All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

Arts: “2019 International Landscape Photographer Of The Year” Awards

 

2019 International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards

From website: Congratulations to Oleg Ershov, Russian Federation, the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2019!

And to all the other winners and, most importantly, all the Top 101 photographers! It was a huge year and one of the toughest yet – the quality continues to get better and better!

The prize winners are:

  • Oleg Ershov, Russian Federation, the International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2019
  • 光 杨 (Yang Guang), China, The International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2019 – Second Place
  • Blake Randall, Canada, The International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2019 – Third Place

2019 International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2nd Place Awards

2019 International Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards Book
See Photos in Book

 

Heart Health: “Marine Omega-3s” Are “Greatest Protection Against Arrhythmic Events” (BMJ)

From a British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open Heart online article:

BMJ Open Heart Journal February 2020The intake of marine omega-3s has consistently been found to have antiarrhythmic effects. When marine omega-3s are consumed, there is an increase in cellular membrane fluidity, inhibition of L-type calcium channels and a reduction in the chance of arrhythmic events during susceptible times. Prospective data suggest that maintaining an omega-3 index of about 8%, which requires consuming seafood rich in omega-3 up to five times per week or consuming over 3 g of EPA and DHA per day, may provide the greatest protection against arrhythmic events.

Marine omega-3s for the prevention of arrhythmias

Omega-3s have been theorised to increase membrane fluidity by reducing compression of the acyl chains of membrane phospholipid fatty acids, which can lead to a reduction in the ‘spring-like’ tension on membrane ion channels. This spring-like tension can reduce the ability of ions to freely move in and out of the ion channel and hence reduce its conductance. This is known as the ‘Andersen membrane spring-like tension hypothesis’ and is just one way marine omega-3s may prevent arrhythmias.

Dietary omega-3s are mainly consumed as triglycerides, which are absorbed as free fatty acids and monoglycerides. These fats then get rapidly resynthesised in the intestine and liver back to triglycerides with subsequent integration into chylomicrons, very low-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (LDL can actually deliver omega-3s to tissues via LDL receptors).

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Tributes: 90-Year Old Literary Critic & Novelist George Steiner (1929-2020)

From a New Yorker online article (February 5, 2020):

The New Yorker logoHe was the real thing, the last of the great middle-European intellectual journeyers, one with Benjamin and Cioran and the other exiles, for whom books were the one constant country and reading them a matter of life and death. With him gone, we can only reread his writing, determined to honor the intensity of his commitment by intensifying our own.

The word “awesome” is most easily used by adolescents these days, but the range of learning that the critic and novelist George Steiner possessed was awesome in the old-fashioned, grown-up sense: truly, genuinely awe-inspiring. Steiner, who died on Monday, at the age of ninety, knew modern languages, ancient languages, classical literature, and modern literature. He had memorized the rhymes of Racine and he could elucidate the puns in Joyce and he could tell you why both were, in his thorny but not cheaply won view, superior to the prolixities of Shakespeare. He was what many people call a human encyclopedia—not in the American sense, a blank vault of facts, but in the French Enlightenment one: a critical repository of significant knowledge.

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Food & Wine: “Castillo de Cuzcurrita” Winery In La Rioja, Spain (Video)

Monocle 24 Films logoThis Spanish region is home to many large-scale producers, but at Castillo de Cuzcurrita things are done differently. Vintner Ana Martin Onzain unveils how their aged wines – grown and made exclusively in this small village – bring people together.

Castillo de Cuzcurrita Winery In La Rioja Spain winesHISTORY: Little is known of its history of Cuzcurrita prior to the 14th century. On 15 November 1367, King Enrique II of Castile rewarded the Alcalde Mayor of the Hijosdalgo of Castile, Juan Martínez de Rojas by granting him the title of Feudal Lord of Cuzcurrita with all its lands and rights.

In the 16th century, during the reign of Philip II, the 9th Lord of Cuzcurrita, Pedro Velasco, bastard son of Bernardino de Velasco and the wife of Pedro Suárez de Figueroa, established the entailed estate by marrying Marta de Rojas y Osorio, carving his coat of arms over the entrance to the castle.The fortress, which had been erected by the Suárez Figeroa family between the 14th and 15th centuries, remained in the hands of the Velasco-Rojas family until the last century, subsequently passing through various hands until it was bought by the Sáinz de Incháustegui family, Counts of Alacha, in 1947, who went on to restore it and make it their family home.

Within the irregular square floor plan of this fortress stands the keep, one of the most characteristic of its kind in La Rioja due to the harmony of its dimensions and its few arched openings. This square tower rises from right in the middle of the castle with small, rectangular openings.

Website

Tributes: Legendary Actor Kirk Douglas Dies At 103

Kirk Douglas Dies at 103 on February 5, 2020“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103. To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to.

