Are you familiar with mesothelioma? You might be familiar with lung cancer and the devastating impact it can have on people and their families; however, mesothelioma is classed as asbestos-related cancer that primarily affects the lining of the lungs. This asbestos-related disease affects thousands of people every year and tragically, is considered incurable – find a local Mesothelioma lawyer via the link if you have been affected.
Sadly, not many people know about this destructive disease, who is most susceptible to it, the symptoms, and how it’s diagnosed. So, with this in mind let’s explore four things that you need to know about mesothelioma.
Four things you need to know about mesothelioma:
1. The symptoms
So, how do you know that you have Mesothelioma lung cancer? Worryingly, the first signs of this asbestos-related disease start to manifest when the tumors in your lungs begin to grow and spread. It’s this process that will trigger certain symptoms like the ones listed below.
You have a dry, persistent cough
You’re struggling to catch your breath
You’re constantly battling chest infections and respiratory illnesses
You have pain in your chest/abdomen (this is caused by tumors pressing against your chest wall)
Fluid on your lungs
Weakness and fatigue
2. Who is most at risk?
As mesothelioma is an asbestos-related illness, it’s those who are exposed to asbestos in their daily lives (and for extended periods) who are most at risk. Certain occupations mean some workers are far more likely to interact with or handle asbestos than others. It’s also worth noting that second-hand exposure – such as amongst friends and family members – is also possible. The following occupations are renowned for the high-risk of mesothelioma.
Navy Veterans (those who work in shipyards)
Factory workers
Firefighters
Construction workers
Powerplant workers
3. How is mesothelioma diagnosed?
If you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms, then you should speak with your doctor, urgently. Having this dangerous illness diagnosed as soon as possible will increase your life expectancy and you may be able to have treatments that will extend your life.
Your illness may be diagnosed with a series of imaging scans, which may start as a simple chest X-ray to look for abnormalities and fluid on the lungs. If needed, you could also have an MRI or CT scan. Blood tests are also likely, as they can help confirm and back up other results that may lean towards a diagnosis. If an abnormality is found, your doctor may take a sample of the tumor for a biopsy to confirm whether or not you’re dealing with mesothelioma.
4. Your treatment options
Depending on the severity of your illness or the growth of the cancerous cells, you might not be eligible for all types of treatment. However, the most common types of treatments are what you would expect – surgery, for removing tumors and limiting the spread of cancer, chemotherapy to help shrink the tumors, and radiation therapy. You may also be offered experimental medications in a clinical trial.
Final thoughts…
Speak with your doctor if you’re concerned about mesothelioma and speak with a lawyer if you’ve been recently diagnosed.
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There is an interesting study in California that compares the intake of calories for schools which has banned soda water vending machines. It was found that on average that students consume 158 fewer calories daily. These studies are of course not conclusive but it is encouraging to see that reducing the amount of soda being consumed can help to cut down on the amount of sugar a child can take.
I personally wish that more such studies can be conducted to show folks that cutting down these sugary drinks can help to reduce the obese problem that is facing America right now. In my previous post on New York City banning soda water, I argued that this is the right policy decision although it is likely to face much resistance from the companies that manufacture of best soda maker.
This is where studies such as what I have highlighted comes into play because they provide strong support for governmental policies. With scientific proof, it is being much harder to gain support from the rest of the community.
That being said, I also foresee the cases where companies will undertake their own research and prove that drinking soda water has no correlation with obesity. This is the kind of games that the Tabaco companies have been playing and I see soda water manufacturers doing the same thing. In fact, I am not so sure that smoking and drinking excessive soda water should not be on the same level of concern in everyone’s mind.
Readers, if you see more such reports, please share them here so that collectively, we can know for sure what are the health benefits of drinking less soda water.
5 Reasons Why You Need a Carbonated Water Maker
The carbonated water machine is about the size of a coffee maker and uses no batteries or electricity. All the work is done by a CO2 canister placed in the back of the machine.
