Arthritis is the most common joint disorder in the United States, and knees are often the first joints affected by the condition.

One study found that in people above age 60, more than 10 percent of men and 13 percent of women had symptoms of arthritis in their knees.

OTC and prescription pain medication can offer relief, but are frequently associated with side effects. These side effects include kidney damage and heart problems.

Almost 20 percent of Americans report some degree of knee pain, according to figures published in 2006 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Pain can range from mild stiffness to levels that are nearly disabling.

Recent studies have found that turmeric, a flavorful spice popular in India, may help relieve joint pain. The spice is popular in Ayurvedic medicine, but is mainly used in food in the United States and not as a medication.

Experts say that there is increasingly clear evidence that the active ingredient in turmeric may have health benefits.

It is widely believed that curcumin, which is the active ingredient in turmeric, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. And for this reason, its frequently used as a supplement by many people to help with joint symptoms, Dr. Nagendra Gupta, FACP, CPE, an internist at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital, told Healthline.

A study published in the medical journal Trials compared the effectiveness of turmeric to that of an anti-inflammatory drug called diclofenac.

The randomized trial gave 139 patients with knee pain either a 500-milligram (mg) capsule of curcumin three times a day or a 50-mg diclofenac pill twice daily. Scientists found that both groups experienced significant pain relief.

Curcumin has similar efficacy to diclofenac but demonstrated better tolerance among patients with knee OA. Curcumin can be an alternative treatment option in the patients with knee OA who are intolerant to the side effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the study authors wrote.

In another study, published this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers at the University of Australia in Tasmania assigned 70 participants, over age 40, with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and swelling diagnosed by ultrasound, to receive either 1000 mg per day of turmeric or a placebo.

After 12 weeks, the randomly controlled placebo trial found that an extract of turmeric was more effective than a placebo in reducing knee pain in people with knee osteoarthritis.

Those taking turmeric reported significantly less knee pain at the end of the study, according to the standardized questionnaire.

Researchers emphasized that more research is needed, and the only limiting factor of their study was the small number of participants.

This research also received funding from Natural Remedies PVT Ltd, a company that offers Ayurvedic medicines and herbs.

While this may indicate a conflict of interest, previous research also supports this spices effectiveness for pain relief.

Turmeric (Curcuma Longa) is a frequently used spice in South Asian foods like curries, and it can add a warm orange or yellow color to meats and rice dishes. It also has a long history of use in Ayurvedic medicine.

The active ingredient in turmeric is curcumin, and research finds that it has a surprisingly wide range of beneficial properties.

Curcumin, unlike some NSAIDs, has also been determined to be nontoxic. NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, taken in excess can cause symptoms that include convulsions, coma, and acute renal (kidney) failure.

Experts say that given turmerics known health benefits, including it in meals is best.

Eating turmeric with fats or oils can improve absorption.

Turmeric however, specifically the phytonutrient curcumin, has so many health benefits, so definitely incorporating turmeric into meals would be ideal as part of an overall healthy lifestyle plan, said Reema Kanda, RD, a clinical dietitian at Hoag Orthopedic Institute.

Incorporating turmeric into meals that contain fats and oils or black pepper will enhance absorption.

Kanda emphasized that the quality of the turmeric powder can also affect bioavailability. She also said, You want to be sure the turmeric powder is free of contaminants that are often found when making powders.

She added that many studies have utilized turmeric extracts over turmeric powder, which has higher amounts of curcumin. Because of that, the studies recommended extracts for therapeutic use for health benefits such as improving in joint pain.

Theres strong evidence that eating the Mediterranean diet may provide significant knee pain relief in people with OA.

Researchers reviewing three different studies found that people with symptoms of arthritis had an improved quality of life after starting the Mediterranean diet.

According to the study, the Mediterranean diet may benefit OA because of its anti-inflammatory properties, tendency to reverse metabolic syndrome (a risk factor of diabetes), and reduce obesity.

Researchers say the diet is also rich in polyphenols (plant compounds), which can prevent inflammation and cartilage destruction, and this could also be why it shows benefit.

While there is no specific diet that works as a cure for arthritis, various studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet can help fight the inflammation associated with arthritis and slow the disease progression, said Gupta.

As always, getting the right dosage is key to staying healthy. While turmeric may help joint pain, more is not always better.

Consuming large amounts of turmeric can have side effects.

Subjects in a 2006 small dose-response study reported a range of adverse reactions from using 500 mg to 12,000 mg of curcumin daily, although the researchers found overall participants tolerated the high levels of the spice.

Of 24 participants, seven reported side effects that included headache, diarrhea, and skin rash. All but one of the people with side effects were taking over 4,000 mg of turmeric.

Turmeric is also high in oxalate, a chemical that in large doses can combine with calcium to create kidney stones.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is generally recognized as safe. However, the FDA has previously warned that turmeric from Bangladesh contained excessive levels of lead, which can adversely affect health.

Studies have shown that turmeric can have strong anticoagulant effects, which could affect how blood-thinning drugs work in the body.

If you want to try using turmeric to treat joint pain, its always a good idea to speak with your doctor first to make sure it wont interact with medications youre already taking.

Joint pain, especially in the knee, due to arthritis affects about 1 in 10 older Americans.

Research finds that an ingredient in the spice turmeric can significantly reduce knee pain in people with osteoarthritis but it wont improve swelling or change cartilage.

