Business of Life Marriage, birth, divorce, transitions, widowed, career, retirement, transitions, death, moving, rules of life, aging, caregiving, life events, life changes Business of Life 92 40 en-us Jill Fallon Copyright 2019 Jill Fallon 2019-05-17T15:21:41-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Health Roundup Jill Fallon Health 2019-05-17T15:21:41-05:00 Why you need a humidifier in the winter Yale researchers have pinpointed a key reason why people are more likely to get sick and even die from flu during winter months: low humidity.... Low humidity hindered the immune response... Why you need a humidifier in the winter Yale researchers have pinpointed a key reason why people are more likely to get sick and even die from flu during winter months: low humidity.... Low humidity hindered the immune response of the animals in three ways. It prevented cilia, which are hair-like structures in airways cells, from removing viral particles and mucus. It also reduced the ability of airway cells to repair damage caused by the virus in the lungs. The third mechanism involved interferons, or signaling proteins released by virus-infected cells to alert neighboring cells to the viral threat. In the low-humidity environment, this innate immune defense system failed. A 'Holy Grail' heart failure cure could be on the horizon after scientists worked out how to regenerate specialized cells in the muscle. Injecting the gene which drives cell growth in people's infancy could restore tissue which is damaged during a heart attack, a study on pigs has found. Currently, people who have heart attacks are left with patches of scarring which last forever and can lead to heart failure and ultimately death. Scientists have failed to find a way to restore or remove this dead tissue and get the organ working normally again – but this discovery may change that. By restarting a growth process which ends when people are babies, experts may be able to force the heart to rebuild itself and become healthy again within weeks. Researchers from King's College London injected the gene into the hearts of pigs and found their heart function went back to normal within a month of a heart attack. And, because of the similarities between pig and human hearts, scientists hope the same treatment could be given to people within a decade. Study links low-dose aspirin to bleeding inside the skull People without a history of heart disease and stroke who took low-dose aspirin were more likely to experience bleeding inside the skull, according to a new study. The latest research, published this week in the journal JAMA Neurology, suggests regular low-dose aspirin use increases the risk of an intracranial hemorrhage. Intracranial hemorrhage is associated with high mortality rates and functional dependency." Earlier this year, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association updated their guidelines for aspirin use, recommending the drug no longer be used as a preventive measure for older adults without an elevated risk of heart attack or stroke. Widow, 61, is cured of her 'reversible dementia' after doctors found her vitamin B12 deficiency was to blame for her delusional state After five years of this 'altered behavior', her sister took her to hospital when she started losing consciousness and developed jerky movements. A series of blood tests and scans all came back clear, with the patient's only abnormality being a B12 deficiency. This deficiency is thought to have damaged the protective fatty layer around the woman's spinal cord. This caused parts of her backbone to degenerate, triggering psychotic and epileptic symptoms. The patient experienced 'remarkable neuropsychiatric recovery' after taking artificial vitamin B12. However, the time taken for her to be diagnosed is thought to have damaged her spinal cord so much she may be on anti-psychotic and anti-seizure drugs for life. Miraculous 'bio-glue' that sets under UV light and can heal fatal wounds to organs in seconds is developed by scientists A 'miracle' glue that can close up fatal wounds within seconds could be used to save lives where medical help isn't immediately available. Tested on pig models, the gel like substance forms a seal around tissue openings in just 20 seconds after being activated with UV light. The glue could be used to stop patients bleeding to death during heart surgery, or in emergencies with limited medical access such as war zones and terrorist attacks. The innovation has been made by scientists at the Zhejiang University of Medicine in China who say the application of the material could range from surgery to the battlefield or civilian catastrophes, either accidental or deliberate. Miscellany #119 Jill Fallon Miscellany 2019-05-14T12:27:41-05:00 Why the World's Best Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Certain Japanese chalk. YouTube video Hagoromo: a Japanese brand so smooth, so perfect that some wondered if it was made from the tears of angels. Ancient Chinese Buildings Are Held Together... Why the World's Best Mathematicians Are Hoarding a Certain Japanese chalk. YouTube video Hagoromo: a Japanese brand so smooth, so perfect that some wondered if it was made from the tears of angels. Ancient Chinese Buildings Are Held Together With Rice, Sugar, and Blood THE CITY WALL OF NANJING, built 600 years ago, was the first line of defense for the founding capital of the Ming dynasty. Originally 22 miles long, it was built with 350 million bricks, most of which have survived centuries of weathering. In 2010, intrigued by the wall’s sturdy composition, a team of Chinese researchers analyzed mortar samples from one section. The secret ingredient turned out to be humble sticky rice, a staple of Chinese cuisine. Trees Come from the Air explains Richard Feynman in this YouTube video. The light and heat emanating from a burning fire are in fact the light and heat of the sun, “stored sun” that made its way into the fireplace via the substance of the tree. It's Easier to Track One Man Through His Cellphone Than a 110,000-Ton Aircraft Carrier Photo of the Week. Giant humpback leaps from the sea as fisherman in small boat looks on agog The Heir of Napoleon Bonaparte Is Marrying the Great Great Granddaughter of the Last Emperor of Austria More than 200 years after Napoleon married the Archduchess of Austria, the former Imperial House of France and the House of Hapsburg will unite once again, when Bonaparte's heir - who carries on the family name - marries the great-grand-daughter of Austria’s last emperor. Napoleon's marriage to Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria in 1810, which was designed to secure an ally in his war against Britain and Russia and bring conflict between the two countries to a halt. The pair - London-based private equity manager Jean-Christophe Napoleon Bonaparte, 32, the great-great-great nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte I, Emperor of France and Countess Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinnerberg, 31, the great-granddaughter of Karl I - say that their wedding in October 2019 is a love match, and not designed to further any political ambitions. He said: 'It's a story of love rather than a nod to history. When I met Olympia, I plunged into her eyes and not into her family tree. Afterwards we were able to smile at this historical coincidence.' In·ter·est·ing : Why Are 96,000,000 Black Balls on the LA Reservoir? video The main reason they are on the reservoir is to block sunlight from entering the water and triggering a chemical reaction that turns harmless bromide into carcinogenic bromate. This Native American Man Has The Oldest American DNA Ever Recorded. The DNA testing company found Darrell Crawford's results so unprecedented that they said it was like finding Bigfoot. The Doorway Effect: Why We Forget What We’re Doing the Minute We Enter a Room. It’s actually a sign that your brain is in fine working order. 