Our tongues can get fat. And scientists say losing tongue weight might be an effective way to manage obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that affects an estimated 22 million Americans.That’s according to a study published this week in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania exploring the surprising relationship between tongue fat and sleep apnea. The researchers found that when overweight people with sleep apnea lost pounds, their tongues also got smaller. And, of all the changes that occurred as a result of slimming down, a reduction in tongue fat had the biggest impact on improving sleep apnea. Until now, it was unclear why weight loss helps manage the sleep condition

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My Wonderful Family

I live in a house near the mountains. I have two brothers and one sister, and I was born last. My father teaches mathematics, and my mother is a nurse at a big hospital. My brothers are very smart and work hard in school. My sister is a nervous girl, but she is very kind. My grandmother also lives with us. She came from Italy when I was two years old. She has grown old, but she is still very strong. She cooks the best food!

My family is very important to me. We do lots of things together. My brothers and I like to go on long walks in the mountains. My sister likes to cook with my grandmother. On the weekends we all play board games together. We laugh and always have a good time. I love my family very much.

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The Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest. It covers an area of nearly 2.8 million square miles, which is nearly the size of the continent of Australia. The Amazon Rainforest gets its life from the majestic Amazon River, the world's second largest river, which runs directly through the heart of the region. The rainforest itself is simply the drainage basin for the river and its many tributaries. The vast forest itself consists of four layers, each featuring its own ecosystems and specially adapted plants and animals. The forest floor is the lowest region. Since only two percent of the sunlight filters through the top layers to the understory, very few plants grow here. The forest floor, however, is rich with rotting vegetation and the bodies of dead organisms, which are quickly broken down into nutrients integrated into the soil. Tree roots stay close to these available nutrients and decomposers such as millipedes and earthworms use these nutrients for food.
The understory is the layer above the forest floor. Much like the forest floor, only about 2- 5 percent of the sunlight reaches this shadowy realm. Many of the plants in the understory have large, broad leaves to collect as much sunlight as possible. The understory is so thick that there is very little air movement. As a result, plants rely on insects and animals to pollinate their flowers.

The layer above the understory is the canopy. This is where much of the action in the rainforest occurs. Many canopy leaves have specially adapted leaves which form "drip tips”. Drip tips allow water to flow off the leaves which prevents mosses, fungi, and lichens from occupying the leaves. Leaves in the canopy are very dense and filter about 80 percent of the sunlight. The canopy is where the wealth of the rainforest's fruits and flowers grow. Bromeliads, cup-like plants, provide drinking pools for animals and breeding locations for tree frogs.
The emergent layer is above the canopy, and is the top layer of the rainforest. Trees in the emergent layer break through the canopy and may reach heights of 200 feet. Leaves in the emergent layer are small and covered with a special wax to hold water. Seeds are blown to other parts of the forest. Trees which rise to the emergent layer are massive. Many are braced by huge buitress roots. Trunks can be 16 feet in circumference. Many animals that survive in the emergent layer never touch the ground.

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Notre-Dame came far closer to collapsing than people knew

The security employee monitoring the smoke alarm panel at Notre-Dame cathedral was just three days on the job when the red warning light flashed on the evening of April 15: “Feu.” Fire. It was 6:18 on a Monday, the week before Easter. The Rev. Jean-Pierre Caveau was celebrating Mass before hundreds of worshipers and visitors, and the employee radioed a church guard who was standing just a few feet from the altar, and told him to go check for fire. He did and found nothing.

It took nearly 30 minutes before they realized their mistake: The guard had gone to the wrong building. The fire was in the attic of the cathedral, the famed latticework of ancient timbers known as “the forest.” The guard went to the attic of a small adjacent building, the sacristy.

Instead of calling the fire department, the security employee called his boss but didn’t reach him. The manager called back and eventually deciphered the mistake. He called the guard and told him to leave the sacristy and run to the main attic. But by the time the guard climbed 300 narrow steps to the attic, the fire was burning out of control, putting firefighters in a near impossible position. Ultimately, Notre-Dame still stands only because the firefighters decided to risk everything.

