Monthly Archives: August 2017

Another Perspective on Health and Medicine – TAPinto.net

Posted: August 3, 2017 at 10:15 am

To the editor: I am writing in regard to the July 20 column by Mara Schiffren, Patient, heal thyself. My two best friends are pediatric oncologists. One is a Harvard Medical School M.D., Ph.D. geneticist at Sloane Kettering, the other is my classmate from veterinary school at U.C. Davis, a DVM, Ph.D. pathologist at St. Judes Childrens Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. I have shared tears with both of my best friends as they described to me the trials of confirming an astrocytoma or glioblastoma, both brain tumors, to the parents of their 3- and 4-year-old children. Leukemias, lymphomas, retinoblastomas and more bring heartache and shatter to the lives of parents in pediatric oncology wards across the country. A 3-year-old child has not the worldly circumspect to alter their lifes nutrition and lifestyle. Ms. Schiffrens flippant remarks regarding health and medicine are reflective of a seeming cynicism, a lack of knowing and an absence of compassion. I disagree with her dark perspective of todays medicine. I see the world of todays therapeutics as wonderfully changing. How integrated has the world of medicine become! As an equine veterinarian, alternative medicine abounds: acupuncture, chiropratic, holistic and herbal therapeutics are all incorporated into managing the lives and careers of horses. My brother, a graduate from the Yale School of Medicine, integrates an array of holistic therapeutics into his practice. Nutrition, exercise, meditation, and lastly, therapeutics, are brought on board. The world of both human and veterinary medicine has been dramatically changing for good in the past recent years, incorporating an array of diverse perspectives. A milestone example of changing therapeutics in my world as an equine veterinarian would be in the world of treating autism. As an equine veterinarian, horses have been substantiated to be one of the few successful therapeutic modalities for improving cognition, speech, balance and empowerment in special needs children. Who would have thought that which nickers and whinnys would replace a pill bottle? The world of human and equine medicine is wonderfully changing for the better, despite the cynicism of Mara Schiffrens article. Matt Eliott, DVM North Salem

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What Is Family Medicine, and Why Should We Be Happy That There Is Now a Local Family Physician? – Jewish Link of New Jersey

Posted: at 10:15 am

My family and I have been living in Teaneck for over 10 years, but only lately have I finally had the opportunity to practice family medicine in my community.

My path to becoming a family physician started at the Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem. I was the first woman to be accepted to a general surgery residency in Hadassah, and I remember female medical students coming to congratulate me on that achievement. I was also offered a position at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva, with one of my teachers who moved there from Hadassah, to start a new surgical department, and I decided to go there for residency. However, God had other plans. One night returning with my colleagues from a professional visit to one of the Kibbutzim in the Negev, our bus was involved in an accident. The period of rehabilitation gave me the opportunity to ask myself what kind of physician I really wanted to be. I was constantly drawn to the image of the old-time country physician who knew his patients and their families, came to their homes and treated complex cases, showing his wisdom and love for the people. Those physicians have not disappeared; my dream in going to medical school was to be a doctor like that.

My training in family medicine in Israel exposed me to a wide variety of treatments in primary care that I never learned in medical school. In addition to the traditional fields of Western medicine I completed a homeopathy course for physicians in London, and went to Japan to study Oriental (Chinese) herbal medicine and acupuncture. I also became acquainted with other alternative-medicine methods such as Alexander technique, Feldenkrais technique, osteopathy, chiropractic, Ayurveda and many others.

I worked for eight years as faculty in a residency program in New York and then in primary care practice in Connecticut and central New Jersey. This year I was fortunate to be offered a position with Holy Name Medical Partners. Finally, I am able to practice medicine in my own community.

As an Orthodox Jewish woman (we are members of Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck), I was impressed to find a local Catholic Hospital that has high-level specialists and a state-of-the-art facility, and is very eager to care for the local Jewish Community.

I work with the whole range of resources available to my patients. I collaborate with local rabbis, organizations, Yoatzot Halacha (I am happy to have already spoken to Yoatzot Shoshana Samuels and Nechama Price), therapists, other physicians, nutritionists and schools. There really is no end to the benefits of working with the community.

