_Out of time, Blur.

A polícia italiana resolveu inovar trocando o bafômetro pelo uso de video-games, para verificar se o motorista encontra-se bêbado ou drogado.

Ao invés de ser abordado pelo policial e fazer o teste do bafômetro - como no Brasil - , o motorista apenas maneja um jogo chamado Dee Dee que garante até 85% de acerto.

O videogame DeeDee, desenvolvido por cientistas italianos, é composto de um joystick e de uma tela de computador.

As imagens criadas por um programa especial simulam situações de trânsito. A alavanca única reúne os controles de aceleração e frenagem de um carro virtual pilotado pelo motorista.

O DeeDee é o resultado de 15 anos de pesquisa neurológica e cibernética da equipe do engenheiro Alberto Rovetta, professor do laboratório de robótica do departamento de engenharia mecânica do Politécnico de Milão.

O método é bem mais prático e barato do que os bafômetros - além de ser menos agressivo psicologicamente - e poderá, após ser comercializado, ser disponibilizado em bares, restaurantes e para uso privado (por enquanto só na Itália).

Como funciona

A operação completa para identificar um motorista alcoolizado ou drogado dura cerca de um minuto. Um carro vermelho, uma rua cinza, um muro e um sinal de trânsito aparecem na tela.

O motorista, em pé no acostamento da estrada ou na calçada, deve seguir as instruções do semáforo virtual, movimentar o carro e pará-lo antes de bater na parede. Parece fácil, mas para quem bebeu além da conta ou se drogou a manobra elementar se torna quase uma missão impossível.

"O aparelho é capaz de medir a reação nervosa da pessoa. O nível desta reação recomenda ou não um exame clínico para constatar as causas. O índice de acerto é em torno de 85% se comparado com o método tradicional, mas queremos chegar aos 90%. Mais do que isso, eu acho que é difícil, pois é impossível adivinhar a natureza humana", disse o professor Alberto Rovetta.

O tempo de reação, a velocidade dos dedos, a destreza dos movimentos e o tremor das pontas dos dedos são analisados por quatro nano-sensores localizados dentro do joystick.

Eles foram criados para decifrar o mecanismo de resposta do cérebro ao impulso do videogame e levam 5 milésimos de segundo para capturar os dados. O programa do computador recebe as informações neurológicas, faz os cálculos e apresenta o diagnóstico.

O resultado do teste de direção aparece na hora. O sinal verde indica a ausência de álcool ou drogas no organismo. A cor amarela revela a ingestão de drogas e de álcool. Já a luz vermelha acusa uma quantidade de álcool no sangue superior ao máximo previsto pela lei.

O projeto nasceu em 1993, sob a batuta do prêmio Nobel de Medicina, John Carew Eccles (1903-1997), especialista no estudo da fisiologia dos neurônios. Em 2000, a pesquisa ganhou financiamento da União Européia. O primeiro protótipo nasceria seis anos depois, mas o programa de computador, capaz de produzir informações mais precisas, ficou pronto apenas agora.

O Politécnico de Milão tem um acordo com polícia italiana para implantar o projeto. O videogame tem surpreendido os motoristas que deixam as discotecas de cidades como Milão, Turim, Aosta e Novara. As cidades Alessandria, Cagliari, Arezzo, Foggia e Verona estão na fila.

Nesta fase inicial de testes, ele está sendo certificado e comparado ao método tradicional.

Lei Seca Italiana

Pela lei italiana, uma pessoa pode dirigir com até 0,50 gramas de etanol por litro de sangue. Este limite é superado por um homem de setenta quilos que toma uma cerveja sem ter se alimentado antes.

______________________________________
Qual seria melhor: bafômetro ou video-game ?

Nitin. K. Sethi, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology

New York-Presbyterian

Weill Cornell Medical Center

New York, NY 10065

Since many of the readers of my blog and website (http://braindiseases.info) have written in asking about tremor, I thought in this post I shall describe the tremor seen in Parkinson's disease in detail. The classical tremor described in Parkinson's disease is a resting tremor which has a frequency of about 2-5 Hz. Let me explain in more simple terms what I mean by that.

The tremor in Parkinson's disease is present at rest and not when the hands/ limbs are in motion (when the patient's hands are placed on a table and are completely at rest, the tremor comes out. Now if you ask the patient to hold the hands in front of themselves or to perform some action like picking up a glass of water and bring it to their lips, the tremor becomes less prominent and may not be noticable. Hence it is called a RESTING TREMOR). Another way to observe the resting tremor is to see the patient walk. When we walk, our arms are held by the side of the body and are completely at rest, if a person has a resting tremor it is clearly visible.