The miscommunication, uncovered in interviews with church officials and managers of the fire security company, has set off a bitter round of finger-pointing over who was responsible for allowing the fire to rage unchecked for so long. Who is to blame and how the fire started have not yet been determined and are at the heart of an investigation by the French authorities that will continue for months.

But the damage is done. What happened that night changed Paris. The cathedral — a soaring medieval structure that has captured the hearts of believer and nonbeliever alike for 850 years — was ravaged.

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Dear Frank,
I am sorry, I missed your party ________ Friday.
I could not come ________________ I had to take my cousin ___________ the airport.
I tried to phone you ___________ you were out. I hope the party went well.
Yours, Sammy

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1,000 Days Help Shape a Lifetime

The time from conception to age two is the most critical period of development in the life of any individual.

During these 1,000 days, the foundation is laid in a child’s brain for processing information, learning language, developing and enhancing motor skills and other functions that are critically important later in life.

If children and their mothers do not get proper nutrition in those critical 1,000 days, we have missed our opportunity to help ensure those children reach their full potential. Unfortunately this happens all too often.

Stunting the World’s Potential

Stunting is what happens to a child’s brain and body when they don’t get the right kind of food or nutrients, particularly in the 1000 days between conception and their second birthday. Stunted children have a low height for age but it goes beyond just physical height – organs may not fully develop and cognitive development may suffer

The damage can be irreversible. That child may never learn, nor earn, as much as they could have if properly nourished in early life.

162 million children in the world are stunted with life-long consequences including weakened immune systems, and a risk of not reaching their full potential.

“Stunted” is really just code for lost potential – lost to the person, lost to their families and communities, and lost to the world.

The fight against poverty can never be won while entire generations are stunted, and with their development potential limited because they don’t have access to good nutrition, as well as prevention and treatment to common childhood illnesses.

Nutrition International’s belief that simply surviving is not enough drives our work in Child Health, Growth and Development. We want to increase the number of children, particularly those under the age of two, who thrive by making sure they get the essential vitamins and minerals they need to promote their optimal health, growth and development.

Our work in this area includes Infant and Young Child Nutrition and iron supplementation for children.

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What happened at Pearl Harbor?

On the morning of 7 December 1941, at 7.55am local time, 183 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
The first attack wave ________________ bombing the hangars and parked aircraft of the island’s airfields while at the same time launching torpedoes against the US warships moored in the harbour.
This devastating attack was followed an hour and a half later by a second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft. Within two hours, 18 US warships had been sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft destroyed and 2,403 American servicemen and women killed.

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OXFAM AMERICA

Oxfam stands for the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief. It was started in Oxford, England in 1942 in response to the European famine-related issues resulting from the Second World War. Ten other countries worldwide, including the United States and Australia, have started chapters of Oxfam. They make up what is known as Oxfam International.
Oxfam America is dedicated to creating lasting solutions to hunger, poverty, and social injustice through long-term partnerships with poor communities around the world. As a privately funded organization, we can speak with conviction and integrity as we challenge the structural barriers that foster conflict and human suffering and limit people from gaining the skills, resources, and power to become self-sufficient.
Oxfam implements various global projects that target areas particularly affected by hunger. The projects focus on developing self-sufficiency of the communities in which they are based, as opposed to merely providing relief in the form of food aid. Oxfam’s projects operate on the communal level, and are developed by evaluating issues causing poverty and hunger in the community and subsequently the possible infrastructure that could end hunger and foster the attainment of self-sufficiency. Examples of projects in which Oxfam America has been or is involved range from a women’s literacy program in India to providing microloans and agriculture education programs for small-scale organic farmers in California.

Adapted from http://students.brown.edu/Hourglass_Cafe/Pages/about.htm