes. Since the economic reforms of the early 1990s, India’s economy has increased on average by 7.8% and it is still going strong. Consequently, millions of Indians have moved from the countryside to the cities in order to find better jobs. Therefore, hard-working Indians who used to eat traditional Indian food and who used to have straining jobs are now keeping a Western diet (which is comparatively dense in calories) and having less demanding jobs. Unfortunately the consequences of these dietary alterations are that millions of Indians are consuming more calories than they need. The new Indian middle class prefers highly polished wheat or rice over traditional Indian food such as unrefined wheat, rice or millets, and thus they have increased their intake of carbohydrates.

And whilst Westerners’ excess intake of

calories usually comes from meat and fats, Indians’ excess intake tend to come from the less healthy refined cereals and carbohydrates, which affects the insulin.

Moreover, Indians love for sweet food and the rising consumption of sugar is also an important factor (Mohan et al.

2004). The effect of these increased consumptions of calories is a greater risk of developing impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), which eventually leads to Type 2 diabetes.

by regular exercise and healthier food one can reduce the risk of attaining diabetes Another major factor for the epidemic is the lack of exercise and the more sedentary way of life in the urban population. Rural Indians live a more physically vigorous lifestyle and thus have a much lower prevalence of Type 2 diabetes.

Amongst those Indians who have migrated from rural areas to the slums of the cities, the prevalence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes is significantly higher. An undesired effect of the rapid growth that has taken place in India is decreased physical activity in the urban population. For example, millions of middle-class Indians can now afford to purchase cars and more and more jobs are becoming increasingly deskbound, which together leads to a more sedentary lifestyle (Chowdhury et al. 2007).

Although Indians adaptations of Western lifestyle and their dietary changes play a large role in the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes, environmental causes are not the only reasons. The causes of the outbreak of Type 2 diabetes are an intricate interplay between genetic and

environmental (diet and lifestyle) factors (Tim Kenny et al. 2012). The role of genetic predisposition amongst Indians is a key factor to why diabetes has become so extensive in such short period of time.

Since it has been proven that Type 2 diabetes has a hereditary association, studies show e.g. that it is more common that children with diabetic parents will be afflicted by diabetes amongst Indians than Europeans. Although the exact genes, which induce diabetes in Indians, have not been found, Indians’ strong predisposition to diabetes is an element that must not be neglected. Furthermore, diabetes is far more common in younger Indians and it develops at a younger age than in their European peers, resulting in higher medical costs (Yajnik, 2004).

By regular exercise and healthier food one can reduce the risk of attaining diabetes. Nevertheless, what can India as a nation do about its population’s unhealthy habits? The simple answer would be not much. However, by using the carrot India’s government could make traditional Indian food cheaper by subsidising it. Furthermore, the state could start a nation-wide exercise program in the larger cities. Also, there are clear evidence between increased physical education and lifelong physical well-being (Burgeson et al 2000).

As India’s economy keeps growing, so will the number of diabetics. Not only is the economic upswing leading to unhealthy dietary changes and a more sedentary way of life, but Indians genetic predisposition to diabetes also aggravates the epidemic. These changes will be costly and they will be a massive burden on society. And if these problems are not dealt with in time, growth will be impeded and consequently crush the future of millions of Indians.

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Science

Healthcare Technology Breakthrough: the artificial pancreas

By Blanca Flores Given

the

high

morbidity

of

diabetes in the world, solutions to improve quality of life for diabetic patients are highly demanded. For this reason, some healthcare companies have constantly worked to develop new systems aimed to monitor and control glucose levels in patients. One of the latest devices developed by Medtronic MiniMed is the first FDA approved artificial pancreas with a threshold suspend feature, known as the MiniMed® 530G System.

The device can continuously measure and display glucose values on its screen as well as deliver basal insulin to the user. A glucose sensor inserted through the skin on the abdomen measures interstitial glucose values and transmits them to an insulin pump, which then delivers

insulin through an infusion set. The insulin pump is about the size of a small mobile phone and can be worn externally in a belt clip, slipped into a pocket or hidden under the clothes. The system can be programmed to automatically stop insulin delivery for two hours when the sensor detects that blood glucose levels have fallen below a predefined threshold in the range of 60 – 90 mg/dL. In addition, the MiniMed® 530G allows patients to keep track of their glucose levels and help determine patterns, since it reports glucose trending information in real-time and saves data for up to 6 days, which can be downloaded via USB. Also, it alerts users when glucose values are approaching dangerously high or low levels. Over time, it can help

patients make adjustments to their treatment plan and keep their glucose levels in a safe range.

The device is still not a close-loop system, since it requires interaction from the patient, but the company is working towards that goal. Other companies such as Animas Corp. and Johnson & Johnson are also working to develop similar devices and improve the artificial pancreas technology. It will be interesting to see how these devices are enhanced in the future, making them potentially smaller, more precise and efficient, thus improving lives of patients with diabetes type 1.

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Science

Vaccination Tracking Using Fingerprints

By Ragashree D. Setty

Photo: William Clifford

In many countries around the world, especially third world countries, electronic medical records are in their infancy or do not exist at all. This can lead to a host of problems, including under or over-administration of vaccinations. A United States company called Lumidigm, based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has developed an ingenious solution to this problem.

On the 12th of November 2013, Lumidigm announced that its biometric fingerprint scanner is helping to stop the waste of vaccines and improve vaccination management in Africa where millions of people are still unvaccinated.

Lumidigm and its partner Fulcrum Biometrics have designed this fingerprint sensor device, which is responsible for this vast improvement using the help of mhealth (mobile health) technology. The scanner is being used with an application developed by VaxTrac, a non-profit organisation in part supported by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, that records and tracks immunisations as they are given.

Before this technology was available in Africa no effective patient vaccination record system existed leading many people to become unknowingly re-immunised and in retrospect wasting vaccines that could have been used on non-immunised people. In order to change this problem, VaxTrac has created a biometric vaccination registry that collects vaccination and patient information with the help of the fingerprint sensor device. The executive director for VaxTrac Mark Thomas states: “We started evaluating Lumidigm sensors in 2012. Since the skin of children, especially young children, can be very malleable, we knew from experience that conventional biometric technologies that need a finger pressed against the device

do not work. The ability that Lumidigm offers to pull fingerprint images from deeper layers produces images less susceptible to distortion and allows us to track vaccinations accurately.” The fingerprint sensor even has the capability to accurately read the fingerprints in various kinds of weather conditions, which is especially useful in the harsh extremes of African weather.

To collect and manage patient identification and vaccine information, the fingerprint sensor captures the image of the patient’s fingerprint and records it to the mobile vaccine registry. Once the patient’s information is collected and recorded into the system, the healthcare workers instantly know which vaccines a person has or has not received and which doses they have taken. This information allows them to determine which vaccines can be reserved for other patients.

The fingerprint sensors were initially released for use in one country in March 2013 but are now available in 40 clinics throughout Zambia as well as in Kenya, Uganda, and Benin. Proper training has been issued to community healthcare workers on how to use the biometric vaccine delivery system. The design for the device had those with limited literacy in mind allowing it to be quite user-friendly and easy to use. The tens of thousands of adults and children who have already been properly vaccinated and recorded into the biometric vaccination record system have benefitted greatly from this development and we can only hope millions of more African citizens will be reached through this innovative and effective system.

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Every medical student is taught about the importance of empathy in the practice of medicine. Every student is told to respect patients and make them feel at ease. One very important thing that is often overlooked is the need to make a patient smile.

We have all heard the adage that “laughter is the best medicine”. Research proves that laughter increases endorphins, boosts the immune system, reduces stress, helps cope with difficult situations and promotes general well being.

If laughter is medicine, then doctors should prescribe it. Clowns have worked in hospital since the time of Hippocrates and professional clown doctors have been working in hospitals since 1986.

They use their skills to help children smile and laugh and this in turn teaches them to deal with their emotions and adjust to living in a hospital.

So the next time, you are in your pediatrics postings, remember to make the kids smile. Let them forget their pain and sorrow, albeit for a minute or two.•

Illustrations: Touba Guerroumi

By Julienne White

The Benefits of Clown Care

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Science..?

Double Vision, 007?

Our favourite secret agent might look well on screen, but recently, very serious research reports have been published by the British Medical Journal on the possible health status of 007, or James Bond.

By Simon Peyda ‘Tis the season to be jolly. In the middle of en-

joying your glögg and gingerbread, you’re watching a James Bond marathon. As a KI student, you know that alcohol is potentially harmful and enjoy your glögg responsibly. On the contrary, Mr Bond asks for yet another signature drink. You can’t help but feeling concerned.

Luckily, UK scientists Johnson, Guha and Davies recently studied the MI6 agent’s alcohol consumption in the British Medical Journal. Citing the 14 Ian Fleming books as references, they determined the number

of days when the famous secret agent would be able to ingest the ethanol-derived treat. Out of 87.5 days, Mr Bond stayed off alcohol for only 14% of the time.

Unsurprisingly, the alcohol intake of “The Man With The Golden Liver”, exceeded recommended levels by over 400 per cent! Such habits should indeed hamper 007’s physical, and mental functioning, prompting the authors to question his ability to carry out his missions. To quote Goldfinger: “Mr Bond, I expect you to die!”

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New Master’s programme at Stockholm University

Operations Management and Control Are you interested in finding solutions to complex managerial problems in private and public sector organisations?

This is a unique opportunity to study operations management without a previous academic background in business or operations management.

Find out more at www.fek.su.se

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sity

ol

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Science..?

Opera Music Helps Mice After Heart Transplantation And this years Ig Nobel Prize in medicine goes to: “Mice that live longer after heart transplantation because they listen to opera music?” Yes, that is actually true. A Japanese research team discovered that opera music has a significant effect on the survival outcome of a murine model after allograph cardiac transplantations compared to control groups.