Although considered safe by the FDA, there is strong evidence that turmeric can interact with blood-thinning drugs, and the agency has warned that turmeric imported from Bangladesh has shown high levels of lead.

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Want to Take Turmeric for Arthritis Pain? Here's What to Know - Healthline

Mark Hughes Cobb|The Tuscaloosa News

If you shut it, they will go.

The same theory that suggests folks will drink less if you close bars at a certain hour, or day, seems to believe that if an entity discourages students from gathering at one place, they will all then willfully, quietly disperse and plod on back to dorm, apartment or house -- alone --to study, work on long-term projects, and ponderthe nature of life, probe the meaning of consciousness, and reflect on their blessings.

Then there's another theory that says those theorizers have never even walked on the street past anyone 18 to 22, even when they werethemselves 18 to 22, having been born prematurely 64,and cannot at allremember being young, dumb, and full of come-ons to play beer pong.

Then on the third hand there are those who feel like canaries flip-flopping dead one after one in this labyrinthine coal mine of a pandemic, tweeting feverishly: "Of course this won't work. You're counting on young people to use sound judgment."

Kids come to college to

A) Practice bad judgment

and

B) Learn the consequences, ultimately, of such folly, burn that craziness out of their systems and prepare to launch, chastised and chastened,into the free-floating momentumof boring, whimsy-proof adult lives.

Ha. No.

They keep on doing pretty much what they learned in college, only with co-workers and a little more money, right up until that first knee-crack in the a.m., the overdraft from a long weekend, or a hangover that won't fade, after which they kinda-sorta start to think about how this body's the only one they'll ever have, so maybe tidy it up once in a while?

Though we must lay down rules andconsequences, because yes, there are reckless idiots among us who seem not only insensitive to but blithely unaware of the humanity of others,blaming and shaming just don't work.

Blaming and shaming not only shoves the blamed and shamed toward another spot, possibly less well-ventilated, less clean, but dims the likelihood they'll report eventual whereabouts, or be honest about what precautions they've taken.

Setting up kids like thisturns into a"Nyah, nyah, you can't catch me" game. Although in this case "Nyer nyer nyer, I won't catch it" applies, too.

Yes, the University of Alabama, the city of Tuscaloosa and others must try to make sane and sensible guidelines stick, recognizing the reality of this airborne nightmare, and seeing that some will indeed act responsibly. And mitigating liability is a thing, too; can't really fault that protective instinct.

But, as the canaries have been squeaking while fluttering pathetically to the dust, everyone knew kids -- a significant number-- would ignore advice, because duh. Human nature times youth times peer pressure = Kegger.

Does "everyone" include administrators, public officials and healthcare folks? Certainly there were optimistic projections predicated on everyone acting smart, which was the first flaw. Even folks who pass standardizedtests don't necessarily qualify as capable.

For months now, we've seen Walmart shriekers absolutely livid about the dadgum gubmint coming for their precious, utterly free and pure-amurrican nasal cavities. The gubmint will stormdown your shed door next, Jethro,right after they've finished melting down all those guns confiscated in the Clinton and Obama years.

Even grown Americans can't be trusted to follow sound advice, because while silly scientists and epidemiologists at the WHO and CDC spendtheir entire educated lives studying, thatcan't stand a nanosecond against the witheringassault ofsomeone's cousin-wife who "did research," inhaling YouTube videos constructed by debate-team rejects, smelling their breath inside a mask and finding it old-fish ghastly, and furiously forwarding on misspelled memes from a schoolmate who boasts he can still squeeze into his Members Only jacketand thinks Applebee's means For Date Night Only.

And that's grown folks. College-aged kids -- traditional aged, not counting those returning to school, or in master's or doctoral degree programs -- are still livingfluid,formative years, socially and physiologically. To understand consequences requires abstract thought, a capacity that's still developing in young adults -- and judging by anti-maskers, a capacity that may never actually arrive, for some.

Kids know actions can and will ripple forward for the rest of their lives, for good, ill or somewhere in the vast in-between. They know it, logically.They just don't feel it.

In a National Public Radio story, Anna Song, assistant professor of psychological sciences at the University of California, Merced, spoke from studies of young adults and their decision-making when it comes to risk behaviors: smoking, sex, gambling or unhealthy eating. Blame-and-shame sets updominoesto topple.

"It breaks my heart to see this," Song said. "It's like asking people to go on a diet, putting them in a candy store and saying 'Good luck.' And then if they break that diet, we say, 'Why'd you break the diet? And, you know, we're going to punish you for it.' "

During the phase of life when feeling indestructible, young folks don't fear the reaper, or even truly believe in the grim. Daring to socialize, to learn how to interact with others, absent the daily supervision of parents, outside more regimented school years, is as inextricable from the college experience as your nerves from your skin.

"Peer networks and having connections with other people is absolutely critical in terms of development for young people, There is a lot going on in the brain to reward those kinds of interactions," Song said.

Reward. That's the key word. We balance Rs every day: Is the reward worth the risk? Snap judgments, second by second: Is possibly getting to work a few minutes sooner worth the risk of jetting out in front of this rapidly oncoming traffic (the answer, if I'm amidst that onrushing stream of cars, is always yes)?

Is the chance of getting to know that person worth the potential rejection, a dash of public humiliation? Can I make a new bridge to somewhere out of this solo spot, if I try an entirely new twist, or should I stick with the lick that I know works?

Aside from the car thing, these chances don't tend toward the deadly. We are not wired to stay constantly on alert, to be always avoiding, never approaching.

