Relay for Life raises funds.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – The number of people attending to the Relay for Life events continues to increase. This initiative is widely spread in the United States to raise awareness and funds in the battle with cancer.
Based on the Cancer Treatment and Survivorship Statistics from the American Cancer Society, over 15.5 million people in the United States suffered from cancer during their lives. Worse, this number will increase to 20 million by 2026.
Fortunately, the cancer occurrence has started to drop off in men and stabilized in women. In addition to this, it has been registered a growing and aging population in the United States, which means that more and more people survive cancer.
A great contribution to this situation was brought by the development of the medical field, especially regarding treatment and early detection. One of the most recent events was the Clifton Relay For Life, which gathered an impressive number of participants at the Clifton Stadium on June 11.
Furthermore, survivors benefited from a survivorship dinner, goodie bags, sashes and special shirts. Plus, they also took the Survivor’s Lap at the beginning of the event. Relay for Life is not just a gathering of people, but also an overnight community celebration which offers patient service programs, advocacy, education, running and walking activities to raise funds, picnics, and camping.
When the sun sets, all participants light countless of luminaria candles to celebrate survivors, encourage the ones fighting with cancer and to honor the memory of those who passed away. The funds will support the American Cancer Society in their efforts of finding a new treatment to tackle this disease.
This agency has various activities such as the development of new programs including the Clinical Trials Matching Service and Health Insurance Assistance Service which aims to provide patients with coverage for cancer medication.
Moreover, Road to Recovery Transportation and Look Good Feel Better are the other two programs which offer medical assistance and cosmetic effects of cancer treatment. Besides these initiatives, the American Cancer Society is trying to find better and more efficient treatments thanks to the efforts of scientists.
Plus, it offers caregivers and patients a lot of support and many resources to make the battle with cancer easier. Relay for Life is one these events that continue to gather and inspire people to stay positive.
Image Source:Homer Tribune
Ancient city was found in Cambodia.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Archeology has always been a mysterious field which attracted the people who grew fond of history. With the help of the Lidar laser technology, all of these things are easier now.
Thanks to this technology, a team of Australian archaeologists discovered an extensive network of ancient cities under the Cambodian jungle near Angkor Wat city. The team efforts were encouraged by the collaboration between the Cambodian government and the French Institute of Asian Studies.
According to Dr. Damian Evans, lead researcher and technical coordinator of Cambodian Archaeological Lidar Initiative (CALI), the cutting-edge airborne laser technology, called Lidar, revealed many archeological cities, from 900 to 1,400 years ago.
The largest city is Mahendraparvata, which is considered to be even bigger than Phnom Penh, the current capital of Cambodia. Until now, the latest information that scientists had about Mahendraparvata dated since 2012.
However, no one thought that the city would be so massive. The way the Lidar laser works is by the use of a helicopter which surveys the surface vegetation and establishes an accurate map of the ground.
The airborne laser scanner is attached to the aircraft from where it sends 16 pulses of the laser. Every laser scans the area and thoroughly searches for any sign of archeological treasure which might be hidden in the terrain.
The ground height is determined by the time it takes for the beam to return to the sensor. The flight route, speed, and altitude are established by the researchers based on the research target. According to Dr. Damian Evans, many cities under the forest haven’t been discovered yet of which people have no idea.
Nevertheless, thanks to this new laser, archeologists will be able to find many treasures beneath the forest with high precision. Furthermore, the team has now the opportunity to learn about the history of the Khmer empire during the 15th century. Also, they believe that historians will find out more about the fall of Angkor.
Moreover, it seems that the Lidar laser has also spotted some strange geometric earth formations, which were most likely gardens in the past. Hopefully, archeologists will discover even more ancient cities that will provide humanity with valuable information about our history.
Image Source:All Point East
Migraines are connected with the lack of vitamins.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – We live in a century where the level of stress is more and more dangerous. Therefore, the risk of migraines is even higher.
These severe headaches seem like something that should not represent much of a problem. However, doctors have not managed to find a proper treatment against them.
The difference between migraines and headaches is that a migraine is a very intense headache connected with other symptoms such as nausea, sensitivity to sound and light.
In addition to this, people who suffer from chronic migraines have a higher risk of developing heart disease or of being the victim of a cardiac event. Until now, experts accounted for many possible causes that could lead to migraines.
But based on the latest research, they discovered that the lack of vitamins might be a leading cause. Vitamin deficiency is a common thing among American children because of the unhealthy diet. Plus, many teenagers and young adults suffer from the same deficiencies.
During the study, scientists analyzed three groups of children, adolescents, and young adults to determine whether they had a lack of vitamins and how would that influence migraine occurrence.
Based on the results, experts established that all of them had deficiencies in coenzyme Q10, a vitamin present in every cell and is used to produce energy for cell growth, riboflavin, and vitamin D.
