Nature | E. Lukyanov Meet patients to get your motivation back Biomedical scientists risk forgetting what they’re working for if they don’t connect with the people who are affected by their research, says Tal Nuriel 1 . 04 July 2012 Most research scientists, especially in biomedicine, can probably remember when their early wide-eyed enthusiasm started to wane. For me, it was during my time as a research technician at New York University Langone Medical Center. One afternoon in the lab, I announced that I really wanted to “cure a disease” one day. My comment was innocent and genuine, so I was caught off guard when a couple of postdocs in the lab laughed at it. They told me that researchers don’t ‘cure’ anything any more; at best, they develop drugs effective enough to secure government approval, and even that is nearly impossible. My idealism dampened further as I made my way through my graduate studies at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. My work centres around the effects of nitric oxide on Alzheimer’s disease, and although my passion for the work is pure — my grandmother had the disease — I soon abandoned the idea that my research would ever make a real difference to actual people. The realities of research began to weigh on me, and with each failed experiment and exhausting late night, my focus in the lab shifted further away from trying to help people and closer towards trying to complete my thesis and publish enough papers to help me to secure a job after I graduated. I found myself wondering whether there might be ways to halt this shift in focus and motivation, which so many young researchers experience. Then I found one. Back in January, in the middle of my seventh year of graduate studies (please shoot me), I enrolled in a ‘self-expression and leadership’ course, for which I had to organize a community project. And so it was that on a Thursday night in May, a little under 100 people directly affected by Alzheimer’s gathered in a Manhattan bar to meet and mingle with about 20 young researchers, all of whom were trying to, if not cure the disease, then at least lessen its effects. I called the event a Meet the Researchers night, and I was staggered by the interest. I invited patients and care-givers with the help of the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. Immediately after the invitations were sent out, we received a flood of responses, and ten further chapters said that they wanted to organize similar events in their cities. Apparently, meeting young scientists was more desirable than I had foreseen. And my colleagues were equally enthusiastic: with e-mails and help from administrative departments, I was able to recruit graduate students, postdocs and assistant professors from most of the major universities around New York. “It is crazy to me that there is almost no direct contact between patients and researchers.” At the event, all the scientists did an amazing job of welcoming the guests and being patient with their questions. One sat with a rather intense older gentleman for nearly