HIGHER CONNECTIONS

Authors' Note: Originally conceived by Plato and Aristotle as a construct to explain the universe, the Great Chain of Being, known in Latin as scala naturae, organized all beings and matter in a hierarchy, descending from heavenly powers through humans, animals, plants and minerals. 

   In medieval times, the concept was expanded as a rationale for the Divine Right of Kings, and to deny unapproved social mobility.

Authors' Note:        (khah-ray-DEEM)
Various groups of strictly Orthodox or haredi Jews represent an expanding demographic in Israel, assembling in particular neighborhoods (such as the suburbs of Jerusalem) where they carry out their lifestyle, rejecting and disdaining the secular environment, preferring a world characterized by observance of laws derived from the Torah (Old Testament). Their traditional dress reflects the groups' roots in 19th century Ashkenazi religious communities in northern Europe. The name (the plural noun form) originates from a biblical reference to those who tremble at the word of God.

With large families (averaging 7 children per female), these groups made up 4% of Israeli citizens in 1980, and 13% in 2021.

Authors' note: 

gnostic: adjective derived from the Greek noun gnosis; pertaining to or possessing spiritual knowledge or insight

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Life in PALINDROME VALLEY

Authors' Note:  A somewhat archaic meaning of duplicitous is 'twofold', and that is the basis of its more common modern use to imply deception. In the archaic sense, any palindrome is duplicitous, as it can be read in either of two directions. However, a palindromic place-name on a signpost seems like a recipe for getting lost.

There are other popular posted destinations that could confound the unwary visitor to Palindrome Valley. These include: Drama Rd., Evaded Ave., Llama Mall, and Roomy Moor.

Authors' Note: Any grouping known as 'the Palindrome Family' will have more daughters than sons. (In the case cited, older sisters Hannah, Ava and Lil have already been married off.) And, in classic parenting, you have to watch out for their welfare; extreme caution is advised with respect to questionable dates, escorts or suitors like Dennis.

Italics are used to outline palindromic words and phrases in the above verse. More subtly, Dennis sinned, Tennis sin-net, and Golf flog are phrases consisting of two mirror-imaged entities known as semordnilaps, that unite in wordlock to produce a palindromic phrase.

Authors' Note: 

(now-ROO-uhn, nah-ROO-uhn)

   In Palindrome Valley, parents and administrators had to decide what second language would be taught in schools. The underlying rationale is obvious. and here's the clue: of the almost two hundred nations on the globe, only the Pacific island-nation of Nauru has a national language and adjectival form that is a palindrome. The interested reader might note that on Nauru itself, while the Australian brand of English, the basis of televised entertainment, is widely understood, over 90% use their unique Austronesian language.

   The author, with an interest in foreign languages from an early age, fantasizes that had he grown up in Palindrome Valley, he would have maintained his skill in speaking Nauruan.

ADDENDUM: 'Malayalam', one of the many languages of South India, related to Sanskrit and Tamil, is also a palindromic name, but although spoken by almost 3% of current Indians, it never represented a national language. 

You can review other illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the collection 'Life in Palindrome Valley' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

Authors' Note: 

trat: trendy abbreviation for trattoria, an informal Italian restaurant

   Unfortunately, a few specialties have been taken off menus due to recent supply-chain issues. (No melon, no lemon; Wontons? Not now.) 

   But, you can always wash down your meal with a glass of our famous red ice cider or regal lager !

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For the Love of Greece: HELLENOPHILIA

 

Authors' Note:

Evzone (EHV-zohn, anglicized form): member of anelite unit drawn from the Hellenic Army Infantry Corps

Grand Change: a more elaborate version of the hourlychanging of the guard (taking place on Sunday morning at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
Athens' Syntagma Square), providing a popular photo-op for locals and tourists

klepht (KLEHFT): Greek fighter in the War of Independence

fustanella: kilt made from 30 meters of white cotton, supposedly with 400 pleats to represent the years of Ottoman occupation.

Authors' Note: Heraklia (population ~150), south of Naxos, is the largest island in the Lesser Cyclades chain.

