2013年12月3日 星期二

人到老年

許多事等您老了才明白...



◎人到老年,會突然醒悟:生命是有盡頭的。

這種感悟會使他們行動起來,
去做一些他們很想做但以前總也沒有做的事情,有時,他們甚至用他們意料不到的方式。



◎人到老年,才真正認識自己:也才真正屬於自己,並且用一種寬容、舒適和誠實的方式接受自己。



◎人到老年,方才明白:

東奔西走竭力想去改變的不是別的,恰恰是他們自己。

幾十年的時光換來的不是別的,而是心靜如水。



◎人到老年,開始明白,老年自有老年的風景。

青春雖然美麗,但它會隨時間的流逝而褪色,而青春的心境才是生命中一道不變的風景



◎人到老 年,能冷靜地去看待婚姻和家庭。

他們知道世上沒有完全合乎男人心意的女人,也沒有完全合乎女人心意的男人。



◎人到老年,已懂得安慰自己:並且學會了在似乎無盡的黑暗中為自己點一盞希望的燈。



◎人到老年,看人看事不像過去那麼簡單。因此,不必非得按別人的主意行事。



◎人到老年,開始明白,世事並非黑白分明,在黑白之間往往有一系列的中間色。



◎人到老年,開始明白:人生一世,無論成功與失敗,歡樂與痛苦,盛衰與榮辱,都如自然流水,從那裡來還將到那裡去。於是,寧靜致遠。



◎人到老年,開始明白,衰老不是從中年開始,而是從對生活的厭倦開始的。



◎人到老年,開始明白:孤獨、寂寞、痛苦、失敗,是人生不可缺少的 調味品,因此,善待它們,就是善待真實的人生。



◎人到老年,不再有少年的狂妄、青年的浪漫,人到老年,不再擁有童年的笑臉和青春的美麗,卻常在午夜夢迴。多的則是對生活的感悟和理解。



◎人到老年,能坦然地面對自己的平凡。

他們明白,並非人人都能成功,人人都能大有作為;一生的事業,只要自己奮鬥過、追求過,失敗了又何妨?



◎人到老年,胸懷要開始變得像大海一樣,裝得下四海風雲,容得下千古恩怨。

2013年10月19日 星期六

Good Beer in Berlin? Finally, Yes

Pursuits

Good Beer in Berlin? Finally, Yes

Gordon Welters for The New York Times
The brewpub Hops & Barley, one of the city’s first craft beer destinations.

Gendarmenmarkt, lined with imposing buildings like the French Cathedral and the Konzerthaus, may be Berlin’s most beautiful square. But just a block away, the setting looked like the rest of the central German capital: a mix of cranes, construction sites and creative parking.

Gordon Welters for The New York Times
Raising glasses at Eschenbräu, a beer destination in Wedding.
Gordon Welters for The New York Times
Assessing the quality of the product at Eschenbräu.
Stepping in from a smaller square, the Hausvogteiplatz, I entered a pub that appeared to honor the greatest of German traditions, at least at first glance. In contrast to the modern architecture outside, the room had well-worn, old-fashioned furniture like Alpine chairs with hearts carved into the backs. A collection of cuckoo clocks quietly beat time on the walls. From large platters arose the hearty scents of bockwurst, while the in-house bakery sent out the doughy scent of freshly baked schrippen, Berlin’s crunchy-crusted bread roll.
Once I took a seat, however, the pub, called Meisterstück,  began to reveal unexpected angles. I had certainly never tasted better sausages than Meisterstück’s juicy Coburger bratwurst, though I also couldn’t remember any other links that had been accompanied by a side of wasabi-spiced sauerkraut. Even more surprising were the portraits on the wall, featuring not locals, but some of the best-known faces of international craft brewing. In the back: wasn’t that a picture of Matt Brynildson, brew master at Firestone Walker in California?
And why, in a city long known as a good-beer desert, did the pub’s beer list include not only bottles of Mr. Brynildson’s excellent Pale 31, but also an array of stars like Boon Gueuze from Belgium and the Xyauyù barley wine from Italy’s cult favorite Le Baladin, as well as rare German microbrews?
“You can feel that there’s something coming,” said Johannes Heidenpeter, who opened one of Berlin’s newest craft breweries, Heidenpeters, in the gritty-but-hip central neighborhood of Kreuzberg last December. “I think the time is good to change the taste of beer.”
Mr. Heidenpeter may represent the most iconoclastic and cosmopolitan take on Berlin’s newly developing beer culture: instead of traditional German lager yeast, he praises the aromas from the Belgian and English ale yeasts, and he eschews his own country’s favorite pale lager style of pilsner, or pils. Instead, as he explained when we met up the next day, his brewery offers an American-style pale ale as its standard pint, which uses non-German hops such as Cascade and Amarillo.
“I don’t have a pils and I don’t want to brew a pils,” he said.
Sipping his brewery’s excellent amber ale, Thirsty Lady, I didn’t think anyone who loved good brews would complain, a marked contrast to the longstanding charges that Berlin’s beer culture is lackluster. This is, after all, a place where it has long been more difficult to find a decent version of the city’s own beer style, Berliner Weisse, than in at least a half-dozen American towns, and where the ubiquitous Berliner Pilsner has a dismal ranking in the bottom third of all beers in its category on RateBeer. While it might be Europe’s hipster Hauptstadt, the home of famous writers, musicians and other creative characters, those of us who lived elsewhere could at least console ourselves with the fact that Berlin’s beer was terrible.
But not anymore. In the last few years, a slew of new microbreweries, beer bars and bottle shops has opened in Berlin, and the city’s first craft beer festival, Braufest, took place in September. After hearing about the new developments, I spent a few days visiting friends and trying to figure out how much Berlin’s beer scene had changed, starting out at the 18-month-old Meisterstück, said to be the city’s first craft beer bar. After sampling the brews, sausages and sauerkraut, I went from there to the central Moabit neighborhood, north of Tiergarten park.
I first stopped to check in on the city’s favorite source for great bottles, the Berlin Bier Shop, whose owner, Rainer Wallisser, had helped kick-start the local interest in beer when he began selling Belgian imports like Cantillon and 3 Fonteinen in his wine shop about four years earlier. After looking over the new arrivals and sharing tips with a pack of young beer lovers visiting from Norway, I wandered a few blocks north and west through the Kleiner Tiergarten park until I found Arminiusstrasse and its Markthalle, a sprawling market hall filled with Vietnamese noodle stands, butcher shops and plenty of stuff in between, including BrewBaker, one of the city’s first brewers to make interesting beers. When I arrived, the owner, Michael Schwab, was just finishing up the day’s brew, a relatively unusual amber style known as Vienna lager. He had been making beer since 2006, he told me, but he had only moved to this location in 2011, and had brewed some 120 different recipes since then, including traditional German styles and new arrivals (in local terms) like stouts and ales. In Berlin, he said: “people are more and more interested in different types of beers, not just German beers. Now in Berlin, nearly every brewery has something like an IPA.”
As with much of creative brewing, that “something” seemed open to interpretation. Meeting my friends at the five-year-old Hops & Barley, a brewpub in a former butcher shop in Friedrichshain, we discovered that the house oddball was actually a traditional pils-style pale lager, but one which had been transformed by the addition of Centennial hops, a broad-shouldered American hop cultivar that added a crisp, citrusy aroma. It was a clear favorite for the crowd of friendly locals who had packed into the tiny front barroom.
Not far away, we joined old-school punk rockers and punks a generation or two younger watching the German national soccer team beat up on Kazakhstan in the dark, smoky dive bar known as Bierkombinat Kreuzberg, or BKK. Here, the flavor bomb was an IPA by the neighborhood’s Schoppe Bräu brewery: a pale ale with light caramel and toffee flavors from the malt with grapefruit and a touch of bubble gum from New World hops.
The next day, I bumped into that beer’s creator, Thorsten Schoppe, at the Südstern brewpub in Kreuzberg, where he makes his own Schoppe beers and those for Südstern, including an excellent rye ale. This summer he opened a new brewpub, called Pfefferbräu, in the old Pfefferberg building in Prenzlauer Berg.
But not everything is taking place in such cool neighborhoods. As I discovered later that day, the unlikely northwestern inner-city district of Wedding now serves some of the city’s best beer, thanks largely to a brewpub called Eschenbräu. Set in the basement of what seems to be a student dormitory, the place had its own hop-inflected special brew, a very bitter Schwarzbier called Black Mamba. Eschenbräu’s pils, as well, seemed more fragrant and bitter than most versions I could remember encountering anywhere in Germany.
After Eschenbräu, I stepped down the same street to a year-and-a-half-old specialty beer shop, Hopfen & Malz, where I explained my interest in local beer to the owner, Ludger Berges. After ringing up his last customers, he disappeared into the back, returning with a rarity: a bottle of Bogk-Bier Berliner Weisse, a new, small-batch version of the city’s traditional beer style. Financed by a crowd-funding campaign, it had been oversubscribed by more than 700 percent, perhaps reflecting the dissatisfaction many fans of Berliner Weisse felt toward the lone industrial version still produced in Berlin. It had not yet been released (at that point, it didn’t yet have a single rating on RateBeer),  but Mr. Berges said he hoped to have it in stock soon, and asked if I wanted to join him in trying it. Tasting it in the shop, I was floored by the brew’s character: a cloudy pale yellow with almost no head, it had the lemony sourness of a good Berliner Weisse, but was tempered with light fruity malt flavors and a wild, almost animal-like aroma from the use of the local Brettanomyces yeast, a type of wild fungus that had been chased out of industrial Berliner Weisse production many years ago. I was already planning my next trip back to Berlin to pick up a few cases when Mr. Berges asked if I had heard about the young Americans who were opening a brewpub just around the corner. Armed with instructions, I crossed the street, passing through a hochschule campus and wandering through the small square called Zeppelinplatz. On the other side, I entered a neighborhood called the Brüsseler Kiez, whose streets were mostly named after Belgian cities. A few minutes later I came upon yet another Berlin construction site.
At that point the place had not yet opened, and I found two of the three owners, Matt Walthall and Tom Crozier, installing equipment in the high-ceilinged ground floor of an old Berlin apartment building. They had been friends growing up in Maryland, they said, reuniting when Tom joined Matt in the city in 2009.
After realizing that they had run through all of the good beer destinations in the city, they decided to start home brewing. Soon they discovered a community of like-minded beer fans, with whom they shared recipes and brewing advice. After a few years, the group made the decision to found its own brewery, Vagabund Brauerei. “I read some article about how craft beer had never happened in Berlin,” Mr. Walthall said. “And I said, ‘If no one else is going to do it, then we will.’ ” Looking around, it was clear how much work they had put into the place, from the restored plasterwork ceilings to the new wooden floor. Even empty, it made for a beautiful scene, and I could easily imagine how nice Vagabund will look when filled with a crowd of the city’s new generation of beer lovers.
In a way, this came as a disappointment. Sure, Berlin has one of Europe’s most vibrant cultural scenes, but a lack of good beer had always been something I could give my friends there a hard time about. Now that was gone.
“Just like Berlin is a great town for artists and writers,” Mr. Crozier said, “it now seems like a good place for small brewers to do their thing.”
BREWPUBBING IN BERLIN
The outstanding sausages and rock-star foreign beers outrank the local craft bottles at Das Meisterstück (Hausvogteiplatz 3-4; 49-30-5587-2562; dasmeisterstueck.de).
One of the city’s first craft beer destinations, Hops & Barley Hausbrauerei, serves great small-production lagers in Friedrichshain (Wühlischstrasse 22-23; 49-30-2936-7534; hopsandbarley.eu).
A favorite of beer cognoscenti, Wedding’s Eschenbräu serves new specialty brews about twice a month (Triftstrasse 67; 49-30-462-6837; eschenbraeu.de).
Traditional fare like roast ham hocks and modern beers like rye ales bring fans to Brauhaus Südstern (Hasenheide 69; 49-30-6900-1624; brauhaus-suedstern.de). You would need to follow fire trucks in order to find a smokier pub than Bierkombinat Kreuzberg (Manteuffelstrasse 53; 49-179-142-6670; bier-kombinat.de). The brews, produced by Südstern’s Thorsten Schoppe, are excellent. BrewBaker served one of the city’s first IPAs, but its best seller is the excellent Bellevue Pils, available at various places around town. It is moving to a new location in Moabit (brewbaker.de).
A visual artist, Johannes Heidenpeter, also creates beautiful beers, selling them on weekends inside Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg (Eisenbahnstrasse 42-43; heidenpeters.de). Vagabund Brauerei serves American-style craft beers produced by expatriate Americans (Antwerpenerstrasse 3; vagabundbrauerei.com).
The Pfefferberg building in Prenzlauer Berg is home to a theater, restaurants and, as of this summer, the new Pfefferbräu brewpub (Schönhauser Allee 175; pfefferbraeu.de).
For great bottles —  both local and imported —  and the latest news on the city’s beer scene, drop by the Berlin Bier Shop in Moabit (Kirchstrasse 23; 49-30-3910-0730; berlinbiershop.com). Specializing in German rarities, the year-old Hopfen & Malz bottle shop is just a block from Eschenbräu in Wedding (Triftstrasse 57; hopfenmalz.de).