The tremor in Parkinson's disease has a frequency of about 2-5Hz ( meaning that the tremor is not very fast). It also has a large amplitude (meaning that it is not fine rather it is a gross tremor and can be well appreciated by the naked eye from a distance).

The tremor of Parkinson's disease disappears/ stops when the patient falls asleep (most of the tremors abate on sleeping and hence this quality does not aid in differentiating the tremor of Parkinson's disease from other tremors).

The classical tremor of Parkinson's disease is a pill-rolling tremor (meaning the tremor consists of flexion and extension of the fingers in connection with adduction and abduction of the thumb. Imagine yourself rolling a pill, that is how the tremor looks like!!!)

Most importantly the tremor in Parkinson's disease is accompanied by other signs of Parkinson's disease such as rigidity (the tone of the muscles of the limbs is increased), bradykinesia (slowness in the execution of movement) and a disturbance of gait and posture (the gait is slow, stooped forward-we call this a festinating gait and their posture is off so patients are more prone to falls). That said and done signs of Parkinson's disease may appear at different times and not all at once. At times the first/ earliest manifestation of Parkinson's disease is the presence of an asymmetrical resting tremor (meaning the tremor usually appears asymmetrically/ only in one hand).

She decided it was time to go to the doctor and find out what was wrong, and hopefully get something to fix it.  After explaining the situation to the doctor, he examined her and then said: (Note, the line spacing designates the pauses the doctor took, in his story.)

“You know, this reminds me of my grandmother.

“She started to get a tremor, like yours.

“And, then it got a little worse,

“And, then it got a lot worse.

“And, then it got real bad.

“And, then,

She died.”

What a bedside manner!

EARTHQUAKE DUBAI

10^th September 2008, Dubai – United Arab Emirates

The Earthquake which hit Southern Iran today at 11:00:34.8 UTC with a Magnitude of 6.3 (according to Global Seismic Monitor) was felt by citizens of the United Arab Emirates in Dubai and Sharjah at around 3.30pm local time (11:30 UTC).

“I felt the tremor and run to the street” said a Moroccan Lady who lives in Sharjah, Al-Khan Area. Her watchman was reporting that he felt the first tremor at 11am local time.

“I was sitting at work in the Sharjah Airport Free Zone and felt my chair moving. When I looked around I saw the doors swinging slightly, although we are located at the ground floor” said a Manager of a Free Zone Company.

In Dubai CNN Office Staff reported that they saw up to approximately 200 people taken refuge in the streets, fearing that the new developed towers could collapse. Buildings in Dubai Media City were evacuated.

Big crowds were standing outside their buildings watching what would happen. Irritated! There was no official warning for the residence of Dubai or the Northern Emirates.

Sheikh Zayed Road with its over 50 floor buildings was witnessing the swaying of buildings. Many people felt dizzy even in Abu Dhabi.

Please post your comments and send us your experiences …

Gulfnews has confirmed that the epicenter of the quake was 43 meters west of Qishm Island. Almost everyone in our office rushed out of the building and before I could think of evacuating myself, I saw all of them dragging themselves back in. They were probably expecting the rest of the day to be called off or something -- actually, even I was expecting something similar. Oh, and why I didn't evacuate myself is a long story which I'm not gonna bother typing down now. I'm still laughing at my friends who were frantically pushing the blame for the tremor on the Large Hadron Collider testing that began today. :D

At least my few lazy co-workers who were busy snoozing on their desks will get some work done now.

A Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) consortium of Mayo Clinic physicians, scientists and engineers developed a wireless sensor that can detect chemical activity in the brain. The new system, called a wireless instantaneous neurotransmitter concentration sensor (WINCS), is connected to an electrode that will be surgically implanted in the brain to provide real-time measurements of chemical levels (e.g., dopamine, serotonin, glutamate). The hope is that these measurements can help direct neurosurgeons in the optimal placement of the stimulating electrode during DBS, thereby improving outcomes for patients.

DBS is a neurosurgical treatment that stimulates the brain with mild electrical signals that reorganize the brain’s electrical and chemical activity. DBS causes improvements in symptoms in a number of conditions affecting the brain, including Parkinson’s disease, tremor, epilepsy, depression and chronic pain.

“Potential future implications for this technology are immense,” says Kendall Lee, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon and director of the Mayo Clinic Neural Engineering laboratory. “WINCS may be part of a smart Deep Brain Stimulation device that is able to regulate neurotransmitter systems in the brain to better treat diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, depression, chronic pain and others.”

“This successful development is an excellent example of the value of applying research to provide better care for patients,” says Kevin Bennet, chair of the Mayo Clinic Division of Engineering. “And this can be accomplished through the close collaboration between physicians, scientists and engineers.”

To date, this system has been successfully used in animal trials. It has not yet been used in human studies.

This study was be presented at the American Academy of Neurological Surgery meeting in Sedona, Ariz., on Sept. 12, 2008.

