Showing posts with label read. Show all posts
Showing posts with label read. Show all posts
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
articles that make my eyes tear
it is articles like these that make me want to smile.
i want a fairytale lovestory like tony leung and carina lau, too.
i want a fairytale lovestory like tony leung and carina lau, too.
from reuters
a1487reutrr i BC-HEALTH-MILK-ALLERGIC 03-03 0507
BC-HEALTH-MILK-ALLERGIC-KIDS
Severely milk-allergic kids can be desensitized
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who have a potentially life-threatening allergy to cow's milk can often "learn" to tolerate milk through a carefully orchestrated, supervised program in which they sample milk in progressively higher doses, research suggests.
After one year, more than one-third of cow's milk allergic children who completed the program had become completely tolerant to cow's milk and more than half could tolerate limited amounts of milk, the research team reports in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
"Desensitization, or 'specific oral tolerance induction,'can be achieved in a significant percentage of children with very severe allergic reactions," Dr. Egidio Barbi from 'Burlo Garofolo' University of Trieste told Reuters Health.
Current strategies for managing children with severe food allergy -- avoiding the food entirely and carrying epinephrine auto-injectors to quickly halt an allergic reaction -- are only partially effective and have a negative impact on quality of life for the entire family, Barbi and his colleagues point out.
For these reasons, the researchers investigated the safety and effectiveness of desensitizing children with a history of very severe allergic reactions when exposed to even minor amounts of cow's milk.
Their strategy consisted of two phases. During phase one, the children spent 10 days in the hospital where they were given drops of diluted milk in increasing doses and concentration each day. During phase two, the children followed a similar protocol at home. Parents received written instructions on how to gradually increase the milk dose and were taught how to spot and treat any allergic reactions.
Parents could also contact a doctor involved in the study at any time.
After one year, 11 of the 30 children who completed the protocol were able to tolerate cow's milk and dairy products without any restrictions.
Moreover, another 16 children who completed the desensitization program were able to tolerate limited amounts of cow's milk, resulting in a "striking improvement in quality of life," the investigators note.
The fact that most of the children could tolerate at least some cow's milk after the protocol "is important because the danger associated with accidental exposure to small amounts of cow's milk is significantly reduced," Barbi and colleagues write.
Three children who had persistent allergic symptoms were not able to complete the milk desensitization program.
"Desensitization carries a definite risk of reactions, especially in children with a severe history," Barbi emphasized. "For this reason, it should be restricted to highly defined medical settings."
Nearly all children who participated in the program had at least one allergic reaction, mainly skin or stomach problems, which occurred from a few minutes to 2 hours after ingesting milk and were typically managed effectively by the parents. In most cases parents chose to continue the desensitization program "in spite of frequent symptoms," the investigators note.
Barbi and colleagues say they are encouraged by their results but warn that "far more research is needed to confirm the safety of this approach."
SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,
February 2008.
REUTERS
Reut 20:29 03-03-08
BC-HEALTH-MILK-ALLERGIC-KIDS
Severely milk-allergic kids can be desensitized
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who have a potentially life-threatening allergy to cow's milk can often "learn" to tolerate milk through a carefully orchestrated, supervised program in which they sample milk in progressively higher doses, research suggests.
After one year, more than one-third of cow's milk allergic children who completed the program had become completely tolerant to cow's milk and more than half could tolerate limited amounts of milk, the research team reports in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
"Desensitization, or 'specific oral tolerance induction,'can be achieved in a significant percentage of children with very severe allergic reactions," Dr. Egidio Barbi from 'Burlo Garofolo' University of Trieste told Reuters Health.
Current strategies for managing children with severe food allergy -- avoiding the food entirely and carrying epinephrine auto-injectors to quickly halt an allergic reaction -- are only partially effective and have a negative impact on quality of life for the entire family, Barbi and his colleagues point out.
For these reasons, the researchers investigated the safety and effectiveness of desensitizing children with a history of very severe allergic reactions when exposed to even minor amounts of cow's milk.
Their strategy consisted of two phases. During phase one, the children spent 10 days in the hospital where they were given drops of diluted milk in increasing doses and concentration each day. During phase two, the children followed a similar protocol at home. Parents received written instructions on how to gradually increase the milk dose and were taught how to spot and treat any allergic reactions.
Parents could also contact a doctor involved in the study at any time.
After one year, 11 of the 30 children who completed the protocol were able to tolerate cow's milk and dairy products without any restrictions.
Moreover, another 16 children who completed the desensitization program were able to tolerate limited amounts of cow's milk, resulting in a "striking improvement in quality of life," the investigators note.
The fact that most of the children could tolerate at least some cow's milk after the protocol "is important because the danger associated with accidental exposure to small amounts of cow's milk is significantly reduced," Barbi and colleagues write.