50 People Who Look Just Like Cartoon Characters At Belmont Hill School, All Graduating Seniors Must Carve a Panel of Mahogany Just outside of Boston, the Belmont Hill School requires all graduating seniors to carve a 12x12 inch piece of mahogany into something meaningful to them. A requirement since the 1920s, these are added to an ever-growing wall of about 3,000 panels. A 2004 article in the Boston Globe explains: "It's a social history," says Headmaster Richard I. Melvoin. "From the time boys arrive, they know they'll leave a piece of themselves on the walls, and so there's a sense they're part of something larger." When Important People Die, He’s There You’ve probably never heard of Robert M. Boetticher Sr., but he has helped arrange the funeral services of multiple presidents, first ladies and celebrities. Health Roundup: Alzheimer's Edition Jill Fallon Health 2019-05-10T13:26:06-05:00 Why scientists are betting on light therapy to cure Alzheimer's: Study finds an hour a day of flashing light STOPPED the disease in mice by thwarting two proteins - as human trials get under way. 'I haven't seen anything... Why scientists are betting on light therapy to cure Alzheimer's: Study finds an hour a day of flashing light STOPPED the disease in mice by thwarting two proteins - as human trials get under way. 'I haven't seen anything like that. It is very shocking,' senior author Dr Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said. Her team at MIT has published new research showing how the light therapy works, by targeting the chemical that creates protein clumps, suggesting it may be even more powerful than previously thought. The light therapy started shortly before degeneration would have been expected to begin. In this latest study, her team showed that light hampered two types of proteins (tau P301S and CK-p25), and as a result curbed the disease. After three weeks, the tau P301S mice were stable, while those untreated had lost up to 20 percent of their neurons. The CK-p25 mice that saw the light were kept stable for six weeks, while their peers deteriorated. The therapy improved cognitive skills such as spatial memory in both mice with dementia - and, intriguingly, in older, healthy peers. Looking at the brains in autopsy afterwards, they found the disease had been stopped in its track for every mouse that saw the light. 'It seems neurodegeneration is largely prevented,' Dr Tsai said. The researchers later found combining the flickering light with sound stimuli - 40-hertz tones - reduced plaques even more and also had further-reaching effects, extending to the hippocampus and parts of the prefrontal cortex. They have also found cognitive benefits from both the light- and sound-induced gamma oscillations. The power of music: Vicky McClure's dementia choir There is growing evidence that music can play a part in helping people with dementia live happy and fulfilled lives after they are diagnosed. To help investigate this idea, Vicky McClure's choir took part in a study run by Sebastian Crutch, a professor of neuropsychology at the Dementia Research Centre, University College London, into how music and visual arts affect people with dementia. The results showed that movement and heart rate decreased during the choir rehearsals. People living with dementia can often feel agitated and restless, so these scores probably indicate that they're feeling calmer as they sing. That was also the message from the survey asking the singers how they felt - which showed a positive effect on their wellbeing. A research review published in 2018, looking at music therapy trials in nursing homes or hospitals, found that the sessions improved symptoms of depression and behavioral problems in people with dementia, but said more research was needed to determine the duration and other effects. Other reviews have found evidence that music therapy can help decrease agitation, and that music therapy is effective for reducing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Music does seem to have more benefits than activities such as painting, going for a walk, or visiting friends. These Scientists Want to Redefine Alzheimer's as a 'Double-Prion' Disease The researchers behind this latest study, based primarily at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), are arguing that it’s not the final stages of amyloid beta and tau that are the problem; it’s the earlier, prion-like forms of both proteins that are the real culprits. Plaques and tangles, in this theory, are essentially just the “dead,” inactive remains of amyloid and tau prions. New Type of Dementia Discovered: Alzheimer’s Doppelganger? “Not everything that looks like Alzheimer’s disease is Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Julie Schneider, a neuropathologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. And among all the known dementias, this newly identified kind “is the most striking mimic of Alzheimer’s,” she added. The dementia was dubbed “LATE,” an acronym chosen in part because the oldest seniors seem at greatest risk. Recently have scientists developed special, pricey scans that can measure that buildup in living brains. Then studies with those scans found about a third of people with Alzheimer’s symptoms lack amyloid buildup. It turns out another protein, named TDP-43, also can run amok in the brain. Nelson said about a quarter of people over age 85 have enough abnormal TDP-43 to affect their memory or thinking abilities. For now, it takes an autopsy to spot Some useful tips Jill Fallon Organizing and Practical Tips 2019-05-07T12:42:50-05:00 Spring Cleaning Can Help Manage Stress, According to Psychologists A full 70% of Americans say tidying their home offers them a feeling of accomplishment, 61% say it makes them feel "de-stressed," and 54% say they experience "relaxation," according to... Spring Cleaning Can Help Manage Stress, According to Psychologists A full 70% of Americans say tidying their home offers them a feeling of accomplishment, 61% say it makes them feel "de-stressed," and 54% say they experience "relaxation," according to a survey of 2,000 adults released by OfferUp (a marketplace for local buyers and sellers in the U.S.). Devoting any amount of time to cleaning and