So we need options. We need relief. Masked up, sure, but going to the grocery store, and NOT only during early morning hours. Picking up food curbside and waiting in the car, maybe with mask off, for a moment. Sending kids to school with the knowledge we've prepared them well as possible, taught them not only how to behave, but how to reason, how to understand consequences, how to react to danger, how to judge risk vs. reward, how to prepare for the future, and not get dazzled by the shiny, elusive now.

We need shows. We needlive music. We need movies, even though the Hollywood 16 and others have re-opened, nobody much is going: Christopher Nolan's "Tenet," in early weeks, drew U.S. numbers that would in ordinary times tear open a sinkhole under the Warner Bros. studio.

As yet, in large part because many won't accept a smidgen of discomfort for the good of all, won't accept the mantle ofordinary, everyday heroes, all of us must weigh every once-ordinary enjoyment as a risk.

When I was a kidreading about adrenaline rushes, ordinary humans caught inextreme situations heaving cars off kids, I wondered: "Why can't we be adrenalizedall the time? Why can't I be Superman?"

Short answer: We'd burn up on rocket fuel.Same reason the speedometer on your car might show 160, but we mostly driveat 25 or 45 or70.

The COVID-19 threat waves tall grasses, anddire and tiring as these seven months have proven to be, we dare not entirely let down our guard, yet. We're burning up, and burning out, on constant adrenaline.There's too much tiger in the wind.

Reach Tusk Editor Mark Hughes Cobb atmark.cobb@tuscaloosanews.comor 205-722-0201.

Original post:
MARK HUGHES COBB: Risk and reward, blame and shame, tigers and the wind - Tuscaloosa Magazine

Cholesterol can be confusing. But understanding it could help you live a longer, healthier life.

So in honor of Cholesterol Education Month, we asked a pair of experts to clear up five common questions.

Do my blood cholesterol numbers matter?The answer is yes, said Dr. Neil J. Stone, Bonow Professor in Medicine-Cardiology at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Studies show healthy people with LDL levels of 100 mg/dL or below tend to have lower rates of heart disease and stroke, supporting a lower is better philosophy, according to cholesterol guidelines issued by the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association in 2018.

Older recommendations emphasized targeting specific cholesterol numbers. But today, doctors use cholesterol tests as part of a personalized assessment of overall cardiovascular risk. Those with the highest risk have the most to gain from cholesterol-lowering, said Stone, who was vice chair of the task force for the guidelines.

But cholesterol doesnt exist in isolation, he said. One has to think about diet and lifestyle and medication to treat the whole risk continuum of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight.

The guidelines recommend getting cholesterol and other traditional risk factors checked every four to six years starting at age 20. If the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated those plans, get up to date when you can do so safely, said Kristina Petersen, an assistant professor in the department of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Im confused about good cholesterol versus bad. What should I focus on?When you get your blood tested, youll probably see numbers for total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

LDL is the so-called bad cholesterol because it increases the risk of heart disease, stroke and other health problems. HDL is dubbed the good cholesterol because having a higher level is associated with lower risk of heart disease and stroke.

Lowering LDL should be the priority, said Petersen, co-author of an AHA science advisory on dietary cholesterol and heart disease published in December in the journal Circulation.

The most important thing is to lower LDL cholesterol, because that is what ultimately increases your risk of heart disease, she said.

Should I worry about cholesterol in food?Many sources of cholesterol in the diet also are sources of saturated fat, Petersen said. We do want to limit dietary saturated fat intake. And if you do that, your intake of dietary cholesterol will be low. Cutting back on saturated fat can improve your LDL number in four to six weeks, she said.

The advisory on dietary cholesterol emphasizes that a healthy diet is more important than focusing on a specific cholesterol target, and such a diet highlights fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or fat-free dairy products, lean animal protein or plant protein sources, nuts, seeds and liquid vegetable oils.

Selecting the right food may be particularly important for people who are sensitive to dietary cholesterol, which some studies suggest could be the case for roughly 1 in 4 people. A 2019 review published in JAMA of long-term studies suggested that each additional 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol consumed per day was significantly associated with higher risk of heart disease.

The patient should talk to the doctor about individualizing limits on dietary cholesterol, Stone said.

Is it OK to eat eggs?Egg yolks are known for their cholesterol, with one large scrambled egg containing 169 milligrams of cholesterol.

You can eat eggs, Petersen said. We suggest eating no more than one full egg per day in order to keep your cholesterol intake low, but you can definitely have eggs as part of a healthy dietary pattern.

The research is inconsistent, she said, because eggs often are consumed with foods high in saturated fat, making it hard to parse out potential harm.

And people vary, Stone said. Some patients have two eggs a day, and their cholesterol doesnt budge. Other patients have two eggs a day and their cholesterol goes up 50 points.

Is possible to inherit high cholesterol?High LDL cholesterol is sometimes caused by a genetic abnormality called familial hypercholesterolemia that affects an estimated 1 in 212 U.S. adults. If its picked up early, medication combined with a healthy diet and exercise can be very effective.

The ACC/AHA guidelines say its reasonable to check cholesterol in children as young as 2 who have a family history of early heart disease or high cholesterol.

Everyone needs to stay aware of their cholesterol levels and be mindful of the connection to overall health, even amid the pandemic, Stone said.

This is exactly not the right time to let diet and regular exercise go to develop habits that are not heart-healthy, he said. This is exactly the right time to learn how to eat less, eat smarter, move more daily, and keep from gaining weight.

