My bluegrass quest

Since I was 4 years old, I have dreamed of playing in a band.  In high school, I was in a group of square-dance pickers – Bill Brown, Starkey Duncan, Ben Adams, Joe Collier, Fred Beasely, my brother Barney and two others.  After highschool, we went our ways and lost track.  Twenty years later, Bill Brown assembled a group of friends to play a square a dance at Brentwood Academy, where he was headmaster.  At the time, I was trying to learn banjo, which turned out to be the main melodic instrument in his band.

The highlight of the evening was Jerry Reed joining in for a couple of songs.  That band included Bill, his brother Larry, Allen Wallace and me.  Rob, Jonny and Coleman, the singing Harwell boys soon joined, then an extremely talented banjo player, David Hickman, who would be our star.  Tom Shriver and Sam Shannon joined soon thereafter.  Alex Shipley joined later.   In 1976, we were invited to perform a stage show on the War Memorial Plaza for the Bicentennial Arts Celebration.  Riding to that gig, Coleman started talking about a sign in the Union Station that read “Outbound Freight”, and suddenly the band had a name.

The OBF was invited to perform at numerous civic events.  They played the same songs at every gathering, so I sought opportunities to sit in with groups on stage at various Nashville taverns: Dusty Road, Station Inn (the Red and Birdie era), Golden Nugget, Bluegrass Inn, Kindly Keep it Bluegrass, Trinity Lane x Dickerson Rd.  I played with some country pickers in a VFW dance band.  One of them died of a gunshot wound received when wooing a married woman.  One of them had an interest in Nashville’s dirtiest dive, “The Wigwam”, and he dragged us down there a couple of times after VFW gigs.  It was on 3rd Ave next to Cathy’s Massage Parlor on one side and worse on the other.  The 300-pound proprietor was always in overalls, shirtless and seriously malodorous.  He was proud of his ability to draw a pistol out of the cash register if needed.  He often slept the night on a pool table in the back room, parked in the middle, so people wouldn’t fall through the 2'x2' hole, covered also by a rug to keep out varmints and cold.

The Wigwam people asked me to perform in a special event to be filmed for a documentary.  The song was new to me, so I faked my way through it, embarrassingly.  I saw and heard the result for the first time several weeks ago.  The man smoking and drinking in the foreground was Townes VanZandt:  Heartworn Highways.

Publications, Membrane transport & metabolism

1) Evidence for functionally distinct transporters in basal and insulin-stimulated adipocytes; Biochemistry 28: 6937-6943, 1989; RR Whitesell, DM Regen, NA Abumrad

2) Activation energy of the slowest step in the glucose carrier cycle: Break at 23oC and correlation with membrane lipid fluidity; Biochemistry 28; 5618-5625, 1989; RR Whitesell, DM Regen, AH Beth, DK Pelletier, NA Abumrad

3) Mechanism of the acute action of insulin on hepatic gluconeogenesis; Mechanisms of insulin action, Chapter 21, 305-321, Elsevier Science Publishers, Biomedical Div ; ~1986 ; TH Claus, MR El-Maghrabi, DM Regen

4) Role of hepatic glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in glycogen synthesis; BioEssays 2, 6; 273-276, ~1985; SJ Pilkis, DM Regen, TH Claus, AD Cherrington

5) Evidence for two catalytic sites on 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose 2,6-bisphosphatase; J Biological Chemistry 259; 949-958, 1984; SJ Pilkis, DM Regen, HB Stewart, J Pilkis, TM Pate, MR El-Maghrabi

6) Effects of pH on B-hydroxybutyrate exchange kinetics of rat erythrocytes, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta 601, 500-508, 1980; DM Regen, HL Tarpley

7) Glucose transport characteristics of quiescent thymocytes; J Biol Chem 253; 7289-7294, 1978; RR Whitesell, DM Regen

8) Effects of insulin on kinetics of sugar transport in heart muscle; Am J Physiol 234; E70-E78, 1978; JY Cheung, C Conover, DM Regen, CF Whitfield, HE Morgan