According to Suzanne Hagler, MD, lead author of the study and a Headache Medicine doctor in the Division of Neurology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, further research is needed to find out if vitamin supplementation will tackle migraines in every patient. Plus, they still need to establish if patients with vitamin deficiency need just a supplementation or other medication as well.
It is also worth mentioning that boys and young men had a higher deficiency of vitamin D, whereas girls and young women were more like to have coenzyme Q10 deficiencies. Furthermore, patients who suffered from chronic migraines had a higher lack of riboflavin and coenzyme Q10 than those suffering from episodic migraines.
Until now, the patients who proved to have a very low vitamin level were given supplements. Still, it is not clear yet whether the lack of vitamins is the only cause of migraines. Hopefully, researchers will double their efforts to find a treatment as soon as possible.
Image Source:MSU Today
West Nile Virus detected on mosquitoes.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – After a recent survey, adult mosquitoes from Campbell and San Jose areas were discovered carrying the West Nile Virus. Therefore, The Santa Clara County Vector Control District is going to take active measures to prevent the spread of the disease-carrying insects.
Experts believe that their best bet will be a mosquito fogging treatment that will hopefully prevent the virus from spreading.
Nevertheless, this method relies on weather, because if the weather is bad, the fog will be dispersed and ineffective. Several operations are scheduled to start Wednesday at 11 p.m. on Thursday 2 a.m. in the 95118, 95008, 95124, 95125 ZIP code areas.
According to Denise Bonilla, Vector Control District Manager, it concerns that this year’s West Nile Virus detection occurred a month earlier than last year due to the mild winter and warm spring.
Officials prompt citizens to be aware of the danger posed by mosquitoes. In other words, they should protect themselves by wearing proper clothing, avoiding wooded areas, checking their gardens in a correct manner and by adopting all other safety precautions.
Residents will be announced of the scheduled fogging through door hangers. Furthermore, subscribers of Nextdoor neighborhood networks will be informed about the fogging and through AlertSCC as well. In addition to this, several other social media platforms, such as SCCvector app, Twitter (SCCvcd) and Yahoo Groups (SCCvector) will be used by the county’s vector district to let residents know about the fogging.
It is also worth mentioning that no relocate is needed during the fogging. However, if anyone wants to reduce the risk of exposure for pets or family members, they can stay inside the house and close the windows until the fogging ends.
Furthermore, experts advise people who have chemical sensitivities to make an appointment to their doctors. For more information, vector control staff will answer every question on Wednesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1-800-314-2427.
Until now, the zip codes where West Nile virus mosquitoes have been spotted are 95118, 95008, 95124 and 95125. The fogging will cover San Jose, and a small area of East Campbell centered at Hicks Avenue and Curtner Avenue; on the west by South Peter Drive and Norman Avenue; on the south by Foxworthy Avenue, and on the east by Jonathan Avenue and Almaden Expressway.
Image Source:OPB
PTSD can be fought back.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Veterans who suffer from PTSD, short from post-traumatic stress disorder, will be offered the support and assistance they need during the PTSD awareness month.
Statistics have shown that in 2014, over half a million veterans were suffering from PTSD after the Afghanistan and Iraq campaigns. Furthermore, a previous study from the 1980s regarding Vietnam veterans established that 9 percent of the women and 15 percent of the men had PTSD during that period, and around 27 percent of women and 30 percent of men had suffered from PTSD after Vietnam.
After 15 years, another study found that there was only a slight drop off. Another important aspect is that some people may have PTSD for 30 years without even realizing it until hopefully, they find out that there are experts that can help them improve the quality of their lives.
This disorder might lead to severe consequences, such as destroying a family, a relationship, or even the connections with relatives and close friends.
Worse, the present statistics look bad because only half of the people suffering from PTSD seek treatment, whereas the rest of them do not even realize that they suffer from this disorder, or they think that they can deal with it on their own. According to Allan Perkal, a member of the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, a stigma still exists. Plus, some veterans think that seeking help is a sign of weakness which is totally wrong.
Admitting the fact that you need help is no shame. We are humans, so we rely on each other to live and prosper. Veterans are encouraged to understand that God made all of us to help one another not to hide in our shells.
A Town Hall meeting will be held Saturday by the North Carolina Council of VVA at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center on the A-B Tech campus. During the event, veterans together with their families will benefit from a large variety of services and support from experts and fellow veterans who will have the purpose of encouraging every participant.
Moreover, community-based organizations will provide veterans with information tables set up. The Town Hall meeting will begin and noon. For additional information, people are asked to call Perkal at (808) 383-7877 or visit VVA-NC.org. Many will attend the Saturday event to increase PTSD awareness and make veterans understand that there is no shame in accepting help.
Image Source:Static Flickr
A new report shows the rich collectively own 47 percent of global wealth, and their fortunes keep climbing.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to Boston Consulting Group, the numbers of millionaires are still rising despite the stalling economic growth, and they currently own 47 percent of the global wealth. Analysts expect that figure to rise to 52 percent by 2020.
Additionally, the world’s rich thrived last year although the pace at which their fortunes grew was slightly slower than a year prior. And people who reached the ranks of millionaires were more numerous in 2015, the report shows.
Private global wealth, which doesn’t include property, rose 5.2 percent last year to $168 trillion. In 2014, privately held global wealth rose by 7 percent. Analysts believe that poor performing stock markets and stalling GDP growth worldwide may be to blame.
In 2015, the increase of global wealth was triggered by the arrival of new millionaires rather than by the existing fortunes, Boston Consulting researchers said. But the region with the largest numbers of nouveau riches is Asia, where the combined wealth of the rich grew 13 percent last year.
In the U.S., on the other hand, the wealthy got richer at a slower pace: 2 percent last year from a 6 percent the previous year. Western Europe didn’t fare better either with its 4 percent growth in 2015.
Analysts expect global wealth to grow over the next five years while being fueled by the existing assets in the U.S. and Japan and by new wealth in the emerging markets. Economists pinpointed that the global economic meltdown seems to have spared the rich, whose numbers are paradoxically growing.
Last year, the number of millionaires grew 6 percent worldwide. The report revealed that 47 percent of global wealth is now in the hands of millionaires, which make up just 1 percent of the world’s population. The countries with the largest numbers of new millionaires are China and India despite their populations still struggling with enormous income inequalities.
The countries with the most millionaires per capita remain Lichtenstein and Switzerland, two European countries renown for their high-performing banking systems.
The report also shows that the richest of the rich benefited the most from increases in wealth. The ultra-rich, or those who own more than $100 million, saw a rise in their fortunes by 7 percent last year. In Asia, the ultra-rich boosted their wealth by a staggering 21 percent over the same period, according to the report.
Image Source: Pixabay
A man from Utah believes he has found the head of the legendary creature.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Todd May, a hiker from Utah, said he has irrefutable evidence that Bigfoot is real. During a 2013 hiking trip near Ogden, he reportedly stumbled upon an odd-looking oval object that resembles the head of the mythological creature.
While an expert thinks that the 75-pound object is definitely a rock, that hasn’t stopped May from touring the country to show the evidence to people willing to listen. Bigfoot or the Sasquatch is a legendary ape-like monster that roams free in the Northwestern U.S. wooded areas, according to local folklore.
Several Bigfoot fans claim that they captured the legendary animal on tape, with Roger Patterson’s 1967 footage being the most famous. But there has never been rock-solid evidence that the creature exists. Until now, or so Mr. May claims.
May said that he had been a Bigfoot enthusiast since he was a small child. The man reports two sightings of the legendary creature he has witnessed himself. He recalls that one of the creatures ran off as soon as it detected the man’s presence.
The other creature, which had a reddish fur, was more daring and gazed at May for several moments before it walked off.
Ever since, May has been combing the Ogden Canyon to find more creatures. Plus, he met people who are convinced that they also saw a live Sasquatch.
May is not discouraged by his critics and continues to strongly believe that the object he found is a Bigfoot skull. He noted that his critics are either “haters” or Bigfoot fans that don’t like him for having found the evidence before they did.
But his detractors come also from academic circles. For instance, Prof. Jesse Carlucci from the Midwestern State University, claims he has seen the object. The professor added that it is nothing more than a weird looking rock.
The cracks that resemble the eyes and the mouth of the creature are caused by continuous exposure to the chemical elements in rainwater, Carlucci explained. Genuine fossilized skulls, however, are not that hard. They have a different texture and they are softer and more flexible when touched.
But despite criticism, the legend of Bigfoot lives in the hearts of its fans. You can check out all the reported sightings of the creature in a sightings database run by volunteers at bfro.net.
According to the list Washington, California and Florida have the largest number of reported sightings in the nation with 620, 432, and 307 reports respectively.
Image Source: YouTube
Bees need to be removed, not exterminated.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – According to the latest study, the best way to remove honeybees from your property is to call for someone who will safely take care of the problem without harming the bees.
One of these people is Tom Davis, a beekeeper who recently removed a 60,000 swarm of honeybees safely from a hive with no casualties. Thanks to his infrared camera he was able to examine the hive first to establish the exact number of bees.
Tom’s target is always to gather safely and transport the bees, instead of exterminating them. Therefore, he first cut a hole in the deck to expose the hive. Then, he managed to extract all honeycomb so other pests, such as rodents, won’t move in afterwards.
The entire abandoned comb would be melted down into lotion even if it used to be useful for bees. Furthermore, his best strategy to gather the bees is by using a vacuum to suck up and safely store the honeybees for transport.
In addition to this, Davis always finds a proper place for the bees to make a new hive. However, hive removals can be quite expensive reaching up to $100 per hour, because the work to remove honeybees is quite dangerous and demanding.
According to Tom, bee swarms usually appear when the weather gets warmer. Every time a queen abandons a hive, it takes 60 percent of the worker bees and starts to swarm in open areas and trees. The presence of a swarm means that the bees are trying to find a proper place to make a hive.
Therefore, experts advise people that if they spot a swarm on their property, they should call for help as soon as possible instead of waiting or worse, trying to deal with the issue on their own. Plus, Davis believes that every beekeeper will come and remove the swarm without asking for anything in exchange.
People can find many beekeepers offering free swarm removal at the Bee Removal Source website. It is a good thing because 40 percent of the hives are wiped out every year, meaning that we might lose the entire bee population ten years from now.
All in all, honeybees deserve a chance because it is not their fault for trying to find a home.
Image Source:Pixabay
Obesity surgery has benefits but also risks.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Recent research has shown that obesity surgery might substantially decrease the risk of premature death among obese people.
Scientists observed five years after surgery that those who had obesity surgery had a death rate of just a little more than 1 percent whereas those in the non-surgery group had a 4 percent mortality rate. Lead researcher Christina Persson from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and her colleagues analyzed the data from around 49,000 obese participants in Sweden, with ages between 18 and 74 years old.
Over 22,500 of members had weight-loss surgery between 2000 and 2011. Compared to them, 26,000 people did not have the surgery. Around 93 percent of those in the surgery group had gastric bypass. The results showed that the mortality rate dropped off 57 percent in the surgery group compared to the other group.
This percent remained the same after scientists adjusted for age and other previous health conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. However, the most common causes of death among those who had obesity surgery were cancer, heart disease, accidents and suicide.
These statistics underline the fact that researchers only accounted for cancer and heart disease as a difference in death rates between those who did not have weight-loss surgery and those who had. Plus, there is a thorough patient selection of people that are allowed to have this surgery.
For instance, individuals who do not comprehend the benefits or the risks and the ones that have a lack of commitment to nutritional supplementation would not be allowed to have surgery. In addition to this, people who abuse alcohol or drugs and the ones that suffer from uncontrolled psychiatric illnesses are not allowed as well.
Even those who have type 1 diabetes can’t have the surgery unless it is indicated because the patient is obese. Weight-loss surgery is usually suggested to patients that suffer from type 2 diabetes.
Plus, they can have the surgery only if they suffer from class III obesity, regardless of glucose-lowering regimens and glycemic control, or if they have class II obesity with inadequately controlled hyperglycemia despite medical interventions and lifestyle.
Nevertheless, obesity surgery is still a risky procedure because the statistics have shown that the common causes of death are still many after the surgery such as suicide, cancer and heart conditions.
Image Source:Pixabay
Every shark is unique.
(Mirror Daily, United States) – Statistics showed that the highest number of unprovoked attacks from sharks was registered in 2015. Compared with 72 attacks in 2014, 99 were reported last year.
However, these numbers are not even close to the 25,000 deaths caused by dogs every year, most of them because of rabies. Many people have a wrong perspective about sharks seeing them as monsters or some killers. Still, sharks are just complex marine mammals which turn out to have personalities.
A team of researchers from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia discovered that every shark from the Port Jackson has its own personality expressed through their habits. The team made a study to establish which sharks are bolder than others.
In the first experiment, they put sharks into a shelter inside a tank. Then, they observed how much time the sharks needed to dare venture out of the shelter and explore the surroundings. In the second experiment, the sharks were picked up by a handler and released back into the tank.
Both of these experiments aimed to determine how sharks would cope with stress and how long would take them to calm down in a strange environment. Researchers learned that every shark handled the situations differently and continued to behave in a similar manner every time, with some of them seeming bolder than others.
Even if the study was quite simple, the results showed that some sharks are more adventurous and outgoing than others, meaning that they have various personality traits. According to Culum Brown, one of the researchers, these findings prove that shark behavior is varied and that these marine animals have unique preferences.
Plus, scientists believe that we will better understand and even predict in the future how some predators behave in the presence of humans. In addition to this, personality is related to behavior by influencing activity levels, habitat use, and prey choice.
According to Evan Byrnes, lead researcher, personality research has established in the past few decades that around 200 species of animals have an individual personality. We need to understand the role of sharks in our lives and the marine ecosystem in order to protect them better and avoid future casualties.
Image Source:Wikipedia