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The good, the bad and the dietary: Making sense of cholesterol - Jackson County Newspapers

The year 2020 has changed our home cooking. As we dealt with phases of lockdowns and unlocks while working from home and schooling online, the search for healthy food options led us to experiment with cooking and baking.

In the last few months, there has been a deluge of sourdough baking posts on Facebook and Instagram. Run a #sourdough hashtag search on Instagram and you will find 3.7 million posts. Interestingly, many of them are from India, where bread is not even the staple food.

What is sourdough? Is it a new food? Not really. Sourdough is one the oldest forms of fermented food believed to have originated in ancient Egypt around 1500 BC. It was the only way to make bread until the 19th century when baker's yeast came into the market.

In India, bread making was considered to be a complicated and time-consuming process. However, during the lockdown, hesitancy to buy readymade bread, non-availability of yeast - an essential ingredient for bread making, and time to experiment led to sourdough baking and is the reason for the immense popularity of this technique.

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Love Your Sourdough? Here's Why you Should Include it in Your Diet - Quint Fit

Tofu has been given a bad rap throughout the years, but now this soy-based protein is enjoying a new popularity, as health-conscious consumers are turning away from meat and looking for plant-based alternatives to add to their daily meals. Want to love it? Let these seven health facts convince you to become a fan of tofu.

Tofu has gone mainstream: During a four-week period that ended March 28, tofu sales were up 66.7 percent versus the same period in 2019, and sales were stillbrisk in May, up 32.8 percent, according to Nielsen data as reported in Bloomberg. One reason isthe recent outbreaks of COVID-19 cases in meatpacking plants around the country,along with growing consumer awarenessof the fact that dietshigh in red meat and dairy have been linked to increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

While the pandemic might have catapulted tofu to recent popularity, experts hope this centuries-old, soy-based food maintains its newpositionon the tables of mainstream America, especially considering its health benefits and versatility in cooking. In case you need convincing about tofus super-plant powers, here are seven facts to win you over.

Many people mistakenly believe soy can raise breast cancer risk,or impact the recurrence of breast cancer. Heres why: Soy is a uniquely rich source of isoflavones, the naturally occurring plantchemicals that are classified as phytoestrogens (plant estrogens), and in one lab test on mice, isoflavones stimulated the growth of tumors. Yet there are flaws in assuming that soy creates this effect in humans. Not only do mice metabolize isoflavones differently than humans, but isoflavones also differ from the hormone estrogen, says Mark Messina, Ph.D., M.S., president of Nutrition Matters in Pittsfield, Mass., adding that clinical studies show that neither soy foods nor isoflavones increasebreast cancer riskand appear to lower it.

In fact, onestudy found that higher soy consumption was associated with a 30 percentlowerrisk of developing breast cancer, since the plant version may protect women from making estrogen and drives down breast cancer reoccurrence:A review of "11,000 women from the USA and China show[s] that post-diagnosis soy intake significantly reduces recurrence and improves survival." The European Food Safety Authority and the German Research Foundation have concluded that isoflavones do not adversely affect breast tissue. Whats more, Messina says, observational studies show women who consume soy after a diagnosis of breast cancer are less likely to die from their disease or suffer a recurrence.

That may be why the American Cancer Society, American Institute for Cancer Research, and World Cancer Research Fund International have all concluded that breast cancer patients can safely consume soy. It might even be wise for kids toeat more tofu as well. Although speculative, eating tofu early in life (childhood or adolescence) appears to reduce breast cancer in life, Messina says. Soy isamongthe healthy foods to eat to lower your risk of cancer.

In 1999, the FDA awarded soy foods a health claim for reducing risk of heart disease. Why? Soy protein directly lowers blood cholesterol levels, Messina says, adding that 25 grams of soy protein a day (there are about 10 grams in one serving of tofu) will do the trick. Soy foods like tofu are high in healthy polyunsaturated fat, and when you replace foods like animal protein that are high in artery-clogging saturated fat, blood cholesterol levels are reduced.

Want to build muscle strength? Even find relief from hot flashes? Soy products, tofu included, can do both, according to Messina. Soy protein promotes gains in muscle mass and strength in individuals engaged in resistance exercise training to the same extent as animal protein, Messina says. It can also alleviate hot flashes in postmenopausal women.

One of tofus selling points is its high protein content. It does range slightly from brand to brand, but its comparable to animal protein. Therange is anywhere from 2 grams of protein an ounce up to about 6 grams an ounce. Thatsnearly asmuch proteinas in chicken, which has 8 grams of protein per ounce. That's one reason tofu is so mainstream: You can use it instead of most animal proteins in your favorite stir-fries, salads, or bowls.

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The 7 Health Benefits of Eating More Tofu, and How to Enjoy It - The Beet

Executive Summary

VR is increasingly being used to help train employees to do their jobs. Over the past year, especially, the Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated the need for virtual training applications. For example, VR is being used to train employees in soft skills to improve customer service and managerial skills. These use cases have a foundation in academic work; for example, many studies have used VR to teach public speaking. But given how expensive it is to assemble a room full of real people which is also not feasible currently due to Covid-19 restrictions VR is a game changer in terms of ease and cost. VR shows a unique balance across experiments it isimmersive enough for people to take the training seriously, but also a safe environment where learners areless self-consciousabout speaking frankly compared to talking to real people. This article focused on three case studies on employee training one based on learning physical procedures, one on conversational soft skills, and one on corporate culture.

