Monthly Archives: July 2012

Multiple sclerosis: A painful journey of hope

Posted on by

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society offers a variety of online support resources for those with MS. Visit MSConnection.org for information.

Photo by Nellie Doneva

Vicki Kerr is surrounded by some of her artwork in her home studio. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002.

Photo by Nellie Doneva

photos by Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Chris Frazier and his daughter Christal Martin have both been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. They like to stay active by going fishing together, and Martin goes hunting with her husband.

The first time she experienced symptoms that ultimately led her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis, Christal Martin wasn't sure what was happening.

"I was playing basketball and all of a sudden, there were two basketball goals instead of one," recalled Martin, who grew up in Clyde and was diagnosed with the illness when she was 16.

Mundane explanations, such as an inner ear infection, were examined.

But it was her family's particular history Martin's father, Chris Frazier, has MS that led her to the truth.

"If he hadn't (had MS), we never would have even considered that," she said, especially since Martin has the remitting-relapsing form of the disease, which means her symptoms come and go.

More here:
Multiple sclerosis: A painful journey of hope

KC senior center offers unusual dementia program

Posted on by

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Employees of a senior living community in south Kansas City who work with dementia patients are getting some personal insight into what those people endure every day, thanks to a new program that puts them through a Virtual Dementia Tour.

The program, developed by a geriatric specialist, requires employees to perform simple tasks such as folding towels, putting on a sweater and drinking a half a cup of water within a specific amount of time. But they perform the tasks using spiked inserts in their shoes, blurry goggles, clumsy gloves and headphones that play loud, random noise, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/PSUf4X ).

Villa Ventura employees who went through the program recently said it was frustrating and difficult, and many of them didn't make it through the eight-minute trial.

"I couldn't remember anything I was supposed to do," Robert Minton, a van driver at the center, said after recently going through the Virtual Dementia Tour. "I didn't like it. Eight minutes? Seemed like 30. I wanted it to end. I had to get out of there."

Villa Ventura thinks it is the first senior community in the Kansas City area to use the system. It plans to eventually offer it to family members of its dementia patients.

"Our employees see the pacing and frustration and exasperation every day," said Sarah Miller, the center's assisted living director who helped lead Tuesday's session. "If this helps them understand it a little better, then it's a good thing."

During the program, the employees wear plastic inserts with little sharp spikes into their shoes to create the "needles and pins" and neuropathy that many seniors experience. Rubber gloves with cloth gloves over them mimic arthritis, goggles give everything a yellow tint, and a dot in the middle simulates macular degeneration.

They also wear headphones playing static-filled radio, car horns, door slams.

Minton gave up after forgetting what he was supposed to do and being unable to read the instructions, which had missing words and some letters bigger than others. Many others on the tour also quit early.

They included Diamond Acklin, a medication technician.

See more here:
KC senior center offers unusual dementia program

Dementia dire among elderly in quake zone

Posted on by

SENDAI Dementia has become a serious problem among the elderly in the three prefectures ravaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami as the radical change in their living environments continues to take a toll.

In Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the severity of the disorder is rising in a number of elderly, and several others are showing symptoms.

Experts attribute the problem mainly to a less friendly residential environment and the collapse of local communities following the disasters. Adequate support is not readily available and some now live alone, away from families and friends.

According to a survey in May by a council of doctors in the heavily damaged coastal city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi, 45 people aged 65 or older said they leave their belongings in unknown places or have trouble finding objects at least three to four times a week, or sometimes every day, a sign of early-stage dementia.

The dementia of an 85-year-old woman living in Ishinomaki worsened markedly after the tsunami devastated the city. The dressmaking school she used to run was closed by damage. Since her flooded house was renovated, she has been living alone since her husband died in February.

Her eldest son, 65, is struggling to deal with his mother's illness.

"She even cannot recognize that her husband died," he said.

Following the advice of the doctors' council, he applied to have his mother certified as a person in need of nursing care.

In devastated Minamisanriku, a local government official in charge of resident support said the situation started deteriorating after a year.

"The number of dementia cases started increasing after a year had passed since the catastrophe," he said.

View original post here:
Dementia dire among elderly in quake zone

Autism researchers looking to baby teeth

Posted on by

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -

Autism is a complex disorder causing a disruption in people's ability to communicate and socialize - and it's a problem that's growing.

