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  • Treating Blood Pressure to a Lower Goal Particularly For Those Over the Age of 50

    blood pressure cuff

    More intensive management of high blood pressure, below a commonly recommended blood pressure target, significantly reduces rates of cardiovascular disease, and lowers risk of death in a group of adults 50 years and older with high blood pressure. This is according to the initial results of a landmark clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health called the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT).
     
    Sphygmomanometer with cuff, used to measure blood pressure. Wikimedia Commons
     
    The intervention in this trial, which carefully adjusts the amount or type of blood pressure medication to achieve a target systolic pressure of 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), reduced rates of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and heart failure, as well as stroke, by almost a third and the risk of death by almost a quarter, as compared to the target systolic pressure of 140 mm Hg.

    “Our results provide important evidence that treating blood pressure to a lower goal in older or high-risk patients can be beneficial and yield better health results overall.”  — Lawrence Fine, M.D., Chief, Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch at NHLBI

    “This study provides potentially lifesaving information that will be useful to health care providers as they consider the best treatment options for some of their patients, particularly those over the age of 50,” said Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the primary sponsor of SPRINT. “We are delighted to have achieved this important milestone in the study in advance of the expected closure date for the SPRINT trial and look forward to quickly communicating the results to help inform patient care and the future development of evidence-based clinical guidelines.”

    High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems. An estimated 1 in 3 people in the United States has high blood pressure.

    The SPRINT study evaluates the benefits of maintaining a new target for systolic blood pressure, the top number in a blood pressure reading, among a group of patients 50 years and older at increased risk for heart disease or who have kidney disease. A systolic pressure of 120 mm Hg, maintained by this more intensive blood pressure intervention, could ultimately help save lives among adults age 50 and older who have a combination of high blood pressure and at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, the investigators say.

    The SPRINT study, which began in the fall of 2009, includes more than 9,300 participants age 50 and older, recruited from about 100 medical centers and clinical practices throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. It is the largest study of its kind to date to examine how maintaining systolic blood pressure at a lower than currently recommended level will impact cardiovascular and kidney diseases. NIH stopped the blood pressure intervention earlier than originally planned in order to quickly disseminate the significant preliminary results.

    The study population was diverse and included women, racial/ethnic minorities, and the elderly. The investigators point out that the SPRINT study did not include patients with diabetes, prior stroke, or polycystic kidney disease, as other research included those populations.

    When SPRINT was designed, the well-established clinical guidelines recommended a systolic blood pressure of less than 140 mm Hg for healthy adults and 130 mm Hg for adults with kidney disease or diabetes. Investigators designed SPRINT to determine the potential benefits of achieving systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg for hypertensive adults 50 years and older who are at risk for developing heart disease or kidney disease.

    Between 2010 and 2013, the SPRINT investigators randomly divided the study participants into two groups that differed according to targeted levels of blood pressure control. The standard group received blood pressure medications to achieve a target of less than 140 mm Hg. They received an average of two different blood pressure medications. The intensive treatment group received medications to achieve a target of less than 120 mm Hg and received an average of three medications.

    “Our results provide important evidence that treating blood pressure to a lower goal in older or high-risk patients can be beneficial and yield better health results overall,” said Lawrence Fine, M.D., chief, Clinical Applications and Prevention Branch at NHLBI. “But patients should talk to their doctor to determine whether this lower goal is best for their individual care.”

    The study is also examining kidney disease, cognitive function, and dementia among the patients; however, those results are still under analysis and are not yet available as additional information will be collected over the next year. The primary results of the trial will be published within the next few months.

    In addition to primary sponsorship by the NHLBI, SPRINT is co-sponsored by the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute on Aging.

    The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) plans, conducts, and supports research related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; and sleep disorders. The Institute also administers national health education campaigns on women and heart disease, healthy weight for children, and other topics. NHLBI press releases and other materials are available online at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

    About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

    NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®

    Supplemental Information

  • For Some States, a Focus on Older Workers: Laws With Little Protection from Hiring Discrimination

    The average age of Vita Needle’s workers is 74 years old, and that’s no accident. The Needham, MA manufacturing company has intentionally hired seniors — a decision that has increased profits and benefited older workers who often have a harder time finding a job.  PBS News Hour (2013)

    When Tina Marshall got laid off in 2014, she was confident that she’d quickly find work again. A few years earlier, she’d gone back to school to get her bachelor’s degree, so she had a recent graduation date on her resume and solid experience in her second career in manufacturing sales and operations.

