Strictly Political

 

Artistic Black and White Photos

 

Old Woman/ Young Female

Brain Changes in Autism

According to new research, brain changes in autism are comprehensive throughout the cerebral cortex rather than just particular areas thought to affect social behavior and language




UCLA study is the most comprehensive effort ever to study how autism affects the brain at the molecular level.

Brain changes in autism are comprehensive throughout the cerebral cortex, not only confined to particular regions traditionally considered to affect language and social behavior. These are the findings of a new study, led by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which substantially refines scientists’ understanding of how autism spectrum disorder (ASD) progresses at the molecular level.


Published on November 2 in the journal Nature, the study represents a comprehensive effort to characterize ASD at the molecular level. Although neurological disorders like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease have well-defined pathologies, autism and other psychiatric disorders have had a lack of defining pathology. This had made it particularly difficult to develop more effective treatments.


The new study finds brain-wide changes in virtually all of the 11 cortical regions analyzed. This holds true regardless of whether they are higher critical association regions – those involved in functions such as reasoning, language, social cognition, and mental flexibility – or primary sensory regions.

“This work represents the culmination of more than a decade of work of many lab members, which was necessary to perform such a comprehensive analysis of the autism brain,” said study author Dr. Daniel Geschwind, the Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics, Neurology and Psychiatry at UCLA.  READ MORE...

Birds

 

Midterms

 

Artistic Black and White Photos

 

Figure or Vase?

Genetic Mutations Found

A woman developed 12 tumors — seven benign and five cancerous — before her 40th birthday. Medical researchers recently discovered why she's so prone to the abnormal growths: She carries a set of genetic mutations never seen before in humans.

The woman, now 36 years old, carries two mutant copies of a gene called MAD1L1, one from each parent, according to a new report, published Wednesday (Nov. 2) in the journal Science Advances(opens in new tab). The gene codes for a protein called MAD1, which fulfills a crucial role in cell division.

When one cell splits into two, it first duplicates all its DNA and then packages the genetic material into compact structures called chromosomes. The chromosomes then line up neatly along the cell's midline and get yanked in half; that way, when the mother cell splits in two, half of the DNA ends up in each daughter cell. 

The MAD1 protein helps ensure that the chromosomes line up correctly during this process, so all cells end up with the usual 23 pairs of chromosomes, according to UniProt(opens in new tab), a database of protein sequence and functional information.  READ MORE...

Lazy Animal

 

Changing America

The results of the midterms tells most of us if we are listening to THE PEOPLE, that the only concerns that we have right now are focused on:

• ABORTION
• DEMOCRACY...  from a socialistic point of view

It would appear that MOST AMERICANS DON"T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT:

• Illegal Immigration
• Increasing Prices
• Illegal Drugs - Fentanyl
• Inflation
• Non growing economy
• Crime and Violence
• Threats from China, Russia, North Korea

AMERICANS WANT TO KEEP THE 

STATUS QUO...

Happy Days

Making Do

Two eggs, two vege sausages, 1 bell pepper, 4 green onions, 10 mushrooms, 1/4 of instant grits, and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese...   when cooked the way I cook it...  everthing in an omelette then cheese into the grits and the grits poured on top, creating a pie in the round frying pan...  cut into fourths, gives me 4 meals.  The cost to me is well under $10...

If I mix mayo with shredded cheese, then I have non pimento pimento cheese at a much less cost than buying pimento cheese in a grocery store.  Pita bread has 5 pieces of bread inside each package.  Now, I have 5 meals for under $10.

If I cook a cup of dried beans in a pressure pot for 15 minutes, then add a cup of rice, a bell pepper, an onion, a tablespoon of garlic and cut up fresh veges...  all mixed together with chicken broth...   I have 4 meals for under $10 dollars.

So, that is $30 for 4 days of meals and there are an endless amount of variations to all three of these meals for about the same amount of money. A variety of meats can be subsituted for the beans and sandwiches.  And breakfast can just be eggs, pancakes, cereal, oatmeal, etc. for essentially the same price as well.

If we double our $30 to cover a week, it is now $60/week times 52 weeks which is $3,120 annually which is $260 monthly.

What does this mean?

This means that a couple can live relatively inexpensively when it comes to food, with just a little bit of thinking...   

Dried beans are cheaper than canned beans and are healthier for you as well...  however, without a pressure cooker, it takes a long time to cook.

Making pimento cheese is cheaper than buying and not that difficult.

Fresh veges are cheaper than frozen or canned veges, but they require preparation and cooking.

Artistic Black and White Photos

 

Nne Faces

Mars is Alive

Color-coded topographic view shows the relative heights of features in Cerberus Fossae: reds and whites are relatively higher than blues and purples. The image is based on a digital terrain model of the region, from which the topography of the landscape can be derived. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Until now, Mars has generally been considered a geologically dead planet. An international team of scientists now reports that seismic signals indicate vulcanism still plays an active role in shaping the Martian surface.

Ever since the NASA InSight Mission deployed the SEIS seismometer on the surface of Mars in 2018, seismologists and geophysicists at ETH Zurich have been listening to the seismic pings of more than 1,300 marsquakes. 

