27.12.08

在今年

你已讀完 40 本書 在今年, 總數為 10015 頁

25.12.08

I'm Sorry!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

6.11.08

Am I suffering from Pre-Dementia or.....

I think I had deleted the XP accidentally, as I can open the Linux only. The files under XP were all gone! How come???

Other than the poorer memory, I have confusion, inattention and trouble putting thoughts into words. So...oh... come on....

U.S. in Crisis: Do a Million Men March towards Cognitive Impairment each Year?

Mayo Clinic Scientist Dr. Ron Peterson presented data at the International Alzheimer's Conference in Chicago that shows an astounding increase, particularly in men, in what was presented to the world media as Pre-Dementia.

Pre-Dementia, one form of which is sometimes called MCI, or Mild Cognitive Impairment, refers to decline in cognitive ability amongst younger adults that may become Alzheimer's.

Breathtakingly, up to 1 million people every year in the U.S. are new sufferers of pre-Dementia, not including the 500,000 people per annum who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's by a physician.

"We're seeing that in fact there's a much larger burgeoning problem out there" of people at risk of developing dementia, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, the Mayo scientist who led the study.

Dr. Ralph Nixon, a New York University psychiatrist and scientific adviser to the Alzheimer's Association, was blunt.

"We're facing a crisis," he said.

There are no treatments now to prevent this mental slide or reverse it once it starts.

But that may be changing. Researchers on Monday reported early, somewhat encouraging results from an experimental nose spray that seemed to improve certain memory measures in a study of mildly impaired people.

The drug, for now just called AL-108, needs testing in a longer, larger study. It is being developed by Allon Therapeutics Inc., based in Vancouver, B.C.

Doctors said it shows the potential for new types of medicines that target the protein tangles that kill nerve cells, instead of targeting the sticky brain deposits that have gotten most of the attention up to now.

The studies were reported at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago.

Petersen is the scientist who defined mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, as a transition phase between healthy aging and dementia. It is more than "senior moments" like forgetting where you parked the car, but not as severe as having dementia, where you forget what a car is for.

People with it have impaired memory but not other problems like confusion, inattention or trouble putting thoughts into words.

The Alzheimer's Association says more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's, but no estimate for this "pre-dementia" has been available until now.

Petersen's federally funded study involved roughly 1,600 people, ages 70 through 89, living in Olmstead County, which surrounds the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. All tested normal when they were enrolled in the study, but more than 5 percent had developed mild impairment when evaluated a year later.

Men were nearly twice as likely as women to develop it. That's a surprise, because some studies have found more women with Alzheimer's than men. But there may be a simple explanation:

Even though more men may be impaired, women outlive them and therefore have more time to develop full-blown dementia.

"This is a very large and important issue for our country and for the world," said Duke University psychologist Brenda Plassman. A smaller study she published earlier this year backs up the Mayo study's findings.

The mild impairment rate is two to three times larger than many researchers had expected, Petersen said.

"It's the iceberg under the tip," agreed Dr. R. Scott Turner, incoming director of the memory disorders program at Georgetown University Medical Center. A prime goal is finding drugs to treat the mild impairment before Alzheimer's develops.

7.10.08

病發

Nikon Ai AF Nikkor ED 14mm F2.8D


Nikon AF DX Nikkor ED 10.5mm F2.8G


今次起碼會觀察自己一年才下手!

機情

今天和弟弟談起相機和鏡頭,由攝影到自資生意,「打雀」到「打仔」,童年回憶到中年危機,無所不談。苦惱的日子裏,誠樂事也。

說來我還是菲林死舊派,尤愛機械單反此志不渝,FM 2 是可托終身沒錯 ; 我曾追求過 F 3,但初戀才是最愛最難忘; D70s 只是方便,沒感覺可言,想這不是愛情,是無情; GD-R 更如陌路人,討厭他的冷峻精確,全不對調, 想當初的「二世組發花癲花錢妄想症」,也為自己病態難堪。

為何說起這些呢? 當然是近期推出的 D700 所致,我只對 full frame 有興趣,可兩萬多塊太貴了,D3 又更貴更重。而且,數碼相機是忘情的追索,荷包是無情的乾涸,我心已累得可以,非不為矣,不能也。(其實我又開始病發,只是對象是Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED而已)。

斷腸人在天涯...

攝影於我是感覺多於技術,最好的相機,是自己最喜愛最熟識的那一部,機一上手,感覺良好滿足經已完滿。我手「照」我心,是近年體驗...

8.4.08

Interesting question by Bateson

"A certain mother habitually rewards her small son with ice-cream after he eats his spinach. What additional information would you need to be able to predict whether the child will:
a. Come to love or hate spinach,
b. Love or hate ice-cream,
c. Love or hate Mother?"

Steps to an Ecology of Mind》Gregory Bateson (1904-1980)

I'd spent one day to figure out what he
is talking about .....

1st & 2nd-order cybernetics

7.3.08

轉: 對不起,我還是在逃避

對不起,我還是在逃避
我的生命,從沒有乎合過燦爛的預期
對不起,又一次走到絕地
對不起,再一次辜負你

有時我會想,若果我也去看看面相
那搖著羽扇的先生,究竟會怎樣想
事業前途愛情健康,會否依然反覆無常?
也許他會深深的為我歎息,歎息比他額上的皺紋還長

從來都沒有放棄,為何在最後都選擇了逃避?
明明堅信不要靠運氣,但惡運來時為何就心死?
當我看到你,有時想你也許會像珍珠般優美
但對不起,現在的你還要像鮮花栽在沙漠旱地

友人說,自憐是最可悲的賣相
我也明白,做人不能依靠別人的堅強
對不起,我還不明白生命的方向
哀傷,哀傷,雖有翅膀卻無處飛翔

6.3.08

錯綜複雜...

寫緊個 case report, 感覺像極言情小說...

比史內卜對莉莉的愛情... 理直氣壯和理所當然,有前無後、打死罷就的勇往直前,計無遺漏但冷暖自知的孤獨...

我對別的沒意見,只對史內卜的有意見!!! (日內或會發表,但現還是繼續我的 "言情小說"吧...)