Terminal Cognitive Decline and Death.

However long a life one might live, at some point, it comes to an end. Yet, what happens in those twilight years? Do people generally maintain their mental function to the end - or does cognitive function give some indication of the future to come?

A phenomenon has been observed: that of terminal cognitive decline. This means that aged people often undergo a sudden rapid increase in their rate of cognitive decline shortly before death. This can, therefore, be used as a signal for when the "time is near".

A paper, "Terminal decline in cognitive function" by R. S. Wilson, PhD, L. A. Beckett, PhD, J. L. Bienias, ScD, D. A. Evans, MD and D. A. Bennett, MD addresses this issue.

763 Roman Catholic nuns, priests and brothers participated in the study. They were given an array of 19 different tests of cognitive function an average of 5.6 times a year, to track changes in their mental state. At the start of the study, none of them were demented. The data set obtained was used to find the point at which the rate of decline of mental function suddenly accelerated.

The shocking (for me) observation was that there was a SIX-FOLD increase in the rate of mental decline, an average of 43 months prior to death. 122 of the participants died in the period of the study and their mental function in the years leading up to their deaths informs the conclusions.

The ones who died had lower cognitive function at the outset than those who survived. The survivors, interestingly, showed almost NO DECLINE in mental function. (Thus giving us hope that such a loss of mind is not inevitable). Almost all of those who died showed the accelerated cognitive decline prior to death.

Declines in a very wide range of mental functions were observed in the 3 to 6 years leading up to the deaths. These included degradation of episodic memory, semantic memory, working memory, perceptual speed, and visuospatial ability.

So, if you have an elderly relative who is showing signs of rapid mental decline, it is, probably, wise to spend more time with them - for there is likely to be little time left. Remember the mean time to death from the onset of rapid mental decline, in this study, was only 43 months.

Sadly, the same, of course, applies to ourselves. If we begin to show rapid mental decline it is time to set our affairs in order, as best may be. The loss of mind is a sign of a greater loss to come, in the near future.

Take care all.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

Father's Day gift from a son

Ainan is not one to buy a gift - he'd rather make one.

For his mother, he made a perfume for Mother's Day. For me - he made a computer game. It was an arcade type game which he had pieced together using some sort of programme that allowed him to play with game elements to structure something to his liking.

I was touched. He had noted that, to relax, I sometimes play computer games. So, he thought he'd make one just for me.

On opening his surprise gift, I let him play it to show me how it worked. I think he felt a strange kind of reward to be able to give in this way. He seemed most content. So was I.

I did note that he was much better at it than I was. He has the advantage of youth, I suppose.

What I find most interesting about Ainan's gifts to us, is that he managed to create an individualized gift that matched the personality and passions of each parent. That shows a certain discernment - and thoughtfulness. It also showed something else: a flexibility in doing whatever was necessary to achieve the creative goal. In the first case, he had to construct a perfume from aromatic chemicals - in the other he had to learn how to construct a computer game - and design one that he thought I would enjoy. He succeeded in both endeavours.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

The Education of a Nation.

Every little thing about a school is a messenger. The messages that each aspect carries is that of the priorities and nature of the nation in which the school stands. Overseas readers might be surprised at the messages that Singaporean schools embody.

Firstly, I would like you to think on this question: what is a wall in a classroom? What should such a wall be used for? Well, one wall of a classroom will have a blackboard or whiteboard on it. Other walls might have windows. At least one wall may have a noticeboard. But what should you do with spare space that has no other function than to hold up the roof? I invite you to consider the wildest ideas that might come to mind. Have a guess what a wall might be used for, in Singapore.

Recently, I came upon a wall in a classroom that had been rather interestingly decorated. It had been converted into a mural. This mural was at the back of the classroom and was rather large. It would be seen everytime any student entered the classroom. It would be seen throughout the day, by the teacher, who would be constantly reminded of it. What do you think the mural was about? Have a think.

The mural was about money. This school had put a permanent shrine to money up on the wall of a secondary school classroom. It was a secondary one classroom and so this would be the first year of senior school, for all those impressionable kids who would sit in front of this altar to money behind them.