    And sure enough, the Charlotte, North Carolina, woman had no troubling landing job interviews. Her phone interviews always went well, she said, with recruiters all but promising her a job. Until, that is, she showed up for a face-to-face interview, and it became clear the hiring manager was expecting someone else — someone much younger. Marshall is 60 and, thanks to a knee injury, she walks with a pronounced limp.

    Like the US population overall, the American workforce is aging. According to a 2014 report by the US Census Bureau, the labor force participation rate for people older than 65 reached 22.1 percent for men and 13.8 percent for women at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, compared to 17.7 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively, in 2000. Many of these workers say they have experienced or seen age discrimination in the workplace: In three surveys of older workers conducted by AARP since 2002, roughly two-thirds of respondents reported such discrimination.

    All states, with the exception of Arkansas and South Dakota, have laws barring age discrimination, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Many of these laws mirror the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. In some states, such as California, Michigan and Minnesota, the prohibition against age discrimination is included in a broader law barring discrimination based on race, religion or sex.

    But some economists and legal experts say that while these laws protect older workers from being fired, they offer little protection from hiring discrimination, which is more difficult to prove.

    In fact, there is some evidence older workers are less likely to be hired in states with strong age discrimination laws, according to Joanna Lahey, an associate professor of economics at Texas A&M University who has investigated the phenomenon. “Employers just don’t want to mess with them,” Lahey said. They’ll keep the older workers they have on staff for a little longer, but won’t take anyone else on.”

    The trends have prompted a handful of states to consider how to help older people who want to keep working.  

    In Minnesota, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development helps older adults prepare for the modern workforce with on-the-job training through paid community service assignments. Other states have similar programs, most supported by federal grants. Meanwhile in New York, a pending proposal would create a task force to assist older adults who want to continue working or re-enter the workforce after retirement.

    No Smoking Gun

    Between the 1960s and the 1980s, many Americans retired relatively early, a phenomenon made possible by Social Security and the introduction of Medicare. But that began to change in the 1990s for men and in the 2000s for women. One major reason was that many employers replaced traditional pensions with 401(k) plans and other retirement savings plans, giving people an incentive to work longer. The Great Recession exacerbated the trend, because many older workers delayed retirement to replenish their decimated 401(k) plans.

  • Best of Scout: Teaching History with 100 Objects, Pick Your Poison, Open Culture Sources, Roman Empire Maps and the Lesser Prairie Chicken

    Perfect for those long holiday weekends when you don’t want to drive, cook for the unappreciative, stand in line for overpriced Star Wars souvenirs and are hard put to find new, interesting rental movies that aren’t ‘guy’ films. Alice Underground

    Here’s a new Scout Report listing that might entice with the addition of a British Library site:

    British Library: Virtual books

    ·http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/virtualbooks/index.html

    Within the British Library’s Online Gallery exists a gem called Virtual Books. Here, readers will find a collection of great books that can be viewed online using the library’s own award-winning “Turning the Pages” software. A great place to start is by scoping out the six works displayed on the landing page, which include selections from the great Indian epic, The Ramayana, draft scores of Handel’s Messiah, a handful of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches, and other masterpieces. From there, readers may like to explore the Most Viewed and Recent Additions sections. To explore items, simply click on a title. The book then takes a moment to load, but the Turning the Pages format lets you read, listen, rotate, zoom, and view the original writing next to modern, easily viewable font transliterations.

    Teaching History with 100 Objects

    http://www.teachinghistory100.org

    As William Faulkner wrote in his experimental novel, Requiem for a Nun, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” This site makes compelling links to the present through an amazing array of historical artifacts. In addition to being one of our most shared resources from the past year, the Scout staff seemed to come back to the website again and again. Not just for history teachers, Teaching History with 100 Objects has a mesmerizing way of bringing to life tales from ancient Egypt, Qing Dynasty China, revolutionary Russia, and many other places and times.

    Teaching History with 100 Objects may be funded by the United Kingdom’s Department of Education, but the resources available on the website will be useful to educators the world over. The 100 objects in question consist of historically significant Irish posters, English canons, Chinese tea pots, Viking scales, and many other fascinating objects. The site can be scouted in a number of convenient ways. Readers can search by topics, dates, places, or themes, or simply select an image from the homepage to get started. Each object is accompanied by a brief annotation, as well as additional categories, such as About the object, A bigger picture, Teaching ideas, and For the Classroom. Each category is packed with information, ideas, and suggestions for bringing history to life. 
     