9) Effects of pH on B-hydroxybutyrate transport in rat drythrocytes and thymocytes; Biochemica et Biophysica 508, 539-550, 1978; DM Regen, HL Tarpley

10) Mitogen-stimulated glucose transport in thymocytes; J Cell Biol 72; 456-469, 1977; RR Whitesell, RA Johnson, HL Tarpley, DM Regen

11) Anaerobic stimulation of sugar transport in avian erythrocytes; Biochemica et Biophysica Acta 470; 212-229, 1977; JY Cheung, DM Regen, ME Schworer, CF Whitfield, HE Morgan

12) Dynamic aspects of glucose transport modulations in thymocytes; J Biol Chem 252 #10; 3533-3537, 1977; RR Whitesell, LH Hoffman, DM Regen

13) B-hydroxybutyrate transport in rat brain: developmental and dietary modulations; Am J Physiol 230 #3; 619-630, 1976; TJ Moore, AP Lione, MC Sugden, DM Regen

14) Transport of D-allose by isolated fat-cells: An effect of adenosine triphosphate on insulin stimulated transport; J Cell Physiol 89 #4;651-660, 1976; EG Loten, DM Regen, CR Park

15) Effect of thyroid hormone on cerebral glucose metabolism in the infant rat; Am J Physiol 225; 925-929, 1973; TJ Moore, AP Lione, DM Regen

16) Anomalous transport kinetics and the glucose carrier hypothesis; Biochem Biophys Acta 339; 218-233, 1974; DM Regen, HL Tarpley

17) Sugar transport in beef erythrocytes; Biochem Biophys Acta 266; 174-181, 1972; RT Hoos, HL Tarpley, DM Regen

18) Brain glucose metabolism in the newborn rat; Am J Physiol 221#6;1746-1753, 1971; TJ Moore, AP Lione, DM Regen, HL Tarpley, PL Raines

19) Brain glucose metabolism in the intact mouse; Am J Physiol 221#6; 1738-1745, 1971; WA Growdon, TS Bratton, MC Houston, HL Tarpley, DM Regen

20) Effects of simple diets on cholesterol synthesis in rat liver; J Nutrition 101; 437-444, 1971; EB Terrell, DM Regen

21) Sugar transport across the blood-brain barrier; Am J Physiol 219#5; 1505-1513, 1970; PM Buschiazzo, EB Terrell, DM Regen

22) Regulatory significance of transfer RNA charging levels1. Measurements of charging levels in livers of chow-fed rats, fasting rats, and rats fed balanced and imbalanced mixtures of amino acids; Biochim Biophys Acta 190; 323-336, 1969; RE Allen, PL Raines, DM Regen

23) Effects of glucagon and fasting on acetate metabolism in perfused rat liver; Biochim Biophys Acta 170; 95-111, 1968; DM Regen, EB Terrell

24) Stereospecific transport of glucose in the perfused rat liver; Am J Physiol 215#5; 1200-1209, 1968; TF Williams, JH Exton, CR Park, DM Regen

25) Lipid transport in liver, 1. Electron microscopic indentification of very low density lipoproteins in perfused rat liver; Laboratory Investigation 16#2, 305-319, 1967; RL Hamilton, DM Regen, ME Gray, VS LeQuire

26) The measurement of B-hydroxy-B-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase in rat liver; Effects of fasting and refeeding; Biochemiche Zeitshrift 346#1, 78-84, 1966; DM Regen, C Riepertinger, B Hamprecht, F Lynen

27) Adjustment if glycolysis to energy utilization in the perfused rat heart; The effect of changes in the ionic composition of the medium on phosphofructokinase activity; J Biol Chem 239#2, 381-384, 1964; DM Regen, DAB Young, WW Davis, J Jack Jr, CR Park

