Skyline Happenings

Thanks to Bob P.

New research explores why some octogenarians have exceptional memories.

By Dana G. Smith in the NYT

When it comes to aging, we tend to assume that cognition gets worse as we get older. Our thoughts may slow down or become confused, or we may start to forget things, like the name of our high school English teacher or what we meant to buy at the grocery store.

But that’s not the case for everyone.

For a little over a decade, scientists have been studying a subset of people they call “super-agers.” These individuals are age 80 and up, but they have the memory ability of a person 20 to 30 years younger.

Most research on aging and memory focuses on the other side of the equation — people who develop dementia in their later years. But, “if we’re constantly talking about what’s going wrong in aging, it’s not capturing the full spectrum of what’s happening in the older adult population,” said Emily Rogalski, a professor of neurology at the University of Chicago, who published one of the first studies on super-agers in 2012.

A paper published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience helps shed light on what’s so special about the brains of super-agers. The biggest takeaway, in combination with a companion study that came out last year on the same group of individuals, is that their brains have less atrophy than their peers’ do.

The research was conducted on 119 octogenarians from Spain: 64 super-agers and 55 older adults with normal memory abilities for their age. The participants completed multiple tests assessing their memory, motor and verbal skills; underwent brain scans and blood draws; and answered questions about their lifestyle and behaviors.

The scientists found that the super-agers had more volume in areas of the brain important for memory, most notably the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. They also had better preserved connectivity between regions in the front of the brain that are involved in cognition. Both the super-agers and the control group showed minimal signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains. (continued)

Comments from Heather Cox Richardson (thanks to Pam P.)

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Loved ones are wired into our brain. Learning that they’re gone requires rewiring.

BY CLAUDIA CHRISTINE WOLF in the Scientific American

Neuroscience

Why does it hurt so much to lose someone you love? What happens in your brain as it strives to cope? Pioneering psychologist Mary-Frances O’Connor worked on one of the first neuroimaging studies of grief more than two decades ago. She and her colleagues found that a loved one’s absence means a major disruption not only to our life but also within our brain.

O’Connor now runs the Grief, Loss and Social Stress (GLASS) Lab at the University of Arizona, where she tries to tease out the biological mechanisms underlying grief. In particular, she studies prolonged grief, a state in which people don’t seem to heal, instead staying immersed in their loss for years. In her book The Grieving Brain (HarperOne, 2022), O’Connor explains how insight into brain circuits and neurotransmitters can enable us to navigate bereavement with self-compassion. “Grief is the cost of loving someone,” she writes. When a loved one dies, it can feel like we’ve lost a part of ourselves because their presence is coded into our neurons.

Spektrum der Wissenschaft, Scientific American’s German-language sibling publication, spoke with O’Connor about how love permanently changes our neural wiring and what we can do to feel more like ourselves while our brain tries to update its understanding of the world when a loved one is gone.

People who have lost someone often feel like their beloved will walk into the room at any moment, or sometimes they think they’re seeing the person on the street. Why does that happen?

It’s not perfectly worked out yet, but I have what I call the gone-but-also-everlasting theory. We think of the brain as a single entity, but there are many systems in it. On the one hand, you have the memory system, in which, say, we have a memory of being at the bedside or at a funeral. So one stream of information in our brain understands the reality of our loss and can remember that happening. But there’s another stream of information in our brain, and that comes from attachment neurobiology.

To understand what happens during loss, we first have to think about what happens during bonding. When that relationship is created, that bond is encoded in the brain in very specific regions and very specific ways. It comes with a belief that “I will always be there for you and you will always be there for me.”

That is the nature of a bonded relationship. It is what makes us know our partner will be at home when we return after work or enables us to send our children off to school—we know that they will return to us and that we will seek them out if they, for some reason, don’t turn up. The belief that they are out there in the world, even if we can’t see them or hear them, works very well when our loved ones are alive.

That attachment neurobiology, that belief in the everlasting nature of the bond, does not change immediately when a loved one dies. That second stream of information is still telling us they’re out there. We should go find them because they are missing, because they are lost. And so those two streams of information—the memory of the reality on one hand and, on the other, this belief that they are out there—cannot both be true.

Our brain really struggles to understand what has happened. And when we become aware that we have both beliefs, it causes a lot of distress and grief. (continued)

Ed note: Many of us, as we become frail, decide to forgo CPR and to allow a natural death. However, if we are hospitalized, there is a “conveyer belt” of other invasive procedures that can be carried out that we may not want. Dr. Aronson’s essay about her mother points out the problem of “life saving” interventions when we may be ready to die.

