Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Stunning prairie oasis

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Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is one of northeast Montanas most alluring gems. And early spring is a delightful time to explore it.

Mid-May at about 5 a.m., the lifting fog, a product of a cold night, catches the first light of a mellow sunrise. The tall grass and reeds take on a gold and orange hue while the surrounding water gathers all the colors of the sky, transforming its surface into a pastel painting. The crisp air is noisy, as the entire neighborhood chats in profusion. Grouse, performing their mating ritual, add a distinct sound to the excitement.

The previous weeks witnessed a raucous homecoming a tradition carried out each year as tens of thousands of geese, ducks and birds fill the spring sky on their way back to Medicine Lake. This prairie oasis, bordered by seemingly endless stretches of wheat fields, witnesses one of the great wildlife spectacles in America.

Just 22 miles south of Plentywood, Medicine Lake NWR is in part located above the former channel of the Missouri River. Before the last ice age, the river ran north to Hudson Bay. A glacier moving out of Canada forced the waterway to turn south. When the massive flow of ice receded, it left a blanket of glacial till, resulting in rocky, rolling hills interspersed with numerous wetlands, marshes and ponds.

Medicine Lake is the largest of these bodies of water. For its water, it depends upon summer thunderstorms, winter snowmelt, the flow of Big Muddy Creek reaching the area from the north and Lake Creek coming from the northeast. The name is derived from medicinal herbs and roots Indians gathered around its shores. An exploration of the surrounding higher terrain shows teepee rings and other signs of long-ago use.

More than 100,000 migrating waterfowl make Medicine Lake their warm weather habitat. Great blue herons, white pelicans, geese, grebes and 10 different species of ducks share this prairie ecosystem with countless other birds. Each year as many as 30,000 ducklings are produced, and every fall more than 10,000 sandhill cranes spend a week here. Foxes, raccoons, pheasants and deer also populate the area.

The refuge boasts the largest pelican rookery in Montana and third largest in the nation. These magnificent birds nest on the big island in the middle of Medicine Lake. More than 2,000 white pelicans are born each season.

The piping plover, a rare bird, actively breeds in the wetlands. Their flute-like call is one of the great sounds of nature.

Geese are the first to arrive. Showing up in February and March, they set up their territory and prepare for nesting even before the ice melts.

Its usually late April before Medicine Lake thaws, just in time for the summer dwellers to arrive. All the winged creatures leave by around the first of November when the lake begins to freeze.

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Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge: Stunning prairie oasis

A better biomarker to predict cetuximab response in CRC patients

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InSilico Medicine, Inc.

VIDEO:A cancer research breakthrough was announced by two biotechnology companies. view more

Credit: InSilico Medicine, Inc.

The results appear in the 2015 2nd issue of the journal of Human Genome Variation. To see a video about the partnership between Champions and Insilico, visit: http://tinyurl.com/InsilicoChampions .

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. More than 50,000 people die of CRC each year due to tumor spreading to other organs and almost half of all newly diagnosed patients are in an advanced stage of cancer (metastatic CRC or mCRC) when they are first diagnosed.

With the development of cetuximab and panitumumab, the treatment of mCRC has been profoundly improved in the past decade. The clinical trials showed a clear and significant benefit for mCRC patients whose tumor carries wild-type K-ras. But K-ras status is not a perfect biomarker that could help physicians decide if cetuximab should be given to a mCRC patient or not because only 40 to 60% of mCRC patients with wild-type K-ras would respond to cetuximab. There are still up to 60% of mCRC patients with wild-type K-ras will not respond to cetuximab treatment. There is an urgent need to develop new biomarkers or strategies to help physician make better decisions.

During recent collaboration, the two companies, Insilico Medicine and Champions Oncology, found that human CRC TumorGrafts maintain human tumors' properties, such as gene-expression patterns, DNA copy number alteration, mutational status and clinical predictability, allowing scientists to test many drugs and combinations quickly on the mice while patients are waiting for treatment.

Qingsong Zhu, Ph.D, COO of Insilico Medicine, Inc., the leader of the study, said, "Champions' TumorGraft is one of the best drug screening platforms. Using our OncoFinderTM tool, we confirmed that TumorGrafts implanted in laboratory mice retain human CRC tumors' pathway activation profiles. Using data from human CRC TumorGrafts and clinical trial results, we identified PAS as a novel prognostic biomarker for cetuximab in mCRC."

Keren Paz, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Champions Oncology said, "Our TumorGraft platform has been used in many tumor types, including colorectal cancer and are helping physicians improving decision-making. Unfortunately, the entire process of implantation and propagation followed by drug screening typically takes 12-16 weeks and time is critical for definitive treatment, especially for advanced cancer patients. With the help of OncoFinderTM , we may be able to significantly reduce the time and cost of the process."

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A better biomarker to predict cetuximab response in CRC patients

"Birth Control" – Medical School MMI Practice Questions/Scenarios #2 (2015) – Video

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"Birth Control" - Medical School MMI Practice Questions/Scenarios #2 (2015)
Full MMI Practice Question playlist in order: http://mmi.coursegrinder.com Examining the MMI practice scenario "Birth Control". This will allow the applicant to balance out compassion and...

