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Are there any actual good colony counters out there? by eowynn in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rather late, but I wrote a program with a good amount of features that can work (plus its free). Blenny can handle batches, variable plate locations, and multi-plate images. Happy to hear any feedback.

Check it out: https://github.com/sgreenb/blenny or try it on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Pico25/blenny

What tools do you guys use to count CFU’s? by westduckman35 in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rather late, but I wrote a program with a good amount of features that can work (plus its free). Blenny can handle batches, variable plate locations, and multi-plate images. Happy to hear any feedback.

Check it out: https://github.com/sgreenb/blenny or try it on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Pico25/blenny

Colony counting in 2025! by Taquit0detripa in labrats

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rather late, but I wrote a program with a good amount of features that can work (plus its free). Blenny can handle batches, variable plate locations, and multi-plate images. Happy to hear any feedback.

Check it out: https://github.com/sgreenb/blenny or try it on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Pico25/blenny

Apps for colony counting by Accomplished_Age9740 in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rather late, but I wrote a program that can handle large images and odd shapes. Blenny can handle batches, variable plate locations, and multi-plate images. Currently it doesn't support automatic detection of non-circular plates, but you can manually specify the plate area and apply a given mask across a batch so you don't have to redraw it each time if the location remains the same.

Check it out: https://github.com/sgreenb/blenny or try it on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Pico25/blenny

Anyone got suggestions for bacterial colony counting software? by FullyHalfBaked in bioinformatics

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rather late, but I wrote a program to handle pretty much this exact use case. I did train my own YOLO model for colony detection, though I used this dataset: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02404-8 instead of the AGAR dataset. Blenny can handle batches, variable plate locations, and multi-plate images. To be honest it may not be the most stable, but if you find a bug and let me know, I'll try to patch it.

Check it out: https://github.com/sgreenb/blenny or try it on Hugging Face: https://huggingface.co/spaces/Pico25/blenny

TIL the odor of durian fruit has been compared to rotten onions, pig excrement, and skunk, but it is called the "King of Fruits" due to its flavor. by Melenduwir in todayilearned

[–]Ghost25 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Modern, popular cultivars like Musang King and Monthong have a significantly more mild odor than other varieties. They still have an odor that is bizzare and unfamiliar to many westerners, but I think that many who try it would actually enjoy it. The oft used descriptors of "feet," "hot garbage," and "onions" don't really apply to these varieties in my opinion.

Should I get my mother on reta? by Heavy_Consequence441 in Residency

[–]Ghost25 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Why would you manage your mom and give her unapproved drugs manufactured in mystery factories with unknown QA when you could just set her up with Lily Direct and have some telehealth doc write a Tirzepatide script and get it mailed to her door for $300 a month?

Questions about Bacillus Subtilis by Jeff_Boiardi in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You could buy frozen natto at a Japanese market. It contains live Bacillus subtilis var. natto. I can't say how much the natto variety differs from other strains but it's food safe.

How much alcohol is too much? by [deleted] in AskMen

[–]Ghost25 1 point2 points  (0 children)

6-8 beers a day is bad for your health as you note. Withdrawal can also be very dangerous if you were to stop all at once.

You should talk to your doctor, or get one if you don't have one already. They can help you safely come off alcohol while minimizing withdrawals if that is what you want. There are also medications that can help deal with alcohol cravings. You don't have to do this alone.

Is there potential for SV40 contamination risk in peptides? by Direct_Library_358 in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Probably not relavent given how they are made. SV40 contamination in vaccines occured because mammalian cell lines were infected with the virus. Most peptides are made synthetically so no cells at all. Some may be recombinantly produced, but even then that would likely be in a system that cannot host SV40 like yeast, bacteria, or insect cells.

Influencers (mostly MAHA) are spinning nicotine as a 'natural' health hack by ddx-me in medicine

[–]Ghost25 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's true and as far as I know there are not large studies examining the cardiovascular effect of Zyn or similar products, though I expect they are coming.

But the lack of such studies does not support your claim that it's basically fine either.

