Low Doses Of Marijuana Compound Could Slow Or Stop Progression Of Alzheimer's

Posted: 08/28/2014 3:09 pm EDT Updated: 08/28/2014 3:59 pm EDT

• Good news for as we get older.

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Marijuana is touted for its medical uses, lessening pain, nausea, and other uncomfortable side effects of conditions like glaucoma, nerve pain, and cancer. Now researchers say, a chemical found in the hotly debated drug could slow or altogether stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Findings of a preclinical study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, suggest very small doses of THC, a chemical found in marijuana, slow down the production of thebeta-amyloid protein, which builds up to create plaques in the brain, an accumulation of which is a known hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
"THC is known to be a potent antioxidant with neuroprotective properties, but this is the first report that the compound directly affects Alzheimer's pathology by decreasing amyloid beta levels, inhibiting its aggregation," lead author Chuanhai Cao, of the University of South Florida's Byrd Alzheimer's Institute said in a release.
Similar studies have also pointed out the effectiveness of THC in fighting the formation of harmful brain plaques. Researchers in a 2006 study conducted by the Scripps Institute found that THC blocked the aggregation of plaques completely, even better than the best known inhibitors, found in existing Alzheimer's drugs.
Researchers called THC "natural and relatively safe," emphasizing that in very low doses, the benefits of the compound outweigh any potential harm.
But don't go light up just yet. Researchers say the findings simply suggest the compound could be explored in future development of Alzheimer's drugs and therapeutic treatments.
"Are we advocating that people use illicit drugs to prevent the disease? No," said co-author Neel Nabar. "It's important to keep in mind that just because a drug may be effective doesn't mean it can be safely used by anyone. However, these findings may lead to the development of related compounds that are safe, legal, and useful in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease."

My rabbit hole has not been a happy, contented place lately. I usually am a fairly positive person that sees the bright side of whatever the Queen of Hearts can throw at me.  I have become a fair and objective human that tries not to hurt anyone in the process of living my life or doing my job.  I have been grateful and appreciative to God for what I have and understand that what I want is not always what I need.  I know to be careful for what I  wish for because sometimes you get it and it's not what you expected.
 Lately, I have had a hard time seeing what I have and instead see what I don't have. This makes it hard to be grateful for anything.  I have not been feeling well physically and I know it is time for my regular tests to see that my physical issues are balanced.  I have been eating garbage that I don't usually eat and I am sure my sugar is out of whack.  I am stressed and crave those chocolate creme filled cupcakes all the time.  All of this has got me thinking that it's time I get off my ass and get myself back on track or I will wallow in self pity and the Cheshire cat won't even be able to make me smile.  God, I've become depressing!!  So when I am done here I will put yoga on the tv and hope and work for the best.
I posted I will never forget 9/11 last night before going to bed.  Naturally, today there are a lot of things going around about it. I watched David Letterman's and Jon Stewart's poignant monologs on their first show after that horrid day.  I watched SNL's first night back with Mayor Giuliani who guided the city with such courage and wisdom.  I realized something about myself.  I will pick my self up by the bootstraps and get it together.  One of the reasons I will do that is because I am a New Yorker.  I was born in The Bronx.  Not Bronx, NY, but The Bronx, because there is only one and it is in New York and there is only one of those too.  I have seen people come together as one and my heart is there.  Where I live now is far away from there geographically, but  when bad things happen to people around here, people band together f or the common good and help each other.  Why?  Because they are Americans. We will not let anyone get us down.  We will triumph because we are strong.  We have big hearts to help others not as fortunate as us. And we will be the best we can be when life gets tough.
Maybe I have had it too easy lately, ( yeah, right!) and have lost appreciation for what I have.  I don't know but It will get better and in my heart I know that. So let the Tea Party (the Mad Hatter's, not a political thing) begin. Life goes on and I am here to stay.

Thanks to Erika Keller for sending me "We are all Mad Here"
#weareallmadhere  #neverforget #yoga #optimistic

Super moon 2014

 #supermoon2014  #supermoon #moonshot #moonbeams

I have always loved to dance.  I have always loved to sing.  Now you have to realize that for my whole adult life people, friends and family have told me that I can't sing.  That I have a terrible voice and I can sound like a cat that got it's tail stepped on or even a cat in heat.  Realize also, that none of that has ever stopped me from singing. It makes me happy and I feel if I am happy, I have an obligation to spread my joy around. So sometimes I sing loud.

