In Touch
Queensland Braille Writing Association
Magazine
Edition no. --
September 2015
Editors: Pam Raff, Jackie Sorensen and Wayne Weismann
Other contributors this month include:
Produced and issued under section 135ZQ of the Copyright Act 2009
by the
Queensland Braille Writing Association
507 Ipswich Road, Annerley, Qld Australia 4103.
Postal: P.O. Box 610 Annerley, Qld Australia 4103
Telephone: +61 7 3848 5257
Email: magazine@qbwa.org.au
Web: www.qbwa.org.au
***
EDITORIAL
Dear Readers
In this magazine, we cover a variety of topics, including body posture while sleeping,
food additives, and sport. Sport because we thought it might be interesting for our
readers to consider the various sports on offer to people with vision-impairment. In
this issue, we give details of Goalball, a sport that can be played by those who are
vision impaired as well as sighted players. There is also a quiz to test your general
knowledge.
A list of the new books added to our library is included, as well as another
scrumptious recipe.
Any feedback you could give Pam and me on the magazine would be very much
appreciated.
Enjoy your magazine.
Jackie Sorensen
***
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor
With regard to Wendy’s letter published in the May issue of “In Touch”, I would like
to congratulate her on her interesting, considered and very relevant thoughts and
observations following her attendance of the Round Table conference and the
dilemmas confronting users of assistive technologies in this world of constant and
rapid change. We are being presented with an ever-growing and bamboozling array
of technology options: often daunting to say the least.
In my part-time capacity of advisor in assistive technology for students with vision
impairment (Department of Education, Qld), and also a regular user of screen
readers, braille notetakers/PDAs and iDevices, I also find it hard enough to make
decisions for myself regarding the best and most affordable options, let alone
providing the best advice to teachers, parents and students. Wendy outlined very
well the challenges facing students with vision impairment in the classroom and the
many factors to be considered, many of which apply to braille using students as well
as to those with low vision.
I thoroughly endorse the concept of teachers, parents and students working
together to work out best solutions and maximise ease of learning and educational
outcomes. It is so important to learn from one another–colleagues, fellow students
and users of specialised technologies, and also to try and obtain advice (as objective
as possible) from various sources.
This last point is one I wanted to highlight and one we are trying to emphasise to
our teachers and families: to strive to consult as widely as possible and try to find
unbiased, objective commentary and advice. Many families and individual users tend
to find their way to individual service providers or equipment vendors. It is easy and
seemingly very convenient to place your trust at the first port of call and be assisted
along your path of “discovery”, decision-making and ultimate purchase. However, it
is often a matter of “not knowing what we don’t know” that can result in decisions
and expenditures which may, in fact, not always be the most satisfactory.
If readers know or become aware of any families with school-aged students who are
being confronted by the challenges of what to buy in the area of assistive
technology, whether for users with low vision or no vision, please ensure they are
aware that there are specialists who can be contacted through Narbethong Special
School who are able to offer educationally-based advice and assistance and also
sometimes the opportunity to trial equipment prior to purchase.
Thank you for the Magazine and its varied and interesting content. Keep up the
great work.
Tom Macmahon
***
Could body posture during sleep affect how your brain clears
waste?
This article, dated 4 August, 2015, was reprinted from material provided by Stony
Brook University, New York.
Sleeping in the lateral, or side position, as compared to sleeping on one’s back or
stomach, may more effectively remove brain waste and prove to be an important
practice to help reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other
neurological diseases, according to researchers at Stony Brook University.
By using dynamic contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to image the brain’s
glymphatic pathway, a complex system that clears wastes and other harmful
chemical solutes from the brain, Stony Brook University researchers Hedok Lee, PhD,
Helene Benveniste, MD, PhD, and colleagues, discovered that a lateral sleeping
position is the best position to most efficiently remove waste from the brain. In
humans and many animals the lateral sleeping position is the most common one.
The build-up of brain waste chemicals may contribute to the development of
Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions. Their finding is published in
the Journal of Neuroscience.
Dr Benveniste, Principal Investigator and a Professor in the Departments of
Anaesthesiology and Radiology at Stone Brook University School of Medicine, has
used dynamic contrast MRI for several years to examine the glymphatic pathway in
rodent models. The method enables researchers to identify and define the
glymphatic pathway, where cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) filters through the brain and
exchanges with interstitial fluid (ISF) to clear waste, similar to the way the body’s
lymphatic system clears waste from organs. It is during sleep that the glymphatic
pathway is most efficient. Brain waste includes amyloid β (amyloid) and tau proteins,
chemicals that negatively affect brain processes if they build up.
