• Home
• Music
• Entertainment
• Design
• Books
• Technology
• Help/Environment
• Wellness
• Life Banter

The other day I heard on the radio that there are certain types of popcorn which have an ingredient that causes lung disease. Immediately I envisioned someone smoking a popcorn stick or a sign in a restaurant saying "No popcorn allowed indoors."

Bronchiolitis obliterans is a form of fixed obstructive lung disease, an irreversible condition which makes it difficult for air to flow out of the lungs.

And it just so happens "A new European study suggests that workers in flavor factories who get excessive exposure to a butter-flavor chemical called diacetyl may be particularly likely to develop bronchiolitis obliterans, or "popcorn workers lung," as the condition is sometimes called."

The study appears in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.


Source

Labels: lung dieases, popcorn

Boston College psychologist, Elizabeth Kensinger did a study on how emotions impact memory. She found negative events being remembered in greater detail than positive ones.

"Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), studies have shown increased cellular activity in emotion-processing regions at the time that a negative event is experienced."

You can read more about the research in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science. But essentially Kensinger says this knowledge of memory/emotion connections can help to prove the validity of eyewitness testimonies in a court of law, amongst other things.

Labels: brain, memory

Alzheimer's, is a neurodegenerative disease that, in its most common form, is found in people over age 65. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there are now more than 5 million people in the United States living with Alzheimer's. That is an alarming and terrifying number.


To help with fundraising for research on this disease the association holds a Memory Walk each year. You have an opportunity to join the nation's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care and research; sign up to be a team captain in your area.

Not that this should be the reason you create a team and walk, but if you are able to raise $500 for Memory Walk you will qualify to win a weekend getaway to Las Vegas.

So here is your calling. Mobilize your co-workers - or your entire company - to form a team and make a huge impact on helping people living with Alzheimer's. If you have a big family or a lot of friends, pull everyone together and participate in this event; it could be a memory you will have with you forever and it is for a good cause.

As team captain, you'll be recruiting co-captains and team members. A recommended team size is nine to 10 members. Think to yourself, do you have enough people in your life to ban together and captain a team? I sure hope you do.

In addition to the money you will raise, you can also be proud to know you have reached out to ensure that no one faces the Alzheimer's disease alone.

Labels: Alzheimer Disease

Man! Why do people have to go and do research like this?

Do you mean to tell me I have been buying antibacterial soap for ages now...and for no good reason? Seriously, you have GOT to be kidding me. This is going to be refuted before the week is over, I am sure.

Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health have reviewed 27 past studies and have come to the conclusion that ""Antibacterial soaps do not provide a benefit above and beyond plain soaps for generally healthy people living in the community."

Apparently both types of soap are equally effective in killing germs. Furthermore, this is NOT new information. So where have I been? The FDA determined this to be true two years ago. "An FDA advisory panel considered the question of the effectiveness of antibacterial products in the fall of 2005; the panel overwhelmingly concluded that there was no evidence proving that antibacterial soaps were more effective than regular soaps for preventing infection."

Bah!

Source

Labels: antibacterial, germs, soap

See and this is why I don't mind my three-year-old wanting to listen to music all day long. He has his own disc player and he carries it around with him frequently. He calls it his "singing thing." Sometimes he falls asleep listening to music and I have to remove the headphones. =o)

Well now research has shown that listening to music while warming-up for a work out can actually boost your performance.

In fact, Dr Costas Karageorghis, of Brunel University, says that listening to music can actually improve performance by up to 20%. That's awesome! See this is why Carmen Electra and DDR helped me lose weight after I had Brae.

And it may all very well be mind over matter. I remember on the way to swim meets in high school we always turned the radio up and got psyched for the meet. It definitely got us pumped and that makes you want to swim harder or perform better because your adrenaline is surging and you're just ready to go!

Labels: fitness, music

When Braeden was younger he had to get a CT scan of his head, because the circumference measurement was not only large but it was out of ratio with the rest of his physical development.

I found out he has an abnormal amount of spinal fluid surrounding and inside his brain. Which makes his head look bigger because as he was growing his skull was still able to expand. So now when he is seen by doctors, they always do extra testing on his development.

He is doing very well and is even quite advanced in all things creative. =o) He is going to be seen in a couple of weeks regarding his behavior. This will be our first time with an actual child psychologist. I'm hopeful that everything will be fine.

I've read about different psychology offices. Commonwealth Psychology offers client care in the areas of psychological, neuropsychological and educational assessment. They can do memory testing, Targeting areas for tutoring and development and even gauge your personal information processing speed. It's pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how everything pans out.

This post has been sponsored.

Labels: psychology

Now, I didn't need an excuse to drink coffee, haha. I love me some coffee. But I am not supposed to ingest a lot of caffeine because that is particularly bad for people who have MS.

However, a Hepatology news release says coffee seems to "perk up liver enzymes and may cut cirrhosis and liver cancer." In fact the percentage of people who drank coffee and didn't have trouble with their liver...to the contrary, was rather large. "For every daily cup of coffee people drank, their odds of having been diagnosed with liver cancer dropped by 23%, compared with people who never drink coffee."

I'd have to say this require further research, because if something in that coffee bean can prevent liver trouble we need to get grinding!

Labels: coffee, liver

"Toy-maker Fisher-Price is recalling 83 types of toys - including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Dora and Diego characters - because their paint contains excessive amounts of lead."

Whoa!

Labels: recall

A topic of much discussion lately is children's healthcare in the United States. The Senate has been debating expansion of the health insurance programs for children for some time now. The commotion has been stirring because the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is due to be reauthorized in September of 2007.

The only thing I don't understand is how this issue could have ever been debatable in the first place. Something like this should be an absolute, hands-down given.

According to an article in The New York times the argument against a reauthorization of SCHIP is because "some Republicans in Congress said they saw these efforts as a stalking-horse for government-run health care, national health insurance and socialized medicine."

What!? I don't care what you have to socialize, if a child has special needs and requires healthcare and/or extra healthcare they should not be denied. As adults we are responsible for people who are underage. You might as well say no one should give blood anymore!

Oh I'm sorry President Bush your future grandchild can't be treated at this hospital for her asthma, she doesn't have the proper insurance. Wait...of course...someone with political power would never have to deal with such a scary situation.

Hmm..I guess since he can't, and would never be elected again, it's okay for him to threaten to veto the reissue of this program.

As for the graph, it is very positive to see that the number of uninsured children has dramatically dropped. But please note the vertical axis is counted in millions. MILLIONS. This means there are still more than 8 million children who are uninsured and that is just the number based on a census.

Labels: children healthcare, healthcare