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Thanks to Diana C.

By Danny Westneat, Seattle Times columnist

Political forecasters called it that the state Republican convention would feature turmoil ending in endorsements of the most extreme candidates, all to match the party’s current MAGA mood.

Among the jilted was the Republican front-runner for governor, former Sheriff Dave Reichert, who was left putting out an APB for the GOP.  

“The party’s been taken hostage,” he told The Spokesman-Review.

But there was another strain to the proceedings last weekend that didn’t get much attention. Political conventions are often colorful curiosities; this one took a darker turn.

The Republican base, it turns out, is now opposed to democracy. Their words, not mine, as you’ll soon see.

After the candidates left, the convention’s delegates got down to crafting a party platform. Like at most GOP gatherings in the Donald Trump era, this one called for restrictions on voting. In Washington state, the delegates called for the end of all mail-in voting. Instead, we would have a one-day-only, in-person election, with photo ID and paper ballots, with no use of tabulating machines or digital scanners to count the ballots. All ballots would be counted by hand, by Trappist monks.

OK, I made up the monk part. I did not make up the part about banning the use of machines to count votes. All in all it would make voting less convenient and harder, by rolling it back at least half a century.

But then the convention veered into more unexpected anti-democratic territory.

A resolution called for ending the ability to vote for U.S. senators. Instead, senators would get appointed by state legislatures, as it generally worked 110 years ago prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913.

“We are devolving into a democracy, because congressmen and senators are elected by the same pool,” was how one GOP delegate put it to the convention. “We do not want to be a democracy.”

We don’t? There are debates about how complete of a democracy we wish to be; for example, the state Democratic Party platform has called for the direct election of the president (doing away with the Electoral College). But curtailing our own vote? The GOPers said they hoped states’ rights would be strengthened with such a move.

Then they kicked it up a notch. They passed a resolution calling on people to please stop using the word “democracy.”

“We encourage Republicans to substitute the words ‘republic’ and ‘republicanism’ where previously they have used the word ‘democracy,’ ” the resolution says. “Every time the word ‘democracy’ is used favorably it serves to promote the principles of the Democratic Party, the principles of which we ardently oppose.”

The resolution sums up: “We … oppose legislation which makes our nation more democratic in nature.”

It wasn’t that long ago when Republican presidents would extol democracy as America’s greatest export. Or sometimes try to share it with others down the barrel of a gun (see George W. Bush, Iraq).

Now the party is saying they don’t even want to hear the d-word anymore.

Of course we are not donning togas and rushing down to the acropolis to vote on legislation. So it’s true we don’t often act as a direct democracy (initiatives and referendums being exceptions).

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It’s a hybrid system, a representative democracy, with the people periodically voting for elected leaders to do that legislating work for us. During much of our lifetimes the debate in this arena has been: How can representative democracy be made more representative? How can more voices be heard?

It’s jarring to hear a major political party declare that they’re done with that. They’re not even paying it lip service. You can’t get any blunter than “we oppose making our nation more democratic.”

Not everyone at the convention agreed with those sentiments, though they were strongly outvoted. Some of the delegates seemed to have contempt for voting and voters — at least when they come out on the losing end of it.

“The same people who select the baboons in Olympia are the ones selecting your senators,” said one delegate in remarks to the convention hall.

A party platform is a statement of principles; it has little to no chance of being implemented. So it’s tempting to ignore it. Or wish it away, as Reichert is trying to do, by suggesting the real party is out there somewhere having been abducted by impostors.

When people say “democracy itself is on the ballot” in this election, though, I think this is what they’re talking about.

Intranasal neomycin evokes broad-spectrum antiviral immunity
in the upper respiratory tract

Ed note: When you shop for OTC medications at the drug store, you may have picked up some Neosporin ointment which is often used for skin infections. Neosporin contains three antibiotics: neomycin, bacitracin and polysporin. A recent research project supported by the Gates Foundation showed that the antibiotic (specifically neomycin) helps prevent and modulate a wide variety of viral infections including COVID. It doesn’t kill the virus. Instead it stimulates the immune system (in mice and a small number of healthy volunteers). It’s not yet time to start swabbing our noses with Neosporin (neomycin can cause allergic skin reactions), but it’s very intriguing that new and novel ways to combat viral infections are being sought which are inexpensive and widely available around the world.