In the paper, “The Effect of Body Posture on Brain Glymphatic Transport,” Dr
Benveniste and colleagues used a dynamic contrast MRI method along with kinetic
modelling to quantify the CSF-ISF exchange rates in anaesthetised rodents’ brains in
three positions—lateral (side), prone (down), and supine (up).
“The analysis showed us consistently that glymphatic transport was most efficient in
the lateral position when compared to the supine or prone positions,” said Dr
Benveniste. “Because of this finding, we propose that the body posture and sleep
quality should be considered when standardising future diagnostic imaging
procedures to assess CSF-ISF transport in humans and therefore the assessment of
the clearance of damaging brain proteins that may contribute to or cause brain
diseases.”
Dr Benveniste and first-author Dr Hedok Lee, Assistant Professor in the Departments
of Anaesthesiology and Radiology at Stony Brook developed the safe posture
positions for the experiments. Their colleagues at the University of Rochester,
including Lulu Zie, Rashid Deane and Maiken Nedergaard, PhD, used fluorescence
microscopy and radioactive tracers to validate the MRI data and to assess the
influence of body posture on the clearance of amyloid from the brains.
“It is interesting that the lateral sleep position is already the most popular in human
and most animals—even in the wild—and it appears that we have adapted the
lateral sleep position to most efficiently clear our brain of the metabolic waste
products that build up while we are awake,” says Dr Nedergaard. “The study
therefore adds further support to the concept that sleep subserves a distinct
biological function of sleep and that is to ‘clean up’ the mess that accumulates while
we are awake. Many types of dementia are linked to sleep disturbances, including
difficulties in falling asleep. It is increasingly acknowledged that these sleep
disturbances may accelerate memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease. Our finding brings
new insight into this topic by showing it is also important what position you sleep
in,” she explained.
Dr Benveniste cautioned that while the research team speculates that the human
glymphatic pathway will clear brain waste most efficiently when sleeping in the
lateral position as compared to other positions, testing with MRI or other imaging
methods in humans is a necessary first step.
***
How is your general knowledge?
1. How many sides does an Australian fifty cent coin have?
2. Apiology is the study of which flying insects?
3. Name the largest freshwater lake in the world (by volume).
4. Rod Laver was the long-time doubles partner of Lew Hoad. True or false?
5. Who is the alter ego of Batman?
6. Name the capital of Cyprus.
7. US President Lincoln was assassinated in what year?
8. In what year did then Prime Minister Harold Holt disappear while swimming at
Cheviot Beach in Victoria?
9. Frogs are cold-blooded animals. True or False?
10. Litchfield National Park is in which Australian state or territory?
(Answers are on the final page of the magazine.)
***
Housemates
Jackie Sorensen
One night in 2013, when sleep was eluding her, Jackie heard an interview on the
ABC with Sue Wagner, then President of our Association. Apart from general
information about QBWA, Sue also mentioned that she would like to hear from
people who would be interested in becoming transcribers. Because Jackie is an avid
reader herself, she thought there would be nothing worse than not being able to
read a good book, so she rang QBWA early in 2014 (It took some time before she
finally got around to making the phone call) and spoke to Gwen Hay. Jackie wanted
to learn braille, and Gwen told her that there would be a course soon that she could
enroll in. As Jackie travels quite a lot, and she was going to South America in April of
that year, the decision to learn braille was put on hold.
On her return from South America, there were so many things to do, and Jackie
didn’t get around to calling Braille House again, mainly because she was going to fly
to Singapore with her partner, Tony, in October for a cruise that encompassed
Brunei, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand before returning to Singapore. However,
Wendy Sara wasn’t going to let her get away that easily and so after a long
discussion, Jackie began the “Braille for Print Users Course” later that year. So
determined was she not to fall behind with her braille lessons, she took them with
her and practised while away.
In 2014, Jackie started doing voluntary work at Braille House on one day a week.
Tony reckons it’s only for the delightful and varied fare offered at morning tea, and
to socialise with the great people who work there. He’s not too sure how much
actual work does get done!