    Pick Your Poison: Intoxicating Pleasures and Medical Prescriptions
    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/pickyourpoison/
    Cocaine Toothache Drops



















    It’s not hard to see why our readers loved this thought-provoking expose of America’s long history with mind-altering substances. In fact, the ad for Cocaine Toothache Drops (contemporarily priced at 15 cents) alone is worth a trip to this colorful and well curated site. Lesson plans and online activities help educators illustrate how the United States has handled the thin and shifting line between useful medical prescriptions and harmful, illicit substances.

  • Van Gogh and Nature, the Serious Artist, Not the Mythic ‘Tortured Painter’ of Film and Fiction

    A wheatfield With Cypresses

    For Vincent van Gogh, nature was the defining subject of his art. Over the course of his short but intense working life, Van Gogh studied and depicted nature in all its forms — from the minutiae of insects and birds’ nests to the most sweeping of panoramic landscapes — creating a body of work that revolutionized the representation of the natural world at the end of the nineteenth century. Shown exclusively at the Clark Art Institute through September 13, 2015, Van Gogh and Nature is the first exhibition devoted to the artist’s abiding exploration of nature in all its forms.  

    Vincent van Gogh, 1853 – 1890,  A Wheatfield, with Cypresses, 1889. National Gallery, London
     
    Van Gogh’s focus on nature was rooted in his love of the art of his time, both the landscapes created by Barbizon School artists and the highly-keyed, quickly brushed paintings of the Impressionists, but he brought a personal passion and subjective sensibility to his work that continues to enthrall art lovers to this day.
     
    Much of the artist’s adult life was devoted to drawing and painting the natural world, yet this fundamental aspect of his work has not previously been the focus of intense study. Presenting fifty works including iconic paintings such as A Wheatfield, with Cypresses (1889, National Gallery, London), The Olive Trees (1889, The Museum of Modern Art, New York), and The Sower (1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo), the exhibition focuses on Van Gogh the serious artist, not on the mythic “tortured painter” of film and fiction. Van Gogh is presented as a thoughtful and meticulous student of nature who found solace and personal fulfillment in studying and enjoying the natural world.  

    Noted Van Gogh scholars Chris Stolwijk and Sjraar van Heugten joined Clark curator-at-large Richard Kendall as co-curators of the exhibition. A former curator at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum, Stolwijk is the director of RKD/Netherlands Institute for Art History, while van Heugten, the former head of collections at the Van Gogh Museum, is now an independent curator.  

    “Van Gogh has long been a subject of great interest to me and I am thrilled to be able to present a fresh view and greater understanding of him to the public,” said Kendall. “Working with these exceptional scholars has been a tremendous experience as we have learned so much about Van Gogh that has been lost in all of the hyperbole about his life and career. This exhibition allows us to clear up many of these misperceptions and helps people to understand Van Gogh in a new light.” 

    Rain – Auvers, 1890, oil on canvas. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Gwendoline Davies Bequest, 1952

    Auvers (rain) 

  • Elaine Soloway’s Rookie Widow Series: Forget Him Not, Boston and Beyond, Double Dating With My Mother

    Forget Him Not

    Forget me knot
    “Please forgive me, honey,” I said.

     
    Tommy was ignoring me, and was instead stepping up to a teed ball.
     
    “I don’t know how it happened,” I continued. “I wrote August 24 in ink on my paper calendar, and entered the date on my Apple and Google calendars. But when it arrived — maybe because it was a Saturday — your birthday simply slipped away.”
     
    This attempt at an earth-to-heaven conversation was taking place in bed, when upon awakening the August lapse hit me.  For this supplication, I was propped up on pillows, where on one side were views of morning light edging up my windows, and on the other, framed photographs of my husband.
     
    With guilt covering me like the nearby blanket, I chose not to focus on his portrait, but on the scene I was conjuring in my head. So far, it was not going as anticipated.
     
    Still ignoring me, my husband  raised his club and as I’ve seen him do hundred of times, slammed the golf ball, then returned to his stance to watch it sail across the green.
     
    “Gorgeous!” I said, hoping my praise would swing his attention to me.
     
    I chose a golf course for my apology scene because that’s where Tommy spent so many happy hours. I figured in that setting, he’d be in a mood to forgive his wife.
     
