Category Archives for "Good 2Know"

Olympic volleyball star April Ross serves inspiration to Girls Inc. in Costa Mesa

Luke Money of the LA Times caught the crowd of about 40 elementary school girls gasped when April Ross stood up — and not just because they were in the presence of an Olympian.

“I was taller than most of the boys in school,” the Costa Mesa resident said with a laugh as the girls cast astonished glances at her 6-foot-1 frame.

Her height and reach come in handy for Ross — a world-class beach volleyball player with golden aspirations for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

As Ross told the group of youngsters Wednesday afternoon at Girls Inc. of Orange County in Costa Mesa, she wasn’t always one of the top athletes in her sport.

Shea Chappell, 4, places a flower crown on April Ross during the Olympic medalist’s visit to Girls Inc. of Orange County in Costa Mesa.

Before she won a silver medal in beach volleyball at the 2012 Olympic Games in London or was a national champion at USC or starred at Newport Harbor High School, Ross was a young girl struggling to pick up the sport.

“When I started playing volleyball, I was the worst person on the team, and I’m not lying,” she said. “I was really bad. I couldn’t serve the ball over the net. I didn’t think I had a future in volleyball at all, but I loved the sport and I just loved playing.”

It took countless hours of hard work and more than a little determination for Ross, now 33, to reach her place as one of the shining stars of the sand.

That’s the message she hopes the young participants at Girls Inc. took away from her visit.

“As long as you work hard and you never give up and you keep working through those challenges, you’re going to grow and you’re going to learn and you’re always going to get better,” Ross said.

Ross visited Girls Inc. as part of the U.S. Olympic Committee‘s Team for Tomorrow program, which gives athletes a vehicle to spread Olympic values of respect, friendship and excellence.

The mission of Girls Inc. is to inspire girls to be “strong, smart and bold.” That resonates with Ross, as did the chance to speak to youngsters in her hometown.

Olympic beach volleyball silver medalist April Ross visits with youngsters at Girls Inc. of Orange County in Costa Mesa on Wednesday to talk about the importance of perseverance and a healthy and active lifestyle.

“One of the biggest callings for me is playing an active part in young girls’ lives and having an impact there and being a good influence,” Ross said. “I just want young girls to be confident and strong and bold, and that’s exactly their mission. It was kind of a no-brainer for me.”

For Olivia Rogers, 10, Ross’ visit was a prime opportunity to pick up some pointers.

“I like volleyball a lot,” Olivia said. “I play with a couple of other people.”

Olivia said she’s been working to hone her serve and, after hearing about how hard Ross worked to develop her skills, she’s going to keep at it.

Ross also spoke to the girls about the importance of eating healthy and being active. The group put some of those lessons in practice Wednesday by shooting basketballs, jumping rope, twirling hoops and, of course, playing a little volleyball.

“She’s a celebrity to the girls, which is amazing,” said Ashley Cashdollar, volunteer coordinator for Girls Inc. of Orange County. “She’s coming in, bringing her silver medal with her, and the girls get to see that and now they’re thinking, ‘Oh, I can do that one day.'”

Cashdollar thinks Ross’ personal story also resonated with the kids…READ MORE

There's a disorder that makes it impossible to feel pleasure, and scientists are just beginning to understand how it works

No pain no gain, but what if you can’t feel pleasure?  There may be a reason as stated in the article by Tanya Lewis for the Business Insider.

There’s a name for the inability to take pleasure in activities you once found enjoyable, the subject of countless commercials for depression medications: anhedonia.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, scientists stimulated the brains of rats to induce feelings of anhedonia, helping to explain how the phenomenon arises in the brain.

Hopefully, this understanding could one day lead to better treatments for depression and other related mood disorders….READ MORE

There’s a disorder that makes it impossible to feel pleasure, and scientists are just beginning to understand how it works

No pain no gain, but what if you can’t feel pleasure?  There may be a reason as stated in the article by Tanya Lewis for the Business Insider.

