Winter Solstice:

There is a moment of silence that occurs every year, somewhere between the dawn of Christmas and the setting sun on Christmas day itself. - a moment we have all experienced once in our lives, maybe more than once. It can silence a great city, London or New York, and it can bring stillness to our hearts, whoever and wherever we may be. It offers the promise of new beginnings, of the clean slate of a new year, and it incorporates the breathless expectancy of Christmas night itself, when a familiar figure enters our lives and changes them briefly.

Contributed by Gary and Merri Scott

I was depressed last night, so I called a Suicide Hot Line.

Got a freakin’ call center in Pakistan .

I told them I was suicidal.

They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

America is finished.  The American dream is dead.

2 Things You Might Not Know About Poinsettias

The colorful - usually red - parts of the poinsettia that most people think are the plant’s flowers aren’t flowers at all. They are actually groups of a type of leaf called a bract. The real flowers are in the center of each group of bracts. They are much smaller, and usually yellow.

And what about the warning that the poinsettia is highly toxic - that eating just one poinsettia leaf can kill you? Is it true? No, it’s a myth. Like many plants, poinsettias don’t taste good. So if you (or a pet) eat a couple of handfuls, you might get sick to your stomach - but not enough to require medical treatment.

(Source: Snopes and University of Illinois Extension)

> My husband and I had been happily married (most of
> the time) for five
> years but hadn’t been blessed with a baby. I decided
> to do some serious
> praying and promised God that if he would give us a
> child
>
> I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my
> heart and raise it with
> His word as my guide. God answered my prayers and
> blessed us with a son.
> The next year God blessed us with another son. The
> following year, He
> blessed us with yet another son. The year after that
> we were blessed
> with a daughter. My husband thought we’d been
> blessed right into
> poverty. We now had four children and the oldest was
> only four years
> old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless
> I meant it As a
> minister once told me, “If you pray for rain, make
> sure you carry an
> umbrella.” I began reading a few verses of the Bible
> to the children
> each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a
> good start.God had
> entrusted me with four children and I didn’t want to
> disappoint Him. I
> tried to be patient the day the children smashed two
> dozen eggs on the
> kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to
> be understanding…
> when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the
> spare bedroom,
> although it took me nearly two hours to catch all
> twenty-three frogs.
> When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and
> rolled up in a
> blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried
> to see the humor
> rather than the mess. In spite of changing over
> twenty-five thousand
> diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping
> for more than thirty
> minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my
> children. While I
> couldn’t keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I
> didn’t even come
> close… I did keep my promise to raise them in the
> Word of God. I knew
> I was missing the mark just a little when I told my
> daughter we were
> going to church to worship God, and she wanted to
> bring a bar of soap
> along to “wash up” Jesus, too. Something was lost in
> the translation
> when I explained that God gave us everlasting life,
> and my son thought
> it was generous of God to give us his “last wife.”
> My proudest moment
> came during the children’s Christmas pageant. My
> daughter was playing
> Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest
> son was a wise man.
> This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old
> shepherd had practiced
> his line, “We found the babe wrapped in swaddling
> clothes.” But he was
> nervous and said, “The baby was wrapped in wrinkled
> clothes.” My
> four-year-old “Mary” said, “That’s not ‘wrinkled
> clothes,’ silly. That’s
> dirty, rotten clothes.” A wrestling match broke out
> between Mary and the
> shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her
> halo and lost her
> left wing. I slouched a little lower
>
> in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing
> Baby Jesus, and it
> bounced down the aisle crying, “Mama-mama.” Mary
> grabbed the doll,
> wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise
> men arrived. My other
> son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper
> crown, knelt at the
> manger and announced, “We are the three wise men,
> and we are bringing
> gifts of gold, common sense and fur.” The
> congregation dissolved into
> laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation.
> “I’ve never enjoyed a
> Christmas program as much as this one,” laughed the
> pastor, wiping tears
> from his eyes “For the rest of my life, I’ll never
> hear the Christmas
> story without thinking of gold, common sense and
> fur.” “My children are
> my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing,” I
> said as I dug through
> my purse for an aspirin.
>

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News Release

New Study Shows High Blood Pressure May Make it Difficult for the Elderly to Think Clearly

Media Contact(s)

Dr. Jason Allaire, (919) 513-7394

Matt Shipman, News Services, (919) 515-6386

Dec. 15, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Adding another reason for people to watch their blood pressure, a new study from North Carolina State University shows that increased blood pressure in older adults is directly related to decreased cognitive functioning, particularly among seniors with already high blood pressure. This means that stressful situations may make it more difficult for some seniors to think clearly.

Dr. Jason Allaire, an assistant professor of psychology at NC State who co-authored the study, explains that study subjects whose average systolic blood pressure was 130 or higher saw a significant decrease in cognitive function when their blood pressure spiked. However, Allaire notes, study subjects whose average blood pressure was low or normal saw no change in their cognitive functioning – even when their blood pressure shot up.

Specifically, Allaire says, the study shows a link between blood pressure spikes in seniors with high blood pressure and a decrease in their inductive reasoning. “Inductive reasoning is important,” Allaire says, “because it is essentially the ability to work flexibly with unfamiliar information and find solutions.”

