Dong Zhi and Tang Yuan

Credit: www.roseskitchenette.com

Yesterday was Dong Zhi

My daughter asked me about Dong Zhi and about Tang Yuan that is used to mark the day.

I brusquely told her to Google it. Later, feeling guilty over my own ignorance, I looked up Google myself.

In the Northern Hemisphere, winter solstice is the time at which the Sun is at its southernmost point in the sky, which usually occurs on December 21 to 22 each year. 

The shortest day of the year – the winter solstice – is called Dōng Zhì (冬至) and has special meaning in the traditional Chinese calendar.

Dōng Zhì or Winter Solstice Festival has its origins in the Chinese concept of yin and yang, which represents balance and harmony in life. It’s believed that the yin qualities of darkness and cold are at their most powerful on the shortest day of the year, but also at their turning point to give way to the light and warmth of yang. For this reason, the Winter Solstice Festival is a time for optimism, so it should be celebrated.

In tropical Malaysia, just a few degrees north of the equator, Dōng Zhì is the day when families get together for a dessert of tāng yuán (湯圓), a sweet soup made of glutinous rice balls to also “keep them from frost” in the upcoming “winter” and to drive away “ghosts and other evil things”.

Click HERE for Rose's Tang Yuan recipe. You will notice her "Malaysianisation" of this dessert with the addition of screw pine or Pandan leaves to flavour the soup and the use of "bunga telang" to obtain the blue colour for the rice balls.

Our AES Mess

Credit: www.beritasemasa.com

"We have heard that the system has been under study for many years. From the mouths of those higher-ups (and presumably wise people), you would think that this system is almost perfect. Why weren’t the legal issues considered during the supposedly thorough study?

Aren’t those responsible too hasty to defend the system when not every aspect has been thoroughly studied? (If they had been thoroughly studied, the Attorney-General would not have to resort to reviewing it.) Are they not making fools of themselves?"

Hsu Dar Ren in the Malaysian Insider December 21, 2012

Carotenoids found to reduce hip fracture risk in lean men

Singapore researchers also find that low BMI is stronger risk factor for hip fracture among elderly men compared to women

Speaking at the IOF Regionals Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting, researchers from the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Health, announced a study which links carotenoids to decreased hip fracture risk in elderly, lean Chinese men. 


Elderly who are lean (BMI less than 20) are at higher risk of hip fracture compared to those with higher BMI.

In the study, the researchers examined the association between dietary antioxidant carotenoids and hip fracture risk across a range of BMI in elderly Chinese men and women using data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study. This population-based, cohort prospective study recruited 63,257 men and women aged 45 years between 1993. In this group, a total of 1,630 incident hip fractures up to December 2010 were identified via record linkage with the nationwide hospital discharge database.

Importantly, the study found that low BMI is a stronger risk factor for hip fracture risk among elderly men compared to women.

Also, in men, hip fracture risk decreased with increasing intakes of total vegetables and of total carotenoids, particularly β-carotene. The protective effect was higher in lean men than in men with higher BMI. In contrast, the intake of vegetables or carotenoids had no association with hip fracture risk in women, regardless of levels of BMI.

Cartenoids, which are found many fruits and vegetables (and especially in yellow and orange pigmented vegetables) are converted to vitamin A in the body.

The researchers conclude that clinical trials are needed to demonstrate the efficacy of carotenoid supplementation on reduction of hip fracture risk in elderly men. The findings may have important public health implications on hip fracture prevention, particularly among Asians.

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The above story is based on the December 16, 2012 news release by International Osteoporosis Foundation

The abstract has been published in the scientific journal Osteoporosis International.:

Z. Dai, L-W Ang, W-P Koh. OC12 Dietary carotenoids reduced hip fracture risk in lean men: the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Osteoporos Int, Vol. 23 Suppl 7

New Names for Old Symptoms

Remember when we were young? Life was so much simpler

Symptoms and Diagnosis:
 

1. Skippy heartbeat when you think of him/her.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Ventricular fibrillation and Myocardial Infarction.

2. Restless trembling of hands, feet and other body parts.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Parkinson's Disease 

Credit: Richard Thompson

3. Constant smiling.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Bell's Palsy

4. Absent mindedness, inability to focus on tasks at work or at home.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Early Onset of Alzheimer's Disease

5. Weakening of knees and bursts of energy when he/she calls or visits.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Multiple Sclerosis

6. Inability to stop thinking about her.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

7. Bruising on neck and other tender areas.
Symptoms then: Love bites.
Diagnosis now: Leukemia

8. Insomnia.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

9. Feeling that you can smell/hear/feel her when not in her presence.
Symptoms then: Love
Diagnosis now: Schizophrenia

Source: Clever Magazine, Fall 2012

Mild Psoriasis: The Role of Moisturizers

The key to combating psoriasis is proper disease management. Psoriasis is a chronic condition that waxes and wanes. Moisturizers play an integral role in safely managing the main symptoms of psoriasis.

