ICheck out this great article from Seattle's great alternative paper: The Stranger. I've been thinking about the same stuff myself lately... wondering how we as dancers gracefully go into the good night....

www.thestranger.com

Someone you went to high school with gets a record deal and, after some measurable amount of fame, turns into a complete asshole. He/she might still talk to you, but will constantly pan the room for someone more important to converse with, leaving you hanging as soon as Mr. or Mrs. Big Shot is spotted. The person might not be just your run-of-the-mill asshole, though, if suffering from Acquired Situational Narcissism (ASN).

We're all narcissistic to a point. If we're normal, we possess self-confidence accompanied by the ability to question our limitations or imperfections. True narcissists--in the clinical sense of people suffering from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), which is separate from ASN--would never question themselves, though, because they are not selves at all. In a nutshell, they can experience themselves only in the reflection of someone else and need other people's approval to validate their otherwise empty lives.

By age four, most children figure out that they are their own person, separate from others but able to bond socially. This doesn't happen for people with NPD, and they alight on a lifelong journey in search of constant validation. Classic symptoms include lack of empathy, grandiose fantasies, excessive need for approval, rage, social isolation, and depression. Until recently, it was generally believed that, say, if you make it through junior high before suddenly becoming obsessed with being the perfect student with the best hair and right clothes, you are on track personality-wise. Everyone might hate you, but you like yourself enough to not give a shit. Fuck 'em, you're going to Yale rather than community college.

Acquired Situational Narcissism, on the other hand, can be attributed to the person who got a taste for performing in front of an audience and will do anything possible to stay in the public's eye, even if it means ranting on websites, playing an instrument he or she has no business handling, or just shaking maracas or a tambourine at the side of the stage.

Robert Millman, a professor of psychiatry at Cornell Medical School, was the first to distinguish these jerks (Acquired Situational Narcissists) from other kinds of jerks (those with Narcissistic Personality Disorder). A recent New York Times article written by Stephen Sherrill was the first instance I heard of Millman and ASN, and Sherrill's flippant essay was certainly informative. In the case of ASN, you're not born with narcissism, the situation brings it on--the situation being fame.

Think about it: There's always that one person in the band who can't separate him or herself from the oneness of the members when they're not playing or practicing. Such people see the band as their family and will do anything to keep that family together. They take a band member's marriage as a personal affront, and if someone decides to quit, it's a betrayal deserving of cruel revenge. Meanwhile, the time spent by people with ASN when separated from the band is divided into several recognizable activities, such as trying to make people think they're the nicest on the planet, or "falling in love" instantly and then forsaking that "love" when someone who they think will make them look better comes along. They change their clothes and hair to match those of their idols. It's all about how they appear to others.

God forbid they fuck up publicly, because this is when they'll go into hiding. If no one sees them then they don't see themselves. Normal people get over it as publicly as they got into it, but not our situational narcissist. I had an ex-boyfriend (in as much as "boyfriendness" was possible) who literally left the country--and hasn't returned yet, a good decade later--when he was kicked out of his band because he was a goddamn horrible bass player. He grew up in Gatsby's neighborhood, bought himself some fancy cars and a cool vintage bass guitar, formed a band, and modeled himself on Martin Fry (finely tailored suits, floppy mop of blond hair--it was the '80s!), then got the boot from the band he started. Ouch, and buh-bye.

If you stop to consider it, we as the public play a big part in causing celebrities to lose their former vision of reality. We gape and gossip, and their world becomes a national observation, sometimes an obsession. Once celebrities realize that their every public move is somehow noted, some retreat in an attempt to live normally, while others, the narcissists, begin to thrive on seeing themselves the way we see them--and then comes the rage and the drugs in order to deal with the constant dog and pony show.

I suspect Courtney Love is a narcissist in the classical sense; she's always been surrounded by fame and is never going to let go of the public's reflection of her image. Eddie Van Halen, however, might be a true example of ASN, because he couldn't stand David Lee Roth getting all the attention, even stooping to putting that guy from Extreme up front (call it anything you want, Eddie, but no one will accept anything less than a full, original lineup reunion to truly be Van Halen), until cancer forced him to take a break from driving Van Halen into the ground. Ryan Adams might also have ASN--the performer has changed dramatically since his days with Whiskeytown. I hardly recognize him as the guy who stood on the Tractor's stage six years ago. Who knew that he'd become such an indulgent yet thin-skinned jackass who can't take the slightest criticism of his own rock-star-persona bullshit?

