For refugee mothers and their babies

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

A cello has its life

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.

In 3 years after purchasing it, we had the big earthquake here. It was laid on the floor of my room at the office as usual when the earthquake hit the area. Everything has fallen on the floor, books, audio system or even TV. When I opened the door, it was too messy to step in at first. The cello has survived the quake only with a few injuries on the front board. I felt it was a miracle that it had been almost intact in that heavy quake. Ever since, I thought it was my duty to keep it as a treasure which should be delivered to the next generation. Musical instruments, I believe, have the inherent span of lives. I should have it live long enough as a responsibility of the owner even if it is not a Stradivarius.    
  

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; 

https://youtu.be/d9EiA9cAJjg

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. 

Acute Ischemic Stroke occurs 10 times more in elderly with COVID19 infection.

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.     

 https://n.neurology.org/content/98/8/e778

Blooming Japanese Apricots

A few blossoms of Japanese apricots in the garden have finally come out. The forecast says it will be warmer at least in the day time in a few days. One of the coldest winters for the past several years will have gone soon at last. 

Daffodils are ready to grow and bloom soon in the garden. I am going to prepare seeding and growing seedlings in the garden. Potatoes and sweet potatoes. Plowing and putting compost in the ground. 

The more the world situation looks ominous, the more we should be settled down and go on without panic looking forward safety and recovery from the mess in the world. It is easy to start conflicts whatever the reason may be but quite tough to recover from it to regain peace. To be in peace may be to carry on its process itself.

The poll by a "governmental" organization in Russia regarding the invasion to Ukraine says "only" 70% of the people is approving it. Seemingly no fanatic support to Putin. In the end of last month, Ivaschov, retired general of the Russian army, the chairman of the Russian Officers' General Assembly, has announced an objection to invasion to Ukraine and requirement to have Putin resign the presidency. Here.  Recent news tell that there have been several demonstrations occurring in Russia and 1400 people have been arrested by the authority. 

The participation of the former USSR countries to NATO should be negotiated between Russia and the related countries. The claim of Russia for their being surrounded by the NATO countries could be partially understood whether we may  accept it or not. Putin's ambition may be, however, on the other aspect of the issue. Invading and dominating Ukraine, a country with rich crops and natural resources, seems to be Putin's intension. He also seems to divert the people from the present difficulty in life in Russia to something "patriotic". Dictators often take that maneuver. 

We could not be simply optimistic for the future only with these news. But we should believe in the resilience of the world. We are not in the era of colonization by imperialism countries any longer. 

Looking at the peaceful tiny flowers in the garden, I thought of such a thing. 

Ukraine

 Around 1990, when Perestroika was carried out in USSR under the administration of Gorbachov, there were a lot of ham radio activities in USSR including Ukraine. Some hams in various parts of USSR or in the Eastern Europe countries have started talking to me on their personal matters or on their ideas in QSO. One of them in Ukraine was Alex UB5ECE. He was a DX chaser as well as an avid contester. 

I have resigned work at a med school hospital and have started working at a local hospital where I did not need to hustle staying up a night or two in night shift. I finally had much free time for ham radio. The condition was terrific. With beams on a newly constructed tower, the world has become much smaller for me than ever. I have become indulged in ham radio. No doubt, in Ukraine, Perestroika has made it possible for Alex to enjoy radio without any restrictions. We have had a lot of QSOs and of correspondence. I could recall little on what we had talked about. DXing and our DX expedition to Cambodia in 1990? I need to look it up in my old paper log I always recorded what we talked about. In several years, partly due to my inactivity in DX/contesting, I won't meet him on the air any longer.

Knowing what has happened in Ukraine, I was wondering how he was doing there. No QSO with him yet but QRZ.com told he had changed his call from the original one, through UR5ECE, to EN7E. Being able to trace these calls may mean he is doing OK so far. His place seems to be south of Kiev, the capital, in central Ukraine. But who knows the dictator in Russia might have an ambition to regain the reign and hegemony of USSR over Ukraine. It might bring a total mess in Ukraine wherever he might be.