Jackie has two children, Leanne and Jason. Leanne and her husband Michael, who
live in Townsville, have one daughter, 26-year-old Emily, who lives in Canada. Jackie
and Tony visited Emily last year when they flew to Los Angeles, before heading to
Calgary—where Emily lives, and then returned to Los Angeles with Emily who drove
them around to some exciting places. (Driving on the wrong side of the road was
not something that appealed to either Jackie or Tony, especially in Los Angeles.)
Jason, a pilot with Qantas, has a 7 year-old son, Cooper, whom Jackie looks after
when Jason is flying. Cooper is a very good chess player, and delights in beating his
Grammy.
Jackie’s interests are lawn bowls, golf, reading and, of course, travelling. She has
just returned from a two-week tour of Japan with her friend, Jill. These two friends
have travelled to many parts of the world together—the Greek Islands, Ireland,
England, Cambodia, Vietnam, South America and Japan.
Now Jackie, together with Pam Raff, another volunteer, is on the Magazine
Committee, as well as on the Council of Braille House.
***
Food Additives
This article by Dorothy M. Bowes was published by the Allergy, Sensitivity &
Environmental Health Association Qld Inc (ASEHA Qld Inc) on 7 November, 2009
Society has always been dominated by survival, thus the need to have an adequate
food supply to sustain a healthy and productive life. Much effort has traditionally
been spent in the pursuit of hunting, foraging or the growing of food.
Prior to modern technology, food was always plentiful at harvest time. However, it
became necessary to develop some method of preserving enough of the harvest and
game collected during the peak hunting season, to ensure that there were sufficient
food supplies for non-productive periods. Early methods developed to meet this
need utilised the addition of substances to food. These were our first known food
additives.
Some of the first substances used to preserve food were salt (sodium chloride) and
smoke, while the addition of various spices disguised the flavour of preserved food
and made it more palatable. Salt and smoke are methods still employed today, while
the search for chemicals useful to preserve and increase the palatability of food
continues. The acceptability of appearance, colour, texture and the flavour of food,
is sometimes subject to experience and cultural tastes.
In the last several decades, societies have undergone many lifestyle changes due to
technological innovation. This has led to an increase in the addition of many
substances to food for technological purposes. Many such substances have no clear
benefits for consumers and are only there for cosmetic purposes.
Food production is a huge multinational industry with the push to produce more food
and increase company profits. Processed foods represent in excess of fifty percent of
diet in some developed countries. Increased demand for “ready to eat” and snack
food from supermarkets, hot take-aways, ethnic foods, the demand for seasonal
food all the year round, stable and low food prices, have increased the variety and
uses of substances added to food.
While there is an ongoing increase in the utilisation of additives to food and new
food processes being developed, these have been questioned by scientific and public
debate on the risk associated with their use and the overall safety of the materials
and processes used.
Toxicology as a science is still in its developmental stage. New technology has
allowed testing of increased sensitivity and any toxicology is only based on what is
known at the time, or is a limited assessment of risk. Animal studies are not
necessarily representative of what happens in humans and toxicology results can be
biased by the personal views of the assessor. Many decisions made are based on
very questionable toxicology and some good examples of this are medications such
as Diethylstilboestrol, which caused cancer in the children of those who took it;
Thalidomide, which caused birth defects and some recent evidence to hand would
suggest that the children of those who were deformed by Thalidomide have the
same birth defects; Non-Steroid Anti Inflammatory medications that cause damage
to the gut. Antihistamines have also been reported to be carcinogenic in the long
term.
Inadequacies in medical data do not justify that many food additives and
contaminants are “harmless”. These have been unleashed upon the unsuspecting
population who expect government regulations to protect them from this type of
mass uncontrolled experimentation upon them. It is not even a good study as the
medical profession is not involved and there is no retrospective study. Health effects
are unexpected and those problems that do arise are poorly understood and relevant
data not collected.
Regardless of the rights or wrongs of scientific argument, the Australian Government
has no moral right to allow the food industry to use many additives and
contaminants in our food supply. Whatever the real level of risk, and that is
unknown, the government is not fulfilling its ethical responsibility to the population
that is exposed on a daily basis to varying levels of additives and contaminants that
are often above allowable limits, for example sulphur dioxide.
