I Had A Dream Job Playing A Disney Princess. Offstage, I Was In Freefall.
In 2012, I booked a dream job playing Princess Jasmine in an “Aladdin” stage show at the Disneyland Resort. At the risk of sounding cheesy, it was magical. The show was a full stage production with gorgeous sets and costumes.The theater held 2,000 seats, bigger than most Broadway houses, and the audience was always packed. […]
Diet high in saturated fat can reprogram immune cells in mice
A new study by Portland State University researchers is the first to show that eating a diet exclusively high in saturated fats can reprogram the mouse immune system, making it better able to fight off infection but more susceptible to systemic inflammatory conditions, including sepsis. Brooke Napier, assistant professor of biology at PSU, led the […]
I Was One Of The Most Famous Pop Stars In The World. No One Knew The Secret Pain I Hid.
The year is 1997, and talk show host Rosie O’Donnell is interviewing me about the smash hit “I Want You.” It’s a song Rosie helped make a Billboard Top 5 hit, having played what she affectionately nicknamed “The Chica Cherry Cola Song” incessantly during her show’s intro segment for months prior to us even landing […]
What Happens If You Have Hepatitis? 4 Causes & 9 Symptoms
Some people with hepatitis do not show any symptoms and are unaware of their infection. Hepatitis is a term used to describe inflammation or swelling of the liver that occurs when liver tissues are injured or infected. It can be caused by several viruses (viral hepatitis), chemicals, drugs, alcohol, certain genetic disorders, or an overactive […]
What’s in a name? Glimmers of evolution in naming babies, choosing a dog
Maverick was first used as a baby name after a television show called “Maverick” aired in the 1950s, but its popularity rose meteorically in 1986 with the release of the movie “Top Gun.” Today, it is even used for baby girls. The name Emma peaked in popularity in the late 1800s, declined precipitously through the […]
Ubiquitous nutrients suppress appetite and promote movement
In experiments on mice, researchers at ETH Zurich show that non-essential amino acids act as appetite suppressants and promote the urge to move. Their research provides insight into the neural mechanism that controls this behaviour. Proteins can suppress appetite, so a protein-rich diet can help people lose weight. That’s just one of the reasons why […]
Link found between gut microbes and stroke: Findings lay the groundwork for new stroke treatments, prevention strategies
New findings from Cleveland Clinic researchers show for the first time that the gut microbiome impacts stroke severity and functional impairment following stroke. The results, published in Cell Host & Microbe, lay the groundwork for potential new interventions to help treat or prevent stroke. The research was led by Weifei Zhu, Ph.D., and Stanley Hazen, […]
Too dry, too hot, or too wet: Increasing weather persistence in European summer
“In our study, we show that persistent weather conditions have an increasing similarity in summer over the North Atlantic, Europe and Siberia, favoring more pronounced extreme weather events. In Europe alone, about 70% of the land area is already affected by more persistent weather situations,” says Peter Hoffmann from the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research […]
America’s Amputation Crisis May Soon Get Much Worse
Few medical procedures are as life-altering as an amputation. But statistics show hundreds of thousands of Americans have their limbs surgically removed each year because they don’t have access to adequate vascular screening and care. In the rural communities of North Carolina that we serve, the nearest “in-hospital” alternative to our office-based treatment locations is […]
Meds, surgery may help obesity-related high blood pressure if diet, exercise fall short
Weight-loss medications and surgical procedures show promise for reducing the long-term effects of high blood pressure (also called hypertension) in people who are overweight or have obesity, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the Association’s journal Hypertension. A scientific statement is an expert analysis of current research and may […]