Aging well research was ignored during Covid longdown

This Harvard study (2017) on longevity, good health and happiness isn't surprising. Many other studies have shown similar results. So why was all this research ignored in 2020-2022 when people were denied relationships with family, friends and community and locked inside their homes? Our taxes paid for the research--we should be demanding answer. Power (Biden and Fauci) and money (Big pharma) would be my guess. Over nearly 80 years, Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life — Harvard Gazette

"Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes. That finding proved true across the board among both the Harvard men and the inner-city participants."

"In a book called “Aging Well,” Vaillant wrote that six factors predicted healthy aging for the Harvard men: 

physical activity,

absence of alcohol abuse 

and smoking, 

having mature mechanisms to cope with life’s ups and downs, and 

enjoying both a healthy weight and 

a stable marriage. 

For the inner-city men, education was an additional factor. “The more education the inner city men obtained,” wrote Vaillant, “the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly, and use alcohol in moderation.”

Cochrane Reviews--still no evidence for masks stopping the spread

In the first year of the pandemic Cochrane Library which identifies, appraises and synthesizes all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria, looked at all the then known evidence for stopping the spread of Covid.

"Cochrane has responded to the crisis by gathering its community, working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders, in developing and publishing several systematic reviews on the effectiveness of behavioural public health measures for reducing COVID‐19 infection.[1] These measures include masks, handwashing, physical distancing, quarantine, contact tracing, screening, and travel restrictions. Because COVID‐19 is still so new, however, these reviews have largely summarized effects on transmission of other viruses in non‐pandemic conditions. Policy makers must act on incomplete evidence in responding to COVID‐19 | Cochrane Library (November 20, 2020)

The results were inconclusive for masks, handwashing, physical distancing, quarantine, contact tracing, screening, and travel restrictions. That didn't stop policy makers from what they do best--making policy. OK, that's what Cochrane found 2.5 years ago, but the policy makers went right ahead, especially the teachers unions which appeared to be advising the CDC.

Now, Cochrance has again published its results of more current studies (although in my opinion there are too few since some researchers were "cancelled" or were prevented from studying or publishing their results if it went against policies already put in place using no evidence). Do physical measures such as hand-washing or wearing masks stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses? | Cochrane (January 30, 2023)

"We are uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses based on the studies we assessed. Hand hygiene programmes may help to slow the spread of respiratory viruses."

I recall writing about the mask literature in summer of 2020 at my blog and Facebook. I checked every few weeks in the medical databases for evidence that masking could stop the spread of Covid-19. I never found it, and the virus continued to spread despite masks, distancing, isolation, and vaccine/boosters. I got a lot of push back from people who knew nothing except what they'd heard from the media.

I continue to believe that masks and hand washing can reduce the spread of colds and flu by blocking the air borne molecules which transport the virus, but Covid, no. Too small to block.

Time, ambition or will

 Although I often say I'm rarely busy, I do have a dilemma right now because I can't get done what I'm planning in my head. It's taking up a lot of space there between my ears and probably melting brain cells--particularly during my morning quiet time when I could be reading the Bible, reading something for book club, or researching.  I know the time is available--it would take about two-three days of intense research, writing or using the telephone (I hate that). Other than going to doctors' appointments, shopping for groceries and exercising at the gym (which is only about 2 miles away) I really am not a busy person.  The ambition for doing anything at all is flagging, and since I've always been highly distractable I don't finish a lot of projects (I suspect if I'd ever been tested for ADHD I could have scored high enough for the school system to have upset my mother).  So it's probably will.  I just don't have the will (determination, strength of character, self-discipline, backbone, tenacity) to sit down and do it.  Just do it.  Isn't that a slogan?