28) The regulation of hexokinase and phosphofructokinase activity in heart muscle; Effects of alloxan diabetes, growth hormone, cortisol and anoxia; J Biol Chem 239#1, 43-49, 1964; DM Regen, WW Davis, HE Morgan, CR Park

29) Identification of a mobile carrier-mediated sugar transport system in muscle; J Biol Chem 239#2, 369-374, 1964; HE Morgan, DM Regen, CR Park

30) Studies of the glucose-transport system in the rabbit erythrocyte; Biochim Biophys Acta 79, 151-166, 1964; DM Regen, HE Morgan

31) Regulation of glucose uptake in muscle, VI Effects of hypophysectomey, adrenalectomy, growth hormone, hydrocortisone and insulin on glucose transport and phosphorylation in the perfused rat heart; J Biol Chem 236#8, 2162-2168, 1961; HE Morgan, DM Regen, MJ Henderson, TK Sawyer, CR Park

32) Regulation of glucose uptake in muscle, 3 The effects of insulin, anoxia, salicilate and 2:4-dinitrophenol on membrane transport and intracellular phosphorylation of glucose in the isolated rat heart; Biochem J 73, 573-579, 1959; HE Morgan, PJ Randle, DM Regen 

Publications, Heart Circulation Muscle

1) Tensions and stresses of ellipsoidal chambers; Annals of Biomedical Engineering; 24: 400-417, 1996; DM Regen

2) Mechanical characteristics of tachycardia-induced left-ventricular failure as evaluated in isolated dog hearts; Heart Vessels; 10: 12-23, 1995; Z Wang, WD Denney, LK Taylor, DM Regen, DE Hansen

3) Characteristics of left-ventricular isovolumic pressure waves in isolated dog hearts; Heart Vessels; 9: 155-166, 1994; DM Regen, PK Denton, WC Howe, LK Taylor, DE Hansen

4) Myocardial physics; News in physiological sciences; 8: 238, 1993; DM Regen

5) Characterization of myocardial stress-length relations; J Theor Biol; 164: 245-259, 1993; DM Regen

6) Characteristics of single isovolumic left-ventricular pressure waves of dog hearts in situ; Heart Vessels; 8: 136-148, 1993; DM Regen, WC Howe, JT Peterson, WC Little

7) Segmental calculation of left ventricular wall stresses; Am J Physiol; 264: H1411-H1421, 1993; DM Regen, P Anversa, J Capasso

8) Myocardial plasticity and heart-chamber stability; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine; 34, 2: 162-180, Winter1991; DM Regen

9) Calculation of left-ventricular wall stress; Circulation Research; 67: 245-252, 1990; DM Regen

10) Estimation of left-ventricular systolic performance and its determinants in man from pressure and dimensions of one beat: Effects of aortic valve stenosis and replacement: Heart Vessels; 6: 31-47, 1990; DM Regen, H Nonogi, OM Hess

11) Evaluation of systolic effectiveness and its determinants: pressure/midwall-volume relations; Am J Physiol (Heart Circ Physiol 26) ; 257: H2070-H2080, 1989; DM Regen

12) Effects of chamber shape and fiber orientation on relations between fiber dynamics and chamber dynamics; Annals of Biomedical Engineering; 16: 589-607, 1988; DM Regen

13) Relation between hydrodynamics and mechanical properties of a sphere; Annals of Biomedical Engineering; 16: 5 73-588, 1988; DM Regen

14) Independent determinants of systolic effectiveness: growth ability, contractility and mobility; J theor Biol; 132: 61-81, 1988; DM Regen

15) Left-ventricular cavity dimensions in children with normal and dilated hearts; Pediatr Cardiol; 9: 17-24, 1988; DM Regen, TP Graham, RKH Wyse, J Deanfield, RCG Franklin

16) Evaluation of myocardial properties from image/pressure data: chronic conditions; J theor Biol; 120: 31-61, 1986; DM Regen, CR Maurer Jr