decluttering - even 10 minutes per day - can help minimize anxiety. Temporary anxiety can lead to cleaning more meticulously, according to a 2015 study from University of Connecticut. Researchers theorized that people gravitate toward repetitive behaviors (such as cleaning) during times of stress. Why? It’s all about control. "We want to be able to do something when we get anxious, and what we really want is to be in control and take action,"... says Alicia H. Clark, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and author of Hack Your Anxiety: How to Make Anxiety Work for You, in Life, Love, and All That You Do. "While there are times we have to accept some situations in life, we do not have to accept an untidy home." She further explains that "healthy anxiety" (anxiety that is not debilitating or stands in the way of one’s daily responsibilities) is a normal emotion that can be beneficial. "It grabs our attention to the things we care about the most.” Buy the Cheap Thing First by Beth Skwarecki When you’re new to a sport, you don’t yet know what specialized features you will really care about. You probably don’t know whether you’ll stick with your new endeavor long enough to make an expensive purchase worth it. And when you’re a beginner, it’s not like beginner level equipment is going to hold you back.....Wearing out your beginner gear is like graduating. You know that you’ve stuck with the sport long enough that you aren’t truly a beginner anymore. You may have managed to save up some cash for the next step. And you can buy the nicer gear now, knowing exactly what you want and need. Tim Carmody comments This is 100 percent the truth, and applies to way more than just sports equipment. Computers, cooking, fashion, cars, furniture, you name it. The key thing is to pick your spots, figure out where you actually know what you want and what you want to do with it, and optimize for those. Everywhere else? Don’t outwit yourself. Play it like the beginner that you are. And save some scratch in the process. Perfect, perfect advice. Why Giving Up Is Sometimes the Best Way to Solve a Problem Why are you trying to solve that problem, anyway? Consider that just giving up is as valid a solution to a given problem as anything else, and think about problems from a wholly different perspective....And remember: Winners are just people who know when to quit — and do it often. Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control). NYT Smarter Living That self-awareness is a key part of why procrastinating makes us feel so rotten. When we procrastinate, we’re not only aware that we’re avoiding the task in question, but also that doing so is probably a bad idea. And yet, we do it anyway. Dr. Fuschia Sirois, professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield. “It doesn’t make sense to do something you know is going to have negative consequences.” She added: “People engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task.” We procrastinate because of bad moods. Procrastination isn’t a unique character flaw or a mysterious curse on your ability to manage time, but a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks — boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and beyond. “Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem,” said Dr. Tim Pychyl, professor of psychology and member of the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Ottawa. In a 2013 study, Dr. Pychyl and Dr. Sirois found that procrastination can be understood as “the primacy of short-term mood repair … over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.” Put simply, procrastination is about being more focused on “the immediate urgency of managing negative moods” than getting on with the task...But the momentary relief we feel when procrastinating is actually what makes the cycle especially vicious. In the immediate present, putting off a task provides relief — “you’ve been rewarded for procrastinating,” Dr. Sirois said. And we know from basic behaviorism that when we’re rewarded for something, we tend to do it again. This is precisely why procrastination tends not to be a one-off behavior, but a cycle, one that easily becomes a chronic habit. Procrastination is a perfect example of present bias, our hard-wired tendency to prioritize short-term needs ahead of long-term ones. Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management. “Time management” is not a solution — it’s actually part of the problem. Attention management: Prioritize the people and projects that matter, and it won’t matter how long anything takes. Attention management is the art of focusing on getting things done for the right reasons, in the right places and at the right moments. -- Often our productivity struggles are caused not by a lack of efficiency, but a lack of motivation. Productivity isn’t a virtue. It’s a means to an end. It’s only virtuous if the end is worthy. If productivity is your goal, you have to rely on willpower to push yourself to get a task done. If you pay attention to why you’re excited about the project and who will benefit from it, you’ll be naturally pulled into it by intrinsic motivation. -- Most of the writers I know wait for maker days to start writing, believing they need at least four or six hours to dig into a big idea or a complex problem. But there’s evidence that binge writers actually get less done than people who write in shorter bursts. You can make meaningful progress in surprisingly small intervals: When graduate students were trained to write in 15-minute intervals, they finished their dissertations faster. How to Actually, Truly Focus on What You’re Doing. Tired: Shallow work. Wired: Deep work. Cal Newport who invented the concept said, "Deep work is my term for the activity of focusing without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It describes, in other words, when you’re really locked into doing something hard with your mind." The first rule is to “work deeply.” The idea here is that if you want to successfully integrate more deep work into your professional life, you cannot just wait until you find yourself with lots of free time and in the mood to concentrate. You have to actively fight to incorporate this into your schedule....The second rule is to “embrace boredom.” The broader point here is that the ability to concentrate is a skill that you have to train if you expect to do it well. A simple way to get started training this ability is to frequently expose yourself to boredom...The third rule is to “quit social media.” The basic idea is that people need to be way more intentional and selective about what apps and services they allow into their digital lives.... final rule of deep work: “Drain the shallows.” Shallow work” is my term for anything that doesn’t require uninterrupted concentration. This includes, for example, most administrative tasks like answering email or scheduling meetings. If you allow your schedule to become dominated by shallow work, you’ll never find time to do the deep efforts that really move the needle. It’s really important, therefore, that