The mural consisted of two children in a playground on a "see-saw". They were a boy and a girl. Interestingly, the see-saw was perfectly level. It was neither up nor down. The left hand side of the see-saw was marked: "Debit", the right hand side of the see-saw was marked, "Credit". Floating in the air above the boy to the left were the words: "Assets, Expenses, Drawings". Floating above the girl to the right, were the words: "Liabilities, Revenue, Capital". The playground was a representation of the world of finance.

Now, the school could have instructed anything in the world to be painted on that wall. Anything from human history, art, science, nature or culture could have been placed on that wall for the kids to consider, all year long. Yet, what they chose to put there was a shrine to money.

We all know that money is important in the adult world - but is it the most important thing in the world? Is it the sole thing that should be chosen to put on the wall of a school classroom? Is it right and proper that children should be inculcated with an obsession with and veneration for money at such a vulnerable age? What kind of children are they likely to become, if they are not so subtly brainwashed in this manner, to think highly and often of money? Are they going to be shallow people or deep ones? Will they live meaningful lives or trivial ones? Will they make a contribution to society or take something out of it? Will they be happy or sad? Will they live well, or poorly? Will they know the importance of love, friendship, honesty, integrity, goodness and truth? Or will they think that these stand in the way of Money?

I think the answer to all of these questions will be negative, where the children who lived all year long in the shadow of Money are concerned. The influence on their outlook and values can only be narrowing in scope.

We are repeatedly told, in Singapore, that state education is not just about education per se, but about "national education" - by which it means conforming to the requirements of the society and adopting its mindset. One of those requirements, from this example, appears to be to set Money up as one's God and to submit one's life and will to its pursuit.

Any society that makes Money its sole aim is a society that cannot be stable, permanent or fruitful. For Money, alone, does not confer any quality on its people, apart from greed. A society that aims to be rich in non-monetary terms (that is, in all the terms that make life worth living and enjoyable), needs to instil in its children a love not of money, but of life, itself, in all its variety and splendour. A society should aim to cultivate the depth of its people (in the sense of inner richness) - and not just the size of their avarice. Any society that aims to enrich itself in this more meaningful way, will become a society respected through the ages (just think of the Ancient Greeks of Athens). Any society that aims, instead, for Money, alone, as its aim, will be forgotten and reviled, as soon as the last skyscraper falls (which they will, of course, in time). So, which is Singapore: a society to be respected through the ages - or one to be forgotten, in time, as no more than a shallow hiatus in a deeper nothingness?

That mural, perhaps, provides us the answer.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

Thought for the day.

Almost no-one thinks anymore.

I wish they would.

Singapore's stressful education system.

I saw a sign today, of Singapore's stressful education system. It was a head of grey hair. Perhaps you don't think that is anything particularly unusual - but this head of grey hair was on a sixteen year old schoolboy.

That gave me pause. What could have prompted a sixteen year old to have more grey hair than many men in their fifties? One word came to mind: stress.

Singapore's education system is famous for two things: the extreme emphasis on "results" at all costs - and the attendant stress that goes with securing them. What effect could this have on children? This boy's head of hair gave me a clue.

He was a Chinese boy, who should, at his age, have a head of black hair - instead of which he had a mixture of black and grey. The grey was plentiful. Now, I am decades older than him, and I don't have any grey hair, yet, so seeing him with so much, was a surprise to me.

I did a little research to see if there is any justification in the belief that stress causes hair to grey - and it seems that there is. A retrospective study among patients at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore showed that those who had endured stress for two to three years went grey faster than those who had not.

I have never seen a person in their mid-teens with as much grey hair as this boy had, today. That he is a student in the Singapore system provides a possible explanation. At the very least I would think that it is a contributory factor in his early greyness.

His grey hair was not all that I noticed. He looked tired too. He had the sunken eyed look of too many late nights and early mornings. His skin looked unhealthy, as well - somewhat thickened and not as elastic as I would expect for someone of his age. In short, here is a boy who is aging fast: stress does that.

Education is meant, in most countries, to be a preparation for life. It should not, I feel, be at the expense of life - or health, for that matter.

Countries with less stressful education systems do not seem to be less successful than Singapore (the UK, Ireland, Australia etc...): so perhaps it would be of benefit to have a somewhat more relaxed system, here. Grades are great - but not if they cost your child their health. What they need, instead, is a warm environment, friendly people around them, and a good night's sleep: every night.