Aim of Management

Psoriasis is considered to be a chronic condition for which there is no definitive cure. Long-term management requires that treatment measures can be carried out in the long-term, safely, and conveniently.

One important factor to consider is that the majority of psoriasis cases are considered mild, affecting less than 3% of the body's surface. Symptom management is usually straightforward in these mild cases. In managing mild psoriasis, the main goals are:

• Reduce itching.
• Reduce skin shedding or scaling.
• Improve visual appearance of plaques, particularly if visible areas of the skin are affected.
• Management strategies should be safe for long-term use.

Moisturizers help control psoriasis symptoms:

• Moisturizers strengthen the skin's barrier function, and provide it added protection.
• Moisturizers remove excess scaling that occurs in psoriasis, and reduces the chances of cracked skin.
• Visual improvement can be seen if the lesions are moisturized. This effect can last for several hours.
• Moisturizers can help quell itching.
• Regular moisturizing can minimize the chances of psoriasis flares.
• Moisturized skin feels better, especially in the affected areas of the skin which are typically dry.

Moisturizers are safe and reliable for daily use:

• Moisturizers do not contain any drugs which have negative interactions.
• Moisturizers can be used on a daily basis.
• Moisturizers do not lose effectiveness over time, as some medications do.
• Moisturizers interact well with other topical treatments for psoriasis.
• Moisturizers prepare the skin better to absorb other topical treatments.

Source: DermLetter - December, 2012 


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Even Moderate Smoking associated with Sudden Death Risk in Women

Credit: www.corbisimages.com

• Even light-to-moderate cigarette smoking is associated with a significant increase in the risk of sudden cardiac death in women.
• The risk of sudden cardiac death rose 8 percent for each five years of smoking.
• However, within 15-20 years of smoking cessation the risk of sudden cardiac death drops to that of a nonsmoker.

Women who are even light-to-moderate cigarette smokers may be significantly more likely than nonsmokers to suffer sudden cardiac death, according to new research.

The findings indicate long-term smokers may be at even greater risk. But quitting smoking can reduce and eliminate the risk over time.

“Cigarette smoking is a known risk factor for sudden cardiac death, but until now, we didn’t know how the quantity and duration of smoking effected the risk among apparently healthy women, nor did we have long-term follow-up,” said Roopinder K. Sandhu, M.D., M.P.H., the study’s lead author and a cardiac electrophysiologist at the University of Alberta’s Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Researchers examined the incidence of sudden cardiac death among more than 101,000 healthy women in the Nurses’ Health Study, which has collected biannual health questionnaires from female nurses nationwide since 1976. They included records dating back to 1980 with 30 years of follow-up. Most of the participants were white, and all were between 30 to 55 years old at the study’s start. On average, those who smoked reported that they started in their late teens.

During the study, 351 participants died of sudden cardiac death.

Other findings include:

• Light-to-moderate smokers, defined in this study as those who smoked one to 14 cigarettes daily, had nearly two times the risk of sudden cardiac death as their nonsmoking counterparts.
• Women with no history of heart disease, cancer, or stroke who smoked had almost two and a half times the risk of sudden cardiac death compared with healthy women who never smoked.
• For every five years of continued smoking, the risk climbed by 8 percent.
• Among women with heart disease, the risk of sudden cardiac death dropped to that of a nonsmoker within 15 to 20 years after smoking cessation. In the absence of heart disease, there was an immediate reduction in sudden cardiac death risk, occurring in fewer than five years.

Sudden cardiac death results from the abrupt loss of heart function, usually within minutes after the heart stops. It’s a primary cause of heart-related deaths, accounting for between 300,000-400,000 deaths in the United States each year.

“Sudden cardiac death is often the first sign of heart disease among women, so lifestyle changes that reduce that risk are particularly important,” said Sandhu, who is also a visiting scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass. “Our study shows that cigarette smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for sudden cardiac death among all women. Quitting smoking before heart disease develops is critical.”

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The above story is based on the December 11, 2012 news release by American Heart Association.

The research has been published online December 11, 2012 in Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology, an American Heart Association journal:

Sandhu RK, Jimenez MC, Chiuve SE, Fitzgerald KC, Kenfield SA, Tedrow UB, Albert CM. Smoking, Smoking Cessation and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in Women. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2012 DOI: 10.1161/CIRCEP.112.975219 

Learn more from the American Heart Association on the benefits of not smoking and howto quit smoking.  

Learn more about the unique heart disease risks women face and how to beat them at Go Red for Women