    Maybe he’s snubbing me, I thought, because birthdays were never a big deal to him. In our 14 years of marriage, my husband refused offers of parties, preferring dinners out with close friends.
     
    And when I’d plead for clues for his present, he’d shrug and say, “You don’t have to get me anything.” Of course, I’d ignore that response, and along with a chocolate cake awaiting his awakening on his birthday morning, there’d be a wrapped mystery novel, or a dozen golf balls, or a dressy shirt I’d have to remind him to wear.
     
    Lacking a reaction, I continued pressing my regrets because the incident frightened me. It wasn’t that I worried about frays in my memory; it was the nag that if I forgot Tommy’s birthday, did that mean I was forgetting him?
     
    I had been certain my nightly routine would seal my husband in my brain. Every night before I go to sleep, I say, “Love you, Tommy” to the pillow I use as his stand-in. And I hear back, clear as if he were at my left instead of his surrogate, “Love you, too!”
     
    We also have frequent conversations where I include his response in my imaginary clip. “You’ll be happy to hear I did 30 minutes on the bike,” I’ll tell him. “Good, girl!” he’ll say from the fancy gym I place him in.
     
    Like the golf course, I frequently set Tommy in a tableau I know he’ll enjoy.  I visualize my three-times-a-week YMCA athlete now ensconced in a work out area favored by world-class athletes. I see Babe Ruth, Johnny Weissmuller, Walter Payton, and Bobby Jones mingling with my guy. 
     
    In this setting, he’s happy to see me. I wait until my strongman finishes bench pressing and wipes down the equipment with a paper towel. I watch wistfully as his body, shiny with sweat, takes a drink from his favorite water bottle.
     
    But in this morning’s heart-to-heart, it appears I haven’t yet convinced my husband of my repentance. So, I try a more spiritual tack. Although he wasn’t Jewish, Tommy was the one who encouraged me to light Sabbath candles. “Shabbat shalom,” he’d energetically respond when I completed the ritual every Friday night.
     
    “You know Friday night is the beginning of Yom Kippur,” I said. “Before that day, I must seek reconciliation for the wrongs committed against others. You’re at the top of my list.”
     
    “And, to make sure it doesn’t happen again, I’ve got a reminder set on the  Jewish calendar. There, honey, your Hebrew birthday is August 22. Like you’ve seen me do with my parents’, I’ll light a Yahrzeit candle in your memory. That’ll give me two days before your actual birthday to catch the date.  Will you forgive me now?”
     
    Finally, Tommy paused at the next hole. He leaned over to place a golf ball on a tee, then stood straight up and faced me. He was smiling, with his brown eyes as sunny as I remembered them. “Of course I forgive you, Sweetheart,” he said, “you know I could never stay mad at you. Now scram; you’re holding up the foursome behind us.”

  • Forgiving Others Appears to Help Decrease Levels of Depression, Particularly for Women

    John Singer Sargent painting, In the Generalife



     

    John Singer Sargent, In the Generalife,  1912. Watercolor, wax crayon, and graphite on white wove paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art; Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1915



     

    Forgiveness is a complex process, one often fraught with difficulty and angst. Now, researchers in the University of Missouri College of Human Environmental Sciences studied how different facets of forgiveness affected aging adults’ feelings of depression. The researchers found older women who forgave others were less likely to report depressive symptoms regardless of whether they felt unforgiven by others. Older men, however, reported the highest levels of depression when they both forgave others and felt unforgiven by others. The researchers say their results may help counselors of older adults develop gender-appropriate interventions since men and women process forgiveness differently.

    “It doesn’t feel good when we perceive that others haven’t forgiven us for something,” said Christine Proulx, study co-author and an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science. “When we think about forgiveness and characteristics of people who are forgiving — altruistic, compassionate, empathetic — these people forgive others and seem to compensate for the fact that others aren’t forgiving them. It sounds like moral superiority, but it’s not about being a better person. It’s ‘I know that this hurts because it’s hurting me,’ and those people are more likely to forgive others, which appears to help decrease levels of depression, particularly for women.”

    Proulx and lead author Ashley Ermer, a doctoral student in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, analyzed data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey, a national survey of more than 1,000 adults ages 67 and older. Survey participants answered questions about their religion, health and psychological well-being.Proulx

    Proulx said they studied forgiveness among an older population because of the tendency among older individuals to reflect on their lives, especially their relationships and transgressions, both as wrongdoers and as those who had experienced wrongdoing.

