Observation + Imagination = Eureka!

Picture credit.

I recently re-discovered a cool website: Improbable Research. The authors are responsible for the Ig Nobel Awards, given to people in various fields for research that first makes you laugh and then think. One fella, J. Trinkaus has made hundreds of observations and written them up for various journals. Two of his "studies" stood out for me.

The first:
' “Compliance with Parking for Handicapped: An Informal Look,” J. Trinkaus, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 58, no. 1, February 1984, p. 114.

Observed the compliance with handicapped parking regulations at a suburban neighborhood shopping center.... 30 citings of convenience were taken... Findings show that in the absence of police enforcement, general observance of parking restrictions... was normally practiced only when convenient.'

That didn't surprise me, really. I don't think things have changed much in 25 years. But it reminds me of the card someone once showed me that they leave on cars parked in those spots without the proper permit displayed:

Your handicap must be stupidity.

The second study:
' “An Informal Look at Use of Bakery Department Tongs and Tissues,” J. Trinkaus, Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 87, no. 3, part 1, December 1998, pp. 801-2.

Of 108 people observed extracting for purchase rolls or pastries from displayed bulk stock in food supermarket bakery departments, about 90% used their hands for item selection and withdrawal rather than the store provided tongs. In stores where tissues were provided instead of tongs, approximately 60% of the 133 people who were observed used their hands.'

That one doesn't really surprise me, either. I don't dare tell that bit of info to any of the germaphobes I know, though I suspect germaphobes generally stay away from those types of food bins because of that. Even though that study was done 12 years ago, I suspect it still holds true.

My personal observations indicate that common courtesy and common sense are not so common, especially when no one is looking.

Somewhere on that website (and my apologies to the author or authors, I couldn't find exactly where) was the equation "imagination = discovery". I would amend that to "observation + imagination = discovery".

We have all come across reports of studies that we deem ridiculous. "The Marshmallow Effect" was one of them. From Wikipedia: "In the 1960s, a group of four-year-olds were given a marshmallow and promised another, only if they could wait 20 minutes before eating the first one. Some children could wait and others could not."

At first glance, and if you have no knowledge of psychology, this study may seem a little silly, but it demonstrated that even at age 4 the kids could be divided into two distinct groups: those who could delay gratification, and those who couldn't. And then, "The researchers then followed the progress of each child into adolescence and demonstrated that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted and more dependable (determined via surveys of their parents and teachers), and scored an average of 210 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test years later." Now we can all understand the benefits of this study for child psychology (including perhaps teaching your child coping skills to deal with frustration). This experiment is also used to help explain some people's inability to save money for a rainy day. It may also help identify those children with behavioural disorders arising from biological causes (like fetal alcohol syndrome) and enable treatment. So it's not as silly as it first seemed.

Another study a while ago (forgive my inability to find it) that seemed to tick off a bunch of MSers concerned the effect of stress on a person's MS. The study showed that stress can cause a flare up of symptoms. Everyone with MS collectively shouted "duh". But even though MSers already "knew" this, there had been no quantifying information about it. By studying stress quantitatively, we now can do something about it. By observing and measuring the effect of stress on the human body, we better understand the body and its coping mechanisms: the hormones and other chemicals released, how they interact, what systems are stimulated, which ones are suppressed. In other words, the researchers can definitively show a physical reaction to a mental process. And that means we may be able to control (or affect) the physical reactions to a degree. I'm not saying we can control our MS. I'm suggesting that by knowing what may happen in a stressful situation may aid us in dealing with it, perhaps reducing the physical reaction.

To sum it all up, by making observations and using our imagination we will make discoveries and understand.

S.

52 WBC - Week One

This past year saw my landlord construct a baby barn that sits on the front part of the property. It was built specifically for the few of us in the building who have bicycles and were getting tired of lugging them in and out, up and down stairs, nicking walls and doorways. It is a wonderful addition and greatly appreciated. Although now I haven't got a structure to hang my Christmas ornaments on (but that's another story).