you work to aggressively minimize optional shallow work and then be very organized and productive about how you execute what remains. It’s not that shallow work is bad, but that its opposite, deep work, is so valuable that you have to do everything you can to make room for it. Concentration is like a super power in most knowledge work pursuits. If you take the time to cultivate this power, you’ll never look back. Ivy is good for walls, finds Oxford University study Ivy is good for walls and helps to protect them against the elements, according to a new study which overturns years of popular belief that the plant destroys buildings. Researchers at Oxford University found that a covering of ivy acts like a "thermal shield", protecting walls against extreme temperatures which can cause them to crack. They found that ivy acted like a blanket, warming up walls by an average of 15 per cent in cold weather and cooling the surface temperature of the wall in hot weather by an average of 36 per cent. The study, commissioned by English Heritage, also discovered that ivy absorbed some harmful pollutants in the atmosphere. Walls where ivy was growing were less prone to the damaging effects freezing temperatures, fluctuations in temperature, pollution and salts than exposed walls without ivy, researchers found. Previously it was believed that ivy roots weakened mortar, breaking up walls. It found however that although ivy was positive in protected intact walls it can pose a problem by spreading rapidly into the cracks and holes of damaged buildings. Miscellany #118 Jill Fallon Miscellany 2019-05-04T23:26:30-05:00 California spends $178 million per fish to bring back salmon That's five ... salmon, swimming upstream to the San Joaquin river to spawn. Each salmon required 50,000 gallons of water to get the job done, coming at a price... California spends $178 million per fish to bring back salmon That's five ... salmon, swimming upstream to the San Joaquin river to spawn. Each salmon required 50,000 gallons of water to get the job done, coming at a price tag of $890 million at the low end and $2 billion at the high. And that water came out of the hides of California's farmers, who got very little of the water they were promised, and paid for, as a result. California's 2019 Wildflower Super Bloom Photographer Sebastião Salgado Plants Two Million Trees With His Wife And 20 Years Later, Creates New Forest Formerly barren land in Brazil is now thriving with hundreds of new flora and fauna . The 1,754-acre forest, once a barren land, has transformed back into its original state as a tropical paradise since the Instituto Terra planted those two million trees. The healthy ecosystem of the new forest has facilitated the regrowth of hundreds of species of plants and has seen the return of wildlife. The area, which now holds official status as a Private Natural Heritage Reserve, is home to an estimated 293 species of trees, 172 species of birds, 33 types of mammals, and 15 species of amphibians and reptiles, many of which are endangered. On top of the rejuvenated flora and fauna, the area has also gotten back its naturally-flowing springs. The Lark Ascending by Vaughn Williams is one of the most beautiful pieces you will ever hear. It has topped the Classic FM Hall of Fame nine times, claiming the top spot once again in 2019. To see why, read the comments. Vaughan Williams started working on The Lark during the summer of 1914. He was inspired by George Meredith's 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. He composed it for violin and piano in the early weeks of the Great War and is said to have imagined the world of his youth disappearing with the lark into the cloudless sky. The war halted Vaughan Williams' composing, during which he served as an ambulance driver. He re-scored The Lark for solo violin and orchestra in 1920 with the help of the English violinist Marie Hall. The soaring and fluttering of the violin represent the song of the lark. "In the next world, I shan't be doing music, with all the striving and disappointments. I shall be being it." Vaughn Williams said to Sylvia Townsend Warner two weeks before his death. By 2070, more dead people will be on Facebook than living ones The Bizarre Physics of Glass - "As simple as glass looks, it's a very strange material" Glass is no ordinary solid. But nor is it a liquid. It lies somewhere in between, a strange hybrid known as an amorphous solid – something that's firm to the touch, yet down at the atomic level, it actually behaves rather more like liquid. Genetic Portraits Side-By-Side Portraits Of Family Members That Show How Strong Family DNA Can Be Grandmother/Granddaughter: Ginette, 61 And Ismaëlle, 12 in 2013 Legging It The term comes from an actual profession in England during the Industrial Revolution. Legging was the most common technique for getting a boat through a tunnel, albeit one that was harrowing, hard, and extremely dangerous, especially in such dark, narrow, and closed-in spaces. “It wasn’t glamorous by any means,” says Jones. “There were loads of fatalities.” A typical legger was likely male and uneducated, a bit older—in his 50s or 60s—and unable to get work in other fields. “[These men] hung around at the entrance to tunnels and just waited. You have to think they had very little options,” she says. “I mean, three hours legging it through a damp, dripping, claustrophobic place where you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel? It’s an awful existence, really.” The Woman Who Preserved Over 30 Years of TV History by herself, with the help of her family over 37 years. About 71,000 VHS and BetaMax cassettes are sitting in boxes, stacked 50-to-a-pallet in the Internet Archive’s physical storage facility in Richmond, California, waiting to be digitized. The tapes are not in chronological order, or really any order at all. They got a little jumbled as they were transferred. First recorded in Marion Stokes’s home in the Barclay Condominiums in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, the tapes had been distributed among nine additional apartments she purchased solely for storage purposes during her life. Later, they passed on to her children, into storage, and finally to the California-based archive. Although no one knew it at the time, the recordings Stokes made from 1975 until her death in 2012 are the only comprehensive collection preserving this period in television media history. Meet the Fish Leather Pioneers Ms Gunnsteinsdóttir is the sales manager of Icelandic company Atlantic Leather, which owns the only fish tannery in Europe. Overlooking a fjord on Iceland's remote north coast, since 1994 it has been processing the skins of salmon, perch, cod and wolffish. The tanning process takes between three and four weeks, and 19 employees now produce 10,000 skins, or nearly a tonne, of fish leather a month. "The fish smell disappears in the early stages, then it smells like any other leather." Now supplying top European fashion houses Jimmy Choo, Dior and Ferragamo, Ms Gunnsteinsdóttir says it is a misconception that