I would like to see my community engaged in healthy eating, exercise and other healthy behaviors and I will gladly help and participate in any initiative to which I can contribute my skills.

If youre looking for a primary care physician who will take your whole self into account as she cares for you, and also knows when and whom to refer out to while continuously managing your case, a family physician is for you.

I look forward to treating you and your family.

By Naomi Smidt-Afek, MD, MHPE

Naomi Smidt-Afek MD, MHPE, Family Medicine, is a member of Holy Name Medical Partners. She can be reached at 201-342-2771 or holynamemedicalpartners.org.

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What Is Family Medicine, and Why Should We Be Happy That There Is Now a Local Family Physician? - Jewish Link of New Jersey

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The Battle to Give Nigeria’s Moms and Babies a ‘Golden Window’ to a Healthy Life – TIME

Posted: at 10:14 am

There is no period more critical in a childs development than its first few months of life, which is why so much attention is paid to what the mother, and the child, eats during that time. Nutritionists like to call it the golden window the slim period of time where a child, if he gets the right nutrients, can set out on a healthy path, or, if he doesnt, risks irreversible stunting and developmental delays . Eighty percent of the brain development happens in the first 1,000 days of a childs life, starting from conception, says nutritionist Sanjay Kumar Das.

And while getting the right nutrition whole grains, plenty of fruit and vegetables for both the mother and child, once he starts eating solids is relatively simple in most situations, conflict can make eating right all but impossible. This is the situation in northeastern Nigeria, where for the past seven years the Boko Haram militant group has waged a violent insurgency that has kept farmers from their fields, food away from markets, and families living off paltry food donations in camps for the internally displaced. While few here in the Dalori camp just outside the northeastern town of Maiduguri display the emaciated limbs and swollen bellies common among victims of outright famine, the little food they do get a once-daily gruel made of pulses and grains provides little more than the minimum calorie requirement, and almost no additional nutrition.

An estimated 5.1 million are malnourished in northeastern Nigeria. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund [UNICEF], more than half of them are children. Das, who is the nutrition manager for UNICEF's program in Maiduguri, says this is likely to have severe long-term consequences. The impact of acute malnutrition, which happens when a child is suddenly deprived of food, can be reversed relatively easily with emergency food rations and supplements. Chronic malnutrition occurs when a child eats enough to stop from starving, but doesnt get sufficient nutrients to develop properly, especially in the vital first two years of life. That golden window is when all a childs cognitive and physical development happens, says Das. If children dont get good nutrition from an early age, they are vulnerable. The child can suffer from disease and stunting, launching the cycle of poverty.

Indeed, chronic malnutrition can hinder a nations economy. Stunting early in a childs life has educational, income, and productivity consequences that reach far into adulthood, the World Bank writes in its most recent Nutrition Overview.

Children who are deficient in essential micronutrients have on average 13 fewer IQ points. Similarly, stunted children are more likely to start school later, perform more poorly on cognitive functioning tests, and are more likely to drop out of school. Adults who were stunted as children earn 20% less than non-stunted adults and are 33% more likely to live in poverty, the report says. It concludes that malnutrition can reduce GDP in some countries in Asia and Africa by as much as 2% to 11% each year.

Which is why organizations like UNICEF and other humanitarian aid agencies place such a high priority on the first 1,000 days, from the point of conception to the child's second birthday. Childhood stunting, once it has set in, cannot be reversed. But it can be prevented.

Thats where good pre-natal health and education comes in, says Marylyne Malomba, a nutrition consultant for the International Medical Corps, a humanitarian organization that runs several food and nutrition programs in Maiduguri, which was once at the center of the insurgency, and is now home to some 700,000 people displaced by the war. The IMC provides food, supplements and education for mothers and children in weekly clinics around the city and in several of the camps, with a special emphasis on pregnant women.

Malnutrition starts from the womb, says Malomba. If the mother has not stocked up enough nutrients, then the child will not get enough. Limbs, organs; even brain development is affected with lack of nutrients when the child is still a fetus. So its important to understand that the health of the mother at the point of pregnancy is one of the most important places to start taking care of the child. And if a mother is well fed during her pregnancy, she will most likely have enough breast milk to feed her child for the first six months another key element of early childhood nutrition.