    Christine Proulx, study co-author and an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science

    “As people get older, they become more forgiving,” Ermer said. “Our population also predominately was Christian, which may influence individuals’ willingness to forgive and could function differently among individuals with different beliefs.”

    The researchers found men and women who feel unforgiven by others are somewhat protected against depression when they are able to forgive themselves. Yet, the researchers said they were surprised to find that forgiving oneself did not more significantly reduce levels of depression.

    “Self-forgiveness didn’t act as the protector against depression,” Proulx said. “It’s really about whether individuals can forgive other people and their willingness to forgive others.”

    The study, “Unforgiveness, depression, and health in later life: the protective factor of forgivingness,” was published in July, 2015 in the journal,  Aging & Mental Health.

  • An Elegant Society: Adam Buck, Artist in the Age of Jane Austen

    Adam Buck

    Adam Buck, First Steps, 1808. Watercolour, 28 x 35 cm. Private collection 

    Well-known to collectors and Jane Austen enthusiasts, Irish artist Adam Buck (1759–1833) was one of Regency England’s most sought-after portrait painters. He worked in Ireland for twenty years, becoming an accomplished miniaturist; but moved to London in 1795 and immediately gained a roster of star clients including the Duke of York and his scandalous mistress, Mary Anne Clarke. This summer exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England  continues until 4 October 2015 and celebrates Adam Buck’s influence on Georgian art and style, showing over sixty works from private collections including watercolors, small portraits and miniatures, examples of his decorative designs for porcelain and fans, and his prints. Curated by Peter Darvall.

    Buck's Beauties and Rowlandson's Connossieur

    Buck was born to a family of silversmiths in Cork, the second of four surviving children. His younger brother, Frederick (1765–1840), became an established miniature painter who worked in Cork his entire life. Details of Adam’s career before he moved to London are elusive, but his early work is in many ways that of the quintessential Regency miniaturist. His first known pictures, dating from the late-1770s to the early-1780s, show an innate appreciation of the established Neoclassical style: his sitters are often shown in profile; their gowns styled like Grecian goddesses; group portraits arranged like a frieze. In emigrating to London in 1795, Buck took the route of many fellow Irishmen including several Cork-born artists and writers such as James Barry (1741 – 1806) and Alexander Pope (1759–1847). Buck’s first London home was in Piccadilly. As soon as he arrived, he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy where he showed a surprising total of 179 works over the following 38 years.

    Buck’s Beauty and Rowlandson’s Connoisseur (1800) by artist Piercy Roberts (British, active 1794–1828). The Metropolitan Museum of Art

    His success as a society artist was almost instant. By 1799 he had executed a full-length portrait of the Prince of Wales in his Garter Robes. He exhibited two portraits of Prince Frederick, Duke of York, at the Royal Academy in 1804 and 1812. Buck was also introduced to Mary Anne Clarke (1776–1852), the most celebrated of the Duke’s well-known mistresses. She was a famous beauty and maintained a fabulous household in London, subsidising her extravagant lifestyle by selling her influence with the Duke who was Commander in Chief of the Army.

    Mary Ann Clarke

    Rumours claiming that she could obtain commissions and appointments for a fee culminated in a parliamentary enquiry into the Duke’s conduct. While the Duke was ridiculed in caricatures and lampoons, Mary Anne, who put up a spirited defence of her role in the affair, became a public heroine. Her image was circulated in flattering portraits by Buck and other artists which were engraved and widely published. In 1813 she finally overreached herself and was imprisoned for nine months for libel, before leaving the country for Boulogne where she died in 1852.

    Mary Ann Clarke; Alicia Lambert © Private Collection

    Buck’s work was made popular largely through prints after his watercolours, chiefly published in London by William Holland and Rudolph Ackermann. His images, refined and elegant, contrasted with the savage caricatures and ribald pictures of contemporary artists like James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank. The difference was humorously summed up in a Thomas Rowlandson print with the title, Buck’s Beauty and Rowlandson’s Connoisseur (1800), in which a rake in wig and frock coat, one of Rowlandson’s stock characters, leers through an eye-glass at a demure, pink-cheeked girl, drawn in Buck’s distinctive manner.

    With his name made in association with the colorful ranks of Regency society, Buck, from 1810 onwards, made a new reputation for himself with his sentimental images of women and children under titles such as The First Steps in Life and Mother’s Hope. By 1829 his work had been reproduced by at least twenty-eight different printmakers in England and by several in France and America.