It only takes a few seconds to enjoy nearly unlimited amounts of sparkling water and soda. Here are 10 reasons why you need a carbonated water maker:
1. You Control the fizziness
For seltzer loves, one of the best parts of a carbonated water maker is that you get to control the fizziness of your drinks. Some people prefer a gentle fizz. Others like lots and lots of bubbles. Usually, it only takes 2-3 button presses to fully carbonate a liter of water. I always add an extra push of the button.
2. Drink Healthy
Not only do you control the fizziness, you also control all of the ingredients. This provides an excellent opportunity to teach your family about healthy alternatives to high-fructose corn syrup name brand sodas. Instead of sugary syrups, why not use a squeeze of lime juice or a splash of cranberry juice. You can also make your own flavors with ginger, tea bags, or anything else you find in your kitchen.
In addition to flavors, you also control the water source. You can use ordinary tap water, or you can use chilled water from a water filter.
3. It is good for the environment
Many people would argue that this is the most important benefit of owning a home carbonated water maker. Most of these machines include one or more reusable soda bottles that are good for three years or more. By reusing your bottles instead of throwing them away, you greatly reduce your plastic bottle waste. Reusing is even better than recycling.
Secondly, these machines help you reduce your carbon footprint. There is no point in paying for someone else to manufacture, fill up, and then truck plastic bottles around the country when you have all the materials at home.
4. Cut your grocery store bill
The CO2 canisters included with most carbonated water machines are good for about 60 liters of carbonated water. Large sizes are also available. Name brand sparkling water can cost several dollars per liter at the store. Home seltzer machines can make a liter of carbonated water for about 15-20 cents per liter.
5. Unlimited Carbonated Water, Seltzer Water, and Club Soda
Since you have all the materials at your fingertips, these machines can make virtually unlimited amounts of carbonated water on demand. If you run out of soda at a birthday party or club soda at a cocktail party, it only takes a few seconds to make more. You won’t have to run off to the store to buy more.
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The holiday season is officially over, which means it’s time to start working off some of the extra pounds you picked up at mom’s house. While people generally love the idea of looking like the dudes who do commercials for home-exercise equipment, most of us still hate working out and dieting. If you are one of them, don’t worry. There are a ton of startups offering the kind of motivation you need in the form of mobile apps. Such apps use activity tracking as well as fitness and health risk assessment apps.
Today we’ll be exercising our startup muscles by taking a look at some of these young companies and what makes them tick.
8 Motivations to Start Up Health & Fitness:
Fitness gamification is huge right now, which makes sense given that it adds a much-needed dimension of play to the arduous task of getting fit. A great example of fitness gamification is Tep, which is basically a cross between a fitness tracker and a Tamagotchi; though, in the case of Tep, the star is a niftily-designed giraffe rather than a globular cluster of black pixels.
The more a user exercises, the better the giraffe does (users can buy their long-necked pets treats with rewards points they earn from walking, running and cycling). If users slack off, though, it’s curtains for the poor creature.
According to the app’s creators, a group of five super-talented self-starters from Szeged, Hungary, «Tep’s competitive edge relies on emotional connection and the mental „threat“ that the beloved pet might suffer from the lack of proper physical activity and thus offers a solution for curve fatigue effect.»
Does that sound a little dark? Sure. But it’s for a good cause. The founding team’s goal is to help users lose eight million pounds of fat in the next three years; there’s also talk of buying a giraffe.
The founding team built Tep on their own time and dime, but are currently funded by Traction Tribe and prizes from Microsoft’s Imagine Cup.
Tep is available in beta for Android and Windows phones, with an iOS version coming soon.
Wokamon
If you like the idea of a digital workout buddy helping you toe the line, but giraffes aren’t really your thing, then you might dig Wokamon, which comes to us from Mars Zhu and Hazim Abdul Hamid of Noodum.
Wokamon features dozens of animated monsters that get bigger and stronger as you do. Since it comes with a pedometer and syncs with wearables like Jawbone, Fitbit, and Up, you can be sure that every calorie burned gets counted and fed to your growing army of critters.