fish leather must be delicate and easy to tear."Fish leather's actually nine times stronger than lamb or cow leather of similar thickness. This is because the fibres in fish skin criss-cross rather than just up and down." Ave atque vale U.N.C. Charlotte Student Couldn’t Run, So He Tackled the Gunman Riley Howell could neither run nor hide. The gunman was in his classroom. So, the authorities said, he charged at the gunman, who had already fired several rounds, and pinned him down until police officers arrived. By so doing, this young man, Riley C. Howell, 21, saved the lives of many others. In a statement, his parents said he was a fearless athlete with a sturdy frame who relished a challenge, “whether it be jumping from the highest cliff into the water below or power lifting competitions at the gym. Once committed to something, he never gave up, never gave in, and gave everything he had." UNCC hero Riley Howell to be laid to rest with full military honors On Thursday, Howell’s body was taken from Charlotte to his hometown of Waynesville. The procession had a police escort the entire way, and people lined the streets to honor the fallen student. Lieutenant Colonel Chunka Smith, who runs UNCC’s ROTC program that Howell participated in, told CBS News that Howell “stood out.” Smith said he’s not surprised Howell gave his life for others, and he feels a sense of pride in what his cadet did. Health Roundup: Food edition Jill Fallon Health 2019-05-04T14:03:33-05:00 Beer, Wine, and Chocolate Are Key to Living a Long Life, Study Says The study, led by Warsaw University’s Professor Joanna Kaluza, was recently published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. Working with more than 68,000 participants, Kaluza and... Beer, Wine, and Chocolate Are Key to Living a Long Life, Study Says The study, led by Warsaw University’s Professor Joanna Kaluza, was recently published in the Journal of Internal Medicine. Working with more than 68,000 participants, Kaluza and a team of scientists found that those with diets rich in fruit and vegetables, as well as beer, wine, and chocolate, which have anti-inflammatory properties, were up to 20 percent less likely to die prematurely than those who ate a lot of red meat, sugary sodas, and processed foods....Interestingly, smokers that stuck to the anti-inflammatory diet experienced even greater benefits, and were around 33 percent less likely to die in the next 16 years than smokers who did not. Protein shakes may lead to weight gain, depression and shorter life spans, study suggests Researchers at the University of Sydney found that the same amino acids in protein shakes that encourage muscle-bulking are bad for overall health. Consuming too much of the same kind of protein contributes to poorer overall health. ...The pre-mixed drinks or powders rely on proteins called branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). BCAAs don't just go straight to muscles. Consuming a diet high in them means they lurk around in the blood. There, they compete with another type of amino acid, tryptophan key to the production of serotonin. When BCAAs are high in the blood they may steal tryptophan's place in the brain, disrupting serotonin there. That can in turn mess with your mood. Serotonin isn't just a happiness serum; we need it to curb our appetites too. What this new research has shown is that amino acid balance is important - it's best to vary sources of protein to ensure you're getting the best amino acid balance through diverse diets that contain chicken, fish, eggs, beans, lentils, nuts and soy. If You've Gone Vegan, Keep an Eye Out For These 4 Nutrient Deficiencies Vitamin B12, Calcium, Iodine, Iron Eating raw garlic could help keep your memory sharp in old age by boosting gut health, study suggests Two portions of mushrooms each week could 'HALVE risk of brain decline that leads to dementia in old age' Mushrooms could cut the risk of mild cognitive impairment, scientists said. They contain an amino acid which the body can't produce by itself. People with MCI have been found to have much lower levels of the amino acid. Scientists said 300g (about 10 oz) of mushrooms or more per week could have a big impact. Just one banana a day can improve your mood, boost FIVE essential nutrients and heal your gut The Quest to Save the Banana from extinction. Since bananas are essentially a cloned fruit, they are extremely susceptible to Panama disease which has already swept through Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Africa. Scientists are in a race to create a new plant resistant to Panama disease. Walnuts may lower blood pressure, risk for heart disease Celery was Once as Sexy as Kale Not so very long ago, when celery enjoyed the elevated status now enjoyed by Tuscan kale or heirloom tomatoes....Cultivated as a vegetable since ancient times, starting in the Mediterranean, but it wasn’t until the early 1800s that farmers began growing it in damp, chilly eastern England, and there it gained a certain cachet....“It was fussy to grow and difficult to obtain—and this made it irresistible to the Victorian upper classes.” Celery was often served fresh between courses in the Victorian tradition, but from the 1830s through the mid-1900s it was also a popular menu item itself, in a variety of forms. Around 1900, celery began to be marketed as a remedy for a variety of complaints, from pain and anxiety to kidney disease and rheumatism. Celery-inspired gums and tonics were touted as cures for insomnia, malaria, and headaches. Health Roundup: Recent articles of interest Jill Fallon Health 2019-05-02T12:07:13-05:00 A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs. Candida Auris is a deadly, drug-resistant fungus is infecting patients in hospitals and... A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs. Candida Auris is a deadly, drug-resistant fungus is infecting patients in hospitals and nursing homes around the world. The fungus seems to have emerged in several locations at once, not from a single source. In the United States, two million people contract resistant infections annually, and 23,000 die from them, according to the official C.D.C. estimate. That number was based on 2010 figures; more recent estimates from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine put the death toll at 162,000. Deaths from flu this year reach 59,500, near epidemic levels From October 1 through April 26, there have been up to 42.4 million flu cases; 19.9 million doctor visits; 630,000 hospitalizations; and 59,500 deaths....The flu’s sustainability is due to the relentless capability of virus strains to rapidly mutate. In years when vaccine viruses best matched circulating strains, the chances of avoiding flu was up to 80 percent. But the effectiveness in preventing adult doctor visits and hospitalizations has recently been just 40 percent. Annual flu outbreaks usually starts in October; peaks in February and March; then trends down rapidly and goes dormant in May. Bad knees or low mood? Blame the way you walk Scientists investigate whether changing your gait can improve