Elderly & Coronavirus: Nursing Homes Increase Guest Symptom, Travel And Exposure Reviews

From a Harvard Gazette online article (March 10, 2020):

Harvard Gazette Elderly Coronavirus Risk Article March 10 2020There’s a symptom review, there’s a travel review, and there’s an exposure review. And if the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you’re asked to not come in. And so far people have been compliant and have left. So that is a good thing.

If you have a cough and a fever, if you’ve got respiratory symptoms and you’re short of breath, if you’ve traveled to a place of concern or if you may have been exposed to someone who did — especially if you’re symptomatic — then I would definitely ask, “Do I really need to visit my grandma today? Can I wait and can I Skype her? Can I do FaceTime?”

I know that’s hard for some of our older adults who aren’t technologically savvy, but maybe now is the time to get them hooked up. It really would be heartbreaking if, in wanting to do something positive for someone’s emotional or mental health, you ended up infecting them.

Harvard-affiliated Hebrew SeniorLife offers a continuum of care for 3,000 elderly people daily, with a range of services including residential assisted living, short-term rehabilitation, outpatient services, and long-term care for those with chronic illness. In a Q&A interview aimed at understanding the challenges involved, Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor Helen Chen, Hebrew SeniorLife’s chief medical officer, discussed steps the facility has taken to combat the virus and the outlook going forward.

Read full article

Political News: Joe Biden Wins Michigan Primary On March 10 (The Telegraph)

Joe Biden won Michigan’s Democratic primary on Tuesday, extending his lead over main rival Senator Bernie Sanders. Michigan is a key general election battleground, and one which Sanders narrowly won in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

In 2020, the state emerged as a battleground for black and white blue-collar voters as well as suburban moderates. The Democratic contest has effectively become a two-horse race between Biden and Sanders The former vice president’s victory in Michigan, as well as Missouri and Mississippi, dealt a serious blow to Sanders, who is urgently seeking to jump-start his flagging campaign.

New Wine Books: “The 100 Burgundy” – Building A “Dream Cellar” (Assouline)

The 100 Burgundy Jeannie Cho Lee AssoulineAn exceptional Burgundy is not only well crafted and well balanced, it also must have essential qualities reflecting its own terroir as well as those unique to the particular vintage, distilling the very essence of the vine itself and the earth from which it springs.

Essential reading for all fine wine aficionados, whether curating a dream cellar or selecting the best Burgundy wines to experience with friends and family, The 100 Burgundy: offers a fresh perspective by a dedicated professional who visits the region regularly and recognizes the best it has to offer.

For wine enthusiasts discovering Burgundy—and those already smitten with the region’s seductive wines—The 100 Burgundy: is the first guide of its kind to the region’s best wines and makers, detailing the domaines and highlighting each chosen wine with tasting notes. Considering factors such as a wine’s quality, its ability to evolve and improve over time, and its ability to evoke emotion, Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee invites readers to explore 100 memorable Burgundy wines of the Côte d’Or, from benchmark domaines to rising stars.

The 100 Burgundy Exceptional Wines to Build a Dream Cellar Jeannie Cho Lee Assouline 2020

With a foreword by Lalou Bize-Leroy, owner of Domaine Leroy and co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, this enlightening volume is a journey through the countryside of Burgundy, capturing the context, people, and history that inspire the creation of these masterful wines.

Jeannie Cho Lee is the first Asian Master of Wine (MW), an award-winning author, wine critic, judge, and educator. Currently a professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where she helped launch the Master of Science program in International Wine Management, she is also a consultant for Singapore Airlines since 2009.

Read more or purchase

Top New Home Designs: “Laurel Hills Residence” By Assembledge+ Architects

Composed of three pavilions connected by a series of glass hallways, the single-story residence seeks to create a residential oasis in the heart of Los Angeles.

Laurel Hills Residence Assembledge+ ArchitectsThe Western Red Cedar lined guest house/garage pavilion establishes a datum line that carves and connects the two larger volumes of the living and sleeping pavilions, comprised of oversized charcoal-colored board, batten extira and cement board siding. A deep overhang mitigates solar heat gain and shields from the sun exposure.

A walkway of concrete pavers, lined by wild grasses leads to the front door, passing a tranquil courtyard with olive trees. The entry to the house is located within a glass hallway connecting the living pavilion to the west and the sleeping pavilion to the east, establishing a sense of intimate scale before engaging with the other parts of the house.

Assembledge+ Architects logo

The fluidity between the kitchen, breakfast room and family room, designed for uninterrupted entertainment, creates a harmony of transparency and lightness.

Website

Health Studies: “Spirulina” Improves Cardiovascular (CVD) Risk Factors, Aids In Weight Loss (BMJ)

From a BMJ Open Heart online study (March 8, 2020):

BMJ Open Heart JournalOverall, the evidence in the literature suggests that spirulina improves several well-established CVD risk factors including hyperlipidaemia and seems to provide benefits around weight loss. 

Although caloric restriction and exercise are the mainstay treatments for obesity, spirulina has shown significant benefits in aiding weight loss. The phycocyanin in spirulina contains a light-harvesting chromophore called phycocyanobilin, which is capable of inhibiting nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH) oxidase, a significant source of oxidative stress in adipocytes playing a key role in inducing insulin resistance and shifting adipokine and cytokine production in hypertrophied adipocytes. Thus, by suppressing adipocyte oxidative stress, spirulina may lead to systemic anti-inflammatory and insulin-sensitising effects.

BMJ Open Heart Journal Study of Spirulina Health benefits March 2020

Spirulina is both a salt and fresh water blue-green algae, which is being increasingly studied recently. Spirulina was initially classified under the plant kingdom due to its rich plant pigments and its ability to photosynthesize, but was later placed into bacterial kingdom (cyanobacteria) due to its genetic, physiological and biochemical makeup. Spirulina grows naturally in high salt alkaline water reservoirs in subtropical and tropical areas of America, Mexico, Asia and Central Africa.

Read full study

Medicine Lectures: 2019 Nobel Laureates Sir Peter Ratcliffe And Professor William Kaelin (Oxford)

Sir Peter and Prof. Kaelin were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine last year by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, in recognition of their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability, an essential adaptive process central to many significant diseases. The professors respectively work for the University of Oxford and Harvard University, and shared the Nobel Prize with Prof. Gregg Semenza, a fellow researcher.

“Politics Monday”: Tamara Keith And Amy Walter On Coronavirus Outbreak, Michigan Primary (PBS)

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report join Lisa Desjardins to discuss the latest political news, including how the 2020 Democratic presidential primary has changed since Super Tuesday, why Michigan is such an important state for former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders given its 2016 history and the politics of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Tributes: Swedish-Born French Actor Max Von Sydow Dies At 90 – “The Exorcist” & “Star Wars”

From a Deadline online article (March 9, 2020):

Max Von Sydow The ExorcistBorn in Lund, Sweden, von Sydow studied at Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre before getting his start in the film business through his work with mentor Ingmar Bergman. The pair’s credits included world cinema classic The Seventh Seal, in which he portrays a man who plays a chess game with Death, the Oscar-nominated Wild Strawberries, and the Oscar-winning The Virgin Spring.

Max von Sydow, the Sweden-born French actor whose credits included Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, and the role of Emperor Ming in Flash Gordon, has died at the age of 90.

The actor’s 65-year career spanned acclaimed arthouse, Hollywood blockbusters, and television. In recent years, he played Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Three-Eyed Raven in Game Of Thrones, and voiced a character on The Simpsons.

Read more