1. Prepare a well thought out argument about the wisdom of UALC's proposed capital campaign for remodeling both campuses. I know no one will listen--I've been through this a number of times since I was 11 years old.  For this I've gone all the way back to 1951 when the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren (see below 1956, $321,000) began its campaign to "add a few classrooms" for $13,000 to its building on Seminary Avenue and I conclude (in my busy mind) with Covid lockdowns, inflation, use of space in our current huge buildings, needs of our mission partners, and our current bond issue to increase even more our real estate taxes (just had a huge bond issue 3 years ago).
2. Research the seven books of the Bible (Septuagint) removed by Luther and now called "Apocrypha"  by Protestants--Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I and II Maccabees - plus sections of Esther and Daniel. It's the Bible Christians used for 1500 years.  Most of my personal library about the Bible is Reformed, Lutheran or Baptist, so it would take some effort to find balanced research. The public library is useless. Sometimes the internet is no help--either has too much or only the "approved" version. 
3. Find out why two words (without Christ) were added to the confession we use on Sunday. Even the 10 minutes I took to look at my old hymnals started me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how hymnals are revised and the copyright works.
4. Many art discussions and shows. Raphael tapestries (yesterday) being the most recent, but find many others, particularly in Magnificat. I have 2 magazines subscription, New Criterion and First things that have wonderful articles, but they sit on the living table for a month before the new issue arrives, then they are moved to my office.
5. Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
6. My latest decorating mistake--new bedspreads for the guest room--didn't turn out well. Need to replace, and that means shopping and spending money.
7. Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
8. Practice math. I need to start talking to myself, something like "I'm good at math," or "I can do this," or "Time to work through a few math problems."
9. Analyze the cost and advantage of new garage doors (most of the residents all ready have them, but since ours was less than 15 years old, we were exempt). It would replace one massive door with 2 smaller ones.
10. Find out how to get an approved Covid test for an upcoming colonoscopy.  I don't want to drive to the east side just because I'm part of a particular group and that's what COPC does.
11. Plan for our upcoming art show which will be hung on November 11, but the room for the reception is Sunday November 27.  Write my stories about the paintings, some of which go back to 1974, some using old photos, 1912, 1944, 1950, plus old Lakeside Rhein Center paintings in workshops. 
    
    
    
12. And my goodness.  So many things to relearn on the current computer (labels, database creation, scanning photos, pdf, etc.) that I knew for the old computer. So many things on the smart phone which I've had since February.
13. November book club. Will I read it?
14. Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
15. Do something, or at least think about the musty smell in all the books and papers in the basement--I mean the "lower level" or the "man cave" aka office.  Had them all cleaned about 5 years ago.  Should I call Janet again--I can't get on a ladder anymore and she's just a few years younger; need to research the right solution to safely wipe down shelves and books. 
16. And did I mention going through all the "archives" of our art collection?  Two painters, plus all the paintings we've collected by other artists since the 1960s. We have frames, glass, acrylic, pieces of matt board, pieces of backing board, all standing up in a closet, or on shelves.
17. Should I buy more food for emergency storage?  Joe is talking Armageddon and nuclear war so we've got a crazy leader in Russia and a demented leader in the USA, and I don't even have extra batteries in the house, and I see a lot of pasta in my "emergency tornado" food box.  How would we cook pasta if Putin dropped a bomb on NYC or DC? Remember in the 1950s when the basement of our school building was lined with huge bundles of dried (I assume) food stuffs.  Must have been for the whole town. And we learned to duck under our school desks.  Sure, that will solve the problem our government doesn't know how to fix.
18. I'd better go do my hair.  Washed it this morning.

New findings about bureaucracy

Exciting new findings are shedding a light on the nature and structure of bureaucracy:

Dead Horse Theory

Dakota Native American tribal wisdom, passed on from generation to generation, says: “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse.”
However, in educative, corporate and governmental projects more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that the dead horse can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as “living impaired”.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding, and /or training to increase the dead horses’ performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads and therefore, contributed substantially more to the bottomline of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
AND of COURSE….
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position!

GOP hearings on origin of Covid--lab or market

I hope you watched the GOP's hearings on the origin of Covid--hearings the Democrats refused to participate in, and Dr. Fauci wouldn't appear. The cover up gets more massive all the time. Fauci was sending hush up warnings to his own people, not even Birx was included, then calming, no problem e-mails to the Trump advisors. The man knew from the beginning this was from a lab and that he'd be implicated because the research on gain of function had continued despite Trump stopping it.

