Tea contains caffeine and theanine which improve mental speed, focus and accuracy
By Shaun Wooller Just half a cup was enough to inspire great ideas after a few minutes. Volunteers who downed a brew were more imaginative in tests than those who drank water. Tea contains caffeine and theanine, which improve mental speed, accuracy and focus. But these take 30 to 60 minutes to kick in – long after these experiments were finished. Researchers from Peking University, China, say this means tea must have a positive mental effect.
Getty - Contributor Students who drank tea were answering more questions than those who just drank water
They believe it boosts people’s mood and helps them relax in a similar way to meditation. Singer Mick Jagger, scientist Albert Einstein and author C. S. Lewis are all famous tea drinkers. Study leader Yan Huang ran two 20-minute experiments on a total of 90 students. Half of the students in each test drank up to one cup of tea, three minutes before the tasks began. The other half drank water. In the first test, they were asked to create an “attractive” construction out of building blocks. And in the second, they had to come up with a “cool” name for a new noodle restaurant. Entries were scored for innovativeness and playfulness by a separate group of students.
Getty - Contributor Tea contains caffiene and theanine which can improve mental speed
The tea drinkers scored an average 6.54 points in the building block test and 4.11 in the name test. But the water drinkers only scored 6.03 points and 3.78 points, respectively. Yan Huang said: “The current research demonstrates that drinking tea can improve creative performance with divergent thinking.
USA Today Hawaii is the healthiest state in the country for the fifth
consecutive year, according to an annual state-by-state health ranking
report.
The 2016 America's Health Rankings highlight some long-term improvements in overall health across the country and some disturbing new trends.
While
smoking among U.S. adults decreased by 41% since the start of the
report in 1990, and the percentage of the population that is uninsured
decreased by 35% in the past five years, for the first time in the
report’s history, cardiovascular deaths increased over the past year.
Even more disturbing, over the past two years, the rate of premature
death has also increased, according to Reed Tuckson, external clinical
advisor United Health Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation, that
sponsors the report.
“We are still living longer, but sicker, and
getting sicker sooner,” Reed said. "People are experiencing obesity and
related consequences earlier in life which is also a problem.”
The report also
found that drug deaths increased 9% over the past five years. Tuckson
said the report highlights that the nation is at a health crossroads,
with positive health changes like a decrease in smoking and more insured
people as wins, but troubling levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood
pressure and sedentary behavior diminishing the positive steps.
"We
have to remember that we have to put the fight for promoting health and
prevent disease much higher on the agenda," Tuckson said. "If we don’t,
we as a nation will see further slippage and see those fearful trends
of premature death, people dying from cardiovascular disease at higher
rates than years before."
According to the report, Hawaii ranked first in overall health, with a
low percentage of uninsured people, low rates of obesity and a low
prevalence of obesity. But it's not all beachy in paradise, according to
the report, which notes Hawaii scores above the national average for
excessive drinking.
Mississippi fell from 49th to 50th this year, according to the report, which uses data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Medical Association, Census Bureau
and even the FBI. It looks at a slew of measures of health, including
tobacco and alcohol abuse, exercise, infectious diseases, crime rates,
public health funding, access to immunizations, premature birth rates
and cancer and heart disease rates.
Mississippi has a high prevalence of smoking, low birthweight and a high
percentage of children living in poverty, according to the report. But
while Mississippi has the most room for improvement, the state does have
a low prevalence of excessive drinking and drug-related deaths.
Restrictions
on smoking have become tighter, with sales from vending machines banned
and displays of cigarettes banished from shopsH. Armstrong Roberts/Getty Images
Chris Smyth, Health Editor Children
are drinking and smoking less than ever, according to an NHS survey
that points to the cleanest-living generation on record.
Experimentation
with alcohol among under-16s is down by two thirds since 2003 and the
number of children trying cigarettes has fallen by three quarters.
Public health leaders praised a crackdown on under-age sales for
improving child health but warned of little progress on exercise and
obesity.
About a third of children are too heavy while only one in five
is as active as they should be, according to data from 14,000 adults and
children, of whom 7,000 were examined by a nurse.
Adele Dunlap of Pittstown, NJ resides at the Country Arch Care Center
where she celebrated her 114th. Dunlap, who has been a resident of New
Jersey her entire life, became the oldest living American approximately
six months ago.
