Give gift of healthy vision

Give the gift of healthy vision this holiday season   Dec. 1, 2015 – Macular degeneration affects more than ten million Americans and is the leading cause of vision loss for those aged 55 and older in the United States – but you can help improve the lives of those already diagnosed and reduce the risk for the next generation in various ways this holiday season. The holidays are spent with family, friends - and food! This year, make a dish that's not only tasty, but rich in good-for-you nutrients that can help prevent macular degeneration and, in some cases, aid in fighting other health problems. Eat Right For Your Sight: Simple Tasty Recipes That Help Reduce the Risk of Vision Loss from Macular Degeneration by Jennifer Trainer Thompson  and Johanna M. Seddon MD  (The Experiment, 2015) is a cookbook from the American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) that's full of mouthwatering recipes. The collection is great for year-round use, but also dishes that fit your holiday gathering needs, like the simple and delicious Roasted Butternut Squash and Cranberry Salad recipe we've provided below. There are also tips from our nutritional partner, Toby Amidor, MS, RD, whose contact information is below if you'd like to arrange an interview with her. You can also help those affected by macular degeneration by capturing the giving spirit of the season and consider making an end-of-the-year donation to AMDF. Donations go towards supporting scientific research, educating, engaging, and empowering the public by building awareness of, and knowledge about, this incurable eye disease through online tools and resources, free educational materials, and healthful lifestyle tips, such as the following. Other foods to include in your holiday repertoire that help prevent macular degeneration include:  Kale chips: Kale is a power food for eye health as it contains vitamins A and C and phytochemicals lutein and zeaxanthin. Vitamin A is vital to eye growth and development while the powerful antioxidant vitamin C helps protect the body against the damage of free radicals which have been shown to contribute to macular degeneration. Spiced nuts: Add nuts like almonds, walnuts, and peanuts to your holiday spiced nut mixture. Almonds contain the antioxidant vitamin E, while walnuts contain omega-3 fats – both which support healthy eyes. Peanuts also contain zinc, which recent studies suggest may help slow down the progression of macular degeneration. Guacamole: This wildly popular party dip is brimming with vitamin E, which supports eye health. It also contains lutein, an antioxidant naturally found in the macula (the center of the retina) which needs to be replenished regularly. If you'd like to talk to Toby, please contact Jaimee Constantine at jaimee@lisaekus.com. For more information, to purchase a cookbook, or to make a donation, visit http://www.macular.org.   Try this recipe from Eat Right For Your Sight: Simple Tasty Recipes That Help Reduce the Risk of Vision Loss from Macular Degeneration:   Roasted Butternut Squash and Cranberry Salad Serves 4-6 A good source of carotenoids, vitamins A, B6, C, and folate, butternut squash is also rich in phytochemicals, which convert into antioxidants, thought not only to help prevent macular degeneration, but also to reduce the risk for certain cancers and cardiovascular problems. This is a pretty salad that offers a colorful change of pace with its roasted squash, goat cheese, pecans, and cranberries.   1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks (about 2 cups) ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons agave nectar 1¼ teaspoons sea salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper One 5-ounce bag baby greens ¼ cup dried cranberries ¼ cup pecan halves, lightly chopped ¼ cup crumbled goat cheese 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar 2 teaspoons whole grain Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon freshly snipped chives Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a mixing bowl, toss the butternut squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the agave nectar, and 1 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake until tender and golden, 20 to 25 minutes, tossing after 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Assemble the baby greens, cranberries, pecans, and goat cheese in a salad bowl. Top with the butternut squash. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, vinegar, mustard, chives, ¼ teaspoon salt, and extra pepper into a vinaigrette and toss with the salad. Serve immediately. Nutritional Profile Serving size: 1 cup / Calories: 360 / Protein: 4 g / Fiber: 4 g / Fat: 30 g  Saturated fat: 5 g / Sodium: 260 mg / Vitamin A: 10,343 IU / Vitamin C: 6 mg  Vitamin D: 3 IU / Vitamin E: 13 IU / Zinc: 1 mg / Beta-carotene: 3,774 μg  Lutein and zeaxanthin:5,000 μg  Recipe may be reprinted with the following credit: Recipe from Eat Right For Your Sight: Simple Tasty Recipes That Help Reduce the Risk of Vision Loss from Macular Degeneration, copyright © American Macular Degeneration Foundation, 2014. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available wherever books are sold. theexperimentpublishing.com/

A Savior Is Born—Christmas Video

NPR tweeted: Before There Were Tourists, Dinosaurs Strolled Scotland's Isle Of Skye

Popular in your network NPR  @NPR Before There Were Tourists, Dinosaurs Strolled Scotland's Isle Of Skye n.pr/21sSzkx View on Twitter Mormon Newsroom  @MormonNewsroom VIDEO: #ASaviorIsBorn #LDS #Mormon YouTube View on Twitter BBC Business  @BBCBusiness Model Rosie Nelson was told to slim 'to the bone'. Hear why she's calling for compulsory health checks for models. BBC View on Twitter College GameDay  @CollegeGameDay Ain't no party like a Monmouth bench mob party. ESPN View on Twitter Mormon Channel @mormonchannel "Life moves all too fast. When you feel weak, discouraged, depressed, or afraid, open the Book of Mormon and read." —Boyd K. Packer View on Twitter Great Bible Verses @GreatBibleVerse God is love. -1 John 4:8 View on Twitter

4 Techniques for Improving Memory

By John Fisher

As I get older my memory seems to get worse.  I leave home and wonder if I locked the door. I get out of the car and forget if I locked it too. It seems that throughout the day I forget whether I have done those rudimentary, daily tasks. And so I go back to check and find that indeed they were done. It's just that I have forgotten.