 
One scientist testified that everyone who knew him told him not to testify, and one even told him it was because it might help Trump! Another scientist was told his lab would never work again with the Chinese if he testified about the origins of the virus. I doubt this was reported on cable news. That "we may never know" line they've been repeating? They already know.

https://youtu.be/YeW5sI-R1Qg

Democrats are so worried about an outspoken Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who is a match for AOC, but they don't seem to worry about the huge crimes (and deaths) perpetrated by non-elected bureaucrats on the American people during this pandemic.

Comparing apples and oranges and getting racism

In 2018, African American women were 50 percent more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic white women. 80% of Covid victims have been overweight or obese. They also have higher rates of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. But the higher rate of Covid among the black community is called--you got it, RACISM. 

Should the government step into the homes of black families and supervise what they eat? In 2018, African Americans were 20 percent less likely to engage in active physical activity as compared to non-Hispanic whites. Should the government step in and put blacks on treadmills and force them into jogging and running? Black female American children are 24.1% obese compared to 10.4% of white female children. Should the government step in. 10% isn't a good rate either--do we just want "equity" for this health problem?

My BMI is too high, also. I've been battling the bathroom scale since I was 21. I've probably lost over 100 lbs the last 60 years, and if you think losing weight at 25 is hard, just try it at 80! But I'm not asking the government to take over my life, and I certainly don't blame my ethnicity and ancestors (Irish-German American, whose ancestors arrived before the Revolution).

Here's how I would set up a health research project. If 50% of black women and 38% of white women had the same problem, I wouldn't rant about DISPARITY and RACISM to make the evening news. I'd look at what the 50% of the black women were doing who didn't have the problem and compare to the 50% who did. Income, education, marital status, personal life style, smoking, alcohol, drugs, number of children, religion, exercise, and so forth. That's how to do research. That's how to change lives. Adding an MSW to your research team and getting published in JAMA isn't worth it if you can't make some progress with the target group.

Police brutality, blacks and whites

Listening to people call the Mike Gallagher show to talk about what's open during this Covid19 crisis in their town. One from Virginia called to complain that during this time of protest and pandemic his governor (Mr. blackface) is addressing removing statues. Another from North Carolina (a Democrat) reports gathering for protests is encouraged and winked at, but the Republican convention which would have brought millions to the state coffers, is cancelled. Another (I think he was from California) complained that only 10 people are allowed at a private party and social distancing must be maintained, but 100 are allowed at a protest, and no social distancing. Now tell me folks, what part of this whole mess isn't political?

Grieving for a man who was killed in a terrible way during an arrest is understandable; allowing the nation to be destroyed based on a myth of police brutality is an evil, ugly plot to destroy the lives and living of millions. In 2019, 9 black men died at the hands of police during a confrontation. 19 white men died during a confrontation with police. Most were in the act of committing a crime. This information is from the Washington Post data base and is real, deep digging research investigating all the circumstances. So who blows it up? Our news media and social media.

39 black men had fatal confrontations with police in 2015 and 9 in 2019. We are a nation of 330, 000,000. Even for Obama's era, that's a tiny, tiny percentage of millions of confrontations with police.  However the drop is significant under Trump.

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/32/15877 is the link to the research. Probably to save their P & T promotion, the authors of this article, which makes perfectly clear that more whites are at risk than blacks in confrontations with police are trying to walk it back. I guess too many people were quoting it to bust the myth that unarmed black men are at terrible risk.

Academe is so far left, it's amazing anything but the party line ever got in to print. The hurdle would be funding, probably figured it was an easy thing to prove--systemic racism and police brutality. Then the next hurdle, finding a publisher--all the journals are also liberal with gate keepers who can shut the door. Then to get a group of people to do a peer review--that must have been a challenge once the results of the study were known. Of course, purchasing it had already been done. PNAS is on subscription and librarians (also gate keepers) probably couldn't reject it. I fully expect that after their clarification and apology, and after they've been run out of town, tarred and feathered, their careers have been ruined and the offending volume will be removed from library shelves.

NTIS/NTRL data base for searching

“The National Technical Reports Library (NTRL – U.S. Department of Commerce) has become an open access resource, following a decision made by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).

The National Technical Information Service serves as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today. For more than 60 years NTIS has assured businesses, universities, and the public timely access to approximately 3 million publications covering over 350 subject areas.

