Hard Luck and Trouble

Never Sold a Painting in his Lifetime

Vincent van Gogh:

 "I'd like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart"

How a genius feels:

 "I'm a nonentity, an eccentric, an unpleasant person"


March 30th is the birthday of Vincent van Gogh, born in Holland in 1853, a famous painter and also great letter-writer.

His letters were lively, engaging, and passionate; they also frequently reflect his struggles with bipolar disorder.

He wrote:  

"What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

He wrote thousands of letters to his brother Theo over the course of his life. 

Theo's widow published the van Gogh's letters to her husband in 1913.

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.

            - Plato Greek author and  philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)  

Image source: Vincent van Gogh's 1890 painting At Eternity's Gate. Wikipedia, public domain.

Gummed-up memory: chewing gum impairs... [Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

  1

Gummed-up memory: chewing gum impairs short-term recall.

Kozlov MD, Hughes RW, Jones DM.

Source

School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK. michail.d.kozlov@gmail.com

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that short-term memory is generally improved by chewing gum. However, we report the first studies to show that chewing gum impairs short-term memory for both item order and item identity. Experiment 1 showed that chewing gum reduces serial recall of letter lists. Experiment 2 indicated that chewing does not simply disrupt vocal-articulatory planning required for order retention: Chewing equally impairs a matched task that required retention of list item identity. Experiment 3 demonstrated that manual tapping produces a similar pattern of impairment to that of chewing gum. These results clearly qualify the assertion that chewing gum improves short-term memory. They also pose a problem for short-term memory theories asserting that forgetting is based on domain-specific interference given that chewing does not interfere with verbal memory any more than tapping. It is suggested that tapping and chewing reduce the general capacity to process sequences.

PMID:

22150606

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Publication Types, MeSH Terms, Substances, Grant Support

LinkOut - more resources

 LINK:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22150606

Gummed-up memory: chewing gum impairs... [Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2012] - PubMed - NCBI

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory / UCLA Newsroom

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory

Eating more omega-3 fatty acids can offset damage, researchers say

By Elaine Schmidt May 15, 2012

Fernando Gomez-Pinilla

[Correction: Paragraph 5 of this release was changed from an earlier version to reflect that the study focused on fructose generally, not specifically on high-fructose corn syrup; that high-fructose corn syrup is not necessarily "six times sweeter" than cane sugar; and that Americans consume approximately 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per capita annually, not "more than 40 pounds." The researcher's quote in Paragraph 6 has also been changed slightly to avoid the implication that the study focused solely on high-fructose corn syrup.]

Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. 

A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning — and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition.

"Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think," said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. "Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain's ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage."

While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain. 

Sources of fructose in the Western diet include cane sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid sweetener. The syrup is widely added to processed foods, including soft drinks, condiments, applesauce and baby food. The average American consumes roughly 47 pounds of cane sugar and 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We're less concerned about naturally occurring fructose in fruits, which also contain important antioxidants," explained Gomez-Pinilla, who is also a member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center. "We're more concerned about the fructose in high-fructose corn syrup, which is added to manufactured food products as a sweetener and preservative."

Gomez-Pinilla and study co-author Rahul Agrawal, a UCLA visiting postdoctoral fellow from India, studied two groups of rats that each consumed a fructose solution as drinking water for six weeks. The second group also received omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which protects against damage to the synapses — the chemical connections between brain cells that enable memory and learning.

"DHA is essential for synaptic function — brain cells' ability to transmit signals to one another," Gomez-Pinilla said. "This is the mechanism that makes learning and memory possible. Our bodies can't produce enough DHA, so it must be supplemented through our diet."

The animals were fed standard rat chow and trained on a maze twice daily for five days before starting the experimental diet. The UCLA team tested how well the rats were able to navigate the maze, which contained numerous holes but only one exit. The scientists placed visual landmarks in the maze to help the rats learn and remember the way. 

Six weeks later, the researchers tested the rats' ability to recall the route and escape the maze. What they saw surprised them.

"The second group of rats navigated the maze much faster than the rats that did not receive omega-3 fatty acids," Gomez-Pinilla said. "The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity. Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats' ability to think clearly and recall the route they'd learned six weeks earlier."

