We are what we write

Researchers at the University of Toronto have been analyzing the works of prolific authors (PD James, Agatha Chrisite and Iris Murdoch ) over their years of writing.

Neuro-cognitive literary theory, a part of computational linguistics seeks to discover and analyize the changing language of these authors over their life time body of work. Scanning in the first 50,000 words of each book and graphing the amount of vocabulary decline, the increase of repetition and the increased occurance of vague terms.

Murdock had been diagnosed with Alzheimers at 74.  With Chrisite the professors found that Elephants Can Remember "represents a staggering 31 per cent drop in vocabulary compared to Destination Unknown, written 18 years earlier, when Christie was 63. Repetitions also increased, and the use of "thing" words was four times as frequent in her final book as in her first". She was never diagnosed.

P.D. James, is still writing at the age of 89. "James's linguistic prowess turns out to be undiminished, providing a sort of one-woman control group of the healthy aged. Her vocabulary also turns out to be much more extensive than either of the two other writers'."

Writing samples kept over 10 years or more may offer a glimpse into our mental processes.  So keep those memos, e-mails, blogs and letters.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/754723--an-agatha-christie-mystery-is-alzheimer-s-on-the-page

Alzheimer’s in Haiti

from  http://www.thelastofhismind.com/wordpress/?p=679   by John Thorndike 

on January 19th, 2010 

The Last of His Mind: A Year in The Shadow of Alzheimer’s

With this disaster in Haiti there must be elderly Alzheimer’s patients in Port-au-Prince and other towns who somehow survived the earthquake that killed their caregivers. If they haven’t died already, they could be wandering around not knowing who they are, not remembering where they live, or how to eat, or where to lie down at night to sleep. Some would be as helpless as infants—only they don’t look like infants. In a country where the most able-bodied are having a hard time getting food and water and medical care, those with dementia must be at extreme risk.


We don’t hear much about dementia in third-world countries. The U.S. has about five million Alzheimer’s patients now, with 30 million in the rest of the world. We have more than our share percentage-wise, in part because we have better reporting of medical statistics, and in part because we live longer. Long life is now that double-edged sword: the longer we live, the more likely our brains are apt to go before our bodies.
Our education about Alzheimer’s is better. We don’t call it “senility,” as we once did, and we don’t call it “tired brain,” as they do in India. There’s a near-constant outcry about the need for better medications in the U.S., for better patient care, for more help for caregivers as they look after the afflicted at home. But what did Alzheimer’s care look like in Haiti a month ago? There couldn’t have been much help from the state—and today there must be none.
Caring for my father as Alzheimer’s took him down has set up a kind of filter for me—rather like the years I spent raising my son. I became a father, I joined the vast community of parents, and now I have joined the community of those who have looked after the elderly and those with dementia. In the case of Haiti, my mind jumps to those who are lost in the midst of chaos, who could make little sense of anything even if they were still ambulatory. Infants and those in the deep reaches of Alzheimer’s are especially vulnerable populations—and on the streets of Port-au-Prince, the latter must be almost invisible.

Help for Haiti

If you're looking for a great organization to donate to, please consider 
Paul Farmer's organization, Partners in Health (PIH).
http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti  -or- www.pih.org/

I donated personally {after doing my due diligence}.

The PIH Vision: Whatever it takes At its root, our mission is both medical and moral.  It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone.  When a person in Peru, or Siberia, or rural Haiti falls ill,  PIH uses all of the means at our disposal to make them well —from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care  and social services.  Whatever it takes.  Just as we would do if a member of our own family —or we ourselves—were ill.