Sunday, November 27th, 2011

November 27, 2011 by LK

Food hangover??

Time to get back on track…. another wave is coming 🙂

Grab Bag Cyber Doc:

Finding sound medical (traditional, alternative or integrative) advice on the internet can sometimes feel like staking a claim in the wild west… can you really trust what you’re being told?

There seem to be a few reliable sites; WebMD comes to mind.

But the sheer volume of opinions, research, studies and advice out there is daunting to wade through.

So I was kind of intrigued to recently discover Medify.com. They seem to be using some data search programs to coalesce information into meaningful and useful results. In their own words:

Every day, thousands of leading researchers, physicians and medical institutions worldwide study patients with health conditions. They publish their findings – often with real patient data and detail on what worked for them – in research studies to promote the advancement of medicine.

Medify has developed powerful technology to mine millions of these studies every day in order to “extract” key information about the patients in each study. Similar patients across studies are combined and their experiences organized around the topics you care about: conditions, treatments, experts, and hot research issues.

The result is quite possibly the largest database of real patient experiences – literally hundreds of millions of them – free and available to search online, often down to the finest, and most relevant, detail.

Here’s a screen shot of what you might find when researching treatments for asthma:

I actually just sent this to a doc… he thought it was pretty cool. I do, too.

Grab Bag What I’m Using Now Addition:

Last week I forgot to share that when looking for a good eye makeup remover, I prefer jojoba oil (Google it… I’m not alone)…
lightly massaged into eyelashes and eyelids with my fingertips (I know I’m supposed to say lightly, and that might give images of a really delicate approach, but truthfully I’m not UBER gentle … at least not as you see in commercials where they seem petrified of peeling their eyelids back with the slightest touch).
At this point I look like a raccoon….
I use flat 100% cotton rounds (the best are Delon+ from Costco)
that I wet with warm water, press all the excess water out, and then wipe eyes until they are clean of the whole oil/makeup schmear.

Grab Bag Movie Magic:

If you’re anything like me, you’ve planned (for years) to bring all your videos into iMovie (or some similar movie editing program) and make some lovely little home movies with some clever titles, a sweet little background track and everyone will say “oh…. ahhh… wow” and love them.
While that’s a nice intention, and I applaud all those people who get right on it, MY videos are still sitting either in the camera or in iPhoto. And they were probably doomed to remain there for the  next decade….. until I discovered Magisto.
• Click on the picture above to go to Magisto.com, register, and begin uploading clips (maximum of 16 clips, totaling no more than 600MB).
• Add some music (upload your own or pick from their library)
• Go do laundry, play Angry birds or balance the federal budget while Magisto works it’s natty little motherboard brain for you… it clips, transitions and stitches together a pretty cute little mini-film.
This from a Time magazine Techland review:
Magisto’s algorithms string together a video from what seem like the most important parts of each clip. Magisto claims that it can detect people, pets, toys and landscapes, and knows the differences between them. The auto-editing process also removes noise, adds transitions, stabilizes the footage and turns down the music when someone’s talking.
Here’s my “filmlette” that took all of about 60 seconds of my time choosing clips to upload and selecting one of their songs. The Magisto computer program chose the sections of clips, the transitions and the sound levels.
While it won’t be competing at Cannes next year, it’s WAY more entertaining than the random clips I had:

Grab Bag Fountain of Youth Buster:

The other day I was having a discussion about energy and aging and what did I think about the trend of people taking injections of HGH (Human Growth Hormone) to increase their vitality, their energy, increase muscle mass…. and a whole host of other possible “benefits” that proponents of the practice claim can be yours. 
I said that I hadn’t done much research on it, but intuitively I felt that messing with the endocrine system can be a real kettle of fish that could go terribly wrong.
In recent days I’ve read a bit further on the subject, and I like what Dr. Andrew Weil has to say:

Kids of abnormally short stature who are diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency can be treated with daily shots of synthetic HGH, which usually enables them to reach a normal adult height. HGH may also be recommended to adults who have developed pituitary deficiency due to various causes. Beyond that, I know of no legitimate use for HGH. I definitely do not recommend the anti-aging supplements being promoted on the Internet and elsewhere as HGH or HGH releasers. (Real HGH is a prescription drug costing about $20,000 per year. HGH “releasers” are in development, but none is currently available.) HGH does decline with age, but there is no evidence to suggest that injections of growth hormone in otherwise healthy adults will extend life or improve general health. Some studies show that supplemental HGH does increase muscle mass, but there’s a question of whether it significantly improves muscle strength or function. A Stanford University review of clinical studies concluded that the only benefit of taking HGH was a slight increase in muscle mass. The researchers found that risks included significantly more soft tissue swelling and joint pain and carpal tunnel syndrome among the approximately 500 people who participated in 31 studies the researchers analyzed. The data also suggested an increased risk of diabetes and prediabetes although the association didn’t reach statistical significance. The review was published in the January 16, 2007, Annals of Internal Medicine.

