Maintain(ence)...
About that spelling (and to think I just wrote about grammar)...but you get the idea. Basically, we're old school, my wife and I, perhaps because we can say that because we're old, despite how we feel (but we're nowhere near as old as Trump or Biden, or even Bibi Netanyahu, if that's what you were wondering). So when those dictionary folk recently came out and said that it was officially okay to end sentences with a preposition (just think of a word being pre-positioned in a a sentence), well I had to wonder what the heck were they thinking of? Here's what linguist John McWhorter opined: Late last month, Merriam-Webster shared the news on Instagram that it’s OK to end a sentence with a preposition. Hats off to them, sincerely. But it is hard to convey how bizarre, to an almost comical degree, such a decree seems in terms of how language actually works. It is rather like announcing that it is now permissible for cats to meow. There has long been a tacit idea that the pox on ending sentences with a preposition is based on some kind of principle — maybe linguistic or maybe aesthetic. Actually, it is based on essentially nothing. Like phlogiston, spontaneous generation and gnomes, the preposition rule started with an idea that felt right in another time but has no logical standing today
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| The original microwave from 1996 |
But enough of that...school's out. And for that matter, so were many of our appliances. Not that we wanted to part with them, since virtually all of them had lasted 25 or 30 years (that old saying "they don't make 'em like they used to"; even our cars are nearing the 15-year mark and still running well). The key, of course, was maintaining them...cleaning the filters, vacuuming off the dust, checking the fluids. When the appliance repair guy looked at our dryer (and later, our washer), he said that everything looked great except...the motherboard. "Don't know if we can even get one for that model these days." So that was that. A new refrigerator (energy-efficient, we were told over and over), a new washer, a new dryer, and now a new microwave (all of this over the course of a year or so, as if they all decided to organize and go on strike together)...now, all that we have left is our KitchenAid dishwasher which is still hanging in there and still cleaning everything with only 12 gallons of water use (which was/is amazing but was especially so 25 years ago). So we obviously try to take care of and save what we have, but then most of the machines of old were pretty basic; my nearly-40-year old Toshiba rice cooker broke once, and it turned out to be a 35-cent resistor that simply clipped onto the bottom line (thanks to an equally-old-time electric repairman who told me to try that; "same as coffee makers," he said, "there's not much to them.") So even a microwave is basically a magnetron and twice we had it replaced and each time it lasted another 10 years or so. I couldn't help but think of Paul Newman's memoir and his 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward, and him basically saying that when a toaster broke in their house they didn't toss it out but tended to take it apart and see if they could fix it; marriage was the same, he quipped. But, as with the washer and dryer, the circuit board on the microwave gave out and that was that...
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| The new arrival... |
Maintaining something, even, or perhaps especially, our mental and physical selves, is probably the key to living a bit longer. Yes, there are pills and other easier ways to avoid the gym, reading that book, or learning another language; but just as with the ease of streaming the news, we have grown far too complacent with the possible side effects of sitting on the couch and popping a pill to counter those saucy buffalo chicken wings (are there any meat on those things?). But what caught my eye is that not only are we consumers tending to ignore those 4-page magazine and TV ads of "possible" side effects --blindness, impotence, boils, liver cancer, brain tumors, swollen tongues, and whatever other draconian symptoms you can dream up-- but apparently so is the government. Regulations on cosmetics and vitamin supplements have never been regulated so it's only recently that (after an investigative article) major cosmetic manufacturers have removed or are considering removing PFAS (those "forever" chemicals) from lipsticks, foundations, and sunscreens (other big culprits of PFAS are pizza boxes and fast food wrappers); said the Environmental Working Group: PFAS can be absorbed through the skin or ingested when used in lip products. Once they enter the body, PFAS bind to blood proteins. As to those supplements, only a few independent organizations (but again, no governmental agency) monitor what vitamins and supplements actually contain. Why no Congressional oversight? Basically the lobbyists are strong and the Congress folk are weak...money talks, which means we, the public, have to learn to watch out for ourselves. Gee, you say, you're in a foul mood today; but here are a few other things that caught my eye and that steered me in this direction...