17) Dependence of heart chamber dimensions and dynamics on chamber demands and myocardial properties; J theor Biol; 120; 1-29, 1986; CR Maurer Jr, DM Regen

18) Myocardial stress equations: fiberstresses of the prolate spheroid; J theor Biol 109: 191-215, 1984; DM Regen

19) The dependence of chamber dynamics on chamber dimensions; J theor Biol 105; 6 79-705, 1983; DM Regen, CR Maurer Jr 

David Regen's CV / Obituary / Eulogy

    For years I have said that every adult should post his or her obituary on line and update it annually.  Church directories and news letters should contain links to respective obituaries, so members can learn who shares their interests.  People placed together at a dinner table (or on a train, cruise ship, or park bench) could exchange ObitURLs to find conversation topics.

    The self-written obit would, of course, help survivors compose the deceased’s published obit.  I’m very tardy writing mine and do it now to persuade my wife to do hers.

David Regen likes to analyze systems, seeking models that account for cause-effect relations; be they physical (cosmology, electromagnetism, radiation), biological (biochemistry, physiology, embryology, evolution), sociological (values, doctrines, ideals, ethics, justice, policy, politics), international (peace, respect, risks).  He likes to consider fundamentals underlying or justifying doctrines.  He hopes to discover something true and to invent something useful.

David Marvin Regen

Born: March 18, 1934 in Nashville TN

Died: &&&&&&&&&&

Parents: Eugene M Regen MD and LaVerne C Regen

Siblings: Eugene M Regen Jr (Elizabeth) ;  Barney B Regen (Catherine)

Wife: Lieselotte W Regen (Lilo)

Children: David M Regen Jr ;  Samuel M Regen (Melissa Matthews) ;  Ingrid L Regen (Andrey Belous)

Grandchildren: Rowan Regen, Solvey Regen, Terran Regen, Ruslan Belous, Amelie Belous, step Nikki Belous

Schooling: 

Eakin Elementary '40-'45

Peabody Demonstration School '45-'47

Duncan College Preparatory School '47-'52

Davidson College '52-'56

Vanderbilt Medical School '56-'58

Vanderbilt Graduate School, PhD in Physiology '58-'62

Extracurriculars: 

Highschool: Football, basketball, baseball, tennis, 

steel guitar

College: Basketball, track, wrestling, piano

Positions: 

1962-64 Max Planck Inst fur Zellchemie

1964-1998 Vanderbilt Univ Dept Physiology

Career Interests: Mechanism and regulation of transmembrane glucose transport and of cellular glucose metabolism in erythrocytes, heart muscle, liver and brain.  Heart muscle mechanics.  Analysis of biological systems.

Recreation: Age 30-80: Renaissance & Baroque music.  Age 60: assembled songbook Ten Carols and a Lullaby translations and arrangements of German carols.  Age 35-45: Tennis.  Age 45 - 88: Played Dobro in Bluegrass bands: Outbound Freight, Road to Ruin Ramblers, Budget Bluegrass, Assembled two songbooks: Mostly Bluegrass Standards and Country Pathos Country Soul.

Church affiliations: 

Woodmont Christian: Arranged and performed Christmas music, Led Summer Singalong, Organized Woodmont Gospelaires, Supervised Safe Haven Family Shelter monthly from 1981 to 1990.

Bellevue Christian (age 69 - 88) Created and led Second-Sunday Singalong, Assembled songbook Gospel Supplement for singalongs,  at age 85 produced First-Sunday Seminar and Fourth-Sunday Song Circle.  Organized Country Church, a bimonthly service led by pickers with Gospel Supplement as the hymnal.

Retirement:  Wrote songs, Did home repair and car repair (had VIP pass to Pull-A-Part Junk Yard), Proposed some inventions (about 20 ideas, 5 patents), Studied machine-tool technology at TCAT.  In 2007 began blog journal Ethics Black Hole to protest Iraq-war, now 200 essays.