Kevin R. Wexler/NorthJersey.com
Jay Levin , Staff Writer
Lifelong New Jerseyan Adele Dunlap, who assumed the title of oldest
American five months ago, marked her 114th birthday Monday with a
balloon bouquet and a "Happy Birthday" serenade from fellow residents of
the Hunterdon County care center where she has lived since age 99.
But
Dunlap made clear through her facial expressions and her answers
to questions that she didn't appreciate the fuss. Asked what she was
thankful for, Dunlap said, "Gee, how should I know?" And asked what her
birthday wish was, she responded, "I've never thought of such a thing. I
don't wish for anything."
She also declared that it was her 105th
birthday. It's her habit to shave about a decade off her age, according
to nursing home staff and her family.
Dunlap
was born in Newark on Dec. 12, 1902. Her birth date has been validated
by the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks "supercentenarians," or
people older than 110. Among the documents attesting to her astonishing
age is her diploma from South Side High School in Newark. It is dated
June 27, 1921 — 95½ years ago.
There are believed to be several hundred supercentenarians in the
world. In addition to being the oldest American, Dunlap is the world's
ninth-oldest person. The oldest, according to the Gerontology Research Group database, is
an Italian woman, Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, who marked her 117th birthday
on Nov. 29. The next-oldest American is Meta Dishman of Virginia. She
turned 113 on June 1. Of the world's 46 oldest people in the Gerontology
Research Group's database, 44 are women.
On
Monday morning at the Country Arch Care Center in Pittstown, Dunlap sat
in a wheelchair with a blanket from the Tewksbury Women's Club over her
lap and moccasins on her feet. She had her usual oatmeal for breakfast
and then attended the "coffee club" in the dining room, where staffers
and a dozen other residents sang "Happy Birthday" to her. That was the
extent of the celebration. Country Arch recognizes birthdays en masse,
and the 15 residents with December birthdays were feted last Wednesday.
The center has 111 residents, including five centenarians. The other four are more than a decade younger than Dunlap.
"Ms. Adele
has requested that the celebrations become fewer because she says we
are all important, and that speaks volumes about who she is," said Susan
Dempster, Country Arch's marketing director.
Dempster described
Dunlap as a "passive participant" in nursing home activities. She says
the rosary every week and enjoys musical presentations, including
Christmas carols from visiting Girl Scouts, who clamor to have their
picture taken with the supercentenarian. "But we don't make Ms. Adele
move that much physically," Dempster said. "If she wants to move, she'll
move."
The
former Adele Henderson taught school briefly in Kearny and raised her
three children in Short Hills. Her husband, Earl Dunlap Sr., who worked
in insurance, died in 1963. Before moving to Country Arch, she lived in
Clinton with her son Earl Jr., now 86, and daughter-in-law Barbara.
Others
apparently didn't get the memo about Dunlap not wanting to make a big
deal about her age.
Last week, the mayor of Clinton arrived with a
proclamation wishing the lifelong "Jersey girl" continued good health.
And in August, Kean University wrote Dunlap a letter of congratulations
on "capturing a singular title that is reserved for the remarkable
person in the United States who has lived the longest and has witnessed
more history than anyone – oldest American." Dunlap received a bachelor
of arts degree in elementary education from the Newark Normal School,
Kean University's predecessor.
Soon after basking in birthday
wishes Monday, Dunlap was looking ahead. Asked what her favorite part of
the day is, the 114-year-old said, "I guess just going to bed."
This day in history
On Dec. 12, 1902, the day Adele Dunlap was born .... Theodore Roosevelt was president. There have been 26 presidents since. There were 45 states in the Union. The U.S. population was approximately 80 million, a quarter of what it is today. The Wright Brothers' famous flight was still 12 months away. From the pages of The New York Times on Dec. 12: New
Hampshire adopts a constitutional amendment in favor of women's
suffrage, striking the word "male" from the following passage: "Every
male inhabitant of each town shall have the right to vote." Christmas
gift specials from the Bloomingdale's on 59th Street in Manhattan:
Women's and men's gloves, $1; women's and men's slippers, $1.49; china
tea sets, $5.98.