Soldiers, surgeons, and astronauts have trained for decades in virtual reality (VR). People learn best by doing, and by getting feedback when they make mistakes, which is why these high-stakes lines of work are natural applications of the medium. But over the past few years, the cost to deploy VR has plummeted, and the technology has expanded into more general use at Fortune 500 corporations, where employees working in industries such as retail, logistics, and customer service are practicing in VR headsets to get better at their jobs.

In this article, I focus on three case studies on employee training: one based on learning physical procedures, one on conversational soft skills, and one on corporate culture. All three case studies have shown return on investment, and each involved thousands of employees a sample size unheard of in academic studies of VR. They were conducted by Strivr, a VR-based immersive learning platform provider. [Disclosure: I cofounded Strivr and the examples given are clients of the company.]

There are hundreds of academic studies on procedural training, and the literature is mature enough to include a number of meta-analyses for example comparing VR surgical training to other techniques. Findings generally support the equivalence of VR training to face-to-face training, the economic savings of VR, or the decreased amount of time needed to train with VR compared to traditional techniques, and larger applications of this academic research echo these trends.

As a recent example, Walmart has trained over a million of its associates in VR. One of the most frequently used modules is The Pickup Tower, which is basically a large kiosk that lets customers pick up online orders. Trainees received step-by-step instruction on how to operate this new machine, with immediate feedback when they made mistakes. Before VR, each person spent an entire day on training inside specifically designated stores, with some hands-on training and some e-learning. VR reduced the training from eight hours to 15 minutes, with no drop in efficacy. Given the fact that all Walmart associates nationwide need to train on The Pickup Tower, VR should return over a million full days of work. To quote Heather Durtschi, senior director of content design and development at Walmart, You can do the math as to what the savings would be.

Over the past year, demand has increased for training soft skills to improve customer service and managerial skills. These use cases have a foundation in academic work; for example many studies have used VR to teach public speaking. Given how expensive it is to assemble a room full of real people, VR is a game changer in terms of ease and cost. VR shows a unique balance across experiments it is immersive enough for people to take the training seriously, but also a safe environment where learners are less self-conscious about speaking frankly compared to talking to real people.

For example, Verizon has built and implemented a module to train call-center employees on how to de-escalate a conversation with an upset customer. Trainees get to practice speaking and active listening as a customer conversation becomes increasingly tense. According to internal data collected by Verizon, VR increased the consistency and effectiveness of the training, and reduced employees time training from 10 hours per-person to just 30 minutes.According to Cleo Scott, Director of Global L&D for Verizon Business Services, As they went back to work and we tracked their progress through the supervisors, the employees were much more confident, because they were more aware of themselves in how they were handling the customer.

One challenge for companies, especially during Covid-19, is to assimilate new employees into the cultural norms of the organization. While the two case studies discussed above are extensions of previously published research, the notion of training the overall feel and personality of a group is largely without academic precedent. Sprouts Farmers Market, the supermarket chain, relies on employee culture to distinguish their brand, focusing on core values such as Respect and Serve One Another and Embrace Healthy Living. As Sprouts continues to open new stores and hire across the country, they need to onboard new employees.

Sprouts created a canon of VR experiences designed to exemplify these core values for example, an employee might teach an anxious mother who just discovered her son is allergic to gluten about how to shop for the new diet, or an employee may decide to deliver a watermelon to an elderly sick customer who cant drive to pick up his favorite food. Instead of training specific skills, they have implemented what cognitive psychologists call an Exemplar Model, highlighting a number of very salient examples which work in tandem to shed light on an abstract theme. A subset of about 300 of employees were tested on their conceptual understanding of the core values, half of whom did VR and half of whom used PowerPoint training. Forty-eight percent of the trainees who did VR learned all six concepts perfectly, compared to only three percent who used traditional methods. Cindy Chikahisa, VP of Store Operations for Sprouts summed it up: Im so grateful we launched this before Covid-19. I cant imagine hiring thousands of people which weve done over the last few months and trying to give them a great onboarding experience during a pandemic.

VR was beginning to catch on before Covid-19, but the global pandemic and the push to remote work is fast-tracking the need for such tools. These three companies are growing despite the crisis, and their need to train employees safely, effectively and efficiently at scale grows as well. VR is the perfect medium for this moment.

View original post here:
Is VR the Future of Corporate Training? - Harvard Business Review

CINCINNATI City transportation officials want to bring some big changes to a major corridor that cuts through the heart of the West End, and they want to know what changes residents hope to see.

Linn Street runs north-south, carving seven lanes through the historic, chiefly residential neighborhood that is in the midst of multiple redevelopment projects, including the new FC Cincinnati Major League Soccer stadium a few blocks east.

Ian Frank is assistant superintendent of Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy, located on the 1400 block of Linn Street. He said the way the road is designed encourages speeding, creating dangerous conditions for students.

"The street is so straight and flat that the speeds on it get up over, in excess of over 20 mph or 30 mph during school dismissal and arrival," he said.

According to Frank, one of the school's preschool students as well as two adults were involved in a crash as they were trying to cross.

Linn Street has a troubling history with crashes: So far this year, the corridor has seen 39 crashes, five of which involved a person walking along or crossing the street, according to city data. In July, 67-year-old Donna Pringle died after a driver hit her while she was crossing in a crosswalk outside Lincoln Recreation Center. The crosswalk recently had been upgraded to include a new striping, new signs and lights, and a new pedestrian median as part of the city's ongoing Pedestrian Safety Program.