Kevin Bennet provides an overview of the research.

AVISO ESPECIAL    2:30 PM   3:30 PM CTM.

Se ha registrado un fuerte terremoto en el Oceano Pacífico Sur en las inmediaciones de Oceanía, ocurrido a la 1:52 PM hora del centro de México y a las 5:52 AM del día Martes 9 de Septiembre hora local donde ocurrío el terremoto ( región Vanuatu ). Precisamente el sismo tuvo lugar a 225 km al Norte de Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, 330 km al SSE de Lata, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Isl., 490 km al NNW de PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu, 2115 km al NE de BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia.

Minutos despues ocurrido se emitio un aviso por posible efecto de Tsunami en Hawai, California, Oregon, costas de méxico, sudamérica, japon, australia., rápidamente dicho tsunami fue descartado que ocurriera ya que la intensidad del sismo no fue lo suficiente para que tal fenómeno se produjera.

Ver el mapa del sismo en el google earth aquí

Redactó
MetMEX
Sismológico
Jorge A. Garza Cossio

O tremor também casas e deixou milhares de chineses desabrigados. A província de Sichuan foi atingida por outro terremoto em maio deste ano, que matou 70 mil pessoas. As informações são da Associated Press
Ultimas Noticias
Ultimas Noticias da China

That's right, I simply refuse to do my laundry at a hotel unless I'm out of the country.

Avoidance of hotel laundry caused a desperate underwear buying excursion the day before I left.

And I ended up buying underwear that was indicative of the desperation I was feeling.

As haphazard as my thinking may be, I do oddly enough have strict rules about the underwear I allow to rest upon my boo-tay.

Mongoliangirl Underwear Rules:

1. Horse training/Farm Work - Just one step away from the trash.  Flimsy elastic, small holes, and faded fabric allowed.
2. Mundane Errands- Miniscule holes but no flimsy elastic or faded fabric allowed.  Must be cotton and include a 'fun' pattern or 'loud' color.
3. Business Casual - Absolutely no holes or other signs of wear allowed.  Variety of fabrics allowed.  Patterns, if allowed, are subdued and sometimes even rather 'serious'.
4. Formal - Every little thing is in tip top shape.  No cotton allowed.  Rarely includes patterns.
5. Party Time w/ Husband - Must be absolutely perfect and preferably brand new.  And so frikkin' sexy that it's difficult getting out of the store with them without touchin' my own damn self.

I know!  Isn't that strange and strangely wonderful all at the same time!  And it's about underwear!

One of our 'Big Girls' (aka - one of our 80 lb. dogs) has a problem.

We officially call it:

That head twitching thing that came outta nowhere.

As scary as it looks when her big ol' head starts to twitch, we've been somewhat calmed by the fact that the veterinarian ruled out any major illnesses and thinks it's a very mild seizure disorder or visual problem, or...well...um...

OK, so we've not actually been calmed by the fact that it's probably a mild something or the other that the veterinarian could never really figure out.

But we also agree that it has no effect on her ability to do anything, nor does it make her sick in any way, and medication that could fry her kidneys or liver in a few short months and might not even address the problem is not an option.

Our 'Big Girl' with 'that head twitching thing that came outta nowhere' is named 'LaLa'.

We originally called her 'Loveland' because we love Colorado and named her and her sister after little towns out there:

Loveland & Estes Park. 

We shortened Loveland's name to 'LaLa' because she figured out the command 'speak' so quickly and basically hasn't shut up with all of her singing crap every time she wants something ever since.

And we've always called her sister 'Estes'.

Ben, at this point, would have me say,

It's Estes.  Pronounced 'Ehs-tus',

because the receptionist at our veterinarian's office kept pronouncing her name 'Ehs-tees'.

(Rhymes with TESTES and MENSES.)

This, of course, ended up with us being in the veterinarian's waiting room with Estes one day and listening to the receptionist chatter to her from behind the counter with things along the lines of,

Esteeees!  Esteeees!  You're so cute, Esteeees!

and Ben loosing it, getting his Lumber Jack voice on, and saying loud enough for people in the back of the building to hear,

She's not somebody's nut sac and she's not a menstrual cycle.  She's a dog named after a town in Colorado for chrissake.  It's pronounced Ehs-tus.  Tus.  Not Tees.  Tus!

I, on the other hand, had no problem with it because this was the same receptionist who, when we took LaLa in one day when she was still a little puppy, proclaimed,

Oh Lord Jesus!  She's prob'ly got the Parvo.  Terrible disease.  Fever spikes so high they norm'ly have a massive seizure and then die,

when it just turned out to be a bad case of a newly weaned puppy having worms.

