Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Stem Cell Symphony: A Novel

Stuart Matheson, 32, is trapped in a nursing home as well as his body, eerily immobile at the last stage of Huntington's Disease. Kelsey Raye is a science writer feeling guilty about the recent deaths of her parents. She volunteers for hospice and is assigned to Stuart. She's a PhD, he never finished school, but they share a love of rock music and disdain of religion. They instantly bond.

As Kelsey plays her iPod daily for Stuart, he improves - an impossibility - and when she misses a few days, he backslides. She deduces that Stuart's gains follow hearing U2 or their imitators. Kelsey, who writes about stem cells, thinks the frequency of the arpeggios is turning on stem cells in Stuart's brain. She shares her idea with researcher Peter Holloway, but evil Nurse Smithies overhears and outs them to a tabloid. Meanwhile, Peter scans Stuart's brain. He's getting better!

All hell breaks loose when the tabloid hits. The government shuts down Peter's lab and confiscates Kelsey's iPod, while anti-stem cell protestors harass them -- just as Peter discovers how music stimulates stem cells. Then something unexpected happens. Did science fail, or was it the anti-science forces?

The underlying love story and comical cast of characters propel this parallel tale of emerging spirituality and an evolving medical technology. Many of the characters and scenes are based on real people, and the science dead-on accurate - with the one tweak of the music turning on stem cells.

It could happen.
Customer Review: Entertaining, informative, and inspiring
It's very refreshing to read a novel that is so well grounded in science and real life. This book has all the fictional elements of a great novel, yet you learn some things about science along the way through the book. I particularly liked the section on Congressional testimony. And I can personally relate to some of the nursing home scenes. Great job!
Customer Review: A good read AND informative!
Ricki Lewis' novel is the story of a young science writer who, as a hospice volunteer, finds herself inexplicably helping a patient with an incurable disease. It is current both in terms of discussing the science of the stem cell technology we hear so much about these days, but also in its musical references, like U2 and Coldplay (two artists included in a recent planetarium show I visited in the Rose Space Center in NYC.) There is a love interest with a twist, and I found myself gripped by the unknowns presented in the thickening plots. The cast of characters was eccentric but believable. Their actions felt so real sometimes, I found myself wondering if portions of the story were based on real events. What I perhaps liked the best was that the uplifting ending suggested that the miracle of art (in this case music) can inexplicably have a profound scientific effect on our bodies in ways we have perhaps not yet discovered. If there are not medical researchers out there testing out Dr. Lewis' "novel" hypotheses- there should be! I found myself learning about science while enjoying the story. This was a good read- I highly suggest it!


The more artistically minded might consider arts and crafts, clowning, drama, photography, or dance to be important elements of having a well-rounded camp experience. Camps often focus on specialties that include: adventure, art, computer, dance, music, religion, horse riding, sports, theatre, and many others. The variety of camps available today is almost innumerable, meaning there will be some specialized camps that may have availability left even into the summer.

An overnight summer camp is a supervised program for children and teens conducted during the summer months in most countries; children and teens, called campers, who attend camp, participate in a variety of activities, many of which are special interest. There are overnight summer camps with a focus on self-improvement, weight loss and grief counseling. Basically, if you can think of any subject of interest, there's probably a camp that specializes in it.

The camp you choose for your child will provide a lifetime of good memories and will be truly rewarding. Special needs camps meet the needs of a wide range of children with disabilities; these camps provide an outdoor summer camp experience along with a therapeutic environment. There are overnight summer camps that are co-ed camps, boy's camps, girl's camps or brother-sister camps where boys and girls may have separate venues and activities.

Specialty overnight camps can range from $500 to $1000 per week depending on the program. Try to determine whether the director incorporates a similar philosophy to running the camp as you do in parenting your child or children. Four weeks at a good private overnight summer camp or sleepaway camp will cost anywhere from $3500 to $6500, and eight weeks will range from $4000 to $7000.

There are many types of overnight summer camps with a focus on education that cater to students with differing ages and academic interests. Get to know the camp director from an in-person visit to your home if possible, phone conversations, email or other correspondence. The reputation of an overnight summer camp can also be determined by asking what percentage of counselors returned from the previous year.

Children will get more individual attention and supervision with a lower number of campers per counselor. Do you think, if you have more than one child, they would they benefit from attending the same summer camp together? Consider these industry-recommended guidelines - for smaller children ages 7 and 8, there should be one counselor for every six campers; by age 15, there should be one counselor for every 10 campers.

The best overnight summer sports camps do much more than just improve a camper's soccer, tennis, lacrosse, or wrestling skills - they help each child become a more skillful athlete, a more gracious competitor, a more committed team player, and a more confident person. At camp would it benefit your child more if he or she interacted more with the opposite gender? Children or teens could typically explore subjects new to them like marine science, photography, creative writing, community service, drama, magic, scuba diving, video production, comic book design, crime scene forensics, cooking, yoga, rappelling, etc.

If you think there's a possibility you might have to cancel an overnight summer camp reservation, camper's insurance would be a good idea. If you find a traditional overnight summer camp or sleepaway camp that's not the right fit, or an expense that isn't possible at this place in time, rest assured that there are other options that can keep your child occupied throughout the summer. If you think your child may not be ready for a sleepaway or overnight summer camp, choose a local camp in case you end up having to make a late night pickup in the event he or she gets homesick. Choosing a camp close to home will save a lot of money on airfare and possible hotel or motel overnight stays for a parent, or other transportation costs; this is especially true if your child might get a case of homesickness and want to come home early from the overnight summer camp.

For more information on choosing the best overnight summer camp and finding the best sleepaway or overnight summer camp online and offline go to http://www.OvernightSummerCamp.biz a nurse's website specializing in overnight summer camp tips, help, facts, free tuition resources, including information on overnight summer camp reviews

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