The problem is that in a crisis situation like the one in northeastern Nigeria, or in Somalia, Yemen or South Sudan, other countries on the brink of famine , it is all but impossible for new and pregnant mothers to obtain the vital nutrients that round out the right diet for those first 1,000 days. Emergency food distributions usually include grains, pulses and oil, but fresh vegetables and fruit are too difficult to transport and store. And even if the families could afford to buy fresh produce in the markets, they arent always available, especially if conflict is keeping farmers from their fields. We need these mothers to eat vegetables. We need them to eat fruits," Malomba says. "And these are the items that we are not able to supply in an emergency context.

Nutritionists and scientists are working to develop supplements that can provide those essential micronutrients for use in future emergencies, but for the moment, nothing beats the fresh fruits and vegetables that are so hard to find in places like Dalori, or the scores of other IDP camps across northern Nigeria.

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University of Alaska Fairbanks intern looks at nucleotides as health supplement – KTOO

Posted: at 10:14 am

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the body,and have other health benefits. (Creative Commons photo by Natesh Ramasamy/Flickr)

Interns this summer with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute are looking at food science in Kodiak, and one is investigating a new health food fad.

University of Alaska Fairbanks student Alina Fairbanks is doing market research focusing on nucleotides.

A lot people when I explain this to them theyre like fish oil. Well, kinda. We want to extract nucleotides from pollock, right now because the Pollock Conservation Cooperative is funding me, but we want to utilize the entire product of a fish. A lot of people are exploring new ideas.

Fairbanks said her research is on the powdered form, as opposed to pills or liquid, such as fish oil.

Theres three markets right now that Ive discovered, so theyll put nucleotides in baby formula because nucleotides are commonly found in breast milk so, in baby formula, animal food, and for humans dietary supplements. A lot of body builders will actually take them.

She said nucleotides are supposed to improve the immune system and help in cell regeneration.

There are two other interns with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute on the island.

Camron Christoffersen, who recently graduated Brigham Young University, is looking into the Food and Drug Administrations methods for killing parasites before consumption.

The third intern, UAF student Phil Ganz, is helping to document the process. He uses video to make this and other scientific topics accessible to the general public.

All three interns wrap up their time on the island at the end of the month.

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FAA Issues Structural Life Extension for Eclipse Jets – Aviation International News

Posted: at 10:14 am

FAA Issues Structural Life Extension for Eclipse Jets
Aviation International News
One Aviation, which now manufactures the Eclipse light jet, has received FAA approval for an increase in the structural life limit for the Eclipse 500 and 550 models with the extended tip tank configuration to 20,000 hours or 20,000 cycles, whichever ...

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BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada in Peterborough lands five-year, $34M deal to make primary heat transport motors for … – Peterborough Examiner

Posted: at 10:14 am

The BWX Technologies plant in Peterborough has been awarded a five-year, $34-million to supply seven primary heat transport motors for Bruce Power.

The motors to be produced at the BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada Inc. plant on Monaghan Road are part of Bruce Powers life-extension program that will extend the life of six of its reactors to continue providing Ontario with low-cost nuclear electricity for decades to come, according to a release from the company.

The primary heat transport motors are required to drive the main circulating pumps used to push heavy water through the reactor core into the steam generators, the release states. The scope of the contract includes the project management, engineering and manufacturing of seven 11,000 horsepower motors.

Work under the contract will begin immediately, with the first motor scheduled to be delivered to Bruce Power in mid-2018.

We appreciate the opportunity to execute this important project for Bruce Power and take great pride in our contributions to its life extension program, stated John MacQuarrie, president of BWXT Canada Ltd. (which is the former Babcock and Wilcox). BWXT is pleased to be in a position to supply its customers with a multitude of product and service solutions to assist them in extending the lives of their nuclear plants.

Bruce Power supplies 30% of Ontarios electricity at 30% less than the average cost to generate residential power. Extending the operational life of the Bruce Power units to 2064 will create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs every year, create $4 billion in annual Ontario economic benefit, and will ensure low-cost, clean and reliable energy for Ontario families and businesses, the release states.

