Via Flickr:
Point Bonita is a National Park and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The U.S. Coast Guard maintains the lighthouse and the National Park Service provides access to visitors.
Photo by Lee Smith
Category Archives: General
The Rugged Cliffs off Marin Coastal
Via Flickr:
This windy area is locate at the Point Bonita Lighthouse Area off the tip of the Marin Coastal Park. The long walk from the parking area is spectacular. So many photo opportunities and this is but one of them.
Photo by Lee Smith
The Majestic Bridge
Via Flickr:
The wonderful thing about my photography is my desire to play and to look at what I think the photo should be based on what I see after I have taken the photo. With the tools I have the pleasure to use, I can enhance and recapture the beauty and wonder what was in my mind when I took that photo. © Lee Smith Photography
Photo by Lee Smith
The Majestic Bridge
Via Flickr:
The wonderful thing about my photography is my desire to play and to look at what I think the photo should be based on what I see after I have taken the photo. With the tools I have the pleasure to use, I can enhance and recapture the beauty and wonder what was in my mind when I took that photo.
Photo by Lee Smith
Jenner Beach Sunset
Via Flickr:
What a View! The landscape, the clouds and the ocean looked incredible
Photo by Lee Smith
WOD LIFE – CrossFit Apparel
WOD LIFE is a new CrossFit apparel company that caters to those that are apart of the amazing world of CrossFit. The acronym W.O.D stands for Workout of the Day. WOD LIFE was a our way of showing that “It’s more than a workout. It’s a way of life.” Once your become apart of the CrossFit community, you quickly realize it truly is more then a workout and does become a way of life. Therefore, we felt the name spoke for itself. Our company was debuted in June of 2012. We enjoy watching and being apart of local competitions such as Clash of the Fittest, Partner Pandemonium and WOD-4-Life.
Logan Herl, Steven Bauer, my wife, Clara Balboa and myself, Gerry, teamed up to make a dream come true. As avid crossfitters, we knew what types of materials feel the best and what our fellow crossfitters would want. Needless to say comfort and durability is key!
Our goal is to continue to grow as a company and make a positive impact on the CrossFit community by continuing to supply apparel and accessories of good quality, fairly priced and designed to last through all rigorous workouts.
Our inventory includes men’s and women’s clothing:
- Men’s crossfit shirts shorts
- Women’s crossfit tank tops
- Crossfit headbands
- Crossfit hats
- Crossfit beanies
Women’s Crossfit Shirts
http://www.southfloridabusinessworld.com/2012/12/wodlife-crossfit-apparel/
Understanding insulin resistance
Though you may not be living with diabetes, your body could be battling against the hormone insulin. The condition, called insulin resistance, occurs when insulin can’t effectively do its job.
“People often don’t realize that insulin resistance can develop into diabetes,” said Dawn Sherr, a diabetes educator for the American Association of Diabetes Educators. “And if they’re not aware they’re insulin resistant, they don’t know what steps they can take to prevent it.”
Insulin resistance is a fuzzy, often misunderstood concept. Here, we answer five common questions.
Q: How does the body become resistant to insulin?
A: When you eat, food is broken down into glucose to be used for energy. Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, tempers the amount of sugar in the bloodstream by helping glucose get into the muscle, fat and/or liver cells. “We think of insulin as a ‘key’ that opens doors to the body’s cells, so glucose can enter,” said diabetes educator Gary Scheiner. With insulin resistance, it’s like having locks that are frozen or rusty. The keys won’t turn, and glucose can’t get into the cell. The pancreas, alarmed by the increase in blood sugar, cranks out more insulin.
Eventually, the overworked pancreas breaks down. Blood sugar levels rise even further, causing pre-diabetes and setting the stage for Type 2 diabetes. “Most people think of diabetes as high blood sugar caused by too little insulin,” said Scheiner, the author of “Think Like a Pancreas. “But the insulin resistance is really the root cause of almost all cases of Type 2 diabetes.
Q: What is pre-diabetes?
A: The body’s cells are insulin resistant; the levels of glucose in the blood are higher than normal, and the pancreas can’t make enough insulin to compensate. Recent research suggests long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring at this stage. Pre-diabetes affects approximately 79 million people in the U.S. “That’s the equivalent of the total population of 30 states,” said David Armstrong, director of the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance.
Q: How is pre-diabetes detected?
A: A fasting blood glucose panel can pick up pre-diabetes; high blood sugar indicates
To read the full article:
Article source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sc-health-1031-diabetes-insulin-20121031,0,5825774.story
First study shows how diabetes could lead to Alzheimer’s disease
For the first time, researchers have discovered how diabetes could promote Alzheimer’s disease. The finding is important because understanding the link means early interventions for people living with diabetes could help with prevention.
Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are both increasing at alarming rates, especially among older people.
Scientists say they’ve now understand diabetes leads to increased accumulation of two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain – amyloid beta (Abeta) and tau protein, found in a study of mice with type 1 diabetes.
Pamela Maher, a senior staff scientist in Salk’s Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology writes in a press release, “We show that type 1 diabetes increases vascular-associated amyloid beta buildup in the brain and causes accelerated brain aging.”
