Eating Disorders

"Eating disorders are on the rise among children and teens, according to a report published in Pediatrics Monday. Disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are increasing in male children and minorities, and also are occurring in countries where such cases have not been seen, according to the report. Lead author, Dr. David Rosen noted that eating disorders also are beginning younger meaning below the age of 12. The report also estimates that 0.5 percent of teenage girls in the United States have anorexia nervosa, and 1 percent to 2 percent met criteria for bulimia nervosa. And males make up about 10 percent of all eating disorder cases, according to the report. This spike in eating disorders paradoxically accompanied another alarming trend - about 17 percent of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 are estimated to be obese. (Eating Disorders Increase)"

As the percentage of obese Americans rises the pressure put on kids to be active and diet, so they do not become overweight, rises too. This pressure and the image Hollywood has given to kids about what is beautiful has caused some kids to develop eating disorders, like anorexia and bulimia. While the pressure to be thin is targeted to everyone, cheerleaders are especially vulnerable to this pressure. Being a flyer, I am under constant pressure to stay thin and light because girls my size are lifting and throwing me into the air; and the lighter I am, the easier it is for them to do this. Also, with uniforms showing more and more skin, the pressure to have a perfect body keeps increasing. Some college programs even mandate that their cheerleaders have a certain body fat percentage to be on their squad. I understand that obesity is becoming a serious problem for our country, but it needs to be less of a commercialized thing and more of a deal with it at the home issue. I know my school had done a BMI rating before, and I don't think that they should have. First off a child’s height and weight tell you very little; for example I was 5'2" and 120 lbs when my school had done this rating and my BMI concluded that I was at risk for becoming obese; I am now 18 and still at this height and weight and anyone by looking at me would never conclude that I was at risk for being obese. This inaccurate BMI rating, if I would have taken it seriously, could have caused me to have an eating disorder. I believe that all the talk about not eating this or that because it's unhealthy and you need to exercise everyday is giving kids the wrong idea. Where as the media's trying to help instill these habits; kids are taking it to the extreme, instead of just trying to be healthy.

Thanksgiving Dinner Part 2, Seafood Edition

My family has the tradition of going out to a seafood buffet the day after Thanksgiving. For my big Italian family, one day of stuffing their faces is not enough. So everyone that goes to our family's Thanksgiving dinner, goes out to the seafood buffet on Friday. We have a competition to see which table can fill the most buckets with their shells. This year my table was victorious, filling four buckets with crab legs, shrimp shells, and muscle shells. By next year, my family will probably try to plan the whole week of Thanksgiving around food.

Controversial Research

"For only the second time in history, the Food and Drug Administration has approved human trial of a therapy developed from embryonic stem cells. The FDA granted approval to start a clinical trial using cells grown from human embryonic stem cells.  The treatment will be for an inherited degenerative eye disease. The company is hoping to find a cure for, Stargardt Macular Dystrophy, the most common form of juvenile macular degeneration, for which there is currently no cure.  It affects about 1 in 10,000 children. People with this disease usually start losing their sight between the ages of 8 to 10 years and can be legally blind by the time they reach their 30s says Caldwell. ACT developed a method in which only one stem cell is removed from an embryo, similar to a method used in some fertility clinics to test an embryo for genetic abnormalities.  That stem cell is then used to grow many more stem cells.  By removing only one stem cell, the embryo is not destroyed. (Embryonic Stem Cells)"

While stem cell research has been in the news for a few years now, it seems that scientists are finally becoming able to use what they have learned to start testing new ways for treatment. Also the fact that they now understand how to take just one cell out of the embryo and culture it so that it produces more stem cells, instead of having to destroy the embryo, should make people of the  "Pro-Life" side a little more supportive of the research. Using stem cells to try to find a cure for Stargardt Macular Dystrophy is just the start of the research. Now that the FDA has approved this clinical trial, I'm sure there will be more on the way.

Cheerleading: Now and Then

My mother was a varsity cheerleader in high school and often tells me about how things were, when she cheered. Even though the basic idea of cheerleading, to lead and pump-up a crowd, has stayed the same; the way it's accomplished has changed.

Cheers-

Then: They were simple, easy to follow cheers. Cheerleaders were just yelling the cheers out; no motions or stunts were incorporated.
Now: Not every cheer is a "call back" cheer or one that the crowd can answer back to. Also, stunts, jumps, tumbling, and motions are incorporated into almost every cheer. Cheers are more of a way to impress the crowd than to get them involved.

Stunts-

Then: Like cheers, these were also simple. Also, they were rarely done. When they were, they were no higher than shoulder level and were stunts like thigh stands and shoulder sits; Simple stunts, which could be used to get the crowds attention.

Now: The extensive use of these now has made cheerleading more of a sport than a club or activity. Instead of the shoulder level stunts, cheerleaders are now throwing girls into the air; flyers are standing on one leg and twisting out of everything; and double level stunts are seen at college events. With these new advances in
difficulty, injuries have also become a big part of the sport.

