Sometimes when facing the challenge of a serious illness it help to read stories of triumph. Dealing with mesothelioma is one of those diseases and Paul Kraus was not ready to give up his fight with this deadly cancer.

Mr. Kraus offers practical advice on what he did to beat the odds so that others can too. So don’t lose hope, keep fighting.

My friend Jim, the dentist called me up last week and asked it I could help him do a little research into dental practice management software. It seems the software solution he had been using for the past 9 years was no longer being supported and was causing him headaches in the office.

I am a bit of a software geek and was able to help him locate some excellent dental software. He is forever grateful and I expect to be seeing the Yankees quite a few times next season with his field level seasons tickets.

I realize plastic surgery is not for everyone but my wife has been wanting to have her breasts ‘done’ for years. After 3 kids and as gravity worked it’s magic she was feeling sort of in the dumps. This year we are expecting a substantial tax return so I decided to give her an anniversary present that she (and I) could truly appreciate for a long-time to come.

I started by searching the web for local surgeons using the keywords, Indiana breast augmentation. After checking out their websites and talking to them on the phone I set up a consultation for my better half. If you are looking to get surgery somewhere else just do a search online because it is the quickest way to find out information, for example if you are in another state, say Miami, just type in “Miami Plastic Surgery” and you will get lots of search results you can pour through.

I can’t wait to surprise her next week!

Teenagers who feel relaxed after their first drags on a cigarette are most likely to become addicted to smoking, a sign that some people’s brains are more susceptible to nicotine, researchers have discovered.  This is bad news in the fight for teenage smokers.

While peer pressure and other factors may lead young people to try smoking, it is the brain’s response to that first dose of nicotine that likely most determines who gets addicted, according to DiFranza’s report published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American  Experiencing a feeling of relaxation in response to the first cigarette was the strongest predictor of addiction, the study found.

The study said one theory suggests nicotine suppresses pathways in the brain that generate the feeling of craving, which is experienced as relaxation. That in turn creates a craving for nicotine when the drug is absent.

Over the four years of the study between 2002 and 2006, 11 interviews were conducted with each of 1,000 teenagers attending public schools in six Massachusetts communities.  Of the 217 who tried smoking during the study, nearly one-third reported feeling relaxed after inhaling for the first time, and two-thirds of them became addicted to smoking.

Overall, 83 of the 217 participants who tried cigarettes became smokers.  Other risk factors for addiction among first-time smokers was a depressed mood, a novelty-seeking personality, and familiarity with “Joe Camel,” the animated character used to advertise Reynolds American Inc’s Camel brand, the study said.  “The Joe Camel campaign was discontinued in August of 1997 as our subjects entered 2nd grade (around age 7), suggesting that the deleterious effects of cigarette advertising persist long after the exposure,” the study said.

Among the traits that protected students from becoming addicted were being involved in extracurricular activities which is not surpising because they are probably more rounded individuals which inturn would help them make better life choices.