February 17th may be the day officially set aside for committing random acts of kindness, but we can, and should, be perpetrators of kindness everyday! The funny thing about kindness, especially random acts thereof, is that it serves not only to cheer the direct recipient of your kindness, but also makes your own day a bit brighter. And one act of kindness will often lead to another, and then another, until kindness itself gains momentum, creating an all consuming wave of do-gooders. Should you feel inspired to set such a wave of warm fuzzies in motion, here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Send a Thoughtful Gift Basket to a Nursing Home Resident
Begin by calling your local nursing home and asking a nurse to identify some residents who do not receive regular visitors. The nurse can give you an idea of what types of goodies a resident might like to receive in a gift basket. If you are lacking the time and resources to put together a gift basket yourself, you can select from among a great variety of flower, cookie, fruit, and even specialty gift baskets on-line. And in ordering a gift basket online, you will have the option of sending it anonymously to the nursing home so as to commit a truly random act of kindness! Make sure to follow up by visiting the nursing home and spend some time walking, talking, and reading with the residents. It will be heart-warming to realize what an important impact your kindness has had on both you and the residents!
2. Help your Children Write Letters of Thanks to their Teachers
The days of showing appreciation for a teacher with a shiny apple are not long gone! Send your kids off to school with hand written thank you notes and bright apples for their overworked teachers. Such a simple act of kindness will go a long way; in brightening their teachers’ days you will also be enhancing the classroom atmosphere for your children and their classmates. Your children will come home from school in high spirits, and that is bound to make your day as well!
3. Stop to Lend a Hand to a Person in Need
If you set off in the morning with this objective in mind, you will be amazed at how many opportunities to help someone in need you pass up everyday. We encounter such situations so often that we have become accustomed to overlooking them! Just think of your morning commute to work—there is the car stalled on the side of the road; the woman fumbling for change at the bus stop; the elderly man loitering outside the coffee shop in hopes of a hot cup—if you look for occasions to lend a hand, you will find them everywhere. You will also discover, in pulling over to help a stalled car, in offering some spare change, or in sharing a cup of coffee, that your perspective on your own community will be positively enhanced.
4. Smile and Say Hello
The simplest way to really improve your, and everyone else’s, day is to sincerely smile at and greet people you interact with in your everyday affairs. Compliment a unique hairstyle; ask how the cashier is holding up on such a busy day. Make an effort to connect with all the people you encounter in a given day—a simple smile and kind word will have a profound effect!
Put these ideas into practice and you will soon find that everyone around you—including yourself!—seems a little more cheerful; eventually random acts of kindness will begin to seem a little less random and become a part of your daily life!
Allison Mueller is a consultant for 99GiftBaskets.US,
the home of fresh
fruit baskets, fine
wine baskets and delicious gourmet meals.
Pregnancy Nutrition
Hello New Mom! It’s you and Baby now, so you’ll want to eat what’s best for both of you. Keep in mind that while you are eating for two, only one of you is a full grown adult so you will probably only need to take in an extra 200-300 calories per day while pregnant. The bottom line? Do eat for two, but don’t overeat.
In general, you should eat a healthy, well-balanced diet full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, foods rich in vitamin C, iron and calcium plus plenty of water. While you don’t need to eliminate salt and fat from your diet, you should take care to eat salty foods and high-fat foods only sparingly.
Also, as an expectant mom, you’ll want to make sure to take the prenatal vitamins prescribed by your physician and pay attention to your intake of folic acid in particular. Folic acid is a member of the B vitamin family and occurs naturally in orange juice, green leafy vegetables, beans and lentils. The synthetic form of folic acid, which is more easily absorbed by your body, can be found in fortified breakfast cereals, enriched grain products and vitamins. Folic acid helps prevent and decrease the risk of several common birth defects and supports rapid growth of the placenta and fetus.
There are several things you should avoid during your pregnancy due to the possibilities of bacterial contamination, birth defects, decreased attention and decreased memory. While pregnant, you should steer clear of:
1. alcohol
2. caffeine and artificial coloring
3. cigarette smoke
4. over-the-counter meds and herbal remedies ( unless otherwise directed by your physician)
5. raw meat
6. raw eggs and food containing raw eggs
7. soft cheese
8. fish with accumulated mercury levels or high levels of an industrial pollutant called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
As you avoid what’s bad and consume adequate amounts of what’s good, you will increase your baby’s chances of being born at a normal birth weight and having good fetal brain development. You will also decrease your risk of having pregnancy complications and severe mood swings and you will help ensure a good post-pregnancy recovery. So eat up!
