Alzheimer’s Cure?

A friend who knows that my husband has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, sent me a link

to a website that had information on incorporating coconut oil in his diet to improve his condition.  I was just ‘blown away’ by what I read and viewed on video clips about this miraculous ‘cure’. If the coconut oil is started before the dementia is advanced, it can usually reverse the process and restore the person’s memory, energy and personality.

Like most people, for a long time I avoided anything to do with coconuts because there was so much talk some years ago about how it raised cholesterol levels and caused heard disease. That happened to be a case of a little knowledge being a bad thing. With more detailed research we now know that there are two kinds of ‘cholesterol’ – bad LDL and good HDL – and that coconut oil increases the level of the good HDL to the extent it tends to clear out the bad plaque blockages in your arteries.

It has been known for some time that Alzheimer’s disease is associated with the amyloid protein in the brain but the way it operates to cause Alzheimer’s was a mystery. Now studies show that the real cause is that the brain becomes resistant to the absorption of blood sugar. That means the brain cells die of starvation unless they have a source of a type of compound called ‘ketones’ that the brain cells can use as ‘food’ instead.  Ketones are scarce in the blood stream because to make them, the liver needs ‘medium chain triglerides’ [MCT] that are found in coconut oil. Unfortunately, the oil can provide only relatively low levels of ketones and, since the beneficial effect of ketones is directly related to the amount available in the blood, much better sources are been studied by Dr. Richard Veech. Hopefully a ketone ester will eventually be available in capsule form, and it would be a much easier way to ingest it for those who find it difficult to eat enough coconut oil.

In doing the research before writing this post, I found a lot of other good news about coconut oil and ketones. They can also greatly benefit those with other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease, ALS [Lou Gehrig’s disease], epilepsy, dementia, schizophrenia, autism, etc.  It also helps those with sluggish metabolism because of hypothyroid problems and that results in weight loss of excess fat.

I found out that for those who are candidates for Alzheimer’s disease, the process of brain cell starvation actually starts 10-20 years before there are actual symptoms so its use especially as a cooking oil is a good plan especially if there is a history of demensia in your family.  A word of warning, check the label and be sure to get non hydrogenated, virgin coconut oil.   Rie

Moon Phases

In Canada we still celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday on the 24^th of May and, since it is adjusted to fall on the closest Monday to give us a long weekend, it is a public holiday tomorrow. Traditionally, this  is the day we plant our seedlings in the garden because it is so rare that we get a frost this late in May.  However, I checked using Google just the same to see the phase of the moon because I, like most people, believed that the nights with full moon are coldest and most likely to be frosty. To my surprise, I found that my firmly held conviction has no basis in fact and that the moon actually has no power to effect the weather at all!  It turns out to be one of those human quirks we have, where we clearly remember the times something that’s predicted does happen and easily forget the times it doesn’t.  It’s called ‘conformational bias’.

Like most people, until recently I couldn’t have explained why the moon waxes and wanes through monthly cycles until I found a video of a classroom demonstration and a diagram like the one on the right. To make sense of the diagram, you have to take into consideration that: 

1.We are looking down on one of the poles of the Earth in the centre as it is turning on its axis so in one 24 hour period we experience both day and night.  

2. The sunshine, coming in from the right hand side in the picture, shines only on one side of the moon all the time because the moon doesn't turn on it’s axis and 

3. the moon circles around the earth in roughly a month [29.53 days]. 

The diagram shows 8 positions of the moon represented by the circle of smaller moons all with just one face lit by sun.   

To understand why the moon is full once a month, start on the left hand side of the diagram and you see the larger outside picture of the moon is totally lit by the sun coming in from the right. The dotted line from Earth pointing to the full moon shows its position when it is directly overhead once a month. Now, going counter clockwise around the circle, the next dotted line with the small bracket at the end shows our view of the moon in that new position [the picture of the larger moon outside the circle is what we see].  Following the dotted lines around, when we come to the one pointing directly to the right, we can’t see any moon at all in that position because the sunlit side is away from us. The Earth is also shown sunlit on the right but remember it is turning on its axis and night will soon come – but still with no moon in sight. Three or 4 days later the dotted line gives our view where we see only a partly lit crescent moon and so on.