The search window. https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/

How Google controls your information

90% of internet searches use Google, and 95% of searchers drop out after the second page.  I began blogging in 2003 and remember when my blog entries came up within the first or second page.  In the code, bloggers/web page designers put in tags that describe the most typical topics and your search picks up on that. With Google’s manipulation of search results that could never happen today.  I’m a big believer in capitalism, and the founders of Google, one of which is a Russian immigrant, have done a good job for the investors in their company.  That said, when successful companies get too cozy with the government, it’s called crony capitalism.  That’s how legislators get rich and CEOs beat back the competition by getting what looks like stiff controls, but only they are wealthy enough to meet the standards.  Any search that involves any information about the government or President Trump will bring up pages of New York Times, Washington Post (owned by another tech giant, Jeff Bezos, the wealthiest man in the country), Daily Beast, Huffington Post, and other far left media sources. This results in an informed public that has read/heard only part of the story. The conservatives then flee to other sources and also risk knowing only part of the information. When I log in, I automatically get Google News, which always leans left.  Sometimes I do click on a story, especially  if it’s none political, but then may just encourage the bias by taking the bait.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/google-search-results-show-pervasive-anti-trump-anti-conservative-bias/

https://pjmedia.com/trending/facebook-censors-articles-from-salena-zito-jenna-lynn-ellis-saying-they-look-like-spam/

If you search anything about Trump on Google you’ll probably get referred to CNN, which falls far behind Fox in popularity and viewership. And if you are in an airport, exercise facility, or doctor’s office, good luck seeing anything other than CNN.

As expected, NYT denies any bias with Google, and instead accuses Google of different biases. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/technology/bias-google-trump.html

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/july-2018-ratings-fox-news-marks-25-consecutive-months-as-most-watched-cable-network-in-total-day/372050

https://www.mrc.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/2014/MBB2014.pdf

Letter to my statistics professor

You are in Cape Town, and I’m in Columbus, Ohio.  Through the miracle of on-line learning and MOOC, I am in week 6 of your Coursera offering on Understanding Medical Research, in which you often stress the importance of statistics, choosing the right tests, and having access to the original data. I'm definitely a statistical outlier among your students--I'm 78 and retired in 2000, and have had no math since 1955. And although this class doesn't demand a heavy background in math, I even had to review fractions, percent, and square root!

So, in the Nov. 28, 2017 JAMA there is an article, "Adherence to Methodological Standards in Research Using the National Inpatient Sample," that caught my eye, and impressed upon me everything you've been teaching us. I was surprised to read that of 120 articles (the sample) of the 1082 (the population) published in a 2 year period using data from 35 million hospitalizations in the U.S., 85% did not adhere to 1 or more required practices of the AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), and 62% did not adhere to 2 or more required practices. A total of 79 of the 120 in the sample (68.3%) did not account for sampling error, clustering, and stratification; 62 (54.4%) extrapolated non-specific secondary diagnoses to infer in-hospital events, and so forth.
So I began linking the people involved; not only did the researchers get it wrong, the peer reviewers missed the errors, as did the editors of the medical journals (some with a high impact factor). The articles with incorrect statistical information were used to get promotion and tenure at universities.  Possibly policies and regulations for hospitals may result from some of these published articles with careless statistics, or, a "medical journalist" will attempt to translate the results for a layman, and it will be reported in the media.

In the U.S. we have been subjected to a horribly expensive electronic medical records law which all physicians and hospitals had to incorporate (I think it began around 2010).  There was no evidence this would improve medical care, but it was apparently "needed" so researchers had more data to mine.  I still have to ask for my medical visits from Dr. A to Dr. B, two miles apart, to be faxed because these systems don't talk to each other. Now with all this data ready to be mined, someone will mess up the statistics!

So, Dr. Juan Klopper, you are definitely needed, and will never run out of things to talk about.

Social dancing is good protection against Alzheimer's Disease

"The theory proposed by Dr. Verghese and his fellow researchers is that social dance is an activity that activates and takes advantage of our brains' neuroplasticity. That is, according to Dr. Joseph Coyle, a commentator on the study, "The cerebral cortex and hippocampus, which are critical to these activities [greater cognitive reserve and increased complexity of neuronal synapses], are remarkably plastic, and they rewire themselves based upon their use."

