Johns Hopkins Health Review, 2016 (EXERCISE)
Exercise energizes the brain, and understanding how this happens may lead to therapies for age-related neurological degeneration and diseases. As we age, our brain cells may stop producing enough energy to remain fully functional, and diseases like Alzheimer’s can complicate matters. A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the National Institute on Aging’s Intramural Research Program studied mice as they ran on wheels and found that the rodents had increased levels of a protective enzyme in their brains, which may subsequently boost energy levels in brain cells.

Johns Hopkins Health Review, 2016 (ADDICTION)
Whether your first cigarette is a one-off rite of passage or one of thousands you’ll smoke in your lifetime may depend on your genes.

By studying the earliest stages of nicotine dependence, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have determined that “there are definitely some people who are nicotine avoiders and others who are nicotine choosers,” says addiction researcher Roland Griffiths.

Genetic and metabolic vulnerabilities likely lead some people to become nicotine choosers, a finding based on the behavior of nonsmoking volunteers in a recent small study. Over time, the volunteers were able to distinguish between two seemingly identical pills – one with nicotine, one without – and then say which one they preferred and why. Nicotine choosers cited improved concentration, alertness, stimulation, energy, and mood.

Nicotine avoiders chose the placebo because the other pill made them feel light headed, dizzy, or sick. Knowing that this predisposed preference exists may lead to new preventive measures and smoking-cessation options.

Editor’s Note: Are you ready for another trip down Memory Lane? Those of you who grew up in the boroughs of NYC, will identify with this trip!

Arnold Fine, a”h, passed away on Sept. 5, 2014 at the age of 90. The Jewish Press continues to feature his timeless columns that have warmed the hearts of readers for more than fifty years.

Some Excerpts:
Some of us old timers were children of the Depression years. We knew how to live without many of the luxuries kids have today. We collected things that didn’t cost us a cent.

The bottle caps we saved became our checkers. If you pried the cork center out of the bottle cap and then pressed it into another cap, that cap became our “shooter” when we played Skelly in the street. To play Skelly all you needed was a piece of chalk to draw a box with a certain pattern and you were in business.

Saving cheese boxes was also a big thing. You could get a cheese box from the grocer; it was always clean white wood. You could save marbles in them – or keep them for old pencils. They made wonderful planters we kept on the fire escape.

Some of us also saved rubber bands. Whenever we found one we would twist it along with many others into a rubber ball. Remember those rubber-band balls? The big trick, of course, was to see how big a rubber-band ball we could make. It wasn’t easy! The wide rubber bands were the best and the easiest – the little skinny ones would always manage to slip off the edge of the ball.

Some of the kids made rubber-band balls that were the size of a baseball. When you bounced it,  it would go up almost three or four stories. But who played in the street with a rubber-band ball? You kept it in the house to impress friends. It was like a paperweight.

Saving matchbook covers was also a big thing in those years. We would walk along the street looking for discarded matchbook covers. In those years so many different companies advertised on matchbooks, and if you ever got a matchbook from out of state, you were almost a celebrity in our neighborhood.

Another thing saved in those years, especially as we grew older, – were Playbills. You know, the pro- grams you get when you see a show. If my sisters went to a show they would come back with a dozen Playbills. They would save them and give the extras to their friends. who did the same for them.

A big item in those years was a song sheet. They sold for 10 cents. Most of them were the size of today’s pennysavers and the front cover would proclaim, “500 of the Top Songs of Today!” True, those sheets did have the words to the top tunes of the day, but they never had 500 songs in them. To fill out the sheets they included the words to the national anthem, some old dance numbers, and a few of the songs we learned in school.

Another item we saved in those years were empty Prince Albert tobacco cans. They were great for storing nails, nuts, and dozens of other items.

Chocolate tins were always saved, for stationary. Mama and my sisters’ always kept stamps in purple chocolate boxes.

Ice cream sticks were also a big thing in those years. We would walk around the street and look in the gutter for discarded sticks. They were great for weaving little fans during hot summer nights, and every so often if we found a stick that said “Free Good Humor” on it, we could get a free ice cream from the Good Humor man, when he came around the neighborhood.

We also saved Bungalow Bar ice cream wrappers. The company had a promotion in those years where if you saved enough wrappers you could get a baseball or a doll or even a bat. I remember saving 75 wrappers to get a bat. I had ice cream coming out of my ears but I was so determined to get the bat that I just ate and ate and became a blimp that summer. But I got a bat!

Palm Beach Post Special Section

As a Physician in Florida since 1990, I have witnessed the benefits of exercise in my mostly senior population of patients. Many of my patients have either stopped or decreased both anti-hypertensive and diabetic medications. They have improved their circulatory and cardiovascular system, which has the added benefit of improving endurance. Not only does regular exercise improve bone density and muscular strength but also improves joint flexibility and weight loss. Seniors who exercise regularly have reduced stress and depression and have increased self-esteem. Remember a sedentary lifestyle is one of the top risk factors of heart disease. Fortunately, it is a risk factor that can be changed with a well-balanced exercise program. Remember not only is increasing muscular strength possible it is imperative to your health.