By Johanna Wolfsberger

Illustration Daniel Truong

For some time now, it is known that music can have a big influence on the body, including increased relaxation, decline in stress response and also reduced pain sensation. Music therapy is used in many different medical fields nowadays, such as psychiatry, geriatrics, drug therapy and oncology.

However, it was not known that music could have such a heavy impact on the survival rates after transplantation.

This study was performed to investigate the influence of sounds on alloimmune responses in a murine model after heart transplantation. CBA mice were implanted hearts from a BL57C/6 strain. These mice were then divided in five groups.

One group was used as a control group and the mice were not exposed to any kind of music. The others were either made to listen to Verdi, Mozart, Enya (new age music) or one of six different sound frequencies (100, 500, 1000, 5000, 10,000, or 20,000 Hz) for six days after the surgery. Ten days after the procedure the mice were sacrificed and their hearts analysed.

Interestingly, only exposure to opera music had immune-modulatory effects, which lead to extended survival, and furthermore the generation of regulatory T-cells (CD4+CD25+Foxp3+), compared to the single sound frequencies and Enya music. Additionally, the splenocytes of

mice listening to opera music contained on one hand elevated levels of the antiinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)4 and IL-10, on the other hand decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, like IL-2 and Interferon (INF) gamma. These results were obtained by using flow cytometry (FACS), immunohistochemical stainings and cytokine assays.

The authors present four possible mechanisms why opera music could have an influence on the regeneration after transplantation. Firstly, it could be possible that opera music induces the generation of regulatory T-cells, which may inhibit immune responses against allografts.

Secondly, the harmony or other features of the music itself could produce effects on the brain function that result in an altered immune response to the allografts. Thirdly, another potential hypothesis is that the exposure to opera music could lead to a decline in postoperative stress and could explain the observed hyporesponsiveness. Lastly, it could be that the music produced an increase rather than a decrease in stress. Various studies have discovered that stress can supress the immune response. The lack of immune response could prevent immediate rejection of the allograft. Whatever mechanism it is, opera music definitely results in graft prolongation and induc-

tion of regulatory T-cells and therefore makes mice survive longer after heart transplantation.

This rather unusual research project was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in medicine 2013. This prize is awarded to projects that first make people laugh and then think. The Ig Nobel ceremony is held every year in September at the Harvard University and is organized by the magazine ‘Annals of Improbable Research’. The set up is similar to the Nobel Prize itself with some differences in the amount of the reward. Every year ten prizes are awarded in various fields, such as medicine, psychology, physics, peace and more. ‘Real’ Nobel Prize laureates hand out the prize to the winners. The Ig Nobel Prize already has established a high degree of popularity since its start in 1991. We can definitely be curious about the next year’s funny winners’ projects. •

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Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology 2013 “...awarded jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Südhof “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.”

By Ruslan Alam

Another

year

passed,

another

milestone of great importance has been recognised. Although the Nobel Prize may be thought of as a label certifying the significance of something done many years ago, it is nevertheless an efficient way of highlighting this significance. The Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology of this year is no exception, James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof, the winners of this year’s Prize “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells”, were globally recognised a few weeks ago for research that have spanned several years.

Their work has not only contributed to the understanding of the cell, it will also open doors for new possibilities for other researchers.

The foundations of their discoveries lie on the work of researchers in the same field of previous generations. One such example is George E. Palade and other notable contributors who described the functional organisation of the cell. Palade, in turn, based his research on foundations catered by earlier scientists who based their work on earlier scientists et cetera.

These older researchers revealed a transport system in the form of vesicles, intracellular “bubbles”, in which content can be found within or on the surface.

These vesicles carry out a wide variety of different functions such as transportation of proteins, release of neurotransmitters, recruitment of membrane proteins to the surface of the cells and carriage of pathogens engulfed by phagocytic cells.

Essentially anything that occurs within a cell regarding organisation and transport is most likely mediated by vesicles and is evidently of great importance to all eukaryotic cells.

it is hard to argue against that Schekman, Rothman and Südhof have made an equal impact on the medical field of knowledge Organisation and transport in the cell require a delicate network of interactions between different proteins in order to function as intended. A normal cell is dependent on this balance and can, if disrupted in some way, make the whole organism susceptible to various disorders such as neurological diseases, immune diseases and diabetes. The research of this year’s Nobel Prize winners demonstrated the underlying mechanisms and identified several components of vesicular processes, which enhance our understanding of these disorders. Together, these scientists have managed to answer the questions about how, when and where processes regarding vesicles are made.

Randy W. Schekman, a cell biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, studied genetic material from yeasts in an attempt to learn about membrane and vesicle trafficking. By utilising temperature-sensitive mutant yeast cells, he managed to screen genes affecting vesi-

cles, resulting in the identification of 23 genes linked with vesicular processes.

This method uncovered the sequence of posttranslational events in the export of glycoproteins found in yeast through vesicles, and revealed secretory pathways and interactions between vesicles and membranes.

James E. Rothman, Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Yale University, developed an in vitro approach to purify proteins involved in vesicle fusion. He accomplished this by amplifying proteins in a cell with the use of viruses, a method Rothman learnt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This lead to the identification of the SNAP receptors (SNARE) and its associated proteins.

Rothman showed that SNAREs were essential for vesicle fusion. He also demonstrated the mechanism and the high degree of specificity which allow for fusion at the right place.

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Nobel Committee Secretary Göran K. Hansson announcing the 2013 Nobel laureates in Medicine or Physiology. Photo by Jingcheng Zhao for Medicor.

While Rothman explained how fusion occurred at the right place, Thomas C. Südhof, a biochemist currently working at Stanford University, solved the question of how vesicles fused at the right time. Being curious about how neurotransmitters could be released through vesicles with high precision and speed, Südhof embarked on a road to attempt to explain this phenomenon. His research determined that Synaptotagmin, a protein which interacts with SNAREs and other proteins, is calcium dependent and established its role as a calcium sensor.

The presence of calcium proved to allow for vesicle fusion, solving the temporal aspect of this process.

These discoveries currently govern our understanding of vesicular processes and can be found among medical literature, thus being highly relevant to the field of medicine. The reason for this is arguably the induction of a paradigm

shift mediated by the Nobel Laureates of Medicine or Physiology, which may very well be one of the main reasons to award these people the Nobel Prize.

The discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Röntgen revolutionised Medicine at that time. Barry Marshall and J. Robin Warren’s daring research on Helicobacter Pylori convinced an entire world that the Pylori bacterium was involved in a number of stomach disorders. It is hard to argue against that Schekman, Rothman and Südhof have made an equal impact on the medical field of knowledge.

A paradigm shift, per definition, entails some resistance from the rest of the community. Despite having different backgrounds, this year’s Nobel Laureates of Medicine or Physiology shared the common experience of struggles within their communities.

Schekman conducted research during periods when people were protesting

against the use of live specimen. Schekman jokingly exclaims “[…] because yeast also have feelings!” during the Nobel Lecture. Südhof had to convince the doubting scientific community that Synaptotagmin acted as a calcium ion sensor. Rothman dared to postulate that the vesicular transport was mediated by intrinsic chemical factors in contrast to what was generally perceived as correct at that time; mediation through the anatomical structure.

By enduring these struggles, their research will, in addition to aiding us with a greater understanding of the cell, provide a new foundation and help to pave the way for the next generation of scientist looking to draw inspiration for further research. These laureates are living proof of what we are capable of. They have unlocked their potential. Now, it is our turn.

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Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize Lectures 10 Life Lessons from the 2013 Nobel Lectures in Physiology or Medicine

By Vladimir Choi Photography by Lucy Bai

James “Jim” Rothman passionately presenting his findings in the field of vesicular transport.

It is 4:32am on Monday, 7 October

2013, in New York.

Professor James E. Rothman of Yale University sits hunched over in bed, woken up by a telephone call only hours after he had gone to sleep the previous night.

On the other end of the line is Professor Göran K. Hansson, Secretary-General of the Nobel Committee, impeccably dressed, sitting comfortably at his desk in Stockholm (local time 10:32am). Professor Rothman had won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, alongside Professor Randy W. Schekman of Berkeley and Professor Thomas C. Südhof of Stanford.

Thus began the 2013 Nobel Lectures in Physiology and Medicine, held at the newly-built Aula Medica at Karolinska Institutet, the home of the only scientific Nobel Prize not awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Very few can claim that the Nobel Lectures are held on their university campus, let alone the building next door, yet this was the opportunity I found myself in on the afternoon of Saturday, 7 December, 2013.

With a capacity of 1,000 people, the Auditorium at the Aula Medica dwarves the Wallenberg Hall at the Nobel Forum, where Nobel Lectures had previously been held. It was therefore encouraging to see that not only was it packed to the brim, but a long queue had formed just minutes before the Lectures were about to start. Indeed, it was estimated that

17,000 people had signed up to watch the Lectures live online.

The Nobel Lectures are normally held at the beginning of the Nobel Weeks, preceding the Nobel Concert and Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at the Concert Hall, and Nobel Banquet at the City Hall.

They require that the Laureates present topics related to their Prize to a public audience. This audience comprises the Nobel Assembly, the Laureates’ family and friends, scientists and professors, international press, interested members of the public, and of course, keen students from Karolinska Institutet.

This year, the Nobel Laureates were recognised for their elucidation of the mechanisms underlying vesicular transport in the cell. While it had previously been known that the rough endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus were involved, the question remained: how is the right cargo delivered to the right place at the right time?

