Malaysian wins Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

Credit: www.bordersbookfestival.org

Tan Twan Eng wins Scott prize for historical fiction

A prize for historical FICTION?

Many Malaysians will not fault Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim if he thinks the award should go to him instead; click HERE and HERE

Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng has won the Walter Scott Prize, which honors historical fiction writers, for his post-World War Two novel, "The Garden of Evening Mists."*

Twan Eng, who was born in Penang, Malaysia, and lives in South Africa, accepted the prize on Friday at the Brewin Dolphin Borders Book Festival in Melrose, Scotland. It was presented by the Duke of Buccleuch, who established the award four years ago.

The duke is a distant descendant of the prize's namesake, whose works include the 19th century historical novels "Waverly," "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy."

Twan Eng is the first writer from outside the United Kingdom to win the award after new rules last year made books by authors from all Commonwealth nations eligible for the 25,000 pound ($33,364) prize.

"The Garden of Evenings Mists" is set in the Malaysian jungle in the aftermath of World War Two and is Twan Eng's second novel, following his 2007 book, "The Gift of Rain."

"'The Garden of Evening Mists' is the book that left the deepest imprint on us," the judging panel of Kirsty Wark, Louise Richardson, Jonathan Tweedie, Elizabeth Laird, Elizabeth Buccleuch and chair Alistair Moffat said in a statement.

"The poignancy of both remembering and forgetting is what this book is all about ... It is pungent and atmospheric; a rich, enigmatic, layered novel in which landscapes part and merge, and part again," they said.

Other entries on the shortlist for the prize included "Bring Up the Bodies" by Hilary Mantel, who won the first prize in 2010, as well as novels by English writers Rose Tremain, Pat Barker and Anthony Quinn and Australian Thomas Keneally.

Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Bill Trott
Reuters, New York | Fri Jun 14, 2013 6:44pm EDT 

*Click HERE for Jim Murdoch's critique of "The Garden of Evening Mists" after it was shortlisted for last year's Man Booker Prize.

Meditation-related Anxiety Relief - Brain Mechanisms Identified

Credit: www.mindfulnessforschools.com

Anxious? Activate Your Anterior Cingulate Cortex With a Little Meditation

Scientists, like Buddhist monks and Zen masters, have known for years that meditation can reduce anxiety, but not how.

Scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, however, have succeeded in identifying the brain functions involved.

For the study, 15 healthy volunteers with normal levels of everyday anxiety were recruited for the study. These individuals had no previous meditation experience or anxiety disorders. All subjects participated in four 20-minute classes to learn a technique known as mindfulness meditation. In this form of meditation, people are taught to focus on breath and body sensations and to non-judgmentally evaluate distracting thoughts and emotions.

Both before and after meditation training, the study participants’ brain activity was examined using a special type of imaging – arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging – that is very effective at imaging brain processes, such as meditation. In addition, anxiety reports were measured before and after brain scanning.

The majority of study participants reported decreases in anxiety. Researchers found that meditation reduced anxiety ratings by as much as 39 percent.

The study revealed that meditation-related anxiety relief is associated with activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, areas of the brain involved with executive-level function. During meditation, there was more activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that controls worrying. In addition, when activity increased in the anterior cingulate cortex – the area that governs thinking and emotion – anxiety decreased.

“Mindfulness is premised on sustaining attention in the present moment and controlling the way we react to daily thoughts and feelings,” lead author Fadel Zeidan said.

“Interestingly, the present findings reveal that the brain regions associated with meditation-related anxiety relief are remarkably consistent with the principles of being mindful.”

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The above story is based on the June 3, 2013 news release by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The study is epublished ahead of print in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience:

Zeidan F, Martucci KT, Kraft RA, McHaffie JG, Coghill RC. Neural Correlates of Mindfulness Meditation-Related Anxiety Relief. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2013

Hong Kong Cartoon on our GE13

First Beer Goggles, now Sleep Goggles

Credit: www.frumsatire.net

You may have heard of "beer goggles" -- a sly way of describing how people seem to become less picky about potential sex partners when they've had a few drinks.

Now, a new study suggests that one night of sleep deprivation leads to an increase in men's perceptions of both women's interest in and intent to have sex where none exist.

"Sleepy men think women are more interested in them than when the men are not sleepy. We don't know why," said study lead author Jennifer Peszka, an associate professor of psychology at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark.

The findings, based on responses to surveys instead of real-life encounters, aren't definitive and don't say whether the men are accurately reading women's signals. And it's unclear if sleepy men would be more likely to inappropriately pursue women they believe to be sexually interested in them.

In the big picture, the study raises questions about whether sleep has the same perception-dulling effects on men as alcohol, Peszka said.

"If you're a man and you're sleepy, you could make a mistake in judging whether someone's interested in you," Peszka said. Sleepiness had no effect on women's perceptions of whether men were interested in them, but Peszka had a message for them, too: Since sleepy men "could make a mistake, you need to be very clear about what you want."

What's going on? Peszka suspects that the effect of sleepiness on the frontal lobe of the brain, which controls things such as decision-making and control of emotions, could be a major factor.

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The above story is based on the May 30, 2013 news release by the American Academyof Sleep Medicine.

The research abstract entitled “The effects of sleep deprivation on perceptual processes involved in human mating decisions” was published recently in an online supplement of the journal SLEEP

More information

For more about sleep, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine. 

MEN ARE THE SAME AT ANY AGE

Health Posters

My old classmate, Chew Wah Yeong shared these posters with us.

Calcium Supplements Linked to Longer Lifespans in Women

Credit: www.dailypioneer.com

In addition to strengthening our bones, moderate calcium supplementation may help women live longer.

Calcium, an essential nutrient for bone health, is commonly found in dairy products as well as vitamins. Although calcium is an essential nutrient for bone health, past studies have linked calcium supplements to heart disease risk.

Researchers analyzing data from the large-scale Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study (CaMos) sought to clarify this issue and found moderate doses of calcium supplements had a beneficial effect in women.

"Our study found daily use of calcium supplements was associated with a lower risk of death among women," said the study's lead author, David Goltzman, MD, of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. "The benefit was seen for women who took doses of up to 1,000 mg per day, regardless of whether the supplement contained vitamin D."

The study monitored the health of  9,000 Canadians, about 6,000 women and 3,000 men, for 10 years. A variety of factors, including supplements, were studied to see if calcium had an impact on death. The researchers looked at total mortality (not just cardiac events), and discovered a total overall lower rate of death from all causes in women who took calcium supplements. There was no statistical benefit for men.

"Higher amounts of calcium were potentially linked to longer lifespans in women, regardless of the source of the calcium," Goltzman said. "That is, the same benefits were seen when the calcium came from dairy foods, non-dairy foods or supplements."

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The above story is based on the May 22, 2013 news release by Endocrine Society.

The research has been published online before print in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM):

Langsetmo L et al. Calcium and Vitamin D Intake and Mortality: Results from the Canadian Multi-centre Osteoporosis Study. JCEM May 23, 2013, doi: 10.1210/jc.2013-1516