Believe me, I was much more likely to bitch slap her for freaking me completely out with that 'massive seizure and then die' thing than calling one of our dogs a nut sac or a menstrual cycle.

Last night LaLa's head started twitching.  As I said, it in no way prevents her from doing whatever she would normally be doing or causes her to be sick in any way.

These facts, however, have not caused us to behave as if it's no big deal.

Just as I was fading off to sleep Ben said, rather dramatically I might add,

Head twitch!  We've got a head twitch!

and I sat up in bed to see LaLa sitting where she always sits every night.  Right by the bed and staring at us with the most desperate look she can muster because she thinks it will cause us to pat the bed and say,

Oh you!  80 pound farm dog who smells slightly of dead possum and was seen eating a pile of horse poop earlier today!  Get up here!  Come on!  We shall not rest well without you directly beside us!

In other words, she was doing what she does every single night, but her head was twitching.

So we popped out of bed and do what we do every single time her head starts twitching.

Act as if she's going to die.

And she loves every single minute of it.

She flops down onto the floor where we've scrambled to sit cross-legged so we can scratch her ears and her tummy.  Her favorite places.  And coo to her as if she's a tiny distressed baby.  And,

her favorite part,

we refuse to pet the other dogs at all as long as her head is twitching.

And if we for even one second fail to continue scratching or cooing she flails her paws into the air at us to remind us of our current duties.

This leads me to admit that I always loose interest in acting as if she's going to die prior to her actually having stopped 'that head twitching thing that came outta nowhere'.  I'll be sitting there scratching and cooing and suddenly think,

Seriously, she's not barfing, drooling, or struggling to breathe.  She can do whatever she wants.  She's fine and would still get her stinky ass up onto our bed if we let her even though she knows it's a massive nono in this house.

So last night prior to her stopping 'that head twitching thing that came outta nowhere' I said,

I gotta pee,

and proceeded to start getting up from my scratching, cooing, cross-legged place on the floor.

Unfortunately, this excited our oldest dog whom we call 'Gravel Granny' because she's always standing around on our gravel driveway barking at...well...uh...we don't know what she's barking at ¾ of the time but we know she does it on the gravel driveway and is older than dirt. 

Thus, 'Gravel Granny'.

And, just as I was kind of leaning forward to get out of my cross-legged position Gravel Granny came running over and kind of jumped up toward me and ended up connecting the top of her hard old Gravel Granny head with my mouth.

She yelped and I ended up leaned over and holding my entire face and groaning and whimpering a little bit and then looking at Ben and pointing to my upper lip and saying things like,

Oh my god!  Is it bleeding?

and

Am I getting a fat lip?

and

Fuckin' dogs!

And then I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror and, sure enough, my upper lip was starting to swell.

Apparently Ben had gotten over the head twitching thing as well because he came into the bathroom too and was looking at my upper lip with me in the mirror.

I said,

Look.  It's turning a funny color.

He said,

Yep.  It sure is.

I said,

It's not too bad.

He said,

No, it's not.

I said,

I just wish it was swelling in a more symmetrical fashion so I could have an Angelina Jolie day.

He said,

Honey, you're fuckin' nuts,

and went back to the bedroom to check on Lala and announced that her head had stopped twitching.

Therefore, I decided to be proactive and go to our closet to look at my clothes because we had to be at a meeting at 6am the next morning in a location something like 30 miles away.

This, of course, led me to my underwear drawer where I've been having to deal with the fact that bought some amazingly bizarre underwear prior to that 12 day trip to LA just so I could avoid having to do laundry at the hotel.

I shit you not.  There is now underwear in there that in no way fits into any of the 'Mongoliangirl Underwear Rules' categories.

1. Pink leopard print with one bow and three faux buttons and made of unknown fabric.  This is also the pair that, when I was in LA, I accidentally put on backwards and was so uncomfortable because of it that I nearly jumped from my seat and ran through throngs of people at the conference I was attending while holding my crotch and screaming all the way to the bathroom.
2. Baby blue with navy blue piping, made of unknown fabric, and, I shit you not, a black skull and cross bones on the crotch.  This is the pair that, when I wear them always causes me to wonder if the designer of this particular pair was a) into some kind of devil worshipping bondage or, b) socially conscious and trying to warn against STD's.
3. Wrong size, made of unknown fabric with giant yellow and orange stripes that always makes me think Dr. Seuss was somehow involved in the the design.

And during the 6am meeting the next morning I sat there in my Dr. Seuss underwear wondering if I was going to start rhyming as I spoke and regretting the fact that my lip showed no signs of swelling when I woke up that morning and I was, thus, not getting to have an Angelina Jolie day.

Escape away, originally uploaded by Schicchi el Mayordomo [Chiuso x inventario].

This is the question some visitors to my blog have been asking. The answer isn’t a simple one, but it might help to hear how I finally got to know I had Parkinson’s disease.

