Your Gifted Child

In some ways being a gifted child is a burden.  I taught myself to read and write at about age 3.  I am a very rapid learner and I evaluate knowledge on may levels.  I also have always had some emotional connection to things in my world as well as seeing words in pictures.

One of my college professors in biology had a way to use words to paint pictures of what you were learning.

A friend from year ago with whom I recently reconnected, after his amazingly adventurous life in Asia, asked me how I remembered so many things from so long ago. I couldn't quite answer him and suggested it may be a curse.  That was until I read something Albert Einstein wrote -

I think with intuition. The basis of true thinking is intuition.
Indeed, it is not intellect, but intuition which advances humanity.
Intuition tells a man his purpose in life.
One never goes wrong following his feelings.
I don’t mean emotions, I mean feelings,
for feelings and intuition are one.
 
 "There are many lists of characteristics of gifted children, but not every gifted child displays every characteristic," she tells ParentDish. "The simplest description is that the gifted child learns faster and deeper than other children of the same age, and feels more acutely than his or her same-age peers. Some gifted children do puzzles years earlier than their peers, others read early, often by teaching themselves."
Complete article

AN URGENT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSAULT NEEDING YOUR SUPPORT

While the media focuses on the tragic losses in the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and related locations a major environmental issue is consistently ignored.  

HELP NEEDED AT BUNKER HILL SUPERFUND SITE

Please support ending the terrible conditions of the vulnerable people of the Silver Valley - including flora and fauna - and the efforts of SV Waterkeeper to bring an end to the toxic dump site where overflow runs into a wetland and the Coeur' d'Alene River and Lake, as well as downstream into the Spokane River, onward to the Pacific Ocean. 

The East Mission Flats repository is situated within yards of the oldest building in Idaho and is the National Historic site known as Cataldo Mission.

This is the epicenter of the nation's largest Superfund site, Bunker Hill.  Contamination (and re-contamination) is a daily experience and this spreads to a minimum of 500,000 people, and all wild life in the 1500 square mile site.

More information is available at www.silvervalleyaction.com, on Facebook and by following us on twitter @SilverVlyAction.  You may also sign our on-line petition which is also linked from the website.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE

DONATIONS URGENTLY NEEDED

Donate via PayPal or mail to SVCRC at PO BOX 362, Kellogg ID 83837.

Vita Breath RECALL

For safe support we recommend ATMEN by JBNI

ATMEN+ADVENTURX makes your results even better when engaging in xtreme sports

WASHINGTON, May 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers not to purchase or use Vita Breath dietary supplement due to possible contamination.
The FDA said the product, manufactured by American Herbal Lab Inc. of Rosemead, Calif., might contain hazardous levels of lead.
The product is marketed at health fairs and on the Internet.
"The FDA was notified by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene about a patient with lead poisoning who reported taking Vita Breath and two other herbal products," the federal agency said. "The department analyzed a sample of Vita Breath and reported it contained 1,100 parts per million of lead. This level is more than 10,000 times higher than FDA's maximum recommended level for lead in candy."
Officials said people with high blood levels of lead may show no symptoms, but the condition can cause damage to the nervous system and internal organs. Acute lead poisoning may cause a wide range of symptoms, including abdominal pain, muscle weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and bloody or decreased urinary output. Children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning.
The FDA said it is working with state officials in New York and California to further investigate Vita Breath.

Mold problems and flooding: Lessons to be learned from Katrina

RE-POSTED re: Tennessee Flooding   UPDATE: 5/3/10

6/21/08: One of the places I have attended college over the years of advanced education is Iowa City. I know of some of the problems of flooding but certainly not to the extent of recent days.

I also have experienced mold problems because I lived in a house that had mold and the landlady refused to acknowledge it or address it. I also worked in a hospital that had the signs of black mold growing on the walls of the room where we had report and where the kids attended school. No remedial action was ever taken by the hospital's corporate owner.

Mold allergies are a very risky problem and they are real. They also take a very long time to resolve and may actually never resolve, however they may become minimal with effective and targeted approaches. This does not mean I am referring to prescription medication.