I discussed HGH with Randy Horwitz, M.D., Ph.D., medical director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine here at the University of Arizona. He noted that daily HGH injections are expensive and don’t mimic the normal secretion patterns of the hormone. Dr. Horwitz also warned that there are serious risks associated with using HGH as an anti-aging strategy – joint pain, high blood pressure and even diabetes have been associated with HGH administration and, possibly, an increased risk of prostate cancer. What’s more, no studies have looked at the long-term effects of HGH in older adults.

You also should know that claims for so-called HGH “releasers” said to prompt the body to trigger release of HGH by the pituitary are unsubstantiated. I know of no studies demonstrating that they work as advertised. The only way to get supplemental HGH into the body is with regular, sometimes daily, injections, available only by prescription. Unless you have a legitimate medical need for supplemental HGH, it could do you more harm than good. If your goal is healthy aging, focus on your diet and regular physical and mental exercise. There is no hormonal fountain of youth to replace positive effort.

Grab Bag Rainbow Wow Moment:

A “circumhorizon arc” only appears when a specific set of atmospheric conditions occur. I would have just called them “rainbow clouds” until I saw this explanation.
The display is caused when light entering hexagonal ice crystals in the clouds is refracted. But, for a fire rainbow to appear, the sun must be very high in the sky, the clouds must be high altitude cirrus clouds and the ice crystals must be shaped like thick plates and aligned with their faces parallel to the ground. 
 

Grab Bag Brain Game:

Link the center colored square to its matching colored side with the colored building blocks offered to the right. Things change as you go along…

SIDE EFFECT

Grab Bag Funny Stuff:

The season is upon us. Let’s check in with Martha Stewart and see what she has planned for the days ahead. Should be inspiring….

Holiday Martha Stewart To-Do list for December:

December 1 – Blanch carcass from Thanksgiving turkey. Spray paint gold, turn upside down and use as a sleigh to hold Christmas Cards.

December 2 – Have Mormon Tabernacle Choir record outgoing Christmas message for answering machine.

December 3 – Using candlewick and hand gilded miniature pinecones, fashion cat-o-nine-tails. Flog Gardener.

December 4 – Repaint Sistine Chapel ceiling in ecru, with mocha trim.

December 5 – Get new eyeglasses. Grind lenses myself.

December 6 – Fax family Christmas newsletter to Pulitzer Committee for consideration.

December 7 – Debug Windows 2000

December 10 – Align carpets to adjust for curvature of Earth.

December 11 – Lay Faberge egg.

December 12 – Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble.

December 13 – Collect Dentures. They make excellent pastry cutters, particularly for decorative pie crusts.

December 14 – Install plumbing in gingerbread house.

December 15 – Replace air in mini-van tires with Glade “holiday scents” in case tires are shot out at mall.

December 17 – Child-proof the Christmas tree with garland of razor wire.

December 19 – Adjust legs of chairs so each Christmas dinner guest will be same height when sitting at his or her assigned seat.

December 20 – Dip sheep and cows in egg whites and roll in confectioner’s sugar to add a festive sparkle to the pasture.

December 21 – Drain city reservoir; refill with mulled cider, orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

December 22 – Float votive candles in toilet tank.

December 23 – Seed clouds for white Christmas.

December 24 – Do my annual good deed. Go to several stores. Be seen engaged in last minute Christmas shopping, thus making many people feel less inadequate than they really are.

December 25 – Bear son. Swaddle. Lay in color-coordinated manger scented with homemade potpourri.

December 26 – Organize spice racks by genus and phylum.

December 27 – Build snowman in exact likeness of Jesus.

December 31 – New Year’s Eve! Give staff their resolutions. Call a friend in each time zone of the world as the clock strikes midnight in that country.

 

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