This is my brother and myself singing Christmas songs when we were very little in 1959, in our Christmas pj's.  A star is born.  Or at least inspired.  I hope I never stop singing, because although people make fun of me and my voice, it's still gets a laugh or a smile and really does brighten some peoples day.
       Now on to dancing. When I was younger some dances had moves and some dances were more free form dancing.  That is my style if I have one.  Music makes me move and it touches my soul.  So if I sit, it makes me sway and tap my feet and if I can be more involved I get out there and dance.  As I grew older I still danced. Afterall, it makes me happy also.  As I kept getting older, some people started to react to my dancing in a humorous way.  I didn't understand that, I dance like everyone else, don't I? As the years go by I still got reactions, mostly from my in laws, who have danced since they were born and know all the country moves and all the 50's moves and they did them well.  So who am I to say they are wrong, they are obviously good dancers and know all the traditional dances. Well, tonight I was watching something on 60's music.  It was a good show with clips from all the big names of the 60's that appeared on Ed Sullivan.  For you young ones, that is a "variety" show and singers were a big part of it. When I saw The 5th Dimension singing Aquarius and they were all dancing their hearts out, it hit me.  I STILL dance like that!  Maybe that is why some people think me humorous on the floor.  I still have the 60's moves and sways and steps.  Duh, it is 2014, already!  Get with the times. No wonder my sister in law shakes her head and smiles.
Well, I do still like to dance. I will not stop dancing, although it takes longer to recuperate from a long night of dancing.  Dancing, like singing, brings joy.

Here I am trying to learn "a move." And here I am (below) enjoying a dance with my newly acquired grandson. You can't make a wrong move when you are dancing  with a child.

I would add some more photos of dancing, but I am afraid it would get an R or an X rating if blogs have a rating system.

In conclusion; don't let anyone tell you that you can't sing well or you dance funny.  Have fun, enjoy each note and move and let the music move your soul.


#dancing, #singing, #happy #music, #funtimes

Humans of New York's photo.

1 min ·

that is so awesome that you can bring such a smile and probably piece of mind to another human being that has seen such pain and death. And we in America think we have it hard. We live such cumbersome lives, we don't see the big picture. We mourn our dead, but their dead have died such untimely, horrid deaths the pain is not the same. I will say it again, this website should be required viewing in schools. Thank you Brandon and his aides.

Humans of New York

This woman spoke about how she had been visiting her sister in Juba when the fighting broke out, and had been unable to return home. To make matters worse, she had left her older children behind in her village, because she thought it would just be a short trip. She had not seen them in nearly a year. As I was interviewing her, she kept a very resigned, unsmiling, faraway look on her face, which can be seen in the previous post. But when we finished, my translator asked her what village she was from. When she told him, he pulled out his phone. "I've just been to your hometown on an aid mission," he said, "I can show you photos." As he scrolled through photos of her village, her expression suddenly changed.

(Tongping Internally Displaced Persons Site, Juba, South Sudan)

Humans of New York

10 hours ago

He told me he wanted to be a "soccer star," but wouldn't say much else, probably because his teammates were hovering around him. But later on, when I asked the coach who the strongest player was, he pointed out this boy. "We made him captain," the coach explained, "Because he takes it the most seriously. If we lose, he won't talk for the rest of the day. He always shows up early to practice. If we're not around, he organizes the team and has them ready when we arrive. And if anyone loses their temper during the game, he'll reprimand them and tell them to just focus on winning."

(Juba, South Sudan)

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  Samantha Shank I love the fact that all his qualities that lead him to be captain had nothing to do with his talent in the sport, more about his attitude about the sport.

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  Chris Rubino Natural born leader.

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  Saturday night, I was listening to the Grateful Dead on PBS.  A recording from Radio City Music Hall.  The fundraiser person was talking to someone that was supposed to be a Dead lover that ended up working with them on something.  He said when he started collecting the Dead albums around '84 or '85  they were so good, the greatest hits stuff and all.  Now, ....... I was playing on my pc, doing this and that and letting the music waft around my head.  Then I heard that comment. ....... I sat up straight in my chair, like my mommy told me to, ( I had been slouching and stretching trying to get comfortable).  And I listened thinking that maybe I was in a time warp.  Or maybe he was in a time warp.  No, that's another song, all together.  Anyway, I start to get my brain in gear and think.  I have seen the Grateful Dead at least one or two dozen times.  If you wanted to see the Dead live you needed to live in San Francisco or New York.  They loved playing those areas.  So having grown up in New York, I didn't need to fly to the west coast.  They played a lot of smaller outdoor venues and some large ones too.  I saw them at Gaelic Park in the Bronx many times.  Well, I can remember two times clearly, the others you will just have to take my word for it.  But as a friend of mine used to say, "if you missed them last night, wait they'll probably be back next month"  By the time '84 and '85 rolled around, the Grateful Dead had been around for 20 years.  Just WHAT  took this guy so long to start collecting their work and why is he on tv spouting off?  I saw them in New Jersey and they were awesome, and that was in about 1972 or 73 and this guy is on my local PBS station bragging and extolling the virtues of the Grateful Dead music?  I could do that and more from the heart than he could.  Little short haired person that you are.  He looked like he never had a hair out of place in his life. I'll bet he never saw them from the top of an old step van dancing the night away.  That is till the cops told us to get down, they were afraid we were going to rock it over on it's side.  I don't recall getting up there, on top of that big box van, but I do remember getting down.  The cops were nice about it and gave some of us a hand down, as if we were ladies or something.  I would call PBS and give them a piece of my mind, but they would probably just ask for a donation.  Just cause my name is on a past donation list don't think you are getting money out of me when both of the people on there right now wouldn't know how to find their way to Watkins Glen, where the Dead was sooo good.  Now, that was three days of fun!