Is it possible to quit performing once you've begun? Or is it the performer's right to just go on and on and on, aping Old Blue Eyes or playing reunion tours featuring only one member of the original band, while we accept it as merely an example of someone who still enjoys what he or she does and who wants to make a little cash in the process of expression. I used to think that Sting had done his former work with the Police the most deplorable dishonor until I recently saw a commercial hawking Rod Stewart re-dressed as a modern-day Frank Sinatra, complete with dinner jacket, crooning old standards. As I watched the TV I wondered if there was ever a time when Rod was not a joke, but I realized Gasoline Alley and Every Picture Tells a Story are great albums. Now it's just too hard to believe one Rod used to be the other, even harder than separating the Police from Sting.

When I think about artists who don't have a problem with being famous I think of Doug Martsch and the members of Built to Spill. I include the Rolling Stones in this category too simply because they are so big that their satellite world is necessary, not narcissistic.

ASN is not yet a recognized psychiatric disorder, and most of my opinions in this essay are completely arguable, a one-sided debate on a subject I found interesting. If you want to read more on ASN, though, the New York Times article mentions that Millman has included a piece on it in the new edition of Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, which he co-edits. I guess he figures all roads lead to ruin when they're paved with glitter and praise.

Cancer Risk Found in French Fries, Bread

Wed Apr 24,10:26 AM ET

By Peter Starck

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Basic foods eaten by millions around the world such as bread, biscuits, potato chips and french fries contain alarmingly high quantities of acrylamide, a substance believed to cause cancer, Swedish scientists said on Wednesday.

The research carried out at Stockholm University in cooperation with experts at Sweden's National Food Administration, a government food safety agency, showed that heating of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as potatoes, rice or cereals formed acrylamide, a much studied substance classified as a probable human carcinogen.

The research was deemed so important that the scientists decided on the unusual step of going public with their findings before the research had been officially published in an academic journal.

"I have been in this field for 30 years and I have never seen anything like this before," said Leif Busk, head of the food administration's research department.

Findings unveiled at a news conference called by the food administration showed that an ordinary bag of potato chips may contain up to 500 times more of the substance than the top level allowed in drinking water by the World Health Organization (news - web sites).

French fries sold at Swedish franchises of U.S. fast-food chains Burger King Corp and McDonald's contained about 100 times the one microgram per liter maximum permitted by the WHO for drinking water, the study showed.

One milligram, or 0.001 grams, contains 1,000 micrograms.

KNOWN HAZARD

The Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) classifies acrylamide, a colorless, crystalline solid, as a medium hazard probable human carcinogen.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, acrylamide induces gene mutations and has been found in animal tests to cause benign and malignant stomach tumors.

It is also known to cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous system.

"The discovery (news - web sites) that acrylamide is formed during the preparation of food, and at high levels, is new knowledge. It may now be possible to explain some of the cases of cancer caused by food," Busk said.

"Fried, oven-baked and deep-fried potato and cereal products may contain high levels of acrylamide," the administration said.

"Acrylamide is formed during the preparation of food and occurs in many foodstuffs...Many of the analyzed foodstuffs are consumed in large quantities, e.g. potato crisps, french fries, fried potatoes, biscuits and bread."

Among products analyzed in the study were potato chips made by Finnish company CHIPS ABP, whose shares fell 14.5 percent to six-month lows, as well as breakfast cereals made by U.S. Kellogg, Quaker Oats Co, part of PepsiCo Inc, and Swiss Nestle, and Old El Paso brand tortilla chips.

"For us, these are completely new findings which have never before been known to the world's foodstuffs industry," CHIPS ABP said in a statement to the Helsinki stock exchange.

Stefan Eriksson, marketing manager Burger King's subsidiary in Sweden, told Reuters by telephone: "We have received the information and we are evaluating what it will mean."

Spokesmen for the other companies mentioned in the research were not immediately available for comment.

NO PRODUCTS WITHDRAWN

Margareta Tornqvist, an associate professor at Stockholm University's department of environmental chemistry, said the consumption of a single potato crisp could take acrylamide intake up to the WHO maximum for drinking water.

Busk said, however, that the product analysis based on more than 100 random samples was not extensive enough for the administration to recommend the withdrawal of any products from supermarket shelves.

"Frying at high temperatures or for a long time should be avoided," Busk said, adding: "Our advice to eat less fat-rich products such as french fries and crisps, remains valid."

He said the findings applied worldwide, not only to Sweden, as the food raw materials used in the analyzes had showed no traces of acrylamide.

Swedish authorities had informed the European Commission (news - web sites) and EU member countries, Busk said.

"It is the first time we have come across such a result. We will evaluate this study and look at it but it is important to say that Sweden has not withdrawn any products from the market," said European Commission spokeswoman Beate Gminder.