The
Spring Garden School, will be turned into an
affordable-housing project for veterans, thanks to a generous donation
from the Trump Foundation.
by Thomas Bailey
Philadelphia has recently announced it will expand its affordable & free
housing for veterans with a new building. The Spring Garden School, an
abandoned K-8 school in Philadelphia, was due to be demolished in 2018.
However, thanks to support and donations from the Trump Foundation, it
will instead be renovated and turned into a housing-assistance project
for veterans.
Built in the 1920s, Spring Garden is a venerable 3-story brick-and-limestone building designed by famous architect Irwin Thornton Catharine. “It is an incredibly beautiful building,” said David Cleghorn, senior vice president of real estate development of Help USA, the charity charged with renovating the building. “Even the graffiti inside is high-quality street art.” Spring Garden has been on the National Register of Historic Buildings since 1986.
Help USA is one of America’s largest providers of affordable housing and social services, especially for homeless veterans, of which there are about 50,000 in America. Help USA has three other ongoing projects in Philadelphia, and thousands more across the country.
Spring Garden, once renovated, will provide up to 37 apartments. Veterans will be prioritized in allocating these apartments (with 12 reserved specifically for homeless veterans). Apartments will only charge up to 30% of a resident’s income for rent. For many, especially homeless veterans, Cleghorn said, that’s “30 percent of nothing.” This means that without the support of charitable donations, such a project would be fiscally impossible.
Funding for the project came in the form of tax credits from the Pennsylvania state government; $1.3 million in small grants; a $500,00 mortgage, and $300,000 in individual contributions. But the bulk of the project’s funding came from a $5 million donation from the Trump Foundation.
by Christina Pepper I am so happy that I have the opportunity to work with many
non-profit organizations. I feel like I’m called to do something
positive that will help our veterans and/or the community. I have always
had the passion for serving others and am so grateful that at this
point in my life I am able to do so. One non-profit organization that I
happen to be a part of, thanks to the American Legion Auxiliary Unit
392 in Panama City, is the Booyah Veterans Bus Project. The Booyah Veterans Bus Project started as a story, shared by Pam
Hilburn-Mathis to Shane Johnson owner of Booyah Mortgage, about a woman,
Ellen Gilbert, who was called to serve our veterans. Ms. Ellen, who is
70 years young, was transporting veterans from Panama City Naval Base to
the VA Clinic in Pensacola, FL. She would wake up early to get to the
Naval Base to drive our veterans who lacked transportation over 100
miles to the VA Clinic and had been doing this for many years. Ms. Ellen
then noticed that some veterans were walking the night before due to
lack of transportation and sleeping on benches so they would be at the
Naval Base in time to meet the bus. So Ms. Ellen started to transport
them from their homes to the Naval Base early every morning, sometimes
waking up at 3am to make sure every veteran who needed transportation
could be picked up, instead of having to walk the day before and sleep
on park benches. After hearing this story, Shane really thought long and hard about
this issue and as a Marine veteran was very concerned and knew that
there was something that had to be done to solve this situation.
Being
an entrepreneur, Shane created the non-profit Booyah Veterans Bus
Project, whose motto is “Giving a Veteran a hand up, not a hand out.”
And with creating an “Army” of volunteers and support the philosophy of
“No Veteran left behind!” This is a 3-phase project: 1st – Awareness. Starting on October 22nd and ending on November 11th,
three Marines rucked over 400 miles from Orlando to Panama City,
Florida to raise awareness for our homeless Veterans. Followed by a
support team in a RV and many behind the scenes, these gentlemen walked
22 miles a day in honor of the 22 veterans who commit suicide a day. Now
this ruck will have a 2nd part, where they will ruck from Panama City, FL to San Diego, CA over the course of 3 months. 2nd – Getting the buses out in military areas that provide
a place to shower, wash clothes, get personal supplies, and then
transportation to the VA Clinics for appointments. 3rd – Develop of a property in Florida that will have many
amenities and a 13 week program that help active duty military transfer
into civilian life upon leaving the military and then have a job upon
completion of the program in the industry they desire with a mentor.
Now this is not an easy task. The first ruck was just the beginning.
