Swinging between wintry cold and spring warmth, it is becoming real warm in the day time. The pink Japanese apricots are coming out. It is planted between our house and the other our parents used to live. It has been shaded by the big zelkova tree cut down recently. From now, this apricot tree would enjoy its days having much sunray every day. It had been planted by my father some 30 or 40 years ago before the zelkova came in.
We have had a pretty big earthquake off the shore of Fukushima. Whenever there occurs such an earthquake in that particular area, it quakes rather hard in this area about 100 miles south west of there. The quake sure reminded us of the bigger one 11 years ago. But actually it was smaller in intensity and length. Only several books have fallen from the book shelves to the floor. Our cat, aged 2 years, was so scared in half rising position and motionless for a while, which has soothed us a lot.
I was concerned about the effect on the crippled nuclear power plants. So far, no bad news from there. It is not any perspective for settlement there. So much contaminated water has been brought about every day. They are trying to flow "partially" decontaminated water into the ocean. No access to the melt down nuclear fuel sunk at the base of pressure vessels yet. Another tsunami may completely destroy them. The government is going to restart the other nuclear plants only for the profit of the power companies which contribute much money to the present ruling parties whether it is legal or illegal. We could go on without the nuclear power in this reducing population country with decreased necessity for power. In this earthquake prone country, it is like a Russian roulette to carry on nuclear power plants.
I have received inquiry about ourselves after the quake from a few friends of mine. I thank them so much for concern. This is the present situation so far.
"Unruhige Nacht", an unforgettable novel by Albrecht Goes. I was taught about it from a preacher at a bible class I attended in the med school days. I was fiercely touched by this short novel at that time.
After Goes had worked as a military chaplain in the Nazis era, he has written a number of novels which casted profound insight into human being. I have run across with him at another occasion. In a work titled "Ode to J.S.Bach" written in Japanese, his essay regarding Matthew's Passion was included, which I loved so much. That essay was depicting in lyrical touch how this Passion was played among ordinary people in a countryside in Germany.
It is almost impossible for me to summarize this novel. However, if I dare to, it is as follows;
During WWII, when the war situation became disadvantageous to mother land, a German military chaplain was heading to Ukraine, where he was ordered to attend execution for a young soldier by firing squad. At a hotel he was waiting for the flight bound for Ukraine in the next morning, he was reading through about the young man going to be executed. He had a compelling reason why he had to leave the front.
The hotel was so crowded that the chaplain was spending the night at the same room divided with a curtain together with a couple, an officer and his sweetheart. The officer was determined to Leningrad, where he had to join the front in desperate battle. After having grasped of the young soldier's life reading through the paper, the chaplain has left the couple greeting "Femur fracture!", an ominous word, which was often exchanged among soldiers in stead of farewell praying for safety.
On aboard the plane bound for Ukraine, watching the flowing clouds through the window, the chaplain has reconciled with all the absurdity.
My memory is not reliable. But the outline of the story may not be far from what I wrote above. I was sure this novel had been based on certain real experience for Goes. And, I am afraid, the same absurdity is being repeated in Ukraine at present. Whenever I hear or watch any news from Ukraine, I could not help recalling of this story. When and how is the real reconciliation coming true?
Or Goes could be hinted for the story from this Lied by Mahler.
There are 80 million refugees in the world. Needless to mention of those in Ukraine, over 8 million people have evacuated from Syria. In addition to the cruel war in Ukraine by invading Russia, at the same time, Israel is reportedly air bombing to Syria while Saudi Arabia to Yemen. Those military actions are bringing on more victims and refugees at various places.
All I could do is to donate to those refugees through UNCHR or other organizations. I wish I could do anything for them as a pediatrician. But I am too old for such a work for now. Here is the info for the mothers and their babies living in shelters written by Japanese pediatricians. They hope it will be of help to them. Please deliver and pass the following pdf through the internet. I hope it will be passed on to them possibly in difficulty for living.
