Aguas de março

Aguas de março

ÁGUAS DE MARÇO – Tom Jobim – LETRAS.COM

O Pato – João Gilberto – LETRAS.MUS.BR    

What did they write about? : An intellectual history of Timbuktu ca. 1450-1900.

Never forget how primates, armed with chipped

flint cudgels, delight picking off tasty
reproductive organs from inoffensive plants.

Portrait

The most accurate analogue to the current Israeli war on Iran is the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88). The role of the US in this attack  on Iran, on including support for the use of biochemical weapons, was pivotal. 

Once again, the US uses a proxy., not Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, but Netanyahu’s Israel. Except that now the proxy tail is wagging the dog.

We can only hope that Netanyahu will someday share the fate of Saddam Hussein..

I take much pleasure in these palindromes. 

Estas, assim como aquelas compostas pelos palindronistas brasileiros ao redor da Liga Agil , Associaçǎo brasileira dos palindromistas  

To hive off

O X É MEU QUE É EU QUE MEXO

Antho of excerpts from prose pieces

Distraught  Dream

 

 https://alteritas.net/pastis/translations/distraught-dream/

https://alteritas.net/GXL/?p=3502

Alba https://alteritas.net/pastis/inventory/alba/        

Ggl:

A dusty cloud passed over the sun

and laid the mountainside down

to a winter camp

for my beloved

and her lover.

A bridge swayed beneath my feet

but my steps

had no direction.

It was as far over the bridge

as I had come from my childhood.

So death had to be found

somewhere between me and the gray willows

on the opposite bank.

It all lasted less than a minute

but the rest of the world.

DISTRAUGHT DREAM

Me:

A burst of dust obscured the sun,
spilled down the mountain slopes
to the winter lair

of my love
and her lover.

A footbridge swayed under
my steps as I stumbled
on without direction.

Just as far over that span
have I come since childhood,

so death will be met in its place
somewhere between me now       
and those grey willows on the opposite shore.

This all lasted less than an instant
– what remains of being.  

En støvet sky gik for solen
og lagde bjergsiden ned
til et vinterleje
for min elskede
og hendes elsker.

En bro gungrede under mine fødder,
men mine skridt
havde ingen retning.

Der var lige så langt over broen
som jeg var kommet fra min barndom.

 Så døden måtte findes
et sted mellem mig og de grå pile
på den modsatte bred.

     

Det hele varede mindre end et minut
men resten af verden. 

 

https://alteritas.net/pastis/inventory/tethering-for-davo/

https://alteritas.net/GXL/?p=3444

2015

Our official wedding portrait. Thirty-nine years ago. 🔥♥️😸 Tempus fugit cum gaudes / when you’re having fun.

Submit Shinny somewhere

https://alteritas.net/GXL/?p=4537  Un chat parmi 

https://alteritas.net/pastis/plaint-of-a-slovak-poet-1976/

   

At a conference in Budapest in 1976, I fell in with some young Slovak scholars, tentatively, I imagined, in love with one of them. I wrote this poem recapitulating their description of their lives, trapped in Iron Curtain domesticity.

Later, back in Canada, I glued a copy of Sylvia Plath’s latest collection into the covers of Alice in Wonderland and, per instructions of the one who had caught my eye, mailed it to Bratislava.

Never heard back if it made it through the censors

This was the same folks about whom I did up a limerick, which read at the last session of the conference

There once came some Slovaks to Budapest

To sttend a big conference on the Metatext

The lectures were deadly

By we hung on steadily,

And stuck up friendship twist East and West.

Later in the same trip I was in Prague visiting Paul Wilson, an occasional member of the Plastic People of the Universe. 

Occasional poetry 

https://alteritas.net/pastis/inventory/still-life/ 

Collations (2nd edition)

https://alteritas.net/pastis/pushkins-plea/

Danishness : https://alteritas.net/GXL/?p=3502

https://alteritas.net/GXL/?p=3480

Latin lesson of the day.

Sine pecunia tyrannus superare populum Romanum non poterit.

A  tyrant will not be able to overcome the Roman people without money.

  

https://alteritas.net/pastis/translations/the-strangest-of-all/

This deliberately flat anti-metaphysical poem by Alberto Caiero.

https://comofazerumpoema.com/poemas-de-alberto-caeiro-poesia/

I have tried to echo the deliberate flatness in this poem by one of Fernando Pessoa’s heteronyms, Alberto Caiero, whose works are “marked  by rationality and objectivity”. 

Do not be deceived by its ostensible simplicity, which can, in Portuguese, rely on the subjunctive in its last two lines.   