Prof Rothman showed how individual V-SNAREs and T-SNAREs pair up to raise the hydrostatic pressure between the phospholipid bilayers, resulting in an all-or-nothing fusion step. Prof Schekman mapped an entire set of genes (Sec) in yeast through a series of bold experiments, subjecting them to high temperatures, histidine-starvation, and vesicleconstipation, even raising the fury of protesters at Berkeley (“Yeast have feelings too”). Prof Südhof looked at how calcium triggers the release of neurotrans-

mitters – precisely and rapidly – across synapses in the nervous system, in the process identifying crucial components such as Munc18, synaptotagmins, and RIM that make up the molecular machine responsible.

Here were some take-home messages: 1. Pursue your dreams, but be flexible. Prof Rothman dropped out of medical school to pursue a PhD in neurobiology. Except that he didn’t get in. Instead, he was accepted by the biochemistry department, and the rest is history. Prof Südhof graduated as a medical doctor, but ended up leading an illustrious career as a research scientist.

2. It helps to see things from a different point of view. Prof Rothman grew up in the age of physics. His search for the simplest answer to complex problems led him to discover an elegant solution to the specificity of vesicular transport.

3. Follow the footsteps of giants, e.g.Nobel Laureates. George Palade (Physiology or Medicine 1974), Eduard Buchner (Chemistry 1907), Arthur Kornberg (Physiology or Medicine 1959), Leland Hartwell (Physiology or Medicine 2001), and Joseph Goldstein (Physiology or Medicine 1985) were all major influences, either directly or indirectly, on this year’s Nobel Laureates.

4. You don’t need to do all the work yourself. It was refreshing to see the amount of recognition endowed by the Laureates on their past collabora-

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Newly built Aula Medica was completely filled with people wanting to listen to the three Nobel laureates’ lectures. Indeed a powerful atmosphere.

Three proud Nobel Laureates: James E. Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Südhof.

tors – PhD students, post-docs, and professors – many of whom were present at the Lectures and stood up to rapturous applause from the audience. Prof Südhof even joked that he “didn’t do much of the work”.

5. Save your scientific equipment – you may need to donate it to the Nobel Museum later on, but only if you win the Nobel Prize. Luckily, Prof Rothman did so with his homogeniser and Prof Schekman with his childhood microscope.

6. Believe in your ideas. Prof Rothman was told he would fail because he went against the prevailing theory that intracellular anatomy governed the traf-

ficking of vesicles. Scientists questioned Prof Schekman’s choice of baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as an experimental model for vesicular transport.

Others expressed doubt about the calcium-sensing property of synaptotagmin, a notion which Prof Südhof later confirmed.

7. You might meet your future husband/wife in the lab. Prof Schekman recounts that over the years, 7 marriages have occurred in his lab, with only one divorce. You may never view your benchmate in the same way again.

8. Do not neglect the importance of basic science research. The Laureates

showed how disruptions in vesicular transport have clinical implications in conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Ohtahara syndrome, spina bifida, and perhaps many more. It is often said that Nobel Prizes give much-needed recognition to such fundamental, yet often overlooked, research.

9. We must continue to invest in science. Prof Rothman sounded notes of caution regarding the cuts to scientific research in the US and around the world, which has the potential to jeopardise progress in a wide range of fields.

10. Be grateful for what you have.

Especially if it is the Nobel Prize. The Laureates acknowledged that not all individuals who are deserving of a Prize will have the opportunity of being rewarded.

It helps to have determination and luck on your side.

Having attended the Nobel Lectures, I cannot help but think that no matter how interesting genes and proteins may be, it is the people behind them and the journeys they have taken I find the most fascinating.

If you are interested in learning more about the Nobel Prizes, Nobel Lectures, and Nobel Laureates, please visit the Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan, as well as www.nobelprize.org.

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2013-12-18 09:46:45

Nobel Prize

Convoluted Molecules The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2013, was awarded for computer modelling of molecules and their interactions. This technology has allowed us to simulate and analyse structures we never before could imagine - this is of immense medical use.

by Nils Ågren

year the Nobel chemistry prize went to Michael Levitt, Martin Karplus, and Arieh Warshel – three immigrant Americans – for developing an innovative approach in modelling large molecules and their chemical interactions by reducing them to mathematical models powered by computers. Their research has been at the foundation of a budding field called computational biology, a branch of biology dedicated to the discovery of disease mechanisms at the molecular level and hopePolyalanine in water - a 3D model from a common molecule-simulator software. fully resulting Courtesy: Touba Guerroumi

In the words of laureate Martin

Karplus: “Usually you think when you get a call at 5 o’clock in the morning it’s going to be bad news, you know, something’s happened”. Something did happen. This

in better tailored pharmaceuticals and treatments.

Arieh Warshel and Martin Karplus first started collaborating in the early 70s, Warshel having a background in molecular modelling and Karplus in quantum chemistry. The complimentary expertise of the two aided in their research on making computer models of chromophores, molecules important for animal vision.

The approach showed the possibilities of using combinations of classical and quantum methods in describing complex chemical systems.

In speaking over the phone to the news conference on the day of the announcement, Warshel described the work as “a way for computers to take the structure of a protein and then to eventually understand how exactly it does what it does.” Together with Michael Levitt the continued work and application of these and other innovations in the field culminated in accurate models of protein folding, an important process in giving proteins their active structure.

Since the most popular technique used at the time, X-ray crystallography, can only be used to figure out out where

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Medicor at the Royal Academy of Science, where not only the Chemistry Prize, but also the Physics Prize are announced.

Photo by Jingcheng Zhao

atoms are in relation to eachother and not the locations of the electron bonds, these computational methods have become an indispensable tool in the biochemist’s toolbox.

When chemists first started doing calculations on molecules, they imagined them as a series of atoms joined together by spring-like bonds. Consequently they calculated their vibrations as if they were actual springs. However, the most interesting thing about molecules is how they react and chemical reactions are determined by how the electrons move along the bonds. If you want to do calculations on the behaviour of these electrons you will quickly run into the realization that classical mechanics are insufficient.

Quantum mechanics instead treats electrons as waves in equations that quickly become unwieldy in calculations involving more than a couple of atoms, requiring increasing amounts of computing time for each atom involved. It is made even more difficult by the fact that biological molecules can have tens of thousands of atoms, far beyond what computers are capable of dealing with today, let alone in the 70s.

Yet the actual chemistry in these giant molecules usually takes place in very

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small areas of the molecule with the rest of it just keeping these active sites in the correct locations. The idea the laureates arrived at was therefore to calculate the behaviour of the electrons in the interesting parts and use classical mechanics for the rest where the electrons could be disregarded.

In biology, these methods can be applied at many scales. Starting with protein folding and function, large molecular complex binding, DNA and RNA function, post-translational protein and DNA modification, interactions with small molecules, all the way to cellular locomotion, division and trafficking, and cell to cell recognition. Because the underlying principles are the same, you can even go beyond this; understanding the cell as a whole, its metabolism and regulation, inter-cellular signalling and neural circuits.

These are all dynamic problems which can benefit from computer simulations of this kind.

Michael Levitt has been quoted as saying that “the silent partner in this prize is the incredible development in computer power”. In the 70s when they first started developing their models they had no way of knowing that computers would become as fast as they are today,

increasing in power at the rate more or less predicted by Moore’s Law, a theory which states that computer performance improves exponentially. You can now simply list the forces between the atoms and run a program, leading to a deeper understanding of the behaviour of real proteins and how they fold and bind to substrates and ligands. While computations are an important tool, they are not an aim in themselves, and with the increasingly powerful computers available today, the methods pioneered by the three laureates are set to become ever more useful.

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Bubbly Feelings Medicor was fortunate to be allowed a photo shoot with the three Nobel laureates in Medicine or Physiology of 2013. We thought balloons would symbolise vesicles, or “bubbles” .

We barely had time to give them the balloons before they passionatley engaged in very serious Nobel laureate posing.

From the left: James E. Rothman, Randy Schekman, Thomas Südhof.

Photograph by Jincheng Zhao for Medicor

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Nobel Prize

Nobel Art

How menu cards for the Nobel Laureates are created

By Elena Lind Löwdin Photo courtesy of Lars Nyberg

Lars Nyberg with his artistic menu cards at Nobel Forum. Photo Lucy Bai

To give the Nobel Laureates in

Physiology or Medicine a chance to socialise and meet the members of the Medical Nobel Committee who proposed them a dinner is arranged soon after their arrival in Stockholm. Invitations are sent to the Laureates and the members of the Medical Nobel Committee, around 30-40 guests in total. Apart from culinary and musical delights the guests receive an exclusive piece of art inserted at the front of their menus. Every year, two prominent Swedish artists are commissioned to do a graphic work in black and white for the menus. The artworks will be distributed so that each couple will receive two different pieces of art.

Medicor’s reporter has met the person who initiated this tradition in 1979, Professor Jan Lindsten, Secretary of the Medical Nobel Committee 1979-1990.

With a background as a physician and researcher in clinical genetics, he has been the dean of the medical faculty at Karolinska Institutet as well as chief executive officer of the Karolinska Hospital and Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. As an art lover, he was a frequent visitor to exhibi-

you have certain hopes and ambitions about how the picture will turn out, but you really don’t know until it’s printed

tions and art galleries and therefore knew which artists he would like to choose.

He admits that his selection of the artists was entirely subjective. He only once refused a print. It was the painter Peter Dahl who had earlier made a series of pictures of Bellman the Swedish 18th century composer. Something like that was what Professor Lindsten had in mind, but what Peter Dahl made turned out to be nothing less than a couple having sexual intercourse. “At that time it didn’t feel right to ‘serve’ at a dinner of that kind, although it was a very good piece of art, but today I sometimes wonder why I refused it”, professor Lindsten says. The picture later appeared in the magazine of RFSU (the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education), underlined with the text “censored”. As secretary, Jan Lindsten was also in charge of the performances during the dinner. He remembers it was rumoured that the world-famous opera singer Birgit Nilsson, although retired from performing in public, might be willing to sing at smaller parties. He was lucky indeed that the husband of Birgit Nilsson was very eager to attend the Nobel dinner, and an invitation was issued together with a request for a performance at the Nobel Committee dinner. “Birgit Nilsson agreed and this was a great success”, he reminisces fondly.