There’s a name for the inability to take pleasure in activities you once found enjoyable, the subject of countless commercials for depression medications: anhedonia.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, scientists stimulated the brains of rats to induce feelings of anhedonia, helping to explain how the phenomenon arises in the brain.

Hopefully, this understanding could one day lead to better treatments for depression and other related mood disorders….READ MORE

SNOWBOARDING NYC in STYLE

It’s the GoodLIFE! CARPE DIEM!

Top 10 TED Talks That Could Change Your Life

Ted Talks that could CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Anti-Vaccination Parents Richer, Better Educated

A recent study published in the “American Journal of Public Health” examined the demographics of California school students who had requested and received exemptions from mandatory vaccinations for nonmedical reasons. The study, “Sociodemographic Predictors of Vaccination Exemptions on the Basis of Personal Belief in California,” found that from 2007 to 2013 the rate of vaccine refusal for personal belief doubled, to 3.06 percent.

Though the rate of overall vaccine refusal was low in absolute terms, it has implications for what’s known as herd immunity and raises the risk of disease for the general population. The demographics of vaccine refusal reveal an interesting — and, for many, unexpected — pattern: despite overwhelming scientific evidence that vaccines are safe and effective, it’s the more educated parents who tend to reject them.

Nicholas Bakalar of “The New York Times” notes that “Exemption percentages were generally higher in regions with higher income, higher levels of education, and predominantly white populations. In private schools, 5.43 percent of children were exempt, compared with 2.88 percent in public schools. In some suburban areas, rates of exemption were near 50 percent.”

Jimmy Kimmel Taps Docs to Mock Anti-Vaccine Deniers

Part of the reason the anti-vaccination theme is so persistent is that it contains a strong conspiracy theory element. The belief is that the dangers and risks of vaccines are being intentionally hidden from the public by doctors and drug companies, in collusion with the government, for big profits. Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent, in their book “American Conspiracy Theories,” note that “Conspiracy theories about vaccines are partially to blame for decreased rates of vaccination and an increased incidence of disease.”

Doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines are not merely the domain of the conspiracy crowd but instead are occasionally spread by mainstream news media. Celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, for example, have long raised concerns, and earlier this year one of Canada’s most respected newspapers, the “Toronto Star,” ran a front-page series of articles casting doubt on the safety of the Gardasil anti-HPV vaccine — until an outcry from doctors led to the newspaperretracting the story and its publisher saying “the paper failed the public in the way it presented its story.”

Such high-profile news stories highlighting vaccine dangers — whether eventually retracted or not — can and do influence the opinions of the educated middle and upper class.

5 Disease Outbreaks Linked to Vaccine-Shy Parents

Andrea Kitta, an Associate Professor at East Carolina University explains in her book “Vaccinations and Public Concern in History:”

Even those who acknowledge the safety and efficacy of vaccines may oppose them for unrelated reasons. Kitta told Discovery News, “People who choose not to vaccinate truly believe their rights are being violated and believe they are in danger of further violation … Some people will now reject vaccines solely on the basis that they feel their rights are being violated — not because they necessarily oppose or are even uncertain about vaccination.”

In an interview with Lindsay Beyerstein on the “Point of Inquiry” podcast, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, believes that the educated and wealthy parents don’t vaccinate because “they don’t fear the disease. I think it’s that simple. I think in Southern California, you’re living this wealthy, upper middle class, upper-class environment. You’re eating well, you’re exercising. You don’t see this disease so you think this is not going to happen to me, until it happens to you. That’s the way it always works with these diseases.”

Whatever the basis for a given person’s opposition to vaccination, the refusals are likely to continue. Protests against vaccinations date back centuries, often opposed not just by the poorly educated but also by those of wealth and status. Until and unless their own children are afflicted by a vaccine-preventable disease, they are likely to keep up the fight.

Source: Discovery Health