Connecting with friends on social media through Wokamon earns you reward points, which you can burn on unlocking new creatures.
Noodum and Wokamon are currently being funded by an $18,000 seed investment from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Innospace Incubator.
Gamified fitness apps like Wokamon and Tep have a lot of options when it comes to future monetization. They can either take the Zombies, Run! The approach of charging for downloads (which works if you’re as niche and well-made as that app) or offer in-app purchases for things like new backgrounds, characters, or crystals and boosters for your pet monsters.
For now, though, we can take advantage of both Tep and Wokamon for free.
Teamster
Teamster is an iOS app that, contrary to its name, has absolutely nothing to do with trucking. What teamster does do, though, is help you connect with other people in your area who are interested in the same sorts of athletic activities as you.
Conveniently, users are able to identify which sports they like and their level of skill in each on a scale of 1 to 5, which means you won’t be totally outmatched when you meet up for a game with other users.
When you find another user who shares your interests and skill set, swipe right in the app to add them to your team. Sounds like Tinder is ubiquitous, doesn’t it? Users can then create activities for other users or teams to join.
Teamster comes to us from the Melbourne based duo of Henry Chan and 22-year old Sam McCallum, who has a background in competitive running, cycling, and skiing.
Actually, 2015 is shaping up to be an awesome year for apps that bring social networking logic to the gym. Take Boston-based Perspyre, for example, which is coming out soon with a beta version for Android and iOS.
The whole point of Perspyre is connecting people who love to sweat and giving them access to workouts, advice, and motivation. Users can log into the app via Facebook and take post-workout selfies, record workouts, and brag about new personal records.
Though it’s admittedly a little intense for beginners, Persypre is perfect for those who are already «motivated and dedicated» enough to willingly visit Crossfit and P90x classes.
Perspyre is the brainchild of Jason Chisholm and Jeremy Mays and has received $25,000 in seed funding from John Piret of the investment firm Newbury Piret & Co.
If Perspyre sounds like it’s right up your alley, keep an eye out for the soon-to-be-launched SternFit iOS app which also gives workout buffs a great platform for sharing pics, tips, and workouts.
Rocket Journey
If your meteoric rise to peak physical perfection is still in the launch phase, you’ll find a helpful companion in RocketJourney, which bills itself as the «smartest and friendliest way to a fitness lifestyle.»
The app’s founding trio of Carlos Ayala, Pablo Artee, and Ernesto Cambuston has received funding from 500 Startups, the seed fund and startup accelerator comprised of Google and PayPal alums.
RocketJourney tracks all of your fitness activities from cycling to yoga to lifting to competitive eating — just kidding about that last one — and verifies that you’ve actually worked out through GPS and wearables integration.
The app motivates you to stick to your fitness regime by giving you points for completed workouts and taking away points for missed ones. The same logic holds true for user-created «teams» which add the pinch of peer-pressure that it just might take to keep you on track.
You can register for updates on RocketJourney’s release on the website.
OneSet
OneSet — «Vine for Fitness» — is another promising app to stay tuned for in the months to come. Users can create 15-second videos demonstrating an exercise or «stack» other users’ videos into workouts.
Since videos are organized by muscle group or goal, it’s easy to find the right moves for you.
OneSet’s founding team is based in Waterloo, Canada, and consists of brothers Amad and Shameel Abdullah, as well as full-stack developer George Xu.
GYM radio
Sometimes all it takes to reach the athlete within is finding the right music to sweat to, or the right gym to do it in.
Though GYM radio’s online music streaming service has been around since 2013, its new iOS, Android, and Windows phone releases have made it easier than ever to get amped up and pumped up at the same time.
The app features three music settings — cardio, gym, and hardcore-tailored to give your workout the right feel. Here’s the best part: GYM radio is completely ad-free, which means your runners high won’t get interrupted by voice-actors pitching toothpaste or discount car insurance.
GYM radio also offers a premium upgrade which, for a monthly or yearly subscription, will let you listen offline, skip songs, and get access to material unavailable on the standard version.