Pringle's death has galvanized renewed focus on making Linn Street safer.

READ MORE: Are the city's pedestrian safety fixes going far enough?

Dept. of Transportation and Engineering officials will hold a virtual town hall Wednesday evening, seeking input on how they can bring more improvements to Linn Street.

West End Community Council President Keith Blake said he sees drivers disregard people in crosswalks on a regular basis.

"Even when pedestrians are in the crosswalk, the drivers are not yielding. They just keep driving by as if they dont know the law is if somebody is in the crosswalk, youre supposed to yield," he said. "In some cases, some people stop (their cars) and (other) people will speed around them."

City Councilman and 2021 mayoral hopeful David Mann said the street is so wide that it might not be serving the people who live there.

"It's a very wide street. And it probably was built to facilitate folks driving through the West End," Mann said. "And, more and more, we're saying wait a minute. Streets are at first and primarily to serve neighborhoods. And if a street is too wide to allow pedestrian traffic safely to use it, it needs to be narrowed."

Sometimes called a "road diet," the practice of narrowing streets or reducing the number of travel lanes has gathered traction throughout other city neighborhoods in recent years. Most notably, a plan to reduce Liberty Street in Over-the-Rhine from seven lanes to six got underway earlier this year. DOTE officials opted to establish 24-hour parking along Hamilton Avenue in Northside, effectively converting it from a four-lane road to a two-lane road. Rush-hour crashes on the road reduced by nearly 70% in the first six months after that change.

City Council hopeful Derek Bauman has made a name for himself advocating for street designs and traffic policies that consider all road users, including people on foot or bicycle.

"This road needs more than just a road diet," Bauman said. "This needs a lap band and Jenny Craig. That's how bad this road is."

When asked if Linn Street needed more improvements than those made to the crosswalk where a driver would later kill Pringle, a DOTE official told WCPO in an emailed statement, "Lengthy corridors, like Linn Street, are more likely to benefit from larger-scale, corridor-wide redesign. Due to the cost and magnitude of this type of work, DOTE typically seeks state and federal grant dollars for these projects."

Anyone interested in offering feedback on Linn Street can find information on attending Wednesday evening's virtual town hall here. It begins at 6 p.m.

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City seeking input on safety improvements to Linn Street in West End - WCPO

ROCKVILLE, MD For Jews in Montgomery County and around the world, the two-day holiday known as Rosh Hashanah begins Friday night at sundown and concludes at sundown Sunday.

Considered the beginning of the Jewish New Year and one of the most important holidays on the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah is packed with special foods, traditions and mitzvahs, or commandments. One of the most important things to do on Rosh Hashanah is to hear the blowing of the shofar, or the ram's horn.

Here are five things to know about the holiday. Shanah Tovah!

1) What is Rosh Hashanah?

The words actually mean "head of the year" and are used to mark the beginning of the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashanah is a two-day period that culminates with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

The two-day period is also referred to as "The Days of Awe" and focuses on repentance and atonement.

In Judaism, Rosh Hashanah is considered the sixth day of "Creation," the day that Adam and Eve were made. Because of their creation, it's also considered the day the universe's potential was first recognized; therefore, it's also considered the birthday of the universe.

2) How is Rosh Hashanah celebrated?

Several ways. Most notably, Jews will spend a lot of time in a synagogue or temple praying, listening to the blowing of the shofar, and reflecting on the year gone by. Also, there is a traditional trip to a body of water where bread is thrown, symbolizing the casting of sins into the depths of the sea, as referenced in the Bible.

Other Rosh Hashanah observances include candle lighting in the evenings and desisting from creative work.

3) What's a shofar, and why is a ram's horn so important?

A shofar is a trumpet made from the horn of a kosher animal with the marrow removed. The central mitzvah or commandment of Rosh Hashanah is to hear the shofar being blown, often in a synagogue, and ideally as part of the prayer service.

Chabad.org says the Torah refers to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of the shofar blast." Since Rosh Hashanah is two days long, the shofar is blown during the daytime hours of both days, unless the first day falls on Shabbat, in which case the shofar is blown only on the second day.

The Torah doesn't specify why the blowing of the shofar is important on Rosh Hashanah; however, here are 10 reasons for this special mitzvah.

4) Are there special foods served during Rosh Hashanah?

Rosh Hashanah feasts traditionally include round challah bread (studded with raisins) and apples dipped in honey, pomegranate, and other foods that symbolize wishes for a sweet year. Some feasts serve parts of the head of a fish or a ram, expressing the wish that "we be a head and not a tail."

It's traditional to stay away from nuts as well as vinegar-based and sharp foods in order to avoid "a bitter year."

5) Your local service may look different this year due to coronavirus.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many are preparing to celebrate Rosh Hashanah at home, socially distanced from extended family and friends. Chabad.org has some tips for those planning to spend Rosh Hashanah at home.