The DHA-deprived rats also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates synaptic function in the brain. A closer look at the rats' brain tissue suggested that insulin had lost much of its power to influence the brain cells.

"Because insulin can penetrate the blood–brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss," Gomez-Pinilla said. 

He suspects that fructose is the culprit behind the DHA-deficient rats' brain dysfunction. Eating too much fructose could block insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar for the energy required for processing thoughts and emotions. 

"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," he said. "Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

Gomez-Pinilla, a native of Chile and an exercise enthusiast who practices what he preaches, advises people to keep fructose intake to a minimum and swap sugary desserts for fresh berries and Greek yogurt, which he keeps within arm's reach in a small refrigerator in his office. An occasional bar of dark chocolate that hasn't been processed with a lot of extra sweetener is fine too, he said.

Still planning to throw caution to the wind and indulge in a hot-fudge sundae? Then also eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, walnuts and flaxseeds, or take a daily DHA capsule. Gomez-Pinilla recommends one gram of DHA per day.

"Our findings suggest that consuming DHA regularly protects the brain against fructose's harmful effects," said Gomez-Pinilla. "It's like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases." 

The UCLA study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Gomez-Pinilla's lab will next examine the role of diet in recovery from brain trauma.

The UCLA Department of Neurosurgery is committed to providing the most comprehensive patient care through innovative clinical programs in minimally invasive brain and spinal surgery; neuroendoscopy; neuro-oncology for both adult and pediatric brain tumors; cerebrovascular surgery; stereotactic radiosurgery for brain and spinal disorders; surgery for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease; and epilepsy surgery. For 20 consecutive years, the department has been ranked among the top 10 neurosurgery programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. 

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

This is your brain on sugar: UCLA study shows high-fructose diet sabotages learning, memory / UCLA Newsroom

 Link:  http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/this-is-your-brain-on-sugar-ucla-233992.aspx

Would You Like Pesticides With That?

Written by Robin Shreeves

White necatrine and its cross section isolated on a white background
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Every year, the Environmental Working Group releases a Shopper’s Guide. The guide has information on 45 different conventional fruits and vegetables and their pesticide loads. At the top of the list — the produce found to contain the highest amount of pesticides — is the Dirty Dozen. These are the 12 foods that they recommend consumers always purchase in their organic form. Apples are at the top of the 2012 Shopper’s Guide for the second year in a row. The EWG guide is based on the group’s analysis of pesticide residue testing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

At the bottom of the list is the Clean Fifteen, 15 foods that have the lowest pesticide load. If you’re on a limited budget and have to pick and chose your organic produce, EWG recommends that you spend the extra money for the Dirty Dozen in their organic form and buy the Clean Fifteen in their conventional form.

2012 Dirty Dozen
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Sweet bell peppers
4. Peaches
5. Strawberries
6. Imported nectarines
7. Grapes
8. Spinach
9. Lettuce
10. Cucumbers
11. Domestic blueberries
12. Potatoes

2012 Clean Fifteen
1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Cabbage
6. Sweet peas
7. Asparagus
8. Mangoes
9. Eggplant
10. Kiwi
11. Domestic cantaloupe
12. Sweet potatoes
13. Grapefruit
14. Watermelon
15. Mushrooms

Dirty Dozen Plus category
This year EWG has expanded its Dirty Dozen list with a Plus category “to highlight two crops — green beans and leafy greens, meaning, kale and collard greens — that did not meet traditional Dirty Dozen criteria but were commonly contaminated with highly toxic organophosphate insecticides. These insecticides are toxic to the nervous system and have been largely removed from agriculture over the past decade. But they are not banned and still show up on some food crops. For this reason, EWG lists these on the new Dirty Dozen Plus as foods to avoid or to buy organic.”

The EWG Shopper’s Guide has become just that — a guide that many people use to help them make decisions at the grocery store. When you’re at the farm stand or the farmers market and you have the opportunity to direct questions to the people who grow your food, you can ask about the growing methods and make choices based on the information. When you don’t have the ability to ask questions, this guide is helpful.

