Chronic Pain: Cornell To Study Behavioral Change (Physical Exercise), Non-Drug Treatments For Pain

From a Cornell University news release:

Weill Cornell Medicine“Another behavior change is physical exercise,” Pillemer said. “A paradox of pain is that exercise helps reduce it, but it’s difficult for people in pain to think about exercising. So they don’t exercise, they get more sedentary and the pain increases; it’s a vicious circle. So how do you get people to actually change their behavior?”

More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain – outnumbering those affected by heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined.

To develop innovative approaches to pain management, a team of behavioral and social science researchers on Cornell’s Ithaca campus, clinical researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and computer scientists at Cornell Tech has received a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

To read more: http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/10/nih-grant-will-fund-non-pharmacological-pain-research

Top Automobile Exhibits: “Legends Of Speed” At The Phoenix Art Museum (November 3 – Mar 15, 2020)

Featured cars have won many of the world’s most iconic races, including Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500, and the Italian Grand Prix, and were loaned to the Museum by internationally recognized collectors from Arizona and across the United States. Legends of Speed offers an unparalleled opportunity for Museum guests to experience and learn about some of the most successful and famous racecars of all time.

Legends of Speed is the first major exhibition of racing cars presented at Phoenix Art Museum. Opening in fall 2019 and featuring more than 20 legendary cars by Maserati, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Ford, and more, the landmark exhibition showcases an unprecedented collection of cars driven by some of the greatest drivers in the history of racing, including A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Stirling Moss.

Website: http://www.phxart.org/exhibition/legendsofspeed

New Consumer Websites: “PureMarket” Rates Items For Purity, Efficacy, Accuracy And Nutrition

From a FoodDive online review:

PureMarketPure Market is offering consumers a chance to purchase products that have already been pre-graded in an effort to provide transparency and save time. Although the service just launched, it has reviewed the chemical compositions of several thousand products, with 805 in the food category and another 125 in beverages.

The service rates products in terms of purity, efficacy, accuracy and nutrition. Purity tests the level of contaminants in a product. Efficacy rates how well a product delivers on the promises on its label. Accuracy refers to the contents of the product being consistent with those on the label. Nutrition evaluates the ratio of “good stuff” to “bad stuff,” according to the website.

To read more: https://www.fooddive.com/news/will-consumers-use-a-new-site-grading-food-on-label-accuracy/566391/

New Mental Health Books: “The Great Pretender” By Susannah Cahalan Looks At “Madness” In Society

Psychiatry, as a distinct branch of medicine, has come far in its short life span. (The term psychiatrist is less than 150 years old.) The field has rejected the famously horrific practices of the recent past—the lobotomies, forced sterilizations, human warehousing. Today’s psychiatric practitioners boast a varied arsenal of effective drugs and have largely dropped the unscientific trappings of psychoanalytic psychobabble, the “schizophrenogenic mothers” of yesteryear who had been thought to have somehow triggered insanity in their unwitting offspring. Two decades into the 21st century, psychiatry now views severe mental illnesses as legitimate brain diseases. Despite all these advancements, however, the field still relies solely on self-reported symptoms and observable signs for diagnosis. Though the American Psychiatry Association reassures us that psychiatrists are uniquely qualified to “assess both the mental and physical aspects of psychological problems,” they are, like all of medicine, limited by the tools at hand. There are not, as of this writing, any consistent objective measures that can render a definitive psychiatric diagnosis.

Literary Destinations: The Faulkner House Bookstore, New Orleans

From an Atlas Obscura online review:

Faulkner House Bookstore New Orleans interiorInside, the small store has a good selection of literary fiction ranging from classics to current publications. There is also a great selection of books about New Orleans and local culture. There is, of course, a dedicated area, almost shrine-like, for Faulkner’s works, and the shop owner will let you take a look at those more expensive books, “if you want to get in trouble with your wallet.”

Blink while passing through New Orleans’s French Quarter, and you may miss this small, charming bookstore. But step inside, and you’ll steal a quick peek at the space where William Faulkner himself lived while in the city.