Planning to attend a Rosh Hashanah service in Montgomery County? While some synagogues have reopened, there's a chance this year's services will look different. Here's a look at what local synagogues and centers have planned:

Kol Shalom (9110 Darnestown Rd., Rockville)

Ohr Kodesh Congregation (8300 Meadowbrook Lane, Chevy Chase)

Shaare Tefila (16620 Georgia Ave., Olney)

Shaare Torah (1409 Main St., Gaithersburg)

Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County (8215 Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda)

Temple Emanuel (10101 Connecticut Ave., Kensington)

Temple Beth Ami (14330 Travilah Rd., Rockville)

Chabad of Olney (17320 Georgia Ave., Olney)

Mercaz Menachem Chabad (5415 Friendship Blvd., Chevy Chase)

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Rosh Hashanah 2020 Begins This Weekend In Montgomery County - Rockville, MD Patch

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People work out at an exercise station near North Point Park on Lake Michigan Wednesday, March 25, 2020.(Photo: MIKE DE SISTI / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL)

If your life these days is anything like mine, a pre-pandemic routine that included regular exercise and disciplined eating has probably given way to sedentary evenings on a big chair, binge-watching reruns of your favorite TV series while guzzling chocolate ice cream or mac n cheese.

But lets not beat ourselves up about it. Several doctors I spoke with recently said most of their patients and many of their colleagues are struggling to maintain healthy habits amid the anxiety of the pandemic. The Quarantine 15 (pounds, that is) is a real phenomenon.

The double challenge of protecting our health, including our immune systems, while battling unhealthy temptations is a struggle everyone is dealing with, says Dr. David Kilgore, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of California-Irvine.

Well before COVID-19, more than 40% of U.S. adults were obese, which puts them at risk for COVID-19s worst outcomes. But even people accustomed to physical fitness and good nutrition are having trouble breaking the bad habits theyve developed over the past five months.

Karen Clark, a resident of Knoxville, Tennessee, discovered competitive rowing later in life, and her multiple weekly workouts burned off any excess calories she consumed. But the pandemic changed everything: She could no longer meet up with her teammates to row and stopped working out at the YMCA.

Suddenly, she was cooped up at home. And, as for many people, that led to a more sedentary lifestyle, chained to the desk, with no meetings outside the house or walks to lunch with colleagues.

I reverted to comfort food and comfortable routines and watching an awful lot of Netflix and Amazon Prime, just like everybody else, Clark says. When I gained 10 pounds and I was 25, I just cut out the beer and ice cream for a week. When you gain 12 pounds at 62, its a long road back.

She started along that road in July, when she stopped buying chips, ice cream and other treats. And in August, she rediscovered the rowing machine in her basement.

But dont worry if you lack Clarks discipline, or a rowing machine. You can still regain some control over your life.

A good way to start is to establish some basic daily routines, since in many cases thats exactly what the pandemic has taken away, says Dr. W. Scott Butsch, director of obesity medicine at the Cleveland Clinics Bariatric and Metabolic Institute. He recommends you bookend your day with physical activity, which can be as simple as a short walk in the morning and a longer one after work.

And, especially if you have kids at home who will be studying remotely this fall, prepare your meals at the beginning of the day, or even the beginning of the week, he says.

If you havent exercised in a while, start slow and gradually get yourself up to where you can tolerate an elevated heart rate, says Dr. Leticia Polanco, a family medicine doctor with the South Bay Primary Medical Group, just south of San Diego. If your gym is closed or you cant get together with your regular exercise buddies, there are plenty of ways to get your body moving at home and in your neighborhood, she says.

Go for a walk, a run or a bike ride, if one of those activities appeals to you. Though many jurisdictions across the United States require residents to wear masks when out in public, it may not be necessary and may even be harmful to some people with respiratory conditions while doing strenuous exercise.

Its clearly hard to exercise with a mask on, says Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases at Stanford Universitys School of Medicine. We go hiking up in the foothills and we take our masks with us and we dont wear them unless somebody starts coming the other way. Then we will put the mask on, and then we take it off and we keep going.

If you prefer to avoid the mask question altogether, think of your house as a cleverly disguised gym. Put on music and dance, or hula-hoop, Polanco suggests. You can also pump iron if you have dumbbells, or find a cable TV station with yoga or other workout programs.

If you search on the internet for exercise videos, you will find countless workouts for beginners and experienced fitness buffs alike. Try one of the seven-minute workout apps so popular these days. You can download them from Google Play or the Apple Store.

If you miss the camaraderie of exercising with others, virtual fitness groups might seem like a pale substitute, but they can provide motivation and accountability, as well as livestreamed video workouts with like-minded exercisers. One way to find such groups is to search for virtual fitness community.

Many gyms are also offering live digital fitness classes and physical training sessions, often advertised on their websites.

If group sports is your thing, you may or may not have options, depending on where you live.

In Los Angeles, indoor and outdoor group sports in municipal parks are shut down until further notice. The only sports allowed are tennis and golf.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, the Ron Schell Draft League, a softball league for men 50 and older, resumes play early this month after sitting out the spring season due to COVID-19, says Dave Hyder, the leagues commissioner.

But he says it has been difficult to get enough players because of worries about COVID.

In the senior group, you have quite a lot of people who are in a high-risk category or may have a spouse in a high-risk category, and they dont want to chance playing, says Hyder, 67, who does plan to play.

Players will have to stay at least 6 feet apart and wear masks while off the field. On the field, the catcher is the only player required to wear a mask. Thats because masks can steam up glasses or slip, causing impaired vision that could be dangerous to base runners or fielders, Hyder explains.

Whatever form of exercise you choose, remember it wont keep you healthy unless you also reduce consumption of fatty and sugary foods that can raise your risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension all COVID-19 risk factors.

Kim Guess, a dietitian at UC-Berkeley, recommends that people lay in a healthy supply of beans and lentils, whole grains, nuts and seeds, as well as frozen vegetables, tofu, tempeh and canned fish, such as tuna and salmon.