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SCOTT DWORKIN

Today while Trump tried to stay awake during his criminal trial in Manhattan, President Biden gave a great campaign speech for the ages, drawing a stark contrast between his Scranton “kitchen table” agenda and Trump’s “Mar-A-Lago Vision”.

The quote of the day in my mind is when Biden said: “If Trump’s stock in his Truth Social company drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his.”

Ouch. That one is gonna hurt. This is the kind of fighter we need in the ring right now against Trump.

As the President finished his speech, the chants of “four more years” were loud and the energy extremely high.

Here are some of the highlights from the speech:

Trashing Trump’s Tax Cuts

“Just a few months ago at a closed-door event at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told his millionaire and billionaire donors, ‘You’re rich as hell, and we’re gonna give you a tax cut.’ Then they all laughed about it. How does it make you feel? How does it make the people I grew up with feel? I think it’s outrageous!”

Comparing Trump to Herbert Hoover

“Only two presidents in American history left office with fewer jobs than when they entered office. Herbert Hoover and yes, Donald Herbert Hoover Trump. Now Trump’s running on the same failed trickle down policies.”

Calling out Trump for Covid Lies

“Remember when Trump told us don’t worry? This will all be over by Easter? Remember when he told us literally to inject bleach? Bless me Father.”

Hitting Trump’s Inherited Wealth

“People like Donald Trump learned the best way to get rich is to inherit it. He learned that paying taxes is for people who work for a living. When I look at the economy, I don’t see it through the eyes of Mar-a-Lago. I see through the eyes of Scranton.”

Taxing Billionaires

“Trump and MAGA Republicans want billionaires to pay less in taxes, want seniors to work longer, and want to cut Medicare. I got a better idea. Let’s protect Social Security and Medicare and make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share.”

On Trump’s Attacks on Fallen US Soldiers

“There are a lot of things that Trump has said and done that I find extremely offensive. One that offends me the most is when he refused to visit an American cemetery when he was president and said those soldiers who gave their lives were ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ Who the hell does he think he is?”

What is abundantly clear is that the gloves are off. While Trump is busy sleeping in a drab courtroom, President Joe Biden is hitting the campaign trail hard.

DAN RATHE & TEAM STEADY

Many years ago, my late mother gave me two words of advice that have always stuck with me: Be humble. It is no secret that today’s political discourse is bereft of humility and kindness. But won’t our world be a better place if we can find generosity of spirit as we go about our days? I know it’s there, and if I can offer some gentle advice — wouldn’t it be nice if we thought more often about being humble and kind? In pondering this I was reminded of a song from a few years ago that celebrates the simple idea of respecting one another. Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind” is a reason to smile.

Songwriter Lori McKenna wrote the Grammy-winning song as a poem of principles for her five children. In the hands of country superstar McGraw, it became a bona fide hit, an anthem of integrity.

The music video enhances the beauty and simplicity of the song by celebrating all races, religions, and cultures. While running on a treadmill, McGraw happened to see a 30-second trailer for Oprah Winfrey’s television series “Belief” and was mesmerized by the stunning imagery. He knew it would be perfect.

The song is full of words to live by, such as “Hold the door, say please, say thank you. Don’t steal, don’t cheat, and don’t lie.” 

Or this one, a personal favorite: 

“Don’t take for granted the love this life gives you. When you get where you’re goin’, don’t forget, turn back around. Help the next one in line, always stay humble and kind.”

Thanks to Pam P.

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more   Ukrainian Army Celebrates Major Victory Over Marjorie Taylor Greene Apr 22     READ IN APP   Wojciech Grzedzinski for The Washington Post via Getty Images UKRAINE (The Borowitz Report)— After six months of what seemed at times an unwinnable battle, on Saturday the Ukrainian army scored a stunning victory over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Jubilant Ukrainian soldiers cheered as news spread that their despised foe from Georgia’s 14th congressional district had been dealt a humiliating defeat. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who greeted his front-line troops with a flurry of high fives, declared, “This is a war between freedom and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Ukraine chooses freedom.” Answering a reporter’s question, Zelensky signaled that he might be open to direct talks with Greene, but added, “We would need an interpreter since only I speak English.” On Sunday, Greene was still fuming about Ukraine’s win, telling Fox News, “I don’t see why Zelensky needs more weapons when he already has space lasers.”

By Craig Foster

Mr. Foster’s film, “My Octopus Teacher,” won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2021. He wrote from Simon’s Town, South Africa.

