PHILOSOPHY SHOULD LEAD SCIENCE

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

 Any high school student will tell you that leaves of plants use carbon dioxide of the atmosphere and water absorbed by the roots to make starch in the presence of sunlight for use by the cells of plants. As a layman, certain doubts arose in my mind which I discussed with senior students and a professor in university. I should confess, instead of clearing my mind, it only helped to confirm my thesis that every cell in the plant (except dead cells !) re-uses the CO₂ and H₂0 , released during respiration, for synthesizing starch. This is purely a philosophical conclusion,as I lost touch with the world of science in March 1957 after B.Sc. examination.I shall enumerate some of my points :

1)      The extremely tender, minute root tips are always growing and require continuous supply of starch.In very tall trees,the distance from top leaves to the root tips may be as much as 300 metres.There is no proper mechanism for transport of starch over such distance,unless we can locate different channels for upward movement of water and downward movement of starch in dissolved form, right from root tip to leaf tip and back. Xylem and phloem tissues are mentioned as responsible for this movement,but in trees like teak, jackwood etc all tissues inside the bark except perhaps a thin  layer of cortex, are absolutely dead and impervious to water, being filled with wood oil and compressed by the weight of the trunk. That is why we are able to make furniture,boats,ships etc with wood. Actually, the clever tree is making use of the dead cells as a skeleton-like support for its branches and leaves ,the latter being mercilessly dropped after making use of them!

2)      In Silent Valley in Kerala, I was shown a very tall tree, hollow inside, with two convenient natural holes, one at the bottom and the other at the top. We can see the sky, looking up from the bottom hole! The tree is alive. How is water and starch transported when xylem and phloem are absent?  

3)      In Australia, ring cutting was extensively resorted to, for felling trees. The bark and a small part of cortex was removed by making an eight inch deep cutting round the trunk at the bottom. After about six months, the tree falls down dead. This clearly proves that the outermost live cells are responsible for water transport.

4)      We plant rose cuttings. The cells on one end develop into a shoot and cells on the other side produce roots .Plant cells are remarkably versatile.Every cell can split and produce all chemicals required for making a duplicate cell . It is impossible to believe that a root cell will wait for starch to come from leaves, when raw materials are available as a result of its own respiration, and it has the necessary technical know-how for making even complicated proteins. Do we not re-use waste in a space station? Are we cleverer than plants?

5)      There is no way for a plant cell , except in the leaves, to get rid of CO₂ produced during respiration. When I, earlier, circulated my doubts in this regard, via email,I got only one response .The botanist had only one word-‘diffusion’ to desciribe the process. In the humans, is it enough if we just say ‘respiration’? We study all detailed mechanism in human physiology. In the same way, should we not describe the method used by plants to obtain oxygen and get rid of CO₂? The professor also said the same thing.As adjoining cells are also producing CO₂, how is diffusion possible?The area surrounding the roots will become saturated with CO₂.The root will die. The conclusion is inescapable: cells are recycling water and CO₂ produced during respiration.

6)      When mango fruits are produced in bulk during the season,the number of leaves are actually curtailed! Will farmers curtail production of food grains when it is required in bulk? Laburnum tree becomes almost yellow with flowers in the season, leaves hardly visible. How is starch produced when leaves are reduced?

7)      Bamboo, papaya tree etc are hollow,in the case of the former, there are segments,each one a waterproof compartment . Coconut tree mysteriously carries gallons of water to make toddy. If you cut the tree, not a trace of water is found. Are trees using nano technology?

8)      In my view,the main function of leaves is to pump water up for which lot of energy is required.Naturally,they make large quantities of starch which attracted the attention of botanists who hastily came to the conclusion that only leaves are concerned in this process.

9)      Maximum number of fish thrive in the deep oceans eating planktons which make starch in strata which receive practically no sunlight.

In view of the above, I feel more research is needed before we come to a firm concusion about the mechanism for production of starch and its transportation.

Today, institutions like NASA have all the technical capabilities to study this issue which should not be left to the comparatively ill equipped botanists.

Please note that Health2o Products does not claim that its Archaea Active™ formula will provide all or any of these benefits with use of its products.

OXYGEN UTILIZATION

Oxygen is your greatest and first source of energy. It is the fuel required for the proper operation of all body systems. It is estimated that 10% of our energy comes from food and water, but 90% of our energy comes from oxygen. Oxygen gives our body the ability to rebuild itself. Maintaining proper oxygen levels in the body is a vital ingredient to health, vitality, physical stamina and endurance.
 

POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF INCREASED OXYGEN UTILIZATION MAY INCLUDE: 

• Increased energy levels
• Increased stamina and endurance
• Enhanced absorption of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins and other important nutrients.
• More rapid fatigue recovery
• Support of a healthy circulation system
• Strengthening of the immune system
• Heightened concentration and alertness
• Calming of the nervous system
• Relief of stress and anxiety

Sports: For athletes, the positive effects of more efficient oxygen utilization are seen in both their performance during activities and their recovery from exertion. The cell’s more efficient use of oxygen may:

• Cater to the increased demand for energy.
• Facilitate regeneration of muscles and other tissue damaged by exertion
• Make it possible to recover faster, train harder and ultimately perform better

Overall Health: Better oxygen utilization allows individuals to potentially realize the many benefits of improved cellular health.  These may include:

• Helping convert nutrients into energy
• Facilitating the repair of damaged cells
• Staving off and alleviating fatigue
• Improving the functioning of all body systems, including those of the brain
• Supporting better general health and well-being
• Lessening damage caused by free radicals
• Supporting the functioning and performance of organic systems
• Promoting a healthy inflammatory response

www.abcmedicalandoxygen.com

Injecting oxygen into cancerous tumours significantly boosts the chances of recovery, a ground-breaking study has revealed.

Scientists at Oxford University found slightly increasing the supply strengthened blood vessels in cancer cells, making chemotherapy more effective.

Cells which are damaged and weak had a constricted oxygen supply and were less sensitive to radiotherapy treatments, in a series of experiments on mice.

Ground-breaking: Slightly increasing the oxygen supply could strengthen blood vessels in breast cancer cells like these

The team behind the breakthrough hailed it as an ‘exciting’ development which would allow drugs to ’soften up’ tumours before they are targeted with strong treatments.

