Thursday, September 02, 2004

Healthy stuff

Eat This. It May Stop Alzheimer's Cold A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is found in abundance in soy, salmon, halibut, and other cold-water fish, appears to offer significant protection against Alzheimer's disease, Reuters reports of new research from the University of California Los Angeles School of Medicine. The ingredient that seems to protect the brain against memory loss and cell damage caused by Alzheimer's is one particular omega-3 fatty acid called DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid. Lead study author Greg Cole said DHA "dramatically reduces the impact of an Alzheimer's gene."
As so often happens in science, this finding was accidental. The researchers, who were studying Alzheimer's in mice, were looking for something else but noticed that the mice whose diet was rich in soy and rich did not have the expected memory loss or brain damage. Reuters reports that notably, the synapses, the connections between brain cells, were not as damaged as would be expected. "Because earlier studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may prevent Alzheimer's disease, we realized that the mice's diet could be countering the very thing we were trying to accomplish--showing the progression of the Alzheimer's-related brain damage," said researcher Sally Frautschy in a prepared statement.
The researchers tested the DHA theory by removing fish and soy from the mouse diet. Instead, they fed them safflower oil, which is low in omega-3 and rich in another fatty acid called omega-6, which does not include DHA, reports Reuters. "We found high amounts of synaptic damage in the brains of the Alzheimer's-diseased mice that ate the DHA-depleted diet," Frautschy explained. "These changes closely resembled those we see in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease." Cole said that after adjusting for all possible variables, DHA was the only factor that protected the mice from synaptic damage and memory loss that should have occurred from their Alzheimer's genes. "We concluded that the DHA-enriched diet was holding their genetic disease at bay," said Cole. The study findings were published in the journal Neuron.

From wmconnect news

Zell Miller at the Republican National Convention

Holy, Holy, Holy!

Quote concerning Kerry's record on voting for defense. "What are we going to defend ourselves with? Spitballs?"

My wife had to shush me I was laughing so loud. Way to go Zell. That gets the rare Awsome from me and a hearty clap on the back of appreciation.

I have been waiting forever for a politician to say it out loud and you didn't just say it you shouted it at the top of your lungs from the roof.

God Bless and if you ever descide to run for President well we would vote for ya. I hate to say that considering my Republican affiliation. But you are a man whom I would fight to the death for knowing it would not be in vain.

Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Yup-I want in on that.

To:
Secretary of Agriculture
Washington DC
DearSir:
My friend, Mort Wilson, over at Milton, KS, received a check the other
day for $1000.00 from the government for not raising hogs. So, I want to go
into the "not raising hogs" business.
What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best type of farm not
to raise hogs on, and what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to
be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all government
policies. I would prefer not to raise Razorbacks, but if that is not a good
breed not to raise, then I can just as easily not raise Yorkshires or
Durocs.
As I see it, the hardest part of this program will be in keeping an accurate
inventory of how many hogs I haven't raised.
My friend, Mort, is very excited about the future of this business. He has
been rainsing hogs for 40 years, and the most he ever made was $422.00 in
1970, until this year when he got your check for $1000.00 for not raising
hogs,
If I get $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs, will I get $2000.00 for not
raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding
myself down to about 4,000 "not raised hogs", which will give me me
$80,000.00 income the first year. Then I can afford an airplane.
Now, another thing, these hogs I will not raise will not eat 100,000
bushels of corn and wheat.I understand that you also pay farmers for not
raising corn and wheat. Will I qualify for payments for not raising corn
and wheat not to feed the 4000 hogs I am not going to raise?
I want to get started not feeding as soon as possible as this seems to be a
good time of year to not raise hogs and grain. I am also considering the
"not milking cows" business, so please send me any information on that also.
In view of these circumstances, I understand that the governement will
consider me totally unemployed, so I plan to file for unemployment and food
stamps. Be assured that you will have my vote in the coming elections.
Patriotically
yours,
Rex Childs
P. S. Would you please notify me when you plan to distibute more cheese?



An E-mail I recently recieved

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Should that is.

Why the Boss Wants You to Call in Sick Sick employees should take to their beds and stay away from their desks. And if their bosses have any sense, they'll encourage them to remain home until they are well. Why? Each worker who comes in to the office sick costs the employer an average of $255 each per year, reports The Associated Press of a new study by Cornell University labor researchers. That totals some $180 billion in lost productivity every year.
Sick employees are not productive employees. They have difficulty concentrating, they work more slowly, and they often have to repeat tasks. In addition, they can get their co-workers sick, but the price tag of bringing down the rest of the office was not counted in this study, which examined the effect of colds, the flu, headaches, allergies, arthritis, heart disease, asthma, and cancer.
There's a word for this: "presenteeism." You're there, but you're not functioning well. "The study doesn't mean people should stay home sick at every sniffle," Ron Goetzel, director of Cornell's Institute for Health and Productivity Studies in Washington, D.C., told Reuters. "It says this is a very large category of expenses, even exceeding the costs of absenteeism and medical and disability benefits, and part of the problem is that employers have not yet fully recognized the financial impact it can have on their business.This is the first study to count the cost of on-the-job productivity losses from common health problems to an employer's total health-related expenses. On average, that adds up to about 61 percent of an employee's total medical and lost-productivity costs. The research findings were published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.