I was gifted with a new way of seeing the day I got mugged underwater. I had been filming creatures living in the Great African Sea Forest off the coast of South Africa about a year ago when my camera was grabbed straight out of my hands by a young octopus thief. Wrapping her arms around her bounty, she zoomed backward across the ocean floor.

This was not the first time I’d found myself at the mercy of an eight-armed robber. A couple years earlier, another curious octopus stole the wedding ring off my wife’s finger, never to be recovered. Octopuses love novel shiny things. Peering into their dens, I’ve found earrings, bracelets, spark plugs, sunglasses and a toy car with a revolving cylinder that the octopus spun round and round with its suckers.

As I wondered how to get my camera back without alarming my young friend, something surprising happened. She turned the camera around and began to film my diving partner and me.

The intriguing images she captured — videos of her own arms draped over the camera lens with our bodies in the background — had a profound effect on me. After many years filming octopuses and hundreds of other animals that call the Sea Forest home, for the first time I was seeing the world — and myself — from her perspective.

We must have looked strange to her in our masks and with our underwater flashlights. But in that moment I remembered that despite all our technology, we are not so different from our animal kin. Every breath of air, every drop of water, every bite of food comes from the living planet we share.

Monday is Earth Day, and I am tempted to ask myself how humanity can save our wild planet and undo the devastation we have unleashed upon the natural world. Where I live, in the Cape of Good Hope, I am privileged to be surrounded by nature, but we are grappling with pollution and dwindling numbers of shellfish, fish, raptors and insect species. Worldwide, we are at a tipping point with an estimated 69 percent decline in wildlife populations. (continued)

Keratosis pilaris is a common skin condition. It’s also easily treated at home.

By Erica Sweeney in the NYT

Q: I have a bunch of small, rough bumps on my arms and legs. What are they, and how can I get rid of them?

Maybe they look like goose bumps — or the skin of a plucked chicken. Perhaps they’re raised and feel a little bit like sandpaper.

These may be the signs of keratosis pilaris, a common skin condition that can cause tiny, painless bumps to appear on the upper arms, thighs and buttocks, said Dr. Amy Freeman, a dermatologist in Millburn, N.J.

The bumps are typically flesh-colored, but they might look red or pink on lighter skin tones and brown or black on darker skin tones.

While their appearance can be “distressing,” Dr. Freeman said, keratosis pilaris bumps are harmless and often go away on their own. However, some people can deal with flare-ups for their entire lives.

What causes keratosis pilaris?

Keratosis pilaris happens when keratin — a protein involved in forming hair, skin and nails — builds up and, along with dead skin cells, clogs hair follicles, Dr. Freeman said. These blockages are what cause those small bumps.

An estimated 40 percent of adults and 50 to 80 percent of teenagers have keratosis pilaris. But dermatologists aren’t sure exactly why some people develop it.

One theory is that the condition is caused by a genetic mutation that interferes with the skin’s ability to moisturize itself naturally, said Dr. Shari Lipner, a dermatologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. The mutation may make you more prone to dry skin, which makes keratosis pilaris worse.

People who have eczema, diabetes or close blood relatives with keratosis pilaris are also more prone to the condition, Dr. Lipner said. The same is true for people with asthma, allergies or excess body weight, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, or A.A.D.

Because dry skin worsens keratosis pilaris, you may have more flare-ups during the winter or if you live in a dry climate, said Dr. Leslie Baumann, a dermatologist in Miami.

Can you treat keratosis pilaris at home?

Preventing dry skin is one of the best ways to reduce flare-ups and generally improve the appearance of keratosis pilaris, Dr. Baumann said.

Products that contain emollients (moisturizers) and keratolytic agents (a class of medications like salicylic acid, lactic acid and urea that remove dead skin cells and soften the keratin that clogs pores) are most effective, Dr. Freeman said.

A convenient option is to choose an over-the-counter moisturizing lotion that contains a keratolytic agent, Dr. Lipner said. The A.A.D. also recommends products with other keratolytics like glycolic acid and retinol.

These ingredients help smooth out the bumps and reduce redness, Dr. Freeman said.

And they’ll be most effective if you apply them right after showering when your skin is still damp, Dr. Lipner added. Doing so helps seal some of the moisture into your skin.