It gave all of us associated with the project a glance into the life of
someone who is homeless. The endless walking, blisters on their feet,
times of just complete exhaustion, the change in weather at a moment’s
notice, the lack of support for homelessness, just to name a few. This
was not an easy task for the three Marines who rucked the 400 miles.
I’d like to thank Shane Johnson, Shawn Moore, Richard “Q” Mccuen; the
three Marines who rucked the entire 400 miles, taking time away from
their jobs and their families. If you know anything about Marines, you
know they are trained to do whatever it takes to complete their mission.
They walk and run in all sorts of weather and terrain and they do it as
a team, watching out for each other. If you are a homeless veteran, the
possibility of having that support is not always there and that is
where the Booyah Veterans Bus Project can hopefully fill that void and
offer support to our homeless veteran population. As they prepare for the other leg of the ruck, many more people will
walk with them, some for short periods and some during the whole route.
The RV will follow containing items they need to complete this mission,
blog and make videos covering the ruck, with a team of people who will
never give up!!!
What I have learned being a part of this group, is that we are a
family. We may not be related by blood, but by the serving in the
military, being spouses or family members of veterans, and having the
same calling in our hearts to help veterans. We cannot rely on the
government to do it for us, we need to take control!!!!!! Please #getonthebuswithus and follow us on Facebook https://m.facebook.com/getonthebuswithus/ , the website at www.booyahveteranbusproject.com and on YouTube by searching Booyah Veterans Bus Project or Booyah Hike Across America. Many thanks goes to the support staff and future ruckers who make up
the Booyah family, MJ Motta, Ross Sykes, Raymond Tharaldson, Charles E.
Anderson, Missy Buchart, Bonnie Harper, and so many more that I probably
forgot to name!!!!!! #BOOYAH #booyahhikeacrossamerica Shuffle on my friends!!!!!
A growing number of people in Obamacare are finding out their health
insurance plans will disappear from the program next year, forcing them
to find new coverage even as options shrink and prices rise.
At
least 1.4 million people in 32 states will lose the Obamacare plan they
have now, according to state officials contacted by Bloomberg. That’s
largely caused by Aetna Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and some state or
regional insurers quitting the law’s markets for individual coverage.
Sign-ups for Obamacare coverage begin next month. Fallout from the
quitting insurers has emerged as the latest threat to the law, which is
also a major focal point in the U.S. presidential election. While it’s
not clear what all the consequences of the departing insurers will be,
interviews with regulators and insurance customers suggest that plans
will be fewer and more expensive, and may not include the same doctors
and hospitals.
It may also mean that instead of growing in 2017, Obamacare could shrink. As of March 31, the law covered 11.1 million people;
an Oct. 13 S&P Global Ratings report predicted that enrollment next
year will range from an 8 percent decline to a 4 percent gain.
Vanishing Plan
Last
year in Minnesota, Theresa Puffer, 61, used Obamacare to sign up for a
BlueCross BlueShield plan after leaving her job following a skin cancer
diagnosis. “I would have had a hard time finding any sort of coverage
before the ACA,” Puffer said by phone.
Next year, Puffer’s plan is
disappearing from Obamacare -- making her one of about 20,000
Minnesotans in the same situation. To make matters worse, premiums for
other plans in the state will rise by at least 50 percent, though
subsidies under the law can help cushion the blow.
“Trying to
determine which would be the best plan for my situation is not easy,”
Puffer said. Her dermatologist appears to be out of network in other
plans, she said. “I’m willing to pay a higher premium to see him,
because when you have cancer you want to stay with the same group of
doctors,” she said. “I’ve spent so much time trying to figure out what
my options are.”
Bloomberg
contacted officials in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and the 1.4
million-person estimate includes 32 states and only plans sold on the
individual “exchange” markets. In Texas, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri,
insurers have pulled out, but regulators couldn’t or wouldn’t say how
many people are affected. Three states didn’t provide sufficient data.
Eleven
states said they weren’t affected. In Washington, D.C., because one
insurer withdrew some of its offerings, about 7,800 customers will need
to choose new plans.
Normal Disruption
The
U.S. agency that oversees Obamacare has said that some disruption is
normal, and that choosing a new plan can help people get the best deal.
