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Try This Simple Test Of Brain Health — You Can Do It Standing On One Leg
by David DiSalvo Contributor – Forbes.com
Once in a while, brain research dishes out a simple, practical way to run a self-diagnostic test on your brain’s health. A recent study from Japanese researchers offers such a test, and it’s simple enough that almost everyone can give it a try. Here’s what you do: stand up, raise one leg in front of you bent at your knee, and try to maintain your balance in that position for as long as you can. Do that twice and record your time with a stopwatch both times.
According to the study, people who aren’t able to stay balanced on one leg for longer than 20 seconds should consider further evaluation from a doctor. The reason is that imbalance strongly correlates with the presence of tiny lesions, or “microbleeds”, in the brain, which can be there even when you’re otherwise feeling healthy. Over time these microbleeds can lead to serious issues such as stroke and dementia.
The study assessed 1387 adults, average age 67, all of whom were in good overall health. Everyone in the study performed the test twice and their best times were recorded. The participants were then given an MRI brain scan to identify any abnormalities in brain tissue.
The results showed a straight line correlation between inability to balance for at least 20 seconds and the occurrence of microbleeds and other forms of tissue damage in the brain. While only 10% of people who couldn’t hold balance for 20 seconds showed no signs of microbleeds, 30% with two or more microbleeds had trouble balancing. The same held true for another type of tissue damage called a “lacunar infarction lesion” – less than 10% of those who couldn’t balance showed no lesions, but almost 35% who failed the test had two or more lesions.
These results were consistent even after other factors such as blood pressure, age, and arterial health were controlled for.
Dr. Yasuharu Tabara of the Center for Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, who led the study, commented:
“Our study found that the ability to balance on one leg is an important test for brain health. Individuals showing poor balance on one leg should receive increased attention, as this may indicate an increased risk for brain disease and cognitive decline.”
The researchers also examined a possible link between the balancing test and cognitive ability (such as thought processing speed and memory) and found that an inability to hold balance for 20 seconds correlates with “reduced cognitive function” independent of other factors.
The takeaway: try the test, and if you can’t pass it, schedule a visit with your doctor. It may help identify and prevent serious issues later on.
The study was published in the American Heart Association ’s journal Stroke.
You can find David DiSalvo on Twitter @neuronarrative.
via Try This Simple Test Of Brain Health — You Can Do It Standing On One Leg.
Regular Guys Are Learning the Truth, and Spreading It – Gary North
This is a great personal testimony. It is also an accurate brief history of the media.
He got into this by finding out about three items that we conspiracy theorists have known for 40 years or more: the origins of public relations (Edward Bernays — though not Ivy Lee, meaning that he has more to learn), the FED (Jekyll Island), and Operation Northwoods. He awoke from his slumbers.
What he has done since then, others can do — and will do.
The establishments of the world are now on the defensive. This is good.
The Net Is Mightier Than The Sword – James Corbett at TEDxGroningen
via Regular Guys Are Learning the Truth, and Spreading It – LewRockwell.com.
Putin Interventions Will Slow the Russian Economy-Economic Policy Journal
As the oil price falls, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a number of directives aimed at the economic sector, none of them good.
It is always best, when there are changes in an economy, to allow markets to adjust to the new situation and limit, or even better, reverse government meddling in the economy.
Putin does not appear to be consistently applying such a hands off approach.
He has, for example, ordered a freeze on vodka prices. As any first year college student of economics knows, price controls only lead to shortages and the development of black markets. Not good.
Under the watchful eye of Putin, the Bank of Russia also has bailed out a mid-sized bank for about $500 million to save it from bankruptcy. The central bank, headed by Elvira Nabiullina, a close confidant of Putin, has announced it will provide a 30-billion ruble loan to help the Trust Bank to continue operating as normal. Again, not good. The quickest way to turn around an economy that suffers from the misallocation of capital, which is what a problem bank is indicative of, is to allow the liquidation of such bad banksand investments, not to prop up such banks, and investments, by throwing good money after bad.
Nabiullina seems to understand this point, as I pointed out in an earlier post. The Russian people should hope that this bailout is some kind of an outlier event that resulted because of unique pressures, but that is unlikely to be repeated. Though it does seem that more propping up, of various sorts, will take place. In a statement published on Wednesday, the Bank of Russia said it would lend dollars and euros to banks putting up foreign currency loans to big exporters as collateral. This is another interventionist move that certainly has limits, since the Russian central bank does not have an unlimited amount of foreign reserves to do such lending. All this is doing is shrinking the reserves backing the ruble, not a good thing at any time, but certainly not a good thing when the ruble is crashing on foreign exchange markets.
The moves by Putin still do not seem to be as dramatic as what occurred in the United States by the US government, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but the Putin moves are certainly going in the wrong direction.
The more interventionist Putin gets, the worse it will be for the Russian economy in the long run. The Russian people should hope that Elvira can talk some sense into him.
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/12/putin-interventions-will-slow-economy.html
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The Trews VS John Lewis Xmas Advert: Russell Brand The Trews (E217) – YouTube
Published on Dec 23, 2014
Russell Brand The Trews (E217).
What methods are advertisers using this Christmas to get us to spend our money? Subscribe Here Now: http://tinyurl.com/opragcg and send links to video news items of topical stories that you’d like me to analyse.
via The Trews VS John Lewis Xmas Advert: Russell Brand The Trews (E217) – YouTube.
Boxing Day Best Of: Russell Brand The Trews (E220) – YouTube
Published on Dec 26, 2014
Extract from the book Revolution by Russell Brand – animated by Alexandra Lunnhttps://twitter.com/alexandra_lunn
Published on Dec 26, 2014
Russell Brand The Trews (E220).
Part 2 of our favourite Trews moments of the year. Thanks for watching and Happy Boxing Day Trewsers!
Keep going:
The Most Important Decision You Can Make For Success by James Altucher
I forgot to tell you something. I have a business partner named Dan.
A friend of mine asked another friend of mine a few months ago: “how come James doesn’t have any business partners over the long run”.
Mostly because I just write about bad stuff. Good stuff is boring. But it’s important also.
How come? Because when you hit bottom, as we all do, sometimes you need one good person to remind you that everything is going to be ok.
PCRM: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – Dr. Neal Barnard
I’d like to invite you to view our Best of 2014 slide show, which highlights our victories and progress on many fronts.
Here’s a sample:
The Physicians Committee led an international grassroots effort to convince the Taiwanese government to shelve plans for rabies experiments on beagle puppies. The beagles were spared!
No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony – The Daily Beast
The FBI and the President may claim that the Hermit Kingdom is to blame for the most high-profile network breach in forever. But almost all signs point in another direction.
So, “The Interview” is to be released after all.
The news that the satirical movie—which revolves around a plot to murder Kim Jong-Un—will have a Christmas Day release as planned, will prompt renewed scrutiny of whether, as the US authorities have officially claimed, the cyber attack on Sony really was the work of an elite group of North Korean government hackers.
All the evidence leads me to believe that the great Sony Pictures hack of 2014 is far more likely to be the work of one disgruntled employee facing a pink slip.
Continued:
Internet hacking blame game So just who hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment?… Peter Vogel
Internet hacking blame game
So just who hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment? Evidence pointing to the Democratic People’s Republic of (North) Korea is scant. Was it really all about a rather bad movie that benefited from Canadian tax credits?
via Internet hacking blame game So just who hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment?….