From age 18 to 26 I had developed an inexplicable fatigue. There was some light stiffness in my body, acute hunger pains and acid reflux, and a bit of anxiety and depression. At that point doctors that saw me treated each symptom individually: the stomach problems got treated as if I had gastroesophageal reflux, the anxiety and depression were approached with drugs for anxiety and depression, but the fatigue was attributed to the depression.

Odd problems like very dry patches of skin on my face next to very oily patches and dribbling after urination were not mentioned to my doctors at first, and even afterward they were not treated at all because doctors could not find the cause.

This is important to realize why we might need the virtue of patience so much when we are suspecting Parkinson’s and our doctors may seem to be taking their time in evaluating us. Without a known cause, doctors can’t effective treat a problem. So yes, you need to cut your doctors some slack and let them do their job. It can take more time than you would like too, so be prepared for that as a possibility.

Eventually…

At age 26 the fatigue grew into something monstrous. My breathing would be affected as well during periods of fatigue, and I would labor with difficulty when tested regarding this, but doctors still could not determine the root of the problem.

People were noticing things I was not. I was walking with a limp and seemed to be leaning a bit to one side, at least that's what people were telling me. I didn't notice it for a couple of years myself.

By age 31, it was finally clear that I did not have individual medical problems, but one. When my speech became affected and a neurologist tapped my knees, medicine knew that it was the central nervous system that was affecting me in all these different ways.

But how and what? At first doctors suspected Lou Gehrig’s disease. Then they suggested multiple sclerosis. Some threw their hands up not knowing what to make of me. Others felt it was just a case of essential tremor.

Then three years ago my internist, noting how treatment for essential tremor was having no effect and that I was developing a tremor in my vision, looked a little closer over a period of three weeks to determine if he could solve the problem. In his opinion most of the action tremor was not action tremor at all but my body fighting stiffness producing cogwheel jerkiness to a lot of my motion. This cogwheel effect in connection with my other symptoms, including the nystagmus vision, was Parkinsonism.

Egos or Just Being Careful?

I am not sure if egos got in the way next or what, but the other doctors on my case seemed to ignore what the internist said. In fact, so little was done over the next 12 months to follow up on his dianosis that I had to change practically every doctor on my team (I was getting sicker and desperately needed treatment).

It took one year after that change to back up that internist’s diagnosis, but it did eventually happen (insert sigh of relief here). Because the hallmark signs of PD, namely resting tremor, stiffness, horrible balance, and slowness didn’t show up together until after Christmas of 2007, my neurologist missed being the one to make the actual diagnosis himself. When I had last seen him I had stiffness and a limp on one side with very little resting tremor, even some balance promblems, but not much slowness, at least not enough for him to make a diagnosis he was comfortable with.

But when I went to my general practitioner for a follow up in February of 2008, my condition had degraded in such a manner that it was now unmistakable as to what it was.

After administering Sinemet and seeing many of my symptoms suddenly disappear after 40 minutes, it was confirmed. I had Parkinson’s all this time.

How Do You Find Out?

No one is going to find out exactly the same way as someone else. You also can’t diagnose yourself from what you read on the Internet or a book. Tremor itself is not proof of Parkinson’s as many people with PD don’t have tremor as a main symptom.

You do need to work with a combination of doctors that you can communicate with and who are willing to work as a team with one another. If you don’t think you are being successful with the team you have working for you, find another.

And be very patient. Be as patient as a saint. It can take a lot of time, especially in a younger person with the disease. See a movement disorder specialist if you can. They would have the experience to see more subtle things as what they really are, more so than the average neurologist.

The Funny Part

And keep a good sense of humor about it all. I was quite happy to get my diagnosis.

“So you’re okay with the diagnosis?” my doctor told me after handing me the news.

“Okay with it? Why, after all these years I’m relieved!” I told him. “Now I know I wasn’t crazy or being lazy.”

“Well, I can understand that,” he replied. “But I can’t guarantee that we can yet take ‘crazy’ or ‘lazy’ off the list of accurate descriptions about you just yet.”

Christine has been by my house to drop off her pooch, Shelby, for an evening visit while she and Bobby head to the Padres game in San Diego. She reports Katy was still in somber mood. I guess the shaker rattled her more than I thought.

-------------------------

I've been home and can report very minor damage: a broken bottle (empty) in the garage, and a broken glass in the kitchen (it likely shook off the counter and to the floor). Picture frames were all screwball on the walls. The mirrors, thankfully, didn't move.

Katy was somewhat freaked out, still. I could tell she spent some time in the shower stall and in my walk-in closet. Whatever keeps the giant pooch comfortable and safe, I say. The cat was found lounging in the dirt in the back yard. No sweat.