Gymhopper
Gymhopper — «Uber for gyms»- is a Swiss startup that aims to help you find the right gym by offering its users discounted individual training passes. Gyms benefit from the app by getting a little extra exposure as well as a shot at their target market, people who are actively searching for a new place to get sweaty.
Gymhopper is currently in series A fundraising but expects an iOS release later this year.
What can fitness startups learn from RunKeeper?
Figuring out how to actually make money with your app is a problem that can plague even the biggest of startup fish. Each of the aforementioned apps will have to figure out the right monetization strategy for their product and user-base. One good model employed by the leading fitness tracker RunKeeper is to partner with other businesses to provide sponsored advertising to users.
That means Teamster’s users could theoretically get discounts on Nike products for showing up at local softball games, and Perspyre users could get 25% off gym memberships for visiting p90x classes 3 times a week.
There are a lot of good ways to get back in shape, and a lot of good startups out there creating more every day.
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How Do I Get Back In Shape? Fitness Experts Share Their Tips!
As the weather once again turns colder, most of us are thinking of ways to keep ourselves warm. Whether it is warm clothes, fixing up the furnace in your home, or something entirely else, we all appreciate the warmth and the need to keep warm.
Cancer patients are among the most sensitive people, which is why it is natural to wonder whether the cold affects them in any particular way. We reached out to cancer treatment researchers at Odonate Therapeutics to learn a bit more.
Why cancer Patients Are Sensitive?
In order to understand why people combating cancer may be more susceptible to external influences, cold temperatures included, it is helpful to remember what cancer treatment involves.
The standard fare treatment for cancer is chemotherapy which is often complemented with radiation treatment. That means that their immune systems are quite strained as it is and should not be pushed further.
Hypothermia Is a Real Risk
Cancer treatment can have many side effects, which include anemia and dehydration, among other things. These two conditions in particular make the organism far less capable of combating the cold.
In essence, that means that a cancer patient may be less capable of maintaining body heat. Fortunately, there is one simple way to ensure that cancer patients are safe from the negative effects of the colder weather – keeping them warm.
This includes making sure they are properly dressed for the weather, as well as that their homes are nice and warm when they return from their treatment sessions.
Frostbites Can Also Occur
Whereas most people would be aware of the cold because their body will naturally tell them, some cancer patients may be denied that. Certain cancer medications may cause what is known as peripheral neuropathy. This neuropathy affects the digits and can spread to affect hands and feet.
Without being able to tell how cold you are, you may not react in time and get yourself to warmth. After prolonged exposure to cold, the skin and the tissue underneath can become damaged, causing frostbite.
Neuropathy Can Cause Falls
Apart from damaging the cold receptors, neuropathies can also affect a person’s sense of balance. The unsteadiness can quite easily result in a fall if the person is not tended to carefully. Even though falls can affect anyone, and cause quite a lot of pain, they can be particularly nasty to some cancer patients.
More specifically, leukemia patients who have low platelet levels in their blood. This component of blood helps the wounds heal by creating clots. Cancer patients whose platelet levels are low cannot heal wounds properly, making even smaller injuries potentially dangerous.
Cold Weather Ushers the Flu Season
Seasonal illnesses such as the flu and the common cold typically spike with the colder weather. Most people stay indoors, they interact with other people and can easily get ill.
Cancer patients can be quite susceptible to those types of illnesses because their immune system is suppressed by the medication and can be completely destroyed by radiation therapy.
Keeping cancer patients from contracting these common diseases can be a struggle, but it is vital.
COVID 19 Complicates Things
No roundup of issues that negatively affect people in 2020 would be complete without the ever-present COVID-19. This illness has affected millions of people across the world and taken quite a few lives.
Due to the nature of the illness, it is most damaging to those who are already fighting another illness. Just like with the flu and the cold, COVID-19 can quickly infect a cancer patient and do a lot of damage.
Cancer patients need to focus on the most important battle in their lives- defeating cancer. They need all the help and the support they can get from their loved ones. Keeping them safe from the cold weather and everything it brings is just another step in their fight for recovery.
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