physical and mental health. One promising focus is on how altering our gait can reduce risk of knee arthritis. Cathy Holt, a professor of biomechanics and orthopedic engineering at Cardiff University, believes that teaching people to change their gait in middle age may save them decades of pain — and avoid the need for later knee replacement surgery.....Other studies suggest that changing your walking style could also help prevent depression. The latest evidence emerged in February, in a study reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that, for four years, monitored more than 4,000 healthy people in Ireland over 50. It found a strong link between poor gait and depressive illness later....But other studies have revealed an intriguing additional factor: research has shown that if we walk 'happy', we can boost our mood. Virtual reality reduced Parkinson's symptoms for 10 people: 10 people with Parkinson's used the VR system for 30 minutes, three times a week over the course of 6 weeks. The six weeks of practice helped patients hone their muscle control and balance. They were much more adept at walking, turning, staying balanced afterwards. 'Participants enjoyed the experience and thought it was fun, not just exercise. They liked training and challenging themselves without the fear of falling.' The virtual reality experience is projected onto semi-circle-shaped wall facing the patient, who is on a very wide treadmill. The patient wears a headset, shoes and clothing with sensors on them, and they are tethered to a pole behind them for control. MDMA reopens a 'window in the brain' that lets PTSD victims form new bonds and memories to overcome trauma, study suggests The FDA gave MDMA 'breakthrough status' for treating PTSD. It increases oxytocin, the ‘love hormone’ that helps us form bonds and social memories. High levels of oxytocin are typically only present at short, 'critical windows' of time for bonding that become rare after traumatic experiences. New Johns Hopkins research in mice suggests MDMA can 'reopen' these windows to allow new social bonds and memories to form. The new study suggests that this close contact and a rewired social reward circuit may be the key thing helping patients overcome trauma. Some studies suggest that after just one MDMA session, up to 76 percent of trauma survivors no longer fit the clinical criteria for PTSD. Clinics are currently doing larger-scale phase three trials of MDMA-assisted therapy and, with its breakthrough status, the treatment may be approved and available for legal use as soon as 2021 if it continues to prove safe and effective. Autism symptoms can be reduced 50% in children who received fecal transplants, study finds Fecal transplants drastically reduced autism symptoms in children, according to new research. Symptoms almost halved in 18 children given the treatment - known medically as microbiota transfer therapy. Two years after the transplant, children saw a roughly 45-percent drop in issues with language, social interaction and behavior. At the start, 83 percent of participants were rated as having 'severe' autism. By the end, this had dropped to 17 percent - with 39 percent classed 'mild to moderate' and 44 percent falling below the cut-off for even mild ASD. Recent research suggests our gut bacteria, or 'microbiome', affect communication between brain cells and overall neurological health. But larger clinical trials involving hundreds of autistic children are required before it can be approved as a treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration. Answer to Irritable Bowel Syndrome is in the mind, study shows Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is partly psychological and can be controlled better through mental training than with mainstream drugs, a new trial shows. Hope of better treatment is at hand for thousands of sufferers after the research found that even telephone and web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) had a major impact on symptoms.The new trial, conducted by Southampton and King’s College London universities, suggest that the condition is significantly psychological in origin. Doctors studied 558 serious IBS sufferers who were either put on a program of CBT or received standard care. The findings, reported in the journal Gut, showed that patients in the CBT group were more likely to have experienced significant improvement in their symptoms after a year. The impact of IBS on their work and daily life was also significantly less than it was for those not receiving the psychological therapy. Having very low cholesterol DOUBLES the risk of hemorrhagic strokes in women, study finds Researchers say that women with low levels of cholesterol were two times more likely to have a stroke that leads to bleeding in the brain compared to those with average levels. Additionally, women with the lowest levels of triglycerides, fat found in the blood, had an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke in comparison with those with the highest levels. The team, led by Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, says the findings are evidence that women with very low levels of cholesterol or triglycerides need to be monitored closely by their doctors to reduce their stroke risks. Hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a weakened vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds into the organ, make up about 13 percent of stroke cases, FDA approves osteoporosis shot that rebuilds bones at the same rate a teenager's skeleton grows The FDA approved Evenity, a bone re-growing injection that can cut fracture risks by up to 73 percent. Some current treatments have the 'potential' to rebuild bone, but the new drug is the first that primarily by making bones grow. Evenity is currently only approved to treat women who have gone through menopause and are at high-risk of bone fractures or cannot take other osteoporosis drugs. In other words, it's a Hail Mary treatment that has the incredible ability to re-build bones. A chronic fatigue syndrome blood test can finally prove people really do suffer from the mystery disorder, study says Some two million Americans suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome in the US. But the condition causes sometimes vague and variable systems which has cause some to doubt that it is 'real'. Scientists at Stanford University have created a blood test for the disorder that they proved 100 percent accurate in a small sample of patients. The senior author of the study's own son suffers from debilitating chronic fatigue syndrome that some have dismissed as psychosomatic. The new test works by measuring energy output from immune cells in the blood. Those with ME/CFS had very reactive blood, while healthy immune cells were much less disturbed by the salt stress. 'But there is scientific evidence that this disease is not a fabrication of a patient's mind. 