When the aging process causes our brain cells to begin to die off, our memory of nouns (like the names of people we know and love) often go first, because there is only one neural pathway connected to that bit of stored information. If that neural connection is lost, so is access to the piece of information it pointed to. It's like taking the same well-worn path through a forest, and one day not being able to find the entrance to that path. In patients suffering from dementia, even if they can physically see their destination, they sometimes can't figure out how to get there, because they've forgotten how to find the path they were accustomed to take.

The key to avoiding this, in the researchers' opinion, is to continually forge new neural pathways. And the way to do this is to constantly challenge the mind and force it to make split-second, rapid-fire decisions. Each of these decisions has the effect of creating greater cognitive reserve and a more complex network of neuronal synapses. In short, the more pathways your brain has to the information stored in it, the more accessible that information becomes, and the less likely you are to forget it.

But again, why dancing?
Dance, especially ballroom dance and other forms that involve cooperation between two partners – one leading and the other following, or both following not just preset steps but having the ability to improvise – causes the very rapid-fire decision-making that forges new neural pathways. The researchers emphasize that not all forms of dancing will accomplish this; for example, types of dance that rely on retracing the same memorized steps will form no new connections in the brain. Improvements to cognitive function occur when we learn something new, something we haven't done before. The dancers in the recent study who showed the most resistance to dementia practiced what is referred to as freestyle social dancing – foxtrot, waltz, swing, tango, and Latin dance.

In the 21-year study, seniors who danced regularly showed more resistance to dementia than those who only danced occasionally; just as with doing crossword puzzles, more is better. Those who "changed partners" more often benefitted more than those who stuck with the same dance partner, possibly because they had to adjust to the new partner and make more split-second decisions to adapt to their different style.
Interestingly enough, women may benefit slightly more than men from social dancing, because they follow their male partner's lead, and thus are constantly having to make rapid-fire decisions. But this piece of information can help the men, too. By becoming more attentive to your partner's style and constantly adjusting your own to insure their comfort and continuity of motion, you can become not only a better dancer, but improve your brain's cognitive abilities as well.   Juliette Siegfried

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/16525/1/The-Best-Means-of-Avoiding-Alzheimers-Is-Dance.html

Based on New England Journal of Medicine journal, June 19, 2003 

Some tidbits about science

The survey, "Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding," conducted in 2012, involved more than 2,220 Americans and was conducted by the National Science Foundation for the Science and Engineering Indicators report that is presented to the federal government.

“According to a new survey that focuses on public awareness and perceptions of science, research and scientists, only 74 percent of Americans that participated knew that the Earth orbits the sun. The survey also revealed a strong appreciation for the work of scientists while Americans continue to struggle to answer basic science questions.”

Actually, I’m surprised that 74% knew.  Aren’t you?

About 30% Americans say that “dealing with global
warming” should be a priority for the president and
Congress. In recent years, dealing with climate issues
has been near the bottom of Americans’ list of
potential priorities.”

So guess what our President and Secretary of State are doing?

“. . . between 2000 and 2008, scientists represented just 1% of characters on prime-time network shows. Of these scientists, 7 out of 10 were men and almost 9 of 10 were white. 8% of the characters were medical.”

I’m thinking they aren’t counting the pathologists and archeologists in the the crime shows.

I’m not surprised that the Internet is increasingly becoming a source of information for scientific information.

Patch, pill or hypnosis, how did you quit?

I'm still waiting to meet a former smoker who quit permanently as the result of a government paid for program in their health plan, a work sponsored program, a drug patch or pill, hypnosis, talk therapy, etc. And I don't mean the 3-6 month quitter that the research reports in a clinical study so they get another grant from the NIH.  I'm sure they are out there, or why would we be spending so much money on them? [sarcasm].

Just Google "Smoking Cessation programs" (about 4.5 million hits).  Mayo Clinic claims it's had 45,000 participants in its program to stop using tobacco (smoking and chewing), with 110 randomized clinical trials involving more than 25,000 research subjects.  Where are the success stories?

