DR KEVWE'S BLOG

Kenny Rogers - 👀: www.people.com

The news of the death of all time, multi-genre music  great, Kenny Rogers, hit the air waves about 2 weeks ago and as fans from all over the world continue to pay their respect, I decided to write a short tribute, with very vivid memories of my first auditory appointment with Legendary Old Roger. "On a faithful warm summer's eve, he got on a train bound to nowhere, where he met up with a gambler and discovered that, they were both too tired to sleep; so they took turns at staring at the darkness out the window, when the boredom  overtook them and the gambler began to speak". I might have been only 6 years old at the time but the smooth, deep voice filtering into my ears from my Grandfather's stereo, made me feel like, I certainly needed to be part of this meeting and that is how I learnt very early on in life that, you could "read people's faces by the way they held their eyes"!


To say Kenny Rogers was a Legend is an understatement! With every other song, came a vital lesson for me! Even if I wasn't considered the coward of my Local Government Area like Tommy, the mistaken County coward, that song sparked up a light in many underrated lads, that words could not express!



He was reported to have breathed his last at the age of 81, on 20th March, 2020 at Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States and though, he may have passed on to another world like an Island carried away by a stream, his Legacy will be remembered for many years to come and so will his voice in our fondest auditory memories.


REFERENCES:
* Kenny Rogers|YouTube

* Kenny Rogers 1938 - 2020

* Kenny Rogers: Country music legend dies aged 81|BBC

👀: www.hypebeast.com

Once upon a Queen and  ARETHA FRANKLIN was the owner of the Iron Throne in that Kingdom with SOUL being the name of the game! Here's my favourite Aretha Franklin track of all times...."NATURAL WOMAN". What's yours? Video imported from her personal YouTube ArethaFranklinVevo Account. Enjoy.



Farewell Queen Of Soul. You remain "Aretha Forever"!

By Dr. Oghenekevwe Daniel Ogidigben.

By Atlantic Records(Life time: Published before 1978 without a copyright notice) - Original publication: Billboard MagazineImmediate source: page 7, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71697207

The one and only Queen of Soul Music, Aretha Franklin, will be laid to rest today and as I stare into my system, I am short of words to express the impact her music had on some of us as we grew to gain a better understanding of what Rhythm & Soul meant - if you were a young under-the-shower Artiste, you will understand better.  This is what ACE TV Show Host/Owner of The O.W.N Telemedia Channel, Oprah Winfrey, thinks about the Queen as she departs finally.....

No matter how many great singers and voices there will always be 1 Queen. #ArethaQueenForever

A post shared by Oprah (@oprah) on Aug 16, 2018 at 10:00am PDT

Born on the 25th of March 1942 in Memphis,Tennessee, USA, the super soul sister,mother and grandmother at some point in her life, is reported to have battled with a form of Pancreatic Cancer; abnormal and uncontrolled growth of cells in the pancreas - a large gland located behind the stomach that secretes digestive enzymes (chemicals) into the small bowel. She eventually passed away on the 16th of August 2018 in Detroit, Michigan, USA  and though she is referred to by some as the earliest symbol of International Feminism-demanding some RESPECT when other women kept their cool- she was the pure epitome of earthly love; making me feel like a NATURAL YOUNG MAN, every time I was blessed by her voice on that classic hit! I bet you certainly felt like a NATURAL WOMAN if you were a fan of hers at any point.

👀: hollywoodlife.com

👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑
Prevention when possible is better than cure;however early detection of CANCER can save lives. See your Healthcare provider for regular checks and screening tests as soon as you can. For more information about the life and times of the Queen of Soul,as well as her funeral,see the references below.

By Dr. Oghenekevwe Daniel Ogidigben.

References:
* WIKIPEDIA|ARETHA FRANKLIN

* MAIL ONLINE| Franklin's funeral billed as a spiritual service, with stars

Everyone loves Grey’s Anatomy. I mean, honestly, who could possibly hate anything Shonda Rhimes writes? Importantly, this is the show that has inspired scores of devoted fans to pursue careers as doctors. But not everything in the medical world is quite as glamorous as the show makes it seem. Here are 8 misconceptions about being a doctor that Grey’s has perpetuated:

The hospital = your home.

