Translate to your own language

Become a member of ADDY as me with my link and get $25 to kickstart your own investing journey 🏠

December 18, 2012

Superdog Duoduo shot to fame by mastering human activities

Watch out! Your pets might not be as idle as they seem. Recently, this dog, Duoduo from Yunnan Province shot to fame by mastering a series of human activities. Let's take a look at what he can do.
Superdog Duoduo shot to fame by mastering human activities. 
Dressed in red cape and glasses, this dog is Duoduo the "superdog". Skateboarding is no problem for him, and riding a bike is even easier. With his two fore paws on the handlebar, Duoduo likes to show off his cycling skills. You may not think that being able to walk is such an accomplishment, but Duoduo can walk between his owner's legs.
And, he's a romantic little fellow, he loves to present his audiences with a rose, even when he's balancing on a ball. Alright, let's salute to the audience Duoduo. And, once again.
see the whole story here: Superdog Duoduo shot to fame by mastering human activities - China.org.cn

December 17, 2012

The teenage girl who is allergic to WATER



Aquagenic Urticaria

Teenager Ashleigh Morris can't go swimming, soak in a hot bath or enjoy a shower after a stressful day's work - she's allergic to water.Even sweating brings the 19-year-old out in a painful rash.Ashleigh, from Melbourne, Australia, is allergic to water of any temperature, a condition she's lived with since she was 14.She suffers from an extremely rare skin disorder called Aquagenic Urticaria - so unusual that only a handful of cases are documented worldwide.When Ashleigh gets wet her body explodes in sore, itchy red lumps that take about two hours to ease.She has to wash. But showering is a painful experience and she can only do it for a minute at a time.These brief showers are the only contact Ashleigh has with water. The one thing she doesn't miss is the washing up."People find it hard to believe, they say things like 'Oh my god, how do you washThe rash Ashleigh gets after coming into contact with water is MORE painful than it looks "That makes me feel dirty, but I consider myself a very clean person," she says.
Most of us take showering for granted but for Ashleigh it's a painful endurance that often reduces her to tears.Read the whole story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-520329/The-teenage-girl-allergic-WATER.html Aquagenic allergy is not a typical allergy and most doctors argue that the extremely rare condition isn't an allergy at all.There is no cure,so patients cope with the debilitating condition by avoiding contact with water as much as possible - by showering for only a few minutes each week,staying cool in summer and carrying an umbrella at all times.

December 14, 2012

Light therapy cuts post-surgery infections

Vancouver General is the first hospital in the world to adopt a new light-activated disinfection method that is expected to reduce infections in surgical incisions by 39 per cent and save almost $2 million a year.
There are no needles or antibiotics with a host of side effects involved; just a quick pulse of light up a patient’s nose before surgery. It is quick and painless, said Dr. Elizabeth Bryce, director for infection control at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
“We apply a methylene blue dye on a little swab into the front of their noses ... and shine red light — that might feel a little bit warm, but that’s about all — into their noses for two pulses of two minutes each. And then they’re good to go,” Bryce explained.
The technique, developed by a Vancouver company, is effective because most of the bacteria that cause surgical site infections come from on or within the patient’s body, Bryce explained.
“During the course of an operation, organisms migrate and they also float through the air and they land in our wounds,” she said. “So if you could decrease the amount of bacteria on somebody’s body, then you can reduce the risk of having an infection after the surgery.”
The dye contains a substance designed to latch onto the targeted bacteria and then absorb much of the energy from the laser-generated light. It is that energy that kills the bacteria.
The technique, known as photo-disinfection, reduced the number of surgical site infections to 50 from 85, when combined with the use of antibacterial body wipes, during a pilot project at the hospital over the past year. The trial of 5,000 patients, funded by the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation, reduced average readmissions for surgical site infections to 1.25 cases a month from four and shortened hospital stays for surgical patients. This allowed doctors to perform 138 additional surgeries.
The warm, moist, dark and humid environment inside the nose is a particularly inviting place for bacteria, Bryce said. It’s also home to a strain known as staphylococcus aureus, carried by about a quarter of the population, that can cause “quite devastating” infections if it gets into surgical wounds, she added.
“If we are a staph aureus carrier, we do have a higher risk of getting a surgical site infection. So there’s the bacteria on our body and the bacteria in our nose, of which a real culprit can be staph aureus.”
It will cost about $500,000 a year to run the program at VGH, which is expected to do 7,000 surgeries next year, Bryce said. That cost will be more than offset by the savings from fewer infections, which amounted to $1.9 million during the pilot project, she added.
The photo-disinfection technology was developed by Ondine Biomedical, which specializes in developing alternatives to antibiotics. A similar procedure is already being used by some dentists.
Because the technology is easy to use and to incorporate into the pre-operative areas of hospitals, Bryce said it is something she can see being rolled out across the health region and even used to treat other kinds of infections, such as urinary tract or ventilator-associated pneumonia.
“In this day and age of increasing resistance to antibiotics, it offers (the possibility) that we might have an alternative treatment.”