I would like to leave you with a list of exercise side effects.

• Strengthen your heart and cardiovascular system
• Improve your circulation and help your body use oxygen better
• Improve your heart failure symptoms
• Increase energy levels so you can do more activities without becoming tired or short breath
• Increase endurance
• Lower blood pressure
• Improve muscle tone and strength
• Improve balance and joint flexibility
• Strengthen bones
• Help reduce body fat and help you reach a healthy weight
• Help reduce stress, tension, anxiety, and depression
• Boosts self-image and self-esteem
• Improves sleep
• Make you feel more relaxed and rested
• Make you look fit and healthy

The wonderful article in the October issue of the Aberdeen Times about Pearlman’s Candy Store woke up a memory in this Bronx boy’s mind. It had been asleep for many years since Candy Store Communication was long ago replaced by Cell Phone Mania.

Back in the day, if you were fortunate enough to hang around in a neighborhood Candy Store you were part of the “in group.” It was your meeting place, your town hall, your comfort zone. You were there with your friends, since it was the place to go. You were also there to meet new friends. Substitute “friends” with “girls” or “guys.”

Jerry’s Candy Store, at the corner of 183rd street and Beaumont Avenue, in The Bronx, was where our crowd hung out during our teen-age years. Jerry and Louise Fortunato were our away-from-home parents who allowed us to share their Candy Store as our second home. A side agenda to their generous hospitality had something to do with their lovely daughter, Jeanne, being one of the sisters in our crowd.

Jerry’s store had an alcove with 4 booths that were always occupied by the Clovers or the Cloverettes; the name of our baseball team and the beautiful young ladies who supported the team. It was a team to support and be proud of since it had a winning record every year. Another activity that occupied our crowd was the softball games played on concrete across the street at the PS 32 school field. On Sundays, the games were watched by as many as forty or more folks from the neighborhood.

The crowds were even larger at the stick ball games played on the street, where your talent was determined by the distance you hit the Spaldeen, which was determined by how many sewers the ball traveled. The Spaldeen high bounce ball has been referred to by some as the Rosetta Stone of Urban Childhood Fun.

Jerry (& Louise) made the best egg cream in The Bronx. For those unfamiliar with our Champagne Cocktail, an egg cream consists of milk, carbonated water and chocolate syrup. There is no egg and no cream in this wonderful beverage.

Jerry permitted us to use his back room to play cards (yes, for money). Some of our card games lasted for hours except when a guy heard his code knock on the door, which informed him his girl friend had arrived. My code knock from Joan was 2 knocks followed by a single knock.

I would like to pay tribute to a quartet of my friends who attracted crowds when they harmonized outside Jerry’s in the evenings. It is more than 70 years ago but I remember Rocco (Black) and Frank (Stoogie) Balazano, Joe (Cat) Miele, and Sylvio (Chip) Mastroanni being referred to as Little Italy’s version of the Ink Spots. Didn’t y’all have nicknames growing up?

Our group of guys and gals deserve high fives. We came together from different neighborhoods, enjoyed each other, grew together and never were faced with problems that required police attention.

1.  For a mosquito-bite itch, try pressing a warm spoon on the welt. Run a spoon under hot tap water and apply. Heat relieves the itch in 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Meditation and yoga can help reduce stress, but consider this faster fix — sniff an orange. Citrusy and floral aromas help to lower anxiety.
3.  Researchers at the U. of Auckland in N.Z. have found that Honey reduces healing time significantly when applied to wounds because of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Simply spread it over the area, then carefully apply a bandage.
4. American skydiver Luke Atkins completed the first-ever successful skydive without a parachute, plunging some 25,000 feet into a large net suspended 20 stories above the ground.
5. The federal government approved the 1st private space mission to the moon. Moon Express, a FL-based co., hopes to put a lander on the moon surface in 2017, and eventually plans to mine the moon for rare elements and metals.
6. A Michigan woman, attending a courtroom-ordered class on smart decision-making, was arrested while trying to escape through the ceiling of the courthouse women’s room.
7. A new study found that Millenials born in the 1990’s are more than twice as likely to be sexually inactive than the previous generation, partly because they find social media and other on-line activities more interesting.
8. Pres. Obama has officially chosen Chicago’s Jackson Park as the location of his presidential library. The park, site of the 1893 World’s Fair, is on the city’s South Side and short walk to the U. of Chicago.
9. A Utah couple was billed by a hospital for the privilege of holding their newborn baby. The Grassleys were asked if they wanted “skin-to-skin contact” after delivery. They were shocked to later see a charge of $39.95 to cover “the additional staff’ needed to put the baby securely in the mother’s arms.
10. The number to call to restrict telemarketing calls permanently by registering your telephone number is 888-382-1222. This can also be done on-line at www.donotcall.gov. This will cut back on some of the calls you receive, but not all of them.

