STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Letters....S.T.R..
Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

• S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

• T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today)

• R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

The perfect exam diet for students
http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20100314/1074
Hindustan Times | Sun, Mar 14 05:10 PM

Mumbai, March 14 - IPL fever has gripped the nation, but unfortunately, students have to grapple with the exam fever. The exam season is back, it's that time of the year when one can feel the anxiety in every inch of one's body! So, what's a student to do? Most starve because they are busy cramming or lose their appetites. Adults often advise children that one needs to fuel the body with foods that energise during the exam phase.

It's similar to preparing for a long marathon. It's also time to pamper oneself a bit with comfort food. Bananas are said to be excellent before an exam because they release their energy slowly. Even an orange, carrot sticks or a sweet fruit work in the same way.

It's also recommended that one has a light and balanced meal a couple of hours before an exam. Not eating is the worst things! Manjeet Kaur, a housewife with an 18-year-old son, says, "I make sure my son eats light, has plenty of juices and fruits during his study break. I don't prepare deep-fried snacks and rice because they make one drowsy. I also insist that he eats every two hours." Dr Nalini Karukaran advises oats for breakfast.

She says, "A light meal comprising meat, eggs or fish and vegetables is okay. Avoid brinjals, very sour and salty food. For dinner, one can have Rice and Moong Dal Khichdi made with pure ghee." Nutritionist Dr Harshada Rajadjyaksha says that students require food that increase concentration, enhance memory, boost energy, calm the mind and reduce stress and fatigue. She regards coffee, tea, colas and sugar as energy-fakers.

She recommends a balanced combination of nutrients for sustained energy. She says, "Combine vegetables, whole grain cereals or pasta, fresh fruits, dry fruits and nuts. Drink enough water. Almonds, apples, walnuts along with raisins, grapes, oranges, dates and figs and eggs, milk, soybeans and fish are memory-enhancing food. Calm the mind with honey, milk, oats, wholegrain cereals, nuts and pulses."

In bad faith - Government is putting its foot down on fraudulent or forced marriages
http://canadianimmigrant.ca/newsandviews/news/article/6878

The federal government is putting its foot down on fraudulent or forced marriages entered into for the sake of getting into Canada. Under proposed new regulations, immigration officials will now more easily be able to refuse a spousal immigration application if they believe the marriage was entered into in “bad faith.”

“This is intended to protect the integrity of the immigration program by preventing individuals from using relationships of convenience to circumvent immigration law,” according to the new regulation. Up until now, determining a bad faith relationship has been difficult. This is because current legislation specifies that a bad faith relationship must meet two criteria. One is that a relationship is not genuine; two, that it was entered into primarily for the purpose of immigrating to Canada.

Under the new rules, immigration officials can decide a relationship is fraudulent just based on one of these two criteria. The new rules would also make it easier for officials to refuse adopted children if the adoption did not create a genuine parent-child relationship” or was done to immigrate.

For information on applying for immigration after marrying a Canadian, see "Prove your love."

Sleep's role in weight loss remains a mystery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
By Jennifer LaRue Huget | Thursday, April 8, 2010; VA14

When I feel tired, I can't do much of anything right. I drop things. I say stupid stuff. And I eat with abandon, unable to resist most temptations. So I made getting more sleep a key component of my "Me Minus 10" campaign to lose 10 pounds before I turn 50. It just seemed obvious that being well rested would help me control my diet. And I did something a journalist never should: I assumed there was science to back me up.

Turns out that science has not yet connected the dots between how much we sleep and how much we weigh. After searching in vain for convincing studies to support my hunch, I turned to the pros.

"There haven't been that many studies done on that particular topic," said Clete Kushida, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Kushida's office sent me a handful of studies, including a 2008 analysis of the existing research on the subject of sleep and obesity. They all revealed a relationship between restricted sleep and obesity, but not one that was cause-and-effect. The studies noted that further research is needed.