Anyway, about a month ago, I put my bike rack in the barn as well. The day I did that, it was rather chilly, and I had a hard time getting the door open. Couldn't do it actually, without the help of our superintendent, Bruce. I supplied the screwdriver and he did the heavy work. The wood in the door had expanded with humidity, but it never contracted with the cold for some reason.

So today, being the end of the first week of 2010, and my last chance to begin my 52 WBC, I went to get the bike out of the barn. Couldn't do it. Went in to get the hammer to assist with the lock. Went back in to get the screw driver to assist with the door. Fetched the shovel to clear away some snow that prevented the door from swinging all the way open. By the time all that was done, I was pooped. But I was determined to get out on the bike today, as the weather's supposed to get colder tomorrow and for several days after.

I left the barn door unlocked when I went for my ride so I could have a little easier time of it to put the bike away. I was out for 30 minutes cruising around my neighbourhood, stopping to have a handful of mini shredded wheat. The temperature was hovering at -1 degree so my body wasn't cold, but my eyes watered like the dickens, and my cheeks were rather chilled if I pedaled faster than 5 kilometres an hour. Lucky for me, my legs are so not used to pedaling, I couldn't go faster than 5k an hour if my life depended on it. Four months away from the bike and my thighs are slacking off. I guess I have to get some serious hiking in to keep them in shape, as the walking isn't really an effective exercise for those muscles.

Back home, I struggled with the doors again, finally getting Bruce to come out and assist me. By the time I got back I was useless, the legs like jelly, fierce hunger (it was lunch time) making me weak, and a nap beckoning me. We figured out how to get the doors open and closed without the use of tools, though, so hopefully it won't be a half hour exercise to just get the bike out from now on.

And tonight? My legs are still like jelly. I'm afraid what tomorrow will bring. Very afraid.....

S.

Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis

We all know that neurological disease can lead to cognitive impairment along with possible physical impairment. For many of us with MS, we may have noticed lapses in memory, ability to find the right word (tip of the tongue syndrome), unusual moodiness. Some of these things are part of the aging process, sometimes related to stress and/or hormones, and sometimes they are related to the disease.

How do we hold off these impairments? By the time we realize they exist, it may be too late as damage may have already been done. That's the scary part. However, we also know that the human brain is amazingly plastic and that we continue to learn things as we age, so continued brain stimulation by way of physical and mental exercise may help.

There is a hypothesis called the cognitive reserve hypothesis. It suggests that "enrichment protects against neurocognitive decline secondarily to disease" (from Wikipedia). "Lifetime intellectual enrichment (estimated with education or vocabulary knowledge) lessens the negative impact of brain disease on cognition, such that people with greater enrichment are able to withstand more severe neuropathology before suffering cognitive impairment or dementia." This is from the latest study of this hypothesis.

You can think of it this way. Two people contract a cold. One person is a health nut, eats right, exercises every day, gets the appropriate amount of sleep. The other person is a junk food junkie potato couch. The health nut has a good body reserve to fight off the cold within two days. The junkie, though, has no reserve and suffers for a week. The health nut has an "enrichment" of his health, the junkie doesn't.

The cognitive reserve hypothesis doesn't state that enrichment protects you from cognitive impairment; it simply lessens the negative impact. The two people I mentioned above both caught a cold, but one was impacted less than the other.
Cool, eh? I thought so. And it's related to the current study I'm in, the one about cognitive impairment and brain connectivity. You can bet your boots I'll be watching for more studies on this topic.

Let's face it. We have MS. We know it's neurological and degenerative, affecting physical and cognitive abilities. Some of the damage we have little control over. But there are also some aspects over which we do have control. We can get on a disease modifying treatment as soon as possible. We can eat right, reduce stress, get the proper amount of sleep and rest, stimulate our minds and exercise smart.

I have talked about exercising smart before but will sum it up for new readers or to prod those of you who may have forgotten. Stimulate your mind: do puzzles, but do different ones every day. Mix 'em up. The brain is stimulated by new things. You can do a Sudoku one day, a crossword the next, maybe some logic puzzles the day after, but mix it up. By doing the same ones every day, you become good at those kinds of puzzles, but the brain isn't doing anything new, so doesn't get the same stimulation.

Exercising smart is a pretty easy one. If you go for walks or hikes or whatever and don't have an Ipod or MP3 player, try doing multiplication tables as you exercise, compose a letter in your mind, try to recall a favourite recipe from your childhood. If you have a portable media player, listen to an audiobook, or Spanish lessons, or music that you normally wouldn't listen to. You can download free stuff from the library. Take different routes when you walk or hike. Remember, the point is to give your brain something new to work on. In other words, exercise your mind and body at the same time.

Another way to think of it is like this: your brain looks for patterns, whether it's music or words or what you see. These patterns are ingrained in our brain after years, kind of like the beaten down paths from base to base on a ball field. your brain will take the path of least resistance. If you expose yourself to something new and different, your brain first goes "What?" and then starts to search for familiar patterns. Not finding any, it gets down to the business of processing the information, beginning to lay down a new path. That is stimulation. And it's a good thing.

S.

Seal of Approval

Just a day or two before Christmas, I was on my morning walk around the Bedford waterfront and a seal popped up in a little sheltered marina. I had never seen one in the Bedford Basin before though I know they're common in the Halifax Harbour. Turns out, they're common in the basin as well. The seal stayed for several days and even crawled up a boat ramp and onto the pier at the south end of the cove where he stayed for at least two days before being removed by authorities or leaving on his own (I'm not sure which it was). Because many people are stupid, police tape and a sign were posted warning folks to stay back from the animal. I got a "far away" picture of him at the very end of the pier. He's just sleeping by the bench.



We've had a mix of weather conditions over the past week or so that is so variable and unpredictable you can be wearing 14 layers of clothing in the morning and only two in the afternoon. As I am typing this we are expecting anything from a major snowstorm to rain this afternoon. Whatever. I'll be out in it, dressed appropriately, walking as usual these days. I have managed to take a few interesting shots of the ice on the river coming from Papermill Lake. The first shot is at the dam.



The second shot is a skirt of ice on one of the pylons that used to support the water pipe that fed the mill for Moirs Plant almost 100 years ago.



New Year's resolutions: none really, though I have now officially signed up for the 52 WBC. I'll be taking the bike out for at least 30 minutes every week for the next year. I have to work on my abs (they are under there somewhere). Oh, and get a job.

S.

Still Here

Greetings one and all. I hope Christmas was a good one for you and the food was plentiful and the annoying relatives minimal. I have been on a self imposed blogging holiday to concentrate on other things, like shopping, baking, parties, and the like.

I also needed to get a little distance from the whole CCSVI thing. Many people have been asking me about that "vein" thing and while doing follow up internet look ups on it (and speaking with MS professionals), I have even more questions of my own. I have spent much time explaining how it is supposed to work and why, and then I spend the same amount of time posing questions that remain to be answered. Most folks I speak with understand once I explain and they also understand why we can't leap into this without further research. More than once though, I have found myself wishing that CTV had spent some time talking to Dr. Freedman (of the Ottawa clinic) before airing that W5 documentary in order to get a more balanced look at what Dr. Zamboni has and has not done in his research. I suppose it's up to people like me to spread the word of cautious optimism.

I have continued to follow comments from people about this discovery and I am amazed at the amount of paranoia and conspiracy theory that abounds. I supposed it's o different than the conspiracy theory that surrounds cancer research. In case you aren't up on these theories, some folks speculate that there will never be a cure for cancer (or MS or whatever) in order to keep all those researchers and doctors and drug companies rolling in the dough received from drug treatment sales.....um, yeah.....

Anyway, I have managed to keep on walking 4-6 kilometres most days so am enjoying the exercise. I am also seriously considering joining the 52 WBC. That's the 52 Weeks of Biking Challenge, where you bike at least 30 minutes every week of the year. Kind of cold this time of year, and slippery at times, but I think for the weeks with nastier weather, I can pull out the mountain bike and stick to off road trails. Of course by April/May, I'm on the bike for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, so that's not a problem. There are hardier souls than I who ride to and from work every day no matter the weather, so I think I can do at least 30 minutes a week.

In the coming days I plan to tell you about the seal that has taken up residence not far from my home, the audio books I can now listen to thanks to a fantastic Christmas gift, courtesy of the Wookie, a job interview in the new year, and some fun stuff like the great lemon loaf I made at Christmas. A tradition I have just begun.

S.

I'm Still Here

Greetings! Been a little busy with Christmas just around the corner, sending out resumes, etc. and helping to stock the Sackville and Little Sackville Rivers with trout given to the Sackville Rivers Association by the Department of Fisheries. Last week we were given 7 2 year old hand reared trout for our aquarium at the Community centre and I arrived just in time to fish one out of the garbage can and put it in. Then we headed out to make 4 stops and release 2000 fingerlings into the rivers. Way cool.






On the MS front I've spent more time explaining, to those curious enough to ask, the pros and cons of Dr. Zamboni's findings and theory. I stopped in at the clinic last week, too, and the nurses there figure that every clinic in the country lost a week because they were on the phone explaining this vascular theory to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who called. While they understand the media has a job to do, they wish they were a little less quick out of the blocks to report "cures". Or at least explain the pros and cons rather than just the pros. From what I've read, some people were angry that Canadian doctors and researchers aren't jumping on the Zamboni band wagon right away. I'm not sure why CTV did not get opposing viewpoints to this theory before they broadcast the W5 episode. They have interviewed Dr. Freedman of the Ottawa MS Clinic before about his stem cell research and experiments so why not talk to him again. Especially since Dr. Freedman was aware of Zamboni's findings before the program aired. Actually, I had read something very briefly a few months before the broadcast and thought it looked interesting, but there was little buzz about it then so put it at the back of my mind. *Sigh*. As is so often the case with research, more questions than answers arise.

S.

Milfoil and Wintergreen

Photo by Alison Fox, University of Florida, Bugwood.org

The water milfoil (from French, milles foille, meaning 1000 leaves) is an invasive aquatic plant found world wide. It can get quite long and tangled and is sometimes found in masses on the surface of ponds or lakes, blocking sunlight from reaching under water plants and choking them out. It can live in pretty extreme water conditions, too, so pollution has little effect on it. Which is, in our case (the Sackville Rivers Association), a good thing. It's a great collector of crappy stuff in waterways.

Sebastien, our resident plant expert, and I went out today to harvest some of this water plant, what little is still alive at this late stage of the fall. At this point I must set the stage. As you know, I've been doing a lot of walking in all temperatures and conditions this fall. Cold, wind, rain, whatever is going on I'm dressed for it, but today, Sebastien asked me, when I picked him up, if I still wanted to go. It was freezing and windy and there were snow flurries. I was dressed for it so said of course. He got his son's chest waders for me to wear and we were off. We didn't have to travel far, only a kilometre or so, and we were on the land of a local lumber company that has set aside a piece of land as a green space. Included in this property is Feely Lake, our destination. We put on the waders (mine were a touch too small in the legs) and we were off. Because the waders didn't allow me to bend my knees farther than, say 20 degrees, I ended up walking like a penguin. For 50 feet along the fence, across a stream that came over my knees, and around the end of the fence I waddled. I also needed help going up inclines.

Anyway, we made it to the lake and started wading along the edge to retrieve the plants. I think we walked 2-300 metres along the shore with the wind and snow flurries around us. There were some obvious beaver signs and the bottom of the lake is rather sandy so there'll be a bunch of leeches for me to check out next summer. Sebastien also said there's a lot of eels there as well. After gathering a bag full of the milfoil, we climbed out of the lake and walked through Acadian forest back to the fence. Along the way, Sebastien pointed out wintergreen (Eastern teaberry) and picked a couple of berries for me to try. They taste like....wintergreen! Of course. Why was I so surprised? Anyway, I also tried the leaf of the plant which is also strongly flavoured - but even more so, and rather bitter. I'm afraid I had to spit the leaf out.

All in all, and despite my waddling, it was a great little trek into an area I'd not visited before. Sebastien will hang onto the plants we collected until (maybe tomorrow) he and other members of the group can get them to areas along the Little Sackville River for river remediation since the oil spill last month. I'm hoping to join them as well at some point...and will remember my camera this time, too.

S.