By: Course Grinder

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"Birth Control" - Medical School MMI Practice Questions/Scenarios #2 (2015) - Video

Man faked ethnicity for medical school

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Story highlights Vijay Chokal-Ingam says he pretended to be black to get into medical school He says the experience showed him that affirmative action is a flawed system

The revelation comes as Vijay Chokal-Ingam, who is of Indian descent, is pitching a book about his experiences as a "hard-partying college frat boy who discovered the seriousness and complexity of America's racial problems while posing as a black man."

On his website, AlmostBlack.com, Chokal-Ingam says he hatched the plan in 1998 after realizing in college that his grades weren't going to be good enough to get into med school as an Indian-American.

"So, I shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man," he wrote on the website. "My change in appearance was so startling that my own fraternity brothers didn't recognize me at first."

Actress Mindy Kaling's brother says his sister isn't happy with his plans for a book about affirmative action.

He says he joined an organization for black students and applied to schools using his middle name, JoJo.

The plan had some drawbacks, said Chokal-Ingam, who describes himself now as a "professional resume writer, interview coach, and graduate school application consultant."

"Cops harassed me. Store clerks accused me of shoplifting. Women were either scared of me or couldn't keep their hands off me," he wrote. "What started as a devious ploy to gain admission to medical school turned into a twisted social experiment."

But, he says, it worked. Despite a relatively mediocre 3.1 college grade-point average and a score of 31 on the Medical College Admission Test, he says, he was wooed by a number of top medical schools.

He eventually attended Saint Louis University Medical School, dropping out after two years.

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Man faked ethnicity for medical school

Mindy Kaling's Estranged Brother, Vijay Chokal-Ingam, Pretended to Be Black to Get Into Med School: New Statement

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UPDATE: Mindy Kaling's rep tells Us Weekly: "Mindy has been estranged from her brother for years. She was not aware of his decision to apply to medical school under a different name and race."

Umm, what? While Mindy Kaling was writing and starring in The Mindy Project, her older brother Vijay Chokal-Ingam, was working on a project of his own: getting into medical school.

PHOTOS: Mindy Kaling's Mindy Project style

To promote his upcoming book, Almost Black: The True Story of an Indian American Who Got Into Medical School Posing as an African American, Chokal-Ingam, 38, posted details of how he supposedly got into medical school by changing his race on his website.

PHOTOS: Celebrity siblings

In my junior year of college, I realized that I didnt have the grades or test scores to get into medical school, at least not as an Indian-American, he wrote. Still, I was determined to become a doctor and I knew that admission standards for certain minorities under affirmative action were, lets say less stringent?

Mindy Kaling reportedly did not approve of her brother's decision to tell his story. Credit: David Livingston/Getty Images

Chokal-Ingam went on to shave his head, trim his eyelashes, and join the Organization of Black Students, using his middle name Jojo. With these new credentials, and the same 3.1 GPA and 31 MCAT score, Chokal-Ingam allegedly was admitted as an African-American student.

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I became a serious contender at some of the greatest medical schools in America, including Harvard, Wash U, UPenn, Case Western, and Columbia, he continued. In all, I interviewed at eleven prestigious medical schools in 9 major cities across America, while posing as a black man.

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Mindy Kaling's Estranged Brother, Vijay Chokal-Ingam, Pretended to Be Black to Get Into Med School: New Statement

Why Mindy Kaling's brother faked being black

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Story highlights Vijay Chokal-Ingam says he pretended to be black to get into medical school He says the experience showed him that affirmative action is a flawed system

The revelation comes as Vijay Chokal-Ingam, who is of Indian descent, is pitching a book about his experiences as a "hard-partying college frat boy who discovered the seriousness and complexity of America's racial problems while posing as a black man."

On his website, AlmostBlack.com, Chokal-Ingam says he hatched the plan in 1998 after realizing in college that his grades weren't going to be good enough to get into med school as an Indian-American.

"So, I shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man," he wrote on the website. "My change in appearance was so startling that my own fraternity brothers didn't recognize me at first."

Actress Mindy Kaling's brother says his sister isn't happy with his plans for a book about affirmative action.

He says he joined an organization for black students and applied to schools using his middle name, JoJo.

The plan had some drawbacks, said Chokal-Ingam, who describes himself now as a "professional resume writer, interview coach, and graduate school application consultant."

"Cops harassed me. Store clerks accused me of shoplifting. Women were either scared of me or couldn't keep their hands off me," he wrote. "What started as a devious ploy to gain admission to medical school turned into a twisted social experiment."

But, he says, it worked. Despite a relatively mediocre 3.1 college grade-point average and a score of 31 on the Medical College Admission Test, he says, he was wooed by a number of top medical schools.

He eventually attended Saint Louis University Medical School, dropping out after two years.

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Why Mindy Kaling's brother faked being black

Why Mindy Kaling's brother posed as black to get into med school

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Vijay Chokal-Ingam, who is sparking controversy with a proposed but not yet finished book "Almost Black The True Story Of An Indian American Who Got Into Medical School Pretending To Be An African American," which he says is intended at least in part to balance the moral ledger.