Inuk man rolling cigaretes ARVIAT NUNAVUT

 

 Source:
File:ARVIAT (NUNAVUT).jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavut

Canadian Medicine: Pesticide punch

Pesticide punch

Wading through the produce aisles

If you think apples don’t taste like they used to, you’re probably right. The Environmental Working Group (http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/) has just updated its list showing pesticide levels in 53 types of produce, and apples – formally No. 4 of their “Dirty Dozen” – now weigh in at No. 1!

Researchers at Purdue University in Lafayette, IN, analyzed 51,000 pesticide residue tests done over 10 years (2000-2009) by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Federal Food and Drug Administration. 98% of the apples tested contained pesticides out of over 700 samples. And most of the fruit and veggies under scrutiny had been washed and peeled, in order to represent more realistic eating conditions.

Others that made the Dirty Dozen were celery, strawberries and peaches – which contained 57 different chemicals – along with greens such as kale, lettuce and hot peppers – treated with as many as 97 pesticides.

If we stick to Canada’s Food Guide we’d consume a minimum of five servings of Mother Nature’s bounty every day. By choosing these from the least contaminated foods we’d ingest less than 2 pesticides. However, picking them from the Dirty Dozen would up our daily pesticide intake to 14 different chemicals – some of which are associated with nervous system disorders, chronic problems including cancer, endocrine system dysfunction, and lower intelligence levels in kids – who may (along with those in the fetal stage) be the most vulnerable to the synthetic residues.

There’s also evidence that the phosphorus-rich fertilizers used in fields have contributed to the toxic blue-green algae blooms in our freshwater lakes, reported to cause vision loss and difficulty walking in some people who’ve been in contact with it, but that’s another story.

When organic produce isn’t readily available -- at the market, or due to budgetary constraints – these lists could be your best shopping companions.
Milena Katz


Canadian Medicine: Pesticide punch


 LINK: http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2011/06/pesticide-punch.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CanadianMedicine+%28Canadian+Medicine%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

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Qsymia: FDA Approves Another New Diet Drug | Healthland | TIME.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Qsymia, the second new diet drug in a month, and the most effective of the weight-loss pills that the agency has considered in recent years.
Qsymia, made by Vivus Inc., receives market approval on the heels of Arena’s Belviq (lorcaserin), the diet pill cleared by the FDA in late June. Before these two new drugs, the last prescription weight-loss pill to be green-lit by the government was Roche’s Xenical (orlistat) 13 years ago, in 1999.
Diet pills have had a spotty history with the FDA, largely because of safety problems involving the heart. Other drugs — most notably fenfluramine, used in the popular weight-loss combination fen-phen — have been withdrawn from the market for such hazards, and new drugs have had to clear a high bar for consideration.
(MORE: A Brief History of Diet Pills and the FDA)
The new pill, formerly known as Qnexa (the FDA asked Vivus to change the name to avoid confusion with another drug on the market), will be available by the fourth quarter of this year, according to the company’s president, Peter Tam. Here’s what you need to know.
Who can use Qsymia?
The drug is approved for obese adults with a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or higher. It can also be used by overweight adults, with a BMI of 27 or higher, if they have at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.
How does it work?
Qsymia is a combination of two existing drugs: phentermine, an appetite-suppressing stimulant that has long been used for short-term weight loss, and topiramate, an anti-seizure medication used to treat epilepsy that makes people feel fuller after eating. Some doctors have already been prescribing the two drugs together for weight loss. Researchers say the key to Qsymia’s success is that it targets multiple brain pathways that trigger overeating.
How much weight will I lose?
It varies. In clinical trials, overweight and obese patients taking Qsymia for a year lost differing amounts of weight: on average, patients taking a middle dose of the drug lost 8.4% of their body weight; on a higher dose, patients lost 10.6%.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/07/18/qsymia-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-diet-pill/#ixzz21aADeW7z

Qsymia: FDA Approves Another New Diet Drug | Healthland | TIME.com

Addicted to coffee? You may be dopamine deficient

Sunday, July 08, 2012 by: PF Louis

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036412_coffee_dopamine_caffeine.html#ixzz20IGt0msy

 (NaturalNews) Many of us depend on an early morning "Jo" to get us on the go. Some of us need refills as the day progresses.