  • A Review of an Oliver Sachs Book, Musicophilia: “We humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one”

    Editor’s Note:  Around the time of the publishing of this book, we asked Dr. Sachs to autograph copies. His personal assistant, Kate Edgar, graciously handled the arrangements and our daughters each has a copy of this book, reviewed by the late Julia Sneden. Dr. Sachs’ death from cancer was announced by Ms. Edgar.

    MUSICOPHILIA

    by Oliver Sacks, ©2007; paperback 385 pp

    Published by Vintage Books/Random House

    This is Dr. Sacks’ tenth book, and anyone who has read his earlier writings will recognize his erudite-but-easy-going style. He is a famous neuroscientist and a careful researcher, but there is nothing dull or intimidating in his writings, because he writes simply and expressively, from the heart. His passion for his studies of the brain is infused with an obvious respect for both his patients and his readers. He is a writer who honors the human spirit.

    In his preface, Sacks defines musicophilia: “…This propensity to music… shows itself in infancy, is manifest and central in every culture, and probably goes back to the very beginnings of our species…it lies so deep in human nature that one is tempted to think of it as innate.”

    He goes on to say: “… music remains fundamental and central in every culture. We humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one.”

    This is a four-part book, each part divided into chapters addressing specific examples of a broad subject. Part One is titled: “Haunted by Music,” and includes stories about sudden events of seizures that include musical hallucinations. The seizures are often caused by or tumors or epilepsy, but can also be the result of trauma to the head. One man, a surgeon, was even hit by lightning, and a short time later was consumed by a desire to hear piano music, followed by the need to learn how to play the piano, followed by a strong drive to compose.

    A chapter in this first part will be of special interest to anyone who has ever been stuck with the incessant repetition of something like that fool Song That Has No End, echoing through the brain. The name for such catastrophes is ‘earworms,’ and they are hideously common, especially if they contain music picked up from television shows or advertisements. We whose brains have subjected us to such torture know that earworms depart only when they are good and ready, but in most cases they do (thank God) depart eventually.

    Part Two, titled “A Range of Musicality,” discusses things like music lovers and would-be performers whose strengths are mismatched, i.e., someone whose technical facility is fine but whose performance lacks fire and passion, or someone who plays with great emotion, but whose choice of music lacks both judgment and taste. In both cases, the intentions and desires don’t match the players’ abilities.

    This section also leads us to a technical description of a musician’s brain. Sacks refers to

    “Gottfried Schlaug and his colleagues at Harvard , who made careful comparisons of the sizes of various brain structures.  …They (showed) that the corpus callosum … that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, is enlarged in professional musicians and that a part of the auditory cortex, the planum temporale, has an asymmetric enlargement in musicians with absolute pitch … (They) went on to show increased volumes of gray matter in motor, auditory and visuospatial areas of the cortex, as well as in the cerebellum. Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer, or a mathematician — but they could recognize the brain of a professional musician without a moment’s hesitation.”

  • ProPublica: Activists Pursue Private Abortion Details Using Public Records Laws

    2013 Intl Laws regarding abortion

    International Law on Abortion Laws, United Nations Report 2013

    by Charles Ornstein, ProPublica

    This story was co-published with the Washington Post.

    A few years back, Jonathan Bloedow filed a series of requests under Washington state’s Public Records Act asking for details on pregnancies terminated at abortion clinics around the state.

    For every abortion, he wanted information on the woman’s age and race, where she lived, how long she had been pregnant and how past pregnancies had ended. He also wanted to know about any complications, but he didn’t ask for names. This is all information that Washington’s health department, as those in other states, collects to track vital statistics.

    What has been your experience with patient privacy? Do you think your medical information was shared by your doctor or health-care provider? Do you think it was involved in a breach? Tell us your story.

    Bloedow, 43, isn’t a public health researcher, a traditional journalist or a clinic owner. He’s an anti-abortion activist who had previously sued Planned Parenthood, accusing the group of overcharging the government for contraception.

    “There are stories in the data that bring home the reality of what these people do,” Bloedow, a software engineer, said in an email. “Any good investigator knows that when you’re dealing with hard-core criminals, if you ‘keep crawling through their garbage’ some evidence of criminality and corruption will turn up.”