"Therefore we'll have to see what the scientific evaluation by our side and by scientists in the member states will bring about," she said.

Liliane Abramsson-Zetterberg, a toxicologist at the Swedish food administration, said: "The cancer risk from acrylamide is much higher than (the levels) we accept for known carcinogens."

But smoking, which is known to cause cancer, remained a bigger risk, she said.

New enzyme a step towards exercise pill

14:12 11 April 02

NewScientist.com news service

Scientists have found an enzyme in muscle that, when activated, can mimic the effects of exercise. The discovery could one day lead to "exercise in a bottle" pills but this will not be for many years, as the experiments have so far only been done in mice.

But the new research singles out a promising target in the intense search for drugs that give people the benefits of exercise without them even lifting a finger. The target, an enzyme called calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) causes muscle to behave as if it has been exercised.

Such a drug would not just be an elixir for the lazy, it would improve the lives of chronically ill patients who would benefit from exercise but cannot tolerate the exertion. It might even have applications for athletes looking to gain muscle endurance.

"This opens the doors to drug discovery," says R. Sanders Williams, dean of Duke University School of Medicine, who lead the research with colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He would not say whether he has any candidates in mind, but pointed out that drugs exist that inhibit the activity of CaMK, so finding one that activates it instead might not all that hard.

Energy factories

Williams discovered the enzyme's unique abilities after engineering mice to make high levels of CaMK in muscle. Even though the animals had not been exercised, their muscles behaved in many ways as if they had.

For example, many muscle fibres converted into the "slow-twitch" kind, which has special properties and is abundant in muscle accustomed to chronic exercise. And the muscles were better at resisting fatigue during repetitive contractions.

The muscle cells also sprouted high numbers of mitochondria, the tiny energy factories of cells. This is known as mitochondrial biogenesis and for years has been considered an important hallmark of the response of muscle to endurance exercise.

Mystery solved

Exactly how exercise leads to this spike in mitochondria had been a mystery for decades, and CaMK now offers an answer, says exercise biology expert David Hood from York University in Toronto: "This is the first paper that really shows the link."

"It makes a lot of sense," he says, because CamK is a protein that responds to calcium. "Every time a muscle contracts, calcium is released and elevated in the cell." The calcium then activates CamK, which triggers the medley of effects in the response to exercise.

It is not far-fetched to think that a drug that activates the enzyme in people's muscle could be used to "exercise" their muscles without exercise, says Hood.

Journal reference: Science (vol 296, p 349)

Sylvia Pagán Westphal

This story is from NewScientist.com's news service - for more exclusive news and expert analysis every week subscribe to New Scientist print edition.

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Added 3/1/02

You May Have Always Suspected It, But A Study Suggests That Women Do Cope With Stress Differently Than Men

A research team that includes a Penn State Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health, Dr. Laura Cousino Klein, has identified a broad biological and behavioral pattern that explains a key method used by women to cope with stress.

"It seems that rather than responding in a fight-or-flight fashion when threatened, fearful or stressed, women may more often tend-and-befriend. Women are more likely to protect and nurture their young, and turn to family and friends for solace when they are stressed," explains Dr. Klein of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development.

That's a key finding from a UCLA study, which Klein participated in as a post-doctoral scholar. The study, led by UCLA principal investigator Dr. Shelley E. Taylor, will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Review, a journal of the American Psychological Association. Its findings are based on an analysis of hundreds of biological and behavioral studies of response to stress by thousands of humans and animal subjects.

"This 'tend-and-befriend' pattern is a sharp contrast to the 'fight-or-flight' behavior pattern that has long been considered the principal method for coping with stress by both men and women," notes Klein. "For women, that didn't quite make any sense from an evolutionary standpoint. It's a rare female of any species that would leave her baby to fend for itself while she physically takes on an aggressor. Females are more likely to protect their children, and bond with other females who can help provide protection in the process."

For decades, psychological research maintained that both men and women rely on fight or flight to cope with stress, meaning that when confronted with stress, individuals either react with aggressive behavior, such as verbal conflict and more drastic actions, or withdraw from the stressful situation. The researchers found that men often react to stress with a traditional fight-or flight response. However, the researchers found that women are more likely to manage their stress with a tend-and-befriend response by nurturing their children or seeking social contact, especially with other women.

"The hormone oxytocin might be the key. It is well known that oxytocin is released during childbirth and lactation. But, in terms of biobehavioral stress research, it has been overlooked. Oxytocin, in fact, is a mood regulator. Studies show that oxytocin decreases anxiety and depression, and promotes an affiliation or friend-seeking response in females," says Klein. "After a hard day's work, for example, women are more likely to affiliate, while men may need time to decompress. Both men and women produce oxytocin from the posterior pituitary gland, but women churn out more."