Astrid Sylwan, one of the artists commissioned to create the picture for the

menu this year, is an award-winning Swedish painter born in 1970. Her art can be seen at various galleries around Sweden, for example at Moderna museet in Stockholm as well as abroad. She was greatly honoured by the request to create a picture for the Nobel laureates. Astrid Sylwan usually works in large formats

Poem: Graphic Line There is something about dew and threads.

Something about it, that sticks to something else.

Like soot or memory.

Something about the actual nerve at dusk or dawn.

- Astrid Sylwan

Illustration: Menu card art by Lars Nyberg

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Nobel Prize

and her paintings are full of colour. Thus the strict requirements of this commission (small format, in black and white) proved to be somewhat of a challenge.

She had worked with printmaking before, but only with etching, never drypoint which was the technique for this commission. “At first it was a challenge to get energy in the lines”, she tells Medicor’s reporter. But she is really pleased with how the picture turned out. The subject of the picture is entirely abstract, but the viewers are welcome to put their own meaning into the picture. Astrid Sylwan finds it exciting to work with a printer, in this case Lars Nyberg, the artist who does the printing of the plate. “You have certain hopes and ambitions about how the picture will turn out, but you really don’t know until it’s printed. It feels a bit like Christmas Day”, she says.

Since 2003, the artist Lars Nyberg is responsible for selecting the artists that will make the art to the Nobel menus. He specialises in the drypoint technique and was commissioned himself to do one of the pictures for 2001 year’s dinner. His thoughts about the requirements of this commission are similar to Astrid Sylwan’s. As he remarks about the Nobel menus: “The small format, the black and white is an artistic challenge, thanks to its ‘limitations’. The universe, or the eternity of microcosmos can also be contained in a couple of square centimetres of paper”.•

Astrid Sylwan is one of this year’s artists, together with Jan Manker. This describes how her picture for the Nobel menu is created: 1. In the printing technique drypoint, the artist uses a sharp needle to scratch lines into what in Rembrandt’s time used to be a copper plate. Today, the plates are often made of plastic. The depth of the lines and the angle of the needle determine how thick the line will be when printed.

2. The next step is to cover the plate in a thin layer of ink, rubbing it to make sure the ink is deposited into the scratches made by the needle.

3. The artist then wipes away the ink with a piece of cloth. By wiping harder in some places and leaving ink in others, the artist can create different shades and determine how accentuated the lines will be. Therefore, every printing of the plate results in a unique picture.

4. When the plate is wiped, a slightly wet paper is placed on the plate. In the printing press the soft paper is pressed down into the scratches and absorbs the ink.

Thus, in the print each black line will be sticking out from the surface, so theoretically even a blind person could follow the lines.

5. Final result!

Lars working with his press. Courtesy Lars Nyberg

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Nobel Prize

A NEW NOBEL BUILDING The three architects Johan Celsing, Gert Wingårdh and David Chipperfield are competing in the final round of the arhitectural competition that will decide the winning design for the new Nobel Center.

By Louise Forlin

The Nobel Foundation is looking for a new home. In June this year, they announced an international architectural competition with the aim of finding a design for a building where all Nobel activities can be gathered – a Nobel Center. On the 15th of November, three finalists were revealed that are competing in the final round for the chance of their design becoming reality. Among the three finalists are two well-known Swedish architects, Johan Celsing and Gert Wingårdh, as well as the British architect David Chipperfield.

The competition was met with great interest, with over 142 architects from 25 countries spread over 4 continents, submitting design proposals. When deciding the three finalists, the focus was on the general concept as well as the disposition. Since the location of the Nobel Center will be on the Blasieholmen peninsula, in the very centre of Stockholm, the building’s relation to its surroundings was also of importance.

The jury consists of eleven people, with expertise within the areas of ar-

chitecture, museum, construction, real estate and the activities of the Nobel Foundation.

As well as concentrating all the Nobel Foundation’s events under one roof, the building will additionally become a physical symbol of the name Nobel, something that is lacking at the moment. The goal is also to create a tourist attraction with exhibitions, events and conferences, and keep the Nobel laureates’ stories in focus. The Nobel Center will also provide an auditorium for the Nobel Prize award ceremony.

The winning design will be revealed in April next year, with the hopes of having the Center completed by the end of 2018.

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A Room and a Half – Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor

A Room and a Half – Johan Celsing Arkitektkontor

All pictures: Copyright Nobelhuset AB

Nobelhuset - David Chipperfield,Architects Berlin

M A P(a)lace to enjoy – Wingårdh Arkitektkontor

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N m o

S d E

V

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Nobel Prize

Nobel prize press conference Medicor attended the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology press conference, December 10th, and was struck by the very easy mood among the laureates.

They were just like old friends sitting down for a chat, not like award-winning scientists at a press conference.

By Gustaf Drevin

conference would have looked ridiculous.

However, our three laureates were in good mood and discussed issues from what to do with the money, to research funding, and how young researchers should think. The German Thomas Südhof The podium at Nobel Forum’s press hall. emphasised that “it is a Photo by AnnaKlara Pettersson privilege to be a scientist” and that “we now It was three relaxed men that know about biology, and we should aptook the stage on December 7th, in Nobel ply that biology” in the medical sciences, Forum’s press room. It was rather funny when asked about the role of scientific to see the large, broad stature of James research. Randy Schekman added that E. Rothman, with his semi-bald head their success came about as they “share and his beard, beside the tiny and almost a very strong commitment for basic scislouchy, or just overly relaxed, posture of ence”.

Randy Schekman. On the other side of Schekman pulled down a wave of Schekman, was Thomas Südhof, the more laughter as he explained how his life has common-looking of the three. changed after getting the Prize. Because, It felt like the three laureates were suddenly he is chased down by autograph just old friends sitting down for a chat. hunters, the most prominent example Perhaps the tension was eased by that was being sent two baseballs to sign. He very few journalists attended. Medicor added that he would look for them at expected more than for just 15 journalists Ebay afterwards. Sheckman, American to appear. Had it not been for a 20-some(together with Rothman) talked mainly thing of students from an international about that research funding in the United youth research organisation, the press

States is crumbling and that a reliance on the private sector would be fatal to independent research. Also, he and Rothman praised the $30 billion that the NIH gives for basic research.

Rothman, just as rhetorically apt as his fellow American Schekman, spoke about education and young scientists. He urged students that it is “crucial to focus” and to zoom in on one single issue and excel there. However, the laureates also said that researches must be flexible and able to handle defeat, because, as Rothman so delicately put it: “Don’t worry too much. What we scientists do, is fail.”

When the laureates were asked why they had been so successful in their research, the response was rather interesting, from James E. Rothman: “[Because] we fail only 99% of the time, while other people fail 99.9% of the time.”

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Mötesplatsen för läkare och studenter!

NetdoktorPro.se är en kostnadsfri mötesplats för studenter och läkare som erbjuder aktuella medicinska översikter, nyheter, praktiska hjälpmedel samt diskussionsforum där du kan ställa frågor och utbyta erfarenheter.

Som medicinstuderande kan du också ta del av kompendier, duggasammanfattningar, lathundar, anatomiska bilder och filmer, EKG-stöd och quiz.

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NOBEL NIGHT CAP

Nobel NightCap

Thank you! What a journey!

Athena Adeli, Public Relations NNC Photography by Martin Kjellberg The Nobel NightCap project of 2013

has now come to an end. It started off with excited generals, committee members and project leaders to continue on with group leaders and volunteers.

This shout-out is to the later part of the project: the largest sincerest thanks to every single one of you. Thank you for devoting time and energy to build up the wonderful dream world that became the Nobel NightCap of 2013. Thank you for spending your days at MF painting, building and sewing instead of going to classes. Thank you for thinking of every single detail and polishing up instead of going home and getting the sleep that you deserved. Thank you for cheering each other on and supporting each other when something went wrong or needed to be redone.

Thank you for spending the night between the 10th and 11th at MF. Hundreds of you were running around, standing in bars, serving food and entertaining. You

stood on your feet for 7 hours and still managed to give our guests great service! Some of you were even outside for the whole night, but still carried on with smiles on your faces. When the night came to end, you stayed to demolish and clean even though it was early in the morning and you had already been constructing for 11 days.

The Nobel NightCap would not have been possible without all of you. That so many people engaged themselves in this when exams are coming up (and we all know that KI students are pretty busy people… ) makes us even more grateful.

Now; lets rest and think of what an amazing thing you created. Flip through the pictures on Facebook and remember all the joyous parts of this project. In February a big thank you party is coming up, and we can promise you it will be marvellous. But we must be honest; with all the amount of work you but in to this, no gesture can be enough…

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Tedx

Embracing Failure with

TEDxStockholm “Failures worth spreading”, with Mona Sahlin, Johan Ernst Nilsson, and Tor Rauden Källstigen

By Jin-Yu Lu and Amanda Kaba Liljeberg

TEDx are events organized inde-

pendently with the concept borrowed from TED, this night’s theme being “embracing failure”. Environmental explorer Johan Ernst Nilson, entrepreneur Tor Rauden Källstigen and political leader Mona Sahlin were invited to speak and let the nearly 200 listeners enjoy inspiring 18-minute presentations. The speakers conveyed the idea of failure as an important factor on the road to success.