“It’s
part of the normal business cycle for insurers to discontinue, change,
and replace plans from year to year,” Benjamin Wakana, a spokesman for
the Department of Health and Human Services, said by e-mail on Oct. 5.
“Such changes don’t prevent people from obtaining coverage. People can
shop for new coverage through a transparent market.”
HHS said
Thursday that it will contact people losing their coverage and encourage
them to sign up with new plans. The law requires all Americans to have
insurance or pay a fine.
Nationwide estimates of the number of
people losing their current plans are higher. For example, Charles Gaba,
who tracks the law at ACASignups.net, estimates that 2 million to 2.5
million people in the U.S. will lose their current plans, compared with 2
million a year ago. Gaba’s estimate is based on insurance company membership data.
Fewer Choices
For
the people losing plans, there are fewer and fewer choices. One
estimate by the Kaiser Family Foundation predicts that for at least 19
percent of the people in Obamacare’s individual market next year there
will be only one insurer to choose from.
In North Carolina, for
example, a BlueCross BlueShield insurer will be the only option in 95 of
the state’s 100 counties after Aetna and UnitedHealth said this year
that they would leave. That will leave 284,000 people looking for a new
plan, according to the state.
“Without any significant statutory
and regulatory changes on the federal and state levels, we may face the
crisis again,” said North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin,
a Democrat who’s up for election this year. “There needs to be a
wholesale re-evaluation by leaders in Washington.”
Losing Access
In
Tennessee, UnitedHealth and the state’s BlueCross BlueShield plan are
pulling back, and about 117,000 people will lose the plans they have
now.
Amanda Page Cornett, a 34-year-old musician and athletic
trainer in Nashville, is among them. For 2015, Cornett was careful to
pick a BlueCross BlueShield plan that covered specialists at Vanderbilt
Health, to treat nerve pain stemming from a 2013 accident. Her condition
worsened recently, she said, and she’s worried about losing access to
her doctor.
“I’m hopeful that he’s going to be able to help me,”
she said of her current physician. “I feel like now I have two and a
half months to figure it out before they shut me out.”
By Oren Liebermann PHILADELPHIA (CNN) — The world’s oldest man, Holocaust
survivor Yisrael Kristal, celebrated his bar mitzvah this weekend — 100
years late. Born in Poland in 1903, Kristal studied Hebrew and Jewish
law as a youngster. But he missed his bar mitzvah — a Jewish
coming-of-age ceremony celebrated when a boy turns 13 — because of World
War I. “This was a miracle that came true in front of our eyes,” said his daughter, Shulimath Kristal Kuperstoch, who organized the ceremony in northern Israel. About 60 friends and family members attended the bar mitzvah on Saturday morning, Kuperstoch said. A Devout Orthodox Jew, Kristal recited the Kaddish prayer,
which praises God, and the Shehecheyanu, a prayer for celebrating
special occasions. Following the bar mitzvah, attendants lobbed candy at
Kristal, a festive tradition used to symbolize a sweet life. It is most
commonly seen at bar mitzvahs for young men, but the supercentenarian
loved it, his daughter said. Dark past As a young man, Kristal married and had two children,
who died in the Lodz ghetto during World War II. Later, he and his wife
were sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his wife died. He survived the Holocaust, and moved to Israel with his second wife in 1950. Kristal was officially recognized as the world’s oldest man by Guinness World Records in March 2016. During his bar mitzvah, Kuperstoch said he was quiet for
much of the time, perhaps reflecting on the importance of the moment and
remembering those who could not be there to celebrate with him. “Holocaust survivors know how to welcome this moment better than anyone else,” she said. The retired confectioner now has a large family, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Devout According to Guinness World Records, he has carried out the
rites of his devout Orthodox faith “continuously and rigorously” for 100
years. He has wrapped phylacteries (tefilin) “every morning for the
last century, with the exception of the Holocaust and both world wars,”
the organization wrote. The tefilin is the practice of fixing Torah texts in small
black boxes to the head and hand during prayers, following literally the
commandment that calls for believers to bind excerpts of religious
scriptures to their hands and their eyes. When he was named the world’s oldest man, Kristal insisted, “I don’t know the secret for long life.” “I believe that everything is determined from above and we shall never know the reasons why,” he told Guinness World Records. “There have been smarter, stronger and better-looking men
then me who are no longer alive,” he said.