Decisions made at the time of toxicological assessment impact on the consumer and
public health. As government cannot adequately police the food industry and allows
far too many known carcinogens and contaminants in our food, we can only assume
that they are not concerned with the cost to the community of health problems that
arise from food additives and contaminants.
Food additives are chemicals that are added to foods for a variety of reasons, many
of them cosmetic. They are directly added to food to maintain freshness and prevent
deterioration; for cosmetic use to colour, improve flavour, texture and general
appearance; as processing aids to improve handling properties; or to maintain
nutritional quality.
Some classes of additives—not a complete list—are: antioxidants, emulsifiers, food
acids, humectants, mineral salts, preservatives, thickeners, vegetable gums.
***
Library Shelf
Hello again. We hope you have borrowed some of the books we wrote about in our
May magazine. Here are some more for you to enjoy.
Adults
Mawson by Peter FitzSimons
One Fine Day by Mollie Panter-Downes
Lost in Thargomindah by Trish Jordan
Three Crooked Kings by Sybil Nolan
A Sense of the World: How a bird man became history’s greatest traveller by Jason
Roberts
An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski
Meditations by Dorothea Degrandis-Sudol
A Dozen Soups – unknown author
The Australian Book of Prayer: The Psalms
A Triumph of Toys to Make from English Woman’s Weekly
Patience Card Games by Bernard Stanley
A Survivor’s Guide to Braille Music Notation by Vision Australia
For the Fallen, & Other Poems by Laurence Binyon
Too Much Noise by Ann McGovern
The Waves by Virginia Woolf
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Self Matters by Phillip C. McGraw
THE REAL JAMES HERRIOT: The Authorized Biography
By Jim Wight
No one is better placed to write the biography of Alf Wight, alias James Herriot, than
the son who worked alongside him in the veterinary practice during the time that
James Herriot became a best-selling author. In this warm and often poignant
memoir Jim Wight writes of a man who, despite his huge success as a writer,
remained unchanged by wealth and fame; an essentially private person whose
family had to share him with his millions of fans throughout the world. Alf Wight was
born in Sunderland but moved a few weeks later to Glasgow; here he had a happy,
rough-and-tumble childhood. After training at the Glasgow Veterinary College, he
accepted a job in the Yorkshire town of Thirsk (aka Darrowby) where he remained in
practice for over fifty years. The story of the young vet's journey to Thirsk to take up
the post of assistant vet to Donald Sinclair (Siegfried Farnon) is one that is wellknown through James Herriot's celebrated books, as well as two films and the All
Creatures Great and Small television series. Alf Wight was respected and trusted by
everyone whose animals he tended and, as James Herriot, loved by a huge and loyal
readership the world over.
Magician: The Original Masterwork of Magic and Adventure
By Raymond E. Feist
This classic fantasy epic, Magician, has enchanted readers for over twenty-five
years. It is the first book of his internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed
Riftwar series.
At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy,
Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician—and the destinies of two worlds are
changed forever.
Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm
the land. Pug is swept up into the conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas,
an odyssey into the unknown has only just begun.
Here Come the Girls
By Milly Johnson
Ven, Roz, Olive and Frankie have been friends since school. They daydreamed of
glorious futures, full of riches, romance and fabulous jobs. The world would be their
oyster.
Twenty-five years later, Olive cleans other people’s houses to support her lazy, outof-work husband and his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind, caring partner
Manus any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. And she
and Frankie have fallen out big time.
But Ven is determined to reunite her friends and realise the dream they had of
taking a cruise by the time they hit forty. Before they know it, the four of them are
far from home, on high seas. But can blue skies, hot sun and sixteen days of luxury
and indulgence distract from the tension and loveliness that await their return?
This Side of Silence
By Bruce Dawe
Bruce Dawe’s selected edition, Condolences of the Season (1971), and his collected
edition, Sometimes Gladness (1978, 1983, 1988), have become recognised bestsellers (the latter having sold more copies than any collection of Australian poetry
since C.J. Dennis’ The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke). Both have been widely set
throughout Australia as secondary and tertiary level texts.
The present collection, This Side of Silence, brings together his most recent poems.
Like all of Bruce Dawe’s earlier books, it reflects his personal, social, and political
concerns, including his long-standing opposition to the destruction of our natural
environment. These are expressed with that wry humour which has, understandably,
made him our most popular poet.