As already posted in Facebook, the Kenyan Ambassador has made an excellent adress in the UN Security Council regarding this problem. No one should never violate the national border already present. Any military invasion from past nostalgia should be forbidden even if the border has not been not established based on the nationality, culture or race. It would bring bloody wars for years. 

In addition, I would say no one should not spread propaganda to accelerate military conflict. Such as publicizing their "intelligence information" for certain purpose. It will increase tension among the countries involved in the conflict and may agitate people to believe a war is inevitable. I am afraid this type of propaganda has been spread from the US government.

I really hope to meet Alex sometime and talk about the mess going on now as an event in the past.

A New Headphone

I have purchased the headphone of Sony mentioned in a previous post on Feb 10, MDR CD900ST. From an online shop different from Amazon this time! A brand new one has arrived here yesterday.

 This model is told to have been produced as a professional monitor headphone back in 1989. They have started selling it to ordinary audio fans in 1995. I have got the last one MDRZ700 about 15 years ago, which I have loved so much. I thought the latter model was revised from MDRCD900ST. I thought the basic concept of MDRZ700 might be derived from MDRCD900ST. And there must be a reason, certain good quality, why this MDRCD900ST has been approved in the market for such a long time. These were the reasons why I chose it among so many models.

As a conclusion, this model is satisfying to me. 

There are a few good points with it. The most important thing was the high fidelity in higher audio range. It might seem even accentuated in that range. As I told in the previous post, I have had my hearing ability deteriorated in the higher audio range as most old timers experience. When listening to a quartet piece, the 1st violin sounds far behind the other 3 parts to me, especially when the 1st violin plays high position on E string, always most emotional part of a music. It was disappointing and was always realizing of my age. Like MDRZ700, this model sounded great in that range.

Another satisfaction with it was the clear localization of the instruments. With chamber music, each instrument sounds in separated manner each other. Of course, it sounds in the middle of my brain, that is, exactly between ears as all the headphone system does. But clear distinction and localization of each instrument in sound field is so pleasant. Last night, I have listened to Faure's 1st piano quintet by Via Nova String Quartet with Jean Hubeau, which I have been listening to since my school days. I was even surprised at the localization of the instrument. Together with grown higher range of audio, it made me appreciate the profound vibrato the 1st violin player has made. I was almost touched its beauty. I felt as if Faure had whispered quietly to me.  

I should admit the localization might depend partly on the music source. After that Faure, I listened to Mahler's 10th symphony. With such a big orchestra piece, the localization was not so clear as chamber music. This symphony has, however, convinced me the audio quality was quite excellent with this headphone. 

The downsides I noticed, if they were not serious at all, are relative shortage of lower end audio. We could never, I know, anticipate such audio characteristics with headphones of small driver. For a closed type headphone, the lower portion of audio was not overwhelming. It may mean we should use such a headphone to listen to such as chamber music or other small sized ensemble. The structure to hold the driver housing was not strong enough. That was the part I broke with the last MDRZ700. It won't be a problem if I handle it carefully.

This headphone will be a good friend of mine when going to sleep. Maybe, for another 10 years. Should my hearing acuity be remained good enough for the period. 

Pork and vegetables seasoned sweet and sour

 It is still my duty to prepare supper on plain week day. Honestly, I sometimes feel tired of that duty. I still go for shopping for food materials to a supermarket at 3PM. Tring to convince myself that it is a blessing that I could do such a thing by myself so far.

The work today is the dish titled above in this post. The key point is to dust powdered starch to pork and potato. It makes them taste sweeter and sourer. 

Maybe, complaining it's difficult to determine the menu, again, I may start to look for good one for dinner tomorrow afternoon. 

This spring, I would plant a lot of kinds of vegetables, which may be on the table at night. I feel great to cook them by myself.