But first, maybe hold off on that slice of pizza. Wrote National Geographic: Although many ultra-processed foods --soda, candy, energy bars, fruit-flavored yogurt, frozen pizza, and frozen meals-- can satisfy cravings for sweet, fatty, salty foods, emerging research suggests these items are particularly bad for the heart and brain, with mood and cognition taking a hit...Diets high in these foods were linked to a 44 percent greater risk of depression and a 48 percent higher risk of anxiety, according to a meta-analysis published in the journal Nutrients. In one of these studies, risk rose from consuming just 33 percent of calories from ultra-processed food. A separate study from Brazil that tracked 10,775 people found that taking in just 20 percent of calories from these foods was linked to a 28 percent faster rate of cognitive decline compared with people who ate less processed food. Also alarming is a study tracking about half a million people living in England, Scotland, and Wales that found the risk of dementia went up by 25 percent for every 10 percent increase in ultra-processed food...Processed foods can be healthy, it’s the ultra-processed items that are linked to poor health. What’s the difference? Very generally, ultra-processed foods use ingredients not found in a home kitchen...Ultra-processed foods include items such as soda, candy, cookies, cake, energy bars, fruit-flavored yogurt, meal replacement bars and shakes, hotdogs, many types of packaged breads and cereals, and frozen meals. They are often high in fat, sugar and/or sodium and typically enhanced with flavorings, dyes, artificial sweeteners and/or other additives...U.S. adults take in about 57 percent of calories from ultra-processed foods; children and teens a whopping 67 percent, according to the government’s most recent Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is nationally representative.
Okay, why not forget trying to figure out all those supplements and just take a multivitamin? Except, what's in (or isn't in) that multivitamin? Wrote Better Homes & Gardens: ...there's no single formula that defines what can be called "multi"...because there's no official standard to meet for claiming a supplement is natural, that label doesn't mean much...With the "proprietary blend" designation, manufacturers aren't required to list the specific amounts of ratios of ingredients...there are no requirements for an over-the-counter dietary supplement to meet to make a benefit claim. Then came this warning about taking too much of a vitamin or mineral: Excessive amounts of water-soluble vitamins (including the B vitamins and C) are usually flushed out of your body, but they can be toxic at extreme doses. Taking too much of fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D, E, and K) can be especially problematic because these vitamins are stored in the body and can cause organ failure. A few examples: Too much vitamin A can be toxic to the liver and cause vision problems and swelling of the brain. On the mineral front, research shows that too much calcium over time could increase the risk of kidney stones, calcifications in your arteries, and possibly heart attacks. And excess iron can be toxic, leading to liver damage, heart dysfunction, seizures, or other life-threatening complications. When patient Jeanne came into the hospital, all of her functions appeared normal except for her creatinine, wrote science writer Nathaniel Scharping in Discover: Your kidneys sit just below your rib cage, nestled behind the stomach, liver and pancreas, curved like two commas. Their main role is to filter your blood --about half a cup every minute-- removing waste materials and excess fluid to be excreted as urine. Blood runs through structures in the kidney called nephrons, which are divided into two parts, the glomerulus and the tubule. The glomerulus does the filtering, while the tubule sends blood and other crucial material back into the bloodstream. Conditions like diabetes, lupus, and high blood pressure can damage the kidneys over time, reducing their ability to function. Infections, some kinds of cancer, and some medications can also cause a condition called nephritis, or inflammation of the nephrons, that can quickly lead to kidney failure...Jeanne’s tests came back “absolutely clean,” even as her physical condition argued otherwise. Perhaps more worrying, her creatinine numbers were drifting even higher, a clear signal that something was affecting her kidneys. On top of that, her blood was growing steadily more acidic — another kidney warning sign. Jeanne’s kidneys were failing. Unless dialysis was performed to clean the blood toxins that were already accumulating inside her body, a host of cardiac and neurological complications --and even death-- could follow. Jeanne later told the doctor that she had been getting vitamin C injections. Continued the article: Her treatments had been administered by an alternative medicine physician, based on preliminary evidence that megadoses of the vitamin might play a role in treating cancer...Jeanne’s injections were killing her kidneys. Vitamin C is turned into a compound called oxalate in the kidneys as they process it for removal. Oxalate forms sharp-edged crystals, which, in high enough amounts, can accumulate in kidney tubules and block them. Unfortunately for Jeanne, her kidney damage became permanent and she now requires dialysis 3 times a week, all because of that excessive vitamin C.
