Editor's Foreword

Issue no 3 / 2016 of Memoria di Shakespeare. A Journal of Shakespearean Studies gathers several different voices on Shakespeare’s language that as a whole contribute to further define the shape of the language he inherited and used, as well as the linguistic shape of his stylistic choices

Editor’s Foreword: ‘Decadence’

Editor's Foreword to 'Decadence' (Moveable Type, Volume XI)

Editor's foreword

In 1992, Editor's Foreword of Biomedical Reviews (BMR), volume 1, started with the above cited poetry of Sheenagh Pugh, a British poet, novelist and translator, who taught creative writing at the University of Glamorgan in Wales until retiring in 2008. Then, from London, I wrote: "After 45 years of sorrow, the "sometimes" melting point reached Bulgaria too. The Journal is a part of such a sometime-ness that has become possible through collaborative work with my friends, Dr P. Ghenev, Dr K. Dikranian and Mr K. Kralev - executive director of the Bulgarian-American Center in Varna."Biomedical Reviews 2011; 22: iii-iv

Editor's foreword

Humans need food (and love) to survive. At the evolutionary level, the survival of biological species is mediated by growth, fertility and longevity phenotypes. However, the human race has evolved in an environment of extremely difficult periods of time, when food was scarce. Hence, the act of hunting or gathering food was laborious and required higher energy expenditure than what it takes to have food nowadays. Such a scenario promoted the ability to eat as much as was available. The "thrifty" genes may thus evolved to promote human survival in a life of famine-to-feast cycle. The scenario, especially in the economically advanced countries, has been changed in the last two decades: the average person has enough money to fill the daily caloric needs with fast-food meals. And the average daily energy expenditure has declined in parallel with a sedentary lifestyle. Hence the evolutionary pattern of "the more you eat, the better for survival" became no longer an advantage but a liability, and the presence of Homo obesus is increasing dramatically.Biomedical Reviews 2006; 17: v-vi

Editor's Foreword

Dear Colleagues,In October 2015, Professor Maria Staykova at The John Curtin College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia sent to me a verse entitled Brain created by child from fourth class:With the brain man thinks that thinks.Moreover the brain is used for headache.Located in the head, behind the nose.When someone sneezes, it drips.The brain is very sensitive organ.For this reason people use it rarely.In December 2015, Professor Hiroshi Yamamoto at Department of Biochemistry and Vascular Biology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan wrote to me:Dear George,I wish you health, happiness and something fantastic in 2016.Enclosed is my hope for this year - it‘s called „Sousei`, meaning „live together`.*HiroI immediately replied:Hiro, after the wishes for health, your „Sousei` - to live together in mutual understanding - is the most important message to all people in the world. Because:Brain and heart are very sensitive organs.For this reason people should use them more often - together.George, BHF-ly yoursGeorge N. Chaldako

Editor's foreword

Emily Dickinson`s 632 poem may, in the language of adipobiology, be brie!y paraphrased as BMI (brain mass index) is wider than BMI (body mass index).We argue strongly for the creation of a bridge between the virtues of intellect (brain) and those of feeling (heart/ soul), desig- nating such a bridge brain-and-heart friendship (BHF). Even as a brain-and-heart family. Onward, the larger the BHF, the better for the society including scienti"c community.Thus BHF might indeed be considered The Fifth Element, the quintessence (Latin quinta - "ve, and essentia - the true nature of being) (1). The dynamic and plasticity of The Elements have been expressed by ancient Greek philosophers in the following aphorism: Nothing new comes or can come into being: the only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element.Imaging humans as elements, we should work together on Human Phiolome (Friendome) Project (2). Herein illustrated by a collage called Friendorama, a masterpiece of Dr Vesselka Nikolova, a cardiologist in Varna, Bulgaria and Göttingen, Germany