Scientists had previously tried to starve tumours of oxygen, believing a more stable blood supply would only help the cancer spread.

Professor Gillies McKenna, director of the UK-MRC Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology & Biology, said: ‘We are very excited to have uncovered this brand new approach to cancer treatment where the drugs prime the cancer cells for radiotherapy.

‘You might expect that by increasing an oxygen supply to tumour cells you would help them grow. But actually by oxygenating the cell with a better blood supply we enable radiotherapy and chemotherapy to do a better job of killing them.’

The research is published today in the journal Cancer Today and includes tests on breast, head and neck cancers as well as carcinomas on the skin and major organs.

Scientists tested the effects of four drugs which are in clinical use or under development for cancer therapy.

The drugs were given to the mice at doses which did not alter tumour growth but the effects of the drugs acted to increase the blood supply to the tumours.

An early trial in human patients with pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat has also been positive, Professor McKenna said.

He added: ‘Previous work by our group had shown that treatment with some of these types of drugs could improve radiotherapy, but it was not understood how. Now with the new understanding, strategies could be developed to use these drugs to ‘soften up’ tumour cells before treating them with radiotherapy.’

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer information, said: ‘For a long time scientists have been looking for ways to boost the oxygen supply to tumours to improve response to treatment and make radiotherapy even more effective. 

‘We still need to do more work on this technique but boosting the effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy are very exciting developments that hold real potential for use in patients.’

Excerpts from GLOBAL WARMING IS A MYTH

IS CARBON DI OXIDE THE VILLAIN?

Such terms as carbon credit find a place in newspapers almost daily. I don’t know what is all this about. To me CO₂ sustains life on earth. Has the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere gone up? Has it been proved experimentally?

 Before Industrialization

The whole of America and most of the old world were inhabited by a comparatively small population, a majority of whom depended upon meat and fish. Farming depended entirely on rain water as big dams were unknown. The grasslands of America and Australia didn’t produce food grains. Coal and other fossil fuels were not commercially exploited. In those days we may presume that a proper balance existed between CO₂ and other ingredients of the air like N₂ and O₂ in spite of forest fires, the like of which we witnessed in California recently.

After Industrialization

Commercial exploitation of coal began first followed by oil and natural gas, resulting in increase in the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere. Simultaneously two other developments followed: increase in population (both human and animal) and corresponding growth in food grains production. Big dams were constructed and more and more areas of land were brought under cultivation. Mechanization and the use of artificial fertilizers made leaps and bounds in production of food grains, fruits and other commercial crops. The Prairies of North America became the granary of the world. Compared to grass, food grains and sugar fix a large quantity of CO₂. The major items responsible for such CO₂ fixation are:

1. food grains like wheat, corn, rice, oats, soybean etc
2. underground vegetables like potato, tapioca, beetroot etc
3. fruits like apple, grapes, banana, dates, cherry, pineapple etc
4. sugarcane etc

Experts can calculate the total quantity of CO₂ produced by industry and that absorbed by vegetation as mentioned above and the marine vegetation in order to find out whether the net balance is favoring CO₂ concentration in the air. An easier way would be to experimentally ascertain the percentage of CO₂ in the atmospheric air (being heavier than air CO₂ is available near the surface of the earth). If CO₂ level increases O₂ level should decrease. In my childhood (I am 70+) O₂ level was 20% as mentioned in my text book. Has it changed? An atom of carbon combines with two atoms of oxygen to form CO₂ which is absorbed by the leaves of the plant to form starch. In the process two atoms of oxygen are released into the atmosphere. We may say that each carbon atom burnt ultimately results in the release of two atoms of oxygen, thus resulting in increase in the level of O₂. Level of CO₂ dissolved in the ocean water should also be checked. If this level increases, fishes would die en mass. Has this happened? If the level of CO₂ dissolved in ocean waters decreases, plant life in the ocean cannot produce enough starch by photosynthesis. This will be a hazard for fishes and other marine life.

The volume of animal and hence plant life in the oceans is much more than that on the continents. This is because the area of the oceans is seven times the area of the continents. Also, the oceans are deep. Hence the volume of water is very much more and can contain a large population of marine life. The necessary starch has to come from plant life. So, the total bio mass in the oceans is considerably higher than that in the continent. The carbon di oxideàPlant starchàAnimalsàCarbon di oxide cycle is there in the watery medium, just as in our atmosphere. All the gases, including nitrogen, will be present in dissolved state in the oceans too. Here industrialization has not affected the ‘atmosphere’ of the ocean. This fact has to be recognized in any discussion on Global Warming.

[The percentage of various components of atmospheric air as obtained from the websites is given below:

Nitrogen 78.1

Oxygen 20.9

Argon 0.9

Neon 0.002

Helium 0.0005

Krypton 0.0001

Hydrogen 0.00005

Carbon di oxide 0.035!!!!!!!! (Poor, innocent CO2 has been maligned unnecessarily)

Methane 0.0002

Ozone 0.000004

This would suggest that the percentage of oxygen has slightly increased. If this is true it augers ill, as forest fires may become uncontrollable with increase in the level of oxygen in the coming years. Therefore, this line should be investigated separately by experts. My guess is that with unchecked use of nitrogenous fertilizers, the total bio mass in the earth could have increased. The requisite extra nitrogen must have been drawn from the atmosphere along with CO₂ releasing extra oxygen into the atmosphere as pointed out above.]

The importance of proper scientific study cannot be over emphasized. Mother Nature maintains her balance, whatever her children may do!

QVC CEO Mike George

Then back in October, we couldn’t believe it when a sharp-eyed poster on QVC’s jewelry forum said that upscale jewelry designer Stephen Dweck, whose chunky gemstone masterpieces are featured in Neiman Marcus, was on the No. 1 home shopping network’s schedule. THE Stephen Dweck?

We checked QVC’s program guide ourselves, and there it was: Dweck was doing a lower-priced jewelry line for QVC called Dweck’s Diamonds. His Neiman Marcus pieces didn’t even have diamonds. The high-end stuff is made with semi-precious stones.

Also in October, we were checking the press releases on HSN’s Web site when we saw the network had struck a deal with one of the most famous and elite fashion houses: Badgley Mischka, designers of bejeweled gowns for the red carpet and celebrities.