Tumbling-

Then: Cartwheels, round-offs, and we'll put splits in this category even though they aren't really tumbling, were the only form of gymnastics seen. Again, these skills were put into halftime routines to get the crowds attention.
Now: Cartwheels and round-offs are things you can do when you're in elementary school; and if you're serious about cheerleading you have more advanced tumbling skills by the time you're in high school. It's not uncommon for a varsity team to require a tumbling skill, like a back handspring or standing tuck, to make the team. This skill has definitely become more important in the world of cheerleading.


Cheerleading actually started out as an all male sport, but through the years has changed into a mostly female dominated activity. Also, even though it started in American, cheerleading is now a universal sport. Jumps have stayed the same throughout the years, while dancing and uniforms have changed with the times. Competitions are a big part of the cheerleading world today; there are even teams that do only this. Back in the day, competing was very rare. It seems cheerleading is moving away from its original purpose, leading and pumping-up the crowd at a sporting event, to a sport of its own, with its own set of fans.

Traditions

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up, I can't help but think this might be my last Thanksgiving at home with my family. Next year I'll be at college and depending on where I end up deciding to go, I might not be home next year at this time. With my family, Thanksgiving starts at my aunt’s house around dinner time. My aunt's family makes the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing; and everyone else brings another side dish, dessert, or drink. My mom usually makes sweet potato casserole and some sort of dessert; she usually comes up with a new one every year. We sit around and talk, while we wait for everyone to get there. This can take some time because my mom is one of seven kids; all of which come with their family, so my Thanksgiving is spent with my 50 or so relatives. Once the house is packed full, we all stand around the kitchen and hold hands and my aunt gives a blessing. Next comes the best part, we get to start eating. My cousin's and I are always first in line. Then we all sit down and eat. Even though most of my cousins are around the age of 20 now; we still sit at the "kiddy table", this tiny pop-up table that we all hardly fit around. So while we are all bumping elbows, we engulf our food and move right on to dessert. Once all the adults are done eating the games begin. My uncles and some of my older male cousins sit around the "kiddy table" which they move into the living room, and play poker while they watch football. The rest of us always play Scattergories. Now, my family’s very competitive and this game usually turns bad once someone starts making up words or trying to find loop-holes in the rules. My one older cousin, if not in the lead, will start challenging words and arguing about if the word fits under the category or not. After we get sick of playing games, we just all sit in the living room talking and reminiscing. The same stories are always told and I can almost recite them from memory. My one uncle is always the butt of everyone's jokes, but he brought it upon himself. I mean, who rips off their shirt to kill a gardener snake with a baseball bat? After all the stories have been told and the laughs have been had, everyone packs up their leftovers and we go home. My big Italian family rarely leaves that many leftovers but they always leave many memories.

Scan For Skin Cancer

The machine, called MelaFind, is intended to examine lesions that doctors think have one or more characteristics of melanoma. Today, most lesions that look cancerous are biopsied. Many of those lesions turn out to be non-malignant. With a MelaFind, a dermatologist can scan the lesions, relying on the machine to identify early melanoma. If the machine does detect cancer, the doctor can proceed with a biopsy, but if the machine finds the lesion to be noncancerous, the patient does not have to go through unnecessary surgery to the skin. (Detect Melanoma Without Cutting Skin)"

Once again technology amazes me. Just think, they could make it mandatory for everyone once a year at a check up to get scanned for skin cancer. Now, cost could be a big factor here but if they could somehow have this covered under normal health insurance, this could save so many people. Melanoma, if it is caught in its early stages, is almost 100 percent curable. And especially with tanning becoming so popular among female teens, cases of melanoma are starting to pop up more and more. If this machine becomes part of every hospital, melanoma could almost be wiped out. This machine, if it does what its statistics say, could help doctors catch melanoma in its early stages and cut the rate of people actually getting full-blown skin cancer in half, at least. It seems like there is a new machine or medical advance almost everyday; I can only imagine what will come out next.

Public Banking

"When Leidy Sanchez and her husband, Carlos Reyes, went to the hospital last week to deliver their baby, a nurse got her a gown, hooked her up to a fetal monitor and asked an unexpected question: Would they like to donate cells from their baby's umbilical cord blood to a public bank? "We said, 'For real, people are doing this?' " says Sanchez. "We'd never heard of it." The couple had heard of private banking, where you pay thousands of dollars to store your baby's cord blood cells, but this was different. The stem cells from Christopher's umbilical cord would be stored, free of charge, at a public bank for potentially anyone in need of a stem cell transplant for leukemia, sickle cell anemia or dozens of other diseases. (Public Banking)"

Until I read this article I had no idea this was even something you could have done with umbilical cells. But thinking about it, this is a great idea. You can, free of cost, have your child's umbilical blood cells saved. These cells could later be used to save someone's life, possibly even someone in your own family. However, the cells most likely can't be used to save the child's life they were taken from because if the child is ill then the cells taken from them would be diseased as well. But there is a study going on now to see if the child's own cells could be used to treat cerebral palsy or brain damage caused by low oxygen at birth. Once again medicine is using these things we usually throw out and turning them into ways to cure "incurable" diseases.