What do we know? Scientists have an idea for how lack of sleep might contribute to obesity. In two studies, lack of sleep was found to influence two hormones that help control hunger. Leptin, made by fat tissue, tells your brain when it's time to stop eating, while grhelin, which is made in the stomach, signals that you ought to eat more. Both studies -- one involving 11 subjects, the other more than a thousand -- found that restricted sleep led to suppression of leptin and increased grhelin activity, two states that could make you want to eat more.

At least one doctor is willing to take the leap and recommend that people who want to lose weight should get a handle on their sleep. Michael Aziz, author of "The Perfect 10 Diet" (Sourcebooks, 2010), writes, "Getting enough sleep is the cheapest and simplest advice I can give for losing weight."

Aziz is a doctor of internal medicine and founder and director of New York City's Midtown Integrative Medicine, which focuses on traditional, alternative and complementary medicine. His approach involves choosing foods, behaviors and activities that promote healthful balances of 10 hormones he considers key to weight management. He agrees that grhelin and leptin are major players in determining how much we weigh. But so, he says, are growth hormone, insulin, cortisol and melatonin. And the activity of each is influenced by how much we sleep.

With those mechanics in mind, Aziz offers some specific advice about how, and how much, to sleep:

• "Go to sleep and wake up at the same time most days." We can perhaps slide a bit on weekends, Aziz says, but usually we should aim to be in bed at -- are you ready? -- 9:30 or 10 on weeknights.

• Eat your last meal one to two hours before going to bed.

• Avoid what are commonly called simple carbohydrates and "sugary stuff" at that meal or at bedtime. Such foods will bump up insulin production. "When our insulin is very high, we can't get to sleep," he says. Instead, choose whole-wheat crackers, which can control insulin. Or eat turkey or bananas, both of which contain tryptophan, which is believed to trigger sleepiness. Lettuce, too, has a "long history of helping people get to sleep," Aziz says.

• Avoid caffeinated coffee, tea and soda. And alcohol, which Aziz says "can make us go to sleep, but it's not the deep sleep" that we need to produce growth hormone (which in turn helps regulate insulin).

• Practice good sleep hygiene. That means turning off all electronics, including the TV, and creating as quiet a sleep space as you can. Lower blinds and turn off lights so your room is as dark as possible. Make sure the room temperature is comfortable. Consider taking a warm bath or doing some gentle stretches -- but not heart-pumping exercise -- before turning in.

Okay, so just how long are we supposed to stay asleep?

Robert Vorona, a sleep researcher at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, says adults should aim for 7 to 7 1/2 hours a night, while teenagers need a whopping 9 to 9 1/4 hours. (Fellow parents, let's do the math. If your teen has to get up at, say, 6:30 to be at school by 7:30, that means bedtime's at 9:15 or 9:30 p.m.)

Vorona says he'd like to delve deeper into the sleep-obesity question. He applied for funding of the research a few years ago, to no avail. "It's a shame," he says. "It's such an intriguing idea. If sleep extension could have a salutary effect on helping people lose weight," he says, we'd have another tool in the fight against obesity.

On the other hand, Vorona says, "The last thing I want readers to think is that Dr. Vorona thinks we're facing this obesity epidemic because we're sleep deprived. I suspect it's part of the picture, along with lack of exercise and dietary indiscretion."

The Rookie Manager’s Guide to Office Politics
http://www.bnet.com/2403-13059_23-401835.html?tag=content;col1
by Elaine Pofeldt and Adriana Gardella

If there’s one big workplace lie that any new manager should wise up to fast, it’s “There are no office politics here.” Higher-ups may do their best to discourage gossip and to foster a schmooze-free meritocracy, but let’s be honest: There’s no workplace on the planet where fostering good relationships isn’t key to getting things done.

And now that you’ve become a boss, it’s even more important that you “get” the political environment of your office and learn how to work effectively with higher-ups, peers, and direct reports. Here are five lessons to master in your first 90 days.

• Understand How Your Role Has Changed

• Know What You Don’t Know

• Master the Unwritten Rules

• Be Loyal, to a Point

• Build the Support You Need to Get Things Done