an hour, fielding question after question and smiling all the time. As most of the older guests left and the bar thinned out, many of the researchers turned their attention towards each other. At that point, I realized that an unexpected benefit of the event was that it brought together 20young researchers from the same city and with the same research interests, to meet and interact for the first time. For me, the most touching moment was when I met a woman called Beth, whose father had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. We discussed research for a while — then Beth started to talk about her father and how his amazing memory had been a source of pride for him before the disease had struck. Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she stopped mid-sentence, the emotions pouring over her. I put my hand on her shoulder and told her that it would be OK, comforting her as best I could. And as she regained her composure and continued with her stories about her dad, I remembered why I had organized this event in the first place. Although I had witnessed the effects of Alzheimer’s disease first hand — both as a child, watching my grandmother’s slow deterioration, and as an adult, witnessing my mother’s anxiety about succumbing to the same fate — it had been a long time since I had directly felt the heartache of seeing a loved one slowly fade away. Talking to Beth, I reconnected with the pain and suffering that this disease causes, and with why research into it is so important. Iremembered that Alzheimer’s disease isn’t just the abstract images of plaques and tangles that I show in my presentations. It is a real and devastating condition and the only real hope for those affected by it — perhaps even for my own mother — is the research that my fellow scientists and I conduct. In my opinion, this sort of event should be repeated on a much grander scale. It is crazy to me that, although the patient community spends countless hours raising money for researchers, and the research community spends countless hours working to find treatments for patients, there is actually almost no direct contact between these groups. If you are a biomedical scientist, there are plenty of reasons to organize a Meet the Researchers event in your area. And I can tell you from experience that doing so will not only renew your motivation in the lab: it will also reconnect you with the reasons you got into science. Journal name: Nature Volume: 487 , Pages: 7 Date published: (05 July 2012) DOI: doi:10.1038/487007a http://www.nature.com/news/meet-patients-to-get-your-motivation-back-1.10943 Related stories Scientists trace a wiring plan for entire mouse brain Alzheimer's disease: A breach in the blood–brain barrier US government sets out Alzheimer’s plan