When you are married, they call you Mrs.
When you are single, it’s Ms.
When you get an engagement ring, you’re known as somebody’s fiancee.
If you are in a gay relationship, you’re someone’s partner.
If you’re going with a college frat boy – they say you are pinned.
If you are dating different guys, they say you are playing the field.
If you are only dating one man – you are going steady.

But in the senior dating world, the labels can be quite different. Take a friend of mine, who, as of this writing, is 77 years old. She is dating a man who is 91. If she referred to him as her boyfriend, she thinks her grandchildren would howl with laughter. But, she explains, should she refer to him as her gentleman friend, she would feel like a stodgy old lady.

The 91 year-old boyfriend, too, says he feels young and spry when he refers to her as his girlfriend, although he often wonders if it isn’t politically correct – at his age – to say he has a lady friend.

Not long ago, a friend said she had a lovely man she wanted me to meet. “I’m sorry,” I said, “but I’m seeing someone.” My friend who is my contemporary, knew exactly what I meant. But if I had said that to a person decades younger, they might have wondered if I had a vision problem.

One step beyond dating is living together. In days gone by, such a couple would be considered living in sin. But in the senior dating world, this is a perfectly acceptable way of life. For no other reason than when 2 people share the household expenses, there is more money to spend to go on cruises.

And what if you are living together only on weekends? I have a friend who lives part time with her significant other, as she refers to him, because, she explained, she can go to her own house whenever he got on her nerves!

I’ve dated somewhat. One man I labeled Cheap Bob because he considered going to Wendy’s as a perfectly acceptable dinner date. Another I referred to as Deaf Man because he never heard a word I said. Looking back, I wonder if he really couldn’t hear me, or was so used to tuning out whatever his wife talked about, that not responding to anything I said was just a habit! And the most accurate label I ever gave to a man was reserved for a gentleman who thought he could drive at night. Unfortunately, his vision was so impaired that he was really a danger on the road. My name for him became Near Death, and frankly, I only went out with him once – for obvious reasons. In retrospect, as far as I’m concerned, he was a “blind date” in more ways than one.

************************************

Bea Lewis is the author of the recently published “A Widow’s Journey: How I Went From Loss to Learning to Moving On.” It is available on Amazon. com, both in the paperback and Kindle versions.

Find the Mistake
Last month I promised you we would have some fun this season. To that end, I am using some ideas which come from a book given to me by my good friend, Clara Sinrich of Turnberry. This book, Bridge Hands for the Connoisseur, has some very interesting hands, but because of copyright laws, I can’t reproduce them exactly. I can, however, discuss concepts suggested by the hands. By the way, the book was written in 1947, but the concepts are just as valid today as they were then.

One of the chapters is called “Find the Mistakes.” Here’s a hand, not the hand from the book, but a hand with similar attributes.

South is the dealer. East/West is Vulnerable.

The bidding goes as follows:

West leads the♣Q. South wins and draws 2 rounds of trump. On the second round, West plays a club. Declarer then tries♦A winning and then a safety play of a low diamond. West wins and now plays♣, forcing declarer to trump. This leaves declarer without a second entry to his established diamonds, so he must go down. What did the declarer do wrong???????

South should not touch the trump at all. He needs to play♦A and then the♦K. When East trumps, he leaves himself with only 3 trump. No matter what East does, Declarer can now trump 2 more diamonds, establishing the remaining 2 diamonds for spade discards. Do you see how this works?

When East trumps, he will take his good club and give his partner a spade trick. What can West do at this point? His best play is to make Declarer trump by leading either a club or a spade. In either case, declarer trumps and plays a diamond. He trumps the diamond and plays a heart to his Ace reducing both himself and East to 2 trumps each. He then trumps another diamond forcing West to give up his last diamond. Finally, he draws both of East’s trumps with his 2 top trump and discards his remaining spades on the good diamonds.

[wptab name=’Questions’]

1. What important event did the premiere of the opera “Aida” commemorate?
2. On what show were “The Not Ready for Prime Time Players”?
3. In the comic strip “Lil Abner” what was the day that the girls chased the guys?
4. Who said, “Money is better than poverty if only for financial reasons”?
5. What instrument did Tommy Dorsey play?
6. What American dancer was strangled when her long scarf caught in the wheel of a car in which she was riding?
7. What was Scarlett O’Hara’s favorite expression?
8. Who said, “Smile first thing in the morning and get it over with”?
9. “Star Trek” made its television debut in what year?
10. Who did the voice of Darth Vader in “Star Wars”?
    [/wptab]

[wptab name=’Answers’]

1. The opening of the Suez Canal
2. Saturday Night Live
3. Sadie Hawkins Day
4. Woody Allen
5. The trombone
6. Isadora Duncan
7. Fiddle-dee-dee
8. W.C. Fields
9. 1966
10. James Earl Jones

[/wptab]

[end_wptabset]