2013年9月19日 星期四

Middle-Aged Men Can Blame Estrogen for That Waistline, Too 男性衰老,雌激素分泌不足也是關鍵

男性衰老,雌激素分泌不足也是關鍵

這是許多中年男人的痛苦:他們開始有了大肚腩,開始減少健身器械的配重,而且不知為何,沒有了年輕時候的性慾。
一個已經明確的元兇是睾酮,因為隨着時間的流逝,男人產生 的雄性激素漸漸變少。但現在還出現了一個令人驚訝的新答案。醫生稱這個答案會為有關男性身體如何變老的研究注入新的活力。結果證明,雌激素,也就是女性荷 爾蒙,在男性身體中發揮的作用遠大於之前的想像,而且,與女性一樣,雌激素水平降低會導致男性腰圍增大。
  • 檢視大圖 本·艾弗森參與了一項針對20歲至50歲男性的研究。受試者志願讓睾酮停止分泌16周。科學家們正在跟年長的男性身上重複此項研究,以衡量他們的生命力。
    Nathan Weber for The New York Times
    本·艾弗森參與了一項針對20歲至50歲男性的研究。受試者志願讓睾酮停止分泌16周。科學家們正在跟年長的男性身上重複此項研究,以衡量他們的生命力。

賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)醫學教授彼得·J·斯奈德博士(Peter J. Snyder)表示,雌激素對男性的作用的相關發現是「一個重大進展」。斯奈德博士正在主持一個新的大規模研究項目——針對65歲及以上男性的激素療法。 一直以來,睾酮不足幾乎被認為是導致中年男性出現常見身體不適癥狀的唯一原因。
此項研究涉及一些新領域,比如弄清楚每一種激素對男性的作用,以及不同的激素水平如何影響身體機能。根據《新英格蘭醫學期刊》(The New England Journal of Medicine)周三發表的一篇論文,雖然睾酮水平下降是造成中年男性肌肉萎縮的原因,但雌激素水平的降低管控着脂肪的堆積。該論文提供了迄今為止最具說服力的證據,證明雌激素是導致中年男性遇到麻煩的主要因素。這兩種激素都是激發性慾所需的。
周三,哈佛大學醫學院(Harvard Medical School)內分泌學家、上述論文的第一作者喬爾·芬克爾斯坦博士(Joel Finkelstein)在新聞通稿中表示,「通常被認為是因為睾酮不足而產生的一些癥狀,實際上部分或幾乎完全是由雌激素減少引發的。」
芬克爾斯坦博士的論文只是一系列研究的開端,在很多人看來,這些研究有望讓我們對男性身體中睾酮及雌激素的作用形成一種新的認識。斯奈德博士正在主持另一項名為「睾酮臨床試驗」(Testosterone Trial)的研究。該研究測量兩種激素的水平,並探尋睾酮治療是否能使睾酮水平低的年長男性變得更年輕——使他們走得更快、感覺更有活力、增強性功能與 記憶力,並強化骨骼。小規模研究的結果讓人看到了希望,但並不可靠,而且雌激素還沒有成為考慮因素。
「我們以前忽略了男性身體中的雌激素,但我們現在正在做相 關研究,」華盛頓大學醫學院(Washington University School of Medicine)睾酮及老年病學研究員、退伍軍人事務部皮吉特灣醫療系統(V.A. Puget Sound Health Care System)研究員阿爾文·M·松本博士(Alvin M. Matsumoto)說。「在這方面,我們只是剛剛起步。」松本博士是睾酮臨床試驗項目的研究員。
無論是男性還是女性,雌激素都是由睾酮轉化而來的。男性的 睾酮水平較高,因此他們最終的雌激素水平至少是絕經女性的兩倍多。由於隨着年齡的增長,兩種激素的水平都有所降低,身體會出現一些變化。但迄今為止,研究 人員幾乎只注重研究雌激素對女性的影響,以及睾酮對男性的影響。
芬克爾斯坦博士的研究為兩種激素各自的功能及其在不同水平 下的表現給出了一份新路線圖。結果表明,不同程度的睾酮缺乏會觸發不同的癥狀。他發現,睾酮是肌肉張力和去脂體重的首要調節因素,但維持肌肉所需的睾酮水 平比之前預想的要低。年輕男性的平均水平是每100毫升血清中含有550毫微克睾酮。醫生們普遍認為,低於300毫微克的話就屬於過低,可能需要治療,而 一般的治療藥物為睾酮凝膠。
然而,芬克爾斯坦博士的研究發現,除非睾酮水平降至200毫微克以下的極低水平,肌肉力量與尺寸不會受到影響。不過,脂肪堆積會在較高的水平發生:睾酮為300到350毫微克的時候,雌激素就會降至觸發中年發福的水平。
至於性慾與性表現,兩者均需要一定的雌激素和睾酮,而且隨着這兩種激素水平的上升而穩步提高。研究人員稱,現在距離給出諸多明確建議還差很遠,不過,並不建議男性使用雌激素,因為高劑量的雌激素會導致胸部增大等女性特徵的出現。
芬克爾斯坦博士表示,儘管醫生會為每100毫升血清中睾酮 含量低於300毫微克的男性開出睾酮凝膠的處方,但這種一刀切的標準過於武斷,而且沒有臨床依據。一般情況下,男性使用激素是為了治療疲勞、抑鬱或性慾減 退等癥狀,但它們與睾酮水平低下的關係並不明確。芬克爾斯坦博士稱,數據顯示,睾酮水平在300毫微克的男性如有性問題的話,可以嘗試使用睾酮,但肌肉乏 力的人則不應歸咎於睾酮不足。不過,他還說,「睾酮水平低下的癥狀往往非常不明顯。」
目前有數百萬男性使用睾酮凝膠,促成了一個近20億美元(約合122億元人民幣)的市場。
為了進行研究,芬克爾斯坦博士及同事招募了400名20到50歲的男性。他們志願讓睾酮停止分泌16周。其中一半接受不同劑量的外來睾酮,另外一半則同時使用一種藥物,讓雌激素停止合成。這樣,研究者可以分析在沒有雌激素的情況下睾酮的效應。
芬克爾斯坦博士目前正在更年長的男性身上重複這項實驗。斯奈德博士的睾酮臨床試驗也以年長男性為研究對象。
斯奈德博士及同事招募了近800名年齡不低於65歲的睾酮 水平低下男性。其中一組人用安慰劑,另一組人則用睾酮,使得血清含量達到400到800毫微克之間。研究人員正在測試他們的行走速度、性功能、活力、記憶 力、紅細胞計數、骨骼和冠狀動脈。這項研究為期一年,將於明年完成。
研究者稱,下一步,他們希望開展一項大型研究,和2002年的一次涉及數千名女性的激素療法長期風險與益處的研究類似。比如說,他們想知道,睾酮療法是否會提高前列腺癌風險?能否預防心肌梗塞?
「我們還不清楚這些臨床問題的答案,」松本博士說。「它到底能不能預防一些很重要的東西?」
翻譯:許欣、黃錚

Middle-Aged Men Can Blame Estrogen for That Waistline, Too

It is the scourge of many a middle-aged man: he starts getting a pot belly, using lighter weights at the gym and somehow just doesn’t have the sexual desire of his younger years.
The obvious culprit is testosterone, since men gradually make less of the male sex hormone as years go by. But a surprising new answer is emerging, one that doctors say could reinvigorate the study of how men’s bodies age. Estrogen, the female sex hormone, turns out to play a much bigger role in men’s bodies than previously thought, and falling levels contribute to their expanding waistlines just as they do in women’s.


The discovery of the role of estrogen in men is “a major advance,” said Dr. Peter J. Snyder, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who is leading a big new research project on hormone therapy for men 65 and over. Until recently, testosterone deficiency was considered nearly the sole reason that men undergo the familiar physical complaints of midlife.
The new frontier of research involves figuring out which hormone does what in men, and how body functions are affected at different hormone levels. While dwindling testosterone levels are to blame for middle-aged men’s smaller muscles, falling levels of estrogen regulate fat accumulation, according to a study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, which provided the most conclusive evidence to date that estrogen is a major factor in male midlife woes. And both hormones are needed for libido.
“Some of the symptoms routinely attributed to testosterone deficiency are actually partially or almost exclusively caused by the decline in estrogens,” said Dr. Joel Finkelstein, an endocrinologist at Harvard Medical School and the study’s lead author, in a news release on Wednesday.
His study is only the start of what many hope will be a new understanding of testosterone and estrogen in men. Dr. Snyder is leading another study, the Testosterone Trial, which measures levels of both hormones and asks whether testosterone treatment can make older men with low testosterone levels more youthful — by letting them walk more quickly, feel more vigorous, improve their sexual functioning and their memories, and strengthen their bones. Smaller studies have been promising but unreliable, and estrogen has not been factored in.
“We had ignored this hormone in men, but we are studying it now,” said Dr. Alvin M. Matsumoto, a testosterone and geriatrics researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the V.A. Puget Sound Health Care System, who is a Testosterone Trial researcher. “We are just starting out on this road.”
Both men and women make estrogen out of testosterone, and men make so much that they end up with at least twice as much estrogen as postmenopausal women. As levels of both hormones decline with age, the body changes. But until now, researchers have focused almost exclusively on how estrogen affects women and how testosterone affects men.
Dr. Finkelstein’s study provides a new road map of the function of each hormone and its behavior at various levels. It suggests that different symptoms kick in at different levels of testosterone deficiency. Testosterone, he found, is the chief regulator of muscle tone and lean body mass, but it takes less than was thought to maintain muscle. For a young man, 550 nanograms of testosterone per deciliter of blood serum is the average level, and doctors have generally considered levels below 300 nanograms so low they might require treatment, typically with testosterone gels.
But Dr. Finkelstein’s study found that muscle strength and size turn out to be unaffected until testosterone levels drop very low, below 200 nanograms. Fat accumulation, however, kicks in at higher testosterone levels: at 300 to 350 nanograms of testosterone, estrogen levels sink low enough that middle-aged spread begins.
As for sexual desire and performance, both require estrogen and testosterone, and they increase steadily as those hormone levels rise. Researchers say it is too early to make many specific recommendations, but no one is suggesting that men take estrogen, because high doses cause feminine features like enlarged breasts.
Although doctors prescribe testosterone gels for men whose levels fall below 300 nanograms per deciliter, that cutoff point is arbitrary, and there is no clinical rationale for it, Dr. Finkelstein said. Often men take the hormone to treat complaints like fatigue, depression or loss of sexual desire, which may or may not be from low levels of testosterone. The data suggest that men with levels around 300 nanograms who complain of sexual problems may want to try testosterone, but those who complain of flagging muscle strength should not blame testosterone deficiency, Dr. Finkelstein said. But, he added, “symptoms of low testosterone tend to be quite vague.”
Today, millions of men are using testosterone gels, fueling a nearly $2 billion market.
For their study, Dr. Finkelstein and his colleagues recruited 400 men aged 20 to 50 who agreed to have their testosterone production turned off for 16 weeks. Half then received varying amounts of testosterone, while the other half also got a drug that shuts off estrogen synthesis so the researchers could assess the effects of having testosterone but not estrogen.
Now Dr. Finkelstein is repeating the study with older men. The Testosterone Trial is looking at them too.
For that study, Dr. Snyder and his colleagues recruited nearly 800 men aged 65 and older who have low testosterone levels. The men take either a placebo or enough testosterone to bring their level to between 400 and 800. Investigators are assessing walking speed, sexual functioning, vitality, memory, red-blood-cell count, bones and coronary arteries. The yearlong study will be completed next year.
Next, researchers said, they want to do a large study like one conducted with thousands of women in 2002 that asked about long-term risks and benefits of hormone therapy. Does testosterone therapy lead, for example, to more prostate cancer? Does it prevent heart attacks?
“We still don’t know the answers to the clinical questions,” Dr. Matsumoto said. “Does it prevent things that are really important?”

2013年9月13日 星期五

What Becomes of the Lost Estates?無意中按到的


這篇是我無意中按到的  紐約時報9月可免費讀10篇中的一篇
The Pour

What Becomes of the Lost Estates?

Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
Drinking the precise, focused red Burgundies of René Engel can be a bittersweet proposition as the estate no longer exists.
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Recently I attended two extraordinary dinners in New York, one featuring the precise, focused red Burgundies of René Engel and the other the exquisite Côte-Rôties of Marius Gentaz.
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
To drink any one of these bottles could have been the zenith of a wonderful meal.

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At their best, these are the sorts of wines that amplify the sense of wonder at the heart of greatness. They are reminders that no matter how rationally we try to analyze wines, they show their true measure in the emotions they evoke.
Engel and Gentaz are great examples of wines that express all the distinctive beauty of their terroirs, enhanced by the personal touch of the winemaker. These two small family estates share another important characteristic: they no longer exist.
Few passages in family businesses are more difficult to negotiate than the leadership transition from one generation to the next. At best, it occurs seamlessly, the parent ceding control to the child while remaining available to offer occasional advice and encouragement. But it may happen abruptly, after sudden illness or death. It may be fierce, as when Oedipal drama interferes with judgment.
Or, as in the case of Engel and Gentaz, an estate hits a dead end, with no heirs to carry on.
It’s in the nature of things that estates come and go. Most die off unmourned. Their wines were not distinctive enough, perhaps, to be irreplaceable. Yet for every great estate like Jean-Louis Chave of the northern Rhône, said to have made wine continuously since 1481, the annals are replete with names now consigned to history, their wines to be savored wistfully or sold at auction for outlandish prices born of increasing scarcity.
Henri Jayer, the legendary Burgundian vigneron, died in 2006 after retiring some years before. His vineyards are now farmed by his nephew by marriage, Emmanuel Rouget, whose wines are well respected but not revered.
Raymond Trollat was for years the conscience of St.-Joseph, having adhered to traditional, backbreaking agricultural methods as others were taking easier paths. He retired in 2005 with no heirs. I read recently that a bottle of his St.-Joseph had sold at auction for $600, a ridiculous price for what is essentially a rustic but soulful village wine, though perhaps not so ridiculous for the spirit of Raymond Trollat, which is irreplaceable.
Noël Verset played a similar role in Cornas, maintaining the ancient traditions of this northern Rhône village through many lean years until the rest of the world learned to appreciate the wines. Mr. Verset retired and sold off his vines, his wines surfacing occasionally like eloquent voices from the past.
Once, a friend opened a bottle of 1979 Barbaresco from Giovannini Moresco, a long-gone producer. What a beautiful legacy, pure, pale and elemental. It came and went so fast, and, sadly, I’ve never seen another bottle.
Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, the prince of Venosa, produced his last wonderful bottles of Fiorano, his estate within the city limits of Rome, in 1995. That year, for reasons he did not explain, he tore out his vineyard. The prince died in 2005, and after years of legal wrangling, the estate was divided among his heirs, who replanted the vineyard. One day we’ll see whether the new wines bear any relation to the old.
Continuity is easier in some regions. In Bordeaux, for example, where so many chateaus are in the hands of corporations, it’s more a matter of replacing employees and carrying on. But Bordeaux is not always so corporate. Jean-François Fillastre, the proprietor of Domaine du Jaugaret, one of my favorite small Bordeaux estates, is 70 and has no heirs. I wonder what will happen to it.
If life were fair, René Engel would still be in the hands of the Engel family. Philippe Engel took over the estate in 1981 from his father, Pierre, who died young, and by all accounts Philippe transformed a good producer into a terrific one. But he, too, died young, of a heart attack at 49 in 2005. With no heirs, it was sold to François Pinault, the billionaire who also owns Château Latour, and is now called Domaine d’Eugénie and is still discovering its personality.
At the small Engel dinner at DBGB on the Bowery, we drank six bottles of grand cru Burgundy: Clos Vougeots from 1999, ’96, ’91 and ’90, and Grands Échézeauxs from ’99 and ’98. As a group, the wines were elegant, subtle and complex, yet with a touch of rusticity that seemed to give them individuality. The ’98 Grand Échézeaux especially stood out. It was beautifully calibrated and clear, spicy, floral and bursting with energy. The ‘99 Grand Échézeaux likewise showed great finesse, while the Clos Vougeots were richer and plumper, lovely but maybe not with the same sense of intricate detail.
We toasted the memory of Philippe Engel, and those who had known him told stories of this adventurous man who enjoyed boating, parties and traveling the world.
By contrast, Marius Gentaz never went far from his home in Ampuis. In many ways, his life had more in common with the 19th century than the 21st.
He farmed less than three acres on the dizzyingly steep slopes of Côte-Rôtie, and essentially made his wines, labeled Gentaz-Dervieux, by hand. He began in wine in 1947 with his father-in-law, then worked on his own from 1952 until 1993. When he retired, his vines went to his nephew, René Rostaing, who blends them into his excellent Côte-Rôties. But they are not Gentaz-Dervieux.
At the dinner, put on at Bar Boulud by the Rare Wine Company, an importer, several dozen of us drank 14 vintages from 1993 back to 1978. To drink any one of these bottles could have been the zenith of a wonderful meal; to have 14 was overwhelming. And each seemed to have a story to tell, about a place and a man and a time when life was lived locally.
Collectively, these were gentle wines, yet with a tensile strength that belied their graceful structure. They were savory and meaty, typical of syrahs from the northern Rhône, yet complex, gorgeously fragrant, mellow yet insistent.
If I were pressed to reveal my favorites, I would say that I loved the soft ’93, the ripe ’90 and the ethereal ’83. But the ’88 was almost otherworldly in its beauty, while the ’87 was surprisingly open, full and harmonious, and the ’85 still deep and dense with a mosaic of aromas and flavors that have many years to go to express themselves fully.
It’s bittersweet to drink wines like these, knowing that each opened bottle is one less to go around. Yet it’s also a time to celebrate that part of the human spirit that allows us to see beyond ourselves, knowing that memories travel further than flesh.

2013年9月10日 星期二

樂齡 (新加坡)

演講中的樂齡可能是新加坡對老年的官方用語之一


李顯龍2013年新加坡國慶大會上的中文演講

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvC6Fg0rmUo

2013年9月8日 星期日

某些電玩有益防老


Ageing is a daunting process, not least because some of the first things to fail are also the most useful, such as memory, attention and motor skills. The idea that some form of regular mental activity can postpone mental decline is not new. Now researchers have found another: playing a certain type of video game could help the elderly stay sharper for longer http://econ.st/1em4h7X

2013年7月30日 星期二

光鮮亮麗的老人照護之家背後 A Dark View of Assisted Living



A Dark View of Assisted Living

Cheryl Morgan holds a photo of her father, who died after drinking dishwashing liquid in an assisted living facility in Georgia. Ms. Morgan is featured in a new PBS documentary,  
Billy Howard/PBS Cheryl Morgan holds a photo of her father, who died after drinking dishwashing liquid in an assisted living facility in Georgia. Ms. Morgan is featured in a new PBS documentary, “Life and Death in Assisted Living.”
 
Assisted living underwent a big growth spurt in the 1990s as major corporations built and bought facilities, and almost ever since advocacy groups and researchers have been warning that however attractive these places look — chandeliered lobbies, pleasant individual apartments, the inevitable gazebo outside — the care they provide tends to be mediocre at best.

Many of these “communities” don’t hire or retain enough adequately trained staff to support their increasingly old and frail residents, who are not the active, silver-haired strollers depicted in brochures, but people typically in their late 80s with multiple health problems and high rates of cognitive loss. Critics have pointed out that unlike federally regulated nursing homes, assisted living facilities are governed by a hodgepodge of state laws; some provide decent oversight, while others remain quite lax.

So the hourlong “Frontline” documentary “Life and Death in Assisted Living,” airing Tuesday night on PBS stations across the country, doesn’t really break new ground on the subject. But it is important nonetheless.

One reason is that families, who make most of the decisions about assisted living, don’t pore over gerontology journals or state regulations as they are looking for a place that is not a nursing home.

So they don’t always realize that these reassuring-looking residences may have no nurse on the premises most of the time, that health care in assisted living frequently consists of a 911 call, that the average length of stay — according to the Assisted Living Federation of America — is less than two years.


For the average $3,550 monthly fee — a national average from a 2012 Metlife survey that conceals huge variations between, say, Montgomery, Ala., ($2,702) and Stamford, Conn. ($5,524) — families expect a final home full of attentive helpers. They may get that, sometimes. But they will learn from this documentary how vigilant they need to be.
A co-investigation by Frontline and the nonprofit news organization ProPublica (which will publish an accompanying story Tuesday), the film delves into several worst-case examples, making full use of the dramatic power of visual media.