新生児医療連絡会の大木茂と申します。 このPDFは避難所で生活する赤ちゃんとお母さんのために日本の小児科医たち が作りました。 日本の避難所と状況が違うかもしれませんが少しでも皆様のお役に立てれば幸 いです。 是非ウクライナの皆様に私たちはいつもあなたたちの事を見守っていることと 、全ての子供が笑顔で遊び、やすからに眠れる日が戻る事を願っているとお伝 えください。 ロシア語圏の方もおられるかと思いますが、今回残念ながら翻訳者を見つけら れませんでした。もし訳していただける方がいればよろしくお願いいたします 。 日本語原本は以下の小児関連学術団体の名前で既に公開されており今回のご提 供も了承済みです。 日本小児科学会 新生児成育医学会 日本周産期新生児医学会 新生児医療連絡会 内容問い合わせ先(ssohki@gmail.com) 新生児医療連絡会 事務局長 大木茂(聖隷浜松病院総合周産期母子医療センタ ー) Питання та відповіді для немовлят та ї х батьків які знаходяться у притулках тощо. https://jnanet.gr.jp/document/pdf/qafamily_u.pdf Q & A about Babies at Evacuation Centers in Disaster Areas https://jnanet.gr.jp/document/pdf/qafamily_e.pdf 被災地の避難所等で生活をする赤ちゃんのためのQ & A https://jnanet.gr.jp/document/pdf/qafamily.pdf 适用于在受灾地避难所生活的婴儿的常见问题集 https://jnanet.gr.jp/document/pdf/qafamily_c1.pdf This PDF was created by Japanese pediatricians for babies and mothers living in shelters during disasters.The situation may be different from
that of shelters in Japan, but we hope we can be of some help to you. We are always watching over you. Hope the day return when all children can laugh, play, and sleep peacefully. We think there are some Russian-speaking evacuees. I would appreciate it if anyone could translate it into Russian. However, we do not take any responsibility for the completion of the other language version. Contact information:(ssohki@gmail.com) Shigeru Oki, MD., PhD. executive director, Japanese Neonatologst association
I have owned 5 cellos and borrowed one since I started learning it in med school days. Each one is memorable to me in its own way. At around 50 years of age, when I was doing my job at stable pace for my own clinic after the hectic days to start and establish it, I found sometime free, divided between duties. I wanted to spend that time for something away from studying at the office. It was cello playing. I had played it only infrequently, possibly, onece in a week or even in a month since I graduated the med school. It won't take too long to be occupied with it at my room of the office almost every day.
At first, I have replaced my old one with the front board badly cracked to a new one. A German instrument. Not high end but very healthy and well crafted one. Moreover, it was easy to play with the height of each string small enough without any noise. The only deficit was relatively conservative volume of sound, especially on the lowest C string.
I have spent a few years to look for a better one. I had made a mistake to purchase another German instrument, which turned out a failure for my purpose. Then, in a few years, I have run across with the present instrument made in Italy. It is an instrument by a single luthier. Even if it is not a perfect one, it has satisfied me a lot. The D string range sounded mellow and deep. Loudness of the sound is difficult for the player but I have been told it was good enough. I have brought it for orchestras or ensembles at various places. It has been like a buddy for me.
The following clip is interesting. It shows an instrument has its capability when it is crafted. But it depends on the performer how it works. I believe the last cellist from Spain has drawn its capability most. Tchaikovsky is not a favorite for me. I still love this piece.
A new cello played by 3 different cellists;
I should consider how to deliver mine to the next cellist soon. For a while, I would try to have it sing until that time. An old anecdote says I have sung in the woods with breeze blown, now I sing by a cellist.
A large scale study of COVID19 cases in relation with acute ischemic stroke in Medicare beneficiaries elderly age group in the US has been published in Neurology.
It tells that in the acute phase of infection, that is, within 3 days after being infected with COVID19, elderly could occur cerebrovascular ischemic event 10 times more frequently than non infected people with the same age group. There could be patients with acute ischemic stroke who turned out to be infected with COVID19 in medical care facilities. Less elderly and with no past history of acute ischemic stroke are the risk factors.
This may reflect that COVID19 is essentially a systemic vasculitis in pathophysiology. The acute ischemic stroke may be a result of vasculitis. There are still some people insisting COVID19 is a kind of common cold. This epidemiological study warns it is not correct. Despite of deregulation for COVID19 precautions in such as Denmark or UK, the number of the cases is decreasing. It could only be a natural course of infection surge. There could be another spike in some time. Taking together this vasculitis complication with long COVID, we should not look it down but get ready for another surge.
