Category: current events

AI Does Your Laundry

Recently we had somebody from the appliance store check our brand-new washing machine. The tech said “the noises are normal”—and then told us that many of the functions of the washer are run by Artificial Intelligence (AI). That was a new one on us.

Don’t get me wrong. The washer works. What sticks in the craw a little is that many of the settings we took for granted as being under our control are basically run by AI nowadays. I guess that means you can override some of the AI assist settings (which may be adjusted based on grime level, type of fabrics and the relative humidity in Botswana)—at least the ones not mandated by the EPA.

Incidentally, I tried to find some free images to use as featured images for this post. The problem is, many free pictures on the web are generated by AI these days, which is why I used the non-AI part of the Microsoft Paint app to make a crude drawing of an AI controlled washing machine.

I realize I’ll have to give up and accept the inevitable takeover of much of human society by AI. On the other hand, the prospect reminds me of the scene in an X-Files episode, “Ghost in the Machine.” A guy gets exterminated by something called the Central Operating System (COS).

Use extra detergent and add more water at your own risk.

People Remember Hurricane Edna

The hurricane season this year continues to be deadly, and they are not named after women anymore. That stopped in 1979; how and why it stopped is quite a story in itself. The latest one is named Milton, which is a benign sounding name, but the storm is anything but that.

I was reminded of the custom of naming hurricanes after women last night when I reread E.B. White’s essay, “The Eye of Edna.” The essay is subtitled with place and date: Allen Cove, September 15, 1954. It was published in a collection “Essays of E.B. White in 1977 by HarperCollins. It was published originally in the New Yorker, according to an online quote from his essay.

I’m too young to remember Edna. When I did a web search of the term “The Eye of Edna,” I got many hits for both the essay and the hurricane. Reading White’s essay is a treat because he makes fun of how radio news reporters and the people in Maine who were listening to the radio reacted to the weather reports about Edna. Radio reporters often seemed disappointed about the lack of heavy rain and high winds.

I found the abstract of an article published a 1958 issue of the Journal of Meteorological Sciences which the driest summary of Hurricane Edna I could possibly imagine:

“Kessler, E., 1958: EYE REGION OF HURRICANE EDNA, 1954. J. Atmos. Sci., 15, 264–270, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1958)015<0264:EROHE>2.0.CO;2.

Abstract

The eye region of Hurricane Edna (1954) is studied with the principal aid of radar and dropsonde data. Vertical sections show that over the eye there was a thick layer derived from the wall cloud which bounded the eye on the northeast. Precipitation fell from this upper layer into drier air beneath. A reasonable mechanism is thereby suggested by which large moisture values can become associated with air in the eye without producing the wet bulb potential temperatures or high winds characteristic of the rain-filled masses outside the eye.

Radar data giving the height of the “bright band” or melting level show that the warm core structure of Edna was most pronounced within the radius if maximum surface winds. The result is qualitatively confirmed by soundings and by comparison of surface winds and the speeds of radar weather elements in various portions of the storm. The radar photographs also show that heavy precipitation near the eye of Edna was bounded sharply in the western semicircle along an east-west line through the center of the storm. This boundary must be associated with a rather large change of vertical air speeds and therefore has special dynamic significance.”

If you read it the citation too quickly, you might misread the journal’s abbreviated name as my own. It’s actually J. Atmos—not J. Amos.

There is a much more vividly emotional account of Hurricane Edna in the Vineyard Gazette’s 2014 online story, along with a video.

The bottom line is hurricanes are deadly storms, no matter what people name them. Everybody, including E.B. White, would agree on that.

U.S. News & World Report Ranks Iowa City Hospital in 9 Specialties

The University of Iowa Stead Family Childrens Hospital in Iowa City has ranked in 9 pediatric specialties, including pediatric behavioral health by U.S. News & World Report!

Should Everyone Download and Install the Windows Preview Updates?

The short answer to the question above is “No, especially if you’re not tech savvy.”

I’m not tech savvy by any means and I quit downloading Windows preview updates long ago when I read web articles saying they could be buggy and lead to a lot of frustrating computer problems.

The latest Windows preview update has caused computer woes again for many people, enough to make it the subject of news reports.

You’ll find some experts saying you can hide the preview updates by pressing some buttons. And the Artificial Intelligence (AI) response to a web search about the issue suggests you should download and install any and all updates without discriminating whether or not they are previews.

In my opinion, I think the safest response to the Windows update preview download announcement is to ignore it and wait for the actual finished update, which usually shows up during the second week of the month.

FDA Approves Antipsychotic with New Mechanism of Action for Treatment of Schizophrenia

I just noticed the FDA announcment of the approval of an antipsychotic with a new mechanism of action for the treatment of schizophrenia.

The drug is Cobenfy and it interacts with cholinergic rather than dopaminergic receptors. It has a number of side effects which are anticholinergic. This could lead to psychotic symptoms that consultation-liaison psychiatrists might get called to evaluate due to the anticholinergic delirium that could occur, which can mimic psychosis.

It’s easy to get alarmed about the Cobenfy side effects. I just remember all of the side effects of the one antipsychotic that has sometimes been the only effective treatment for patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia-clozapine.

Clozapine has been associated with agranulocytosis, seizures, bowel obstruction, prolonged cardiac conduction time leading to arrhythmias, liver toxicity and more. In fact, clinicians are required to enroll in a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program to prescribe it.

Patients who have schizophrenia and take clozapine are often admitted to general hospitals for treatment of medical problems which may or may not be directly related to clozapine itself. This requires close collaboration of internists and surgeons with consultation-liaison psychiatrists.

What do you do for patients who don’t respond to clozapine but are willing to take oral medication? There are augmenting strategies, some of which can be helpful although they could add to the side effect burden.

What do you do for a patient with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who refuses to take oral psychotropic medication? In some cases, it may be necessary to use injections of medications which also can have uncomfortable and even potentially life-threatening side effects. This difficult situation is complicated further by the lack of insight some patients have about their illness and the need for court orders to administer antipsychotics against their wishes.

I hope Cobenfy is a step forward for patients and their families.

University of Iowa Writing Programs Get High Ranking from U.S. News & World Report

The University of Iowa ranks No. 9 across all universities in the country for its power in the writing disciplines., according to the 2024 U.S. News & World Report.

The school is well known for its writing programs of which the The Writers Workshop is the best known.

The University of Iowa also gives medical students a leg up on writing in its Writing and Humanities Program, which offers courses such as writing and medicine and editorial writing.

This reminds me of a couple of things, one of which was the University of Iowa medical school note service. Many medical schools have note services so that not all students have to write their own lecture notes. It’s ironic in a way that one of the best known public medical schools didn’t encourage all the medical students to labor over their own class notes. I volunteered once to write notes for the class. It was hard work.

The other thing writing education at the University of Iowa reminds me of is the Iowa Avenue Literary Walk. There are several plaques along Iowa Avenue which honor famous authors who had Iowa connections, often through the Iowa Writers Workshop. My favorite is one by Kurt Vonnegut, a former teacher at the workshop.

Back to the Roller Window Shades?

I just heard about the new regulation banning cords on window shades. I didn’t know that window cords were so dangerous.

We recently moved into our new house and need window coverings. We’ve had corded window coverings (mostly blinds) for years wherever we moved. I guess we’ll have to consider other options.

This reminds me of the old roller shades we used to have. I couldn’t find a free picture of them on pixabay, no matter how I worded the search term. The ones I remember were white and had a mechanism in the roller which retracted the shade—if you had just the right wrist motion.

Many times, the shade ended up in a heap at your feet. You could injure yourself by tripping over the shade, or sometimes by the shade suddenly snapping upwards and smacking you in the face.

There are newer versions of roller shades and they’re all expensive. You can still get old-fashioned roller shades, but I think they cost a lot more.

There’s an old photograph of a room with several roller shades on this web page.

FDA Approves Updated Covid-19 Vaccines to Better Protect Against Currently Circulating Variants

On August 22, 2024, the FDA authorized new Covid-19 vaccines (2024-2025) “to include a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant KP.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been updated with this formula to more closely target currently circulating variants and provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Today’s actions relate to updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by ModernaTX Inc. and Pfizer Inc.”

Thoughts on the Homeless Mentally Ill

The homeless man who lives on the sidewalk outside our hotel reminds me of a couple of things. One is Dr. Gerard Clancy, MD who is University of Iowa Health Care Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Emergency Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean of External Affairs.

I remember Gerry, who was in the department of psychiatry when I was a resident. I saw his picture in the newspaper and hearing about him riding a bicycle around Iowa City doing a sort of outreach to the homeless mentally ill.

I found an archived article mentioning him published in 1995 in the Daily Iowan. The story starts on the bottom of the front page, entitled “I.C. opens new doors for area’s mentally ill.” It continues on page 9A.

The story mentions Dr. Clancy and what was called then the Clinical Outreach Services and the Emergency Housing Program (EHP). The challenges then sound a lot like what they are now: long waiting lists for psychiatric evaluation and treatment, a lack of funding for the treatment of mental illness, and a lack of preventive care. The most common mental illnesses in the homeless mentally ill are chronic schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. The idea of reaching out to them “on their own turf” as Clancy was quoted, was to help them feel more comfortable talking about their mental illness.