According to Ray Palmer, Ph.D., with the University of Texas Health Science Center, autism rates have hit one in 88. While many scientists believe it could be triggered by a genetic predisposition combined with environmental exposure, nobody knows why it affects so many children.

He and his team are taking a new approach to studying Autism using discarded baby teeth. Donated teeth from children with and without autism are ground up into powder, made into liquid and gas and put through a process called mass spectrometry. It can reveal compounds like pesticides, plastics, even medicine the child was exposed to in the womb and as they grew.

"It's been done by looking at blood or hair analysis, but that's only a snapshot in time of recent exposure," said Palmer. "It doesn't provide a historical record of exposure like the teeth do. So, when the teeth are forming, that's a record of what you've been exposed to in-utero."

This kind of research is called tooth fairy studies. The group Autism Speaks has provided $100,000 for the study.

Read the original:
Autism researchers looking to baby teeth

Mid-South Autism Conference at Landers Center in Southaven

Posted on by

The second annual Mid-South Autism Conference opens Monday at Landers Center in Southaven and continues through Wednesday.

Sponsored by Transformations Autism Treatment Center, the event is expected to attract hundreds of families and professionals alike.

"Last year, we had over 700 people attend the conference in Tunica," said John Holtzman, one of the conference coordinators and director of development at Transformations. "It made a big impact, and we hope to continue with this year's conference."

Holtzman said he and Transformations Center executive director Tracy Palm saw the need for the conference, and they hope it will help families learn about treatment options and also equip professionals with tools to help the families they serve.

He pointed to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data and statistics as the reason this conference and others like it across the country are vital.

"The CDC announced that autism is at an epidemic level. About 1 in 88 children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder and 1 and 54 boys," he said.

The theme of this year's conference is "Reason for Hope" and that's what Holtzman hopes attendees take away with them.

This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Carl Sundberg, president and executive director of the Behavior Analysis Center for Autism in Fishers, Ind.

Sundberg will make his keynote address, "The Essentials of Effective Treatment," on Monday's opening day.

He will also speak Tuesday during a presentation titled "Teaching in the Natural Environment."

The rest is here:
Mid-South Autism Conference at Landers Center in Southaven

Autism awareness event held

Posted on by

PALMER, Mass. (WWLP) - Families who love someone with autism gathered in Palmer Saturday for their big kickoff event leading up to their awareness walk in September.

Every 11 minutes, a family receives the devastating diagnosis that their child falls within the autism spectrum. For Luisa Balula of Ludlow, that day came when son Lucas was four.

He just didn't progress. He was talking, playing, but he wasn't going past two-year-old words, she said.

But Luisa's nightmare grew worse. Within two years she learned her younger son Daniel also suffers from autism.

Worse than ever. My life was worse than ever. I found out and I couldn't do nothing about it, she said.

Families who love someone with autism struggle with the full time job of keeping their child safe and trying to meet their many needs. Some of those needs are ones that parents have to guess.

Him not speaking, not telling me what's going on. When he's crying you don't know why he's crying, Luisa said.

As a single mother, Luisa relies on her family and friends for support. Her friend Nancy wishes people realized they can ask questions.

She'd rather someone ask what's going on instead of staring and thinking her kids aren't behaving. They are behaving, they're just being them, said Nancy Rodrigues of Ludlow.

Luisa's one hope is for autism awareness to grow, so that when her boys are just being themselves, they'll be understood and accepted.

Read the original:
Autism awareness event held

Fay Helfer’s Hearts

Posted on by

Fay Helfer Asparagus

Fay Helfer Asparagus

Pyrography technique

Fay Helfer Heartwoods and Onion Heart

Driftwood Heart 01 pyrography, natural pigment and pastel on wood 8” x 15”

Onion Heart pyrography, natural pigment and pastel 6” x 24”

Originally from St. Martin, Fay Helfer received her MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).  She uses a technique in her work called pyrography, which means “writing with fire,” a method of decorating wood with a controlled application of a heated point.   Looking through all her work, Fay has mastered this technique in everything from the hearts above, to stunning portraits, skateboard art, and even a handmade Game of Thrones ‘risk’ game.

I love the way Fay transforms the vessels coming off the heart, seamlessly blending the anatomical and botanical.

View all of Fay’s hearts and other incredible work at fayhelfer.com.  Seriously take a look.