Partnering with BWXT for this important motor work is critical to ensuring the life extension and operation through 2064, stated Mike Rencheck, Bruce Powers president and CEO. Planning and preparation is key to our continued on-time and on-budget performance since January 2016 when our life extension program was started. Suppliers like BWXT and their performance are critical to our success; its a team effort.

Nuclear energy plays a significant role to Ontarios economy and it is great to see the positive effects of Bruce Powers life extension project being felt right here in Peterborough, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister and Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal stated. Throughout its program to extend the life of six of its reactors, Bruce Power will inject billions into Ontarios economy and generate thousands of jobs.

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BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada in Peterborough lands five-year, $34M deal to make primary heat transport motors for ... - Peterborough Examiner

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DARE TO BE 100. BIG BET – HuffPost

Posted: at 10:14 am

Huffington Blog DARE TO BE 100

In 1991 I wrote a book titled WE LIVE TOO SHORT AND DIE TOO LONG. The fifth chapter was entitled Aging is a Self Fulfilling Prophecy. That was 26 years ago when I was 61 years of age. Now at eighty-seven my prophecy is intact. I intend to live till 100. I still have unfinished work to do. Like Alexander the Great observed toward the end of his triumphant career there are still worlds to conquer.

I certainly find much satisfaction in what I have accomplished so far, but its not time yet to fold my tent. My fixation still is on erasing health illiteracy from the world. This gigantic task is the ultimate vaccine. Were we able to teach everyone how to fulfill their human potential of a hundred healthy years mankind would triumph. We die too soon. A major part of my personal strategy is to establish 100 years as our natural life expectancy. I have written extensively to this purpose.

I am of course interested in a bet that was placed by two of my gerontologist colleagues Steven Austad of the University of Alabama and Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois. Stimulated by an article in the journal Nature in 2016, that used demographic data to assert that there is a natural limit to human lifespan of about 115 years, Olshansky agrees but Austad doesnt. Citing current research on animals life extension by some drugs Austad sees no upper limit. Earlier in 2000 he wrote in the Scientific American, the first 150 year old person is already alive.

To address their claims in September 2000 the two endowed their wager that any one born before 2001 will reach the age of 150. As the invested fund value keeps growing the winner will claim a handsome reward. Neither of the gamblers expect to be around in 2150. But I am confident that Olshanskys descendents will heap a bonanza from Jays recognition of the finitude of human life.

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Teachers fear compulsory extended school days would damage pupils’ family life – TES News

Posted: at 10:14 am

Teachers fear that any compulsory extension of the school day could increase pressure on pupils and damage their family life, new research published by the DfE has found.

Researchers carried out qualitative research in secondary schools to examine the attitudes of school leaders, teachers, parents, pupils and community groups to extended provision.

Their report, published today, says: Staff and parents could see some potential benefits to a [compulsory] extension, such as more time to engage with life skills and enrichment activities, improved relationships with teaching staff, the school as a safe haven, as well as support for working families.

However, the perceived negative impact on student pressure, fatigue, impact on family arrangements, student safety, as well as their involvement in activities within the community had much greater weight with parents and staff.

It says the majority of school leaders held a predominantly negative view of compulsory extension, both in principle and in practice.

And although some saw the value in the basic concept, they questioned how it would happen in practice. A small number were generally positive and supportive.

When the researchers questioned teachers, they found that concerns focused on the impact on the work-life balance of pupils, the extent to which participation should be intrinsically motivated or imposed, the impact on teachers and practicalities of staffing, and the potential of disruption to family schedules.

Staff and parents raised concerns that a compulsory extended school day could have negative effects on family time with children, as well as compromisetheir ability to engage in the local community.

And in focus groups, pupils said they believed the range of activities they engaged in would be narrowed, because they would have to give up activities outside of school if the school day was extended.

They were also concerned about their safety and how they would get home. The report adds: This applied particularly during the winter months, with many pupils expressing discomfort at returning home in the dark.

Want to keep up with the latest education news and opinion? FollowTes on Twitterand likeTes on Facebook

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New ICBM Cheaper Than Upgraded Minuteman: Boeing On GBSD – Breaking Defense

Posted: at 10:14 am

Airmen install a new cable run on an aging Minuteman III missile.