Still others use coffee to get over depression or anxiety, even though caffeine can create more fight or flight hormones and tax our adrenal glands by pumping us with adrenaline. The adrenaline rushes lead to more retention of cortisol, leading to a vicious cycle of more stress and anxiety.

Many of us may have to look into our coffee drinking habits to determine whether to decrease consumption or quit altogether, even with the threat of withdrawal symptoms.

Although caffeine is in some foods and beverages, for example chocolate and tea, the bulk of our caffeine consumption is carried by coffee.

The first thing to consider is whether you can do without. If not, there is some level of addiction. There is a way to ease caffeine withdrawal mentioned later in this article.

How coffee elevates our moods and gets us going

Caffeine is a naturally occurring chemical stimulant called trimethylxanthine. It can be addictive and debilitating as well as helpful, as both Bach and Beethoven, heavy coffee drinkers, would attest.
Caffeine stimulates the brain to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine by occupying the brain's adenosine receptors. Adenosine is what helps us feel like sleeping, but the adenosine receptors don't discriminate between adenosine and caffeine.

Dopamine elevates our moods to make us feel better and stave off depression, which is why there is so much coffee consumption in areas that lack sunshine for extended periods, such as the USA Pacific Northwest and Scandinavia. Dopamine also helps create motivation and contributes toward conscious body motion.

Some research even points to coffee drinkers having fewer problems with depression and Alzheimer's disease than non-coffee drinkers. While feeling better from the dopamine, the caffeine also increases the brain's activity and neuron firing.

This alerts the pituitary gland to release hormones that signal the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline (aka epinephrine) for "fight or flight." The adrenaline rush makes you more alert.

Adrenaline injections are sometimes administered to help overcome extreme breathing problems or cardiac issues. Caffeine can help get over an asthma attack by elevating one's mood, increasing heart rate, and dilating bronchial passages.

Coffee's adverse effects and kicking the habit

But as the adrenaline wears off toward a crash, cortisol slowly builds up. If this cycle is repeated often enough, the cortisol builds up and creates the same effects as chronic stress: Fatigue, anxiety, nervousness, irritability, and lowered immunity.
A recipe for disaster is working a stressful job and drinking lots of coffee to cope with it! Adrenaline rushes can be addictive, just ask any gambler or sports nut.

But it appears dopamine's mood elevation may be the hook that makes it hard to kick caffeine and remove the adrenal stress that causes long term negative health effects.

Sometimes the caffeine from drinking coffee habitually can cause gluten intolerance or Celiac disease. Caffeine is a cross reactive substance, meaning it can create gluten intolerance even though it doesn't contain wheat. Ironically, wheat products usually accompany that cup of Jo.

Many experts consider the caffeine cure for dopamine deficiency the most addictive quality of coffee drinking. Getting off caffeine slowly or cold-turkey can create withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, irritability, mild depression, and mental fogginess.

Nutritional consultant and author of The Body Ecology Diet, Donna Gates, recommends a naturally sourced non-essential amino acid supplement L-Tyrosine to help you kick the caffeine habit effortlessly. It is a natural precursor to the brain's dopamine production and it helps people be alert.

Sources for this article include:

http://thedailylove.com

http://science.howstuffworks.com/caffeine.htm

http://www.vitaminsdiary.com/nutrients/dopamine.html

http://www.gethelpfordepression.info/lowdopamine.aspx

http://cortisol.com/quick-facts/#1

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Demystifying_Depression/The_Stress_System

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036412_coffee_dopamine_caffeine.html#ixzz20IGauT17

LINK: http://www.naturalnews.com/036412_coffee_dopamine_caffeine.html
Addicted to coffee? You may be dopamine deficient

Asia’s 5 Spiciest Cuisines

 

If you have a somewhat normal digestive tract, you may want  to proceed with caution with these spicy cuisines.  At the same time, we all enjoy taste adventures and  John Krich has given us plenty to choose from.  

This article is a comprehensive introduction to Asian food that really makes you perspire.  The cuisine of the Sichuan Province is my favorite and is available in a number of fine restaurants in Vancouver, B.C. where most of my spice-filled adventures have taken place. 

Did you know that the chili had its origins in the Americas?  Always on the hunt for memorable food ideas?  Start here ....