John has revealed that he had a cancerous nodule removed from his thyroid. Here are the facts on this disease.

Most people know very little about their thyroid at all, let alone the health problems that can affect it. (The thyroid gland is in your neck, by the way.) But thyroid cancer is being talked about today more than ever, thanks to celebs like Brooke Burke-Charvet and Sophia Vergara, who both had the disease, and Robert Ebert, who died in 2013 after fighting thyroid and salivary cancer for years. Now Shark Tank star Daymond John has revealed that he was diagnosed with stage II thyroid cancer, and underwent surgery to have a nodule removed. "I have to monitor it for the rest of my life," John, 48, said on Good Morning America Wednesday. "I have another half of my thyroid still in. In the event it comes back I will have to fight it."

Rates of thyroid cancer have increased three-fold in the last three decades in the United States; by some measures, it's considered the fastest-growing cancer among women. To learn more, we talked with Hossein Gharib, MD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and former president of the American Thyroid Association. Here’s what he thinks everyone should know about this disease.

Diagnosis rates are up—but incidence isn't

Just because more cases of thyroid cancer are being caught by doctors, that doesn't mean more people are getting the disease. The increase in diagnoses is mostly due to better detection of small papillary thyroid cancers by ultrasound and biopsy technology, says Dr. Gharib. This sounds like a good thing, but it’s not without controversy: “Some consider this overdiagnosis of disease that is not clinically important,” he says, noting that many thyroid cancers are slow growing and not life-threatening. “Therefore, some patients undergo unnecessary treatment.”

Just this week the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that the harms of thyroid cancer screening outweigh the benefits, and recommended against screening adults who show no symptoms.

Symptoms are subtle—or non-existent

Some thyroid diseases—like hypothyroidism, or underfunctioning thyroid—can cause fatigue and weight gain. But thyroid cancer is usually more subtle, says Dr. Gharib. “It is commonly diagnosed when a patient presents with a thyroid lump or nodule,” he says. “Nodules are usually discovered incidentally, by the patient or by a doctor.”

Thyroid cancer is almost always treatable

Thyroid cancer is sometimes described as a “good” type of cancer to have (if there is such a thing) because most patients can be treated and live a relatively normal life. In fact, the 25-year survival rate for patients with papillary thyroid cancer, the most common type, is 95%.

...But some forms are more aggressive than others

The age and family history of a patient, and the size of his or her tumor (as well as whether it’s spread to other organs), may determine how treatable, or how dangerous, the disease is. The type of cancer is important, too: “Follicular thyroid cancer accounts for only 10% but has a more guarded prognosis,” says Dr. Gharib, “and anaplastic thyroid cancer, a rare tumor, is very aggressive with very high mortality.”

Patients need follow-up care

Treatment usually involves removing the entire thyroid, an organ that produces vital hormones our bodies need to function properly. Because of this, thyroid cancer survivors need to take medication (usually via a daily pill) for the rest of their lives to replace these hormones. And because thyroid cancer frequently spreads to the lymph nodes, many patients experience recurrences and require a second or third surgery, says Dr. Gharib.

Radiation exposure is a risk factor

Thyroid cancer is more common in women, people with a family history, and people who have been exposed to radiation, especially as children. (X-rays deliver radiation in small doses, and are generally considered safe, although children should be exposed only when necessary.) A 2014 Japanese study revealed that 57 children living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was damaged in 2011 had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and 46 were suspected to have the disease, as well.

A lump doesn’t mean cancer

Discovering a nodule on your neck is not an automatic diagnosis of thyroid cancer, says Dr. Gharib, and up to half of all adults have them. Of these, only about 5% are malignant. “Thyroid cancer is uncommon,” he says. “When a nodule is discovered, referral to an endocrinologist is important for a careful evaluation.” And as long as it’s confirmed as benign, simple observation and follow-up is likely all the care you’ll need.

Wild deer may be a tourist attraction in Kerry but they also carry a potential public health risk.

The Killarney area’s large Red and Sika deer populations of up to 1,500 could harbour a disease-carrying tick.

Lyme disease, warned Kerry-based Labour senator Marie Moloney, is very contractible. She raised the issue in the Seanad and said the high rate of the disease often went undetected, especially in Killarney.