In on-camera interviews, grieving relatives tell about the man with dementia who found industrial dishwashing liquid in an unlocked cabinet, drank it and died of burns to his lips, throat and esophagus, for which the state of Georgia fined his assisted living facility $601. And about a Mississippi woman with dementia who managed to pry open a window in her second-story apartment and jumped to her death. About a California woman with dementia — perhaps you see a pattern here — who suffered so much from pressure ulcers that when family members sued, a jury awarded them more than $22 million in punitive damages.

All these cases occurred in facilities owned by the largest American assisted living chain, Emeritus, several of whose former staff members and executives acknowledge that the facilities took in residents too sick for assisted living, that the staffing was inadequate and that people were assigned jobs for which they hadn’t been properly trained.
It is true that with roughly a million elderly people in such facilities, many very old and in poor health, tragedies will inevitably occur. But pressure to keep apartments filled, labor costs low and shareholders happy increases the likelihood.
When families enter this zone, therefore, they can’t be lulled by the chandeliers. Assisted living remains a reasonable option for people who can’t manage their own households any longer, who need help with personal care, but who aren’t so ill that they require 24/7 nursing.
But given the lack of inspections or regulations with teeth, residents will fare better if families carefully monitor their condition and step in when necessary.  “Life and Death in Assisted Living” helps to explain why.