'We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress. Sex drug 'effective' as heart failure treatment A drug used to treat erectile dysfunction has been found by University of Manchester scientists to slow or even reverse the progression of heart failure in sheep. The British Heart Foundation funded study is a breakthrough in the treatment for the disease in which five year survival rates are lower than most common cancers. The study of Tadalafil—which is in the same class as Viagra—proves that the drug is biologically effective as a treatment for heart failure in sheep. However, lead author Professor Andrew Trafford argues the effect is likely to also be shown in humans. The research team found that in heart failure, the drug altered the signaling cascade—a series of chemical reactions in the body—to restore the hearts ability to respond to adrenaline. And that increases the ability of the heart to force blood around the body when working harder. Professor Trafford added: "This is a widely used and very safe drug with minimal side effects. May Day: Victims of Communism Day Jill Fallon Civilization - Can We Keep It? 2019-05-01T12:11:09-05:00 Why May 1 should be a day to honor the victims of the ideology that took more innocent lives than any other. May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over... Why May 1 should be a day to honor the victims of the ideology that took more innocent lives than any other. May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their [authority]. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes' millions of victims. The authoritative Black Book of Communism estimates the total at 80 to 100 million dead, greater than that caused by all other twentieth century tyrannies combined. We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century's other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so…. Our comparative neglect of communist crimes has serious costs. Victims of Communism Day can serve the dual purpose of appropriately commemorating the millions of victims, and diminishing the likelihood that such atrocities will recur. Just as Holocaust Memorial Day and other similar events promote awareness of the dangers of racism, anti-Semitism, and radical nationalism, so Victims of Communism Day can increase awareness of the dangers of left-wing forms of totalitarianism, and government domination of the economy and civil society. Mob justice and character assassination Jill Fallon Culture and Society 2019-04-27T16:34:40-05:00 I Was the Mob Until the Mob Came for Me I once had a well paid job in what might be described as the social justice industry. Then I upset the wrong person, and within a short window of... I Was the Mob Until the Mob Came for Me I once had a well paid job in what might be described as the social justice industry. Then I upset the wrong person, and within a short window of time, I was considered too toxic for my employer’s taste. I was publicly shamed, mobbed, and reduced to a symbol of male privilege. I was cast out of my career and my professional community. -- The only causes I was actually contributing to were the causes of mobbing and public shaming. Real change does not stem from these tactics. They only cause division, alienation, and bitterness. How did I become that person? It happened because it was exhilarating. Every time I would call someone racist or sexist, I would get a rush. That rush would then be reaffirmed and sustained by the stars, hearts, and thumbs-up that constitute the nickels and dimes of social media validation. The people giving me these stars, hearts, and thumbs-up were engaging in their own cynical game: A fear of being targeted by the mob induces us to signal publicly that we are part of it. -- Social justice is a surveillance culture, a snitch culture. The constant vigilance on the part of my colleagues and friends did me in. That’s why I’m delivering sushi and pizza. Not that I’m complaining. It’s honest work, and it’s led me to rediscover how to interact with people in the real world. I am a kinder and more respectful person now that I’m not regularly on social media attacking people for not being “kind” and “respectful.” - Aggressive online virtue signaling is a fundamentally two-dimensional act. It has no human depth. It’s only when we snap out of it, see the world as it really is, and people as they really are, that we appreciate the destruction and human suffering we caused when we were trapped inside. The Scruton tapes: an anatomy of a modern hit job by Douglas Murray in the Spectator How a character assassination unfolded on Twitter Sometimes a scandal is not just a scandal, but a biopsy of a society. So it is with the assault on Sir Roger Scruton, who in recent weeks has been smeared in the media, fired by the government and had his life’s work assailed. Scruton is the latest, though far from the first victim of the modern outrage mob.... - The hit job on Sir Roger can be seen as a classic of the genre: he was sacked within five hours of the Twitter storm breaking. His fate offers a perfect case study in the art of modern character assassination. Except that in this instance, it unravelled and the whole nature of the trick can now be exposed. It is worth examining in some detail. Last month, Scruton agreed to be interviewed in his London flat by George Eaton, one of the deputy editors of the New Statesman. In November the philosopher had been appointed to be the unpaid chair of a government quango called ‘Building better, building beautiful’, but Scruton was led to believe that the discussion would be about his books, a number of which had recently been reissued....The lunchtime before the resulting interview’s publication, Eaton declared on Twitter that ‘the government adviser and philosopher Roger Scruton has made a series of outrageous remarks’, and included a link to the interview. The supposed offences were listed with salivation. Scruton was alleged to have talked outrageously about ‘Hungarian Jews’. He was alleged to have been racist about ‘the Chinese’. He was alleged to have described ‘Islamophobia’ as ‘a propaganda word invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue’. He had described accusations of anti-Semitism against Viktor Orban as ‘nonsense’ and talked of Muslim ‘tribes’. Outrage and resignation calls soon followed. The perfect Twitter storm had been started.... This was treated with jubilation — especially by Eaton, who posted on Instagram (and subsequently deleted) a photo of himself online necking a bottle of champagne. His caption: ‘The feeling when you get right-wing racist and homophobe Roger Scruton sacked as a Tory government adviser.’ Fortunately, Murray got hold of the tape of the interview after Scruton was dismissed from the unpaid role as chairman of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission Rather than a set of ‘outrageous’ remarks, let alone a ‘rant’, the recording shows Scruton speaking in his usual calm, thoughtful, professorial manner ....These manipulations of Scruton’s words had their desired effect......Soon after Scruton’s sacking, it started to become apparent that the quotations had been manipulated and that the philosopher had lost his job because government had cowered in front of the mob. How Roger Scruton was skewered by a disgrace to journalism What is clear is that Eaton manipulated the quotes into a tweet knowing the Twitter storm he would create. He was joyous, literally joyous, when a few hours later Scruton was fired from his position ....Eaton is a disgrace to journalism. What really gets to me is first how unfair this fight is and second just how nasty the Left can be.... George Eaton destroyed Sir Roger not because he is running for Prime Minister, nor is he a minister, or even an MP but because he is a conservative sitting on a quango . Sir Roger is a conservative, so that is good enough for Eaton. This, to Eaton, counts as journalism. The Left's character assassination of Roger Scruton Last week saw a horrible hit job on Roger Scruton, arguably the most distinguished philosopher in Britain....What makes this episode stand out is the sheer disparity between the two parties, the contrast between the civility of the victim and the vileness of the aggressor. ....You won’t find a more brilliant, civilized, high-minded man. Yet he has ended up losing his job while the dishonest journalist who framed him has, so far, kept his. Back in my teens, the professor gave me some advice. “If the Left ever come to see you as talented, you will cease to be a human being in their eyes and become a target. Anything that hurts you will be justified.” At the time, I thought he was being bombastic. Now I realize he was being prophetic. How Scruton responded An apology for thinking Should I forgive the journalist who got me fired? The family is right; don’t feel resentment, but be grateful instead. If this hadn’t happened I would not have known the weight of friendship behind me. BBC video I want my name cleared "I am a conservative thinker, well known as such, outspoken but reasonable in my view," he said. "And there has been throughout this country and throughout Europe, in my view, an attempt to silence the conservative voice. We get identified, caricatured and demonizedand made to look like we are some kind of sinister fascist, racist kind of people. Sir Roger said he and others were being accused of "thought crimes" in order to exclude them from public debates. "This business of constantly manufacturing thought crimes is part of the way that is being used to silence people who are conservative." After my own dark night, the importance of love, renewal and redemption have never been clearer Health Roundup: Alzheimer's Edition Jill Fallon Health 2019-04-27T12:14:42-05:00 The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer’s. But That’s Probably Not the Only Problem. Most people with dementia have a number of brain abnormalities, not just Alzheimer’s disease. The finding is forcing scientists to rethink the search for treatments.For researchers trying to... The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer’s. But That’s Probably Not the Only Problem. Most people with dementia have a number of brain abnormalities, not just Alzheimer’s disease. The finding is forcing scientists to rethink the search for treatments.For researchers trying to find treatments, these so-called mixed pathologies have become a huge scientific problem. Researchers can’t tell which of these conditions is the culprit in memory loss in a particular patient, or whether all of them together are to blame. Another real possibility, noted Roderick A. Corriveau, who directs dementia research programs at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is that these abnormalities are themselves the effects of a yet-to-be-discovered cause of dementia. These questions strike at the very definition of Alzheimer’s disease. And if you can’t define the condition, how can you find a treatment? We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it. New Scientist Compelling evidence that the condition is caused by a bacterium involved in gum disease could prove a game-changer in tackling one of medicine’s biggest mysteries, and lead to effective treatments or even a vaccine....the leading hypothesis since 1984 has been that the condition is caused by the defective control of these proteins, especially amyloid, which accumulates to form large, sticky plaques in the brain. It has become clear that the “amyloid hypothesis”approach isn’t working. In 2018 alone, the US National Institutes of Health spent $1.9 billion on Alzheimer’s research. But according to a recent study, the failure rate of drug development for Alzheimer’s has been 99 per cent.... When the team gave P. gingivalis gum disease to mice, it led to brain infection, amyloid production, tangles of tau protein and neural damage in the regions and nerves normally affected by Alzheimer’s. This suggests causation, says Lynch. “The bacteria in the brain are not the result of Alzheimer’s, but they could be the cause”. In 2016, researchers discovered that amyloid seems to function as a sticky defense against bacteria. They found that the protein can act as an anti-microbial compound that kills bacteria, and when they injected bacteria into the brains of mice engineered to make . It wouldn’t be the first time an illness has turned out to have an unexpected infectious origin. The iconic case is stomach ulcers, once thought to be caused by stress or excess acid, and treated with acid-lowering medications. Then Australian doctor Barry Marshall showed that a stomach bacterium called Helicobacter pylori was behind them, a feat that won him a Nobel prize. Hope for Alzheimer's sufferers as scientists find memories can be jolted by unblocking blood vessels to the brain Patients with Alzheimer's could have their memory improved by unblocking blood vessels in the brain, scientists believe. Alzheimer's is known to reduce blood flow to the brain and research has now found this could be caused by white blood cells sticking to the inside of blood vessels. And, in a study on mice, memory and brain performance were quickly improved when scientists removed these blockages. Research has found that a reduction in blood flow prevents brain cells from receiving the oxygen and nutrients they need, possibly impairing memory further. The researchers stumbled across the finding by accident. Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer’s symptoms. Noninvasive treatment improves memory and reduces amyloid plaques in mice. By exposing mice to a unique combination of light and sound, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can improve cognitive and memory impairments similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s patients. This noninvasive treatment, which works by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, also greatly reduced the number of amyloid plaques found in the brains of these mice. Plaques were cleared in large swaths of the brain, including areas critical for cognitive functions such as learning and memory....Further study will be needed, she says, to determine if this type of treatment will work in human patients. The researchers have already performed some preliminary safety tests of this type of stimulation in healthy human subjects.