Johan Ernst Nilson, who has accomplished hundreds of expeditions including Mt. Everest, the North Pole and the South Pole, stressed that you “cannot reach the summit without taking the risk of failure”. Exploration requires motivation, practice, daring to fail and learning from failures. It is important to leave your comfort zone, push your limits and instead of avoiding problems, finding their solution. When Nilson started researching before getting into mountain climbing, he contacted prominent people in the field and asked them, not what they did to succeed, but which mistakes they made and how they failed. Nilson shared

...important to leave your comfort zone, push your limits and instead of avoiding problems, finding their solution

his personal failure on the first attempt to Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, and how he turned the pessimistic “failure” into the optimistic “postponed success” when he took the challenge again next year and reached the summit. “Everything is possible” he concluded, “the impossible just takes a little more time.”

Moving from the summit of Mt. Aconcagua to the city jungle in Berlin, Tor Rauden Källstigen, founder and CEO of Loopcam, one of the most popular mobile video services in the world, described how he failed at pitching the business idea for the first times to investors. It took him a few months and countless revisions on the pitch until someone agreed to support him. Another obstacle presented itself when a similar video service

by Twitter, a giant compared to the five people on the Loopcam team, joined the platform game. Failure seemed lurking around the corner. But as Rauden Källstigen said: “Failure is the best friend to success.” He made a big move to launch more special features on Loopcam, successfully retaining competitiveness.

Mona Sahlin opened by proclaiming that we cannot be afraid to fail, quoting Nelson Mandela: “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Many people doubted Sahlin when she, as a young and pregnant woman, was

elected into the Swedish parliament. She then moved on to become the first ever female party leader for the Swedish Social Democrats, with the aim of becom-

failure is the best friend to success ing Sweden’s first female Prime Minister.

When Sahlin failed her goal in the election she feared people would see her failure as evidence against the possible success for women in politics. On the contrary, her political leadership and accomplishments paved the way for other women who want to fight in the maledominated arena that is politics. “Change is impossible if you don’t try and fail,” said Mona Sahlin. “It’s not the failure that defines you, but how you have tried.”

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Global Focus

Big Data:

Improving preventive epidemiology With the seasonal influenza soon reaching its annual peak in the northern hemisphere, local outbreaks or so-called epidemics of “the flu” are taking over kindergartens, schools and work-places causing symptoms such as fever, myalgia, rhinitis and sore throat. Thanks to new tools in the information age, we can now combat the flu with enhanced precision.

By Ruut Seger

The flu is viral and thrives in

crowded circumstances and it is further proposed that cold and dry weather enhances its ability to survive outside the body, which might explain the higher prevalence during the winter season. Due to its high tendency to mutate in combination with a fairly low mortality rate, the virus is highly communicable. This gives rise to fairly large-scale socioeconomic impacts such as increased burdening of the healthcare system.

results are published with a 1-2-week reporting lag and have to be pieced together Occasionally, a viral strand may undergo genetic alterations and develop a more virulent character with dramatic global public health implications as a consequence. Such a modification on the type A flu virus has occurred three times during the past century ensuing a so called pandemic, with the Spanish Flu (H1N1 virus) of 1918 being the most severe with about 50 to 100 million deaths.

In 2009 the H1N1 returned modified for a sequel that has been known as the Swine Flu epidemic with a world-wide deathtoll of about 14,000 people.

What improvements, besides better living-standards and healthcare, have been made over the years to lower flu-related death rates? One important tool in disease control is information; tracking the spreading of influenza and mapping its way across regions and countries in order to improve the targeting of medical care and implementation of preventive

measures. During the 1918 pandemic, information concerning the severity of the disease state was intentionally withheld in media coverage due to war propaganda reasons, (with neutral Spain being the exception, hence the nickname “the Spanish Flu”), possibly contributing to the large number of individuals who were affected. To prevent similar disasters from reoccurring, national health agencies and officials such as the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme are working with data-collection; compiling reported “influenza like illness (ILI) physician visits” in order to detect and map flu trends across different regions. Typically, however, these results are published with a 1-2-week reporting lag and have to be pieced together in order to create a comprehensive global perspective.

Multinational corporations are too joining in on these efforts, and with the enormous amounts of data being produced by the world’s internet users, tech company Google has developed its own influenza monitoring system. Harnessing the search engine web logs to find real time trends in ILI-related search queries across the world Google created a software program called Google Flu Trends, which is now freely available online. In 2008, Google published a paper in the journal Nature where they account for their results from aggregation of data over a five-year period, demonstrating strong correlations with historical data obtained from the US Centers for Disease Control. Google claims that “Upto-date influenza estimates may enable public health officials and health professionals to respond better to seasonal epidemics.” With daily updates and the in-

formation lag being only about one day, the estimates produced may comprise a good first-indicator and complement to traditional flu surveillance.

a good first-indicator and complement to traditional flu surveillance How does it work? Specific search terms are good indicators for ongoing flu activity. Google has identified these search queries by matching with ILI data from the CDC. Graphs plotting online flu activity over time are produced by an automated formula that looks at aggregated data from a body of millions of searches produced by Google’s search engine users. Search words that might be misleading (e.g. increased ILI-related media coverage causing panic and concern among healthy individuals with subsequent surges in ILI related searches) are filtered out, thus enhancing accuracy and creating a better reflection of real-world flu activity. The system is of course still susceptible to false alerts as online activity does no always go hand in hand with reality.

Nonetheless, the ever-increasing mobility of people and goods between countries and continents and the growing demand for information certainly call for real-time access to influenza surveillance on an international level.

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Global Focus

25th World AIDS Day

- Youth at the core of the movement

By Caity Jay

As a part of World AIDS Day Decem-

ber 1st, Australia’s only national youth led HIV and sexual promotion organization, YEAH, displayed what they call the “World’s Largest World AIDS Day”. They meant this literally, actually. Bright, red, house-sized letter spelling out WORLD AIDS DAY could be seen on the main bridge in Melbourne, the Princess Bridge.

This display stood approximately 4 meters high and 30 meters long from sunrise on Friday, November 29th until midnight on Sunday, December 1st.

World AIDS Day is a day dedicated to raising awareness of one of the biggest pandemics of our time. It is a time to gather together to remember those who have passed due to this illness and the many people around the world who live with the disease or are infected with the virus daily. This 25th World AIDS Day weekend celebration was the kickoff to Melbourne’s hosting of the 20th International AIDS Conference this July 20-25th, 2014.

The International AIDS Conference is the biggest conference in the world, with AIDS 2014 being no exception. An

About: YouthForce 2014

Over the coming months there will be opportunities for young people from all over the world to contribute to the youth advocacy messages for the conference, and young people can make sure they’re a part of this by following YouthForce 2014 on social media. YouthForce is on Facebook and Twitter under YouthAIDS2014. Conference registrations open on December 1st (how fitting!) and the youth category, which is for all who are under the age of 26, will also be opening on that day. The youth pre-conference and general presence of inspiring young people is incredible, infectious even, attracting the most talented young speakers in global health in the world. Youth advocating has been very successful in this arena and there is a large space for the voices of our younger generation.

estimated 15000 key global health leaders will assemble in Melbourne to discuss the advancements and future of HIV/AIDS. YEAH sees youth as a cornerstone in this fight to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The upcoming conference will be the first International AIDS Conference in history to emphasize the move towards the end of AIDS, and an HIV-free generation, and the international community will be looking to young leadership to forge this path.

The youth programme is strong and can be found weaved throughout the overall conference agenda. There is room in each stream for youth-focused research or presentation. There is also a Global Village physical location which boasts a safe space for youth interaction.

It is equipped with networking zones, a stage for performances, NGO and marketplace booths, movie screening rooms, art exhibits, and a community dialogue space to make an inclusive place for all youth to feel safe and welcome. And from experience I can say that there is more than enough information about HIV prevention and free condoms. Condoms everywhere!

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Estimated number of people in the world living with AIDS in 2008. (UNAIDS 2008 global report,) CC-BY-SA-3.0 Graphics: Wikicommons.

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Global Focus

When the world

turned its back A brief overview of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

During the span of three months in 1994 approximately 800,000 men, women, and children were murdered in what is considered the worst genocide in modern times Africa. How could this happen?

By Robert de Meijere

To understand what ignited the

Rwandan genocide, one must start almost a century ago, in 1916, when Germany was defeated in World War I and its colony Rwanda came under Belgium ruling. Along with the Belgians prevailed a form of race science; they began to produce identity cards for all the locals, dividing the population according to their ethnicity.

The minority, Tutsis, was considered superior to the Hutus and was therefore favored. During the following years they enjoyed better jobs, education, and all the influential positions, gradually building up the resentment among the Hutus.

When Rwanda became independent in 1962, the Hutus seized power. The Ethnic tension grew over the subsequent 30 years as the Tutsis became the scapegoats for every crisis. This was still the case in the years before the genocide. When the economic situation worsened and the Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana, began losing his popularity, Tutsis in Uganda began forming the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), aiming to overthrow the government.

In an attempt to win over the Hutus to his side, Habyarimana accused the Tutsis in Rwanda of being rebel collaborators, further increasing the tension between the two groups. After months of conflicts, Habyarimana and the RPF agreed on signing a peace settlement in August 1993.

April 6th 1994. The plane carrying president Habyarimana is shot down over Kigali, killing everyone onboard. Suddenly the tension was boiling over and the world’s eyes turned to the Tutsi Prime Minister, Madame Agathe Uwilingiyimana, for a solution. With the president dead, she was now the country’s highest leader. The following day, she, in a desperate effort to keep the people under control, aired a speech on the radio. But Kigali was already in chaos.