[spotted by @sacrits]

Source:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/streetanatomy/OQuC

PMI Nutrition International Initiates Voluntary Recall of AquaMax Products; Expands Voluntary Recall of Mazuri and …

Posted on by

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Contact Media Trish Scorpio, PMI Nutrition International, 651-375-1814

Consumer 1-855-863-0421, x 224

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -July 13, 2012 PMI Nutrition International is initiating a voluntary recall of certain varieties of the AquaMax feed products with specific lot codes listed below, due to the potential for elevated vitamin D levels. Although no customer complaints have been received to date, the products are being recalled due to analytical test results that indicate a potential for elevated levels of vitamin D.

The company is also expanding its previously announced voluntary recalls to include additional varieties of the Mazuri and LabDiet feed products with specific lot codes listed below due to analytical test results on additional lots of retained samples that indicate a potential for elevated levels of vitamin D. Elevated vitamin D levels may cause death, or otherwise be harmful to animals and fish if fed for extended periods potentially resulting in lack of interest in eating, weight loss and possible joint stiffness. These products are being added to those from earlier recalls announced on July 3, 2012 and July 6, 2012* which were initiated after receiving a small number of customer complaints which involved animal illness and small bird and guinea pig mortality.

All products included in these recalls were manufactured at the Richmond, IN feed plant and were distributed nationwide and to Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Curaao, Mexico, Cambodia, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Chile, and the United Kingdom, starting April 2, 2012 through May 8, 2012. Dealers have been contacted and asked to hold these products and to notify and retrieve the product from customers. The affected product should not be used, and where applicable, be returned to the retail dealer.

Lot numbers are laser printed on the back of each paper bag, near the top. Lot numbers are formatted as follows: APR= Month / 17=Day of Month / 12 =Year / 2 =Plant Code.

See the rest here:
PMI Nutrition International Initiates Voluntary Recall of AquaMax Products; Expands Voluntary Recall of Mazuri and ...

SOUTHERN COOKIN’: Nutrition class sets up camp on the Bayou

Posted on by

Hallah Bakari, Jayion Fields and Kennedi Green prepare fruit during the Cook Like a Chef! at SU cooking camp for children at Southern University in Baton Rogue.

Photo for the CDT/Anne Quinn Corr

Nutrition class sets up camp on the Bayou

American Chef: Road Trip camp at Penn State will be authentic this year. I did my homework, and lived in Louisiana for the month of June, delivering a cooking camp program at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Bam! Did I learn a lot!

The camp teaches middle school-aged children basic cooking techniques while introducing the Choose My Plate nutritional guidelines.

Slicing and dicing lots of fruits and vegetables increases familiarity, and making recipes that are healthy and tasty has proved to be a sound defense in the battle against childhood obesity. Studies on the program since 2005 have reinforced the premise.

The chance to take it on the road and see if it could also work in Southern Louisiana, where the obesity rate increased by more than 80 percent in the past 15 years, was compelling.

Glenda Johnson, a nutrition professor at Southern University, was the investigator who arranged the 6-week program that included my separate cooking component.

The campers, from local families in the area, were weighed and measured at the start of the program and again at the conclusion.

After mornings of healthy cooking lessons, campers engaged in vigorous physical activity each afternoon, often outdoors in blistering heat. Various facilitators gave lessons on other aspects of healthy living.

Go here to read the rest:
SOUTHERN COOKIN’: Nutrition class sets up camp on the Bayou

Biology professor scores at senior olympics

Posted on by

Dr. David Easterla, distinguished professor of biology at Northwest Missouri State University, recently had what was probably his last foray in the U.S. Masters Swimming competition in Omaha.

The 74-year-old, who is the oldest professor on campus, competed in the U.S. Masters Swimming Nationals in Omaha, placing in nine of the events, including a third-place finish in the 200 meter individual medley.

Ive never felt better in my life, said Dr. Easterla, who weighs the same, 177 pounds, as he did when he wrestled at the University of Missouri Columbia in 1959. This is it. This is my last hurrah.

Dr. Easterla regularly trained for his swimming events at the university pool, which was closed in April due to budget constraints. The closest lap pool to Maryville is in Clarinda, Iowa, he said. Commuting back and forth was taking too much out of the day.

Youve got to train, he said of competing in the events, which include multiple races per day, including a 500 yard race. If youre not in shape, you will die.

He qualified for Nationals after winning nine gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the Missouri Senior Games in Columbia last month. He competed in the Iowa Senior Games a week later and took 11 gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Unless things change, he said of the budget situation in public higher education funding, I suppose this will be my last hurrah.

