Of Brain and Bone: The Unusual Case of Dr. A

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive decline in social conduct and a focal pattern of frontal and temporal lobe damage. Its biological basis is still poorly understood but the focality of the brain degeneration provides a powerful model to study the cognitive and anatomical basis of social cognition. Here, we present Dr. A, a patient with a rare hereditary bone disease [HME] (hereditary multiple exostoses) and FTD (pathologically characterized as Pick's disease), who presented with a profound behavioral disturbance characterized by acquired sociopathy. We conducted a detailed genetic, pathological, neuroimaging and cognitive study, including a battery of tests designed to investigate Dr. A's abilities to understand emotional cues and to infer mental states and intentions to others (theory of mind). Dr. A's genetic profile suggests the possibility that a mutation causing hereditary multiple exostoses, Ext2, may play a role in the pattern of neurodegeneration in frontotemporal dementia since knockout mice deficient in the Ext gene family member, Ext1, show severe CNS defects including loss of olfactory bulbs and abnormally small cerebral cortex. Dr. A showed significant impairment in emotion comprehension, second order theory of mind, attribution of intentions, and empathy despite preserved general cognitive abilities. Voxel-based morphometry on structural MRI images showed significant atrophy in the medial and right orbital frontal and anterior temporal regions with sparing of dorsolateral frontal cortex. This case demonstrates that social and emotional dysfunction in FTD can be dissociated from preserved performance on classic executive functioning tasks. The specific pattern of anatomical damage shown by VBM emphasizes the importance of the network including the superior medial frontal gyrus as well as temporal polar areas, in regulation of social cognition and theory of mind. This case provides new evidence regarding the neural basis of social cognition and suggests a possible genetic link between bone disease and FTD.

Great. Since taking the Effexor and the subsequent symptoms relate to acquired schizophrenia through neurodegeneration, I may have ended up with something akin to FTD, and got only ten years to live? Hmm, doesn't fit anyway.

Ah well.

Ursula Rucker - Humbled

Going through some old music again. The latest Gil album remembered me of 4hero, but mostly because of their cooperation with Ursula Rucker a semi well-known US poet often performing in hiphop, dance and ambient music. Most of 4hero is great music, but nobody really convinced me so far that nailing the largest number of jazz progressions to the nanosecond is actual music, and, yeah, trumpets and strings? Anyway, that's her, she has a new album out too.

Love the voice, love the poetry, love the expression, love the face, love it all.

Gil Scott-Heron - "Me And The Devil"

From the album "I'm new here." Mostly poetry slam blues meets 303/808 based dubtech, I liked the syncoped newtech Zydeco, but in the end, one great voice.

Contemporary East River bikeway blues.

Lispkit

I didn't really read it, but you gotta love stuff like this.

Good Trip

Bloom Box Solid Fuel Cell

Some CO2 emmited, no idea about the math on it. It needs to be produced, maintained, and trashed/ recycled. It might be more efficient given the fact that there is almost none energy transport cost.

Green, or will it just double the energy consumption?

Lou Reed - Heroin

Except for electro, psytrance and house, yeah, I like the old stuff like Lou Ree, Nico, the Velvet Underground, or Iggy Pop too. Below, one old Lou Reed, not really the song I was looking for but I liked the old rawness of it.



Can't remember that other song? Fistful of dollars? Something... ?? Yeah, later question was it, 1966 Velvet Underground and Nico - Waiting for the Man, get the whole album if you can.


Old Stuff

Wiretapping the Internet: Giving Weapons of Mass Destruction to Idiots

Various jurisdictions around the world have lawful-intercept implementations and even require ISPs to implement these. In the U.S., lawful intercept capabilities on Internet infrastructure are a legal requirement under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA)

This is done wholly for the common good, and to protect your law-abding citizens against online money scams, illegitimate porn, child abuse and seeking terrorist activity. The problem: A substantial part of our population consists of idiots, and that doesn't stop at the doors of your local law-enforcement agency.

To the IRS we are all tax-avoiders, and to the police everyone is a criminal until proven otherwise. You need thugs to beat thugs, and in their hunger to go after every crime, and their in incapability to often do so, your average cop will fabricate evidence, cross-use lawful wiretapping to wiretap other cases, use break-and-entry when not permitted, resort to lies, libel and slander to incite witch hunts, provoke crimes -even legal in some countries,- send innocent people to jail, or even degrade, mutilate or kill people all in a day's work.

It depends on your country, maybe you do feel safer if your police can spy on you. But, if you live in a wealthy country like I do, where the average biggest crime daily committed is by a set of ducks causing a traffic jam, you might end up sending your own anti-social family to jail since mom cheated once, daddy got bored and looked at some boobs, daughter did a research project on online terrorism, son used an illegal credit-card list to pay his online gambling habit, and your neighbour was smart enough to break the wep-encryption of the wireless access point to satisfy his own extreme needs.

It may come as a surprise to you, but given everything, the biggest criminal organization in your vicinity is probably your law-enforcement agency, and yes, you do have stuff to hide. It's called your freedom.

The US model of shooting everything on sight, probably isn't that bad.