Between 50 and 100 cases of the disease are reported in Ireland annually, according to the HSE, while studies show Kerry, Wicklow and Galway as disease hotspots.

Calling for greater awareness of the disease, Ms Moloney said many people did not realise Lyme disease could be contracted here.

It is transmitted by a bite from a tick. The disease is named after the town in Connecticut in the US, where the first cases of the condition were identified.

“Ticks need large mammals for hosts, as they feed off their blood, and deer are one such host. Some ticks carry Lyme disease. Ticks are very tiny and they have an anaesthetic in their jaws so you may not even know you have been bitten,” said Ms Moloney.

Some infected people show no symptoms, but the most common evidence of infection is a rash that is seen in about three quarters of victims.
The red, raised, skin rash can last up to a month and can be several inches in diameter.

People can also complain of flu-like symptoms such as headache, sore throat, neck stiffness, fever, muscle aches, and general fatigue.

“What we should be doing is highlighting awareness and encourage quick diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating disease,” the senator urged.

“Occasionally, the patient may carry Lyme disease but have no outwardly obvious symptoms. Ill-health may crop up years later following an illness, or period of stress. This leads to late Lyme disease, where symptoms are similar to multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, or Parkinson’s disease.”

Researchers have found that alternative enactment techniques -- such as acting -- can improve patients' perspective memory. Academics involved in the study claim the new method is particularly beneficial for people with mild cognitive impairment (which could suggest early stages of Alzheimer's disease) and can provide a cost-effective alternative that can support independent living.

Have you ever been shopping and returned home to find that you have forgotten to buy the very item you went shopping for? Have you known it was going to rain yet left your umbrella at home? Have you gone out and left the television on?

All these instances are examples where prospective memory has failed -- you have not remembered to take the action you had planned. While these examples are comparatively trivial, poor prospective memory can have serious consequences -- forgetting to take medication, or leaving the stove on, for example.

A failing prospective memory can be an early sign of Alzheimer's disease, according to University of Chichester psychologists, and new therapeutic methods are being used to utilise levels of prospective memory as a means to accurately diagnose diseases of cognitive impairment. Such methods can be effective non-invasive alternatives to traditional clinical methods such as the extraction of cerebral spinal fluid.

In research published in the journal "Neuropsychology," a team led by the University of Chichester has studied prospective memory performance of 96 participants including patients with mild cognitive impairment aged 64 to 87 years, healthy older adults aged 62 to 84 years and younger adults aged 18 to 22 years.

The study, which also included members from Radboud University Nijmegen, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Lisbon, looked at prospective memory performance before the introduction of an enhancement technique and compared it with performance after the enhancement technique. The technique used was encoded enactment, where subjects were encouraged to act through the activity they must remember to do.

All age groups reported improvement in prospective memory, but it was particularly marked in those older subjects with mild cognitive impairment, that is, potentially in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The study suggests that encouraging people in this category to adopt enactment as a means to enhance prospective memory could result in them leading independent, autonomous lives for longer

Leading the study was Dr Antonina Pereira from the University of Chichester. She said: "Poor prospective memory can range from the vaguely annoying to life threatening, depending on the circumstances. We wanted to confirm two things -- that prospective memory deteriorates with age and that enactment techniques might support those with a poor prospective memory."

She added: "We did indeed find that prospective memory erodes as we get older, and our early findings in this little researched area would suggest that enactment techniques are effective in improving prospective memory. We were heartened to see that there was improvement in our group with mild cognitive impairment. Enactment techniques offer the potential for a cost-effective and widely applicable method that can support independent living. This contributes to an individual's health, well-being and social relationships while reducing the burden of care."

Antonina's tip for overcoming poor prospective memory

"The next time you would like to remember to pick up a pint of milk from the store on your way home, do not wait until you have got home to realise you have forgotten to do it. Instead, recreate the action you would like to remember, pretending that you are actually doing it, in as much vivid detail as possible. This might feel awkward to begin with, but it has been identified as an optimal technique to enhance prospective memory. It can have very long lasting effects and work even for people with cognitive impairment. Acting is the key."

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Chichester. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Ballet couples on contemporary music. How does much affect mood and performance?