In his 48 years of teaching at Northwest, Dr. Easterla has published 229 scientific articles. He has published a book on the birds of Missouri, and is spending the summer researching vertebrate paleontology, archeology and birds.

Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmy.myers@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SJNPMyers.

Follow this link:
Biology professor scores at senior olympics

Putnam City North biology teacher wins national award

Posted on by

Copyright 2010. The Associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Bethany Lorenz, a biology teacher at Putnam City North High School, is the 2012 recipient of the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Oklahoma.

Bethany Lorenz, a biology teacher at Putnam City North High School, is the 2012 recipient of the Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for Oklahoma. The award is given each year by the National Association of Biology Teachers to a life science teacher in each state who demonstrates exemplary practice in the teaching of life science. Photo provided

Although I oversee a great deal, the students are responsible for the design of their own experiment. Not only does this provide ownership for the students in their learning, but I find that students retain more information for longer period of time because their interest is piqued.

Bethany Lorenz

Putnam City North High School biology teacher

The award is given each year by the National Association of Biology Teachers to a life science teacher in each state who demonstrates exemplary practice in the teaching of life science.

Lorenz has been a biology teacher at Putnam City North since 2001 and will be teaching biology, anatomy and physiology in the coming school year.

A nationally board-certified teacher, she was named in March as teacher of the year for all Putnam City schools.

See the original post:
Putnam City North biology teacher wins national award

Sunita Williams all set for second sojourn to space

Posted on by

Indian-American Sunita Williams [ Images ], a record-setting astronaut who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station [ Images ] for six months in 2006, is all set for her second space odyssey.

Williams, 46, is scheduled to take off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8.40 am on Sunday (8.10 am Indian Standard Time) with Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan [ Images ] Aerospace Exploration Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

The three crew members will join the Expedition 32 crew aboard the International Space Station when their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft docks to the orbiting complex on Tuesday.

According to NASA [ Images ], Williams, a flight engineer, and her colleagues will be aboard the station during an exceptionally busy period that includes two spacewalks, the arrival of Japanese, American and Russian re-supply vehicles, and an increasingly faster pace of scientific research.

Williams, whose father hailed from Gujarat, was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in 1998. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and then joined Expedition 15. She holds the record of the longest spaceflight (195 days) for woman space travellers.

She received a master's degree from the Florida [ Images ] Institute of Technology in 1995.

In space, Williams, who will become commander of Expedition 33, and her team of astronauts plan an orbital sporting event to mark the Summer Olympics [ Images ] in London [ Images ].

"I'm just looking forward to seeing the full capability of the space station. It's an experiment, not only the things that we are doing inside but also all the engineering that has gone into allowing us to dock new vehicles, do space walks, Russian and US. So, it's a pretty complicated vehicle now and I'm looking forward to being part of it," Williams said recently.

Meanwhile, in orbit high above the Earth, Expedition 32 Flight Engineer Joe Acaba focused on cleaning the exhaust and intake ducts of the Starboard Crew Quarters on Friday to prepare them for the arrival of new crewmates, NASA said.

Acaba also swapped out batteries on the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students camera in the Window Observational Research Facility inside the Destiny laboratory.

Read the original:

Sunita Williams all set for second sojourn to space

Soyuz TMA-05M set for crew launch to space station

Posted on by

Engineers are making final preparations for launch of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft this weekend to ferry an all-veteran U.S.-Russian-Japanese crew to the International Space Station to boost the lab's crew complement back to six. The launch will kick off a "fantastically busy" timeline, with nine space station "visiting vehicle" operations and two spacewalks over the next six weeks.

Her ride -- the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft -- is scheduled for liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:40:03 p.m. EDT Saturday (GMT-4; 8:40 a.m. Sunday local time), the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that opened the door to U.S.-Russian space cooperation.

"They've got a fantastically busy mission ahead of them, they are looking toward nine visiting vehicles during the time they're up on board the space station, which is really a lot of coming and going," said NASA chief astronaut Peggy Whitson, a veteran space station commander. "It's going to take a lot of choreography by the ground teams and the crews on orbit to make this all happen. It'll be a very challenging and exciting time for them."

At the controls in the cramped Soyuz command module's center seat will be Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko, veteran of a stay aboard the Mir space station, two long-duration expeditions aboard the International Space Station and a space shuttle station assembly flight. He has logged a combined total of 515 days in space.

