The days leading up to my trip are getting closer and closer. I will bring along the books about the Himalayas that I haven’t yet had time to read. I look forward to immersing myself in literature for a while—at least in the evenings.
Today I spoke with Professor Thapa and his lovely wife, whom I have not met before. He is still working at the university. We were able to wave to each other, and it felt just as if they were right there in my living room! I wanted to hug them. Professor Thapa says it is warm in Kathmandu. He also said, “Finally, Anna, you are coming to Nepal!” I am going to start packing my bag this weekend. I do not want to bring too much with me; I’m hoping to buy some clothes there instead. When in Rome, so to speak—trying to blend in.
To my surprise, Nepal has rhinoceroses. How exciting. I suppose it is a bit like having moose in Sweden. I hope I get to see them—the rhinos I mean.
Professor Thapa speaks excellent English. Being a bit of a language nerd, I wonder if I will understand anything of what is said in Nepal. Languages are so fascinating. I wonder what the cadence of the speech is like. Will I be able to make out the words?
I am starting to feel a touch of pre-travelling excitement.
I feel great that I have already voted. I have the weekend off; otherwise, my entire Sunday would have been devoted to voting. There is something solemn about voting. My little vote—does it mean anything? Does it really matter if I vote? And then I think about countries where people fought so hard to gain the right to vote at all. Women’s suffrage is a story in itself.
There was a long line at the library for voting. I have read so many books, and now I view them from a different perspective because I write them myself.
Waiting at the library gave me a sense of wonderful calm. The same calm I felt in Uppsala when I used to go to the Medical Library at Akademiska to study for exams. A place where no one else was around except the librarian. Memories of the library in Heby also returned to me—where I read everything from Alice Lyttkens to books on training hunting dogs. I believe Vivaldi´s Winter is my best friend at the moment.
A glacier has caused great devastation in Nepal. Several thousand people have died. My friend in Kathmandu is unharmed. Thank goodness. He told me that his friends in the military are doing massive rescue work. The new government is working very intensively. A similar incident occurred a year ago in the European Alps in Switzerland, where part of a glacier broke away.
I received a message today that they have made a lot of progress in the rescue work. The irony of fate. Professor Thapa’s field of study is anatomy. I did a little research on his scientific work, where I found a publication about how important it is to show respect for dead people who donate their bodies to science and education. A symbolic ceremony for reflection, please see Professor Trilok Pati Thapa’s work:
Maybe I will write an alternative resume for my book “Generations” when I am in Nepal. One of the characters in the book receives a donated kidney. The main character, Greten, suffers from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Many people come to Nepal to climb mountains. Perhaps because a near-death experience makes them feel more alive. I am more interested in catching a glimpse of mountains that reach above the clouds. How is it possible that they are so high?
I hope that I will be able to find a way to contribute to Nepal. It has been almost 10 years since I was in Asia. A lot has happened. The Internet helps to make the world feel so small. News spreads instantly.
It didn’t quite go as I had planned. I never got that cozy feeling of reading and preparing for the trip to Nepal and India in peace. I am so used to reading up on different subjects that I hesitated for a second, but then I realized that I can read while travelling. Life doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to. There are no government guarantees – like in so many other life situations. The Strait of Hormuz, I thought, I blame the Strait of Hormuz. It already felt a little better.
It is a bit absurd to set off on a trip and think about how you can travel without crossing the war. Ukraine is very close to me. Sometimes I travel by bus and meet refugees from Ukraine who travel for free. A distributional policy issue was brought up by a friend who believes that all refugees should be allowed to travel for free. Without thinking, I replied that Sweden is very close to Ukraine and that it might as well have been Sweden that was invaded. It is a very unique situation.
I am starting to look forward to my voyage, and I have a lot to prepare. There is no train from Kathmandu, so I am traveling by bus or plane to India. What should I do for Professor Thapa? I got this nice gift below a little over 20 years ago. Dala horses are nice, but I have rarely been to Dalarna. I still have a few weeks to look.
I hope I will find the plant that contains Reserpine. How come it grows in India? It is nowadays sold in health food stores. It is fascinating that plants can have such powerful pharmacological effects. However, there are much better pharmacological alternatives today than Reserpine to lower blood pressure and also for various anxiety conditions.