Actor and veterans advocate Tom Hanks wants to do more to help
veterans, by assisting those who care for our nation’s wounded heroes.
On. Sept. 27, Tom Hanks and former Sen. Elizabeth Dole officially announced the launch of Hidden Heroes, a national campaign to raise awareness and garner support for the nation’s 5.5 million military and veteran caregivers. At the event, Hanks addressed the crowded auditorium at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and posed a simple question:
“What part are you going to play in
this movement?” asked Hanks, the national chair of Hidden Heroes. “I
trust that the stories of honor and sacrifice we will now share and
those you will learn about in the weeks and months ahead will bring you
to your answer.”
Hanks, along with guest speakers,
journalist and former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, Secretary of
Veteran Affairs Robert McDonald, Democratic Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, and others weighed in on the critical challenges facing military
caregivers, and the importance of supporting them.
“And by military caregivers, we’re
not talking about health care professionals, we’re not talking about
educated experts, we’re talking about wives, and family members, and
girlfriends, and kids, and parents,” explained Hanks. “Those are the
military caregivers. The people giving care to their military loved
ones.” Hidden Heroes was launched by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation,
an organization founded by Dole in 2012. It seeks to strengthen and
empower military caregivers and their families through research, raising
awareness, and policy change. “Bringing our country’s hidden
heroes, and that’s what they are, heroes who are hidden out of sight,
bringing them out of the shadows to honor their service is a companion
piece, I think, to welcoming home those who have served,” said Hanks. According to the Elizabeth Dole
Foundation’s findings, the challenges facing military caregivers
include: depression, isolation, unemployment, and debt due to a severe
lack of awareness and support. These strains have been exacerbated by
the constant state of war since Sept. 11, 2001, with many younger
caregivers facing daily challenges that last years, if not a lifetime.
Shane Johnson Aloma, FL · Awesome time at this event! Thank you to Veronica Kemeny for putting this together!
A huge Thank you to Bill Price for the generous donation of $10,000 to
the Booyah Veteran Bus Project. I really can't Thank you enough sir!
The Veteran Bus Project is a three phase endeavor to provide a sense of
dignity to the countless homeless and transitioning Veterans in our
nation.
Phase 1 is a 360+ mile hike from the Lake Nona, FL VA hospital
to Panama City, FL raising awareness for Veteran homelessness and the
fact that many of them have to walk just to get to the VA hospital. The
hike begins on October 22nd and ends on Veteran’s Day; it will be
segmented into 22 mile intervals representing the number of Veterans
that commit suicide every day.
Phase 2 involves giving homeless
Veterans a place to shower, get a haircut, and a meal to eat, through
the use of refurbished transit buses and also providing them
transportation to their respective VA Hospitals. Due to the fact that
many of our Veterans are taking their lives because they don’t have
anybody to talk to, we will be partnering with counselors, pastors, and
organizations in their communities that they can speak with and stay
connected with long after we are gone. These buses will be turned into
mobile showers providing a safe place for Veterans to get clean. By
focusing on this segment it gives us a way to help fight back against
this epidemic that is plaguing our nation, homelessness.
Helping the Veteran is our concern.
Phase 3 provides a safe place for Veterans as they transition out of
active duty service back into the civilian sector. This phase involves
Transitional Housing. Too many Veterans are neglected in this stage of
your lives and often end up homeless because of a lack of knowledge of
resources and education outside of military life. The Veteran Bus
Project will put the Veteran into a 13 week housing program, providing
them with vocational training in the industry they desire to enter. They
will be provided with a mentor and a job opportunity upon graduation.
The Veteran Bus Project will remain steadfast in its vision of having a
bus in every major city becoming a beckon of hope for the many that
will use its service. As reported in the 2015 CoC Homeless Populations
and Subpopulations report, there are over 47000 homeless veterans in the
United States. With over 4000 homeless Veterans according to the same
report, Florida is an optimal location to launch this endeavor. The
Veteran Bus Project will appeal to the Veterans need of honor, dignity,
and camaraderie. These are our brothers and sisters and we are here to
cover their six.
The Veteran Bus Project will be led by Founder
and Marine, Shane Johnson. With his leadership at the helm we are
aggressively planning to provide this service where ever the need
arises.