Cooking
Day to Day Cookery
Microwave Convection Oven Cooking Book
Esther Dean’s Garden Cookbook: from Garden to Kitchen
The Vegie Cookbook
Children
The Five Chinese Brothers
Where Does the Butterfly Go When it Rains?
Rooster Sets Out to See the World
Mr Riddles: “Gets Ready”
Billy Balloon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
***
An experiment for you
Wendy Sara found the following in the Queensland Sunday Mail on 12 July 2015.
Hearing Luciano Pavarotti belting out a classical tune while feasting on a glorious
Italian meal can make it taste more authentic—and will also make your glass of red
taste more expensive, experimental psychologists from Oxford University in the UK
say.
The phenomenon, dubbed "sonic seasoning", refers to how listening to music—
classical, rock or pop—from the same country as your style of food can enhance its
flavor by up to 10 per cent. The study also found slow music can make flavours last
longer, while high-pitched tones are linked to increased sweetness and low-pitched
tones encourage bitterness.
Do you have a favourite recipe you could send us—and suggest the music to
accompany it?
***
Recipe
Walnut, Olive and Buttermilk Bread
Ingredients:
325 grams plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bi-carb soda
½ teaspoon mustard powder
75 grams grated tasty cheese
129 grams walnuts (toasted and chopped)
100 grams black olives (sliced)
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary plus extra sprigs for the top.
2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
2 large eggs beaten
300 ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper.
Method:
Preheat oven to 180˚C
Grease and line a loaf tin
Sift flour, baking powder, bi-carb-soda, mustard, salt and pepper.
Add cheeses, nuts, olives and rosemary. Mix well with wooden spoon.
In a separate bowl, whisk oil, 2 eggs and buttermilk.
Add this mixture to dry ingredients to form a thick batter and pour or spoon it into
loaf tin.
Brush with egg yolk then scatter extra nuts, rosemary and a little sea salt.
Bake 40 minutes at 180˚C.
***
Blind Sports
Goalball
Goalball is a fast-paced team sport that can be enjoyed by vision impaired and
sighted athletes. Blindfolded players rely on tactile surfaces and line markers to
orient themselves on the court and defend their goal. At the same time, their
blindfolded opponents attempt to bowl an audible ball across the court into the goal
zone to score points.
Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association welcomes anyone to come and try
goalball at the Brisbane and Cairns programs. Two free trial sessions are offered for
anyone who has not previously attended a goalball program.
Brisbane, Saturday, 9.00am-1.00pm
$126 Adults, $90 Juniors (18 weeks)
YMCA Bowen Hills, 95 Abbotsford Road, Bowen Hills
Cairns, Wednesday, 5.30pm-7.30pm
$3 per week
Cairns State High School, Cnr Upward and Sheridan Streets, Cairns
Development
Coaching and development opportunities are provided through Sporting Wheelies
and Disabled Association’s junior and school development programs and social
goalball programs.
Competition opportunities and pathways
Goalball can be played socially or competitively at local, state, national and
international levels, including the Paralympics. Players must be classified to compete
at national and international level. Members can apply for state, national and
international funding from the Association.
Equipment
Goalball equipment includes knee and elbow pads and goggles. Equipment is
provided for social league and junior development players. Regular players are
encouraged to purchase their own pads and goggles.
For more information, contact Robyn Stephenson, Sport Development Coordinator
on (07) 3253 3333 or email goalball@sportingwheelies.org.au
***
Thought for the month
There are three things you cannot recover in life:
1. the WORD after it’s said,
2. the MOMENT after it’s missed, and
3. the TIME after it’s gone.
***
Answers to Quiz
1. 12. 2. Bees. 3. Lake Baikal (Southern Siberia). 4. False. Ken Rosewall. 5. Bruce
Wayne. 6. Nicosia. 7. 1865. 8. 1967. 9. True. 10. Northern Territory.
***
QBWA thanks all who contribute to this magazine. We welcome any contributions by
readers and supporters, in particular, news, sports, Coming Up segments, recipes,
book reviews, gardening tips and restaurant reviews. Send them to us in your
preferred format (see contact details on title page). Articles should be as short and
concise as possible. The final decision as to inclusion of any article in the magazine
is made by the editors, who also reserve the right to make minor adjustments,
taking into account available space, perceived relevance to our readership and any
special considerations with regard to Braille formatting.
The closing date for submission of articles for the next issue is 13 November 2015.