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ORGANIC BRAIN POETRY

 

Authors' Note:  A psychiatric workup for mental disorders starts with the separation of causality into two streams. In the first, brain function, thoughts and behavior may be altered by subtle or unusual manifestations of disease in body systems outside the brain — these are sometimes termed exogenous. In the second stream, manifestations are attributable to disorder of the brain itself (usually of unknown cause) in patterns reflective of neurosis, schizophrenia and depressive illness. In somewhat archaic, but still utilized descriptions, psychiatrists may refer to this distinction as indicating organic versus non-organic mental disorders. 

Authors' Note: 

rarefactive: (a non-standard use) — the condition of becoming less frequent; under-functioning

By far the most common cause of thyroid hormone deficiency or hypothyroidism (historically known as myxedema for a type of puffy swelling and rash in the legs) is progressive destruction of normal hormone-producing tissue by the process of colloid degeneration. Owing to the metabolic role of thyroid hormone, most body functions then slow, resulting, for example, in reduced heart rate and weight gain. For the brain, somnolence and depression may be accompanied in extreme cases by disordered mentation known as 'myxedema madness'.

Under normal circumstances, the anterior pituitary gland, stimulated by the brain's hypophysis, plays a key role as the 'master gland' in regulating hormone production. When the thyroid gland is flagging, the master gland increases its production of TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), a messenger that is excreted into the bloodstream, targeted to normalize the peripheral gland's production. Fortunately, the robust sensing mechanism in the hypophysis and pituitary, not impaired by the metabolic slowdown elsewhere, produces high levels of blood TSH so reliably that a simple test can be used as the best test for detection of the hypothyroid state. 

Authors' Note: stroma: connective tissue that supports normal body structures and, on occasion, abnormal growths

Meningioma is a relatively common, slowly growing benign tumor within the cranium. Pressure on adjacent portions of normal brain induce neurological symptoms. When the tumor is located in the frontal cortex, neuropsychiatric manifestations may include bizarre thoughts, frequently paranoid, and unrepressed behavior. Fortunately, the tumors when suspected are readily diagnosed on neuro-imaging studies, and surgical therapy is usually curative.

Brain tumours account for only a small portion of patients suffering such neuropsychiatric symptoms; however, medical practitioners frequently hope that such a correctable cause may be discovered.

Authors' Note:  Although military recruits and physically abused spouses also number among the victims of this disease of insidious onset, (characteristically diagnosed with certainty only at post-mortem examination), it is the scourge of those who earlier in life indulged in contact sports, particularly those with a risk of repetitive minor brain trauma.

Everything that you wanted to know about chronic traumatic encephalopathy can be found in the author's note appended to MikeAq's verse on the subject.

Authors' Note: A course of high-dose synthetic corticosteroids, e.g. dexamethasone, may be used to help bring under control a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness, e.g. asthma, inflammatory diseases, or an initial presentation, e.g. anaphylaxis, septic shock or brain swelling. Owing to the common side-effect of drug-induced euphoria/mania and other psychiatric issues, doctors attempt to taper the high doses as soon as possible.

Authors' Note: A chronic subdural hematoma is a space-occupying intracranial lesion resulting from the body's failure to resorb blood that collected between the dural membrane and the brain parenchyma, usually caused by traumatic head injury. Whereas an initial expanding clot presents as a neurosurgical emergency, smaller clots, with a tendency to absorb fluid and expand gradually, may be later suggested only by chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms. In jargon used in actual medical settings and in televised fictional series, the term for the lesion responsible may be shortened to subdural.

In elderly patients, such as Hazel, and in those on blood-thinning drugs, the trauma required to incite events such as those in this tale may be minor or even subliminal.

Authors' Note: Recent reports point out the devastating effects of an early onset of Alzheimer's dementia. Fortunately, this variant, manifesting at an earlier than usual age, is relatively uncommon, but isn't it time that we discovered the cause and treatment for this tragic disorder?

Authors' Note: 

TSH: thyroid stimulating hormone, also known as thyrotropin, initialism for a substance produced by the anterior pituitary gland in a feedback loop that regulates production of thyroid hormones by the thyroid gland

The operation of the feedback loop in relation to states of thyroid deficiency is discussed here.