This is so refreshing. I have been writing this diary for 13 years. Nice to change. I remember lots of travelling that I have tried to catch by photos and writing – so happy for this change, and also for the opportunity to learn.
This autumn I will go to Nepal and Kathmandu. I am staying in touch with Professor Trilok Pati Thapa. I just learnt that Kathmandu was very popular in the 1960´s as the Hippie trail. Well, I must admit that I also search for some answers. I have so much to read, and my Professor sends me literature.
I am now concidering of traveling from East Asia to reach Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. The world is fragile, as Sting points out.
There has been an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Canterbury, Kent, England. Students have been affected, and deaths have occurred (please see Canterbury Meningococcus). You can be a carrier (about 10% of the population) of these bacteria without it leading to sepsis and/or meningitis. A so-called natural immunity – an asymptomatic carrier.
If you do get infected, the course of the disease is very rapid, and intensive care is required. A little bacteria that is not visible and in the worst case can be fatal.
Since there are at least 12 different serogroups, you can still get infected because you do not carry all the varieties asymptomatically. As early as 1805, epidemic meningitis was described. Transmission occurs through direct contact, close contact, such as university accommodation, military installations, or large gatherings such as the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Interestingly, vaccination is mandatory before certain pilgrimages. Not all. Right now, England is looking into whether students may have shared vapes.
The last major international outbreak was a scout camp in Japan in 2015, where 1,500 Swedish scouts were given antibiotics (ciprofloxacin) to prevent infection. Once the bacterial strain has been genotyped, perhaps vaccination can be expected to be effective. In Sweden, the Canterbury strain of meningococcus is rare, which is why, as far as I understand, it is not considered necessary to vaccinate. This is Canterbury, not Salisbury, where the Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned in 2018.
I will vaccinate myself against TBE soon. It is time again. Unfortunately, there are hospitalizations with meningitis (meningitis) or encephalitis (brain inflammation). After all, it is cozy tto go for a walk with a dog.
I have always been fascinated by simplicity. First, I had to learn to write intricately and in an educational, complex way, which takes many years. Thereafter, I have worked on simplifying my writing. I have also focused more on prioritizing what is really important.
During my years at the Department of Pharmacology in Göteborg, monoaminergic transmission was/is central. Catechol synthesis from dietary tyrosine to the pharmacologically active catecholamines, such as dopamine, sat in my spinal cord. Dopamine, which controls much of our behavior, is related to noradrenaline and adrenaline, which, among other things, regulate more understandable body functions such as pulse and blood pressure.
I have made a small schematic sketch of this synthesis in the picture below. To never forget the order, I always thought of DNA, which corresponds to dopamine, noradrenaline, and finally adrenaline. I also knew the enzymes that catalyzed this, but here I do not focus so much on them. My creative time in France this year made me remember how to draw structural formulas where the benzene ring is included. Today, computers handle this in advanced 3D models. Development is moving forward.
Monoaminergic synthesis.
Reserpine is included in my sketch, and I want to quote an original finding from Nature 1957 with Carlsson A et al. Nature1957 Nov 30;180(4596):1200), please see https://www.nature.com/articles/1801200a0
In this publication, rabbits were given reserpine, which is obtained from the reserpine plant in India. As you can see in the picture below, the rabbits are apathetic and cannot do much more than rest. The same thing happens with humans. The important question was to answer whether this effect was linked to catecholamines (monoamines) and/or serotonin. When the rabbits were given L-DOPA, the same rabbits became alert again, as you clearly can see. This shaped the basis of the treatment for Parkinson’s disease that is still used today.
This image setting really impressed me. Maybe partly because I was used to growing up seeing the shot winter hare on the steps in the cold, hanging with spruce branches in its belly. I still remember when I found a small bullet in the food I was eating that I immediately spat out.
The effect of L-DOPA in reserpine-treated rabbits.
My sketch above summarizes my thoughts, and perhaps you understand how I carried the monoaminergic synthesis in my memory and how it has inspired, via DNA, my book ´Generations´. Or?
Rounding off by sharing some French music. I need to explain this and a little more before I can fully start writing Molly’s book. Her book will be completely in the humanities after AI inspiration/insight.
