Model and Actress Jamairais Malone, who shined this past summer in the Arena Stage's production of RUINED merges her love of fashion and connection with Sickle Cell to produce her first ever fashion event. This red carpet extravaganza includes a captivating live vocal performance by Crystal Ki, a blind Sickle Cell patient; a cocktail reception; and an informational session featuring experts in the field. The fashion show begins promptly at 8:00PM featuring the latest fashion trends from Heydari Designs, Studio D'Maxsi, Red Hue Boutique and Tim Bradley Colors of Sickle Cell is sponsored in part by Graduate School USA, CSC, DeShield Enterprises, LLC, Cole Stevens, Marcella Ellis, Nubian Heritage, Carol's Daughter, Vita Coco, Suga Chef Desserts, LLC, Basket Treats by Alexis Streets and Palava Hut TV.


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Reggae/dancehall singer Cherine Anderson recently teamed up with Yoplait and the Jamaica Cancer Society for their 2011 Breast Cancer Awareness Month Campaign, Save Lids to Save Lives. Anderson will lead the charge as spokesperson for the campaign. The singer is asking everyone to support the initiative by Yoplait which will see the Jamaica Cancer Society benefiting eight dollars from every pink lid cup of Yoplait yogurt sold during the period October 1 to November 13. Other well known faces joining the cause includes beauty queen Yendi Phillips and Tami Chynn.

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By Shanece Taylor/voicesofurburn.org

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and according to BlackDoctor.org "African-American females experience higher death rates from breast cancer than any other racial or ethnic group." This is partially due to African-American women tending to have more aggressive tumors. The fact is not meant to scare you, but it is meant as a wake up call.

Educate yourself and women you know on risk factors, discover ways to reduce the risk of breast cancer, learn how to give yourself a breast exam, and help to fight breast cancer. And remember, if you are over 40 years of age, it is important to schedule an annual mammogram.

Below is your own personal mini guide to help you get started on your breast cancer awareness.

Risk Factors:

Family history

Early puberty (before 12 years old) or Late menopause (after 55 years old)

Not having children or Having children after 30 years old

Obesity and high-fat diets

2 to 5 alcoholic drinks daily

Reduce the Risk:

Exercise or Being physically active

Eat Soy, Broccoli, Red Apples, Red Cabbage or Red Grapes

Drink green tea

Regular screening tests

Avoid hormone replacement therapy if possible

Self Examination (from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc):

Breast cancer self-examinations should be done monthly at the same time of the month, and right after your period ends.

In the Shower

Fingers flat, move gently over every part of each breast. Use your right hand to examine the left breast, left hand for the right breast. Check for any lump, hard knot, or thickening. Carefully observe any changes in your breasts.

Before a Mirror

Inspect your breasts with your arms at your sides. Next, raise your arms high overhead. Look for any changes in the contour of each breast, a swelling, a dimpling of the skin, or changes in the nipples. Then rest your palms on your hips and press firmly to flex your chest muscles. Left and right breasts will not exactly match--few women's breasts do.

Lying Down

Place a pillow under your right shoulder and put your right arm behind your head. With the fingers of your left hand flat, press your right breast gently in small circular motions, moving vertically or in a circular pattern covering the entire breast. Use light, medium, and firm pressure. Squeeze the nipple; check for discharge and lumps. Repeat these steps for your left breast.

 

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The Ministry of Health has identified the source of 20 confirmed cases of food poisoning in Mandeville, Manchester.

The ministry has received an official report which points to a Chinese restaurant at the centre of the cases, which were reported over a two week period.

According to Dr. Eva Lewis-Fuller, the Acting Chief Medical Officer, the Health Department identified fried rice sold by the establishment as the cause of the illness.

"That particular item on June 20, seemed to have been either contaminated or because it wasn't kept at the correct temperature, there was a multiplication of bacteria in it, which caused person(s) who ate from that particular source  to become ill with diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, chills, headaches, symptoms of food poisoning," Dr. Lewis-Fuller told RJR News.

She added that instructions were issued to the operators of the restaurant to improve the preparation and handling of food as well as the general sanitation of the kitchen and they have complied.

As a result, she says no decision has been made to close the establishment.

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Security has been beefed up around a senior public health nurse in Clarendon after she reportedly received death threats in the wake of an infant's death.

The baby died a day after receiving a vaccine at a health facility in Mocho in the parish.

Sources say the incident has left the public health nurse traumatised resulting in her attending counselling sessions.

The source added that the infant was among a batch of other babies who were administered the same MMR vaccine and were later sent home.

It is reported that the child's parents found him dead during the night.

Officials from the Southern Health Regional Authority were informed of the overnight development.

Our news centre was further told that after news spread of the child's death threats were reportedly leveled at the nurse.