If you’re still having trouble visualize all the motions of the sun shining on the moon,  the moon moving around the earth and the earth rotating, it should be easier to envision if you click on this video.
 

As astronomers say when they sign off - Clear Skies!    Rie

Troglodyte Dwellings

I first heard the term ‘troglodyte’ used when we toured Tunisia in 2006 and read about troglodyte houses that had been discovered in the Sahara Desert. When I looked it up I found one of the definitions for ‘troglodyte’ was a member of a race that lived in caves or holes. [It’s also not a flattering name for an out-of-date person, sometimes including someone who is computer illiterate!]

Most troglodyte homes in Tunisia were discovered in a place called Matmata. It was not generally known until fairly recently that there were regular settlements in that area of the Sahara Desert that was thought to be just the territory of wandering nomadic desert tribes of Berbers. It turns out most Berbers built their dwellings by digging large pits about 15 or 20 feet deep and then carving out rooms in the walls. To enter, you have to walk down a narrow passageway that can be blocked off for safety sake in case of an attack by pillagers or any unwanted enemy. The open courtyard of a pit house is comfortably cool since hot air rises and the ground temperature is much cooler at that level than at the surface, which made living in the very hot desert amazingly comfortable. Some families are so large they occupy two or three smaller pits joined by trenches or passageways.  

The terrain and houses are so unique around Matmata that it was chosen as the base for making two episodes of the movie ‘Star Wars’ and also ‘The Raiders of the Lost Ark’ movie.  Click on the video and it takes you on a tour of one of the larger pit houses that was used in Star Wars movies. 

Open pit houses obviously can only work because there is very little rainfall in the desert but there were many other homes we saw that were dug into the side of a hill. Often there was an opening with no door and if the inhabitants were home, they appeared to be quite used to curious tourists like us visiting.

The most amazing 'troglodyte' complexes we have ever visited were in the Cappadocia area of Turkey where solidified volcanic ash makes for relatively easy digging. Over the centuries, perhaps since the Bronze Age, dozens of underground cities that can be as many as 8 stories down have been dug in the region. The reason for the extrordinaty effort it must have taken create these huge complexes was likely so inhabitants could block off entrances to survive the many invasions of their country especially after the fall of the Roman Empire. As seen in the picture above, they have large vent holes that are open from above ground wells and end conveniently in the underground water table.  Interconnecting passageways formed a huge network to many other subterranean cities and at one time the whole complex could hold tens of thousands of people with animals and provisions.

With global warming already making summers unbearably hot for some, especially in poorer undeveloped parts of the world, it is entirely possible future generations will have to resort to some form of troglodyte dwellings where they can escape from the heat. I have had a comfortable room built in the basement of our house to escape to. I find even during our Canadian summers we can get a few unbearably-hot-for-me days.  Rie  

Adrenalin Kick

‘Honesty is the best policy’ Anon

I heard a story this week about a medical doctor who, out of curiosity, took a lie detector test and discovered when he looked at the printout that it had many unstable places with spiking that indicated he had lied.Puzzled, since he knew he had been totally truthful, he checked the oral recording of the questions and his answers against the results and realized that each time he had made a wisecrack he must have had an adrenalin rush to which the machine reacted.Since it was a lifelong habit of his to make witticisms at every opportunity, he realized he must be addicted to the adrenalin kicks he was getting every time.

Polygraphs or ‘lie detectors’ of one sort of another have been around since the turn of the 20^th century and are used in many countries as an aid to groups such as law enforcement agencies and employment organizations. To eliminate the problem posed by our doctor friend, only yes or no answers are demanded of the person being tested.