We’ve written bits and pieces of this during the past two months, but we thought we’d tie it all up in a tidy package for Thanksgiving: There has been a sea change in the home shopping world, prompted by the disastrous economy and the crash of the luxury market.

Yes, home shopping networks have seen their sales hurt by the economy, like everyone else. But they claim they are still managing to steal market share from brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, QVC is making a full-frontal assault on them this Black Friday, with 28 hours of special products and programming stunts starting Thanksgiving night.

The consumer press will continue to mention “cubic zirconia” in every story it writes about QVC or HSN, oblivious to the fact that some of the most esteemed names in fashion, jewelry and cosmetics — brands you find in Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus — are plying their wares on the aforementioned home shopping channels.

ShopNBC CEO Keith Stewart

Male journalists are blind to this. You still have the nerds at Gawker, a snide Web Site for the navel-gazing media, chiding HSN for selling “useless crap.”

If you have ever seen how male journalists dress or their fashion and style sensibilities, you will realize that you can’t expect them to know names like Badgley Mischka, Judith Ripka, Robert Lee Morris, our fellow Montclair, N.J., resident Bobbi Brown, Yves Saint Laurent, Smashbox, Lancome and Dweck. And these brands and artists don’t represent “useless crap.”

Luxury-good makers are hurting, and they need to make up their loss in sales. So they are turning to outlets like QVC, as CEO Mike George explained at a recent Liberty Media conference, as outlets to distribute new lower-priced lines to the masses. George cited fashion designer Vivienne Tam’s QVC alliance at the meeting held in Manhattan by his parent company, Liberty.

“This complete implosion of luxury retailing in America has caused all these folks to rethink their business model,” George said.

And that means partnering with QVC, HSN or ShopNBC.

As we said, it will take the consumer press years to figure out that home shopping channels are distribution powerhouses that have undergone a transformation, in part because of the infllux of talent like a Morris, who does couture jewelry for designers like Donna Karan and RLM Studio sterling silver jewelry for QVC.

The Big Three — QVC, HSN and ShopNBC — are aggressively trying to broaden their audience and potential customer base, those who don’t normally watch any of these three networks. That means the three are actually “programming” the channels, doing “shows” that have entertainment value, not just product shilling, so they will attract non-QVC or non-HSN watchers.

We remember once interviewing a QVC exec years ago and asking what the network’s ratings were. He said ratings were irrelevant: QVC was only concerned about how many products were sold in an hour.

HSN CEO Mindy Grossman

That’s a totally different tune from what we heard recently from QVC’s George, and from the strategies that HSN CEO Mindy Grossman and ShopNBC CEO Keith Stewart have initiated.

Like traditional TV networks, the home shopping players want viewers to “sample” a QVC or an HSN. These new audience members, hopefully, will then see products that they want to buy.

For example, singer Natalie Cole recently did a live concert on HSN to promote a new Holiday CD set she is selling on the channel. If you’re a fan, you might tune in to HSN to see her, and then actually decide to purchase her CD. Artists such
as Jose Feliciano have also performed live on QVC.

QVC alum Stewart on a recent third-quarter conference call pointed out that actress-entrepeneur Suzanne Somers, who came to ShopNBC from HSN, had succeeded in attracting new viewers to Minneapolis-based ShopNBC because she was “entertaining.” And these networks want new eyeballs.

And home shopping networks’ capacity to reach millions of consumers and do fulfillment of orders has not been lost on magazine publishers, celebrities or cable’s reality TV stars. With circulation falling, women’s magazines such as Lucky, Allure, Glamour and Self are partnering with HSN to sell subscriptions.

And stars have seen the light. In a recent interview in Oprah Winfey’s O magazine, Joan Rivers, who’s had a jewelry line on QVC for almost 20 years, told O she was on home shopping when “nobody except dead celebrities was doing merchandise on TV.”

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a celebrity or TV star who doesn’t have a home shopping line. Even Madonna was interviewed on HSN when she was selling her children’s book.

Here’s a partial list:

Paula Abdul, HSN, formerly “American Idol,” Fox

Rachel Zoe, QVC, “The Rachel Zoe Project,” Bravo

Isaac Mizrahi, QVC, “The Fashion Show,” Bravo

Padma Lakshmi, HSN, “Top Chef,” Bravo

Ramona Singer, HSN, “The Real Housewives of New York City,” Bravo

Susan Lucci, HSN, “All My Children,” ABC

Carson Kressley, QVC, “How to Look Good Naked,” Lifetime Television

Dr. Robert Rey, ShopNBC, “Dr. 90210,” E! Entertainment Television

Tori Spelling, HSN, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood,” Oxygen

Paula Deen, QVC, Food Network

Rachael Ray, QVC, “The Rachael Ray Show,” syndication

Ingrid Hoffmann, HSN, Food Network and Univision

Home shopping is a big business. ShopNBC is the also-ran in the group, but in the third quarter Stewart made some nice progress cutting its losses. Sales for the Big Three were all down, but down less than previous quarters.

And we are not talking chump change for these networks. The three home shopping channels generated $8.3 billion in net revenue in 2008. QVC domestic posted $4.9 billion, HSN netted $2.8 billion and ShopNBC had $568 million.

Even with revenue still slipping this year, for the first nine months QVC had revenue of $3.308 billion; HSN had net sales of $1.4 billion; and ShopNBC had $372.6 million in net sales.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Girls behaving badly make for great TV and Oxygen has scored the biggest coup with The Bad Girls Club. This particular train wreck — which gives the network some of its highest ratings — brings together seven ladies with some sort of issues that they need work out. Said issues tend revolve around promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, and an incessant need to fight.

Hitting is a no-no in the girls’ swanky L.A. mansion and whoever takes a swipe first in an altercation is immediately ousted from the house. The show ends up regularly rotating its cast of characters thanks to the swing-happy household.

With all the strong personalities, “I do whatever I want” mantras and tough-girl attitudes that require proving, it’s inevitable that a few fists will fly during the fourth season of Bad Girls Club. The real question is when. Will the fights start on the first episode, which premieres on 12/1? 60% of voting Predicto Mobile members say yes!

See how this question struck a nerve with players!

What do you think will happen? You can find out by visiting Predicto.com and registering for the text message-based mobile game that has everyone predicting the outcome of sports, pop culture, news and entertainment events. Along with being able to vote on surveys, including this one, you’ll get updates when the answers are revealed.