On Thursday night Director of Family Health Services in the Health Ministry, Dr. Karen Lewis Bell told RJR News a thorough probe is being conducted.

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'Ackee and Saltfish' was the theme for the 'Jamaican Twist' band, at this year's Notting Hill Carnival in London, United Kingdom (UK) recently.


The carnival band, which was once again sponsored by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), had costumed performers illustrating Jamaica's national dish.


The 'carnival king' wore a spectacular saltfish costume in shimmering blue, surrounded by dozens of female dancers in gold 'ackee' costumes. The costumed performers included eight finalists from the Miss Jamaica UK pageant. The doctor bird and Anansi were other characters brought to life by carnival costumes.


The Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival of its kind in Europe and estimates are that more than a million spectators participated in the two-day event this year.


The JTB-sponsored 'Jamaican Twist' band was a crowd favourite as it paraded through west London, with reggae beats and live MCs.

The costume section was followed by a T-shirt band of some 40 men, women, and children in customised Jamaican clothing.


Reflecting the national motto 'Out of many, one people', participation was open to the public this year and the T-shirt band included persons from the UK, South Africa, Australia, United States, as well as Jamaicans and British Jamaicans.


Five travel agents also joined the band after winning places in a competition hosted by the JTB in London.


For the JTB, the 'twist' in the Jamaican carnival band was a collection of 40 Brazilian drummers and samba dancers, who completed the parade with electrifying beats and coordinated outfits of green and gold.


Notting Hill Carnival is the UK's biggest celebration of Caribbean culture, consisting of 20 miles of colourful costumes and floats, more than 40 static sound systems, hundreds of Caribbean food stalls, and over 40,000 volunteers. The annual Carnival has been celebrated for over 40 years, taking place on the final Sunday and Monday in August.



The Jolly Boys also gave a live performance to rapturous applause at the Carnival.

The group has had huge success in the UK with their modern mento covers of popular songs including Amy Winehouse's Rehab, Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and Iggy Pop's The Passenger.

The band from Port Antonio, Portland is touring the UK ahead of their Great Expectation album launch.
Celebrity chef, Jamaican-born Levi Roots was also at the carnival, where he first made a name with his 'Reggae Reggae' sauce.

Patrons eagerly queued for a taste of his Jamaican jerk, while entertained by musical interludes from Roots.


'Jamaican Twist' has announced that its theme for the 2011 Carnival will be reggae legend Bob Marley, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the singer's death. In 2012, the band will celebrate 50 years of Jamaican Independence.

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Boy oh boy a loyal reader of Yardflex dad was in the Spanish Town Hospital and we can’t help but relate the woes she shared with us.
First of all her dad’s phone was stolen and no one could give an account of how it was lost. Then just two days after her brother bought a pack of adult diapers for him, by the time he was ready to be discharged no diapers could be found. The nurse couldn’t tell what happened to it. Added to that, one of his pillows was missing, the unused toothpaste disappeared also.
No something seriously needs to be done about security at the hospital, we wonder if people can just walk in and help themselves to whatever the patient’s have?

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Difficulty walking, blurred vision, slurred speech, slowed reaction times, impaired memory: Clearly, alcohol affects the brain.

Some of these impairments are detectable after only one or two drinks and quickly resolve when drinking stops.

On the other hand, a person who drinks heavily over a long period of time may have brain deficits that persist well after he or she achieves sobriety.

Exactly how alcohol affects the brain and the likelihood of reversing the impact of heavy drinking on the brain remain hot topics in alcohol research today.

We do know that heavy drinking may have extensive and far–reaching effects on the brain, ranging from simple “slips” in memory to permanent and debilitating conditions that require lifetime custodial care.

And even moderate drinking leads to short–term impairment, as shown by extensive research on the impact of drinking on driving.

A number of factors influence how and to what extent alcohol affects the brain (1), including how much and how often a person drinks;
the age at which he or she first began drinking, and how long he or she has been drinking;
the person’s age, level of education, gender, genetic background, and family history of alcoholism;
whether he or she is at risk as a result of prenatal alcohol exposure; andhis or her general health status.


This Alcohol Alert reviews some common disorders associated with alcohol–related brain damage and the people at greatest risk for impairment.

It looks at traditional as well as emerging therapies for the treatment and prevention of alcohol–related disorders and includes a brief look at the high–tech tools that are helping scientists to better understand the effects of alcohol on the brain.



BLACKOUTS AND MEMORY LAPSES

Alcohol can produce detectable impairments in memory after only a few drinks and, as the amount of alcohol increases, so does the degree of impairment. Large quantities of alcohol, especially when consumed quickly and on an empty stomach, can produce a blackout, or an interval of time for which the intoxicated person cannot recall key details of events, or even entire events.