Again and again, the researchers registered smaller and larger Mars quakes. A detailed analysis of the quakes’ location and spectral character eventually brought a surprise. With epicenters originating in the vicinity of the Cerberus Fossae — a region consisting of a series of rifts or graben — these quakes tell a new story. 

A story that suggests an active role is still played by vulcanism in shaping the Martian surface.

Mars shows signs of geological life
Led by ETH Zurich, an international team of researchers analyzed a cluster of more than 20 recent marsquakes that originated in the Cerberus Fossae graben system. From the seismic data, scientists concluded that the low-frequency quakes indicate a potentially warm source that could be explained by present-day molten lava, i.e., magma at that depth, and volcanic activity on Mars. Specifically, they found that the quakes are located mostly in the innermost part of Cerberus Fossae.  READ MORE...

Best Friends

 

Wishful Thinking

The high temps today will be in the low 70s...  not as cold as up north nor as warm as down in the deep south...

The sun is out and there is a gentle breeze...

My daily walk will start in a few minutes as I give my breakfast a little time to settle...  I try to walk a mile or more each day which takes me over 20 minutes but less than 30 minutes now...  my back surgery was 5 months ago so I am walking a little better but not like I was or want to...

My task today is to work on the basement, looking for stuff we don't need anymore to take to the dump, find stuff that we don't want and can be put in a yard sell, and then rearrange what is left so that it is more conveniently found and labeled...

I work on this task about 60-90 minutes...  not because I get tired or bored with the task, but to stretch it out so that I will have this focus for several days...  it is also healthy to move around and do stuff, especially as we get older...

We are cleaning up our home in the event that we can find an alternative house that has what we want, for a similar price that is also smaller in size with minimal land to maintain...  actually no land would be ideal...  but with that said, we don't want to pay HOA fees...  so, it is doubtful we will find what we want...

Final thought:  our three cats likes the two levels as they can go to the lower level and go outside into an enclosure that is fenced in with chicken wire or they can dart upstairs and go out into the screened in porch and look down on whatever it is that is below them...  it is doubtful they will have that arrangement if we move.

Midterm Election Day

 

I stopped voting sometime between 1990 and 2000 and I cannot remember anything more specific than that in the sense of did I stop cold turkey or gradually.

I do know why I stopped and it is because NOTHING EVER CHANGED regardless of whether a Democratic won or a Republican won...

If nothing changed, why did I need to vote?

My involvement with politics began in the 1960 with John F. Kennedy and the same issues that we had back then, we still have in 2022...  WHY?

We have had plenty of Demcrats in power and plenty of Republicans in power so that these issues could be resolved and yet NOTHING CHANGES...

We still have:

1. Racism
2. Crime and Violence
3. Increasing Drugs
4. Higher Prices
5. Wage Issues
6. Sheltering Income
7. National Debt Increasing
8. Loss of Global Respect
9. Wealthy versus Poor
10. Double Standards
11. Not Caring about Veterans
12. Problems with Education
13. Loss of Morals
14. Loss of Integrity

Again, for the last 50+ years, the problems have not been resolved...  it feels like none of the politicians actually want to solve the problems...

The only things that have changed are  TECHNOLOGY and the VALUE OF THE DOLLAR...

Why don't the Republicans solve our problems?

Why don't the Democrats solve our problems?

I am 75 years old....  born in 1947, so I am not speculating...   I have actually lived in the 1960s and am currently living in the 2000s.

Politics in the USA is PATHETIC...

Perspective

Fifteen years ago, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma and discovered that I had experienced a heart attack while walking on the treadmill.  Ten years ago, I was diagnosed with a second cancer, Melanoma, and the two cancers were treated simultaneously.  Because I had 2 cancers I was not eligible to participate in any clinical trials.

This past year, I underwent surgery to fuse 5 lumbar disks together and have spent the last five months learning how to walk again and walk up a flight of stairs both of which were unanticipated.

At 75 years old, these last 15 years has, needless to say, been interesting.

Sickness after treatment has stopped ever since I switched from chemo to immunotherapies for my two cancers, that I have been told I will have for the rest of my life.

In another 15 years, I will be 90 and I am sure that my physical abilities will be limited, even if I continue to walk a mile each day, which is what I am doing now, except on Sundays.

My perspective on life is no doubt different than your perspectives...   that is not to say that our different perspectives are right or wrong, just different.

I intentionally try to stay away from stressful situations and if I do find myself in one of those situations, then I try to maintain a "I don't give a shit" attitude.

As I write this piece, I am watching FOX News and the whole show is focused on the midterms...  while I am a reformed Democrat but not a full fledged Republican yet I lean in a conservative direction, I really don't care about what happens...

If the lack of gasoline forces my wife and I to purchase an electric car, then we will buy the cheapest car we can and simply stop driving as much...  just where we have to go...  by the time this change actually happens to us, we will be well over the age of 80...  how many places do you think we will want to drive to at that age???  I mean really???

If our economy gets better or worse, it just will not bother us as we will adjust our purchases and our needs...  We will simply survive and BLAME NO ONE...

This is a stress free perspective...