UN, fearing for the Prime Minister’s life, sent ten Belgian soldiers to her residence. When they arrived, Hutu militants already occupied the house. In an attempt to save her children she decided to surrender to the militiamen, a decision that came with a high price. Her children mi6 April President Habyarimana is killed when his plane is shot down as it is about to land at Kigali Airport.

The genocide UNFOLDED

8 April The Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launches a major offensive to end the killings.

7 April The Rwandan armed forces and Interahamwe militia begin killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Prime Minister Madame Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers are killed.

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75 000

SURVIVING CHILDREN WERE ORPHANED

6

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN WERE MURDERED EVERY

MINUTE

THE GENOCIDE TOOK PLACE DURING A PERIOD OF

67%

of the Rwandan population is Hutu.

OF RAPES RESULTED IN HIV AND AIDS MANY WERE INFECTED AS A WEAPON OF GENOCIDE

70%

2 000 000

of today’s Rwandans are women (orange), whereof 50% are widows

REFUGEES FLED RWANDA

100 days

raculously survived, but she faced a different fate. Upon surrendering she and her husband where immediately shot along with the ten UN soldiers, an act that eventually lead to the UN decision to withdraw all peacekeeping troops from Rwanda.

In the following hours, the presidential guard blamed the presidential attack on the Tutsis and initiated a campaign of retribution resulting in the immidiate murders of opposing Tutsi leaders, businessmen and intellectuals.

Spurred on by extremist politicians and radio propaganda, the Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe, “those who work together”, was formed. Within weeks, the slaughter spread to almost every corner of Rwanda and escalated to

10% of the Rwandan population was massacred.

11 April 2000 Tutsis are massacred after a school, after the UN soldiers protecting them are ordered to withdraw.

9-10 April Foreign personnel and civilians are evacuated by their governments.

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85%

At worst, the genocide claimed

ordinary Tutsi citizens being killed and Hutus being forced to kill them. Those who refused were murdered themselves.

During that time the genocide claimed more than 8,000 lives per day.

After nearly a hundred days of brutal executions, the RPF captured Kigali and finally declared a ceasefire. To avoid retaliation, 2 million Hutus fled the country to Zaire (now DR of Congo).

A new government was set up with Hutu Pasteur Bizimungu as president and Tutsi Paul Kagame as his deputy.

Bizimungu was later jailed on charges of inciting ethnic violence, making Kagame president, a position he has hold to this date.

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lives every day.

22 May RPF forces extend their control over the northern and eastern parts of Rwanda.

21 April The UN withdraws 90% of its troops. The number of dead is now estimates to over 100,000.

4 July The RPF takes control of Kigali.

22 June he UN deploys 2,500 French troops but the killing of Tutsis continues despite their presence.

18 July The RPF declares a cease-fire and names Pastor Bizimungu as president.

13-14 July Approximately 10,000-12,000 refugees per hour cross the border into Zaire, fleeing the RPF.

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2013-12-18 09:50:20

Paul Rusesabagina The man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda�

Story by Sanni Kujala and Gustaf Drevin Photography by Martin Kjellberg

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Global focus

wandan hotel

manager Paul Rusesabagina turned his hotel into an oasis of safety in the midst of a brutal 3-month genocide that left 800,000 people dead in 1994. None of the 1,268 people who took refuge in his hotel were killed; a miracle he says was due to his ability to use the power of words as his weapon.

Most people know Paul Rusesabagina as the hotel manager played by Don Cheadle in the highly acclaimed film Hotel Rwanda (2004), which portrays the struggle he faced to save refugees of the Rwandan genocide at Hotel des Mille Collines.

Now he works through his foundation, giving talks around the world on human rights and advocating for a reconciliation process in Rwanda, where the wounds of the genocide have not yet healed. Medicor sat down with this inspirational man to talk about the way words can be harnessed for both good and evil, how political power in Rwanda continues to be strengthened through rhetoric, and how communication can aid reconciliation and forgiveness.

Power of the word. When Paul Rusesabagina speaks, the world listens. For nearly a decade, he has given countless interviews and talks at schools, universities and conferences. In November he took part in the Swedish Forum for Human Rights in Stockholm, where he spoke to a packed auditorium about his experiences during the genocide and the ways anyone can contribute to a more peaceful world.

He is accustomed to the power of rhetoric, reflected in the articulate way he shares his story. He knows how to speak in an appealing manner, as he chooses his words carefully, has a light but determined tone of voice, and uses frequent pauses to emphasise the points he makes. According to him, it was this mastery of words, coupled with his calm and humble demeanour that saved 42

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Medicor sat down with the inspiration behind the film “Hotel Rwanda�, Paul Rusesabagina, to revisit the genocide in Rwanda back in 1994.

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Global Focus

Paul Rusesabagina is a very articulate and well-spoken man, using a lot of body language and rhetorical pauses when speaking - it is hard not to get emotional when he travels back in time to tell the story about Hotel des Mille Collines.

the lives of the 1,268 Rwandans hiding in the Hotel des Mille Collines during the 1994 genocide.

“I always talk about words, because words can be the best and at the same time the worst weapon in a human being’s arsenal. Throughout the whole period [the genocide], even today, my best weapon has been words”, he begins. For 76 days, he ran Hotel des Mille Collines as a safe haven for Tutsis and moderate Hutus, and faced virtually constant negotiations with the Hutu rebels and militia.

“I remember in April 9th I was faced with one of the worst situations ever. I was stuck in my house for about three days and on the 9th when I was stand-

I came down to their level, to their pitch, to play. that is the only way ing in my living room I saw twenty soldiers in military uniforms climbing my gate trying to get into the compound”, he recounts. “You can imagine what that represents when you know many of your neighbours have been killed; you might be the next one to be killed.”

The soldiers had been ordered to escort Rusesabagina to his hotel, but he did not want to leave behind the 32 friends and neighbours he was already shelter-

ing in his house. By negotiating with the soldiers, he convinced them to allow him to bring the people with him. On the way to the hotel, the soldiers pulled over and demanded that Rusesabagina shoot everyone in the cars. As Tutsis and moderate Hutus who did not want to participate in the genocide, the people were automatically labeled as traitors.

“How to behave in such circumstances?” he asks. “For a while, I remained silent, once again looking for a window of opportunity for dialogue. After about five minutes of silence, guns at my head, I just told them ‘my friends, I don’t know how to use guns’. Once again I engaged these guys in a kind of dialogue and then they

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...you can imagine how words had to be the best and the worst weapons at the same time. were in a position, whether they wanted or not, to open up their mouth and speak.

And then again we resumed our discussion.”

In the film, this exchange lasts for two minutes, but Rusesabagina explains that in reality the negotiation took two hours, eventually resulting in him convincing the soldiers to take money he offered from the hotel safe in exchange for the people’s lives. He carefully explains that trying to relate to someone, even if it is a person who has committed unspeakable atrocities, is the only way to negotiate with them. “Can you understand some people? No. But you still have to meet somewhere. I told them that I do understand. I came down to their level, to their pitch, to play. That is the only way.”

Negotiating for your life.

Rusesabagina’s exchanges with the rebels and militia during the early days of the genocide taught him a valuable lesson that would continue to serve him throughout the three months to come.

It is something he often talks about and therefore we were not the first ones to hear him utter these words: “Through words and through dialogue you always come up with a compromise.”

For nearly three months, he engaged in constant negotiations with the rebels and militia, who would repeatedly show up at the hotel, threatening to kill everyone hiding inside. “We always fought with words”, he says. With no guns in their possession and with the United Nations troops under orders not to shoot anyone, there was no choice. His own words, often coupled with monetary bribes or champagne from the hotel cellar, were miraculously enough to convince the rebels to refrain from killing anyone in the hotel.

People are often mystified by his ability to stay calm during his interactions with rebels who had already killed many of his neighbours and who continued to slaughter people with machetes

history has always repeated itself and we have been just watching and not learning

outside the hotel compound. “If you are not calm and focused, you will be reinforcing your opponent, giving him more power. You have to show your opponent that you are there and that you are not defeated”, he explains. Staying collected would create a unified sense of calm and prevent people from sinking into despair.

“You have to bring hope to the people behind you.”

While Paul Rusesabagina was using the power of words to negotiate for the lives of the people at the Hotel des Mille Collines, the Rwandan government-supported radio channel RTLM (Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines) employed hateful rhetoric as a weapon against the Tutsis. He recounts how in the months before the genocide the radio channel started encouraging Hutus to turn on their Tutsi neighbours and friends.

“When the RTLM radio started, it started with the best Congolese music you can think of in order to attract the maximum amount of people. And after having an audience, they started selling the real product. It was very strategic on their part.” Tutsis being called cockroaches and traitors was a part of a carefully crafted rhetoric aimed at dehumanising and distancing them from Hutus.

After the genocide started, RTLM even disclosed the locations of hiding Tutsis so that people could go after them.

“So you can imagine how words had to be the best and the worst weapons at the same time”, he continues in a calm voice, but one that does seem to ring from the horror of that year. He wants to remind us that what happened in Rwanda was in no way exceptional; history, according to Paul, repeats itself, and rhetoric continues to be a powerful weapon in conflicts around the world. Perhaps it is the most powerful of them all. “These words have always been used as weapons for wars, not only in Rwanda but in all those killing fields, it has always been like that.”

The world that looked away. Alongside negotiating with the rebels, Paul Rusesabagina frequently tried to get in contact with the international friends that he had made during his time as a hotel manager. However, one can tell that his disappointment with the non-existent response still lingers with him. “Before 1994, I was in contact with many people

through words, through dialogue, sharing a drink, sitting around a table talking. By using words, I was trying to get people together to talk around the table and stockpile favours.”