日本高齡相關語言/ 55-85 歲是人生的黃金年齡

第2次收到:哈哈


社會經濟實力的提高,健康保健措施的改進及科學技術的發展,使我們生命的跨度大 大地延長了。今天美國人的平均壽命為 77.9 歲,亞裔的壽命又略高於其他族裔。在中國,人的平均壽命從 1949 年的 35 歲延至現在 72 歲。所以,人生七十不算稀,百年人瑞有何奇;中秋過後月尚明,
清明季末花還濃。
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 今天人的壽命的增加,不是那種苟延殘喘的拖長時間,而是人有效生命的延長。有效
生命指的是我們活著,在意識上能自由行使自己的意志,在體力上能料理自己生活,並
從事一定的體力勞動。比起古人,我們的有效生命有幸延長了15 到 20 年。體力的充沛引起心理上比前人更為年輕。杜甫在寫“少陵野老吞聲哭”時才 45 歲。蘇東坡寫“多情應笑我,早生華髮”剛 47
  50
> 多歲時心態就已衰老。
> 56
> 歲的杜甫寫“萬里悲秋常作客,百年多病獨登台。艱難苦恨繁霜鬢,潦倒新停濁酒
杯”給我們一副步履蹣跚時,老態龍鍾的模樣。今天五六十歲的人就算自稱為“老人”
的,也沒人認可。
>
>
>
> 前兩年,《今日美國》報導二戰後的嬰兒潮進入退休的年齡,認為和他們的前輩相
比,這一代人精力體力充沛,生活豐富多彩,對人更加慷慨。所以,
> 55
> 歲到
> 75
> 歲是人生的黃金時代。如果注意保養,適度地鍛煉,好好把握,完全可以把這段年齡
延至
> 80
> 歲乃至
> 90
> 歲。
>
>
>
> 之所以說這是人生的一段黃金時光,是相對於其它的人生階段來說的。這段時光有下
面幾個特點:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 第一,對大部分人來說,這個年齡已過了人生最辛勞的階段
> 。人剛離開懵懂的年齡,還沒作好準備,便被拋進結婚生子,成家立業的人生軌道
中。從學著幫孩子換尿片到陪孩子上琴課或學游泳,我們的日程排得滿滿的,多半不是
為自己的。離開家到公司,職場裡同事間為加級晉升相互傾軋,越是高層次的職業,爾
虞我詐越是常見。憂鬱症成為流行病。當我們進入五六十歲時,孩子已經大學畢業工作
了,至少過了需要我們很多照顧的年齡。而工作上,我們已經達到了那個層次的高峰。
不必要為晉升終身教授而連夜寫論文;也無須對老闆唯唯諾諾,怕丟了飯碗。有的人興
許正盼著公司把他炒了,領幾個月的辭退金,拿兩年的失業救濟。就等正式退休的年齡
了。所以,這個年齡段的人,心態平穩,對生活滿意度高。
>
>
>
>
> 第二,這個年齡段的人,智力達到人的最高點
> 。人的體質到二三十歲後開始下降,但人的智力卻仍在發展,至少到
> 70
> 歲以上。玩腦筋急轉彎,我們可能玩不過小年青。但考慮問題的周到和精細絕對勝過
他。面對突發的事件,我們會比年輕人更顯得從容不迫。處理生活難題,我們經驗豐
富,游刃有餘。
>
>
>
>
> 第三,這個年齡段的人,經濟收入多比較穩定
> 。柏拉圖在《理想國》說過一句很有意思的話:錢,對老年人的唯一的好處是他不需
要為著金錢去幹壞事了。金錢是萬惡之首。所以,我們不會像年輕人一樣急功近利,為
了眼前的利益去鋌而走險。穩定的收入給我們提供物質手段去享受我們鍾愛的事情,不
管是追尋童年的夢想,還是修補青春的遺憾。對人來說都是一件很有意思的事情。
>
>
>
> 第四,這個年齡段的人體力尚佳
> 。走路雖未必健步如飛,但也沒到吳牛喘月。我們有精力去藝海拾貝,史林攬勝。旅
遊,釣魚,讀書,聽音樂,淘古玩,倘佯於山水之間,獵奇在市坊之中。借用王羲之的
一句話叫“信可樂也!”
>
>
>
> 把握這
> 20
> 來年的黃金歲月,關鍵在於更新觀念。首先得認為自己還很年輕。新鮮的事物能接
受,花前月下和年齡無關。孩子長大飛走了,是人生的規律。我們沒必要再去操勞他們
的成家立業,生兒育女。那是他們的人生,他們的責任。其次,不要讓案牘勞形,瑣事
纏身,為自己擠出更多的時間。切記唐伯虎所說的世上錢多賺不盡,朝里官多做不了的
警戒。
>
>
>
> 人類學家認為,人有十種獨特的生物特徵。其中之一是:其它動物過了生育的年齡,
很快就死亡了;而人在生育年齡過後,生命的旅程還很長。所以,珍惜這一段頗長的黃
金時段也是造物主的意思喔。
>
>
>
>
>
> 寫給七十歲時候的自己
>
>
> 以前人說:人生七十古來稀。現在雖然科技進步,但能活到八十也算很好了!對於已
過六十的我們來說,想想離「古來稀」的日子是越來越近了,如果到這時還不知道人生
最該把握的是什麼,仍汲汲追求俗世的價
> 值
> 生活,那麼,到了閉眼那一天才真是知道窮忙碌了人生這一遭。
>
>
>
>
>
> 我希望自己能夠活過七十,有機會看到今天寫的這篇文章。到那一天,我一定會強迫
自己「靜靜地、專心地、誠心地」讀《寫給七十歲的自己》,並且以文章裡面的要求來
鞭策自己。哪些要求呢?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 一、不貪
>
>
> 孔子說,君子有三戒:
>
>
>
> 少之時期,血氣未定,戒之在色;
>
>
> 及其壯也,血氣方剛,戒之在鬥;
>
>
> 及其老也,血氣既衰,戒之在得。
>
>
> 這裡的「得」就是「貪得」,想要擁有什麼的物質慾望。
>
>
> 人老的時候為什麼要「不貪」?因為你的體力、精力、記憶力、拚鬥力……都大不如
前,這時如果仍然和年輕時一樣,什麼都想要,你的日子肯定會過得十分辛苦。這時候
要放下貪念,也就是孔子說的:戒之在得。
>
>
> 不貪的觀念落實在日常生活之中,又是什麼?凡是「基本生活」不需要、用不到的,
就不要。什麼是基本生活所必須的?你能吃多少、喝多少、穿多少、住多少、玩兒多
少!例如財富,如果已經累積足夠的養老金,再多的要了有何用?為兒女做打算嗎?你
已經七十歲,你的兒女年紀有多大?那麼大的兒女,如果還需要你的經濟照顧,除非他
是智障、殘廢,否則這種沒出息的兒女不要也罷。
>
>
> 除了不應有物質的貪念,也不應有物質的「比較心」。好比說名牌皮包、手機,不要
因為別人都有,所以自己也想擁有一個,而不問自己是否需要?
>
>
>
> 不管是什麼東西,沒有需要就不要,不要在意別人怎麼看你。人到七十,還生活在別
人的眼光之下,這不悲哀嗎?我就是我,管你如何看我、如何想我,我還是我。也因
此,在人生剩下的歲月裡,除了基本生活所需,其餘都不要,這就是孔子說的:戒之在
得!
>
>
>
> 二、不嘮叨
>
>
> 世間的萬般事物之所以如此,都有它的道理。管你是喜歡它或是討厭它,它還是如
此。什麼政治啦、利害啦、黨派啦、社會亂象啦……管他那麼多幹什麼?至於家人,好
