Rosso corsa

Ferrari, an Italian sport car, goes well with rosso corsa, which means racing red in Italian. It is said that rosso corsa is the national racing color of Italy. So many guys like Ferrari painted rosso corsa, so do I, although not affordable.

You can see a red panel below. How do you feel about this color?

You would say it is a tinge of red, compared with rosso corsa. Believe it or not, this is a photo of the wall of my house. Don't you think it looks weird? Have you ever seen such a fun-colored house?

My wife and I had the house built several years ago. The house was supposed to be painted beige but our choice was not available for some reason. We decided to paint the wall red, which had nothing to do with rosso corsa.

My wife was frightened to initially see the house painted red and called me at work, because the color had a stronger impact than she expected. In order to check it, I left my office and rushed to our house under construction. What I told to my wife was "what a beautiful color it is.", making her feel relieved, she said later.

To be honest, I was also a little shocked to see the vivid color but I pretended I liked it at that time.
It was not long we got used to the color. Now I can assure you that it always relaxes me.

Angina

I am wondering if most people are familiar with a word, angina or angina pectoris.

Angina is a medical condition associated with myocardial ischemia, and commonly develops on exercise but can occur even at rest. During an attack of angina, you feel discomfort in the chest.

Most people, including medical staff, consider chest pain a typical symptom in patients with angina, but it is likely to be a stereotypical misunderstanding. According to my patients who are diagnosed with angina in my hospital, the symptom is different form chest pain. They say it is not painful but oppressive; it could be expressed as a toothache or headache in some cases. Remember, symptoms associated with angina vary depending on the patient.

My recommendation is that you do not have to make a diagnosis. Given the relatively high mortality of patients with angina who are not appropriately treated, you should consult a cardiologist, especially if you have some risk factors, such as diabetes, hypertension, dislipidemia, smoking, and a family history of heart disease.

If symptoms last 15 minutes or longer, special attention should be paid because it may suggest more unstable conditions, such as myocardial infarction. You have to visit the emergency department as soon as possible.

Let's gather cats

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

 

There are distinctive differences in characteristics between dogs and cats, although both are very popular as a pet here in Japan. In general, cats are thought to be more standoffish whereas dogs are likely to be more loyal.

I thought I was more of a dog person, but my mind has changed since I came across an app called Neko Atsume, which was developed in Japan and means "Let's gather cats" in English.

 

The rule of the game is very simple. You put food in your garden and then see cats gathering to eat the food. One interesting aspect is that the characteristics of cats are different each other. As you can see below, a white fat cat is sleeping peacefully after eating a big meal, a brown one is playing with the body hiding in a bucket, one having a bat seems to be a baseball fan.

 

 

Actually you cannot touch or catch them. Cats come on a whim when there is food and leave without saying anything when getting tired. Taking a picture of them and keeping the photos in your cat album is only allowed in this game. Nevertheless, this app has been fascinating to me for months. Also you may be, more or less, addicted to their cuteness.

From now on, I won't say I am a dog person.

Also you wouldn't even though you prefer dogs to cats.

No underpants

Last night, after taking a bath, I found no underpants in the dressing room. I usually put a pair of pajamas and underwears on the shelf before bathing, but I was likely to forget to bring my underpants. All of my clothes are upstairs, so I decided not to wear it.

Some women appear to have a habit of wearing no bra and panties on the bed, but it is not common among men. I am an averaged person and I have never slept without underpants before last night. I was worried I would catch a cold but nothing bothered me at all.

Sleeping with no underwear may have a few advantages.

• Can save money to buy underpants.
• Can save time to go to clothes shops.
• Can save water to do the laundry.

I am not going to encourage you to give it a try because possible contribution, if any, is a bit. However, no-pnats-sleep may be invaluable in a certain situation. For example, it would work well in August in Japan because it is boiling hot and disgustingly humid.

At last I have to say that wearing no underpants was very handy when I went to the rest room. Concerns about poor sanitation were raised, though.

Heart in the heart

Here is a simple question.
Can you see anything unusual and funny on the chest radiograph?

There is an inverted love mark in the cardiac silhouette.
So, you would say, "Heart in the heart!"

A diagnosis of esophageal hiatal hernia was confirmed by computed tomography and gastroscopy. The upside down heart in the present case was likely to be created by the trapping air in the stomach protruding into the chest cavity through the opening of the diaphragm.

The patient has been doing well for almost three years with antacids.

Star Wars

I guess that everyone has heard of "Star Wars", a sci-fi movie. I am a big fan of sci-fi movies and happy to know that a new series of Star Wars, Episode VII The Force Awakens, is coming this December.

My daughter and I enjoyed watching Star Wars Episode I, II, and III last weekend. Unexpectedly, the Episode III that I got was not dubbed into Japanese; only English and Chinese subtitles were available. I wanted to use English subtitles so that I could understand the story more, but my 12-year-old daughter declined it because it might disturb the beautiful computer generated images (CGI). Another likely reason is that she was unable to read English. I had no choice but to watch the movie only with English voices.