When I see reports on what percentage of income the poor spend on cigarettes, there is usually a follow up appeal on why we should be spending more money on helping them quit.  Put where is the research that pills, patches, hypnosis and counseling actually pay?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/nyregion/poor-smokers-in-new-york-state-spend-25-of-income-on-cigarettes-study-says.html?_r=0

The U.S. still needs immigrants because our schools aren’t cutting it!

Alexander Boldyrev and colleagues at Utah State University, Logan, working with Lai-Sheng Wang and colleagues at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island have synthesized a planar boron compound that has the highest coordination number of any flat molecule, squeezing ten spoke-like bonds to boron atoms into a wheel. This astounding feat of engineering not only breaks previous records for such compounds but offers new insights into bonding, coordination and the development of boron chemistry. (Alchemist Newsletter)

Naturalized U.S. citizen Alexander Boldyrev, professor of Theoretical Computational Chemistry at University of Utah, Salt Lake City did his undergraduate and master’s level work at Novosibirsky University and PhD at Moscow State University, and his Dr. Science (highest degree in USSR) at Institute of Chemical Physics, USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow, in 1987.

Lai Sheng Wang received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Wuhan University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1990. His current Vita shows 322 publications where he is the first author.

Children, wanted and unwanted

It's a great imponderable. My faith and church informs me that God loves all his children, from conception to old age death, both those who know him and those who don't, the ones with blessings and the ones without. For now, I'll just have to trust that, because I don't always see it working in real time and place.

I'm thinking about little three year old Zack (not his real name) who is actually wanted by two different foster families who have been sharing custody of him for a year and a half. The original foster family who raised Zack from birth have negotiated every legal delay and trick to keep him, and although they signed off from the beginning on plans to adopt him (were told this was not an option), it is obviously their goal. The other foster family, which immediately stepped up to the plate when the state discovered it even existed (months after his birth), is Zack's uncle and his wife, who also raised his half sibling. Zack's birth parents are totally incapable of caring for child (although they have visitation rights) both by behavior and intelligence--the mother being mentally challenged and the father being the boyfriend of her mother (grandmother of the child--remember the movie "Precious?") who took advantage of the woman's low intelligence and had sex with her. So here's a little guy loved too much by people who are asking the court to split him down the middle. On the sidelines, I'm left to ponder what motivates people to even agree to raise a child of such doubtful intellectual heritage and future possibilities and problems--but I'm glad there are people willing to take such risks. That's a risk God takes with us, and one we don't see that often at our level. Both a stranger and a relative took him in and want him, and are now fighting over him with lawyers, judges, guardian ad litem, social workers and child psychologists in pitched battle over a little guy who is happy and well adjusted with both families.

The other special group of children God loves are those with Down and Fragile X syndromes. If you keep up with news from the pro-life community, or have followed the vilification of Sarah Palin and her Down Syndrome child born shortly before she was selected by McCain as a running mate in 2008, you know that over 90% of the children are now aborted after pregnancy testing reveals their condition. This has all sorts of ramifications for other families with mentally challenged children, because these families were strong backers of special health benefits, legislation and schooling for their children. They are now out of the advocacy business. But recently a mouse model in which the critical gene is knocked out has been developed that allows researchers to probe the synapses of brain neurons. Even later in life, mice with Down syndrome or fragile X syndrome (FXS) that are given targeted treatment can experience improvements in cognitive function. Findings from such animal studies have paved the way to human trials. And things are moving rather quickly. There is hope on the horizon that there will be therapeutics developed to help those with the most severe symptoms of stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity and inappropriate speech (Sci Transl Med. 2001:3[64] 64ral).

Other drugs are also being tested that show improved cognition in mouse models. One little mouse model, Ts65Dn, has been particularly useful in testing for memory deficits. This is wonderful news--but comes much too late for so many children killed before they saw the light of day. I wish all children, challenged or blessed with good health, could be as loved as little Trig Palin.