My hope is that this kind of help is available to anyone who has a severe health issue following this devastating event.

Health warning: Risk increases during cleanup
Jun 21, 2008, IOWA CITY — The cleanup and recovery after a flood can be more dangerous than the flooding, with greater risk for injury and infection as people deal with stagnant water, mold and air and water quality problems, University of Iowa public health experts said Friday.

As a flooding disaster like that in Eastern Iowa enters the more protracted "stage two" — cleanup and recovery — displaced residents and others must protect themselves as they deal with flooded homes and businesses where bacteria and mold will be rampant, UI officials said.

"From the public health standpoint, it's going to be a much more dangerous phase," Jim Merchant, dean of the UI College of Public Health, said. "The emphasis really needs to be on protection and effective cleanup."

Many communities will be dealing with cleanup for weeks and months to come because the past week's flooding was so widespread in Iowa, Merchant said.

One concern is the potential for traumatic injury as people clean and rebuild flood-ravaged homes and businesses. And long-term exposure to the flood-affected areas could lead to allergy problems or chronic lung disease if the proper protective equipment, such as a mask, isn't used any time exposure lasts more than a few minutes, especially in an enclosed space, UI officials said.

Allergies, wound infections and mosquito-borne diseases are all reasonable concerns, Merchant said.

Flood-damaged buildings that are not fixed adequately could lead to "sick building syndrome," where people battle continuous health problems, he said.

People working on flood cleanup should wear long shirts and pants, work boots and safety glasses and have respiratory protection. People with asthma or severe allergies should avoid exposure.

A possibly larger danger that may be overlooked is mental health trauma, said Kathleen Staley, assistant director of UI Counseling Service. Those most vulnerable to stress and depression are people with histories of trauma or mental health problems, people who experienced multiple or major losses in the flood and displaced people, she said.

The University Hygienic Laboratory is testing water for public entities and for private property owners with wells. Water quality has been maintained in most communities and it remains a priority, UI officials said.

Toxic mold spreading through soggy South
Storm-ravaged homeowners face health dangers from creeping fungus
The Associated Press
updated 5:18 p.m. PT, Tues., Sept. 27, 2005
NEW ORLEANS - Wearing goggles, gloves, galoshes and a mask, Veronica Randazzo lasted only 10 minutes inside her home in St. Bernard Parish. Her eyes burned, her mouth filled with a salty taste and she felt nauseous.

Her 26-year-old daughter, Alicia, also covered in gear, came out coughing.

“That mold,” she said. “It smells like death.”

Mold now forms an interior version of kudzu in the soggy South, posing health dangers that will make many homes tear-downs and will force schools and hospitals to do expensive repairs.

It’s a problem that any homeowner who has ever had a flooded basement or a leaky roof has faced. But the magnitude of this problem leaves many storm victims prey to unscrupulous or incompetent remediators. Home test kits for mold, for example, are worthless, experts say.

Don’t expect help from insurance companies, either. Most policies were revised in the last decade to exclude mold damage because of “sick building” lawsuits alleging illnesses. Although mold’s danger to those with asthma or allergies is real, there’s little or no science behind other claims, and a lot of hype.

“We went through a period when people were really irrational about the threat posed by the mere sight of mold in their homes,” said Nicholas Money, a mold expert from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and author of “Carpet Monsters and Killer Spores,” a book about mold.

“If you give me 10 minutes in anybody’s home, I’ll find mold growth somewhere,” he said.

'Potent allergens'
Mold is everywhere. Most people have no problem living with this ubiquitous fungus. It reproduces by making spores, which travel unseen through the air and grow on any moist surface, usually destroying it as the creeping crud grows.

Mold can’t be eliminated but can be controlled by limiting moisture, which is exactly what couldn’t be done after Hurricane Katrina. Standing water created ideal growth conditions and allowed mold to penetrate so deep that experts fear that even studs of many homes are saturated and unsalvageable.