Sign up today — and get more Predicto by becoming a fan on Facebook!

Picture this: laughter, gaiety, pleasant company, delicious dinner on the floor, Nerf darts flying through the air, giant piles of bean bag-esque dealies to sit on—a generally lovely night all around. Queue temporary anoxic nightmare. Queue emergency room. Queue nothing. Somewhere a doctor at Edwards Hospital retreats to his/her office and admires his/her own face in a solid gold plate before delicately eating a decadent truffle off it. At least that’s how I picture it.

Alright, so you tell me where the money went.

I am having an evening with my darling male escort at the home of a few of his friends about two months back. His friend is cooking us a superb dinner (which we will then eat, charmingly, on the floor. Having grown up in a home that was additionally a daycare in the basement during my formative years, I have an affinity for floor-eating, so I am in my element). The food being prepared far outweighs my abilities in the kitchen, and so I volunteer triumphantly to take the little Pillsbury crescent rolls out of the tube and arrange them on the pan. The ones I do look like multi-layered and variously sized sticks. Huh. Not sure how I pulled that off, but at least it does not affect the taste. We eat, all is right with the world.

After about an hour and a half eyeing their cat, whose name is Tribute (as I’m told, he’s not the greatest cat in the world), my cat allergies begin to overtake my fragile little body. Massive asthma attack (oh yes—I am asthmatic too. My mother did not breed genetically superior progeny). No uses of my inhaler (17 puffs in about a half hour will give you the shakes, child) will take it down. I inform Darling Male Escort, who since dinner has been engaged in a lovely Nerf dart gun fight with others, that I’m just a touch out of stuff like oxygen and seem to be getting worse by even the minute. I am trying not to panic; I feel like possibly Pavarotti has popped a squat on my chest. Knowing that Pavarotti died recently, I can be reasonably certain that it’s an asthma issue and I need to go home. I pop a Benadryl that the lady of the house is wonderful to provide me with, and we are off.

Alright, strike that “home” business. We have now left the house 5 minutes ago, and I cannot catch a breath. I am panicked and coughing, and I’m concerned I’m going to lose oxygen and pass out. To the ER, Jeeves! Step lively, step lively.

So Darling Male Escort quickly gets me to an ER, where they promptly put the Swine Flu prevention mask over my mouth—my mouth which already cannot get a breath. Thanks, guys. One of those cruel to be kind things, I wager. Hack, hack, hack, cough, cough, wheeeeeze, as a mask sucks itself to my face like gauzy kidnapping gag tape.

I am then wheeled to an ER room and given a gown and a bed. I am already feeling a little better, breathing better, certain I won’t be passing out at least. Darling Male Escort and I wait for a doctor or a nurse or something. Someone to get my information. Someone to give me a nebulizer treatment, or even just half-assedly pretend to read my blood pressure. We wait for an hour.

An hour when you are unable to breathe due to environmental causes will accomplish one of two things—1.) you will die, or 2.) you will entirely recover. I’ll break the tension here: I did not die.

No, in an hour, I got entirely better. Apparently the Benadryl kicked in, and that was enough to stave off the allergy attack, which effectively released the stranglehold on my asthma issues. Let me tell you, gentle reader, one begins to feel a little silly lying pitifully on an ER table in a gown when the doctor comes in to find you a rather lovely shade of flesh-colored, no longer wheezing or coughing, and you tell him “Hey, um, so about that breathing. All better. Uh, thanks for all your negligence; how did you know it would be just the ticket? Amazing.” You feel silly because it’s actually the truth.

Ah well. I collect my humiliation up to use at a later date, reconstruct my previous outfit onto my newly oxygen-occupied body, returning my hour-long hospital gown to the bed, and Darling Male Escort and I ease on down, ease on down the road back to his place so’s I can sleep it off. And as I drift off to sleep in a happy haze of Tylenol PM and Xanax, a cynical thought occurs to me—I sat in an ER for an hour with no treatment whatsoever. I bet this is going to cost lots of money.

I had no idea. I received the bill this week in the mail. I got charged $22. I do not think I received $22 of service. I mean, I rented a gown that doesn’t close in back and a bed without a blanket from the hospital for an hour, but I’d probably only consider that to be worth about $10. And no tip! Bastards never checked up on me. Hey MD, you got other tables to serve here, guy.

But $22 was nothing compared to what my insurance company got billed. $850! Let me repeat that—they had to cover $850!! How do you people sleep at night? Aside from, clearly, on 1200 thread count Vera Wang Egyptian cotton sheets. With people fanning you and feeding you grapes. Goodness. For a bed, for an hour. Whores charge less, and they at least make sure you leave the bed smiling.

Jesus. I hope that ER bed is rent-to-own, or someone might have been screwed here…

A secret garden on the rooftop of Minneapolis Target Center, home of NBA Minnesota Timberwolves is making the view from up above beautiful.  The Minnesota heat which reaches 140 degree won’t be such an inconvenience anymore.  The 2.5 acres of plants will keep the same temperature as the air and this will reduce the significant cooling and heating costs of the building.  Besides lowering the bills it will also keep 3.68 million gallons of water from running into the Mississippi.    

This is a great opportunity for Minneapolis and will be even greater when hopefully this fad starts catching on nationally.  Toronto has passed a new law mandating “green” rooftops for all new developments.  Any new development with 2,000 square meters must make sure their roof top holds between 20 and 60% of vegetation.  This new law is for residential space, commercial space as well as industrial.  There are mixed reviews about this law, many grumbles due to the extra expense this will cost.  But to others they see this extra expense paying off in the end. 

Chicago has joined by having 600 green rooftops.  This could be the start of something great for our environment, and why not it’s unused space.  Although the US has not made it mandatory like Toronto, Chicago holds the highest amount of green rooftops. 

There are so many benefits to having a green roof.  They are such a great way to insulate buildings and homes, and they reduce energy bills.  It is a great way to release oxygen into the air so car pollution is decreased.  This will also create a great space for workers at companies with green roofs to be able to enjoy the outdoors on a lunch break.  It is also possible to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables on these roofs; the Fairmount Hotel in Vancouver used their roof top space for this and therefore saves their kitchen almost 30,000 a year in food cost. 