Narrative:

David grew up on the side of Fairfax Ave with misfits and sociopaths, not the side that spawned athletes, tycoons, university presidents, artists and scientists.  He was afflicted with mild dyslexia, OCD, ADHD and asperger, so he did not thrive in grammar school.  On two occasions he took remedial reading.  But, owing to a strong warning on the first day of high school, he did his math homework daily and eventually completed calculus.  He credits his graduate-school mentor, Charles Rollo Park, with teaching him everything useful, including communication.  Getting a summer job in Dr Park's research lab after one year of medical school was fortunate in several ways.  He found a career path in academia rather than patient care for which he was utterly unfit.  One of his lab colleagues happened to know the elegant girl who strolled through the cafeteria during coffee break, enabling him to meet his future wife Lieselotte (Lilo) Wilde.  Lilo was an immigrant from Germany, who worked in the hospital records room by day, attended UT by night, and studied art on weekends.  She would paint beautiful pictures and scribe beautiful calligraphs and teach these skills professionally.  She was a master chef and hosted numerous guests.  She was/hasbeen beautiful and creative throughout her && years.

David was curious – later good for his science, earlier bad for his bones and skin.  As a kid, he often walked barefoot through the glass-strewn alleys looking in people’s trash pits for mechanical devices, to study, repair or scavenge.  Attempting to climb from top of garage door to roof, he fell head first and broke his right elbow in four places.  Exploring alternative ways to descend stairs, he broke his left arm in one place.  Attempting to dive into shallow water like sailors from a burning ship, he broke his back, wore a torso cast for a month.  Attempting to walk on the wall of a school’s incinerator, he fell into the fire, burning the skin off both legs from shoes to shorts.  His legs were then covered with mercury ointment and wrapped for a month.  Between ages 11 and 25, he suffered constantly painful duodenal ulcers causing chronic insomnia and several nearly lethal hemorrhages and bile-duct obstructions.  He designed a blow-torch that almost burned down his house.  He raised a few chickens and rabbits, which he slaughtered and butchered for food.  There were punctures, lacerations and sports injuries as well as toxic-metal exposures.  Working on a lawnmower at age 84, he severed the extensor tendon of his left middle finger, cutting half through the knuckle.

He trusted his scientific instincts and spent his last half decade attempting to understand gravity and light.  He encountered several unsatisfying theories and proposed a few of his own.  He also advanced some social/political ideas for discussion.  He waited in vain for the contrition owed by MAGA Republicans for Jan 6, 2021 and for supporting misinformation broadcasters.  At age 87, he invented two ways to prevent semi-truck jackknifing and submitted a patent application for each -- likewise a battery-powered back scratcher, but not the super impact wrench.

Inner Ear Accelerometers

  Every modern ship, plane and satellite is equipped with flywheels in gimbals to detect and report rotational acceleration and displacement.  Many of them have devices to detect linear acceleration.  Our inner ears are equipped with vestibular systems, that detect and report both of these accelerations.

I don’t know how acceleration data from the inner ear are received in the brain, but I speculate that my honeycomb illusion might be involved in the report.  I suspect this because: the honeycomb hexagons that I see on every blank surface don't move when I move my gaze but not head, and they don't move when I move my head but not my gaze, and they don't move when I move both.  The honeycomb seems to stay where it was before head and/or eye movement -- as if held in place by feedback from my vestibular system.

My honeycomb illusion might be my personal frame of reference (that goes with me) or my objective frame of reference (through which I go) or both.  Such a reference would allow me to keep track of my relations with surroundings quicker than possible through good visual information and despite poor or lacking visual information.

I invite the curious to weigh in on this speculation.

The homelessness problem

 

Homeless people living rough on city streets and in city parks interfere with intended uses of those spaces by nearby residents, shopkeepers, shoppers, walkers and drivers.  This is much worse in mild-climate states, especially those with humane intentions toward the homeless.

City, county and state governments have a right and a duty to enable normal use of these areas.  So far efforts to limit unauthorized camping or squatting have failed.