When the genocide started, and expatriates started leaving Rwanda, he turned to his impressive list of high-ranking acquaintances that spanned the whole world. “I had contacts in the White House and in the State Department. I was in constant contact with New York and the Peace Corps, I was calling the EU in Brussels”, he recounts with frustration in his voice. Instead of intervening, the international community stood on the sidelines, passively watching the horrors unfold.

Instead of discussing how to stop the killing, the main debate dealt with whether this was clan fighting or whether the events could fit the definition of genocide. The reluctance to describe the events in Rwanda as genocide is a compelling example of the power of words.

The hesitation of the international community to use the term stemmed from the Genocide Convention of 1948, which

during the genocide, the international community closed their eyes and ears would have imposed a legal obligation for the countries to intervene.

“During the genocide, the international community closed their eyes and ears so they would not have to be involved in what was going on,” Paul says and explains that rather than pleading for help, his aim was to evoke a collective sense of guilt. He hoped this would call the world to stop the murdering. “I was calling each and every person I knew in this world, so that I could at least remind them of their own responsibility and to try to get them to intervene and stop what was going on. I wanted to make them feel guilty within themselves, within their own conscience.”

Internal disputes. Even though his actions are often dubbed heroic by Western media, Paul Rusesabagina is far from being applauded as a national hero in Rwanda. The situation today in Rwanda is split. The currently governing Tutsi regime under President Paul Kagame is still taking vengeance against the Hutus, creating an environment that forces even children born after the genocide to a life lived with a legacy of guilt.

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Global ISsues

The heart grows fonder. Paul and his wife Tatiana, survivors of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Tatiana is also depicted in the Hollywood film based upon Paul’s actions during the massacres.

His criticism of the current Rwandan government’s discriminative policies against Hutus and Rwanda’s involvement in the Congolese civil war has sparked a backlash of propaganda against him, he indicates. “When you raise your voice and talk loudly against what is happening in the country, you become a persona non grata”, he says and recounts the various ways the government is trying to cast a

to me, reconciliation has not yet started slur on him, ranging from staging a memorial for people that they claim had died in his hotel during the genocide, to paying off people to spread false information about him. “They are rewriting history”, he says in voice that is determined and frustrated. By “they” he means a small

elite of Tutsis, who are busy changing the country in a way that will reinforce their power position.

One way to exercise political power is to have a firm control over the official language in Rwanda. Paul criticises the government-led sudden linguistic change from French to English in 2008, enabling a small Anglophone group of people to strengthen their political and socioeconomic power, while damaging the employment prospects of the nonEnglish speaking majority. “From that day onwards”, he says, “Rwanda switched to a different elite. Former Rwandans who were refugees in late 1950s and early 1960s are the ones who are taking over.

They are an elite of less than 10,000 people. They are the ones holding political and military power.”

Paul Rusesabagina emphasises that the current political environment does

not leave space for a long overdue reconciliation process. Instead of being able to praise the government for such a process, as some countries have done, he instead sadly notes that history is indeed repeating itself. “It is now the winner who is writing history, who is doing things his or her own way. So, to me, reconciliation has not yet started. Reconciliation will start on the very day when Hutus and Tutsis are sitting face to face, at par, not as a winner and a loser.”

He is adamant that reconciliation still has not been, and in the future cannot be, initiated under the rule of the current president, Paul Kagame. “Today in Rwanda we have a winner: the Tutsi elite who won the war. They dictate reconciliation in their own way. You have Hutus laying on the floor with their hands raised, confessing to crimes they never even committed.” He emphasises how forgiveness

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needs to work both ways. Even though Tutsis were targeted during the genocide, he wants to remind us that before and after 1994, Tutsi rebels were also systematically killing Hutus.

The future. Now Paul works through the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation that he initially started in order to help victims of the genocide. The deepseated reluctance to attain equality between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda is reflected in the way the foundation’s work was hampered. He recounts how the children and young people his foundation was helping were discriminated against and had their scholarships withdrawn, resulting in people facing a future of unemployment and exile. The opposition spurred him to change his goal to making “the country heal on a global, wider range” by helping the whole nation instead of just a handful of individuals.

Now the mission of the foundation is to advocate a truth and reconciliation commission in Rwanda. “Our dream is to do what was done in South Africa [Truth and Reconciliation Committees were set up after the abolition of apartheid to record gross violations of human rights], where South Africans had to sit down, establish responsibilities, and reconcile through the truth to overcome apartheid.

If they made it, why can’t we make it?

This is our dream, this is our new mission.”

Paul insists that we have not learned anything from the genocide in Rwanda.

“History has always repeated itself and we have been just watching and not learning.” According to him, now is the time that the international community finally needs to take a strong stand against impunity, which has allowed the violence and conflict to go on for decades. The Rwandan events in 1994 spilled over into

Congo, a subsequent conflict that to this day has claimed millions of lives. His advice has never been more relevant, considering the numerous conflicts raging in the world, the most prominent being the Syrian civil war.

Paul’s dream is in theory simple: equal rights for Hutus and Tutsis through forgiveness. “Let us silence the guns, sit around a table and talk, because only through dialogue between people in equal positions can we come up with a lasting solution. That is the only way to bring the truth to the table. That is the only way to practice equal rights and equal justice for everybody.” Punishing people by death for the crimes they have committed is not what he advocates for. ”If we keep on hanging each other, we might all be hung.”

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The Arts

L’enfant du Siècle

George Gershwin and the Swedish Society of Medicine’s program series of art and science

By Oskar Swartling

When the Gershwin family bought

a piano in 1910, they were somewhat shocked when they realised that their twelve-year-old son already played the piano with ease. Apparently, he had walked by a music store a couple of years earlier and listened to a part of the piece Melodie in F by Anton Rubenstein. Madly in love with it, he started to play the piano at his friends’ houses. The rest is history.

The speaker of tonight’s programme at the Swedish Society of Medicine walks to the piano placed on scene. After listening to the tones of Rubenstein that caught Gershwin, he starts speaking about the upcoming events of the program series Art and Science (Swedish: Konst och Läkekonst) held by the Society of Medicine. The series mixes art and science by, for example, raising the topic of the process of creativity, making art and the consequences and impact of sickness. It tries to bring two topics, usually mistaken to be irreconcilable, closer to each other.

ever. When Gershwin travelled to Europe for the first and last time, he met the French composer Maurice Ravel.

Gershwin asked Ravel if he could study with him, to which Ravel replied: “Why be a second-rate Ravel, when you are a first-rate Gershwin?” Later, when Ravel heard how much money Gershwin made, he muttered: “You should give me classes”

Based on a book, the opera Porgy and Bess (1936) was considered

by Gershwin himself to be his masterpiece and it was his most ambitious work. Created 1935-1936, Gershwin usually withdrew from After firing one piano teacher after people, but during the the other, Gershwin finally found one writing and composing that could actually teach him something. of the opera he comExcept the old, classic repertoire of completely isolated himself. positions, young Gershwin also played a Some of his most faAn artistic portrait of George Gershwin by Medicor’s Touba Guerroumi. lot of new music: jazz. He left school at mous songs, like SumIn February 1937, George Gershwin age 15 and took a job at a publishing firm mertime, I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin and It suffered two blackouts while playing the on Tin Pan Alley, New York City, the Ain’t Necessarily So are set numbers of piano at one of his many concerts. As the centre of the music industry. In 1919, at a that very opera. professional he was, he was able to commere 21 years old, George Gershwin complete the show. In the aftermath he stated posed Swanee, his first national success.

Invited to the program are two opera that he felt dizzy and smelt burning rubsingers, performing Summertime and I The speaker pauses the story of ber. Later the same year, Gershwin also Got Plenty o’ Nuttin live to the audience.

George Gershwin and lets the tones of a experienced loss of energy, personalityThe live music gives a more interactive piano version of Someone to watch over changes and the recurring smell of burntouch to the lecture of George Gershwin’s me (1926) fill the ing rubber. He was given psychotherapy, life, as if the many stoauditorium at the raising the topic of the but without improvement. When Gershries of his life make more Swedish Society process of creativity, sense together with his win fell into a coma, it was too late. He of Medicine. In died the morning after of a brain tumour, music. In a way, that is achis works, George making art and the conat the age of 38 years. tually true. Gershwin dedGershwin comsequences and impact icated his life to the music Gershwin was a musical genius, pursubines classical he loved. Unfortunately, ing his creativity despite severe symptoms music with jazz of sickness Gershwin’s devoted life of brain tumour. One hundred years after and blues, somewas not going to be long. his birth, the French musical magazine Le thing that made him one of the world’s Monde de la Musique named him L’enfant most famous composer and songwriter du siècle – the child of the century.

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The Arts

Burning Man

– A Psychological Experiment in the Middle of the Desert?

By Milou Öberg Sellersjö

Photo by Mark Hammon

What happens when you place a

group of 60 000 people from all corners of the world together in the middle of the desert, 30 miles away from any society, for a week of time? What happens when you replace “a normal society” with a “free-land” of dust, a society without social borders? Where any type of behaviour is accepted, and where no social norms exist, neither does judgment nor prejudices. A place where you can be yourself, and also get to know that person, whoever it turns out to be.

This is The Burning Man, an annual American art-festival (or shall we call it a huge social psychology experiment?) where the participants build up a society together in the middle of the Nevada desert, expressing themselves through activities, such as workshops and performances, where a recurring theme is self-expression and radical self-reliance.

A growing interest and curiosity has been seen in studying Burning man, not only for anthropologists but also for psychologists specialising in personality, emotional expression, and group behaviour. Sara A. Snyder, Megan Hellner, Daniel S. Lumian and Kateri McRae are just an example of a group of researchers that found something extraordinary regarding the psychological mechanisms when studying the Burning man. In a study where more than 16 000 Burning man attendees were surveyed over four years (2008-2012), published in Frontiers of Emotional Science 2013, they found

that the social and cultural context and environment influence how people control their emotional responses more than previously reported. Participants of the Burning Man festival event, so called “Burners” were less likely to inhibit their emotions, both positive and negative ones. When comparing the emotions; the result showed a greater decrease in the suppression of positive emotion, than the decrease of the suppression of negative ones. “The most striking part in this case is the proportion in how the social context can affect emotional expression far more than long-standing values and norms built on a social background”, according to McRae, the lead author of the article.

would not it be beautiful if the world was like this?