---------------------------

Yorba Linda

Bobby sent me a photo (at right) of the mess he found at home. His dog, Sable, was a bit rattled and probably witnessed the stuff flying out of drawers and shelves.

----------------------

Quake downgraded slightly to 5.4. Nerves are still shaky; phone lines aren't connecting; some of us are heading home to check in on pets, children, and general well-being of shelves and stuff.

Below my post is a dispatch from my sister, Christine.

-----------------------------

From the newsroom:

Well, we got a big surprise here in the newsroom this morning. It was about 11:40 a.m. when we got a really sharp jolt followed by sustained shaking for 20 to 30 seconds. Our building is built on rollers, to help us sustain earthquakes, so the movement here was surely exaggerated.

After seeing ceiling tiles shake and dump dust everywhere, I realized, hey! we really should be under our desks. We have TVs mounted from the ceiling, plexiglass light covers, rats, you name it. Most of us did dive for cover, with a few people standing around, watching the room (like that helps).

The U.S. Geological stations nearby tell us the shaker rung up at 5.8 on the ol' Richter Scale. We're about 15 miles from the epicenter, which is close enough.

We didn't evacuate. Instead, we turned to CNN and the local TV stations for a birds-eye view of the region. We're as much in the dark as everyone else. We'll see what the day brings us (hopefully not more shaking).

-------------------------

News from Brea-Yorba Linda, via Christine:

Hi. Can't get through on the cell phone, so thought I'd send a
message...

While the quake was only a 5.8, it sure felt a bit stronger. I think,
for me -- and maybe for Sam, too -- being on the second floor of a
building emphasized the impact. My ceiling over my desk started to
fall on me, all my books fell off the shelves, my desk lamp fell over
and the bulb shattered, my potted plant flew off the shelf and
shattered, too. The lights from the ceiling started falling and
computer monitors fell over on desks. Thankfully, this was a rolling
quake rather than an up and down shake, which is worse, but it sure
felt like the walls were bending at work. Those of us who ran to the
kitchen -- in an effort to get away from the cardboard cubicles --
found ourselves running sideways.

Bobby's place is also on a second floor. He said his apartment looked
like it exploded. Anything that could've moved did -- lamps fell over,
books came off the shelves, and every one of his drawers in his
bedroom flew open. Sable was in there, alone. Bobby was at a city
building when the quake hit.

My office was evacuated, so I came home to check on Shelby. I don't
know if she was excited to see me because of the quake -- or because
it was lunch time. ;)  Nothing looked disturbed in my house at all...

The quake originated about five miles up the road from Yorba Linda,
where Bobby lives, which is about 8 miles from my office.

Reminded me of the quake we felt in Naples back in ... 1980?

Otherwise, all is well. Haven't been able to get a hold of Sam,
wondering if scaredy cat Katy is hiding in her cave...

(Apparently, all of Los Angeles county, not just the city of L.A. itself, felt this earthquake ... from Santa Clarita to Newport Beach, and from Redlands to LAX, we all got a taste of it. Looks like San Diego and even Las Vegas are having some leftover shaking from us, too ...)

Afterthought/PS: I was more surprised at the wide range (km radius) that the earthquake was felt at. Otherwise, it wasn't that big of an earthquake - the reports first came in that it was at a 5.8 on the Richter scale, but I can't help doubting that. No damages, no felled buildings, no power outages, no people injured, no car accidents, no flights at any of the airports delayed or stopped ... it was like having a humongous lorry drive by and rattle the windows. I mean, our whole building definitely moved a bit, but it was over in under a minute.

So ... ja :) It wasn't scary as much as it was surreal, like something from a film. No worries, my dears, we're all fine out here. But thank you for any concern - it's much appreciated.

Funding Roundup; Tremor Media raises undisclosed sum from European Founders Fund; Zannel channels $10 million from lead investor Alloy Ventures and others. (Tremor: paidContent; Zannel: (VentureBeat)

Turner Creates its Own Ad Network; company will package together ad inventory from 19 different sites, including CNN.com, CartoonNetwork.com and NBA.com, and abandon third party ad networks. (AdWeek)

CBS Webcasting Fight Night; network to stream full episodes of its controversial EliteXC Saturday Night Fights (sponsored by Burger King). (Silicon Alley Insider)

ITunes UK to Start Selling Movies; no launch date or studio partners given. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Study: Advertisers Should Look at VOD; IAG research found viewers were 68 percent more likely to remember a spot in a VOD environment than during linear TV. (MediaWeek)

CDNetworks Starts Free Program for Nonprofits; CDN provides free delivery of up to 1 terabyte of traffic per month to nonprofits focused on preventing harmful Internet activities. (release)

As you can well imagine all these symptoms do not start off all at once. Infact the onset of Parkinson's disease is quite insidious and generally asymmetrical. In its earliest stages, all the patient may have is a unilateral (one hand) tremor. Later as time goes by and the disease progresses the symptoms become more florid and the bardykinesia and disturbance of gait and posture appear.

