Dementia with Lewy bodies is a common dementia characterized by changes
in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and automatic bodily functions.
Symptoms worsen over time until cognitive decline interferes with normal
daily functioning. The core features are REM sleep behavior disorder (in
which people act out their dreams), visual hallucinations, marked
fluctuations in attention or alertness, and parkinsonism. The exact
cause is unknown, but involves deposits of abnormal clumps of protein in
the brain, known as Lewy bodies. Gastrointestinal and heart function can
be affected. Definitive diagnosis usually requires an autopsy, and a
probable diagnosis—based on symptoms and tests—is often missed.
Management of the many symptoms is challenging and involves multiple
specialties. There is no cure or medication to stop the disease
progression. After the suicide of Robin Williams (pictured) in 2014, his
autopsy found that diffuse Lewy bodies explained his symptoms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1378:
Unrepresented labourers in Florence revolted and violently took
over the city's government (depicted) to grant them political office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciompi_Revolt>
1877:
Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted
during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_railroad_strike_of_1877>
1977:
Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day
war with Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian%E2%80%93Libyan_War>
2013:
Nour Ahmad Nikbakht, an Iranian diplomat in Yemen, was
kidnapped by al-Qaeda militants and held hostage for the next two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iranian_diplomat_kidnapping>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
aventurine:
1. A kind of brownish glass containing gold-coloured spangles.
2. (mineralogy, by extension) A variety of translucent quartz, spangled
throughout with scales of yellow mica.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aventurine>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
When it comes to space, I see it as my job to build
infrastructure the hard way — I'm using my resources to put in place
heavy-lifting infrastructure so the next generation of people can have a
dynamic, entrepreneurial explosion into space. … I want thousands of
entrepreneurs doing amazing things in space, and to do that we need to
dramatically lower the cost of access to space.
--Jeff Bezos
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jeff_Bezos>