If you study the participants, you could see personality traits in line with openness, being open to new experiences (Big Five Personality traits Model), but also extraversion with energetic and spontaneous behaviour. An influence of free choices of clothes and dress-up theme, which a psychologist can link to the Freudian mechanism regression; a state where you as an adult go back to a childish state. What would you put on when you go out of the door if you were totally free to choose, and by knowing that no one would judge you? Children

love to dress up, and so do “Burners.”

In The Burning Man there is no vending, nor use of money. You give and receive, and not necessary from the same person. Psychologists would call this behaviour altruism, or refer it to Pot Lach, originally a ceremonial feast at which the host distributes gifts to the participants.

I bump into a unicorn in a darker corner of the Cabaret. He looks at me with big open eyes, sparkling of glitter as much as from pure content and satisfaction; ”Would not it be beautiful if the world was like this?” The animal strikes his hand over the room, around, and back. To me. I laugh. And before I could blink, we are dancing, as horses would do I guess, if they could.

To bring what you experience in this environment back and apply it to real life could be a challenge. But from being a beach party of 20 friends in 1985, It is today apart from only a festival also a thriving year-round culture, with its small world-round communities, organizing feasts and events during the other 51 weeks of the year.

I open my eyes, now standing alone in a beautiful chaos of moving bodies and blue smoke. It is the middle of a grey November, in an underground venue somewhere in London, in one of these Burning Man Event. The magic horse is gone and so is my conviction about its existence, but it doesn’t matter really, does it?

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The Arts

Teaterrecension:

The Mental States of Sweden Av Poya Livälven

Det blåser lite kallt där jag står

Framför mig ser jag en vardagsrumsliknande scen. Skådespelare i olika åldrar sitter på stolar, soffor och fåtöljer och väggarna pryds av gammal tapet och tavlor på sedan länge gångna kvinnor och män. Föreställningen börjar med att man hör dramatikern och regissören Mattias Anderssons röst då han presenterar sin föreställning, ”The Mental States of Sweden”. Syftet är att fånga det mentala tillstånd som genomsyrar Sverige just nu.

Frågan som pjäsen är baserad på ställs som: ”Vilken händelse i ditt liv skulle du vilja se gestaltad på Sveriges nationalscen?” Den har ställts till ett tvärsnitt av Sveriges befolkning; människor i alla olika åldrar, och varit till grund för omfattande intervjuer utförda av sociologer.

Olika livsöden från människor med vitt skilda bakgrunder har slagits ihop i en pjäs för att påvisa det mentala tillståndet i Sverige. Kanske rättare sagt de mentala tillstånden i Sverige idag.

Vi får för en kort stund följa Safi 29 år, en invandrare från Malmö. Vi får följa utförsäkrade norrlänningar, arbetslösa f.d.

SAAB-arbetare i Trollhättan, pensionärer från Sveg och Noppe från Stureplan. Alla får berätta vad de tycker är en händelse i deras liv de skulle vilja se gestaltad på teater. Det märks att skådespelarna har lagt ner mycket tid och energi att lära sig materialet, lyssnat på intervjuerna och

Bild från Dramaten/Sören Vilks

utanför trappan till Dramaten och blickar upp mot de vita pelarna till vad som kallas Sveriges nationalscen. Dagen har hittills varit fylld av latinska namn, redox-reaktioner och rimmande ord. Väl på Dramatens syns mängder av människor som minglar och dricker rödvin, medelålders män i grå tweedkavajer och kvinnor i eleganta klänningar glider förbi.

Utan några egentliga förväntningar och med vetskapen att pjäsen är tre timmar och en kvart går jag runt i entrén. Det ringer snart in och jag sätter mig med KI-blocket i knäet och en kulspetspenna i högsta hugg.

studerat intervjufilmerna i timmar för att få in röst, kroppsspråk och rätt känsla.

Till och med rekvisitan är till viss del original och det blir stundvis en nästan kuslig stämning i lokalen – realiteten har letat sig in bakom de lyckta dörrarna.

Man slits från tårar till svett, från hopplöshet till komik. Man får höra sina värsta mardrömmar besannas hos andra människor och man får också höra underbara berättelser som man själv vill uppleva.

Ett mångkulturellt och mångfacetterat Sverige visas upp och vi blir inbjudna till en godtycklig människas liv för en liten stunds besök. Det känns som ett privilegium att få veta vad ett axplock människor tycker om Sverige, om sin situation och det som händer ute i världen – det känns som att man bär på en stor hemlighet, någonting som man vill förmedla och sprida till andra. Skådespelarna läser innantill ena sekunden och berättar från hjärtat den andra. De gestaltar, improviserar och rycker i publiken med häpnad.

Det är en känslomässig bergochdalbana efter vilken man på något underligt sätt

känner sig visare. När frågan ”vilken händelse i ditt liv skulle du vilja se gestaltad på Sveriges nationalscen” slängs ut till publiken, begrundar man verkligen sitt liv – man frågar sig: vad har jag gjort av mitt? Ofrivilligt söker man efter en scen i sitt liv som skulle vara värdigt att gestaltas på Dramaten. Gemenskapen ökar under pjäsen. Den likgiltighet och de orättvisor som finns i Sverige gör sig påminda och äcklar.

Förutom Anderssons skickliga regi och skådespelarnas otroligt verklighetstrogna skådespel, måste det också sägas att pjäsen blir ännu bättre då den är aktuell. Den är gjord av människor för människor. Den vill visa dagens Sverige, och det lyckas den med genom att låta människor berätta om sina liv – utan att avbryta.

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The Arts

Film Review: The Act of Killing

A

nwar Congo and Adi Zulkadry saw their opportunity when the government was overthrown in Indonesia. Initially, they were selling movie tickets on the black market, but eventually became infamous leaders during the Indonesia killings of 1965-66.

An estimated 1,000,000 people were killed, ranging from presumed communists to people from the Chinese minority refusing to pay bribes. Congo has stated that he personally killed around 1,000 people.

In The Act of Killing (2012, 122 min), directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, these so-called gangster squad leaders describe their lives during the Indonesia killings.

With joy and a lot of laughs, Anwar Congo and his friends are in this documentary re-enacting the genocide and bragging about rigged elections. Congo and the other leaders have never been held accountable for the genocide. Anwar Congo portrays and directs scenes of his nightmares in the movie, trying to reconcile with his conscience. The man who

killed so many struggles with his conscience and tries to reconcile with it while re-enacting both his actions and his nightmares.

This, part breathtaking and provoking, part surrealistic movie shows the cruelty of mankind and how evil deeds can go unpunished. The Act of Killing was awarded the Best Nordic Documentary by the five Nordic public-service companies in September 2013. The movie is a must-see as it shows how things can go terribly wrong and as it studies the mind of humanity, in both a perplexing, realistic way and in a dream-like aesthetic way. Most importantly, it moves

Screenshot from the film.

By Oskar Swartling

the eyes of the world towards Indonesia, a country where representatives high up in the government raise the old leaders to the sky, where men like Congo walks free and where the Chinese minority still has to pay bribes to avoid violence.

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Dance your PhD

By Vittoria Crispino Christmas is getting closer. This

means two things: first, endless dinners with your family and relatives you did not even remember you had, and second, the most dreaded question of all: “So, what are you exactly studying?”.

In times like these, don’t you just wish you could receive a real Christmas miracle and manage to explain what you have been trying to elucidate for the past couple of years at least?

Sorted. The answer is turning your Ph.D. thesis into a dance video. This is the contest that Science has been running since 2007: Dance Your Ph.D. Communication of scientific results is probably one of the most difficult challenges a student has to face. The goal of DYPD is therefore to deliver the outcome of a doctoral research through the human body via an interpretative dance while maintaining the high quality of the technical content.

Medicor got in touch with last year’s winner of the Social Sciences section, Dr. Riccardo Da Re, who succesfully trans-

lated the essence of his thesis “Governance of resources and development of local economies in rural areas: the Social Network Analysis an other instruments for good governance indicators” into an outstanding dance.

Once again, Dr. Da Re highlighted that: “[…] the effective communication of your results to people who are not in your same field of research is of course the most difficult goal to reach.” He also added: “ […] in our modern society where your multidisciplinary and multisectorial skills are tested on a daily basis, locking yourself up in a laboratory or in an office is no longer useful for the dissemination of knowledge. Communication becomes therefore a basic responsibility and obligation of the researcher”, and DYPD gives doctoral students the opportunity to enjoy this usually traumatic experience by finding unusual and extremely hilarious ways to explain their results.

The participation to this contest also gave Dr. Da Re the chance to “establish contacts that a student would not usually

easily create at the very beginning of his/ her career”. Moreover, he now uses the winning video to break the ice with students during his lectures. “ The video is the best way to introduce the topic to students and to give imputs for constructive and concrete discussions during teaching time”.

This year’s winner, Cedric Tan, a Ph.D. student at The University of Oxford, explained to the world the concept of sperm competition in the red jungle fowl. How? He simply managed to introduce his thesis to the general public with a brilliant “sperm ballet”. Easy, right?

Doctoral student, thou shalt not fear no more. Next year, think twice about the famous question and submit your video to Science’s Dance Your Ph.D. competition. By Christmas, all your family could be happy and will probably leave you and your plate full of well deserved food alone.

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