ARLINGTON: A brand-new ICBM may cost the nation more than $85 billion, but keeping the geriatric Minuteman will cost even more. Thats according to Boeing, the aerospace giant that began building the original Minuteman I in 1958 and has maintained the much-modified Minuteman III since 1970.

Minuteman III in silo

Sure, the company can reset the odometer on the Minuteman with yet another service life extension program (SLEP), Boeing strategic deterrence chief Frank McCall told reporters this morning. But its still a 1950s design upgraded over six decades with a mix of technologies it was never intended to accommodate. While parts of the guidance and propulsion systems date to 1993, for example, some parts are so old the original manufacturers have long since gone out of business. That forces the Air Force to expensively reinvent the wheel or, say, a 1961-vintage mechanical coding device.

So for about the same price as a rebuilt Minuteman, McCall told us, Boeing would rather build you an all-new missile. Thats what the Air Force calls the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent. (Lockheed and Northrop are also competing). GBSD would get you better performance, he said, including against modern, precision-guided missile defenses, which didnt exist when the Minuteman was designed. (Back then, cutting-edge missile defense destroyed incoming warheads by detonating a nuclear weapon over your own territory). It would be flexible for a wide range of scenarios, whereas the Minuteman was optimized for a massive exchange with Russia across the North Pole. And even sticking with low-risk, proven technology, it would be decades more advanced than Minuteman.

The new missile would also feature a modular, plug-and-plug design known as open architecture that would make replacing components both for maintenance and upgrades much easier than on the Minuteman III. Most important, perhaps, the new missile would be designed from the start to last for decades until at least the 2070s while Minuteman was originally meant to last just 10 years. Between the open architecture and the build-to-last philosophy, McCall said, GBSD would be cheaper to maintain over the long haul than Minuteman.

Back in June, Gen. John Hyten, head of Strategic Command, lamented the time and money it would take to develop GBSD: $85 billion over 20 years for 400 missiles, compared to $17 billion in todays dollars over five years for the initial 800 Minutemans. The military-industrial complex needs to relearn how to go fast, take risks, fail, and try again, he said, instead of grinding along in todays bureaucratic, cripplingly slow acquisition system.

But as expensive as GBSD was, Hyten emphasized, it was still cheaper than re-re-rebuilding the Minuteman: You will have ended up replacing just about everything on the missile, which will cost you more (than GBSD), but nobody believes me. Now that weve heard more of the details from Boeing, maybe we will.

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Letter to the editor: Rallying behind Trump | Opinion … – South Strand news

Posted: at 10:13 am

America is experiencing an extraordinary episode in the history of manufacturing opinion. Never has there been such focused determination to ruin an American president by the opposition party and the press that supports them.

Why is the Left dedicated to destroying the Trump presidency? Because Trump is the one person who says he wont submit to the world around him. He is the symbol of national sovereignty in the battle with globalism, and a symbol of the sovereignty of individuals We The People in the battle with steroidal expansion of government and government control.

The Left cannot allow the zeitgeist of nationalism or self-determination; a government party barreling toward socialism must quash both wherever they appear. They must cut off Trumps head and stab him to death politically and personally, just as Kathy Griffin and the Shakespeare players did in effigy. The American press, as part of that Leftist movement, is a vital tool in the mission to destroy anything and anyone that threatens their forward motion. That determined destruction clearly centers on the current President and his administration. Turn on network news, pick up a major paper, and there is no denying the collaboration.

Resist, Resist, Resist, they say. But what is the rest of their message? Rise with us to silence those who disagree? Rise to make american leadership less significant in the world? Rise to preserve uncontrolled government expansion and soaring national debt? Rise to redefine our military into an experiment in social engineering rather than a force to protect the nation and its allies? Rise to disdain American values? Rise to remove gender as well as excellence from our lexicon and the lives of our children? Rise to deconstruct the Constitution and ignore Federal law?

All those things were initiated and/or amplified under Barack Obama. Those things and more like them are what the progressive left, dragging silly liberals with them, stands for. The complete rejection of those things and those people by millions of americans gave us the Trump presidency. We can only watch and see which vision prevails, but if there is any hope, it lies in patriotism... in the continued commitment of Americans to personal freedom, and in the vision, personal strength, and determination of Donald Trump.

Hartley Porter

Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

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