If the therapies under study for FXS and Down syndrome prove effective, the approach may have implications for other developmental disorders that involve invtellectual impairment or autism-like symptoms, or even more common disorders like Alzheimer Disease. The brain is more plastic than ever before imagined. (Summary of material from JAMA Jan. 26, 2011)

Longest "failure to report" I've seen

When people report their research in JAMA, they are required to include any compensation or financial gain they might have received that could conceivably influence the outcomes. There was an article on obesity published in February on gastric banding in adolescents vs lifestyle intervention by Dr.Paul E. O'Brien of Australia. It seems the gastric banding group won. But in the June 16 issue, there is the "correction" for the financial disclosure agreement, he having said he had no conflicts of interest. I'd say it was a big one.

1. He received compensation as the Natioal medical director of the American Institute of Gastric Banding.
2. He's written a patient information book on the topic from which he derives financial benefits.
3. In another study on obesity he had grants from an obesity research center, of which he is the director.
4. He "inaccurately reported" (i.e., lied) about compensation received as a speaker.
5. He regrets any lack of transparency that his failure may have created.

I think this guy has a future in politics. Also, it shows JAMA really doesn't check much on this stuff.

Not All Latino Immigrants Accepted As 'White'

This isn't about just the Census! Who do you suppose is encouraging Latinos NOT to become Americanized, not to be stirred into the melting pot, to continue speaking Spanish, to march on Cinco de Mayo, to hoist the Mexican flag, and to watch Telemundo, where all the spokeswomen are glamorous, European types? American immigrants are being sold out by the very organizations who are claiming to help them, all for the almighty political vote--which in most cases means the Democrat party. We know many proud Americans of Mexican descent, 2nd and 3rd generation (and most don't know a word of Spanish other than those on the restaurant menu just like the rest of us).

Despite Efforts, Not All Latino Immigrants Accepted As 'White'

Glenn Beck's new book, Arguing with Idiots

It's going to be a tough read. I don't buy a lot of books new--usually pick them up used or check out a library copy. Unfortunately, my local public library's selection policy leans way to the left, and it's hard to find political books there with an alternate viewpoint. That teaches conservatives to stop asking, and stop using the library, so then they have a good excuse. But it helps bond issues to fail, too.

Back to Glenn. It's the format I don't like. Fingernails on a blackboard. This book is to readability the way The View is to good manners. The size is awkward. I've looked through my bookshelves and haven't found another one this size. The publisher is a division of Simon & Schuster, Threshold Editions/Mercury Radio Arts. Threshold Editions is a conservative publishing imprint at Simon & Schuster, owned by CBS Corporation (Leslie Moonves)--obviously, liberals don't want to miss the money train. Mary Matalin, a GOP strategist, is the chief editor. "Mercury Radio Arts is Glenn Beck’s fully integrated multi-media production company. Mercury produces or co-produces all Glenn Beck related properties including The Glenn Beck Program, America’s third highest-rated radio show, Glenn Beck, one of the most successful new shows on the Fox News Channel, Beck’s New York Times bestselling books, his live stage-show business, destination website GlennBeck.com and consumer magazine Fusion. Founded in 2002, Mercury has a full time staff of 20 employees and is based in New York, NY." So, I suppose Mercury isn't really into readable print products.

I don't like books or magazines that are designed to look like webpages--scrap booky cute boxes with torn edges, colored pages that look like something was dropped on them, cartoonish statistics. The promised bibliography is extensive, just like Glenn said, but it's in print so tiny I'll need a magnifying glass and is in run-on paragraph form, just like the medical and nutritional research on Activia if you ever find that web page. For this librarian, citing a scanned book page, google news or Yahoo news is disappointing "fact finding." My advice, hire a good researcher and do it the right way. It's not that hard to find the flaws in progressive/marxist theory or to examine the failures of every country that tried it; but use some decent source material. Citing google news which doesn't cite its sources just doesn't cut it.

The basic text font appears to be Times Roman, or something similar and readable, but the larger type for emphasis is red and yellow with a gray shadow, in a horrible font where the capital K looks like an H from a little distance, so that slows down reading. Then there's the fakey backward facing N and R (which are an I and a Ya in Cyrillic, but how many people know that?). Yes, it goes with the photo on the cover of Glenn in a quasi Russian/Soviet military uniform (and those guys really do look that weird and scary because we saw them board our train at the Finnish border to collect our passports in 2006), but it's so "The Russians are Coming" movie poster.