Jailing people for drug trafficking, overdosing, petty theft or trespassing doesn’t relieve street abuse significantly.  There isn’t enough jail capacity.  Likewise for rehab services.  Needed is a new way of housing and caring for people unable to compete for normal housing.

I wonder whether a variety of last-chance resort colonies would be appreciated and effective.  Last-chance resorts would be analogous to the hundreds of prisons now located in rural communities where prison is the main industry.

Some resorts could be placed in existing towns.  Others might be placed in abandoned mining towns rebuilt for the purpose.  Resorts would be for people who were repeatedly arrested and who failed three attempts at rehabilitation.  Last-chance resorts would have to be walled for the community’s safety.  But they would be equipped for and devoted to recreation and entertainment.

Some resorts would be for sober guests, who can’t compete for various reasons.  They might accommodate couples or families.  Separate resorts would be for substance abusers who would get enough after-dinner drugs of choice for happy evenings.  Monthly socials with opposite-gender last-chance resort colonies might be arranged.  Guests who choose and succeed with sobriety could move to half-way houses in hopes of advancing to self sufficiency.

These ideas are meant to be ethical, in that they should diminish unjust and unnecessary suffering.  How might they be made more so?

Events of January 6, 2021

Owing to events of Jan 6, ten suspicions are now certainties.

1) A sociopathic president endangers democracy.

2) White men in bunches are irresponsible.

3) Protection of elected leaders is inadequate.

4) Loss of white male privilege awakens wrath.

5) Republicans don’t respect society's mores.

6) Bill Moyers was right, Civilization is but a thin veneer.

7) Republican leaders love neither truth nor justice.

8) Social media abuse can evoke felony murder.

9) Conservative broadcasters need intervening fact checkers.

10) Watters', Hannity's and Levin's lies harm.  Fox News should be sued into bankruptcy for fiduciary irresponsibility.

Also owing to events of Jan 6, I am uncomfortable with most friends and some family -- awaiting contrition.

My Honeycomb Illusion

I recently became aware that I see a faint honeycomb pattern on any featureless area of my visual field, such as my ceiling or blank computer screen or porcelain surface.  With patience I can see this illusion despite features in the field.  I see it also with eyes closed and in the dark.  Borders between hexagonal cells are dark gray and areas within cells are what's really out there.

My illusion does not seem to be what is described as “honeycomb illusion” in Googled sites.  Is it possible that this easily experienced phenomenon has never been noticed?  It should have been described by Aristotle looking at dawn or dusk sky more than two millennia ago.  It should be common knowledge and have a name.  If not, the following observations might be of interest to neurophysiologists.

1)  The pattern spreads with distance from my eyes, ie it is spherically divergent as if projected from my head to the featureless surface.  At 16 inches from my eye, one hexagonal cell is about 1/4 inch wide.  At 64 inches from my eye, one cell is about one inch wide.  The spherical divergence means it is generated by my nervous system.  It's in my head, not out where I perceive it to be.

2)  Given these dimensions, there are more than 200 cells left-to-right across my visual field and less than 200 cells top-to-bottom of my visual field.

3)  The pattern orients with my face (or head) with each cell having vertical flat sides and a gable top and a V bottom . 

4)  The pattern apparently stays put, at least temporarily, when I redirect my gaze somewhat without moving my head, implying that it is not stuck in my eyes.  However, it also stays put when I move my head while fixing my eyes on a location, implying that is is not stuck in my brain.  It seems stuck in the outside world where it most recently appeared.

5)  Might the hexagonal pattern play a role in signaling ocular muscles to superimpose left-eye and right-eye images on the visual cortex for image coherence and depth perception?

6)  Might the pattern be a frame of reference positioned by output from my vestibular system and moved reflexively so as to stay still relative to the outside world as my head moves?  This is the possibility that I hope to explore further.

7)  If the reader has a similar illusion or related idea, we could discuss.  If the reader knows of germane literature, I'd like some citations.