As more people join us in this fight by providing funding
or donating buses we will be able to expand our reach and help many
more Veterans throughout our nation. By creating an “Army” of volunteers
and support through the philosophy of "No Veteran Left Behind" we will
gain an influence that stretches across the nation helping Veterans.
Booyah Veteran Bus Project is a non-profit organization file under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Mbah Gotho, from Java, has been named as the world's longest lived human at 145 years old. Credit:
CEN
An Indonesian man who claims to be the longest living human in recorded history has described how he “just wants to die”.
Mbah Gotho, from Sragen in central Java, was born on December 31, 1870, according to the date of birth on his identity card.
Now officials at the local record office say they have finally been able to confirm that remarkable date as genuine.
Mbah Gotho's
identity card, showing his date of birth as December 31, 1870. He is
registered under his official name, Sodimejo; like many Indonesians he
was only given oneCredit:
CEN
If independently confirmed, the
findings would make Mr Gotho a staggering 145 years old – and the
longest lived human in recorded history.
But despite his incredible longevity, Mr Gotho says he has little wish to remain on this earth much longer.
“What I want is to die. My grandchildren are all independent,” he told local media this week.
Mr Gotho has outlived all 10 of his siblings, four wives, and even
his children. His nearest living relatives are grand children, great
grand children, and great-great grandchildren.
One of Mr Gotho’s grandsons said his grandfather has been preparing for his death ever since he was 122.
He has even bought a burial site close to the graves of his children.
“The gravestone there was made in 1992. That was 24 years ago,” Mr Gotho’s grandson said.
Members of the family said Mr Gotho now spends most of his time
sitting and listening to the radio because his eyesight is too poor to
watch television.
He has had to be spoon-fed and bathed for the past three months as he has become increasingly frail.
When asked what his secret to longevity is, Mr Gotho replied: “The recipe is just patience.”
While record office staff say they have confirmed the birth date on
his identity card, he will not make it into the record books until the
findings are independently verified.
The current record holder, French woman Jeanne Calment, died in 1997 at the age of 122.
By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter TUESDAY, March
31, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Every face tells a story, and that story
apparently includes hints of how quickly a person is aging, a new study
contends.
Facial features have proven even more reliable than
blood tests in spotting those for whom time is taking a heavier toll, a
Chinese research team reports in the March 31 issue of the journal Cell Research.
A
computerized 3-D facial imaging process uncovered a number of "tells"
that show if a person is aging more rapidly, including a widening mouth,
bulging nose, sagging upper lip, shrinking gums and drooping eye
corners, the researchers said.
"This suggests not only that youth
is 'skin deep,' but also that health is 'written' on the face," the
study authors concluded, suggesting that facial scanning could more
accurately assess a person's general health than a routine physical
exam.
This sort of facial imaging is part of a cutting-edge
technology aimed at estimating life expectancy and assessing health risk
factors simply by taking a scan of your face, said Jay Olshansky, a
professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's School of Public
Health and a board member of the American Federation for Aging Research.
"A
lot of your risk factor for disease shows up in your face," Olshansky
said. "You can identify the precise places on the face where these risk
factors show up."
In fact, Olshansky predicts that insurance
companies eventually could turn to such technology to improve
underwriting of life insurance, predicting a person's future health with
a simple face scan rather than a complex panel of blood tests.
"All
of that blood chemistry, all of the money spent on it, is mostly a
waste of money and time," he said. "You can get at these risks a much
simpler way through a combination of facial analytics and asking the
right questions."
In the new study, researchers at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences collected 3-D facial images of 332 people of Chinese
descent between the ages of 17 and 77.
Based on this data, the
researchers constructed a model for predicting age, generating a map of
the aging human face that recognized certain patterns of aging based on
specific facial features.
They found that up to age 40, people of
the same chronological age could differ by up to six years in facial
age. Those older than 40 showed even wider variation in facial age.
"In
aging science, we know people who look young for their age are aging
more slowly," Olshansky said. "They look younger because they probably
are younger. One year of clock time is matched by something less than
one year of biological time. It's real. We can see it."