比說老伴、兒女、孫子女……你已經管了那麼多年,如果他們依然故我,再管下去又有
何用?
>
>
>
> 不管什麼事情,都不要嘮叨,囉囉嗦嗦像唸經似地唸個不停。如果實在看不下去,溫
和地提醒一聲,最多兩聲,也就足夠了!再說下去就是「令大家都討厭」的嘮叨。想想
當年你年輕的時候,父母以為愛你,不停地在你的耳邊「叮嚀」,你當時有什麼感覺?
人生最可怕的,是不能記取教訓,以致日後成為自己當初所討厭那一型的人!年輕時如
果你討厭長輩對你嘮叨,將來當你成了長輩,也請不要對你的晚輩嘮叨。
>
>
>
> 三、不活在過去
>
>
> 最怕老人談自己往日的「豐功偉業」。第一次也就算了,還有一點新鮮感。不幸的
是,很高比率的老人習慣活在過去,喜歡不斷地、重複地談論往事。尤其是「當年
勇」,一聊起來就沒完沒了,而且是同樣的一段老故事。可能見了十面,就會說個七八
遍,到後來倒背如流、兩耳長繭。當然,喜歡活在過去是人的天性,不要說老人,曾經
有段時間我也喜歡談「當年勇」,一旦談到這些話題,我頓時覺得精神格外振奮、言語
格外犀利,大有欲罷不能之勢。直到有一天,一位朋友聽得不耐煩了,皺眉問我:這些
都是過去,你講它有什麼意義嗎?頓時之間,我暗暗慚愧。從此,我曉得暗自檢討自己
和別人聊天的話題,也開始留意別人談話的內容,這才發現「活在過去」是大多數人的
毛病,而且越老越嚴重。
>
>
> 希望我老了以後不要犯這個毛病!回憶,只須跟「和你有共同記憶」的朋友一起分
享。其他無關的人,尤其是年輕人,少跟他們談自己的過去。
>
>
>
> 四、不堅持己見
>
>
> 堅持己見從別人的角度看,就是固執。越老越固執,聽過這句話嗎?這是事實,也是
普遍現象。老人為什麼固執?可能原因如下:
>
>
> 1
> .老人累積了許多的人生經驗
> 。當他碰到新事件往往用以往的經驗做比較,並迅速做出結論:是好或壞、是對或
錯、是可行或不可行!
>
>
> 2
> .老人不太能接受新事物
> 。這讓老人的許多想法,例如人生理想、生涯規劃、生命的價值觀……和年輕人的認
知都有一段差距。
>
>
> 3
> .人越活,會為自己設定越來越多的框框
> ,這個不行、那個不可以,而且,只要自己衣食無慮,往往就會
> ?
> 不顧一切地堅持下去。
>
>
> 4
> .面子問題。
> 年輕時如果長輩教訓你,即使心裡不服,還是會忍下來。可是,等到你成了長輩,如
何能再忍受年輕人對你的糾正?
>
>
>
> 綜合以上四個原因,老人便成了年輕人眼中的老頑固。我將來可不希望成為老頑固。
如何做呢?我管不了的事,例如稅務政策、選舉輸贏、水電漲不漲、核電廠要不要……
>
>
> 老實說,我想都懶得想。家人的事,例如兒女要不要補習、選哪個學校、進哪個系
所、娶誰、嫁誰、住哪、從事什麼行業、進行什麼投資……我只盡勸告的義務,最多說
一兩次,絕不堅持。
>
>
> 與我無關的事,如果是小事,像是外出吃什麼、去哪兒玩、坐什麼車、看什麼電影、
穿什麼衣服……我也不堅持。與我有關的事,唯有大事,我才會考慮是否要堅持己見。
什麼是大事呢?那些日日夜夜,會長時間影響我生活的事情。
>
>
> 畢竟我已經老了,生活上有一些老習慣,即使在別人眼中是壞習慣,只要沒有違法亂
紀,別人有什麼資格要求我改變?
>
>
>
> 五、不怨天尤人
>
>
> 最討厭和別人聊天,一開口就他抱怨天、抱怨地、抱怨張三、李四…
>
>
> 好像普天下都欠他。真有誰對不起你嗎?別忘了,人生如戲!假如碰上一個不稱職的
搭檔演員,你可以選擇「拒絕繼續再演下去」。也別忘了,這本來就是一個不公平的世
界。有人出生在父親是賭徒、母親是毒蟲的家庭,他的公平又在哪兒呢?
>
>
> 自己的人生自己選擇,自己過,也應由自己負起完全的責任。
>
>
>
> 六、不後悔
>
>
> 管他過去曾經犯了什麼錯誤,過去的都已經過去了,後悔有何用?人生已經夠苦了,
不要再自尋煩惱。人生要面對的是現在!尤其是你已經七十,人生沒有剩下多少「現
在」。掌握現在,規劃短期的未來,讓自己有限的人生更加美滿,這才是七十歲的你應
該做的事。
>
>
>
> 七、想做,就去做
>
>
> 子曰:三十而立,四十不惑,五十知天命,六十耳順,七十從心所欲。我以為「從心
所欲」就是:想做,就去做!人已經活到七十歲了,還有幾個「健康」、「從心所欲」
的日子可以過?上個月參加友人的婚禮,席上遇到一位朋友,他從事的工作非常特殊
> ?
> 瀕死研究。據他講,最近兩三年為了做研究,他經常前往安寧病房,曾經和幾百位重
症病患長談。綜合他和這些病患談話的心得,深深感覺人在病危之時,會後悔自己「什
麼還沒做」!好比說,應該善待某人卻沒有善待,想去某個地方卻沒有去,想做某件事
情卻沒有做……
> ?
>
> 如今即將死亡,想想再也沒機會了,心中好後悔啊!沒錯啊,何必臨到鬼門關前才後
悔呢?
> 想做什麼,趁現在還有時間、還有體力、還有財力,就去做吧!別管它體重、血壓、
膽固醇
> ……
>
>
>
> 想吃什麼,就去吃。也不要太在意別人的目光和想法。此外該用什麼、該穿什麼、該
花什麼、該玩什麼……只要自己還有這個能力,
> 全都不必節省
> 。不要等躺在病床上還在掛念衣櫃裡面那件價值好幾萬元,準備留著重要場合穿著的
衣服,到今天一次都還沒穿過呢!以上就是我對未來七十歲的我的自我期許。總合這七
項期許,大體上可以歸納成三個小結論:
>
>
> 一、言語要收斂。
>
>
> 二、思想要正向。
>
>
> 三、行動要積極。
>
>
> 人生匆匆,回想我還是那個調皮搗蛋的小鬼,往事猶歷歷在目,卻不料一眨眼我已踏
入「老人」之林。想到歲月如梭,再沒幾年我就可能染上「老人病」,趁著此時還有幾
分精力,寫下這篇文章,留待日後警惕自己:希望年老的我不貪、不嘮叨、不活在過
去、不堅持己見、不怨天尤人、不後悔,想做?就去做!如此這般,活在我身邊的親友
才會快樂,我自己也會快樂。
>
>
> 美國公佈決定人類壽命 6 大因素:人緣排第一
>
> 2012-10-11 08:11
> 《生命時報》
>
>
> 延年益壽離不開健康飲食和積極運動。基因、信仰和結婚也會影響到壽命,除此之
外,影響壽命的因素還有不少。美國心理學教授霍華德·弗里德曼和萊斯利·馬丁經過
二十年的研究,從研究對像多如牛毛的生活習慣中總結出一些影響壽命的決定性因素
並發表新著《長壽工程》。該書列出了“長壽關鍵要素排行榜”。
>
>
>
> 第一名:人際關係 。研究表明,人際關係的重要性遠遠超乎想像。人際關係可能比水果蔬菜、經常鍛煉 和定期體檢更加重要。哈佛大學醫學院一項對 268 名男性進行跟 蹤
  調查發現,一個人生活中真正重要的就是和別人的關係。研究還發現,常與朋友小聚
適度飲酒者比滴酒不沾者更長壽。
  