Dr. Lipner suggested avoiding anything that might irritate your skin, such as using an abrasive body scrub or scratching or picking at the bumps. However, the A.A.D. says you can gently use a loofah or washcloth to slough off dead skin cells. It’s also best to avoid products with fragrances and oils, which can irritate the skin and clog pores even more, Dr. Lipner said.

During a flare-up, Dr. Freeman said, you should use a moisturizer with a keratolytic agent a few times a day for a couple of months. Once the condition improves, you can taper down to a few times a week.

But you should still moisturize every day, she said; you just don’t need a keratolytic product once the flare-up is under control. (continued)

“Heaven is not located on high, but where the good of love is, and this resides within a person, wherever he or she might be.”

Emanuel Swedenborg

Thanks to MaryLou P.

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The recently received CCRC Disclosure document refers to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) list, specifically referencing Section 18.390.070 which has the sections below.

• Section 18.390.010 – Definitions
• Section 18.390.020 – Requirement to register
• Section 18.390.030 – Application for registration-Required materials-Issuance-Validity period-Transferability-Public records act exemption
• Section 18.390.040 – Department of social and health services-Duties-Fees-Effect of registration activities
• Section 18.390.050 – Use of titles-Registration required
• Section 18.390.060 – Mandatory disclosures to prospective residents
• Section 18.390.070 – Inspections by prospective residents-Resident expectations-Right to file complaint
• Section 18.390.080 – Violations-Application of consumer protection act-Notice of complaints-Attorney general enforcement
• Section 18.390.090 – Scope of chapter-Limitation
• Section 18.390.900 – Prospective application of chapter
• Section 18.390.901 – Effective date-2016 c 183

Thanks to Mary M.

Thanks to Mary Jane F. If you wish to subscribe to this newsletter please click here and fill out the information requested.

Dear friends and neighbors, Before the 2024 session adjourned last month, the Legislature made meaningful progress to ensure people are safe and feel safe in their communities. Several new laws will help prevent crimes, increase support for survivors, and strengthen law enforcement training and recruitment. Improving public safety Several measures (SB 5424, SB 6301, HB 1530, SB 6157) will expand and diversify law enforcement recruiting, training and retention. Just last month, the Washington State Patrol graduated 47 new troopers (above). SB 6009 prohibits the dangerous and inhumane practice of hog-tying, which is unfortunately still allowed by some law enforcement jurisdictions in Washington. SB 6006 and SB 5937 make several improvements to how the state responds to and supports victims of child trafficking and sexual assault. HB 1999 expands certain criminal offenses related to depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including deepfake images of minors. HB 1958 creates a civil cause of action for “stealthing” – nonconsensual removal of or tampering with a sexually protective device, or for misleading a person into believing that a sexually protective device was used. SB 5427 establishes a hotline to accept reports of hate crimes and bias incidents and provide crisis intervention and victim-centered, culturally competent, and trauma-informed information. SB 5917 expands hate crime laws to include bias-motivated defacement of public property. HB 2153 establishes new felony and gross misdemeanor offenses for trafficking in, possessing, selling, or offering to sell catalytic converters. SB 5891 makes trespassing on school buses a crime, to better protect the safety of bus drivers and students. High-speed police chases In 2021, I was proud to vote for HB 1054 to restrict high-speed police chases, which are inherently dangerous for the officers involved and to innocent passengers and bystanders. The bill limited chases to situations with probable cause that a person has committed or is committing a violent crime, sex offense or escape; or reasonable suspicion of DUI. Complaints from law enforcement led to the passage of SB 5352 last year to expand the list of offenses for which law enforcement is allowed to engage in high-speed chases. I did not vote in favor of the bill because I believe chases are extremely dangerous and the potential arrests that might result from a high-speed pursuit do not outweigh the number of fatalities and injuries suffered by innocent members of the public. This year the Legislature had to wrestle with Initiative 2113, which further rolls back limitations on vehicular pursuits. It allows an officer to conduct a vehicular pursuit on the basis of reasonable suspicion a person has violated the law. While I voted against this initiative, it ultimately passed with a bipartisan majority. Although some jurisdictions, including King County and the City of Seattle, are likely to keep their own restrictions in place, other jurisdictions around the state will now engage in dangerous pursuits that endanger citizens. Thanks for taking the time to read my newsletter. If you missed my previous updates on gun safety, public education, environmental protections, affordable housing, or LGBTQ+ rights, they are available on my website. Please reach out with any questions at Jamie.Pedersen@leg.wa.gov. Best wishes, Jamie

Thanks to Pam P.