Though he later penned famous works like The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying, Faulkner wasn’t much of anybody yet when he moved to New Orleans, and in fact published his first work in a local journal. There is a historical plaque outside the building that states that Faulkner wrote his first novel, Soldiers’ Pay, while in residence there in 1925.

To read more: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/faulkner-house-books?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5bf02e2e8b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_31_02_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-5bf02e2e8b-63029309&mc_cid=5bf02e2e8b&mc_eid=9baf474570

Top New Books: “The Seine – The River That Made Paris” By Elaine Sciolino

From an advance review:

The SeineSciolino’s keen eye and vivid prose bring the river to life as she discovers its origins on a remote plateau of Burgundy, where a pagan goddess healed pilgrims at an ancient temple. She follows the Seine to Le Havre, where it meets the sea.  Braiding memoir, travelogue, and history through the Seine’s winding route, Sciolino offers a love letter to Paris and the river at its heart and invites readers to explore its magic.

In the spring of 1978, as a young journalist in Paris, Elaine Sciolino was seduced by a river. In The Seine, she tells the story of that river through its rich history and lively characters—a bargewoman, a riverbank bookseller, a houseboat dweller, a famous cameraman known for capturing the river’s light. She patrols with river police, rows with a restorer of antique boats, discovers a champagne vineyard, and even dares to swim in the Seine.

To read more: https://elainesciolino.com/the-seine-the-river-that-made-paris

Top Political Podcasts: Joe Biden Interview On 2020 Campaign Trail (PBS)

 PBS Newshour Joe Biden Nov 1 2019In his third bid for the presidency, former Vice President Joe Biden has long been considered a 2020 Democratic frontrunner. But recent polls show him losing ground to Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — especially in Iowa. Judy Woodruff joined Biden on the campaign trail to discuss the impeachment inquiry, primary poll numbers, his age, the U.S. economy, health care and more.

Housing Market: Baby Boomers Staying In Homes Longer, Reducing Supply

From a Wall Street Journal online article:

Cities with longest length of time lived in homes CoreLogic 2019Economists say aging baby boomers are the biggest culprits because many are staying healthier later in life and choosing not to downsize. Some look around at the lack of smaller, less expensive homes and are loath to get into bidding wars with their children’s generation to get one.

Homeowners there are staying more than three years longer than they did in 2010. The inventory of homes for sale in Seattle has declined more than 50% over the last nine years, while home prices have risen more than 80%, according to Redfin.

Americans are staying in their homes much longer than before, creating a logjam of housing inventory off the market that helps explain why home sales have been sputtering.

Homeowners nationwide are remaining in their homes typically 13 years, five years longer than they did in 2010, according to a new analysis by real-estate brokerage Redfin. When owners don’t trade up to a larger home for a growing family or downsize when children leave, it plugs up the market for buyers coming behind them.

To read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/people-are-staying-in-their-homes-longera-big-reason-for-slower-sales-11572777001

Future Of Housing: “GO Homes” Are Prefabricated, “Highly Insulated, Air-Sealed” & 90% Efficient

Froom a Dwell.com online article:

GO Home by GO Logic Prefab Homes PhotosTo meet Passive House standards, the Cousins River Residence features an airtight building envelope, triple-glazed windows with a u-value of 0.16, a heat recovery ventilation system with 90% efficiency, and a 4.6 kW south-facing photovoltaic array on the garage roof that makes the house nearly net-zero energy.

With their three children grown up and out of the house, Nico and Ellen Walsh were ready to downsize from their old Victorian home to a smaller abode better aligned with their environmentally friendly principles.

The heart of every GO Home is a highly insulated, air-sealed building shell designed to use 90 percent less energy than a conventional new house, even in chilly northern New England. On sites with a favorable southern exposure, adding a modest array of photovoltaic panels yields a zero-energy home.

When the couple spotted Belfast-based design-build firm GO Logic’s LEED Platinum GO Home on the cover of Maine Home and Design Magazine, they instantly fell in love with the modern high-performance design and the possibilities of a nearly net-zero energy house.

To read more: https://www.dwell.com/article/cousins-river-residence-go-logic-opal-eead5541?utm_medium=email&utm_source=postup&utm_campaign=&list=1

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