If a woman is stressed, she may get a quick burst of the stress hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and cortisol. Then comes oxytocin. The female hormone, estrogen, enhances oxytocin's role, and the tend-or-befriend response in women, while the male hormone testosterone appears to enhance fight-or-flight in men.

The "tend-and-befriend" methods range from talking on the phone with relatives or friends, to making simple social contacts such as asking for directions when lost. This difference in seeking social support during stressful periods is the principal way men and women differ in their response to stress.

"This doesn't mean that women never become angry or aggressive, or that men never tend or befriend," says Klein, "but the ‘tend-and befriend’ response to stress is more common among women."

This is the first new model to describe people's stress response patterns in more than 60 years and fills a gap in the stress response literature. Almost all the stress response studies in the past have been conducted on males and so, therefore, upheld fight-or-flight as the main response to stress.

Men are more likely than women to respond to stressful experiences by developing certain stress-related disorders, including hypertension, aggressive behavior, or alcohol abuse explains Klein. The tend-and-befriend response may, in some ways, protect women against stress and may provide insights into why women live an average of seven years longer than men.

"This research may encourage other researchers to further investigate the differences between men and women, as they study diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, or depression," says Klein. "We (researchers) need to open our vision. We're merely on the tip of the iceberg."

Klein will continue studying sex differences in stress responses and the role of oxytocin in connection with immune function at University Park with Dr. Elizabeth Corwin, assistant professor of Nursing in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development. The researchers will use the General Clinical Research Center in the Elmore Clinical Research Wing at Noll Laboratory to carry out their research. Klein and Corwin recently received a $6,000 grant to fund the research from the Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program in Penn State's College of Health and Human Development. The primary purpose of the Interdisciplinary Seed Grant Program is to stimulate new research within the college.

In addition to Taylor and Klein, the research team for the UCLA-led study, Behavioral Response to Stress in Females: Tend-and Befriend, Not Fight-or-Flight, included Brian P. Lewis, assistant professor at Syracuse; Regan A.R. Gurung, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin--Green Bay; and UCLA graduate students Tara L. Gruenewald and John A. Updegraff.

--hhd--

For additional information, contact Dr. Klein at lxk18@psu.edu or 814-865-8813. If you need any assistance, contact Steven Infanti of Penn State's College of Health and Human Development's External Relations Office at 814-863-4325 or smi3@psu.edu

---------Saqra says: "Hmmmm.... they could also have said 'helping girls move like belly dancers,' eh?"-------

Helping Girls Move 'Like Boys' Cuts Knee Injuries

Thu Feb 21, 1:21 PM ET

By Peggy Peck

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The best way to prevent serious knee injuries in female athletes may be to teach them to "run, jump and pivot like boys," a new study suggests.

Compared to males playing the same sport and position, girls and women playing soccer, basketball and volleyball are two to eight times more likely to injure their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the major stabilizer of the knee.

Dr. Letha Griffin of the University of Georgia in Augusta and Dr. Bert Mandelbaum of the Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Research Foundation in California tested a special training program in female soccer players and found it cut their rate of ACL tears--commonly referred to as "blown knees"--by 88%. The findings were presented this week at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' annual meeting in Dallas.

The researchers compared knee injuries among 1,041 female soccer players enrolled in the Prevent injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) program to injuries in 1,902 players who did not enroll in the course. All of the athletes played for the Coast Soccer League of Southern California.

At the end of the season, the PEP-trained players had only two ACL tears, compared with 32 in the non-trained group, Mandelbaum reported.

The PEP program, a comprehensive training system, consists of a special 20-minute warm-up that includes special avoidance techniques, stretching, strengthening, jumping and sports-specific agilities. The program concentrates on "running, jumping and pivoting with knees bent," said Griffin, who is head physician for all sports teams at the University of Georgia.

Girls, Griffin said, do move differently than boys. Even the casual observer watching boys and girls play soccer, she added, could spot the differences. "Girls run and pivot in a stiff-legged, upright posture. Boys, on the other hand, have knees bent and play low to the ground."

In an interview with Reuters Health, Griffin said that orthopaedic surgeons have offered several different theories to explain the gender differences in ACL injuries. "Anatomy, of course, is a popular explanation," she said. "Others have theorized that hormones may play a role, but anatomy cannot be changed and hormones should not be manipulated," she said. But biomechanics, she added, "can and should be manipulated" to prevent injury.