Collections of intriguing verses on other medical/dental topics that can now be found on various posts include:

Patients and their Maladies (parts #1, #2 and #3)

The Bottom Line of Medical Humour

Funny Bones (parts #1 and #2)
Doctors and their Practices (part #1 and #2)

To Clot or Not to Clot

The Scopes of Modern Medicine

Handbook of Medical Testing Statistics

Pandemic Verses

Poetry of Healthcare

STD Poetry

Diagnostic Imaging (selected topics)

Toxic Vignettes

Sleek Greek Prefixes

Ecto-Parasites

Oncology

Dental Feelings

and in 'brief sagas' including:

Drug Development

Radiation Exposure

The Gastro-Esophageal Junction

Food Intolerance

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Mirthful Memes: MYTHED OPPORTUNITIES

Authors' Note:   Well, this is about as close as you can get to the bona fide Greek myth. In actuality, Eos became enamored of a series of mortal lovers, but wanted to get on with things, and eventually turned the formerly handsome Prince Tithon/Tithonus into a cicada (which does not match the rhyming scheme). Be careful what you wish for!

   The legend continued into Roman times, during which Aurora personified the role of Eos, and Jove or Jupiter the role of Zeus. Much later, the dilemma of the once-mortal hero was fantasized in the poem "Tithonus" by Alfred Tennyson. Also, the involved deities have been immortalized in human names for astrophysical phenomena.

  In any case, this story fits an immutable pattern in which we mortals get clobbered in interactions with Greco-Roman deities.

 Click HERE for another verse about Eos's astronomical protégé.

Authors' Note: 

Eliyahu HaNavi -- ay-lee-YA-hoo ha-na-VEE-- (Elijah the Prophet) plays an important role in the traditional Passover Seder service. At the end of the multi-course dinner for family and friends, the fifth glass of wine is poured, but reserved for the prophet. The door of the home is then opened briefly, recitations from the Old Testament chanted, and the Prophet (who, some day, will announce the arrival of the Jewish Messiah) enters and may sip from the wineglass; children watch to see if the level in the glass really does go down. The distinguished visitor is not offered a dessert or any other food, and the door is not opened to let him out again, as I recall, but attention turns from the arrival of Eliyahu to the completion of the service, and finally the group singing of traditional songs.

  Note that Eliyahu may come by his reticence to use modern technology for good reason. Last week, Israel's chief rabbis decided that even in this plague-ridden year, video-conferencing is subject to the usual ban on the holiday use of electronics. 

Authors' Note: Sulmona is a town in Italy's Abruzzo region where the renowned Roman poet Ovid (Ovidio in modern italian), contemporary of Horace and Virgil, started writing his works in Latin. His magnum opus "Metamorphoses" is a monumental epic of 15 books, recounting chronologically the creation of the universe to the reign of Julius Caesar. Although many of its tales are recounted with a personal twist, it is the source of much of our knowledge of Greco-Roman myth.

Authors' Note: King T. refers to Sparta's King Tyndareus, husband of Leda. These characters in the story of "Leda and the Swan" were presumably mortal. However, relevant accounts, as depicted in literature and representative art, vary as to the mortal status of the couple's famous offspring (the twins Helen and Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux were hatched as human babies from the oversized eggs.)

 

Authors' Note: The nasty Greek deity Cronus, (sometimes transcribed as Kronos) has intermittently been conflated with the Father Time-like figure Chronos, but eventually merged with the more benign Roman god Saturn, for whom Saturday, the planet Saturn, and the harvest festival saturnalia are named.

In the harsh Greek version of the myth, the youth Cronus castrates his father, Uranus, at the urging of his peevish mother Gaia. Later, Cronus learns that he, too, is fated to be overturned by his own offspring, and devours them, except for Zeus, who escapes and eventually does overthrow him to become king of the gods.

Author's Note: The asteroid known by astronomers as 221 Eos is apparently a large orbiting body with a diameter of over 100 km. It has a potential, should it strike the Earth, to bring about an extinction similar to that produced 60 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaur population.

  Like most heavenly bodies, this one was named after a figure from Greco-Roman mythology, Eos (Aurora), the Goddess of Dawn; the irony is apparent. 

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