The
researchers compared the results of their facial scans to routine blood
tests they took from the participants, and found that age estimates
based on facial features were more accurate than blood screenings for
cholesterol, uric acid or the blood protein albumin.
The findings
track with what doctors already know about how age can affect a person's
face, said Dr. Anne Taylor, chairwoman of the American Society of
Plastic Surgeons' Public Education Committee.
"Our lips are
shrinking, and the distance between the nose and the mouth increases as
we age," Taylor said. "And there's a reason for the saying, 'Long in the
tooth.' Your gums are shrinking as you age, so more of your teeth are
showing."
Olshansky added that facial features also reveal evidence of behaviors that can affect your health.
Smokers
tend to develop wrinkles around the mouth, caused by constant pursing
of the lips to suck on a cigarette, he said. Drinkers develop a "W.C.
Fields" nose, red and bulbous at the tip.
Researchers currently
are exploring the ways in which diabetes, obesity, drug use and other
detrimental personal behaviors affect the aging of the face, Olshansky
noted.
Even though the Chinese findings jibe with what is known
about facial aging, they need to be verified through follow-up research,
said Dr. Stephen Park, president of the American Academy of Facial, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Park argued that the new study
could not show whether some people are physically aging faster than
their years, because the researchers did not include a control group for
comparison.
"It's not fair to say some are physiologically aging
faster or more slowly than their chronological age suggests, because
they use the data from these participants to define what the age group
should look like," he said.
by Mary Bowerman One hundred and seventeen years goes by in a flash, according to the world's oldest person. Misao Okawa celebrated her 117th birthday a day early on Wednesday at a nursing home in western Japan, according to the Associated Press.
During the televised celebration, she told a government official that her life, "seemed rather short."
It seems it's not that unusual to live a very long life these days....well, as long as you're a woman and don't live in the UK
Longevity: Susannah Mushatt Jones, 113 (l), Gertrude Weaver, 116 (top r) and Misao Okawa, 116
Imagine living through the turn of two centuries, two world wars, and seeing 115 New Year's Eves?
Well that's the reality for these supercentarians (that's those who have lived past the grand old age of 110).
Five of the world's oldest people were all born in the 1800s and guess what? They are also all women.
Long life: Misao Okawa, the world's oldest Japanese woman
Misao Okawo, who will be celebrating her 117th birthday in March, is currently the world's oldest person.
The great-gran of six, who lives in Osaka in Japan, puts her long life down to eating sushi, getting eight hours sleep a night and relaxing.
Born in 1898, she got married in 1919 and has three children, four
grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1931.
She was presented with a certificate from the Guiness Book of Records officially recognising her as the world's oldest living woman when she turned 115.
Japan is thought to have more than 50,000 people over 100-years-old, which is often attributed to the country's low fat diet of sushi and fish.
Oldest American: Gertrude Weaver - 116
AP
Secret? 'Treat people right and be nice to others'
Born on Independence Day 1898, and still said to be an independent
woman, Mrs Weaver, of Arkansas, says it's her faith that keeps her
going.
The wheelchair-dancing enthusiast wed in 1915, had four children and
is now visited regularly in her care home by a 78-year-old
granddaughter.
Now spending her days enjoying manicures and Bible study, she told Time magazine her secret to long life.
"Kindness," she said. "Treat people right and be nice to other people the way you want them to be nice to you."
Jeralean Talley - 115
Jeralean Talley is 115 and lives in Michigan.
She was born in 1899 and had one child with her husband, Alfred. Thelma, 76, now lives with her mum to take care of her.
She is the one of the oldest living people in America and has
revealed the reason why she has lived so long hasn't changed over the
years.
She told the Detroit Free Press: "It's all in the good Lord's hands. There's nothing I can do about it."
Susannah Mushatt Jones - 115
Getty
Feisty: Susannah Mushatt Jones
This feisty New Yorker, born on July 6, 1899, says she doesn't have a
secret to long life except that she doesn't drink or smoke and ensures
she gets a good night's sleep.
But she loves her bacon. According to Time, she loves bacon and eats it every morning.
She never had children, but saved her salary to help pay for nieces to go to college.
Another woman who made the list is Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, 115, from Italy.
The record for the world's oldest ever person is still held by Jeanne Calment from France - who passed away in 1997 aged 122.