Blackouts are much more common among social drinkers than previously assumed and should be viewed as a potential consequence of acute intoxication regardless of age or whether the drinker is clinically dependent on alcohol (2).

White and colleagues (3) surveyed 772 college undergraduates about their experiences with blackouts and asked, “Have you ever awoken after a night of drinking not able to remember things that you did or places that you went?” Of the students who had ever consumed alcohol, 51 percent reported blacking out at some point in their lives, and 40 percent reported experiencing a blackout in the year before the survey. Of those who reported drinking in the 2 weeks before the survey, 9.4 percent said they blacked out during that time.

The students reported learning later that they had participated in a wide range of potentially dangerous events they could not remember, including vandalism, unprotected sex, and driving.

ARE WOMEN MORE VULNERABLE TO ALCOHOL’S EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN?

Women are more vulnerable than men to many of the medical consequences of alcohol use.

For example, alcoholic women develop cirrhosis (5), alcohol–induced damage of the heart muscle (i.e., cardiomyopathy) (6), and nerve damage (i.e., peripheral neuropathy) (7) after fewer years of heavy drinking than do alcoholic men.

Studies comparing men and women’s sensitivity to alcohol–induced brain damage, however, have not been as conclusive.

Using imaging with computerized tomography, two studies (8,9) compared brain shrinkage, a common indicator of brain damage, in alcoholic men and women and reported that male and female alcoholics both showed significantly greater brain shrinkage than control subjects.

Studies also showed that both men and women have similar learning and memory problems as a result of heavy drinking (10).

The difference is that alcoholic women reported that they had been drinking excessively for only about half as long as the alcoholic men in these studies. This indicates that women’s brains, like their other organs, are more vulnerable to alcohol–induced damage than men’s (11).

Yet other studies have not shown such definitive findings. In fact, two reports appearing side by side in the American Journal of Psychiatry contradicted each other on the question of gender–related vulnerability to brain shrinkage in alcoholism (12,13).

Clearly, more research is needed on this topic, especially because alcoholic women have received less research attention than alcoholic men despite good evidence that women may be particularly vulnerable to alcohol’s effects on many key organ systems.

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The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona has confirmed that all cases of Influenza A (H1N1) virus discovered so far have been among those students living on the campus.

Dr. Blossom Anglin-Brown, Director of Health Services at the UWI has disclosed that the number of confirmed cases remained at three.

She said the UWI is trying to determine how the virus was spread as only one of the three infected students had travelled outside the country.

According to the university health official, so far 105 students have so presented with flu like symptoms.

Health authorities are now trying contain the spread and to educate our community about the virus. We have also cancelled all social events and some orientation activities as these involve a large number of students.

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In preparation for the largest conference of its kind, the 2008 XVII International AIDS Conference, which starts on August 3, fifty-eight journalists from 40 countries have gathered in Centro, Banamex, Mexico City for the Journalist to Journalist (J2J) global media training programme on HIV/AIDS. The 4 day training session is expected to equip journalists in covering the science, technology, behavioral and prevention issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

The National Press Foundation (NPF) has trained hundreds of journalists in providing coverage for these major AIDS conferences. President, Bob Meyers says that the sessions should be informative and journalists will learn a lot.

Journalists in attendance this year will be expected to prepare a curriculum for news rooms world wide which will benefit journalists not in attendance.

At a cost of $25 million the programme is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck Company and Pan American Health Organization, to name a few.

The conference will be addressing a number of scientific issues and findings surrounding HIV/AIDS.

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Researchers from the US' Texas Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Centre have announced that the chemical, Citrulline, found in Watermelon, creates the same effect on the human body as the Viagra pill.

Cetrulline, an organic compound, relaxes the blood vessels, allowing the increase in blood flow around the body, much the same way the sex enhancement drug does.

Head of the research team, Dr. Bhimu Patil, says that the list of important health benefits one can derive from eating the fruit is getting longer with each study. "Watermelon may not be as organ specific as Viagra...but it is a great way to relax blood vessels without the side effects."

Watermelon, it has been discovered, is also good for the heart, immune system and skin, as even though it is 92% water, the other 8% is pure anti-oxidant lycopene.

Remember that the next time you have a slice of cool refreshing Watermelon!

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YardFlex came across a story published in the Observer and from the report it would seem as if Jamaica could be on the brink of something big.

According to the story Dr Henry Lowe discovered a plant (the Jamaican Ball moss) that has anti cancer properties.

The story went on to point out that Dr. Lowe who is the head of the Environmental Health Foundation claims that tests on tumours grown on rats were successful. The ball moss extract has shown to be more potent than leading anti-cancer drug Taxol, and with reduced side effects.

Another interesting discovery was made also regarding the plant that it was successful at controlling the AIDS/HIV virus.

YardFlex wishes Dr. Lowe and his team continued success in their quest to find a cure for these two disease.