钱锺书妙语出典考略 【网络资料辑录】 钱锺书先生妙语如珠，频见于著述，屡发于言谈。老杜为人性僻耽佳句，只是在吟诗作赋之时；而钱先生则无时不耽，终生乐之。杨绛先生曾说：锺书与我父亲（杨荫杭先生）诗文上有同好，有许多共同的语言。锺书常和我父亲说些精致典雅的淘气话，相与笑乐。一次我父亲问我：锺书常那么高兴吗？（《记钱锺书与围城》37页，湖南人民出版社，1986年5月） 这种高兴的神情，我在拜访钱先生时曾有幸目睹在他谈兴正浓、咳唾生春的时候。杨先生所说翁婿间精致典雅的淘气话，虽未记下，也必是得意之语无疑。《圣经》上所罗门王说过：口善应对，自觉喜乐；话合其时，何等美好。（A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word spoken in due season, how good is it!-The Proverbs 15:23）可以想象钱先生在此时是何等惬心快意。 钱公曾说自己的诗歌字字有出处而不尚用典。（吴忠匡《记钱锺书先生》，《文化昆仑》47页，人民文学出版社，1999年7月）其实他撰文、言谈无不如此。钱氏名言，正如黄山谷所评老杜作诗、退之作文那样，无一字无来处，盖后人读书少，故谓韩杜自作此语耳。（《答洪驹父书》，《豫章黄先生文集》卷十九）我曾为其中的一些找到了古书上的出典。（见《蓬山舟影》34-35页，汉语大词典出版社，2004年12月） 遣词造句养成了习惯、形成了风格，运中文时如此，作参军蛮语时想来也不会例外。比如杨绛先生所记:一次我听他在电话里对一位求见的英国女士说：假如你吃了个鸡蛋觉得不错，何必认识那下蛋的母鸡呢。（《记钱锺书与围城前言》） 这句话谁听了想必都会哑然失笑，看上去好像是羌无故实了，但我仍怀疑此句必有所本。有关鸡与蛋的典故，我只想到《伊索寓言》中的杀鸡取蛋、《庄子齐物论》中见卵而求时夜和《雪涛小说妄心》中那个拾到鸡蛋就梦想发大财的痴人，但都与此毫不相干。 记得钱先生1978年在意大利欧洲汉学家大会演讲时，曾多次引用意国名言隽句，本地风光，意在使彼邦人士觉得亲切有味。（《古典文学研究在现代中国》，《钱锺书集写在人生边上的边上》178-182页，三联书店，2002年10月）以彼例此，其语既为英人而发，出典定在英文，不然未免对牛弹琴，先生必不致如此。 我年轻时好读外文，颇想从周边看欧美，也算囫囵吞枣浏览了一些西方典籍。中年以后专治古籍整理，虽甚欲学钱公取资异国，但实践检验下来，只有流失到域外的中国古籍善本可供校勘之用，那些著名外国汉学家的大块文章于我毫发无补，于是不复理会，外语遂逐渐荒疏，在海通之世竟成了乡曲之士，无意从周边看中国，不能像当世通人们那样预流了。 不过治国学可以不管外文，要治钱学却绝对不行。如今考据癖既然发作，再到西方文字海中去捞针谈何容易，何不就在忘河之岸掇拾孑遗呢？思至此，便抛却书卷，学起达摩面壁来。 静坐未久，眼前忽跳出一句英国谚语：He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens（要想吃鸡蛋，就得忍受母鸡咯咯旦）。顿时豁然开朗，不禁拍案：钱公出处端在是矣！这句谚语虽产生于农业社会，而至今喻义犹存，在英美人人耳熟能详，听了必较他国人氏更能会心解意。 钱先生隐去了cackling（咯咯叫）一词，别国人或懵乎不晓，而英美则人尽皆知。令人惊讶的是，母鸡的咯咯声他们居然需要忍受（endure）!我却从来没有这样的感觉。我家在所谓的三年自然灾害期间也养过鸡，至今还未忘却母鸡生蛋后的叫声所带来的愉悦，想来国人所感略同。 也许我们真是实用理性，只要得到实惠，便不辨声之美恶了吧。英美人听钱公之语，会明白他是说母鸡讨厌之极，见了难受；而国人则会以为他是说母鸡普通之至，不值一看。显然我们的理解要逊英美人一筹。我还见有人效固哉高叟，对钱语表示异议。 可见东海西海，正未必心理攸同呢。钱公将这句古谚用于当今商业社会的语境（吃鸡蛋用不着自己养鸡），可谓推陈出新；而自比母鸡，实际上是推人及己。他本人不喜欢拜访名人，曾说：吾老而懒，杜于皇所谓司马迁、韩愈住隔壁，亦恕不奉访，况馀人乎！（吴忠匡《记钱锺书先生》，《文化昆仑》43页）看来对当世的作家学者，他概以母鸡视之，拟人之余，也就顺便挪来自拟。 接下来，我又想起了钱先生的另一句幽默之语。据王水照先生披露，钱公写信告诉他，在1979年访美期间，馆中有司导观其藏书库，傲然有得色。同游诸公均唧唧惊叹，弟默不言。有司问弟，弟忍俊不禁，对曰：我亦充满惊奇，惊奇世界上有那么多我所不要看的书！主者愕然，旋即大笑曰：这是钱教授的风趣了！虽戏语，颇有理。（《对话的馀思》，《文化昆仑》105-106页） 世界上有那么多我所不要看的书，此句耳熟，定非即目而成。于是又面壁而坐，不久，果有声起于天际：苏格拉底有类似之语。 Mnemosyne（记忆女神）既如此启示于我，遂回想起以前曾读过Diogenes Laertius（第欧根尼拉尔修）所著Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers（《名哲言行录》，R. D. Hicks英译），便赶紧到图书馆去借了一部《娄布经典丛书》（The Loeb Classical Library）版的希英对照本，此本钱先生在《管锥编》中曾多次征引。 我希腊文仅识字母，只能读英译（想来钱公亦复如此，不然他决不会引英译而不引原文。有人说钱公通希腊文，实不敢苟同），在记Socrates（苏格拉底）的一章果然找到这么一段（155页）： Often when he looked at the multitude of wares exposed for sale, he would say to himself, How many things I can do without !And he would continually recite the lines：The purple robe and silvers shine / More fits an actors need than mine.（他看到市场上百货杂陈，琳琅满目，常不禁自语：有那么多我所不要的东西呀！随即吟道：熠熠银器兮粲粲紫袍，宜彼倡优兮不适吾曹。讽诵不已。） 钱先生的话果然源自苏格拉底！考How many things I can do without 这句话， C.D. Yonge的译本翻作：How many things are there which I do not want. 好像还有人译作How many things I have no need of或What a lot of things there are a man can do without。不知钱先生原话仿造哪一句式，自愧英文尚未入流（遑论预流），不敢妄拟。 前面提到的那位遭到拒绝的英国女士，我想她一定能够领略钱公造语之妙，毕竟谚语流俗相传、家喻户晓；而后面那位美国国会图书馆的傲然主者，从他愕然的表情、旋即大笑后所说的浮泛之语，可以猜测，他不但对钱公的风趣语不能得其微意，对其来历更是不识不知。 如果确是这样的话，那本Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers肯定属于他所不要看的书，而钱先生的妙语真可谓明珠暗投了。当然，对于世界一流图书馆的负责人，但愿我的判断是错误的。 【 作者佚名 ；辑录自恒谦教育网： http://www.hengqian.com （转贴上传于2010-07-09），原文题生蛋与母鸡，钱钟书妙语来源考】 【 辑录者考证补记： 该文作者刘永翔，刊于上海《东方早报》2009-06-11】 钱先生字字有出处而不尚用典、无一字无来处，盖后人读书少，故谓韩杜自作此语耳科技学术论文参考文献引用之百态万象，亦有深思之处矣 【辑录者愚见】
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