In fact, New Orleans is where mold’s health risks were first recognized.

A Louisiana State University allergist, the late Dr. John Salvaggio, described at medical meetings in the 1970s what he called “New Orleans asthma,” an illness that filled hospital emergency rooms each fall with people who couldn’t breathe. He linked it to high levels of mold spores that appeared in the humid, late summer months.

“These are potent allergens,” but only for people who have mold allergies, said Dr. Jordan Fink, a Medical College of Wisconsin professor and past president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

Molds produce irritants that can provoke coughing, and some make spores that contain toxins, which further irritate airways.

“The real pariah is this thing called Stachybotrys chartarum. This organism produces a greater variety of toxins and in greater concentrations than any other mold that’s been studied,” Money said.

Doctors at Cleveland’s Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital blamed it for a cluster of cases of pulmonary hemorrhage, or bleeding into the lungs, that killed several children in the 1990s, but the link was never proved.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no firm evidence linking mold to the lung problem, memory loss or other alleged woes beyond asthma and allergy. However, the sheer amount of it in the South could trigger problems for some people who haven’t had them before, medical experts said.

“The child who didn’t have a significant problem before may be in a much different scenario now,” said Dr. Michael Wasserman, a pediatrician at Ochsner Clinic in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie whose office and home were flooded and are now covered in mold. He plans to tear down his house.

Anything submerged a tear-down
Even dead mold can provoke asthma in susceptible people, meaning that places open to the public — restaurants, schools, businesses — must eliminate it.

This is most true for hospitals, where mold spores can cause deadly lung diseases in people with weak immune systems or organ transplants. Such concerns already led Charity Hospital’s owners to mothball it.

Tulane University Hospital and Clinic’s cleanup is expected to take months.

“The first floor’s got pretty much mold. It’s going to be pretty much a total loss,” said Ron Chatagnier, project coordinator for C&B Services, a Texas company hired by the hospital’s owner, HCA.

“It might be difficult or impossible to reopen some of these medical centers,” said Joe Cappiello, an official with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

“It’s not just the physical destruction that you see,” but ventilation systems and ductwork full of mold, ready “to seed the rest of the hospital with spores” if the heat or air conditioning were turned on, he said.

As for houses, “anything that’s been submerged probably will be a tear-down,” said Jeffrey May, a Boston-area building inspector, chemist and book author who has investigated thousands of buildings for mold problems.

Getting professional help
Clothes can be washed or dry cleaned, but most furniture is a loss. Ditto for carpeting, insulation, wallpaper and drywall, which no longer lives up to its name. Mattresses that didn’t get wet probably have mold if they were in a room that did.

“Anything with a cushion you can forget about,” May said.

The general advice is the same as when food is suspected of being spoiled: when in doubt, throw it out.

When is professional help needed?

“It’s simply a matter of extent. If you’ve got small areas of mold, just a few square feet, it’s something a homeowner can clean with 10 percent bleach,” said Anu Dixit, a fungus expert at Saint Louis University.

She studied mold after the Mississippi River floods in 1993 and 1994, and found cleaning measures often were ineffective, mainly because people started rebuilding too soon, before the surrounding area was completely dry.

In the New Orleans suburb of Lakeview, Toby Roesler found a water line 7 feet high on his home and mold growing in large black and white colonies from every wall and ceiling on the first floor.

Wearing goggles, a mask and rubber gloves, he sprayed down the stairwell with a bleach solution. A crew will arrive soon to gut the lower floor.

“I think it’s salvageable,” he said, but admitted, “It’s going to be some gross work to get it ready.”

Others won’t try.

Dionne Thiel, who lives next door to the Randazzo family, was only 7 when Hurricane Betsy raced through her neighborhood 40 years ago. Returning on Monday, after Hurricane Katrina, something was instantly familiar.

“The mold and the water,” she said. “It’s the exact same smell.”

Mold covered her dining room walls, snaked up door frames and even found its way into the candles she sold for a living. She and her husband salvaged his golf clubs but left the rest. They’ll move to Arizona.