So that brings us to the question of my post, just when do we start treating these patients? Should we treat them early or should we treat them in the later stages?

There is no good answer to this question. One concern which has been raised is that if you treat patients with Parkinson's disease with levodopa/ syndopa (the combination is called Sinemet in The United States), early on in the disease course, the drug itself may hasten the progression of the disease (the thinking behind this is the concern that levodopa may increase the breakdown of dopamine secreting cells in the basal ganglia).

On the other hand, there is some evidence to suggest that early treatment is better because it prevents the compensatory change in hardwiring which occur in the brain in the face of decreasing dopamine (some of the neurons such as that of the subthalamic nucleus become overactive in the face of decreasing dopamine secretion and this later on leads to more problems such as the on-off phenomena).

So what is the answer? I think a patient should be treated when he devlops symptoms that start bothering him or interfere with his functioning and activities of daily living. If that occurs early in the disease course, so be it, he warrants treatment. Nowdays apart from levodopa/syndopa (Sinemet) there are many other drugs which can be used to treat the disease especially in the early phases. These drugs ( dopamine agonists like Requip (Ropinirole) and Mirapex (Pramipexole) and selegine) are less stronger than levodopa/syndopa combination but are thought to have less "neurotoxicity" and hence are preferred to be used in the early stages of the disease.

Your doctor shall help you navigate these questions. Have a good weekend everyone. It is Saturday morning here in NYC as I pen this, I think I shall go for a run.

Personal Regards,

Nitin Sethi, MD

Um novo tremor, agora de 6,4 graus na escala aberta de Richter, foi detectado neste domingo (25) em Chengdu, capital da província sudoeste de Sichuan, a mais castigada pelo potente terremoto do 12 de maio que matou ao menos 62.664 pessoas, informou a agência de notícias "Xinhua". Pelo menos uma pessoa morreu e 400 ficaram feridas segundo informações oficiais. Cerca de 71.300 casas foram destruídas e mais de 200.000 ainda podem desabar neste domingo na réplica do terremoto. A réplica foi registrada às 16h24 (5h24 de Brasília) e durou um minuto, fazendo os prédios prédios altos de Chengdu balançaram ligeiramente. O tremor foi o mais forte desde o registro do terremoto que devastou parte do país.  

Desde o dia 12 de maio foram detectadas milhares de réplicas, mais de 100 acima dos 4 graus de magnitude. A Rede Sismológica Nacional da China localizou o epicentro do tremor a 32,6 graus de latitude norte e 105,4 graus de longitude leste.

"As casas começaram a tremer, e todo mundo foi para as ruas", relatou Lu Taiyi, um morador de Chengdu. "Pensávamos que o terremoto já era passado", lamentou.
"Eu não tenho medo, começamos a ficar acostumadas", comentou uma jovem, que andava na rua com duas amigas.
Na cidade de Mianyang, já arrasada pelo terremoto de 12 de maio, um comerciante contou ter ouvido sua loja tremer durante a réplica. "Não podíamos nem ficar imóveis", relatou ele à agência Nova China.
"Senti a terra e as montanhas se mexerem", afirmou um jornalista da rede de televisão nacional CCTV, também citado pela agência Nova China e presente no distrito de Beichuan, o mais abalado pelo terremoto de 12 de maio.
Segundo a agência, a réplica também foi sentida em Xi'an, capital da província vizinha de Shaanxi, onde a população também desceu às ruas.
O terremoto que devastou a província de Sichuan há quase duas semanas teve mais de 8.000 réplicas, muitas delas imperceptíveis, destacou o representante do escritório de sismologia de Sichuan. 
Clique aqui para ver o vídeo sobre o desastre.

OBS: Artigo retirado do site G1

Thousands fled Beichuan town in central Sichuan province on Saturday to escape possible flooding.

Soldiers carried older people to safety while survivors cradled babies on a road jammed with vehicles.

A policeman told the Associated Press news agency on Saturday that rescuers were worried that water from the lake would inundate Beichuan.

"The lake was jammed up by a landslide and may burst. That is what we are worried about," he said without giving his name.

The official Xinhua News Agency said earlier that a lake in Beichuan county "may burst its bank at any time".

It said 46 seriously injured people were in "dire need of help" in Beichuan, where the water level was rising rapidly.

Click here for full story

I have my moments in this but I sincerely don't feel I came across as all that confident. I questioned many things I actually knew (Such as what an algorithm was?!! Sigh...) I also said "Right?" too much (should ban it from my vocab overall!), and there were some painful pauses where I sorted through my brain organizing my thoughts. I'll get better with practice. Also my performance background leads me to be very, very critical of anything I do that sounds less than polished.