Start with something really simple, she said. It could even be a vegetable side dish to go with what theyre used to preparing.

Whatever first steps you decide to take, now is a good time to start eating better and moving your body more.

Staying healthy is so important these days, more than at any other time, because we are fighting this virus which doesnt have a treatment, says the Cleveland Clinics Butsch. The treatment is our immune system.

Bernard J. Wolfson is a writer for Kaiser Health News. This KHN story first published onCalifornia Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation.Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Exercise and diet are more important than ever with the coronavirus at large - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

It is widely known that Covid-19 most cruelly afflicts people who are already in poor health. Along with advanced age, a higher risk of severe illness and death is associated with obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

What is less commonly noted is that most of these conditions are diet-related diseases, which are largely caused by and can be cured by what we eat.

In other words, nutrition is the biggest coronavirus risk factor that nobody is talking about.

Over the years, Ive helped hundreds of patients with diet-related diseases lose weight and drop their medications, primarily through diet and lifestyle adjustments. I never expected my medical expertise to have any relevance in a viral pandemic.

But Ive come to believe that proper nutrition may be the best way we have of readying our bodies to fight off the coronavirus. The overlap between poor metabolic health and vulnerability to Covid-19 has become impossible to ignore.

Dr. Mariela Glandt. Photo: courtesy

Why is metabolic dysfunction so uniquely damaging to people infected with the coronavirus?

Researchers are still racing to identify all the different mechanisms at play. We know that insulin resistance and obesity wreak general havoc with the immune system. Affected individuals get sick more frequently, and when they do get sick, its more debilitating.

Fat cells spill into the bloodstream and accumulate in the tissues of the immune system, disrupting the activity of leukocytes, lymphocytes and T-cells. Abnormal hormonal function leads to chronic inflammation, which may be particularly dangerous when Covid-19 provokes a hyperinflammatory response.

All these changes not only have a negative impact on immune response but also, chillingly, on the efficacy of many vaccines.

Beware sugar, carbs, seed oils

These dysfunctions can be changed with remarkable speed.

One of the most important but little-known medical breakthroughs of the last several decades was the discovery of the hidden connections between most metabolic diseases.

Few of my patients, before I saw them, had ever been told that symptoms such as excess abdominal fat, high cholesterol and hyperglycemia were all profoundly related. In fact, they can all have the same causes, mechanisms and pathways, and its difficult to tell where one of these conditions ends and another begins.

In recognition of these connections, doctors on the vanguard will diagnose patients who exhibit three or more signs of significant metabolic dysfunction with metabolic syndrome.

The fact that all these conditions are related is great news for most patients: it means we can treat them all with a single strategy.

Diet-related diseases require diet-related solutions, and metabolic disease is caused primarily by an excess of sugar, dietary carbohydrates, and seed oils.

Carbs especially those found in sugars and highly refined grains prompt huge spikes of the hormone insulin, the first step in a vicious cycle that leads to insulin resistance and other hormonal imbalances and derangements. Seed oils (often referred to as vegetable oils) like canola and corn oil increase insulin resistance.

Israeli diet: healthy or not?

Many books and articles have celebrated the Israeli diet as one of the worlds healthiest. True, Israel is metabolically healthier than many Western nations, but that isnt saying much.

Nearly half of Israels adults are overweight, at least one-third have hypertension, and nearly one-third of those between the ages of 65 and 84 have diabetes. An unacceptably large percentage of our population is at an especially high risk of death from Covid-19 due to diet-related illnesses.

The local emphasis on fresh vegetables, lean protein and olive oil is a wonderful and very nutritious thing, but Israel is still very much at the mercy of the global trends that are driving the twin pandemics of diabetes and obesity.

Fast food and American cuisine are on the rise here as elsewhere. We eat too much nutrient-free junk food, food thats processed and full of sugar and seed oils. We drink too much soda and fruit juice. (Juice is pure sugar, even if its natural!) Every Israeli, no matter the age or health condition, should be reducing consumption of these metabolically destructive foods.

Go keto

For adults who already have known metabolic risk factors, even certain elements of the otherwise healthy traditional Israeli diet may be worth reviewing.

Think of all that pita bread, and all those dateswhat are they but highly concentrated blasts of carbohydrate?

To my own patients, I recommend a more extreme change: a very low carbohydrate (or ketogenic) diet. Very little fruit, no rice, no hummus.

Avoiding carbs almost entirely is the one surefire way to quickly break the vicious cycle of insulin spikes and insulin resistance.

My patients enjoy vegetables, chicken, fish, eggs, meat, olive oil and dairy in abundance, they lose weight, and their metabolic health recovers with extraordinary speed.

Im not the only doctor to see these results. A 2019 experiment, to give one example, showed that in just four weeks the majority of participants on a low-carb diet reversed their metabolic syndrome. Imagine: four weeks to undo a lifetime of damage!

Now, as the coronavirus sweeps across our communities, diet may be a more important intervention than ever.

Dr. Mariela Glandt, trained at Harvard and Columbia, is an endocrinologist with extensive experience in the treatment of diabetes. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling e-book How to Eat in the Time of Covid-19. She is the founder and director of the Glandt Center for Diabetes Care in Tel Aviv, where she uses the ketogenic diet as one of the main tools for treating diabetes. Dr. Glandt worked in New York in private and hospital practice.

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Diet - the biggest Covid risk factor that nobody talks about - ISRAEL21c