The housing situation for this population of those struggling with mental illness was dismal then and it’s still dismal.

The homeless guy I’ve been calling Bob lives on the sidewalk next to a busy street. It’s just my opinion that he’s mentally ill based on my observations of his behavior. I’ve never tried to talk to him. However, Bob gets visits from people who obviously have differing views about the way he lives.

Some of them do talk to him and, although I can’t hear their conversations, the actions tell me important things. Some bring him what I call “care packages,” often food, water, and other items. They may start by acting kind, although may get impatient with him. Others try to clean up his sidewalk, and may criticize him. The police occasionally visit and have so far not taken him into custody.

It looks like things have not changed much since 1995 regarding the homeless mentally ill based on what I write here about my observations. In fact, it’s easy to find current news stories that say things are getting worse.

At the beginning of this post, I said I found a couple of things. The other thing was a very thorough teaching presentation about the current state of formal outreach to this population. It’s available on the web as a power point presentation by another University of Iowa faculty, Dr. Victoria Tann, MD, entitled “Assertive Community Treatment 101.”

Dr. Tann is currently an IMPACT Team psychiatrist. It’s an excellent source of background on the history of this effort at outreach to the homeless mentally ill. It also summarizes what’s happening with the program now.

Alcohol is Bad for Old Guys

I took a quick peek at the study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that a few news agencies are reporting on which says alcohol in moderation is bad for older persons. So much for moderation.

Actually, the full abstract is:

Ortolá R, Sotos-Prieto M, García-Esquinas E, Galán I, Rodríguez-Artalejo F. Alcohol Consumption Patterns and Mortality Among Older Adults With Health-Related or Socioeconomic Risk Factors. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(8):e2424495. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.24495

“Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of older drinkers from the UK, even low-risk drinking was associated with higher mortality among older adults with health-related or socioeconomic risk factors. The attenuation of mortality observed for wine preference and drinking only during meals requires further investigation, as it may mostly reflect the effect of healthier lifestyles, slower alcohol absorption, or nonalcoholic components of beverages.”

Conclusions: “This cohort study among older drinkers from the UK did not find evidence of a beneficial association between low-risk alcohol consumption and mortality; however, we observed a detrimental association of even low-risk drinking in individuals with socioeconomic or health-related risk factors, especially for cancer deaths. The attenuation of the excess mortality associated with alcohol among individuals who preferred to drink wine or drink only during meals requires further investigation to elucidate the factors that may explain it. Finally, these results have important public health implications because they identify inequalities in the detrimental health outcomes associated with alcohol that should be addressed to reduce the high burden of disease of alcohol use.”

The news stories play a little fast and loose with the headlines, which tend to gloss over the effect of health-related and socioeconomic risk factors. But, there’s no doubt in my mind that most people could do without alcohol.

Personally, I would have a couple of 12-ounce bottles of beers while watching football games or listening to the Big Mo Blues Show on KCCK Blues and Jazz Radio station on Friday nights. I hardly drank at all in terms of the grams per day metric.

But I’ve not imbibed since we got so busy selling our old house and camping out in a hotel while waiting for our new house to be built. Not surprisingly, I don’t miss it. When I was a young guy, I drank more and even smoked cigarettes. That was a long time ago.

In fact, when I look back on those days, I remember the factors that tended to limit my use of those substances. Take cigarettes—to the landfill if you don’t mind. I was what you would call a “sometimey smoker” because after a few days I suffered a sore throat, blunted taste for food, stuffy nose, lower appetite (bad for a baseline skinny guy) and fatigue. I just couldn’t stick with smoking long enough to make it a habit.

I’m going to pick on wine a little because the article alludes to the idea that it might have some health benefit. When I was a kid, I once had a lot too much wine which led to a longstanding inability to even stand the smell of it for years. I still never drink wine.

There are many things that can be habit forming. I’m beginning to wonder if watching Men in Black movies might be one of my weaknesses. I don’t watch any other movies as often as I do the MIB trilogy films. I’ve watched them dozens of times and I don’t have a good explanation for it. I think they’re funny and I can always use a good laugh.

Agent K: After neuralyzing Officer James Edwards, he and Agent K are finishing a meal in a café while K is delivering the punchline to a joke, “Honey, this one’s eating my popcorn! Get it?” Agent K laughs uproariously.

Officer James Edwards: Looking dazed from the recent neuralyzer blast, asks “Who are you?”

Agent K: “You see, James, you are a nice young man, but you—need to lay off the sauce.”

The quote is probably not word for word. I didn’t look it up on the web. It’s just as I remember from seeing the movie so often. And that’s partly because, for the most part, I lay off the sauce.