Im a Hindu, and we have something called karma says Mr. Chokal-Ingam, in an interview. I think Im doing the right thing now. Im telling the truth about a system of organized racism that I dont think helps anyone. Im trying to prevent people from being discriminated against or having negative stereotypes created that hurt their careers indirectly through the cycle of discrimination.

Chokal-Ingam, who subsequentlydropped out of medical school and is now a graduate school admissions consultant,declined to speak about his family or his famous sister, thecreator and star of the FOX comedy, 'The Mindy Project'and their reaction to his work.

He describes how his decision to falsify his applications came about. After watching some of my best friends who were Indian-American like me get rejected from medical school I said, you know, I dont want to take the same path.

An applicant with my test scores who was Indian or Asian-American was unlikely to get into med school, while an African-American with the same scores was statistically likely to get into medical school. So it was a pretty easy choice at that point, he says.

Chokal-Ingam says that it was at that point, I chose to shave my head, trim my Indian eyelashes and join the organization of Black Students and apply to medical school as an African-American.

Chokal-Ingam says he applied to a number of US medical schools, including Harvard, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1998, adding, I never lied about anything on my application, except my race."

Asked if he truly wanted to become a physician or if this was a social experiment, he says, At the time there was nothing I wanted more in the world. My mother was a doctor. Id worked in a hospital. There was nothing I wanted more and I was willing to do anything within reason to achieve that goal.

But he never completed his medical training, a fact that he attributes to karma.

I have to be willing to accept the fact that perhaps I was never destined to become a doctor because of the way I got in, he says. I showed that I didnt have the clinical skills required to be a doctor. So unfortunately, I dropped out.

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Why Mindy Kaling's brother posed as black to get into med school

Mindy Kalings Brother Claims He Pretended to Be Black to Get Into Med School

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TIME U.S. Education FOX via Getty Images

Mindy Kalings brother may have taken a slightly unorthodox route to get into medical school.

Vijay Chokal-Ingam, the older brother of the Mindy Project star recently made headlines after claiming he self-identified as black on medical school applications back in 1998 and 1999.

Chokal-Ingam claims that when he initially applied to medical schools he found himself wait-listed at University of Pennsylvania, Washington University and Mt. Sinai. This apparently prompted him to try to apply to schools while claiming to be black.

Would you rather accept racism or defy those who want to discriminate against you? I chose the latter and applied to medical school as black, Chokal-Ingam posted on his website Almost Black, where he writes about his anti-affirmative action stance and chronicles his experience of getting into medical school.

I shaved my head, trimmed my long Indian eyelashes, and applied to medical school as a black man. My change in appearance was so startling that my own fraternity brothers didnt recognize me at first. I even joined the Organization of Black Students, Chokal-Ingam who is Indian-American revealed.

(According to source, Kaling and her brother are estranged and she has no knowledge of his application claims.)

On March 31, the 38-year-old proceeded to post screenshot proof to his Almost Black Facebook page of application paperwork, invitations to interviews and acceptance letters from medical programs including Columbia University, Cornell University, George Washington University, Vanderbilt University and more.

Much of the extensive documentation is addressed from university minority affairs departments. The papers also show that the UCLA graduate applied under the name JoJo.

Let me clear about one thing. I never lied about anything on my application, except my race. Everything else on my application can be verified as correct. I didnt even claim that I was disadvantaged, the self-proclaimed affirmative action hacktivist wrote on Facebook.

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Mindy Kalings Brother Claims He Pretended to Be Black to Get Into Med School

NSU adding a traditional medical school

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Nova Southeastern University plans to create a new medical school, offering traditional medical degrees at its North Miami Beach campus.

NSU's new College of Allopathic Medicine, or M.D. program, will complement its existing doctor of osteopathic medicine program, which is often described as a more holistic approach to patient care, officials said. The new medical school is designed to help meet a pending physician shortage in the state.

It would be South Florida's fourth traditional medical school, joining the University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University's medical school, which opened in 2011, and Florida International University's school, which opened in 2009.

Two state health groups recently released a report identifying a physician shortage of about 7,000 by 2025, particularly in psychiatry and several surgical fields.

NSU says it will be the only university in the Southeast and the first in Florida to house both an osteopathic medical school and an allopathic medical school. NSU President George Hanbury said the program will be modeled after Michigan State University, which already offers both degrees.

"Competition is a good thing, so the development of another high quality institution for medical education would potentially benefit the area," said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Quick said the area is most in need of new physician residencies, rather than full medical schools, since studies show doctors are most likely to stay in the communities where they perform their residency. But she said new residency spots usually come with new medical schools.

The three existing traditional medical schools, as well as NSU's osteopathic program, all get thousands of applicants for hundreds of spots.

The new NSU program, slated to accept its first 50 students in 2017, plans to serve about 125 students within its first four years. It will be housed at the old Southeastern University of the Health Sciences at 1750 NE 167th St, North Miami Beach, not the main campus in Davie.

Nova bought the university in 1994 and moved the osteopathic programs to Davie. The campus has remained open, but underused, housing the College of Education and several health clinics, officials said.

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NSU adding a traditional medical school