Farm and garden growing

Finally, we are in the rainy season. Fine raindroplets are falling endlessly throughout a day. On the fine days, however, I am kept busy cutting weeds and piling them on the farm bed for grass mulch as well as compost, and caring for the growing vegetables. The following photos were taken several days ago. Something like tomatoes or cabbages are being harvested for now. Broccholi is already over.

One of the tomatoe plants. Fruits are already ripened now. Very sweet. 

Egg plants are also ripened for now. The fruits cooked with vinegar, sake, sugar and ginger/garlic pastes. It is a very simple and tasty dish. My favorite and special dish.

Plants of pumpkin are growing as well. A few fruits are already growing. They may be cropped by August. I am trying to seed it at present. It may hopefully get matured late in fall.

The red rose flowers are prolific. Of course, it is not a vegetable. This outlook comforts us whenever we go beside the plant.

 

A big tree of Satsuki, which our parents used to plant almost 30 years or so ago. The gardener has cut it in this beautiful shape.

Too many photos...I would go faster. Beef with broccholi. The latter was a big fruit grown in the farm.  

 Fresh salad featured with pieces of cheese. Tomato was not matured yet at this time. It was a fruit sold at a super market. Lettuce is a harvest in our farm. It has been productive this year. Now I am going to take the seeds from them.

Sorry for this lengthey post in a kind of mannerism. I just would like to tell you I have been enjoying working in the garden/farm. Maybe, I have already told this but it could be very peaceful and comfortable when I work there withoug any worries or anxieties. I feel I am in the nature and a part of it myself. I would return to the mother nature in some years. What a blessing if I could go there in peace! Selflessness in devotion to working in the nature may lead me to the day upcoming. 

PS;Oops, the last two photos were already posted in the article on Jun 2nd! Is it a sign of aging? Maybe, there are some readers chuckling at me. 

Intermezzo OP118-2 played by Seymour Bernstein

In the very last days of life, John, AC4CA, was in hardship. His wife was institutionalized due to progressive Alzheimer and the corona pandemic refrained him from seeing her in person. He had neuroendocrine tumor becoming uncontrollable with the previous treatment and had to attend to MD Anderson oftener for further choice.

In that situation, he has played Waltz by Chopin, which unfortunately I could not recall of the name of, as he told me. It seemed music was a real relief in his life at that time. 

I told him to listen to the latest sonatas of Beethoven. I thought they would have given him conslation and even more power for life. 

He answered me he would. But, listening to this Intermezzo by Brahms played by Seyour Bernstein, I realized I was wrong then. He needed a piece of music closer to his heart than encouraging Beethoven, even if Brahms stood on the same level as him without any solution to his problems. Mostly emotional and almost staggering as if ceasing telling the story halfway. 

A couple of years ago, he has passed away like a puff of wind. This performance by Bernstein has reminded me of that truth in life in relation with the memory of this important friend.

 

Origin of music breathing together

The hunting tribe, Baka pygmies, has kept their life style in the central Africa since over one hundred thousand years ago. Their culture is thought to represent the origin of our culture. 

They sing the song for certain important events. Surprisingly, it's not a simple monophony but a polyphony with elaborately constructed rhythm. Each participant sings own unique part which collectively becomes a polyphonic music. I firmly believed it was not possible without synchronizing their breath. One of our ancestors' direct descendants, Baka pigmies tribe, may still maintain that style of the origin of music. 

Since age 50 years or so, I had been immersed in playing cello, which I started at the med university as I often mentioned. I often wished I had taken more lessons in young days whenever I had difficulty to play it. However, with kind good company of music, some from the university days, I could enjoy some chamber music as a cellist. I learned that breathing together was the key point in music. I believed it was how music was born among our ancestors. Breathing together brings us pleasure. Since we live together with them. When I knew of the polyphony this tribe still had held since ancient days, I was convinced that I had been in the stream of music if not perfect way. 

This piano trio has reminded me of that history of music which is not well conscious of even by music players. This piece, one of my most favorite ones, requires very intimate attitude to it when it is played. Each player seems to have realized that atmosphere in this rendition. 

https://youtu.be/W4_cP_-mf5w?si=zUHetGV4DBS6Nn0I

It is always a big pleasure for me to find such an ensemble.

AI assisted medicine

In 1963, a famous neurologist, Professor Shigeo Okinaka of Tokyo University has published at his retirement lecture that the misdiagnosis rate throughout his career as a doctor was 14.2%. He had been eager to have made autopsy for the patients in charge, when they died, to confirm his own diagnosis for them. Of course, the diagnosing means, such as laboratory exams or diagnostic imaging, were limited those days and the concepts of diseases were different from now. But his misdiagnosis rate was accepted by doctors with much surprise. It was a surprise that such an excellent neurologist as Okinaka could bring on such a rate. In my med student days, this anecdote was often told as a lesson to study hard of the diagnostics.