#gratefuldead, #truckin. #lsd, #roses, #ripple,#touchofgrey,#pbs

The smiles in a child's eyes can melt away your years. #NoahBear, # clowns, # smile

John Lennon - Imagine

John Lennon's killer sorry for being 'an idiot' - New Wave Communications

John Lennon's killer sorry for being 'an idiot' - New Wave Communications



So John Lennon's Killer is "SORRY" for being an idiot??!!!  He should rot for taking such an inspiring, peaceful, creative human from the world.

Some days are so mellow.  I floated and swam and floated and read. Glorious.  I did what I pleased, which wasn't much.  It was what I wanted and what I thought I needed.  After the insanity of earning a living for a few days, sometimes a break from responsibility and non stop push chillaxin is what is called for.  Now the end of the day is arriving and I find that I wish I had done something today.  I don't understand that feeling.  I know I needed to relax.  It was hot today so the pool was a no brainer.  Reading is always relaxing to me. So why do I now think that I should have done something?  I think tomorrow I will need to go somewhere and experience something new.
#floating #relaxing #water#Glorious
 

Those were the days, Joey's tune

Judge, I'm not guilty
Judge, set me free
Judge, I didn't mean it,
It was the alcohol in me...........

written by a friend of mine circa 1972.  How come I have always remembered this tune, and I can't remember where I left my shoes? 

#fundays #drinkandlaugh #alcohol

the Wine Rack my husband made for me out of a few leftover pieces of lumber and a rake. #winerack #winedrinkers

I

Ice window 2013

40 years later, not a minute had passed.

Wish I was still there. #riverrapids#waterfun

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know, when logic and proportion...............The other side of the looking glass has been my home for many years.  The White Knight has talked backwards with me many, many times. It kind of makes me wonder, just what life is like for those that haven't.  Growing up in the times that I did and the places I have been have given me such a broad way of thinking. I see things outside the box quite often and when people don't get what I am saying or explaining I don't understand why.
The passing of Robin Williams and watching what he has done in his life has made me think about so much.  My intention for this blog is to give an in sight to life or at least to mine, but also to look at normal everyday things in a different way and to see the bright side that may make you smile.  I knew a few people, back in the day, that thought on the same kind of wave length that Robin Williams did. Not that they were as funny or as great, but they "got " what he did. Before stand up was stand up and Robin was Robin, I remember riding on the "EL", going nowhere really, with a friend.  He took an imaginary balloon out of his pocket and blew it up.  Then he set it on the floor and rested his feet on it.  He rested his feet there for 2 or 3 stops while people got on and off the train.  People walked around his feet floating there in mid air and never said a word. Maybe they couldn't see our faces behind the imaginary newspaper we were reading. Then he picked up his balloon, put it under his arm and we got off of the train.  I held onto that balloon for him while we walked around gawking at the tall buildings acting like we were from Hicksville, USA.  Those were the days when life was young and free and the world was ours for the asking. Maybe that is why I am affected by his passing to such a degree. We were on the same wave length. We saw things with a child's eye and nativity. And we laughed. Or maybe I am affected that way because the world is also.

This summer has been a HUGE success!  I have eaten anything I wanted including mounds of ice cream, towers of cake, and all the wine a girl could want and I have stayed the weight I was at the beginning of the summer!  I consider that a major accomplishment.

I think I will drink to that.............. 

#summer#wine#icecream#happy

September 22, 2012

The  perfect picture of an oh so wonderful day.
#wonderfulweddings

This page, Humans of New York is an outstanding website that looks into the hearts of human beings in New York.  It went to Facebook and now has over 9 millions people watching it and thinking and learning about their fellow man.  It's creator, Brandon, walks the city to find people to photograph and posts their comments on their life.  The response has been enormous. Brandon is now on a 50 day trip with the United Nations to see what is going on in the world and to make people more aware of what the rest of the world is going through.  I highly recommend this site to everyone, if you are human.  It is inspiring, funny, sad, and thought provoking.  Not visiting this site or his page on Facebook is a mistake.  It should be required reading.  Enjoy.

Humans of New York

6 hours ago

"We don't like pictures like this. It is not good to deduce an entire country to the image of a person reaching out for food. It is not good for people to see us like this, and it is not good for us to see ourselves like this. This gives us no dignity. We don't want to be shown as a country of people waiting for someone to bring us food. Congo has an incredible amount of farmland. An incredible amount of resources. Yes, we have a lot of problems. But food is not what we are reaching for. We need investment. We need the means to develop ourselves."
(Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo)

So I said to myself, I have been having a lot of thoughts on life lately and I think maybe one of them may be profound. In the very least some of them will be found amusing and hopefully some people will agree that I have made a valid point that needs to be heard.

Next my talented daughter designed a new blog to showcase her photographs. So I said to myself, maybe I should try that.  After all I took pretty good photographs long ago and far away.  And my stories of my life usually got a laugh.  So here I am, starting a blog.  
I hope to write something someone can enjoy.
I hope to write something someone can laugh at.
I hope to write something someone can ponder over and have their own miraculous conclusions.
I hope to write something while I drink my wine and I have nothing else to do.  After all writing this should be more interesting than playing Candy Crush. 
I guess we shall see.