December 12, 2012

Study debunks moon-mental health link


A team of doctors and psychologists logged hundreds of hospital visits and compared them with phases of the moon.
The researchers found that while diminishing daylight can send people into a funk, moonlight is a non-factor.
Their article, published in a recent edition of General Hospital Psychiatry, summarizes an analysis of 771 patients who suffered from anxiety, panic attacks, mood disorders or suicidal thoughts.
The patients had visited hospitals in Montreal or Quebec City during various seven-day lunar phases between March 2005 and April 2008.
Except for a lower rate of hospital admission during the last quarter of the lunar month moon for individuals struggling with an anxiety disorder, no significant correlation was observed between other mental health problems and any lunar phase," say researchers, led by a team at the University of Montreal.
Researchers dismiss any connection between anxiety and the moon. If our satellite were having any such effect, the symptoms would be obvious at all times since the moon is always orbiting the earth, they note.
The study corroborated earlier research into the winter blues - that sinking feeling observed among some people who live far from the equator where days are much shorter in the winter.
Researchers noted that hospital visits by people with mental disorders were 37% higher in the spring and 37% less frequent in the fall.
The whole story here:  http://www.torontosun.com/2012/12/11/study-debunks-moon-mental-health-link

December 04, 2012

Most Popular How-To Guides of 2012

very useful compilation  of how to guides

Reblogged from lifehacker.com

Some of the best and most interesting topics we cover here at Lifehacker are our how-to guides: Those posts that take you through a project step by step and leave you at the end having completed something you've always wanted to do. Here's a look back at our most popular how-to features of 2012.
Most Popular How-To Guides of 2012

How to Crack a Wi-Fi Network's WPA Password with Reaver

Your Wi-Fi network is your conveniently wireless gateway to the internet, and since you're not keen on sharing your connection with any old hooligan who happens to be walking past your home, you secure your network with a password, right? More »

Most Popular How-To Guides of 2012

Why You Should Start Using a VPN (and How to Choose the Best One for Your Needs)

You may know what a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is; you probably don't use one. You really should be using a VPN, and even if you don't think so now, at some point in the future you may consider it as important as your internet connection. More

and 26 more how to guides on www.lifehacker.com

December 02, 2012

Gwyneth Paltrow and her "Beyond yoga" line

Gwyneth Paltrow started goop.com in the fall of 2008. From creating a delicious recipe to finding a perfect dress for spring, Gwyneth began curating the best of lifestyle to help her readers save time, simplify and feel inspired.Now she partnered with "Beyond yoga" for a new line of clothing sold only thru  Goop.

What is in your belly buttons?


Turns out, belly buttons are a jungle of microbial biodiversity: researchers detected over 2300 species! And get this, only eight of those 2300 species– they call them oligarchs – were quite frequent and abundant, present in more than 70% of the individuals sampled.
What is in yours?Check it below.

 http://www.yourwildlife.org/2012/11/welcome-to-the-jungle/
 More and more studies seem to point to the conclusion that diverse skin microbiota helps us defend against pathogens and may forestall some immune dysfunctions (including allergies). 
Network analysis suggests there seem to be at least two basic types of people, according to their belly button bacteria. If bacteria were trees, this is analogous to their being some people with beech forests in their navels and others with maple forests. This much is true, we just can’t say why. The full analysis can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/belly-button-bacteria-navel_n_2093501.html

Search This Blog