By Kate Kiselka. Follow me on Twitter

I just finished a continuing medical education course on wound healing and hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Columbus, Ohio.

It was an intense week listening to many presentations and case studies. I heard many miraculous cases from our instructors, particularly regarding hyperbaric oxygen or HBO. This therapy consisted of pressurizing a patient in an oxygen chamber, so that very high amounts of pure oxygen could be given. It was considered safe and effective. The results were amazing.

One young girl had severed her ears after an assault. It seemed like such a horrible injury, I wondered how possibly she could be treated. A team of doctors including plastic surgeons and wound healing specialists using HBO worked very intensely to save her ears. It was fantastic to hear at the end of three weeks she recovered with a very good cosmetic result.

Another young lady lost both her legs below the knees from an accident. She wasn’t healing well because of her depressed condition. She endured many weeks of wound treatment including including HBO. Slowly, she improved and her wounds healed so she could be fitted with artificial limbs. Our teacher held back tears as she told how the patient returned to the wound center, rose out of her wheelchair and walked easily for her care team to see. She had persevered and chose to live in the best way she could.

Another doctor told us about a few patients with diabetes who were cured from their disease with an experimental procedure that used stem cells and HBO. I was amazed to hear their pancreatic function recovered and they no longer needed to inject insulin because of the disease. It was just incredible.

I felt lucky to have received such important training. I’m looking forward to improving lives with hyperbaric oxygen and other wound care techniques!

RW

Oprah Winfrey recently announced she will end her daytime talk show in 2011 to reappear on the Oprah Winfrey Network – her OWN cable company.

Winfrey made the decision because there were more and more viewers watching less and less of network television and she saw her audience dwindling.  In short, there are just too many choices too many other places.

With a station devoted solely to Oprah, what can we expect?  24-hour programming of Oprah-deemed-worthy movies and books?  Is O-TV the new Lifetime or Oxygen? 

Cable programmer Oxygen is adding a social viewing experience for fans of its Bad Girls Club reality TV show, with the launch of OxygenLive, a new web site where viewers can socialize, take polls, and chat with other fans.

OxygenLive will enable viewers to participate in a real-time chat with Oxygen editors, guests from gossip site Evil Beet Gossip, and cast members from the show. The site will also incorporate Facebook, Twitter, and live polling during the airing of Oxygen programming.

The site is not live yet but will go up at www.oxygenlive.com on Dec. 1 to coincide with the season premiere of Bad Girls Club at 10 p.m. ET, and live chats will occur each week throughout the season of the reality TV show.

The introduction of Oxygen’s social, “two-screen experience” comes as more and more TV programmers are taking advantage of the social web to bring attention to their programming. CNN’s integration with Facebook for the presidential inauguration proved wildly successful and has led to growing interest in content companies integrating live events with social networks. That event has led to companies like Fox (s NWS) experimenting with Twitter as part of its “Tweet-Peat TV” and many other programmers rolling out social tie-ins to their programming.

A number of challenges are still facing social TV. Nevertheless, we’re strong believers that video will continue to be social. To learn more about how social television is progressing, check out our report “The State of Social TV” at our subscription research service, GigaOM Pro.

So the issues with A continue as usual at this household. We are having problems with feeding and sleeping and of course along with that comes the awful desats that go on ALL night.

For about the past week the nurses have had to use oxygen at some point with A during the night. I didn’t really think much of it because they have to administer oxygen if his saturations go below 90 for greater than two minutes. Well anyone who knows A knows that this happens A LOT. Anyhow, two nights ago, Friday night was HORRID. It brought me right back to the days when we brought A home from the NICU. I would never want to relive those days, and honestly sometimes I wonder how I even did survive back then.

When I put A down on Friday night and hooked him up to his monitor, he was sitting about mid 70s. He was sound asleep. I tipped his head back a little and he came and hovered around 84. This is NOT good enough. For about twenty minutes I just stood there watching him wondering what the heck was going on. I still don’t know what to think.

I came downstairs and grabbed some nasal prongs, tape and an oxygen tank. Once I got up to his room he went to 91 and stayed there. This is still not really good enough for me because it isn’t the norm when he is sound asleep.

Basically from 1am until 5:30am I was in there about every five minutes to place oxygen in front of his face or to try and move him to a position where his oxygen saturations would be better.

Feeds. I am having so much trouble getting the required amount into him in a 24 hour period. I really wish sometimes that we didn’t need food to survive! As you all know, he has been off of blended food since getting sick in October and gaining weight. I talked to his dietician on Thursday again and she said to maybe try adding just avocados in with the formula to make it a little thicker and maybe that would help go down easier. Well within thirty seconds of receiving only 30mls of food he threw up. He was gagging constantly and I had to pull all of the food back out of his tummy. This is very strange as well because he had avocado every single day in his blend of food.

So in the day time I have to give him a total of 750mls and at night he gets 500mls. This just does not work! I am so afraid that he is aspirating which in turn is causing his lungs to get worse-which we really CANNOT let happen. This would explain the crappy oxygen saturations. Thankfully we are seeing his respirologist in a weeks time and hopefully he will have some insight into what we should do. I know he did speak last time about admitting A into ICU for a couple of days to trial CPAP and BI PAP but I just didn’t think that would work because A has a soother. However he has not had his soother now in about six weeks! Something really needs to be done though because he cannot go on the way he has been.

A weighed in at 27.6lbs last night. Seems like he has stabalized there for a bit so that is good. Much better than 25lbs!

We just got home today from getting his second dose of the H1N1 vaccine. So the continuation of our hibernating will happen for about three more weeks. And even then we have to be careful as he has not had his regular season flu shot! Ugh neverending worry I’ll tell you!

On our way out of the mall where his doctor is we stopped at the one store. I was looking at the Toronto Maple Leaf stuff and a lady was trying to get around me and A. Once she got down the aisle she wanted she turned to me and asked me if I was his mom. I said yes. She held her hands to her chest and with tears in her eyes told me that she admired me. I said thank you. She told me she thought he was a gorgeous boy-ha we all know that!-I again said thank you. And she told me, no thank you for doing what you do. To give him life. I told her he gave himself life. He fought to be here. She gave me a hug and again said she admired me. I said thank you again and told her that it is nice to hear such kind comments from people. Totally made my day. It is not too often that a complete stranger says anything like this to you. Why can’t the world have more people like her in it???