The test is based on the theory that when a person lies, they involuntarily release certain hormones like adrenaline from an area deep in their brain. These hormones cause the famous ‘fight or flight’ reaction that makes their heart beat faster, increases their blood pressure and breathing rate and causes them to sweat. Getting all hooked up to take the test, I think would tend to make anyone anxious and for that reason, the examiner usually poses innocuous test questions and the results are checked over with a person to be tested to create a relaxed atmosphere.  To further reassure them, the person taking the test is also made familiar ahead of time with all the questions to be asked.

I was surprised when I looked up polygraph testing on the Internet to find a number of prominent sites that can teach you how to cheat the machine and pass the tests even if you are guilty.  Since they are now no longer believed to be infallible, in most places lie detector test results are not permissible as evidence in courts. This is most unfortunate since innocent people are sometimes jailed and criminals freed because of the ease with which lies can be told in court.

Fortunately, it is possible that modern science could be coming to the rescue. As with the important forensic successes now possible using reliable DNA identification tests, 21^st century neuroscientist are working toward an infallible lie detection test. Apparently two companies are doing research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines to do brain imaging to detect deception under controlled laboratory conditions.  The new ability that this machine provides to analyse what is happening inside someone’s head when they are actually telling a lie, presents serious ethical questions that will have to be sorted out in the courts before they could be used. Let us hope that in the future the threat of using these new methods will be enough to deter witnesses from lying when on the stand in court.   Rie

Oro verde

Travel can be unexpectedly educational and our trip to Costa Rica in 1992 is a case in point. We knew little about the country and so on arrival, as we often did, we went to the National Tourist Bureau in San Jose for information.  When we learned there was a tour called ‘Oro Verde’ [Green Gold] that could be taken into the one of the National Parks in the northeast bordering on the San Juan River and Nicaragua, we were keen to sign up – see map on the left.

The tour was run by Germans and, in spite of the fact they needed a break after taking care of a large group of Europeans, we persuaded them to take the two of us with them when they went back to regroup. Our first stop was at a depot camp where they had an office and kept supplies.  While we waited, we explored the grounds and were surprised to discover the rusting hull of a fairly large vessel.

Our curiosity was assuaged on the last lap of our journey into the jungle to the camp on the south bank of the San Juan River. We learned that during the California gold rush of 1849, Cornelius Vanderbilt established a cheap, reliable way for prospectors on the east coast to travel to the gold fields of California by traveling up the San Juan River in steamboats, sailing across Lake Nicaragua and then being transported overland by stagecoach to a waiting ship that took them up the Pacific coast to San Francisco. Once established, the route could handle 2,000 passengers a month at a fare of $300. Comparing this sea route to the long hazardous overland trip across the continent in covered wagons, it is no wonder that business was brisk and made Vanderbilt a 'pretty penny'.  I have since learned that this route linking the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans once vied with Panama as a choice for the great Canal.

We arrived at the camp at sundown, mixed with the workers and guides as we ate an evening meal, and eventually were bedded down under mosquito nets. At dawn we were awakened by the incredibly loud roar of howler monkeys  and, not having been forewarned, we could have been terrified but for our sturdy cabin and the stirrings of our hosts.

We spent an interesting and happy few days at the camp - every morning watching as a boat on the river stoped at each small wharf to pick up children. They were being ferried to school that was compulsory for all even in this northern wilderness. Sometimes we had a guide who spoke English and on our first walk with him, he showed us a huge tree that was an example of others like it that the Germans had bought to prevent it from being cut down for timber. As we tramped around in the dense forest and he pointed out tiny red frogs and other creatures and plants strange to us. It was an unforgettable experience and we decided in the end that the ecotourism we enjoyed was aptly named ‘Oro Verde’.   Rie 

Gyroscopic Effect

Our neighbor’s child who must be just 4 or 5 years old, has a small two-wheeled bike and I was watching today as his father was helping him learn to ride it.  His dad must be aware of the gyroscopic effect  because if you click on the video it shows how he got his boy moving fast enough so the bike wheels were like gyroscopes and had a strong tendency not to tip over.  The gyroscopic effect is somehow peculiarly non intuitive, perhaps because we don’t play with spinning wheels ordinarily and so we’re not used to the fact that any spinning disk tends to continues to spin in the plane in which it is spun and it takes considerable energy to move it out of that plane.