Because some of the outlandish things the leftists in education, cultural arts, and government say and do, it is difficult to tell the cartoonish representations from the real thing, like the "Nannies winner" and posters of Surgeon General's warnings. Glenn, if 400,000 don't die of obesity, but were fat people who died of other diseases, like old age, and the actual toll is 25,000--couldn't you have found a better footnote than a website I've never heard of questioning the CDC which most of us have? Chapter 10 on presidential progressives is virtually impossible to read due to clutter, cartoons, type font changes and blobs of color like splashed garbage--checking the bibliography on that one will be tough.

Glenn, I like your shows, but you get an F for readibility.

Hmmm. Maybe I should have waited for the library to buy its one copy.

International affairs and radicalism links

David Durant, Heretical Librarian, turned in his blogger keys and left the building a little over a year ago. In a profession that is 223:1 liberal to conservative, he is missed. But here's a refresher list on some of the links he followed. With the O-Admin moving quickly to silence critics through increased regulation who are very slowly waking up to the wasp nest of marxists surrounding this President, this will be a handy list to browse. Not all are working, but I'll try to weed out those that have given up, changed direction, or lost their domain name.

The War on Terror and International Affairs

Across the Bay
American Enterprise Institute
American Footprints
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Committee on the Present Danger
Council on Foreign Relations
The Counterterrorism Blog
Defend America
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
The Jamestown Foundation
Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
Long War Journal
Michael Yon
The National Interest
9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America
Small Wars Journal
StrategyPage
Threats Watch
Victor Davis Hanson's Private Papers
Winds of Change

Radical Islamism, The Middle East and Reforming Islam

Ali Eteraz
Apostasy and Islam
Arab Media & Society
Asharq Alawsat
Big Pharaoh
Center for Liberty in the Middle East
Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
Daily Star (Lebanon)
Daniel Pipes
Faith Freedom International
Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism
Hammorabi
Healing Iraq
Initiative for an Open Arab Internet
Interfaith Strength
Iraq Blog Count
Iraq the Model
Iraq Updates
Irshad Manji
Islamist Watch
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Jihad Watch
Martin Kramer on the Middle East
The Mesopotamian
Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
Middle East Transparent [click on English]
Secular Islam
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Watch

Featuring today: MEMRI, where you can stop by and read or hear Osama bin Laden's September message to the American people, which sounds extremely close to our own leftists; he even recommends reading Jimmy Carter.-- "The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian,Turkish, Urdu-Pashtu media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.

Founded in February 1998 to inform the debate over U.S. policy in the Middle East, MEMRI is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501 (c)3 organization. MEMRI's headquarters is located in Washington, DC with branch offices in London, Tokyo, Rome, Baghdad, Shanghai, and Jerusalem. MEMRI research is translated to English, German, Hebrew, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese."

Personality development in adulthood

Most of this research sounds like common sense. I remember my pediatrician reminding me that children are born with their personalities, same as eye color, intelligence, athleticism, etc. Check the webpage of Brent W. Roberts, University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who was featured in the last U of I LAS News.

Highlights of Recent Findings of Brent W. Roberts

Personality traits predict mortality, divorce, and occupational attainment as well as, if not better than socioeconomic status and cognitive ability (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, in press).

Personality traits continue to change in middle and old age (Roberts, Helson, & Klohnen, 2002; Roberts, Walton, & Viechtbauer, 2006). Specifically, people become more socially dominant, conscientious, and emotionally stable as they age.

People who are engage in counterproductive work behaviors (e.g., fighting, stealing, malingering) become more more alienated and less controlled than people who do not engage in counterproductive work behaviors (Roberts, Bogg, Walton, & Caspi, 2006).

People who become more involved in work and stay in stable marriages increase on measures of conscientiousness over time (Roberts, Caspi, & Moffitt, 2003; Roberts & Bogg, 2004).

People change their perception of their environment more than they change their self-perceptions over time (Harms, Roberts & Winter, 2006).

Goals for investments in work and marriage are related to increases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in college (Roberts, O'Donnell, & Robins, 2004)

People who are more conscientious avoid most of the risky behaviors that lead to premature mortality and participate in the positive health behaviors associated with longevity (Bogg & Roberts, 2004).