“I would never want to live here again,” said her husband, Don Thiel. “It’s not going to be safe.”

© 2008 AP. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9505817/

New Cancer Website Debuts Today

WINNING CANCER

Exercise Recovery - What Works Best?

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
http://fitteru.rxsportz.com

The human body operates most efficiently when it is in balance, or has achieved a state known as homeostasis. As such, optimal recovery means that all body systems have returned to the state they were in before exercise (homeostasis). However, for most avid exercisers, recovery is a limiting factor. The better you can recover, the sooner and better you can train. The process of recovery (regeneration) gets less attention than it should. Every person should have a systematic plan that includes recovery activities on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. The following are simple tools that you can implement to help your body recover better between exercise bouts.

Cool-down

After exhaustive exercise, don't stop and rest immediately. You can speed up the removal of lactic acid from your muscles by continuing to exercise at a low intensity for 10-20 minutes. Cooling down can help reduce the feeling of stiffness that often occurs after a workout and is especially important if your next training session or event is scheduled a few hours later.

Stretch

Static stretching before exercise puts you at risk for damaging the very tissues you are trying to protect and as such should be avoided. Research has shown that stretching causes lengthening of the tendinous fibers within the muscle-tendon unit. Such lengthening causes the tendon (or passive) component to lose much of its shock absorbency, thus, placing the muscle fibers at greater risk of trauma. However, stretching after exercise may help minimize muscle soreness and may even help prevent future soft tissue injuries. Thus, before activity, more active-type stretching routines that promote range of motion and increased blood flow are recommended. Conversely, after exercise, the emphasis should be on passive or static stretching to allow the muscles to relax and return to their resting lengths.

Carbohydrates

The muscles are primed for quick restoration of their carbohydrate fuel reserves (glycogen) immediately after exercise, so don't wait too long to start eating foods and drinking beverages rich in carbohydrate. Fruits, energy bars, and sports drinks all contain large amounts of carbohydrate. From a nutrition standpoint, post-exercise is one of the only times where you want to be consuming high-glycemic index foods for they will stimulate a quicker release of insulin and, thus, carbohydrate storage in the muscles. Ideally, these fuels should be consumed as quickly as possible upon finishing your exercise session.

Protein

Most forms of exercise lead to the breakdown of proteins within the muscles. This breakdown-repair process stimulates the muscles to rebuild and become stronger. Moreover, some of our muscle proteins continue to be broken down during the recovery phase after exercise. For a faster buildup of muscle proteins during recovery, include a small amount of protein in the foods you eat. Milk, cheese, eggs, whey protein shakes, sandwiches, nuts (almonds, walnuts) and energy bars provide carbohydrate and protein. Look for easily digestible protein sources (such as the ones listed above) following strenuous exercise. Avoid saturated fats.

Fluids

Replacing lost fluid is crucial to the recovery process. Having adequate fluids within your body promotes the removal of toxins and waste from your muscles. Top off your supply of fluids by drinking before exercise, continue to hydrate every 15 or 20 minutes during a workout, and replace any body weight lost during exercise by drinking while you recover. Remember, 1 L of water is equivalent to 1 kg of body weight. Therefore, if the difference between your pre- and post-exercise weight is 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) you would want to rehydrate with 1.5 L of water to bring your body fluid back to homeostasis. Before, during, and after exercise, the rule of thumb is that if you’re thirsty, it’s too late! Therefore, be sure to have a water bottle throughout the day to sip on. On a daily basis (at rest), the number of ounces of water you should be consuming should equal half of your body weight (in lbs). Thus, if you weigh 200 lbs, then you want to be drinking 100 ounces of water (almost 3 L).

Salt

Your body loses water and minerals - mostly sodium chloride, some potassium - when you sweat. Drinking water alone during exercise and recovery will make it difficult to replace body fluids rapidly because much of it will pass through the kidneys to become urine. Replace the salt along with the water to counteract dehydration. If you have to compete again within a few hours, consider sports drinks that contain water, sodium chloride, or fruits such as bananas which are high in potassium. Add extra salt to foods at mealtime if you are susceptible to cramps. Consider using condiments, sports drinks, and fitness waters instead of salt tablets.