But to me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine, a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband.

Kirk’s life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet.

Let me end with the words I told him on his last birthday and which will always remain true. Dad- I love you so much and I am so proud to be your son.”

Michael Douglas on Instagram, February 5, 2020

 

Top Medical Podcasts: Lung-Cancer Screenings, Placebo Effects (NEJM)

Lung-Cancer Mortality with Volume CT Screening NEJM February 2020Featuring articles on lung-cancer screening in the NELSON trial, ribociclib and fulvestrant in metastatic breast cancer, vitamin D in pregnancy and asthma, treatment thresholds for neonatal hypoglycemia, and CAR-NK cells in anti-CD19 lymphoid tumors; a review article on placebo and nocebo effects; a Clinical Problem-Solving describing a rapid change in pressure; and Perspective articles on altruism in Extremis, on abuses of FDA regulatory procedures, and on joining forces against delirium.

The New England Journal of Medicine logo

Video Profiles: 66-Year Old Author & Director Jan Eliasberg (“Hannah’s War”)

Hannah's War by Jan Eliasberg March 3 2020 releaseA “mesmerizing” re-imagination of the final months of World War II (Kate Quinn, author of The Alice Network), Hannah’s War is an unforgettable love story about an exceptional woman and the dangerous power of her greatest discovery.
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Berlin, 1938.  Groundbreaking physicist Dr. Hannah Weiss is on the verge of the greatest discovery of the 20th century: splitting the atom. She understands that the energy released by her discovery can power entire cities or destroy them. Hannah believes the weapon’s creation will secure an end to future wars, but as a Jewish woman living under the harsh rule of the Third Reich, her research is belittled, overlooked, and eventually stolen by her German colleagues. Faced with an impossible choice, Hannah must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in pursuit of science’s greatest achievement.

New Mexico, 1945. Returning wounded and battered from the liberation of Paris, Major Jack Delaney arrives in the New Mexican desert with a mission: to catch a spy. Someone in the top-secret nuclear lab at Los Alamos has been leaking encoded equations to Hitler’s scientists. Chief among Jack’s suspects is the brilliant and mysterious Hannah Weiss, an exiled physicist lending her talent to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s mission. All signs point to Hannah as the traitor, but over three days of interrogation that separate her lies from the truth, Jack will realize they have more in common than either one bargained for.
Hannah’s War is a thrilling wartime story of loyalty, truth, and the unforeseeable fallout of a single choice.

Intense (VO2peak) Aerobic Exercise Raises Cognition, Alzheimer’s Disease Risks Lowered In Older Adults

From the Brain Plasticity Journal (Dec 26, 2019):

Brain Plasticity Journal 2020In conclusion, increased CRF (cardiorespiratory fitness) following this six-month intervention was associated with enhanced brain glucose metabolism in the PCC (posterior cingulate cortex), a region linked to AD, and cognition among late-middle-aged individuals at risk for AD. If these findings are supported by a larger-scale study, this would provide strong evidence that adults at risk for AD may enhance brain function and cognition by engaging in aerobic exercise training.

PCC glucose metabolism correlated positively with change in VO2peak (the highest value of VO2 attained upon an incremental or other high-intensity exercise test, designed to bring the sub- ject to the limit of tolerance)…Improvement in executive function correlated with increased VO2peak. Favorable CRF adaptation after 26 weeks of aerobic exercise training was associated with improvements in PCC glucose metabolism and executive function, important markers of AD.

Aerobic exercise has been associated with reduced burden of brain and cognitive changes related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it is unknown whether exercise training in asymptomatic individuals harboring risk for AD improves outcomes associated with AD. We investigated the effect of 26 weeks of supervised aerobic treadmill exercise training on brain glucose metabolism and cognition among 23 late-middle-aged adults from a cohort enriched with familial and genetic risk of AD.

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Top New Science Podcasts: Academics’ Out-Of-Office Emails, Greenest Oranges And Baby Talk (Nature)

Nature PodcastsHear the latest from the world of science, brought to you by Benjamin Thompson and Nick Howe. This week, how setting an out-of-office email could help promote a kinder academic culture.

In this episode:

00:47 Being truly out of office

Last year, a viral tweet about emails sparked a deeper conversation about academics’ work-life-balance. Could email etiquette help tip the balance? Careers Article: Out of office replies and what they can say about you

09:35 Research Highlights

Finding the ‘greenest’ oranges, and the benefits of ‘baby talk’. Research Article: Bell and HorvathResearch Highlight: Babies benefit when Mum and Dad are fluent in ‘baby talk’

12:06 News Chat

Updates on the novel coronavirus, assessing Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and the potential impacts of Brexit on UK research. News: Coronavirus: latest news on spreading infection; News: How quickly can Iran make a nuclear bomb?News: Brexit is happening: what does it mean for science?