Allaire says the findings may indicate that mental stress is partially responsible for the increase in blood pressure – and the corresponding breakdown in cognitive functioning. However, Allaire notes that normal fluctuations in blood pressure likely play a role as well.

The study, which is published in the current issue of Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, examined blood pressure and cognitive functioning test data collected from a cohort of adults aged 60-87 twice daily for 60 days. The lead author is Alyssa A. Gamaldo, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at NC State. A second co-author is Sarah R. Weatherbee, who is also a Ph.D. candidate in psychology at NC State.

- shipman  -

Note to editors: The study abstract follows.

“Exploring the Within-Person Coupling of Blood Pressure and Cognition in the Elderly”

Authors: Alyssa A. Gamaldo, Sarah R. Weatherbee, Dr. Jason C. Allaire, North Carolina State University

Published: December 15, 2008, in Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences

Medical News Releases > Medical News Releases >

Apple or pear shape is not main culprit to heart woes — it’s liver fat

By Jim Dryden

Dec. 3, 2008 — For years, pear-shaped people who carry weight in the thighs and backside have been told they are at lower risk for high blood pressure and heart disease than apple-shaped people who carry fat in the abdomen. But new findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest body-shape comparisons don’t completely explain risk.

In two studies, they report excess liver fat appears to be the real key to insulin resistance, cholesterol abnormalities and other problems that contribute to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Having too much fat stored in the liver is known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

“Since obesity is so much more common now, both in adults and in children, we are seeing a corresponding increase in the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,” says senior investigator Samuel Klein, M.D., the Danforth Professor of Medicine and Nutritional Science. “That can lead to serious liver disorders such as cirrhosis in extreme cases, but more often it tends to have metabolic consequences.”

Klein, who heads the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science and runs Washington University’s Center for Human Nutrition, studied obese adolescents. They were divided into two groups: obese with excessive liver fat and those with no evidence of fatty liver disease. The groups were matched by age, sex, body mass index, body fat percentage and degree of obesity.

The researchers determined that children with fatty liver disease also had abnormalities in glucose and fat metabolism, including lower levels of HDL cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol. Those without a fatty liver did not have markers of metabolic problems. Whether shaped like pears or apples, it was fat in the liver that influenced metabolic risk.

“Abdominal fat is not the best marker for risk,” says Klein, who also directs the Nutrition Support Service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. “It appears liver fat is the real marker. Abdominal fat probably has been cited in the past because it tends to track so closely with liver fat. But if you look at people where the two don’t correspond — with excess fat in the liver but not in the abdomen and vice versa — the only thing that consistently predicts metabolic derangements is fat in the liver.”

In a second study, Klein’s team found nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was related to the release of larger amounts of fatty acids into the bloodstream that were, in turn, linked to elevated triglycerides and to insulin resistance, a key precursor to type 2 diabetes.

“Multiple organ systems become resistant to insulin in these adolescent children with fatty liver disease,” he says. “The liver becomes resistant to insulin and muscle tissue does, too. This tells us fat in the liver is a marker for metabolic problems throughout the entire system.”

The findings indicate that children and adults with fatty liver disease should be targeted for intensive interventions, according to Klein. Those who are obese but don’t have fatty liver disease still should be encouraged to lose weight, but those with evidence of fatty liver are at particularly high risk for heart disease and diabetes. They need to be treated aggressively with therapies to help them lose weight because weight loss can make a big difference.

“Fatty liver disease is completely reversible,” he says. “If you lose weight, you quickly eliminate fat in your liver. As little as two days of calorie restriction can improve the situation dramatically, and as fat in the liver is reduced, insulin sensitivity and metabolic problems improve.”

###

Fabbrini E, deHaseth D, Deivanayagam S, Mohammed BS, Vitola BE, Klein S. Alterations in fatty acid kinetics in obese adolescents with increased intrahepatic triglyceride content. Obesity (2008), published online Oct. 2008. doi:10.1038/oby.2008.494

Deivanayagam S, Mohammed BS, Vitola BE, Naguib GH, Keshen TH, Kirk EP, Klein S. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with hepatic and skeletal muscle insulin resistance in overweight adolescents. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 88(2) pp. 257-262, Aug. 2008.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health.

Washington University School of Medicine’s 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked third in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthC

PRAYER FOR PROTECTION

The Light of God surrounds me;

The Love of God enfolds me;

The Power of God Protects me;

The Presence of God watches over me;

Wherever I am God is !

Contributor:  Silent Unity

“The hardest arithmetic to master is
that which enables us to count our blessings.”
-Eric Hoffer

According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear water. The water was so sweet he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.

Later, the teacher let another student taste the water. He spat it out, saying it was awful. It apparently had become stale because of the old leather container. The student challenged his teacher: “Master, the water was foul. Why did you pretend to like it?”

The teacher replied, “You only tasted the water. I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of living-kindness and nothing could be sweeter.”

Self-motivation without gratitude is impossible. Our energy is “sapped” when our entire focus is on what’s wrong instead of what is right with our lives. One of our greatest challenges is to live and love in spite of pain and disappointment…to find gratitude in the midst of it all.

Reflect for a moment on this beautiful quote from Melody Beattie:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”