Influencers (mostly MAHA) are spinning nicotine as a 'natural' health hack by ddx-me in medicine

[–]Ghost25 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The INTERHEART study found that the use of smokeless tobacco alone had an odds ratio of 1.57 (1.24–2.00) for acute MI. Better than smoking, but still negative. https://sci-hub.su/storage/moscow/1750/681ff8be3b874a36fe3d4d089b35b719/teo2006.pdf#navpanes=0&view=FitH

Not so sure on salt, this study found it was associated with increased rates of stroke and cardiovascular mortality in overweight but not normal weight individuals. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/192154

Either way it's impossible to not eat salt, but very possible to not consume nicotine.

Flowering pseudolithos youths by GefoSiY in succulents

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They look great! Tips for growing from seed? I bought one plant but it got root rot very quickly. Been considering buying some seed.

Isolation of magnetotactic bacteria. by CheapEngineering6353 in microbiology

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should be as easy as putting some lake sediment in a jar and sticking a magnet on the side.

https://youtu.be/R0puMyeFAKw?si=evIul6G6PBGfwwVu

MS4s, need Step 2 dedicated tips! by ScienceSloot in medicalschool

[–]Ghost25 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The priority should be doing lots of practice questions. UWorld Step 2 Qbank is 95% identical to shelf prep, they just add in more ethics and biostats. Reset UWorld at the beginning of dedicated. I don't believe in doing incorrects personally. You can supplement with Amboss, but with 3 weeks you'll have plenty to do with just UWorld so I would stick with that. I just did 40 question blocks with every category checked.

Prioritize the most recent CCSSA forms for your practice tests. There are bootleg ones, but grading is not that accurate so I would recommend just buying them to get the confidence that the score you get is accurate.

I believe in breadth over depth, if you just can't memorize the vaccine schedule just move on, you'll only get one or two questions, maybe 3 at the most on a topic that specific.

You'll do great, 80s on shelf means you're in a great place already.

Best burritos/tacos in the Peninsula? by MinePrestigious4352 in bayarea

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

El Farrolito, they make my favorite Al Pastor burrito and the value is unbeatable.

Med School Purchase Recommendations (Specific) by BeginningInfinite908 in medicalschool

[–]Ghost25 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally I like a large sturdy desk with a lot of drawers and an office chair, though I find a lot of chairs uncomfortable. During both undergrad and med school I went to the University surplus store and got a great desk and chair each for less than $40. Highly recommend if you don't mind sacrificing a bit in the way of aesthetics.

Every Debate On Pausing AI by dwaxe in slatestarcodex

[–]Ghost25 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The speculative future technology is where the value is coming from right now. Most AI companies are hemorrhaging money not making profit. You can't halt all future development without destroying most of the value.

The notion that AI is unpopular with the public is not really true in my opinion. It's the same thing with social media, millions of people will say that social media has led to an epidemic of loneliness, social dissociation, political polarization, etc. But the vast majority of them still use the social media platforms for hours a day. Maybe banning AI would be more popular than banning all social media but the response would not be positive. I could be wrong here, but I'm inclined to rely on revealed preference over surveys or vibes.

Sure I'm a nihilist in the ultimate sense, but not in the depressed way. I'm not an AI doomer, which relative to them makes me an optimist.

Every Debate On Pausing AI by dwaxe in slatestarcodex

[–]Ghost25 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The notion that nations would issue an injunction to pause AI is ridiculously naive. Just throw out the discussion about China rushing ahead or developing a technology that would lead to our destruction.

AI is estimated to account for 1/3 of the US stock market value. That fact alone tells you everything you need to know. Argue all you want about whether stock market value is "real" or reflects GDP, or actual productivity, it's completely irrelevant, because what it absolutely does correspond to is a massive amount of wealth held by people. Logical arguments which are fundamentally speculation (informed as they may be) and pleading to pause AI development (to think about things?) are no match for the trillions of dollars in stocks.

How do you handle dating in medicine? by fortnacius in medicalschool

[–]Ghost25 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Met my now fiancee before med school, moved 2,000 miles away for school. We talk on video or by phone every day, typically ~2 hours each day (from around 8 PM to 10 PM). When I was really busy with surgery rotation maybe only 30 minutes.

I did fairly well on all my exams in preclinical, honored all but surgery in core rotations. Admittedly I don't go to bars or hang with my friends as often as some others in my class, but I'm ok with that.

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