Now, that is the recipe for a happy nation.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

A cause of death: legislation against fitness.

Singapore is undoubtedly the only country in the world with legislation against physical fitness.

Let me explain. Recently, I posted about Bangladeshis being forbidden to play football in a disused field. I wondered if this was a specific case of bias against them or if it is a general rule that no-one can just play football anywhere. I am assured, by Singaporean readers, that it is a general rule against football playing in public spaces.

Think about that for a moment. Singapore has a rule against youngsters playing football in spare ground - such as the grass near HDB estates. What, actually is this rule? It is a legislation against physical fitness. Few children will exercise methodically in a gym or on a track - but many will, without knowing it, do a great deal of exercise in the course of playing a game of football. Thus, in depriving youngsters of the freedom to play football when they please, they are also stunting their physical development and reducing their physical fitness.

Why should we care about this? Well, the recent deaths of two national servicemen, while exercising physically, has been blamed, by some commentators, on the reduced physical fitness of modern Singaporeans compared to their forebears. If this is the actual cause, then one has to consider whether rules against free physical play directly contributed to their deaths. Had football and the like, been allowed, just anywhere, there would have been more opportunities for physical play in these young men's childhoods. They would therefore have become fitter - and would have been better prepared for the rigours of National Service.

It is possible that both young men would be alive today, if physical fitness was encouraged by allowing children to do what they please, in the way of activity, wherever they please, instead of regulating it.

The more I come to understand Singapore, the more I come to realize that it is the strangest country I have ever lived in (out of the twenty or so I have visited).

Singapore loses more than the physical fitness of its children by these physical freedom limiting policies. They also prevent young sportsmen from developing. Singapore doesn't have a David Beckham -and they never will until children are given physical freedom, to play where they will.

Just to put David Beckham's accomplishment into perspective, into terms Singaporeans like to think about - his net worth is equivalent to a whole Cabinet full of government Ministers. (His most recent deal was around a quarter of a billion US dollars, as I understand it - and that is just one of the deals in his career).

So, I would like to see little footballers and other games players, busily at work in every spare corner of Singapore. It would be a fitter nation for it. There would most likely be fewer servicemen deaths - and there might even be a few international sporting stars to be proud of, as a result.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

Happy Father's Day, all: Singapore.

It is Father's Day, in Singapore. So, I would just like to wish all Father's the happiest of days. (Though, in truth, every day is a Father's Day, once you have children...).

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind)

Miss Singapore Universe Beauty Pageant: an end?

Today, the Straits Times is suggesting that Miss Singapore Universe, the national beauty pageant, should be brought to an end. Their reasoning essentially is that it has undergone a long, slow decline in interest so perhaps it is time to bring it to a close.

Well, I disagree. Though it is true that national interest in such pageants has declined over the years - and though sponsors too, have fled, on the basis of finding "more relevant marketing relationships", the fact remains that such pageants serve a useful function. There will always be people, in every society, whose primary gift is one of beauty. Such people need to have an outlet and means of expression as much as someone with academic or sporting gift does: they should not be ignored. A pageant can act as a platform whereby someone whose primary gift is beauty can begin a career based on their appearance. It gives them instant recognition and, usually, a monetary reward to give them a good start. That seems to me, to provide an invaluable opportunity for that particular type of person: a person whose greatest gift is their beauty.

Now, Singapore is a pragmatic society: here, they like to see the money. Well, a beautiful person can not only bring in a lot of money to a nation (in terms of overseas earnings on modelling contracts and sponsorships) but also make a lot of money in terms of increased product sales for those who hire them. This seems obvious. It is also just as obvious that such people need a chance to start their careers: pageants provide that.

So, though Singaporeans are showing less interest in pageants and even though national TV decided not to cover it, this year, the fact remains that such events serve a useful purpose: they allow entrants to the world of beauty, a chance to begin a career.

A complete, wholistic society values all kinds of people: the smart, the strong, the fit, the beautiful. Singapore should not ignore the inherent value and importance of the more beautiful among us: they, too, can make a contribution to society - even if it is not reflected in exam grades and school success. I think they should have a chance to do what they were born to do. So, keep the pageant. It is the gateway to an international industry, for those who use it well.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind