Health and medical discoveries: Viruses that can beat brain cancer

Pamela Terry

New medical advances are always exciting and they have plenty of them. One of the breakthroughs that people are working on is embryonic stem cells therapy. This is a controversial topic in America because it's a question of ethics.

The government in America is only funding Adult stem cells research. Adult stem cells research is great but it's limited in some ways whereas embryonic stem cells are not that limiting. However, embryonic stem cells research will provides us with many different types of treatment options for all types of medical conditions. It'll save a lot of people's lives. This is something that the next president has to ponder about.

One really great breakthrough recently is on October, 27, 2008 where they have a new method to battle brain cancer. This is a profound method that you've never heard of before and it's very creative. Once you know about it you will be surprise as to how far medical research can take you.
You begin to question whether the method can be use for treating other diseases as well such as HIV something that we are all desperate for. We want a cure to HIV or a vaccine at least. What if we take some of the methods that have been successful for other medical condition and see if we can apply that toward finding a cure or a vaccine for HIV?

The recent discovery was a method that would nearly cure brain cancer. It's definitely profound. This is a treatment …

How to Avoid Middle School Stress: Communicate, Create a Plan for Homework, Meet the School Counselor

Pamela Terry

Although has passed, April brings an equal level of intense activity for tweens and their parents. As the school year draws to a close for many elementary students, middle school looms on the horizon. Orientation nights attempt to acclimate parents and their tween-age children to the challenges facing them in the fall. Often both parents and tweens leave these meetings filled with new questions, growing anxiety and few resources to draw on in the months leading up to the school year.

Here's a middle school that goes above and beyond to help new students feel relaxed and confident about their transition. Small groups of elementary students join 8th grade mentors to explore and discuss some of the challenges they can expect to face in the coming year. The reviews from students were incredible. Elementary students felt less anxious and more confident about the year ahead after their orientation session with the 8th grade students. The subtle change from parent orientation night to student exploration day had a profound effect on the anxiety associated with the middle school transition. Whether your middle school offers an orientation night or day of exploration here’s a few additional ideas to consider as you prepare for the months ahead.

5 Tips for Relieving Middle School Stress

  • Call the middle school and schedule a 20-minute meeting for you and your child to meet with a counselor. Often the one-on-one meeting will answer most of your questions and concerns.
  • Buy a desktop calendar, and practice using
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Packing Vegetarian Picnic Foods for a Great Picnic Lunch

Pamela Terry

There's no need to worry. It's a lot easier (and cheaper) to feed vegetarians than you may think.

What Type of Vegetarian Picnic Foods Do You Need?

Did you know that there are actually several different types of vegetarians? It's true. Being a vegetarian means different things to different people. For example, some people eat fish, yet still consider themselves to be vegetarian. Others may or may not eat dairy products or eggs. Vegans are the most strict type of vegetarian and will not eat any type of animal product at all. Some even go so far as to not eat certain types of sugar because they are processed with an animal bone.

If you want to please your guest, you should ask them what types of foods they can eat. Most vegetarians are very open about this. They understand that you are trying to make an effort to feed them foods that you will enjoy and can eat, so they will do their best to help you out.

Of course, the next challenge may be to find foods that you will enjoy eating at your picnic as well.

Vegetarian Picnic Foods

Some of the best vegetarian picnic foods are quite similar to the types of picnic foods that a meat-eater would choose.

Sandwiches are always a great choice because they are easy to make and travel well. This could be a good way to accommodate both meat eaters and vegetarians because you could have a selection of different types …

Seven Surprising Herbs That Affect Your Heart

Pamela Terry

One of the earliest lessons I learned when becoming a master herbalist is that herbs can affect more than one part of your body. Sometimes that’s good and sometimes it isn’t. For me and that lesson it wasn’t. The herb I took left me with severe stomach pain for about six hours. Here are some herbs that affect your heart…some good and some bad.

Aloe: There are a lot of people praising aloe juice. Their only complaint is that it causes cramping and bloating. What they don’t realize is that some aloe juice products still have cardiac glycosides in them. These glycosides can interact with heart medications or heart conditions, whether you know you have one or not. Check carefully before consuming this product. Also, do not juice your own aloe. You won’t like the end results.

Cayenne: This is a general stimulant. It may also help deal with hardening of the arteries and heart rhythm problems. In food amounts it may do several other things…usually things we want. It is used in some over-the-counter pain medications and could help improve digestion.

Ephedra: This herb is not readily available in the U.S. There’s a good reason for that. It can and has caused serious heart problems, including death. It is primarily used for weight loss because it boosts metabolism. At one point it was also used in an over-the-counter asthma spray. This is an herb to stay away from.

Garlic: These supplements are useful for folks …

South American Coffees

Pamela Terry

American coffees are grown in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. To a large extent, the crops from this region share certain qualities. For one, they are without exception Arabica beans rather than Robusta. These two, Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora robusta, make up the vast majority of the coffees consumed today worldwide. On an annual basis, that amounts to about 400 cups. That’s a lot of coffee. Most of it is Arabica.

Comparing South American Coffees to their Nearby Cousins

While all the American coffees are characterized as well balanced, smooth, and medium to light weight in body, there are differences within the region. South America’s varietals tend to be somewhat milder than Central America’s. They are also sharper and softer.

Generally accepted flavor profiles, to put this into context, are broken into three categories–body, acidity, and balance characteristics. Each of these are scaled from one to five. This grading is not a matter of better or worse. It is instead descriptive. For body, to take one example, number one is light and number five heavy. For acidity, number one is soft and number five is assertive or sharp. For balance (which you can also think of as flavor harmony), number one is delicate or lean and number five is complete.

Central American coffees as a group are rated four-three-four. Caribbean coffees are rated four-four-five. South American coffees are rated three-four-four. That is, their body (or mouthfeel, as it’s called in wine tasting) is average rather …

Review: Stove Top Savory Herbs Stuffing Mix

Pamela Terry

Last night, my wife decided to make some steaks for dinner (we had them in our freezer and she figured she should use them before they were in there for too long). And, since we couldn't just eat steaks (well, I could, but she always wants something else), she ended up making some side dishes to go with them.

One of the things she ended up making was a box of Stove Top Savory Herbs Stuffing Mix. And, I think this was a good choice on her part.

We have had Stove Top Stuffing in the past because it is a very convenient and quick side dish. However, more recently, we have been buying cheaper knock-offs instead; mostly in an effort to stay within a fixed food budget. In fact, the only reason we ended up buying the more expensive Stove Top brand this time around was because we had a coupon for it.

Since it has been so long since we have had this product, I really couldn't remember much about it when we finally did have it again last night. However, if this Savory Herbs variety is any indication, I do think I will be buying this brand from now on.

One of the biggest problems we have with cheaper brands of stuffing mix is they rarely come out the way they should. Some are way too moist while others are extremely dry. Stove Top did it right. The stuffing was fluffy without being watered down and without …

Popular Emotional support dog certification

Pamela Terry

There are lots of people who are suffering from different mental disabilities all over the world. Some mental disability can be treated with pets that give emotional support. Confidence building measures include these pets that give utmost confidence to the people who suffer from such disabilities. These parts are known as emotional support pets and among them dogs are used the most. Dogs are amazing creatures and that is why there are so many people who use these dogs for healing their disabilities. There are many disabilities such as specific anxiety, generalized anxiety, depressive disorder, social phobia, personality disorders, mood disorder, and panic disorder etc.

This thing has been scientifically proven and that is why there are many who are now having such pets with them so that they can get cured. Nonetheless, there is a problem here, if you have such pet, you need to get it certified. Without proper certification, the airlines won’t allow you to board the flight and that is the reason why it is quite important to get the emotional support dog certification done. There are numerous medical professionals that provide such certification to you. This will allow you to take your emotional support dog with you while flying from one place to another.

These emotional support dogs are very popular among the people all over the world and there are many people who are using these dogs for their disabilities. But the airlines cannot allow people just to take their pet and go without …

Teas to Serve at an Afternoon Tea or a High Tea Party

Pamela Terry

At an afternoon tea party or high tea, the teas you offer guests are as important as the food. Choose several tea varieties to complement your teatime menu.

When planning an afternoon tea or high tea party, many people concentrate their efforts on serving delicious food. But just as much thought needs to be put into the beverages that will be offered to guests. Providing a choice of teas to match the food will enhance the whole dining experience.

With the huge range of teas on the market these days, how do you know which ones will be best for afternoon tea? Choose teas that are refreshing, satisfying, but not so strong that they overpower the dainty servings of finger sandwiches and little cakes.

Black Teas for Afternoon Tea

These can be served with or without milk, depending on individual taste. Also offer lemon slices, and a choice of sugar or honey to sweeten.

  • Darjeeling is considered to be the 'tea of teas'. Grown at high altitude in India and picked by hand at dawn, this delicate yet aromatic tea is perfect for an afternoon tea or high tea party. One variety called 'Castleton First Flush' goes well with smoked salmon savouries as well as strawberry jam and cream on scones.
  • Assam teas are also grown in India. These are a top-quality teas, tasting a little stronger than Darjeeling. Sometimes cardamon is used as a flavouring in this refreshing tea.
  • Ceylon teas from Sri Lanka are considered some of the
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Specialty Coffees

Pamela Terry

What is meant by specialty coffees? Generally speaking, let's work with the term meaning any coffee that isn't mass manufactured by a retail conglomerate offering more than one product line. In other words, the coffee you find in cans in the grocery store aisle isn't specialty coffee. Nor is 99.9 percent of the instant coffee usually found on the other side of the same aisle, sometimes the same side.

What Defines Specialty Coffees?

There is one exception to this generalization (rules being made to be broken, after all). The chicory and coffee blend that New Orleans, Louisiana is renowned for qualifies as a specialty coffee. Anyone who has ever visited New Orleans, and sat outside in the sun–whether near Mardi Grass time or otherwise–with a cafe au lait and a beignet at the old French Market, knows exactly what I mean here. But Cafe du Monde is the exception.

Specialty coffee for the connoisseur is generally pure coffee, whether whole bean or blend. It is not adulterated during the roasting process with any flavoring. Flavoring, if you insist, can be added after brewing, to your cup and only your cup. This is the purist speaking.

A broader interpretation embraces both flavored and unflavored beans. The distinguishing qualification is the individual approach–the single varietal crop, the careful attention paid it, the roasting process, the grinding, the nuanced approach to blending coffees. The art of specialty coffees–that is, the growing and tasting and enjoying–is remarkably similar to that of wine. Even the …

Is Beer Good For You? The Hops in Your Favorite Brew Can Help you Fight Disease

Pamela Terry

The hops in beer might make your brew a power drink. Oregon State University has published a preliminary study, finding that the hops in your favorite beer contains a substance that has powerful anti-cancer properties. Before you settle down to watch the game, consider your diet for a moment. No, this isn't another nag session trying to convince you to eat right . . .well, maybe it is.

Beer and Xanthohumol

If your favorite beverage comes with a head, you might be happy to discover that the hops in your ale may help fight cancer. The xanthohumol in hops has been shown to inhibit a group of enzymes that can initiate the cancer process. According to Ivanhoe, the science newswire, Xanthohumol can give an assist to your body in stopping the early stages of tumor growth.

The Power of Antioxidants in Beer

Because there are powerful antioxidants in xanthohumol, the sticky substance in hops, it may help the body deal with the breakdown of bad cholesterol. Containing antioxidants more powerful than vitamin E, this may be very good news.

Hops and Menopause

Hops also have phyto-estrogens, compounds that help reduce hot flashes and fight osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. These natural vegetable hormones, which occur in black cohosh, sage, and flax seed, among other plants and seeds, are becoming more popular in the treatment of postmenopausal symptoms in women, and hops is taking its place in the growing group of plants that are leading the fight.

Super Cancer Fighting Beer

Before …