Must reads

• An October 1, 2014 Washing Post article reported that "A recent study suggests that middle-age women whose personalities tend toward the neurotic run a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life." According to the article, "The study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden followed a group of women in their 40s, whose disposition made them prone to anxiety, moodiness and psychological distress, to see how many developed dementia over the next 38 years. In line with other research, the study suggested that women who were the most easily upset by stress — as determined by a commonly used personality test — were two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than women who were least prone to neuroticism."
• An October 1, 2014 UT San Diego article reported on philanthropist Darlene Shiley's role in Trish Vradenburg's "Surviving Grace" play in Raleigh North Carolina. According to the article, "A proponent of Alzheimer’s research, Shiley recently returned from North Carolina where she played a role in the reading of “Surviving Grace.” The play was recited earlier at the University of San Diego and now is touring the country to raise money for Alzheimer’s disease programs. Actress Loni Anderson also read a part, as did North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. When playwright Trish Vradenburg worried that McCrory hadn’t rehearsed with them, Shiley quickly assured her he hardly needed to: “After all, he’s a politician.”"
• An October 1, 2014 Washington Post opinion piece by Sally Jenkins called on the NFL to address its brain concussion problem or face regulation from Congress. According to Jenkins, "Government regulation is never a first choice; it’s a last one. But on subject after subject, the NFL demonstrates chronic insincerity and reckless disregard. League leadership all but ignored painkiller abuse in locker rooms until a DEA investigation. It all but ignored domestic violence cases until the Rice cold-cock video forced it to form a more coherent human resources policy — something other American businesses did decades ago. And it ignored concussions until it was sued by 4,500 former players — whereupon it filed court papers revealing the league has been fully aware that one third of its players will develop Alzheimer’s, dementia or other neurologic disease. Congress needs to say to Roger Goodell and the owners who pay him $44 million a year to cover up their dirt and disease for them, “Your anti-trust protected, $10-billion-dollar-revenue-producing, nonprofit, corporate-welfare special status is up. You didn’t take care of your business voluntarily. So now it’s our business.”