Jacqueline Courtiol, M.A. Ed. is a teacher, mother and business owner. Jacqueline has authored numerous articles on topics of childcare, natural health, parenting and pregnancy. She is also the co-developer of Colic Calm, a natural homeopathic treatment for baby stomach ache and colic. More information can be found at http://www.coliccalm.com or contact us if you have questions.
Types of Lymphoma and Their Characteristics
Lymphoma refers to a form of tumor caused by the immune system, involving abnormal activity of lymphocytes, body cells that belong to the lymphatic system. Lymphocytes are born at the level of the bone marrow and their primary role inside the body is to identify antigens (foreign bodies that are malignant to the organism) and to trigger the action of the immune system, telling it to attack the discovered antigens. However, in the case of patients with lymphoma, the cells of the lymphatic system become compromised and begin to act like cancer cells. Thus, the occurrence of lymphoma is primarily determined by inappropriate activity of the lymphatic system, lymphocytes multiplying at abnormally fast rates and accumulating in different regions of the body.
There are two distinctive types of lymphatic cells involved in causing the occurrence of lymphoma: “B” lymphocytes and 'T' lymphocytes (commonly referred to as B cells and T cells). The main action of B cells is to create antibodies, a type of proteins that fight against antigens. The T cells (born at the level of the thymus gland) help the activity of the B cells, sustaining and enhancing their action.
According to the type of cells involved in causing the disease and the rate of progression, there are multiple forms of lymphoma. The main two types of lymphoma are: Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (also referred to as Hodgkin’s Disease) and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. These two main types can be further classified in multiple subtypes. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is characterized by the implication of the so-called “double-eyed cells” in causing the disease. All other varieties of lymphoma that don’t share this feature are known as Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas. Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma comprises over 25 subtypes, classified according to the speed of progression and the seriousness of the disease. Various subtypes of lymphoma involve genetic abnormalities that carry the name of primary mutations. Some of these mutations are responsible for triggering the disease, while others are responsible for sustaining its progression.
A very common subtype of lymphoma is follicular lymphoma. This variety of lymphoma is slow progressing and alternates between periods of remission and periods of relapse. In the majority of cases, follicular lymphoma is caused by a specific genetic mutation that affects the B lymphocytes. The mutation causes an overproduction of the BCL2 protein, a type of protein that stimulates an excessive accumulation of B cells, which begin to act like cancerous cells.
Another common subtype of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is diffuse large cell lymphoma. This variety progresses faster and it can also originate from a slower progressing lymphoma subtype. Diffuse cell lymphoma requires immediate treatment; otherwise, the disease can become life-threatening in a very short amount of time. The most efficient form of treatment consists in chemotherapy. Although most patients with diffuse cell lymphoma experience relapse, a second course of strong chemotherapy is usually effective in curing relapsed cases.
Burkitt’s lymphoma is a rapidly evolving lymphoma subtype that occurs due to a unique genetic anomaly. This variety of lymphoma requires immediate medical intervention and involves a poor patient life expectancy. When chemotherapy is not sufficient for treating patients with Burkitt’s lymphoma, combination treatments with immunosupressants can help ameliorate its symptoms and slow its progression rate.
Unlike B-cell lymphomas, T-cell lymphomas are rare and account for about 20 percent of cases of all Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in general. T-cell lymphomas are rapidly progressing and often involve the body skin. Along with Hodgkin’s Disease, T-cell lymphoma raises serious issues in diagnosis and treatment. This is due to the poor understanding of the causes and evolution of the disease, medical scientists lacking conclusive medical data. However, medical scientists hope to unveil the exact origins and the pattern of evolution characteristic to Non-Hodgkin’s T-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin’s Disease in order to develop an efficient treatment in the near future.
So, if you want to find out more about lymphoma cancer or even about symptoms of lymphoma please visit this link http://www.lymphoma-center.com/