Do you scrub?  How often should you scrub?

Yes we live in a hectic world.  We have enough time just to do the basic, short of not bathing, not brushing teeth, not washing your face and hair… I can fully apprehend especially with coco in my life now.  I raced for every single minute of my life to make the fullest use so that i can have some “mine” time.  It’s amazing that I still have time to write! Perhaps that helps to keep me “connected”. Scrubbing / exfoliation is as basic as washing your face.  To me it’s basic hygiene.  I know many skip the scrub due to “no – time”, “i go for facial”, “no necessary” etc.  But NO you need to scrub, at least twice a week.  That helps to remove grime that has settled deeper into your pores.  Yes, your beautician may be able to help clear the pores, but deep-rooted black heads remover may “hurt” your pores.  Most importantly one should not deprive your skin of oxygen it needs to breathe.  With all blackheads and sebum settling in the pores, how healthy can your skin get? The next time you skip scrubbing your face, think again.

(Having said the above, caution, not to over-scrub!)

In case you were not aware of it, the best theme for KDE4 is Bespin. Not Oxygen, not qtcurve. You might say that themes are like desktop wallpapers – to each his own. I would disagree. KDE4 brought along a slew of improvements and new paradigms to the Linux Desktop Environment and in its small way Bespin does that as far as theming on the desktop is concerned. Insanely customizable, it will allow your desktop  to have the sort of look that you will fall in love with it.

Some features that I especially like about it:

• “Air Like circle Overlays in Window backgrounds”
• “Behave rather Maccish – except file management most other things activate on single click”
• “Slim Sliders”
• “Hacks – Animate all Tree views”
• “Presets – switch configurations on the fly”
• And some more ..

So, go ahead and try it! Most popular distros have a package for it. For Gentoo grab it from the kde-testing overlay (x11-thems/bespin-9999).

We are anxiously awaiting what we expect to be the greatest time this December and we don’t mean Christmas!

We can’t wait for Bad Girls Club 4 to debut on December 1st, and we expect this season to be better than ever!

“Bad never looked so good on Oxygen with the fourth season of the hit reality series from the producers of The Real World. This season takes bad behavior to the next level with a cast of young women who are independent, spirited, and endlessly entertaining.

Bad Girls Club brings seven self-proclaimed “bad girls” together in a beautiful Los Angeles mansion, and drama reigns supreme. All the girls have a unique story, point of view and attitude — as well as some kind of personal issue that makes them far from perfect. Will living together help them move forward and turn their lives around — or will chaos rule? (Oxygen)”

Why do we like Bad Girls Club?

We know it’s not something to brag about, but we fell in love as soon as we saw this clip of Ripsi from Season 1!

What are our visions for Season 4?

We consulted the heavens and they confirmed the obvious!

This season will be full of hype and another a hit for oxygen! It’s about “hot girls”; sex; and money, money, money. Oxygen wants to make bank this year and will definitely profit from the twenty-something and younger age group by turning up the show quite a few notches.

I see Season 4’s supporters being more of the appalled and intrigued viewer who can’t stop watching.  I see fans getting “turned off” and they may feel reluctant in embracing this season’s girls and their drama–it’s possible they may be TOO bad to be likable but we don’t think fans will tune in any less!

Season 4 will most likely be the guiltiest pleasure yet and it will be VERY intense with sex and partying more of a highlight than before as well as jealousy, and power struggle–prepare for a lot more “fun” this season–I also see a powerful ending in store, like last year!

Tune in to Bad Girls Club 4 on Dec 1st, we know we will!

Throttling valves are devices applied in very difficult conditions. They can work in the presence of oxygen, all sorts of people of gasses of combustible, or liquid low-temperature gasses, as well as in steam about high parameters and in the course of many chemical processes. With Maja also applying in regulating fittings, in steam, combustion engines, on account of having required minimal torques. Throttling valves can serve both for regulating as well as suppressing flowing air. It is possible to assemble them on wires of different types, in rectangular channels. Throttling valves can have the manual, motor, electric or air drive. Allocated to the work by water or loose materials have the appropriate structure enabling to control the flow of these materials in different installations at weighing, dosing, storing. Closing or opening the flow enables the plate turning around its axis of throttling valve. Two-dimensional and multilevel throttling valves are being singled out round, rectangular regulated by hand and with the help of the servomotor. They are also flanged,  and  of all sorts of people of types, as well as having the soft sealing and the double or single roll .  they often regulate as well as they are closing flowing cold or hot water, steam, air and different non-aggression materials. They are usually appearing in devices of water supply systems, heat engineering, as well as in different branches of industry, for example brewing. The type of throttling valves is addicted from applying them. At installing it is necessary to think in order not to let the throttling valve get to damage, she will be then unfit for use, as well serious threatening with the outburst exists.

I need a break from discussing politics, health care, right vs. left, Sarah Palin; I want some comfort entertainment. If I want heavy, I’ll watch one of those high-brow movies Marilyn forces me to watch; if I want serious, I’ll read a book (so there, Kaarin); if I want something spiritual, I’ll listen to music; but when I want to travel far down that low road – and I do sometimes – I have TV. Although there are some seriously good TV shows that I watch (from Public TV specials to well-written dramas and sharp comedies), there’s no better diversion for me than frothy, salacious, superficial television. Whether it’s “Snapped” an Oxygen series about women who kill their husbands (I’ve managed to stay alive this long thanks to what I’ve learned from this series), or “Rock of Love,” which has absolutely no redeeming qualities, I simply love bad TV. Sometimes bad TV turns out to have redemptive qualities like “Tool Academy,” “From G’s to Gents” or “Charm School,” and sometimes good TV turns to junk: cable news — but it is always entertaining. So here’s a diversion for me, what I’m loving on TV right now.

1) Sue Sylvester/”Glee”: Jane Lynch, who I’ve loved forever, especially with her work with Christopher Guest (“Best in Show”), has the role of a lifetime in “Glee.” The show itself has its ups and downs for me — I thought it was brilliant at the beginning of the season, but this mistaken-identity-baby-daddy arc is not fun to watch. (Although Quinn is.) What is fun to watch are the production numbers when they’re hip and joyous (not Broadway-y and predictable); the actors, all without exception; and, most of all, big meany Sue Sylvester, the bulldog cheerleading coach who does not have an “off” button. She is fed, arguably, the best lines on TV, and she is so savoring her role, it drips all over the screen. She is, not arguably, the best character on TV.