Damage Control

Inflammation, swelling, and muscle soreness are possibilities following strenuous exercise. To minimize the effects, consider cold packs around joint areas, alternating cold and hot whirlpool baths, and the use of specially designed magnets to speed the recovery process. Light massage is also a good option for promoting toxin removal from the tissues and reducing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). A study by Hilbert et al. showed that a 20 minute massage 2 hours following exercise helped to reduce the intensity of soreness 48 hours post-exercise in subjects who underwent 6 sets of maximal eccentric hamstring contractions. Minimize foot contact with the ground. Engage in light activities that increase blood flow while not taxing the nervous system. Swimming, cycling, walking, and light jogs are alternatives, but minimize foot contact with the ground.

Sleep

There is plenty of evidence to show that lack of sleep can have an adverse affect on training and competition. You might get by for a day or two with inadequate sleep, but it will catch up with up sooner or later. If you haven't monitored your sleep habits already, determine how much sleep you need each night to ensure full recovery. It's not eight hours for everyone - could be less, could be more. Then try to establish a routine that will allow you get what you need to perform well.

Sleep is divided into 1.5-hour time cycles. If you can time sleep cycles in increments of an hour and a half (1.5 hours, 3.0 hours, 4.5 hours, 6.0 hours, 7.5 hours, 9.0 hours), you have a better chance of waking up refreshed. The idea is to awake at the top of the cycle instead of at the bottom. And don't dismiss the power of a 20-30 minute nap during the day. The journal Sleep highlighted a meta-analysis done on studies looking at the effects of sleep deprivation on performance. The researchers found that overall sleep deprivation strongly impairs human functioning. Moreover, they found that mood is more affected by sleep deprivation than either cognitive or motor performance and that partial sleep deprivation has a more profound effect on functioning than either long-term or short-term sleep deprivation.

Also be aware that overtraining can impair your body’s ability to fully rest and regenerate. A study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise revealed that female swimmers who trained excessively showed a higher incidence of sleep disruptions.

In sum, there are several measure that you can take to better your recovery between exercise sessions. Remember that a combination of the several of the aforementioned tools should be implemented for best results.

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
Creator, Fitter U

References:

Safran, M. et al (1989). Warm up and muscular injury prevention: an update. Sports Medicine, 239-249.

Hibert, J. et al (2003). The effects of massage on delayed onset muscle soreness. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 37: 72-75.

Pilcher, J & Huffcutt, A. (1996). Effects of sleep deprivation on performance: a meta-analysis. Sleep, 19(4): 318-326.

S. Taylor et al. (1997). Effects of training volume on sleep, psychological, and selected physiological profiles of elite female swimmers. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 29(5):688-693.

About the Author

Yuri Elkaim is a world-renowned fitness, nutrition, and weight loss expert. He is the creator Fitter U and Treadmill Trainer, author of Eating for Energy, and the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for men's soccer program at the University of Toronto. His trademarked 12-week Fitter U iPod workout program has been helping thousands of people around the world get in shape and lose weight fast without the cost and inconvenience of hiring a trainer. Go to http://fitteru.rxsportz.com now to get your FREE Fitter U workout and "How to Get Fit and Lose Weight Fast" report!

Bees and People

The Guardian 2.5.01
FEARS FOR CROPS AS SHOCK FIGURES FROM AMERICA SHOW SCALE OF BEE CATASTROPHE

The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter. Reasons given for this are exposure to 121 pesticides found in bees, honey and pollen and virus and bacterial infections.

(Edward's comments: This report does not mention that exposure to pesticides destroys the immune system and allows overwhelming infections to proliferate. See my letter from MAFF (now Defra) 17.1.1989 quoting that "all pesticides are a danger to human health and the environment".)

SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives-collapse

SEE ALSO: http://www.leaflady.org/bee_benefits.htm