第二名:性格特徵 。弗里德曼在研究中發現,在性格方面,百歲老人至少有三大共同點:其一,生活態度積極,大多數性格外向、樂觀隨和,笑對生活,廣泛社交。這些老人善於公開宣洩自 己的情緒。其二,責任心強。責任心是直接關係到長壽、婚姻幸福和賺大錢的一大重要 性格特徵。無論是孩提時代的責任心還是成年期的責任心,都是長壽的最好指標。責任心越強,越有益長壽。其三,積極看待衰老。研究發現,對衰老持積極態度的老人壽命 延長 7.5 年。
>
>
>
> 第三名:職業生涯
> 。工作對長壽的重要性大大超過人們的想像。失業、工作不穩定及工資過低都會殃及
健康。與同事及上司的關係是否融洽也會明顯影響健康狀況。偶爾拍點馬屁有益健康。
事業成功有助於長壽。乏味的工作會增加心髒病風險。據研究,人們臨死前最後悔的事
就是過勞工作既迫害健康又得到應有的回報。反之,如果真正熱愛自己所從事的有意義
的工作,勤奮努力反而有益長壽。
>
>
>
  第四名:生活細節 。一些生活小習慣直接關係到是否能夠長壽。保證足夠睡眠和美滿和諧的夫妻生活;不拖欠債務;與人為善,多點寬容。另外,保持年輕的心態也有助長壽。研究發現,看上去更年輕的人更長壽。目前是否擁有年輕的心態和行為,決定 30 年後是否會早亡。
>
>
>
> 第五名:戒除不良習慣
> 。很多人認為,戒除抽煙和酗酒等生活習慣是一件非常痛苦的事情。然而多項研究發
現,長命百歲與快樂生活具有很大的交集,在很大程度上“相互重疊”。因此,為了提
高生活質量和延年益壽,應該積極改變不良生活習慣。
>
>
>
> 第六名:與健康者為伍
> 。近朱者赤,近墨者黑。經常與誰在一起也關係到是否能長壽。弗里德曼表示,群體
特種決定個人生活類型,朋友的生活習慣會直接影響你的生活習慣。要想健康,就應該
經常和生活方式健康的人交往。


日本高齡相關語言

こうれい かう― 0 【高齢】


かなり年をとっていること。年齢が高いこと。高年。老年。老齢。


こうれい かう― 0 【高齢】
2高齢運転者標識 【こうれいうんてんしゃひょうしき】 新語辞典
3高齢運転者マーク 【こうれいうんてんしゃマーク】 新語辞典
4こうれい-かしゃかい かう―くわしやくわい 6 【高齢化社会】
5高齢化社会 【こうれいかしゃかい】 新語辞典
6高齢化体験 【こうれいかたいけん】 新語辞典
7高齢者 【こうれいしゃ】 新語辞典
8こうれい-しゃ かう― 3 【高齢者】
9高齢者運転標識 【こうれいしゃうんてんひょうしき】 新語辞典
10こうれい-しゃかい かう―くわい 5 【高齢社会】

高齢社会 【こうれいしゃかい】 新語辞典
2高齢者協同組合 【こうれいしゃきょうどうくみあい】 新語辞典
3高齢者居住安定確保法 【こうれいしゃきょじゅうあんていかくほほう】 新語辞典
4高齢者疑似体験 【こうれいしゃぎじたいけん】 新語辞典
5高齢者虐待 【こうれいしゃぎゃくたい】 新語辞典
6高齢者虐待防止法 【こうれいしゃぎゃくたいぼうしほう】 新語辞典
7高齢者雇用安定法 【こうれいしゃこようあんていほう】 新語辞典
8高齢者生活福祉センター 【こうれいしゃせいかつふくしセンター】 新語辞典
9高齢者世帯 【こうれいしゃせたい】 新語辞典
10高齢者ソフト食 【こうれいしゃソフトしょく】 新語辞典

高齢者体験 【こうれいしゃたいけん】 新語辞典
2高齢者マーク 【こうれいしゃマーク】 新語辞典
3高齢者マル優 【こうれいしゃまるゆう】 新語辞典
4高齢者向け優良賃貸住宅 【こうれいしゃむけゆうりょうちんたいじゅうたく】 新語辞典
5高齢出産 【こうれいしゅっさん】 新語辞典



健保の8割、負担増
読売新聞 - 1時間前
厚生労働省は2日の民主党の会合で、4月からの新しい高齢者医療制度の導入に伴い、約1500の健康保険組合の8割弱で、2008年度の拠出金負担が07年度より増加する見通しであることを明らかにした。 65~74歳の「前期高齢者」医療への財政支援制度の新設が主 ...

2013年7月7日 星期日

Affordable Excellence



新加坡價廉質優的醫療體系
英國《金融時報》公共政策編輯 莎拉•尼威爾

放眼世界,人口老齡化、人口出生率不斷下降,甚至日趨先進的幫助人類延長壽命的科學方法,都在威脅各國經濟。對重壓之下的各國財長而言,如何能夠在不犧牲品質的前提下以更低廉的成本治療和預防疾病,已經成為一個無解之謎。
曾在哈佛大學醫學院(Harvard Medical School)擔任教授的生物科技企業家以及愛滋病研究者威廉哈茲爾廷(William Haseltine)認為,他找到了一套政策,它即使算不上是解開謎團的魔法石,那麼至少也值得讓更多人知曉。
新加坡的醫療體系實現了全民覆蓋,並在嬰兒死亡率、預期壽命延長等許多領域交出了一流的成績單。該國只花費不到其國內生產總值(GDP)4%的成本就做到了這些。這個數字約為美國的五分之一,英國的一半。在某些方面,後兩個國家對新加坡的醫療保障品質只有羡慕的份兒。
在 他的《價廉質優》(Affordable Excellence)一書中,哈茲爾廷稱,新加坡的醫療體系是家長制與個人責任的奇妙結合。這個國家毫不猶豫地對醫療市場進行干預,比如向醫院和綜合門 診診所提供補貼。該國對執業醫生的科別和數量進行監管和限制。用哈茲爾廷的話來說,這是一種高度校準的資本主義
然而,每個在職的新加坡人都必須向一個強制性醫療儲蓄帳戶裏存錢。從這裏可以看出,新加坡絕不是英國那種大手大腳的福利國家。新加坡政府相信,讓民眾交錢抑制了他們對醫療體系的過度使用(或者說濫用),並避免了他們依賴國家福利或第三方的醫療保險。
哈 茲爾廷書中的分析大部分很有說服力。他告訴我們,一個國家如何在三十多年前就意識到,醫療問題不能留給衛生部獨自解決。在新加坡,所有公共政策——住房、 垃圾處理、道路交通、公園、樹木種植——都必須服從同一個目標:讓民眾健康地生活、高效地生產。新加坡在生物醫療研究方面也投入了鉅資、且收益頗豐,希望 在這方面成為地區中心。
然而,哈茲爾廷主張,新加坡模式是個值得批量推廣的成熟模式,這不太有說服力。醫療體系通常根植於一個國家的文化和 政治傳統。政府指導的核心地位是新加坡所獨有的,政治體制的穩定性亦然。新加坡目前的執政黨已連續執政約半個世紀,確保了罕見的政府目標連貫性。所有不生 活在這個城市國家的人,在這一點上或許都不太走運,因為許多國家的證據顯示,穩定本身就預示了一個醫療體系的成功。
新加坡醫療體系控制成本 的關鍵一點——每個人都必須為醫療交錢,在那些醫療體系更慷慨的國家可能引發巨大爭議,導致其行不通。儘管有幾個遭遇衰退打擊的國家已悄悄提高了要求民眾 貢獻的金額,但這些國家的這種做法,並未冒引發公眾辯論的風險,而如果要實行鑄就新加坡醫療體系成功的那種方法,一場公眾辯論將不可避免。
哈茲爾廷也承認,醫療體系的服務模式一旦形成,就難以改變,因為這種改變會對人們的生活和經濟造成深遠的影響
哈 茲爾廷提到了中國借鑒新加坡醫療體系模式——借鑒該模式中醫療儲蓄帳戶背後的基本理念——的例子。事實證明,這是一次不成功的嘗試。哈茲爾廷在書中寫道:新加坡擁有大量財富、人口更年輕、就業率更高,沒有農村,移民數量有限。因為缺乏上述條件,借鑒新加坡模式的上海在醫療體系效率方面跟(新加坡)沒法 比。
儘管如此,這本書介紹了新加坡的變革式政治領導,對我們找到醫療改革的正確道路貢獻巨大。新加坡很有先見之明,早在1983年就 意識到,必須將醫療體系的重點從治療傳染病轉向慢性病。即便是如今,許多國家仍在努力實現這一轉型。新加坡當時還意識到了人口結構的變化對醫療服務需求的 影響。如今,新加坡建立了一種模式,這種模式一方面限制成本,一方面幫助老年人就業。新加坡人口老化問題跨部門委員會的指導宗旨包括,確保所有老年人都能 享受便利的公共交通,並能盡可能久地繼續住在自己家裏,或至少能留在社區裏。
這就是這本書介紹的經驗中最值得推廣的一條:如何為老年人提供既人性化、又經濟的支援。同時,這本書也為所有面臨人口結構變化影響的國家指明了前進的道路。
本文作者為英國《金融時報》公共政策編輯
譯者/吳蔚