Three children who had persistent allergic symptoms were not able to complete the milk desensitization program.
"Desensitization carries a definite risk of reactions, especially in children with a severe history," Barbi emphasized. "For this reason, it should be restricted to highly defined medical settings."
Nearly all children who participated in the program had at least one allergic reaction, mainly skin or stomach problems, which occurred from a few minutes to 2 hours after ingesting milk and were typically managed effectively by the parents. In most cases parents chose to continue the desensitization program "in spite of frequent symptoms," the investigators note.
Barbi and colleagues say they are encouraged by their results but warn that "far more research is needed to confirm the safety of this approach."
SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology,
February 2008.
REUTERS
Reut 20:29 03-03-08
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
on movies and war
movies have a certain magic about them. well-written ones, that is, and that takes shows like beowulf out of the running.
well, a sweet indian, through the request that i return DVDs for him, had allowed me to chance upon the movie titled little miss sunshine. it's about how family and love and all the togetherness you can imagine that can only from family, for lack of a wittier expression.
well, just in case you hadn't clicked on the link provided, here's the general summary:
and that's not spoiling it for you. one part that touched me in particular was how the foul-mouthed ole rogue (grampa) told olive, his grand-daughter that she's the most beautiful girl in the world, and that he's madly in love with her when she asked him if she's pretty the night before the peageant when she was getting cold feet. and this is coming from someone who tells his grandson to fuck as many women as you can. fuck many women.
suffice to say, i totally bawled my eyes out during this movie and ...and understood the power of a good writer. don't fuck with a writer. seriously.
as for war... there're too many lives and too many bombs on legs these days. it's all solved with mortar and suicides. take the most recent assassinations: there are the guns, there are the attempts with knives wrapped in flags, suicide bombers - it sure looks like there is a culture forming. i must've been slow to actually realise this only now but hey, i just started reading the newspapers recently. it's scary, this world. the more i read, the more freaked i get.
i was about to ask "why can't people just be content with living" only to understand immediately that what i consider acceptable may be the kiss of death to some. then again, that just brings me to the idea that humans are evil because evil feeds upon itself. and that's what we're doing. we're a cancerous race, in all senses of the word.
..then again, who's to say what's right and what's wrong, until someone close to you gets croaked and affect you enough to howl holy hell? reminds me of the book lord of the flies written by william golding.
well, a sweet indian, through the request that i return DVDs for him, had allowed me to chance upon the movie titled little miss sunshine. it's about how family and love and all the togetherness you can imagine that can only from family, for lack of a wittier expression.
well, just in case you hadn't clicked on the link provided, here's the general summary:
Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is an overworked mother of two. Her brother Frank (Steve Carell) is a homosexual Proust scholar, temporarily living at home with the family after having attempted suicide in the wake of a failed relationship. Sheryl's husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a Type A personality striving to help support the family as a motivational speaker and life coach. Dwayne (Paul Dano), Sheryl's son from a previous marriage, is a Nietzsche-reading teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dreams of becoming a test pilot. Richard's father, Edwin (Alan Arkin), recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, lives with the family; he is close to his seven-year-old granddaughter Olive (Abigail Breslin).
Olive learns she has qualified for the "Little Miss Sunshine" beauty pageant that is being held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. The family, wanting to support her, quickly realizes that they all must accompany Olive to the pageant, getting there via an 800-mile road trip in their yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus.
Family tensions play out on the highway and at stops along the way, amidst the aging VW van's mechanical problems. When the van breaks down early on, they learn that they must push the van until it is moving at about 20 mph before it is put into gear, at which point they have to run up to the side door and jump in...
and that's not spoiling it for you. one part that touched me in particular was how the foul-mouthed ole rogue (grampa) told olive, his grand-daughter that she's the most beautiful girl in the world, and that he's madly in love with her when she asked him if she's pretty the night before the peageant when she was getting cold feet. and this is coming from someone who tells his grandson to fuck as many women as you can. fuck many women.
suffice to say, i totally bawled my eyes out during this movie and ...and understood the power of a good writer. don't fuck with a writer. seriously.
as for war... there're too many lives and too many bombs on legs these days. it's all solved with mortar and suicides. take the most recent assassinations: there are the guns, there are the attempts with knives wrapped in flags, suicide bombers - it sure looks like there is a culture forming. i must've been slow to actually realise this only now but hey, i just started reading the newspapers recently. it's scary, this world. the more i read, the more freaked i get.
i was about to ask "why can't people just be content with living" only to understand immediately that what i consider acceptable may be the kiss of death to some. then again, that just brings me to the idea that humans are evil because evil feeds upon itself. and that's what we're doing. we're a cancerous race, in all senses of the word.
..then again, who's to say what's right and what's wrong, until someone close to you gets croaked and affect you enough to howl holy hell? reminds me of the book lord of the flies written by william golding.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