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By: Joan Wilson

1992 was the year my life changed. That's when I was told I was now among those listed as diabetics. Not having any understanding of this disease, I thought it was the end of my life as I knew it. The first thing that set in was panic. The word itself sounded real ominous and conjured all kinds of images in my panicked mind.

Here I was faced with this new challenge and all I knew was that many people died as a complication from it including my grandmother. I felt as if I was now hemmed in and the corners were closing in real fast.

Most diabetics may feel that way at first, so that's why it is so important to equip yourselves with knowledge and it will really give you the power for living.

The first thing I did was have a long talk with my doctor. Maybe some of my questions were tedious, or might have sounded foolish, but doctors understand their patients fears (or they should) mine took her time and laid all mine to rest. I came out thinking "hey, this may be the best thing that could ever happen to me!"

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The Canadian Diabetes Association suggests those at high risk for getting diabetes get tested at least every three years. If you answer yes to any of the questions below you are considered to be at high risk for type 2 diabetes:

● Have you had gestational diabetes?
● Does an immediate family member have type 2 diabetes?
● Are you overweight?
● Are you over 40?
● Do you have high blood pressure?
● Are you of aboriginal, Hispanic, Asian or African decent?

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By: Elizabeth Smith

Yesterday, November 14, was World Diabetes Day and it marked the first time that this monumental vehicle of "Diabetes Awareness," travelled across our globe - spurring on efforts of prevention as well as heightening perceptions on what can be done to control the disease; preventing or delaying life threatening complications.

Diabetes currently affects 246 million people globally. This historical day was especially for all of them and the many millions more at risk,

On this first United Nations (UN) observed World Diabetes Day, Diabetes communities got together to celebrate the long awaited existence of a day that recognises the severe risks posed by Diabetes and urged understanding of the disease overall.

The result of a UN landmark resolution of December 2006, November 14 has become a United Nations observed day. Marking the date of Frederick Banting's birthday who along with Charles Best first came up with the notion of insulin in 1921, November 14 will bolster a major global awareness campaign from now on.

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Australian pharmaceutical company Starpharma and SSL International, which owns the Durex condom brand, have signed an agreement to develop condoms coated with Starpharma's microbicide VivaGel, the drug maker announced on Tuesday, the AAP/Age reports.

In July, at the International AIDS Society conference in Sydney, the vaginal microbicide, VivaGel, was reported as preventing HIV and genital herpes in animal and human studies.

Designed to prevent STIs by stopping viruses from entering cells and thus avoiding infection, VivaGel's active ingredient is dendrimer, a molecule that binds itself to the viruses preventing them from infectng healthy cells. Early results from research also places VivaGel as a potent contraceptive.

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By: Amanda Spence

The onus is on each individual to minimize chances of contracting diseases like HIV/AIDS, by having protected sex unless absolutely sure of their partner's status – through testing.

Today a sad story (sad for both accused and alleged victims)emerged. It speaks of a 22 year old Miami Club Promoter, Elidor Kersaint, who has been in prison since June for the crime of having unprotected sex while knowing he is infected with HIV. Recently more women have come forward to bring evidence against Kersaint who was born to an HIV + mother and has reportedly been infected all his life.

The question posed in a report is, what deep pain caused Kersaint's insane denial...how was he counseled and prepared from childhood to live with his disease...and most importantly – how many other Kersaints are being ignored. How do we prepare our world so people living with HIV/AIDS (especially youth who contracted this disease from birth – through no action of their own) feel free to disclose without negative repercussions.

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By: Dr. S. Lawson

Uterine fibroids are benign (medically harmless) tumors of the uterus. These tumors result from abnormal growth of muscle cells and fibrous connective tissue in the uterus. By the age of 50 years old the overall incidence of fibroids are 70-80% for women. Fibroids can vary in size from being undetectable by human eyes to the size of a full term pregnancy. In studying the origin of fibroids, they have been linked to hormonal imbalance, obesity, xeno-estrrogen, heavy metal toxicity, infectious microorganisms, stress and high blood sugar level. Fibroids can cause complications such as menstrual problems, pelvic and lower back pain, constipation, urinary problems, hemorrhoids, infertility, ectopic pregnancy and miscarriages. Black women are four times more likely to develop fibroids than Caucasian women. They also have larger fibroids and develop fibroids at a younger age. Treatment includes hysterectomy, myomectomy, Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE), gonadatropin releasing hormones (GnRH) antagonists, androgens (danazol), and focused ultrasound surgery (FUS), and essential oils.

Signs and symptoms that presents with uterine fibroids include heavy menstrual bleeding, prolonged menstrual bleeding, bleeding between periods, period pain, urinary incontinence, urinary frequency, severe acute abdominal pain, constipation, hemorrhoids, anemia, back pain and leg pain.

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