3/14/10 Sunday

High fructose corn syrup is the new debated health topic recently. As health concerns seem to be the new it thing, many people have demanded that it be curtailed. But with the recent ads proclaiming corn syrup as healthy in reasonable quantities, it can leave consumers confused as to all of the hype. Dr. Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. has discovered many items of note regarding the use of fructose as a sweetener. According to a Washington Post as well as a WebMD article, corn syrup tested contained mercury. But as opposing viewpoints abound you must be the judge and examine the evidence as well as think critically about the sources and information that you peruse.

Conversely PRNewswire has an article refuting, if not all, some of the aforementioned claims. They state that it is no different, nutritionally, than table sugar and that it doesn’t contribute to obesity any more than any other sugar type substance.

3/14/10 Sunday

There needs to be more conscious and deliberate decision-making when it comes to people bearing children. They need to think of the consequences as well as the fact that they are going to have a cute little baby. Because, it isn’t just a baby, but a human being, a separate entity that is apart from you. Many parents think that their children will be clones or extensions of themselves. They are shocked and often disappointed to find out that this child grows into an individual and has different viewpoints and opinions than the parents. They may reject their child as being rebellious or contrary. They do not know how to foster a healthy relationship with the child once he/she become of an age where she/he can make their own decisions. They criticize their child for things going wrong in his/her life because the parents feels that if the child were more like them then he/she would do better, have a better life, etc.

In the case of fundamentalist parents they blame the world and secular evil for their child going astray. They make the child feel like a deviant for every opinion or viewpoint that they have that doesn’t fit into their safe world of what is considered holy and right thinking/living.

Fundamentalist parents often have mental illnesses that go untreated and undiagnosed, which can lead to a very unhappy childhood for the unknowing child. They are plunged into a world that is at first fascinating until they reach an age where they are surrounded by more rational people, such as at school etc. That is if they aren’t one of the ones that are home schooled. They’re lucky enough to be able to escape the clutches of the fundamentalist parents for a period of time and be exposed to other new ideas. These ideas are very threatening for the fundamentalist parent. They feel very uncomfortable with ideas that don’t fit into their tight fundamentalist bubble. Children’s worlds expand quickly as they grow up. Their mother’s are the center of their world and whatever siblings or grandparents may be present at first. Then their world expands when they are sent to school or daycare or something. They soon see that the world extends beyond the confines of their family and home.

Cool stuff

Modified adult stem cells may be helpful in spinal cord injury

Researchers at UTHealth have demonstrated in rats that transplanting genetically modified adult stem cells into an injured spinal cord can help restore the electrical pathways associated with movement. The results are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

This is an interesting albeit technical article about new progress in stem cells.

I have a sample of my short story for children entitled: Stanley Stoodle Noodle.

I also have a sample of my short story Drops of Blood