Do animals other than humans get Parkinson’s?

In othrrer wordd, is PD aspecific to oit species?

  

https://alteritas.net/pastis/inventory/dementia/

https://alteritas.net/pastis/translations/a-lamb-of-the-lord/

From today, but forever,

I know: The earth is truly warm-

I give back the sting to the nettle

and the thorns to the hedgehog.

From today, everything is my patron saint

and the whole world a willow cradle

in which the gust of wind rocks us together

and knots our breath.

From now on and forever
I know that Earth is truly warm.
I give its sting back to the nettle,
to the hedgehog its thorn.

From now on, the whole world
is my Protector, a cradle of willow
where breezes rock and lull us

 knitting our breath together.

After Christine Lavant

Seit heute, aber für immer,
weiß ich: Die Erde ist wirklich warm-
ich gebe der Nessel den Brand zurück
und dem Igel die Stacheln.

Seit heute ist alles mein Schutzpatron
und die ganze Welt eine Weidenwiege,
darin uns der Windstoß zusammenschaukelt
und unsren Atem verknotet.

***

Christine Lavant was an Austrian poet whose life was a vale of tears. Fortunately, for us, she discovered poetry after a mentor passed her a volume of Rilke. Christian mystics are these days few and far between, alas. She was one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Lavant

PD research at UCI

 

Clinical Review of Smartphone Applications in Parkinson’s Disease – PubMed

Convention vs. innovation III: The promise of stem cell therapy in Parkinson’s disease remains bright (PSG debate 2024) – PubMed

Convention vs. innovation II: Genetic profiles should be a standard consideration in the assessment for deep brain stimulation candidacy for people with Parkinson’s disease (PSG debate 2024) – PubMed

   

Subtype I, comprised of 60 patients (~58.3%), was characterized by mild symptoms, both motor and non-motor.

< Abstract of  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34535682/

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33545080/    < Stem cells

Freezing of gait in parkinsonian syndromes is a disabling motor block described by patients as having their feet stuck to the floor leading to difficulty in initiation of gait and increased risk for falls. Wearable assistive devices such as Google Glass™ use visual and auditory cueing that may improve gait pattern in patients with freezing of gait. Augmented reality programs using wearable assistive devices are a home-based therapy, with the potential for reinforcing physical therapy techniques 

< https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33216658/          

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37974260/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33463754/

 Current strategies to manage FOG include pharmacological interventions, physiotherapy, brain surgery (including deep brain stimulation/DBS) and cueing.<    https://biomedical-engineering-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12938-023-01167

FoG and Freezing

FoG in PD overload

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144986#sec020  

Subtypes

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/1827554

Goal directed vs habitual control in the BG

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20944662/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/u

It is clear that other neurotransmitters than DA play a role in the pathophysiology of PD (Bohnen et al., 2018; Braak et al., 2004; Delaville et al., 2012; Faggiani and Benazzouz, 2017; Fornai et al., 2007; Pahapill and Lozano, 2000; Politis et al., 2014). Yet, non-DA therapeutic strategies are still difficult to develop (Fox, 2013; Freitas and Fox, 2016). It is likely that the lack of neurocognitive footing in clinical neuroimaging studies does not help for distinguishing the neural mechanisms that rely on DA neurotransmission from those that rely on other systems. We especially think about the noradrenergic system, which might be involved in the functioning of BG-thalamo-cortical loops and executive functions (Albares et al., 2015b; Chamberlain et al., 2009; Faggiani and Benazzouz, 2017; Spay et al., 2018), but also about the serotoninergic (Carli and Invernizzi, 2014; Miguelez et al., 2014) and the cholinergic (Bohnen and Albin, 2011) systems.

https://neurotoolkit.com/updrs/

Criaud and collaborators (2016b) proposed that  akinesia …, an executive function which supports the gating of movement triggering to avoid inappropriate or premature responses in runcertain context (Jahanshahi et al., 2015a; 2015b). According to this view, akinesia could be considered as a de-automation symptom resulting partly from an impairment of the ability to switch from controlled to automatic action (Albares et al., 2015b; Favre et al., 2013; Hikosaka and Isoda, 2010; Isoda and Hikosaka, 2007; Jahanshahi et al., 1995; Jahanshahi et al., 2015a; 2015b; Siegert et al., 2002)

Restoration and targeting of aberrant neurotransmitters in Parkinson’s disease therapeutics

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197018622000523

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abulia

  

 

Parkinson Disease Can Be Viewed in Part as a Failure to Select Sensorimotor Options 

The cardinal symptoms of Parkinson disease are akinesia (difficulties in initiating movement), bradykinesia (initiated movements are slow), and rigidity (stiffness and resistance to passive movement). Tremor is often but not always present. The principal neurological deficit responsible for the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease is thought to be the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurotransmission in the basal ganglia.