Memories in a fish bowl - Photo by Catherine Jamieson

On the other hand, the memories I have from long ago seem crystal clear.

Professor John Medina, University of Washington School of Medicine, in one of The Great Courses called "Your Best Brain," says recollection of events or information from long ago becomes less accurate over the passage of time.  What I think happened may not be the way it really happened.

Medina distinguishes between reproductive and reconstructive memory retrieval. Reconstructive memory he says is less accurate with a 55% error rate.

Studies suggest that loss of memory is a problem that occurs at the moment of retrieval rather than at storage (Hasher and Griffin, 1978). A mistaken belief is that we use reproductive memory for simple things while reconstructive memory is used for more complex constructions like prose.

Reproductive memory is recall is where we store the original stimulus input and reproduce it during recall. On the other hand, reconstructive memory is a theory of elaborate memory recall in which the act of remembering is influenced by various other cognitive processes including perception imagination, semantic memory and beliefs.

Here are several findings from Hasher and Griffin (1978).

• The more retrieval cues available the greater the possibility of remembering. Two cues are better than one. 
• Passages that are presented without a theme are obscure and ambiguous. 
• Information given after understanding a story doesn't help improve remembering the story.
• With both prose and a simple-unit recall there is evidence that a postinput cue with help memory. 

Medina describes four ways of improving memory.

1. Overlearning. Practice overlearning where we review material at timed intervals over the week before having to recall the information, like in a test or speech delivery. Ten times over 10 days is better than cramming for the test. Don't cram and don't do all nighters. It is far more effective to remember by learning the material in regular time exposures to the information.
2. Elaborative rehearsal. Maintenance rehearsal is a "shallow" form of information processing where you focus on an object without considerinng its meaning or associating it with other objects. For example, the repetition of a series of numbers is a form of maintenance rehearsal. In contrast, elaborative or relational rehearsal is a process in which you relate new material to information already stored in your long-term memory. It's a "deep" form of processing information that involves thinking about the object's meaning as well as making connections between the object, past experiences and the other objects. In learning numbers, you might associate them with personal experiences like significant dates such birthdays or perhaps you might see a pattern in the numbers that helps you to remember them.
3. Mnemonics. This strategy is useful in learning a list of words. The peg-word system associates the to-be-remembered items with a list of easily remembered items. Acronyms are developed that refer to the first words of the list of material we are trying to remember. SMART is the acronym for writing objectives. ROY G. BIV are the first letters of the colors in the rainbow. 
4. Mental Imagery. Mental imagery (also called visual memory) is where we use visual experience to preserve memories We place in memory visual information which resembles objects, places, animals or people in a mental image. Mental imagery is also referred to as the mind's eye through which we retrieve from our memory a mental image of original objects, places, animals or people. For example, when I try to remember a difficult to spell word, I close my eyes and actually see the word in my brain. 

References:

Hasher, Lynn & Mary Griffin. (1978). Reconstructive and Reproductive Processes in Memory. Journal of Experimental Pyschology: Human Learning and Memory, 4 (4): 318-330. Retrieved from http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/hasher/PDF/Reconstructive%20and%20reproductive%20processes%20Hasher%20&%20Griffen%201978.pdf

See also http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lynn_Hasher/publication/232493566_Reconstructive_and_reproductive_processes_in_memory/links/54ff34b50cf2672e2244113e.pdf

Medina, John. How Your Brain Uses Memory. Your Best Brain (Lesson 5). The Great Courses. Retrieved from http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/your-best-brain-the-science-of-brain-improvement.html

A Tale of Two Hospitals 

What’s the difference between the Denver VA hospital and the Parkland Hospital in Dallas? Parkland, a public-private venture, was finished largely on-time and on-budget, while the Colorado VA hospital continues to flounder, according to a new report by National Center for Policy Analysis Research Associate Jennifer Vermeulen.

“Twenty years have passed since the VA began exploring options for replacing the Denver VA, and 10 years have passed since planning began. Yet, the veterans of Colorado are still waiting to receive the high-quality care they deserve,” says Vermeulen. “Conversely, the county hospital project in Dallas remained accountable in real-time to both taxpayers and private donors. The new hospital was better than originally planned, delivered nearly on-time and on-budget. Results like that are worth every penny.”

Read the full report at: http://www.ncpa.org/pub/denver-va-versus-dallas-parkland