2) “Curb”/”Seinfeld” Reunion: Finally, the reunion! Not only was the penultimate show of the season the best of both series, it was a nice homecoming for those of us who loved “Seinfeld.” You might have forgotten how likable Jerry was (I did) and he’s terrific in these “Curb” episodes. The minute you see his puppy dog face, it’s like welcoming an old friend back. The back and forth between him and Larry David is extraordinary to watch, and the insight into a “Seinfeld” table read is perfect TV. Add to that the typically-”Curb” story line about little Emma and her rash (remind me to change my daughter’s name) and little gems like addressing Michael Richard’s past racial troubles, and you end up with one of the most satisfying 36 minutes of television this season.  Even if Susie Essman was not in the episode.

The real star of the "Table Reading" episode?

3) “Tabatha’s Salon”: OK, call me gay, whatever, but “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover” is one of the most enjoyable reality shows on TV (and I watch them all, and I mean all). Much of that has a lot to do with the abrasive, but understandably confident hair stylist Tabatha Coffey (who, herself, was a reality show winner on “Shear Genius”). With her defiantly short, chopped platinum hair, seductive English accent, take-charge ultra-hip black outfits and take-no-prisoners attitude, she visits failing salons and gives them a turnaround.

The format’s great, especially the undercover surveillance cameras, the heavy-hands-on observation of the hairdressers at work, the destroying of dreams and careers, and the filth she finds when she first examines the salon, often wiping up chunks of disgusting hair and other foul refuse (only once did she cry, “I want my Mommy.”). The final assessment to the owner is especially fun, because it often involves firing someone who has most likely called her a bitch during the course of the show. The hour flies by, and it has as much to do with running a small business (Take that, “Shark Tank”) as it does with hairdressing (Take that, inane “Shear Genius”).  And there’s so much drama. If you think I’m gay for watching this, you should see some of the hairdressers!  Tabatha’s one of reality TV’s best host/stars, and the show is absorbing. Like a good conditioner.

4.  “Modern Family”: I have to say, I laugh out loud at this show more than any other. The acting is so top-notch and the funny characters are so filled-out by those great actors. The premise is simple. Here’s a modern American family, including a clueless dad, annoying teenage daughter, hapless mom, and a gay couple that happily gives in to stereotypes, but is still funny. There’s the hot Colombian second, and younger wife (Sofia Vergara)

Sofia Vergara, Ed O'Neill's hot, younger, second wife on "Modern Family."

and her way-too-mature pre-teen son, Manny, (played like a pro by 11-year-old Rico Rodriguez), who just about steals the show.

Modern Famiy's scene stealer, Rico Rodriguez, as the precocious Manny.

Just about, because Ed O’Neill (You know, Al Bundy) is so amazing in this show as the gruff, yet tender grandfather (and husband of the hot second, younger wife and reluctant stepfather to the precocious Manny). But it’s the tangents in which the show goes off that makes this a stand-out. Just this week they paid tribute to Both Spandau Ballet (Edward Norton in a funny turn as Izzy LaFontaine, bassist for Spandau Ballet) and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark . You’ll never be able to listen to SB’s “True” again with a straight face. ” That is, if you we you were ever able to in the first place.

5.  “Parks and Recreation”: OK, I lied. The out-loud laughs record is not held by “Modern Family,” but rather by the very smart and funny P&R. Amy Poehler   and a brilliant ensemble cast (Rashida Jones and Chris Pratt, especially) romp through some very smart dialogue and topics, some never before seen on the always predictable and rehashed world of sitcoms. While “P&R” started off as an “uh-oh, where’s this going?” rip-off of “The Office,” it has matched that show (this past week’s “Office” with its Southern murder mystery parlor game was that series at its best). There are many smart (dare I even say “intellectual”) references sprinkled throughout the show, and the uber talented Poehler has a field day building her lovable character, Leslie Knope, as deputy head of a yokel Midwest parks department. She a larger aspirations.  This mockumentary always lets on that she’s smarter than we think, but if you begin to take her too seriously, she’ll do something so goofy, you’ll fall in love with her again and again. If you saw last season, and were disappointed with the first few episodes, do yourself a favor and watch again. If Amy Poehler doesn’t win an Emmy, the gig is rigged. I heart Leslie Knope.  As much as I heart Liz Lemon and the wildly crazy, funny and uneven “30 Rock.” Alright, I heart Tracey Jordan/Morgan, too.

Yes, I heart Tracey Morgan...Jordan.

6. “So You Think You Can Dance”: Best talent competition on TV, and certainly the best dance competition (yes, I even watched “Dance Your Ass Off!”). Forget the amazing, sometimes stunning dancing (hello, Legacy   ), and the totally sexy and extremely likable host, Cat Deely,   this show has turned me on to better music than “American Idol”: Mirah’s “The Garden”, Roison Murphy’s “Ramalama (Bang Bang), and most recently George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag.” The dancing…it’s sick, as judge Adam Shankman would say. (Where’s Mia Michaels this year? Boo.)  Did I mention that I hate dance? But I love SYTYCD. My money’s on Jakob, Legacy, Russell to all tie in the end.

7.  “The Good Wife”: Biggest surprise of this season. I had no idea what this show would be like. And it turns out it’s one of those lawyer shows. But with a million twists and the really, really good and riveting Julianna Margulies guiding it along like a laser.  Hands down, best new drama of 2009.

8. “Chopped”: Love this cooking show where four cheftestants have to make three courses out of unlikely ingredients. Yeah, yeah, I love every cooking show (especially any one that features Padma Lakshmi   ), and the new “Chef Academy” seems to have the winning ingredient of all these reality shows: a good cast of characters. Oh, and if Kevin doesn’t win “Top Chef”, I’ll be really surprised. Unless of course one of the innovative Voltaggio Brothers wins.

9. “True Blood”: I miss you, young Jessica, my favorite vampire.

"True Blood"'s Jessica, the brattiest and best teenaged vampire in Bon Temps.

If I had to pick my desert island show, this would be it. If the desert island had a TV.