Hot Like Fire: Asia’s 5 Spiciest Cuisines

By John Krich | July 6, 2012 

                                                                              China Photos / Getty Images

 Diners help themselves to a hot-pot dish at a restaurant in Chengdu, in China's Sichuan province

Spicy fare abounds all over Asia. No continent seems to have put the precious plant first bred in the Americas to best and most creative use.  

Indeed, even the places that deserve a mere honorable mention — Malaysia, with its subtle use of padi chilies, or the chutneys and kormas of Andhra Pradesh, India’s spiciest state — would hold their own against anywhere else on earth.

Unlike the chili cook-offs and Tabasco tourneys that seem a fixture of the U.S. summertime barbecue scene, there’s no competition that puts the hottest cuisines of Asia head-to-head.  

Here is one man's attempt to put us in the know:

1. Korean 

Korean is a small nation that nonetheless claims to consume 60% of the world’s red chilies? Anyone who cruises the South Korean countryside in summer can see the evidence, with every village laying out thousands of pods to dry before putting up barrels of kimchi (pickled cabbage) for the winter. So important is this burning staple that numerous academics here are constantly researching, as well as championing, its cancer-fighting effects. And that’s just the beginning, as numerous pepper-dotted veggies and roots and dried sardines always feature in every restaurant’s complimentary spread of small dishes. As for the barbecue, it may seem bland to some — but most Koreans wrap in every lettuce roll a whole raw jalapeño or two, and swaths of burning bean paste, to give the real kick to any poor sliver of charred flesh.

2. Sichuanese

How can any region top the place famed for two types of heat, both the red powder shaken liberally over every tofu and street snack, and the local peppercorns that leave lips numb and offer wonderful aftertaste of salt mixed with anise? Chengdu, one of the first cities in the world selected by UNESCO for its new program to preserve culinary heritage, has to be the world’s No. 1 place of pilgrimage for modern-day fire worshippers. The signature ma po tofu and gung bao chicken are just starters, with even fresh tofu custard and innocently bland wontons, not to mention whole-boiled tortoises, dutifully smothered with burning chili oil.

3. Southern Thai

Naturally, Thailand has to figure high on any world ranking, though its hot stuff is often wisely tempered by sweet sauces or cloaked in bland seas of coconut milk. And a quick nibble in Bangkok can never do justice to the Land of Smiles’ pepper addiction. Travel anywhere up-country, and every small-town inn will do its best to knock diners’ socks off with its “jungle curry.” Mosquito repellent won’t protect you from the results. But Thais and tourists alike know that the farther south one goes, the hotter the curries, soups and dipping sauces get, along with the weather. The nam priks (chili dips) prick more, the pleasant stink of the succulent sataw (a sort of Asian lima bean) is always well disguised by thick beds of pepper, and the region’s famed gaeng som, or “sour orange curry,” can become nearly unsippable in the hands of a true southern chef.

4. Assamese

                                                                                               Manish Swarup / AP

A farmer stands in his field of "bhut jolokia," or "ghost chili," peppers at Changpool in the Indian state of Assam

Assam, in northeast India produces the treasured seeds, of the bhut jolokia, rated by Scoville units and scorched tongues as by far the world’s hottest form of chili. A lot of Assamese fare is as tame as a bowl of noodles. But any place where people chomp on these burners raw, or drop them in pork curries, deserves a high rank on any list.
 

5. Hunanese

                                                                                               Bob Sacha / Corbis

                                  Spices used in the cuisine from China's Hunan province

 The “red-pepper spirit” of China’s inland Hunan province has long been celebrated as giving birth to rebels and revolutionaries like Mao Zedong — and giving a whole new meaning to the term Red Army.

In Beijing now, numerous home-style places cash in on the association and compete with one another to add more and more burned chili pods to their bony chicken dishes. 





Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/06/hot-like-fire-asias-5-spiciest-cuisines/?iid=nf-article-mostpop1#5-hunanese#ixzz204dJjtVE

Asia’s 5 Spiciest Cuisines | NewsFeed | TIME.com

Timothy Bradley vs Manny pacquiao:Vegetarian Diet and training.

Timothy Bradley trained for his successful challenge of Manny Pacquiao on a strict vegetarian diet.