Lifelong Bookworm

Being a Lifelong Bookworm May Keep You Sharp in Old Age

Reader
Reading
Reading, an activity that stimulates mental processes, can help preserve memory skills as we grow older. Photo by Flickr user Spirit-Fire
To keep their bodies running at peak performance, people often hit the gym, pounding away at the treadmill to strengthen muscles and build endurance. This dedication has enormous benefitsbeing in shape now means warding off a host of diseases when you get older. But does the brain work in the same way? That is, can doing mental exercises help your mind stay just as sharp in old age?
Experts say it’s possible. As a corollary to working out, people have begun joining brain gyms to flex their mental muscles. For a monthly fee of around $15, websites like Lumosity.com and MyBrainTrainer.com promise to enhance memory, attention and other mental processes through a series of games and brain teasers. Such ready-made mind exercises are an alluring route for people who worry about their ticking clock. But there’s no need to slap down the money right away—new research suggests the secret to preserving mental agility may lie in simply cracking open a book.
The findings, published online today in Neurology, suggest that reading books, writing and engaging in other similar brain-stimulating activities slows down cognitive decline in old age, independent of common age-related neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, people who participated in mentally stimulating activities over their lifetimes, both in young, middle and old age, had a slower rate of decline in memory and other mental capacities than those who did not.
Researchers used an array of tests to measure 294 people’s memory and thinking every year for six years years. Participants also answered a questionnaire about their reading and writing habits, from childhood to adulthood to advanced age. Following the participants’ deaths at an average age of 89, researchers examined their brains for evidence of the physical signs of dementia, such as lesions, plaques and tangles. Such brain abnormalities are most common in older people, causing them to experience memory lapses. They proliferate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, leading to memory and thinking impairments that can severely affect victims’ daily lives.
Using information from the questionnaire and autopsy results, the researchers found that any reading and writing is better than none at all. Remaining a bookworm into old age reduced the rate of memory decline by 32 percent compared to engaging in average mental activity. Those who didn’t read or write often later in life did even worse: their memory decline was 48 percent faster than people who spent an average amount of time on these activities.
The researchers found that mental activity accounted for nearly 15 percent of the difference in memory decline, beyond what could be explained by the presence of plaque buildup. “Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” says study author Robert S. Wilson, a neuropsychologist at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, in a statement.
Reading gives our brains a workout because comprehending text requires more mental energy than, for example, processing an image on a television screen. Reading exercises our working memory, which actively processes and stores new information as it comes. Eventually, that information gets transferred into long-term memory, where our understanding of any given material deepens. Writing can be likened to practice: the more we rehearse the perfect squat, the better our form becomes, tightening all the right muscles. Writing helps us consolidate new information for the times we may need to recall it, which boosts our memory skills.
So the key to keeping our brains sharp for the long haul does have something in common with physical exercise: we have to stick with it. And it’s best to start early. In 2009, a seven-year study of 2,000 healthy individuals aged 18 to 60 found that mental agility peaks at 22. By 27, mental processes like reasoning, spatial visualization and speed of thought began to decline.

Read more: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/07/being-a-lifelong-bookworm-may-keep-you-sharp-in-old-age/#ixzz2YPEaggZG
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2013年7月5日 星期五

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低酒精飲料驗出焦糖色素消基會:恐致癌
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2013年6月16日 星期日

“護理機器人”


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【技術講座】護理機器人踏上征途(上)
很早就期待“護理機器人”能夠普及。近來,豐田和村田制作所等企業開始行動,護理機器人的開發變得活躍起來。最近日本政府也推出了旨在推動護理機器人普及的政策。電子企業不容錯過的新潛力市場即將形成…… (詳見全文)
【技術講座】護理機器人踏上征途(中)
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【技術講座】護理機器人踏上征途(下)
最近由美國谷歌公司原軟件設計人員創立的公司美國Willow Garage突然受到了關注。該公司開發出了稱為“ROS(robot operating system)”的軟件平台,從2009年就開始了提供β版(表2)。ROS是由節點組合來開發機器人的中間件…… (詳見全文)
【福利設備展】日本機器人護理聯盟展示便於設置的監護機器人
由日本的Hycom公司和Personal Technology公司組成的Robotics Care Consortium,在“第39屆國際福利設備展H.C.R.2012”上展示了通過配備無線網絡攝像頭的機器人來監控需護理者及患者情況的系統“監護Robo”…… (詳見全文)
村田制作所開發護理機器人的理由
村田制作所2012年9月21日宣布,該公司與福祉器具制造商幸和制作所合作開發出了電動助行車“KeePace”。這是一款為腰腿不便、有行走困難的人士(日本護理保險制度分類中需要支援1級~需要護理1級的人士)推出的步行輔助工具…… (詳見全文)
豐田計劃2013年以後投產護理和醫療用機器人
豐田開發出了用於輔助護理和醫療的機器人。此次發布的是“自立步行輔助機器人”、“步行練習輔助機器人”、“平衡練習輔助機器人”及“移乘護理輔助機器人”4款。這些機器人目前尚在開發階段…… (詳見全文)
豐田開發出用於輔助護理和醫療的伙伴機器人
豐田宣布,開發出了用於輔助護理和醫療的4款新機器人。據該公司介紹,護理和醫療現場在輔助因疾病和受傷等而行動不便的傷員和老年人康復以及獨立行動、減輕護理人員的體力負擔等方面對機器人有很大需求…… (詳見全文)
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日本理化學研究所與東海橡膠工業於2007年開設的理研-東海橡膠機器人合作中心(RTC)利用廣泛覆蓋手臂的多個高精度觸覺傳感器、新型泡沫聚苯乙烯及其成形技術,開發出了“能夠輕輕抱起人”的護理輔助機器人“RIBA”…… (詳見全文)
日本公司到中國求老齡人護理商機
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瞄准中國“3億老年人”——日本護理業開始向中國進軍
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百利達開發出可聯網的睡眠儀,面向護理服務業及酒店等
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三菱電機面向護理和醫療機構開發出去除排洩臭味的快速除臭機
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日本神奈川縣嘗試導入“PARO”和“HAL”等共計7款護理機器人
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松下開發出采用機器人技術的“電動護理床”及“洗發機器人”
松下開發出了2款采用機器人技術的護理及福利設備。一款是形狀可改變為床和輪椅的“電動護理床”,能夠減輕護理人員的負擔,幫助被護理人員自立。另一款是可在護理設施及醫院協助為患者等洗發的“洗發機器人”…(詳見全文)
【MEDTEC】村田展示僅厚1.375mm的液體微泵,設想用於家庭護理等
村田制作所在2011年6月29~30日於太平洋橫濱會展中心舉行的“MEDTEC JAPAN 2011”上,展示了設想用於醫療領域的“液體微泵”。在展區內,該公司利用此次的微泵構築了微量液體的輸液系統,注射器自動以一定時間間隔滴下微量液體…… (詳見全文)
【日本醫療器械學會】ADO展示利用智能手機的護理支援等
日本ADO在2011年6月2~4日於太平洋橫濱會展中心舉行的“第86屆日本醫療器械學會”及“Medical Show Japan & Business Expo 2011”展會上,展示了利用智能手機的護理業務支援系統…… (詳見全文)
美蓓亞6軸力傳感器售價約降低6成,設想用於輔助護理機器人
日本美蓓亞將把6軸力傳感器“OPFT”系列的售價降低約6成,利用1個該系列傳感器便可同時檢測3個方向及其各扭轉方向的荷重。此前售價為69萬8000日元(不含稅),2009年10月1日起將以29萬8000日元(不含稅)的價格銷售…… (詳見全文)