So why bring all of this up? Partially because even something as HIIT (High Interval Intensive Training) is coming under scrutiny, wrote Bloomberg. And the rise of MIS-C (what??) wrote Discover in another piece: First identified in a cluster of children in the U.K. in the spring of 2020 [the UK is also facing increasing cases of measles*], MIS-C has now impacted kids all over the world. In the U.S., nearly 10,000 children have come down with the disease, more than 20 of whom died as a result. It's been seen in children as young as 1 year-old and as old as 20. But then came this: rising cases of cancer in younger people. Wrote a piece in the Harvard Gazette: More young people, otherwise healthy with no genetic syndromes, are being diagnosed with very advanced stages of gastrointestinal cancers. For men under 50, colorectal cancer is now the leading cause of cancer-related death, surpassing central nervous system tumors as well as lung cancers. In women under 50, it is now the second leading cause of cancer death...This is a global phenomenon. In higher socioeconomic countries, where there are screening programs for colorectal cancer, rates are declining nicely in those over 50. For those under 50, the curve is going the opposite way, mirroring what we are seeing in the U.S. We are now seeing rises in young-onset gastrointestinal cancers in all parts of the world...the steepest rises that we’re seeing in this disease are in the very youngest people, those in their 20s and 30s, and they’re not eligible for screening even with the new guidelines. Added a piece in The Week: Some doctors suspect that people in their 30s and 40s will continue to face elevated cancer rates as they age. And what's the cause, since even a 44-year old lifelong runner who didn't smoke or drink arrived with stage 4 colorectal cancer. Doctors and researchers are baffled...is it diet, stress, lack of oversight, lack of "maintenance"?
Aside from those measles returning, another highly contagious disease appears to be coming back...polio. Here's what Dr. Atul Gawande wrote years ago about the disease in his book, Better: Polio is a disease that strikes children almost exclusively -- more than 80 percent of paralysis cases occur in children under age five. It is caused by an intestinal virus; the virus must be ingested to bring about an infection. Once inside the gut, it passes through the lining and takes up residence in nearby lymph nodes. There it multiplies, produces fevers and stomach upset, and passes back into the feces. Those infected can contaminate their clothing, bathing sites, and supplies of drinking water and thereby spread the disease. (The virus can survive as long as sixty days outside the body.) Polovirus infects only a few kinds of nerve cells, but what it infects it destroys. In the most dreaded cases, the virus spreads from the bloodstream into the neurons of the brain stem, the cells that allow you to breathe and swallow. To stay alive, a person has to be fed through a tube and ventilated by a machine. The nerve cells most commonly attacked, though, are the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord, which control the arms, the legs, and the abdominal muscles. Often, so many neurons are destroyed that muscle function is eliminated altogether. Tendon reflexes disappear. Limbs hang limp and useless.