This is my first time to watch English movies without subtitles, but I was able to follow the story more than I would expected. It is unclear how well my daughter caught the story, but I am 100% sure that she had a lot of fun with the movie because the CGI effects were exceptional.

While watching these three series of Star Wars, I have realized that the CGIs looked more fantastic in Episode III than in Episode I or II. This is because no subtitle in Episode III enabled me to focus more on the CGIs, I think.

I have to say, "Thank you, my daughter." Her request (i.e., no subtitle) reminded me of a real attractiveness of sci-fi movies.

A raw egg

I thought that what non-Japanese people really hate to eat was Natto or fermented soy beans. However, I have recently recognized my misunderstanding. It is likely to be impossible for them to try a raw egg although we Japanese often enjoy having dishes with a raw egg, such as Sukiyaki, Beef bowl, and Udon noodle. Among them, Tamago Gake Gohan, as shown below, is my best because of the balance between the taste and simpleness.

I often eat Tamago Gake Gohan for breakfast and cannot get enough of it. Let me explain how to cook this wonderful dish. All you have to do is to put a raw egg and pour soy source over hot rice. That's it. Stirring them before eating would make the taste more yummy.

The other day, a famous American educator, who has live in Japan for more than 30 years, said on the radio that she really hated rice with a raw egg but not natto. That made me really disappointed.

Let me give you some tips if you give it a try. First, use a fresh egg, or you will suffer from abdominal pains, diarrhea, and vomiting. Micro organisms could grow, such as Salmonella, especially in summer or a rainy season. Second, do not take a while to cook, or the egg will go bad. You should know that micro organisms love room temperature.

Finally, more importnat, do not try to eat if you feel disgusting when you take a look at the picture above. It is quite rare to look unappetizing but taste good. People get more information from their eyes than from the taste buds while eating.

Maybe everything is under the control of the brain.

Ventricular fibrillation

Here is quite a rare electrocardiogram (ECG). The point is that it is not a monitor recording but a standard 12-lead ECG.

This is one of the most scary arrhythmias, called ventricular fibrillation. Death would be unavoidable, unless the arrhythmia ceased spontaneously in a few minutes. To save a patient with ventricular fibrillation, cardiac resuscitation, followed by electrical defibrillation, is required as soon as possible.

Given that it takes dozens of seconds to record a standard 12-lead ECG, the present ECG is no doubt extremely uncommon. I would say that you have never seen an ECG like this, even though you are an experienced cardiologist. Actually, this is my first time during about 20 years of clinical experience as a cardiologist.

I quote this ECG from my website, where more than 300 ECGs with a simple explanation are available free of charge. While I was uploading an ECG of ventricular fibrillation, my little child, kindergartener at that time, mumbled anxiously, "Oh my goodness...he's dead." Of course, he has never learned about ECG.

Ventricular fibrillation seems to be so striking that even kids cannot help feeling something ominous.

Creeper

Minecraft is a popular online game released in 2009. I do not know much about Minecraft, but my two sons are really into it. In Minecraft, you are likely to be in a world of blocks. Everything is made of various kinds of blocks, such as metal, wood, soil, or ice. You can create whatever you want to make with these blocks. So many fantastic works on YouTube may frighten you because they are beyond the limitation of your imagination.

Creeper is an enemy that you fight against in Minecraft. Literally, Creeper seems to be made up of plants, watches and follows you eerily, and, once in a while, explodes. You may be injured or killed.

Last weekend, my younger son, who is in second grade at elementary school and a big fan of Minecraft, asked me to create Creeper. Surprisingly, he was already planing to use cardboard boxes as the frame work and folding papers for the pixelated appearance.

The process was way much tougher than I expected, but my son did make it with my support. Actually, it took two or three hours but he continued to work with fun. I respect his approach and endurance.

A fun-loving attitude and never-give-up spirit are what I really want my kids to have.

The heart

Have you ever seen your heart? I guess that you would say "Of course not." Believe it or not, I have!

To be honest, it is almost impossible to directly see your own heart with your naked eye. Such situations, if ever, would lead to your death in a minute. An indirect way to see your heart, however, is available. Medical institutions have a variety of devises that make it possible to depict the heart, for example echocardiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.

Among these medical modalities, echocardiography is the most recommended. All you have to do is that you put an ultrasonographic probe on the chest after lifting up your shirt. It is very convenient and handy, isn't it?. Another advantage of echocardiography is no need for radiation exposure. In my hospital, I usually show my patients a movie of their heart, as shown below.

 

My small gift always surprises my patients. It seems like that they are impressed and satisfied to see his or her heart beating dynamically and continuously. They say, "Oh, this is my heart? Awesome! Thank you, doctor. You are so nice." Also, their words make me feel good and motivate me to work more heartily.

P.S.
Some may care about the cost to examine the heart by echocardiography. Luckily, it is affordable in Japan: almost 10 to 30 dollars on health insurance. I have heard that it would cost too much in the U.S., at least 10 times higher than in Japan, to undergo echocardiography, although it seems to vary depending on a hospital where you are examined.