It doesn't matter if it's Bach, the Beatles, Brad Paisley or Bruno Mars. Your favorite music likely triggers a similar type of activity in your brain as other people's favorites do in theirs.

That's one of the things Jonathan Burdette, M.D., has found in researching music's effects on the brain.

"Music is primal. It affects all of us, but in very personal, unique ways," said Burdette, a neuroradiologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. "Your interaction with music is different than mine, but it's still powerful.

"Your brain has a reaction when you like or don't like something, including music. We've been able to take some baby steps into seeing that, and 'dislike' looks different than 'like' and much different than 'favorite.'"

To study how music preferences might affect functional brain connectivity -- the interactions among separate areas of the brain -- Burdette and his fellow investigators used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which depicts brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow. Scans were made of 21 people while they listened to music they said they most liked and disliked from among five genres (classical, country, rap, rock and Chinese opera) and to a song or piece of music they had previously named as their personal favorite.

Those fMRI scans showed a consistent pattern: The listeners' preferences, not the type of music they were listening to, had the greatest impact on brain connectivity -- especially on a brain circuit known to be involved in internally focused thought, empathy and self-awareness. This circuit, called the default mode network, was poorly connected when the participants were listening to the music they disliked, better connected when listening to the music they liked and the most connected when listening to their favorites.

The researchers also found that listening to favorite songs altered the connectivity between auditory brain areas and a region responsible for memory and social emotion consolidation.

"Given that music preferences are uniquely individualized phenomena and that music can vary in acoustic complexity and the presence or absence of lyrics, the consistency of our results was unexpected," the researchers wrote in the journal Nature Scientific Reports (Aug. 28, 2014). "These findings may explain why comparable emotional and mental states can be experienced by people listening to music that differs as widely as Beethoven and Eminem."

Not surprising to Burdette was the extent of the connectivity seen in the participants' brains when they were listening to their favorite tunes.

"There are probably some features in music that make you feel a certain way, but it's your experience with it that is even more important," said Burdette, who also is professor of radiology and vice chairman of research at Wake Forest School of Medicine. "Your associations with certain music involve many different parts of the brain, and they're very strong.

"In some cases, you might not even like the particular song, but you like the memories or feelings that you associate with it."

In other research projects, Burdette and colleagues at the School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro have found that trained music conductors are likely to be better at combining and using auditory and visual clues than people without musical training; that activity in brain areas associated with vision decreases during tasks that involve listening; and that different levels of complexity in music can have different effects on functional brain connectivity.

"I find this type of work fascinating, because I think music is so important," Burdette said. "If science can help get more people to recognize what music does to and for us, great."

Music is just a small part of Burdette's research activities -- his most recently published study, for example, showed that brain volume could be an accurate predictor of success in weight-loss attempts by the elderly -- but it has long been a big of part his life.

Burdette grew up playing viola, piano and guitar. He has been singing since childhood and continues to do so, including in the chorus in productions staged by the Piedmont Opera, of which he has been a board member for more than 10 years. He's also done some conducting. His wife, Shona Simpson, plays piano. Their three teenage daughters -- Fiona, Ellie and Jessie -- perform professionally as the Dan River Girls. His brother, Kevin, is a singer who has appeared as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic and other top-tier opera companies and symphony orchestras.

"Music is my avocation," the physician in the family said. "Radiology is my vocation."

Burdette additionally has deep interest, if not direct involvement, in music's clinical applications.

"Music isn't going to cure anything, but it definitely can play a therapeutic role," he said.

In countries such as Germany, Burdette noted, music therapy is commonly an integral part of the rehabilitation process for people who have had strokes, brain surgery or traumatic brain injuries.

"If you're trying to restore neuroplasticity in the brain, to re-establish some of the connections that were there before the injury, music can be a big help, and I'd like to see it used more widely in this country," he said.

Burdette also is a proponent of programs that help people with Alzheimer's, dementia and other cognitive and physical problems re-connect with the world through music. One such program is Music & Memory, which employs iPods with customized playlists featuring songs popular when the participating individual was under 30 years old.

"You can actually see the power of music," Burdette said. "People who were just sitting there, not engaged in anything, light up when they start hearing music from when they were 25.

"It's fantastic. What else can do that? I can't think of anything other than music."