What's up with rising cancer rates and returning diseases, ones we thought we had eliminated three decades ago? Perhaps maintaining our system of getting information out and educating people is broken. Indeed, recent stats from The Economist show that the actual rate of deaths from Covid could be closer to 30 million, writing: Covid’s confirmed death toll --more than seven million people worldwide-- is horrific on its own, and the true toll is much worse...The global total is approaching 30 million. This number includes both confirmed Covid deaths and undiagnosed ones, which have been common in poorer countries. It includes deaths caused by pandemic disruptions, such as missed doctor appointments that might have prevented other diseases. And as to convincing people to get a vaccination? Recent data from Kaiser shows that fully a third of certain groups have never gotten a Covid vaccination. So if it is that difficult to convince (or un-convince) people to get vaccinated (since similar disinformation made its way across the world and across economic barriers, is it any wonder that hookworm, once prevalent in the South, still infects 470 million people worldwide, with malaria still affecting nearly 250 million people worldwide). But then there's smallpox, which has killed an estimated 300 million people since 1900; it is now considered eradicated (the last recognized case was in 1977). The credit for this was a massive vaccination drive, something the world tried to duplicate with polio. Wrote Atul Gawande on the effort this takes, in this case for polio and covering 50,000 square miles in India: Working around the summer holidays and festivals, government officials selected July 27 for the start of the first immunization round. The second round would follow a month later...The Indian government would have to recruit and organize teams of medical workers and volunteers,,,They would have to be trained in how to administer the vaccine and provided with transportation, vaccine, and insulated coolers and ice packs to keep the vaccine cold. And they would have to fan out and vaccinate every child under five years of age. Anything less than 90 percent coverage of the target population --the percentage needed to shut down transmission-- would be considered a failure...The plan, he said, [he being the chief operations officer for WHO] was to employ thirty-seven thousand vaccinators and four thousand health care supervisors, rent two thousand vehicles, supply more than eighteen thousand insulated vaccine carriers, and have the workers go door to door to vaccinate 4.2 million children. In three days. The eradication of small pox was no small feat. And polio was no different. But now with vaccinations in decline, and long-frozen diseases in permafrost now about to rear their heads as the land thaws, such diseases are expected to reappear...especially those highly contagious ones such as measles.*
So what to do? Everyone has their own reasons for taking or not taking vaccinations, or allowing or not allowing their children to do the same. But then, at what point does it become a threat to the general population, or to hospitals, when treatment is needed? And can/should the government step in, even if it is to educate (or to prevent misinformation)? Just as the benefit of taking vitamin D and the supplement magnesium together apparently works better than separately (wrote Discover), perhaps the same could be true for us...humans and animals, governments and opposing parties. And then there's the side not even discussed here which is that of maintaining our mental health, the link from our gut's microbiome to our brains, an area only now being studied and accepted as real. There's is so much left to explore but it does seem that when it comes to helping our bodies maintain themselves, our bodies are trying; and often just acknowledging that can be easier than we think. But this was summed up in a much better fashion in the prologue to the book We (to be featured in another post): At some point in our lives, most of us feel the gentle calling of our soul. Sometimes it's so quiet we can barely hear it:a soft tapping, no louder than a leaf falling from a tree. We may imagine we didn't hear it. Or perhaps it is louder and takes the form of a persistent ache; a nagging sense that there is something missing. "Is this it?" we wonder when we wake in the dead of night or find ourselves caught on the treadmill of our daily grind. It may be a hint of loneliness that endures even in the company of friends. Or a sense of injustice and a desire to change things that feels urgent and necessary, but also hopeless before it even begins. Perhaps our heart tells us there is a better way of living; that we need tp stop ignoring what really matters --the suffering of others and our planet's future-- but our head insists we're naïve and tells us to knuckle down and get on with our lives as they are. For others, the call may take the form of a crisis: a breakup or a breakdown, a betrayal or a loss. Or perhaps it's addiction, depression, or another serious illness. However it comes, it is an invitation to take a journey. You may resist. Many of us have resisted it for years, even decades. Ultimately, it's your choice. But it will wait for you patiently, tapping daily or every so often in small and big ways to remind you that, in truth, you can't avoid it if you truly want to live a meaningful life...
*It's not only the U.K. seeing measles, but also the U.S. Here's what Bloomberg recently wrote: Measles was considered to be eliminated from the US in the year 2000. But in 2019, there were more than 1,200 cases, the biggest reported case load since 1992. It’s an extremely contagious virus. If one person has it, says Wallace, as many as 9 out of 10 people around them will wind up infected if they aren’t vaccinated. That’s why containing the spread of measles requires a very high vaccination rate, about 95%. Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at University of Illinois Chicago, added that: ...adults are sufficiently protected from the measles if one of these four things applies to you: --You had measles at some point in your life. --You were born before 1957. --You’ve had two doses of a measles-containing vaccine if you spend time in a high-risk setting for transmission, like schools or hospitals. --You’ve had one dose of a vaccine if you don’t spend time in high-risk settings. Kids and teens need one or two doses for protection depending on their age. STAT reported that what's worrisome if that certain states such as Florida may having more measles cases than are being reported...
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