A really neat way gyroscopes are used nowadays is in Segways. They have gyroscopes spinning in their wheels that keep them vertical when you ride one and also the gyroscopes are involved in steering.  Riding a Segway feels like nothing you've ever experienced.  As the video shows,    to increase your speed, you just push the handles forward and then pull back to stop or go backwards.  To turn left or right you use the handlebars like a bike.

It was in the late 1920s that gyroscopes were used to control a ship's roll, first for warships and then in passenger liners. As you’d expect, the heavier the disc is and the faster it is moving, the harder it is to tip it over so gyroscopes on ships weigh tons and they are kept spinning with motors.

In airplanes and helicopters, besides the fact that gyroscopes give them stability, they are essential because, if there is poor or no good view of the ground, the pilot depends on the horizontal position that the gyroscope maintains to tell whether the plane is climbing, diving, or banked left or right. 

Gyroscopes are also tremendously important now for world communication systems because they can keep stationary satellites oriented precisely in a specific direction so they can receive signals from a transmitting station on Earth and then redirect it to a receiving station in another part of the globe. Some of the more than 3,000 satellites now in orbit handle all long distance calls on cell phones as well the important Global Positioning System [GPS] so much counted on now to direct travelers to their destinations.  

The famous Hubble telescope that orbits the Earth, often must use very long exposure times to capture the spectacular pictures of galaxies in deep space. That means it has to be extremely stable to keep the telescope precisely pointed for extended periods of time and, for that reason, there are 6 of the best kind of gyroscopes in the world on board to do the job.  As you can see from the picture of the telescope, it has solar panels that supply the electricity that is needed to keep the heavy gyroscopes spinning very fast.

I find it fascinating that simple spinning discs are used to make so many useful and important systems possible and I hope you do too!   Rie 

Mirror Therapy

This has been a difficult week. My younger sister, who lives too far away for me to visit easily - has had a stroke and is in hospital recovering. Her left side has been affected and particularly the use of her left arm and hand. This blogpost is for her and others like her in that it describes a type of therapy that often is able to help patients in similar situations to recover even if their condition is complete paralysis and has not been treated for years.

The picture on the left above shows the patient in the centre who has two therapists working with her. The patient’s view is shown in the picture on the right. She is instructed to look only at the reflection in the mirror that looks exactly like her affected limb – especially if any rings or a watch has been removed. If she does simple exercises with her good hand while attempting to do the same thing with her affected hand behind the mirror, neural pathways in the brain seem to be stimulated into helping the affected hand actually learn the same simple movements. The technique requires daily repetitions over weeks or even months but in many cases, studies show that it helps patients regain use of the affected limb.

If you click on the video link, you will see Doug, a stroke victim who actually has paralysis of his left arm and hand, learn how a mirror box may actually be starting to help him probably after many months of disuse. Another patient remarked that, “all my other methods of therapy exercise my muscles, the mirror is the only one which exercises my brain and nerves”. The box Doug uses may be purchased on line but you can easily make one using a cardboard carton and taping a mirror to one face of it as shown in the picture on the left. A mirror tile can be used for the purpose and may usually be bought at a hardware store – it is important that it is a good mirror and does not have any distortions

Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, a pioneer in the study of the brain, was the originator of the use of mirrors to help patients not only with paralysis caused by stroke but also those who had phantom pain in amputated limbs, arthritis in only one hand, carpel tunnel pain or complex regional pain syndrome [CRPS].

We are all right or left handed and I’ve read that learning to be ambidextrous increases neural circuits that connect the right and left hemispheres of the brain and can be helpful in many ways from increasing sports skills to playing music. I’ve been thinking of trying out a mirror box myself and out of curiosity to try to stimulate my brain to make it easier to learn to use my left hand.     Rie