10. “Mission Impossible”:  I am absolutely addicted to this surprisingly complex ’60s series. It’s on between midnight and 2 a.m. on the AmericanLife Network (ALN), and I am under its spell from the second it starts. There’s nothing like the Cold War and Latin American dictators to get your adventure-thriller blood boiling. Problem is, there is something about this guilty pleasure that puts me to sleep within 5 minutes of its distinctive theme. It never fails, no matter how wide awake or tired I am. So I DVR it, and during daylight hours, watch Cinnamon, Paris, Phelps and the gang keep the world safe. Like Jack Bower, but not.

11. “Dexter”: I’m still sticking with you Dexter even if I have to see John Lithgow naked and you are completely predictable.  I judge TV predictability on “Oz,” one of the most adventurous cable TV achievements. You never knew what to expect and which main character would be killed off. On “Dexter” you always know what to expect, and Dexter is always safe — but it’s done so well, it almost doesn’t matter. Michael C. Hall is an acting revelation, but it’s the opening credits that are so good, I’m in for the whole next hour.

Dexter/Michael C. Hall and his sister/wife Deb/Jennifer Carpenter. You figure it out.

Whoooooooo hooooooooooo!!!!!!

we are nearing the end of our first journey in the world of glass art instructional videos, it will of course be available on dvd, and we are looking into forms of direct download digital delivery methods as well, we have worked hard on this and are very excited about its launch. as you can see my living room has been converted into a small studio, my wife has been out of town on business and I am hoping to get the place looking normal again before her return.-)

The secrets of staying young and healthy will not come in a pill, a cream or a special diet. Most likely your genetic make-up will determine how you age. However, living a healthy lifestyle will stack the odds in your favor.

• Eating a balanced diet, filled with vegetables and “real” g-d made food while limiting commercially processed foods will give your body the nutrients it needs to function at its best. Nutritional supplements should be based on the individuals need but my belief is that everyone should take a multivitamin, DHA (fish oil) and calcium with Vitamin D, magnesium and boron.

• Staying active including weight bearing and breathing exercises will help ensure muscle mass, bone strength (see my previous blog, We All May Have The Potential to Capture The Fountain of Youth!) and that adequate oxygen gets to your cells.

• Supporting collagen production will help your skin look its best and reduce wrinkles. There are a few things that have been known to help form collagen, amino acids (proline, lysine, and glycine), vitamin C, horsetail, rose-hip and marigold. I suggest speaking with your doctor about any supplementation you may consider, including the ones mentioned in the first bullet under eating a balanced diet. That said I have been using a great product, ANTI-AGING 3™ Collagen powder, http://www.drvenessa.com/dcp/detail.php?id=1122, it seems to have good research that supports the ingredients used and they claim that it helps “activate the body’s own mechanisms to continue producing collagen at any age”. It’s about $4.00/serving and only 100 calories. I will put my credentials on the line and say that this product is a healthier product than any of Nabisco’s 100 calorie snack packs!

Have you tried to capture the Fountain of Youth? Please share your ideas.

Even if she was on Oprah, SARAH PALIN WILL NOT BE PRESIDENT! American Morning viewer, if you did not get the message in the first hour, it was repeated in a less than subliminal fashion throughout the next two hours. Before each of its three Sarah Palin segments (two by Carol Costello and another by Christine Romans), a clip of Conan O’Brien’s monologue on the Tonight Show was run.

[In the selected snippet, Conan joked, "The other day Sarah Palin said that she would like to have coffee with Hillary Clinton. Now, Hillary is saying she looks forward to it. The two have agreed to meet at the Never Will Be President Cafe."]

If the Palin slights had stopped at Conan’s comedy, they would have seemed insignificant. However, Carol’s “Palin vs. Oprah” story (which ran twice) seemed to go over the top to discount Palin’s appearance on the talk show queen’s program yesterday. In the promo to Carol’s segment, AM co-host Kiran Chetry had said, “It was Sarah Palin and Oprah: Very interesting, very interesting sit-down interview. And, we’re gonna have Carol Costello join us: she sat down with Libertarians, Independents, Democrats, and Republican women, and said, ‘Hey, what did you think?” However, when Carol appeared after the break, she remarked, “I sat down with four very sharp women, and you know what they thought of the interview? Boring!”

Then she said, “I talked with these four women, a Republican, a Libertarian, a Conservative, and an Independent to watch [sic] Palin vs. Oprah. We chose not to talk to a Democrat because Sarah Palin doesn’t seem to be trying to win over Democrats.” More telling, and, perhaps, a bit damning, she added, “Let’s face it: We know what Democrats think of Sarah Palin.” (She failed to note that according to most polls, approximately 80% of the media votes Democratic.)

Furthermore, Carol did not tell the  viewer how these four women in the focus group were chosen nor their particular political proclivities. E.g., she did not apprise the audience that the Independent Leighann Lord, who claimed that Palin had “almost trivialized the serious decision of abortion,” has been a pro-Obama HuffPo blogger. Moreover, Carol’s other three panelists appeared to be coastal “country club” Republicans at best: one (Jamie Maarten) was an Ivy League Libertarian prez who proclaimed that Palin “was well-spoken” (but cattily added “she did look nice but I feel it stops there”); the second (Marianna Picciocchi) was a “conservative” attorney who asserted that the interview was “boring” and later admitted that her friends, “of course, are all liberal”; and the third (Joyce Giuffra) was a former press secretary of failed GOP nominee Bob Dole, who indicated that she would not be buying the book but clairvoyantly discerned that “supposedly in a 432-page book, only 13 pages were dedicated to policy issues.” Incredibly, Carol stated that these women wanted “substance” [political]–from an Oprah interview. (Perhaps, they prefer their news from Oxygen as well.)

This segment should be an embarrassment to correspondent Carol Costello, American Morning, and, by extension CNN. Perhaps, AM executive producer Jamie Kraft did not get the memo from CNN news chief Jonathan Klein. According to the New York Post, Klein wants CNN “to position itself as an opinion-free, middle-of-the-road alternative to its cable news rivals — conservative Fox News and liberal MSNBC.”

American Morning should have followed Klein’s admonition and played it down the middle. AM is a good show with excellent anchors and gifted correspondents. Its viewers deserved better today. Hopefully, they will get it tomorrow and in the future.