The researchers aren’t exactly sure why the brain accumulates Abeta that is a protein that leads to the formation of beta amyloid plaque from inflammation in the brain cells.
Abeta accumulates inside star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes. When astrocytes interact with Abeta, pro inflammatory molecules are released that destroys neurons. The finding had not previously been shown in type 1 diabetic mice.
The scientists also not there are other inflammatory processes that occur in addition to protein binding to sugars – a process known as non-enzymatic glycation.
Lead study author Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher at Salk explains in a media release, “Both chronic peripheral inflammation and increased non-enzymatic glycation are associated with diabetes, and these changes may act on the brain to alter astrocyte function, which eventually leads to Alzheimer’s-like changes.”
He adds that astrocytes play a key role for maintaining brain nerve cells (neurons) because they facilitate the transfer of nutrients between blood vessels and cells.
Abeta is normally removed from the brain by degrading enzymes that become deficient with aging, in the presence of diabetes and from genetic factors; found from past studies.
“Our study supports and extends the links between diabetes, aging and Alzheimer’s,” says Maher.
How the study was done
The Salk Institute researchers induced type 2 diabetes in two sets of mouse models. One set of mice age prematurely and are prone to Alzheimer’s like brain changes. The second set of mice is from the
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Article source: http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/first-study-shows-how-diabetes-could-lead-alzheimers-disease
Legumes May Aid Glycemic Control in Diabetes
By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Eating more legumes such as beans and chickpeas may help improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes, researchers found.
In a randomized controlled trial, patients who ate at least an additional cup of legumes per day had a greater reduction in HbA1c than patients who increased their insoluble fiber consumption for 3 months (-0.5% versus -0.3%, P0.001), David Jenkins, MD, PhD, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues reported online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Foods with a low glycemic index (GI) have been shown to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes, and legumes — such as beans, chickpeas, and lentils — were among the first foods recognized to have low GI values.
They’ve been recommended in many nutrition therapy guidelines for diabetes, but their effects on glycemic control and other parameters still remain controversial, researchers say.
So Jenkins and colleagues randomized 121 patients with type 2 diabetes to one of two diets for 3 months: a low-GI legume diet that required them to eat at least a cup of legumes per day, or to a diet that increased their intake of insoluble fiber via consumption of whole wheat products.
The primary outcome was change in HbA1c, with a secondary endpoint of calculated coronary heart disease risk.
The difference they found in HbA1c reduction remained significant after adjustment for body weight change, they reported (P=0.005).
In terms of cardiac parameters, they found that the legume diet significantly lowered mean total cholesterol (-8 mg/dL, P0.001) and triglycerides (-22 mg/dL, P0.001), without any changes in HDL cholesterol levels.
The insoluble fiber diet increased average HDL cholesterol levels (2 mg/dL, P=0.004), although the reasons for this are unclear, given that such an association hasn’t been seen before in the literature, the researchers noted.
And the legume diet reduced blood pressure and heart rate relative to the high insoluble fiber diet, they added.
Thus, the legume diet overall reduced heart risk significantly more than the insoluble fiber diet (-0.8%, P=0.003), and the researchers concluded that incorporating legumes into a low-GI diet can help improve glycemic control and reduce heart risk.
In an accompanying editorial,
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Article source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/35491
Private employing jumps, stagnation claims fall
Private zone employing jumped in October, according to a news expelled Thursday by payroll processor ADP.
Private employers combined 158,000 jobs in a month, ADP said, violence economists’ forecasts of 143,000. The gains also surfaced September’s figures, that were revised to 114,000 from 162,000 originally.
The Oct news is a initial to underline ADP’s new methodology directed at serve aligning a total with a final monthly information expelled by a Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ADP news comes out a day before a government’s central monthly jobs report, nonetheless it has not always been a good predictor of what a BLS news will say.
The revised ADP report, finished in partnership with Moody’s Analytics, now offers information on 5 categories of association size, trimming from tiny businesses with no some-more than 19 workers to vast companies with at slightest 1,000 employees. It also breaks down practice in 5 industries — construction; financial activities; manufacturing; veteran and business services; and trade, travel and utilities — rather than three. Also, a representation distance has been increasing to 406,000 companies, from 344,000.
The largest employers are doing many of a hiring, accounting for 69,000 of a positions combined in October, pronounced Mark Zandi, arch economist at Moody’s Analytics. They are 15% of a pursuit bottom though have accounted for 25% of a pursuit expansion given a practice liberation began in early 2010.
On a flip side, a smallest employers are employing at a many slower rate, adding 18,000 jobs in a month. These businesses with 19 or fewer employees make adult 25% of a pursuit base, though usually 12% to 13% of a growth.
“It feels like a pursuit marketplace is holding a own,” Zandi said.
The veteran and business services zone combined a many jobs, followed by trade, travel and utilities. A good pointer for a economy, Zandi said, is that 23,000 construction jobs were combined in October. It’s nonetheless another denote that a housing marketplace is bouncing back, and Zandi expects a gains to continue into subsequent year.
Retailers are also employing in expectation of a decent holiday season. And the
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Article source: http://www.local10.com/news/money/Private-hiring-jumps-unemployment-claims-fall/-/1717308/17223492/-/l0ycjd/-/index.html