 A consequence of this loss of dopamine is increased tonic and oscillatory activity in the recordings from basal ganglia output nuclei. Since the output of the basal ganglia is GABAergic and inhibitory, in Parkinson disease, targeted structures are receiving high and uneven levels of inhibitory input. This condition impairs the normal selective (disinhibitory) function of the basal ganglia; movements are difficult to select and, when possible, are slow to execute. 

Parkinson disease is, however, more nuanced than this. Over much of this progressive condition, the loss of dopaminergic transmission differentially affects the sensorimotor territories of the basal ganglia, leaving the limbic and associative territories comparatively unaffected. As discussed in the section on goal-directed and habitual control, the sensorimotor territories of the basal ganglia play an essential role in selecting habitual actions. Perhaps, therefore, it is not surprising that many of the motor features of Parkinson disease can be interpreted in terms of a loss of automatic habits. While patients can do things, they are trapped in the slower, serial, and voluntary mode of goal-directed control.

  

  

FoG and Freezing

FoG in PD overload

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0144986#sec020  

Subtypes

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/article-abstract/1827554

Goal directed vs habitual control in the BG

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20944662/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/u

It is clear that other neurotransmitters than DA play a role in the pathophysiology of PD (Bohnen et al., 2018; Braak et al., 2004; Delaville et al., 2012; Faggiani and Benazzouz, 2017; Fornai et al., 2007; Pahapill and Lozano, 2000; Politis et al., 2014). Yet, non-DA therapeutic strategies are still difficult to develop (Fox, 2013; Freitas and Fox, 2016). It is likely that the lack of neurocognitive footing in clinical neuroimaging studies does not help for distinguishing the neural mechanisms that rely on DA neurotransmission from those that rely on other systems. We especially think about the noradrenergic system, which might be involved in the functioning of BG-thalamo-cortical loops and executive functions (Albares et al., 2015b; Chamberlain et al., 2009; Faggiani and Benazzouz, 2017; Spay et al., 2018), but also about the serotoninergic (Carli and Invernizzi, 2014; Miguelez et al., 2014) and the cholinergic (Bohnen and Albin, 2011) systems.

https://neurotoolkit.com/updrs/

Criaud and collaborators (2016b) proposed that  akinesia …, an executive function which supports the gating of movement triggering to avoid inappropriate or premature responses in runcertain context (Jahanshahi et al., 2015a; 2015b). According to this view, akinesia could be considered as a de-automation symptom resulting partly from an impairment of the ability to switch from controlled to automatic action (Albares et al., 2015b; Favre et al., 2013; Hikosaka and Isoda, 2010; Isoda and Hikosaka, 2007; Jahanshahi et al., 1995; Jahanshahi et al., 2015a; 2015b; Siegert et al., 2002)

Restoration and targeting of aberrant neurotransmitters in Parkinson’s disease therapeutics

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197018622000523

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abulia

  

 

Parkinson Disease Can Be Viewed in Part as a Failure to Select Sensorimotor Options 

The cardinal symptoms of Parkinson disease are akinesia (difficulties in initiating movement), bradykinesia (initiated movements are slow), and rigidity (stiffness and resistance to passive movement). Tremor is often but not always present. The principal neurological deficit responsible for the motor symptoms of Parkinson disease is thought to be the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurotransmission in the basal ganglia.

 A consequence of this loss of dopamine is increased tonic and oscillatory activity in the recordings from basal ganglia output nuclei. Since the output of the basal ganglia is GABAergic and inhibitory, in Parkinson disease, targeted structures are receiving high and uneven levels of inhibitory input. This condition impairs the normal selective (disinhibitory) function of the basal ganglia; movements are difficult to select and, when possible, are slow to execute. 

Parkinson disease is, however, more nuanced than this. Over much of this progressive condition, the loss of dopaminergic transmission differentially affects the sensorimotor territories of the basal ganglia, leaving the limbic and associative territories comparatively unaffected. As discussed in the section on goal-directed and habitual control, the sensorimotor territories of the basal ganglia play an essential role in selecting habitual actions. Perhaps, therefore, it is not surprising that many of the motor features of Parkinson disease can be interpreted in terms of a loss of automatic habits. While patients can do things, they are trapped in the slower, serial, and voluntary mode of goal-directed control.