To clarify: Outsourcing didn’t begin Crowdsourcing - I just meant that the terms are similar and that might have been the “root” of the term. Outsourcing is closer to Open Source, but differs in many respects (who gets paid, how the contributions are valued). Jeff Howe is tracing the history of Crowdsourcing in his upcoming book "Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business".)

Bem, a necessidade faz o homem:

"No exato instante em que a novela começou, a terra tremeu e fez todo mundo sair de casa correndo, depois de desligar a TV, é claro", escreveu Silva.

Os dados do Ibope desmentem Silva. No momento do terremoto, às 21h, 67,7% dos televisores estavam ligados na Grande SP. Houve ligeira queda nos minutos seguintes, até atingir 66,9% às 21h05. Às 21h07, já eram 67,7% novamente.

Mas, de fato, a audiência na terça-feira estava menor, indicando desgaste da exploração do caso Isabella, informa Daniel Castro.

Veja também:

Mais uma vez, Aguinaldo Silva revela o final de "Duas Caras"

Educação 24 horas

Parkinson's disease is a relatively common neurodegenerative disease. It was first described by James Parkinson in his now classical essay titled " The Shaking Palsy". James Parkinson was an astute observer and his longitudinal description of the disease which now bears his name was on the basis of just a single patient.

Like other neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson's disease starts in the later age groups (60's and onwards). Sometimes it may start in the younger age groups especially if there is a family history of the disease. This is referred to as Familial Parkinson's Disease.

Typical Parkinson's disease has a clinical triad consisting of:

a) rigidity (patient's are rigid--when you passively move their limbs you experience increased resistance. Rigidity is a condition in which the tone of the body is increased. Tone refers to the resistance offered to passive movement of a limb across the joint)

b) bradykinesia or akinesia: as the name suggests, this means that the patient's are bradykinetic. They have paucity of spontaneous movements, when they walk they do not have the characteristic arm swing which describes the human walk.

c) resting tremor: Parkinson's disease (PD) patient's have a characteristic tremor in their hands and feet. The tremor is a resting tremor meaning that it is most prominent when they are relaxed and their arms are at complete rest (when you walk, your arms are at rest by the side of your body and the tremor can be clearly seen).

Other features of Parkinson's disease (PD):

d) PD patient's have a typical disturbance of gait and posture. They seem off balance and are prone to falls. They walk bend forward in short quick steps (as if chasing something). This characteristic gait of PD patient's has been referred to as festinating gait. If you accidently push a PD patient to the side or backward or forward, they are unable to compensate and may fall down. Falls and the disturbance in gait and posture is an important cause of morbidity in PD patient's. When PD patient's turn they do not turn in one smooth motion rather thay turn with small steps.

e) PD patient's have a mask like face. They do not have the characteristic facial expressions which so define when humans talk. They may not blink while speaking ( sort of staring look), do not smile or frown.

f) PD patient's may notice a change in their writing. Typically the hand writing becomes smaller and smaller and more illegible. This is referred to as micrographia.

g) The voice of PD patient's is monotonous and lacks the variations in the pitch and tone which defines human speech.

A point to note here is that unlike Alzheimer's disease, PD patient's usually have no impairment in memory at least in the early to middle stages of the disease. Later on in the disease course, they may develop cognitive impairments, this condition is referred to as Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) or dementia associated with Parkinson's disease.

A escala Richter foi inicialmente criada para medir apenas a magnitude de tremores no sul da Califórnia, utilizando um equipamento específico --o sismógrafo Wood-Anderson. Apesar da limitação original e do surgimento de vários outros tipos de escalas para medir terremotos, a escala Richter continua sendo largamente utilizada hoje.

A primeira escala Richter apontou o grau zero para o menor terremoto passível de medição pelos instrumentos existentes à época. Atualmente, a sofisticação dos equipamentos tornou possível a detecção de tremores ainda menores do que os associados ao grau zero, e ocorre a medição de terremotos de graus negativos na escala Richter.

Teoricamente, a escala Richter não possui limite. De acordo com o Centro de Pesquisas Geológicas dos Estados Unidos, aconteceram três terremotos com magnitude maior do que nove na escala Richter desde que a medição começou a ser feita. De acordo com outras fontes, como a enciclopédia Britannica, tal marca nunca foi alcançada. Veja a tabela abaixo:

Pois é meus caros leitores, alguem achou que o mundo ia acabar, que estava com mal de parkisson, com alucionação ou seja lá que raio que estava acontecendo. Mais foi só um susto, e vamos ajudar a procurar o padre que saiu voando de balões, será que não foi ele que causou esse tremor ?

até a próxima.