Reaching correct diagnosis is always the very beginning of medicine. It determines whether a patient would go dead or alive in most serious cases. The more important it is for a patient, even the more essential it is for a doctor. 

 

In the recent issue of Science, Eric J. Topol of Scripps Research Institute has written how accurate diagnoses could be made when generative AI is introduced in the diagnostics in medicine. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn9602

As introduced in this article, there are possibilities of misdiagnosis in two aspects of clinical medicine. Clinical doctors at the front of medical service are always diagnosing their patients in System 1 thinking way. Without laboratory tests or diagnostic imaging, the doctors should give a diagnosis, even if tentative, to the patient before him/her. Automatic, near-instantaneous, reflexive and intuitive manner. In Japan, under the system of the socialistic medical economics, most of the doctors could not spend much time for each patient. Generative AI may benefit the doctor as well as the patient since there would be less chances for the bias of the doctor in charge. 

On the other hand, deliberate, thoroughly exmined consultation, which only few patients could receive at exceptionally specialized institutions at present, may depend on System 2 thinking. This could be supported by generative AI as well. It may give the updated knowledge of medicine to the doctors which is essential for the correct diagnosis. This may happen less frequently than the former cases but may determine the prognosis of the patient.  

Generative AI sounds very helpful to us in clinical services. There could be, however, two issues, so far as I understand, when generative AI is introduced into the clinical medicine. 

The first is who would pay for the cost of AI. At least, the present system in medical economics would not afford that for routine use. Could only limited number of wealthy patients pay for that? In our country, MHLW seems to replace the area the publich health insurance covers to that of private insurance. The people is told they would have more chances for better medicine in that private insurance covering area. They don't know how much private insurance costs everyone.

The second issue is who would take the responsibility of misdiagnosis by generative AI. In our country, they won't bring such a case to court so often. With system being americanized, there should be more cases of law suits. Who should be responsible for such a case?

As a whole, however, it should be a progress in the medicine. It would be accepted and used properly in clinical medicine in the near future. At least, much better than development of the AI controlled arms. 

Still getting along well

Again, it's been a pretty long interval since last post in this blog. We are doing just fine. My wife is busy at the activities of local community, which is told to be voluntary but, in reality, is compulsory from the order of the local government. Anyway, she seems pretty happy to do with the neighbors. I am still kept busy at the farm/garden. I have been planting various summer vegetables. Spring broccoli, lettuce, green pea, fava beans and potatoes have been harvested. As an unexperienced farmer, I knew how short potatoes could be preserved in ordinary condition. I was a bit shocked. In summer, it would get too hot to prevent budding of potatoes! It turned out to be a useless and desparate trial to keep them for half a year or longer. I am serious to prepare for food shortage which could be brought with the poor policy of agriculture by the government. Maybe I should grow rice or wheat for such preserved food in our country. You know the food self sufficienty rate is only 38% in our country, which drops to around 10% considering of dependency of fertilizer or of the other sources for farming on imports from the other countries. I have already written about it in a previous post.

Another reason why I am apart from renewing this blog may be that I am less concerned about relationship with others, that is, am not caring for any approval or supports by others. The internet SNS is a handy tool to get in touch with others and to inform them how I am getting along, most probably expecting any praise by others, or if not so much, any concern toward me. Year by year, I am feeling that way. Maybe, it is a sign of senility. They say losing sociability is an early sign of congnitive disorders or, at least, a risk factor for those illnesses. So I would adhere to blogging a bit more hoping it would prevent or delay the arrival of real elderly. 

Sometimes, I am still cooking dinner. This is a dish of beef with newly harvested broccoli. The broccoli was 8 inches in diameter. Without any fertilizer but with only compost, it has grown that size without much damage by bugs. This was seasoned with oyster sauce. 

Another cook is a simple fresh salad. The lettuce and green pea were the products in my farm. Tomatoes are getting ready soon. I expect hundreds of them will be served for salad etc very soon.

So that is how I am getting along. Still reading a lot of books regarding mostly politics, economy and music. Listening to good music such as Art of Fugue as I recently mentioned of or chamber music of Brahms and so forth. It is a time of treasure for me to listen to them before going to sleep.   

This blog should be named "An old man's monologue" for now. I still appreciate anyone who visits here. I would continue it until it becomes an old man's solo diary and I am told to stop it.