Williams, strapped in to Malenchenko's left, spent 195 days in space during a space station expedition in 2006 and 2007, riding to and from the lab complex aboard a space shuttle. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who helped activate the station's Japanese research module during a 14-day 2008 shuttle flight, will be seated in the Soyuz command module's right seat.

If all goes well, Malenchenko will oversee an automated approach to the space station, docking at the Earth-facing Rassvet module around 12:52 a.m. EDT Tuesday. Standing by to welcome them aboard will be Expedition 32 commander Gennady Padalka, cosmonaut Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba, who were launched to the lab on May 15.

A veteran Navy helicopter pilot, Williams is the 13th NASA astronaut trained to fly as a left-seat "board engineer" -- effectively the co-pilot -- aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. As such, she is trained to carry out a rendezvous or fly the craft back to Earth if illness or some other mishap prevented Malenchenko from carrying out his duties.

"It's been a little bit of a long road, it's been about a two-and-a-half-year training flow and as a left seater, you're here in Russia probably almost 50 percent of the time learning about the spacecraft, learning not only about it, but how to operate it, how to fly it, rendezvous, manual descents, and so it's pretty intense," Williams said.

"But the training program is awesome, the folks at Star City (near Moscow) are really great and they really get you prepared. I really feel pretty confident, particularly after being a backup, about the possibility, if anything happened to Yuri, that I'd be able to dock the spacecraft and manually bring it back home. I think that's pretty huge when you think about it."

During her first spaceflight, Williams made the climb into space strapped in on the space shuttle's lower deck with no major responsibilities for getting the ship to its destination. Going into her first station mission, Williams was focused on upcoming spacewalks and normal work aboard the lab complex. This time around, she will serve as a space station flight engineer until Padalka's crew departs in mid September. At that point, Williams will become commander of Expedition 33, the second woman to take on that responsibility.

See original here:

Soyuz TMA-05M set for crew launch to space station

Veteran space station crew to launch into orbit

Posted on by

Three veteran space travelers from three different countries are gearing up to launch toward the International Space Station Saturday night to begin a months-long mission to the orbiting laboratory.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide will lift off on the Russian Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft at 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 July 15 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The three-person team will become part of the space station's Expedition 32 mission, and is due to stay for about four months.

More space news from msnbc.com

Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: The pawprint of a cosmic cat comes into sharper focus in this week's featured picture from the European Southern Observatory.

"We're really excited to be getting closer and closer to our launch in July," Williams said during a press conference in March. "It's going to be a great mission, really exciting, lots of things to do. We're sort of like a family and we've got a couple other great crew members up onboard."

Williams and her crewmates will join the three spaceflyers already living on the space station: commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, his cosmonaut colleague Sergei Revin, and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, who have all been in space since May.

In a cosmic coincidence, the Soyuz TMA-05M rocket carrying the new Expedition 32 crew will launch on July 15 local time at Baikonur Cosmodrome, marking the 37th anniversary of the world's first international crewed space mission in 1975: the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. That historic mission marked the first space docking between a Soviet and U.S. spacecraft, paving the way for the international cooperation needed to build the International Space Station. [ Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in Pictures ]

Today, the $100 billion space station is the product of five space agencies and 15 different countries working together to build the orbiting lab piece-by-piece since the first component launched in 1998.

Like the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the Soyuz TMA-05 mission will take two days to arrive at its destination, with docking at the station planned for early July 17. The Expedition 32 crew will divide its time between space station maintenance and a hefty allocation of science research.

Go here to see the original:

Veteran space station crew to launch into orbit

Delaware Sports Medicine Surgeon, Michael J. Axe, MD Receives AOSSM’s Highest Award

Posted on by

Michael J. Axe, MD of First State Orthopaedics in Newark, Delaware was presented with the 2012 Robert E. Leach Mr. Sports Medicine award during the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine’s (AOSSM) Annual Meeting in Baltimore, MD on Saturday, July 14th. This prestigious award is given annually to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the world of sports medicine and ...

Read this article:

Delaware Sports Medicine Surgeon, Michael J. Axe, MD Receives AOSSM’s Highest Award

Health care providing economic development Northeast Polk

Posted on by

The following error was encountered while trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.newschief.com/article/20120714/news/207145010

Access Denied.

Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.

Your cache administrator is webmaster.

See original here:

Health care providing economic development Northeast Polk