    The health department had already given him data for one provider, he said, and was on the verge of turning over more information when Planned Parenthood and other clinics sued, arguing that releasing the records would violate health department rules and privacy laws.

    The legal skirmish, and others like it nationwide, reveal a quiet evolution in the nation’s abortion battle. Increasingly, abortion opponents are pursuing personal and medical information on women undergoing abortions and the doctors who perform them. They often file complaints with authorities based on what they learn.

    Abortion opponents insist their tactics are generally not aimed at identifying women who have abortions but to uncover incidents involving patients who may have been harmed by poor care or underage girls who may have been sexually abused. They say they are trying to prevent situations such as the one involving Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in 2013 of murdering three babies after botched abortions and of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a woman.

    “This is about saving the lives of women,” said Cheryl Sullenger, senior policy adviser for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, which is based in Wichita, Kansas. “A lot of people don’t understand that. It’s a systemic problem within the abortion industry today for abortion providers to cut corners on patient care.”

    But those who support abortion rights say the ultimate aim of these activists is to reduce abortions by intimidating women and their doctors — using the loss of privacy as a weapon. They say their opponents are amassing a wealth of details that could be used to identify patients — turning women, and their doctors, into pariahs or even targets. In a New Mexico case, a woman’s initials and where she lived became public as part of an investigation triggered by a complaint from activists.

    “I don’t think there’s any margin for error here,” said Laura Einstein, chief legal counsel of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands, which challenged Bloedow’s request. “These women came to a private health center to have a private health procedure, and that’s just not anybody’s business.”

    In recent years, abortion opponents have become experts at accessing public records such as recordings of 911 calls, autopsy reports and documents from state health departments and medical boards, then publishing the information on their websites.

  • It’s Quarter To Three: Could it be that I am not alone in my wakeful state?

    By Adrienne G. Cannon

     
    “It’s quarter to three,
    There’s no one in the place
    but just you and me,
    So set ’em’ up Joe
    I got a little story I think 
    you oughta know….”
     
    I can hear it — the melancholy refrain, the quiet lounge music, the click of a wine glass in the dim lighting of a bar. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I were in a romantic place with my thoughts to share with someone else.  But I’m not. I am alone in my own bed; the room is silent and I am wide awake when I shouldn’t be. I try to conjure up calming thoughts that will allow me to fall asleep once again.  Yet what come to mind are imaginary scenes that tell the story of my nighttime restlessness.
     
    I fret as to whether my plans for the next day will resolve themselves satisfactorily. These days it seems there is always a computer problem to solve in the morning.  And then there are frightening reflections on a travel tour that is coming up. How much cash should I carry? Is my passport up to date? Where will I put it when I am in a foreign hotel? Will the weather be good for flying and the plane on time?
     
    A friend makes an appearance as I drift between a drowsy state and full wakefulness. She is vacationing in Lithuania and has learned how to do Lithuanian dances. She gleefully wears a traditional costume while she dances on the beach near her condo.  
     
    The weather is perfect for a walk with my dog on the nature trail. Suddenly an unleashed dog rushes us and tries to bite my little terrier. We run away but there are barriers that prevent us from crossing the stream to hide behind some trees.
     
    I have gone to a music conference and have forgotten to pack my instrument.  Someone loans me one but I can’t play it because it comes from a different instrumental family. My music blows away and I am left with an empty music stand.
     
    Since I am already at home, I can’t have “one for the road” but maybe a cup of tea will soothe me.  I drink it slowly and try to compose my thoughts for the new day.  I glance out of the window and see other windows that are illuminated.  Could it be that I am not alone in my wakeful state? I am cheered by that concept. Insomnia must be universal.  Maybe it serves some purpose.
     
    Perhaps during these mournful nighttime moments I am working out solutions to problems that have eluded me during the day?  Have I thought through all of the steps of taking a long-distance trip when I need foreign currency and have to safe guard important ID papers? I sense that my friend, though far away from her home, is happy enough to dance and display her native culture; the nature path is quite beautiful but I am warned to have a little extra caution about my surroundings; I can pack my instrument and wind clips, in the morning even though it is many days before I have to leave. And then I will have no more worries about remembering all that I need.
     
    I lay down one more time, close my eyes and hope that I will not continue to toss and turn.  I open my eyes one more time . . . and it’s daylight!  I have slept and feel somewhat refreshed and confident that I have figured out some knotty problems . . . though my yawns during this new day will be a bothersome reminder of my troubled night.