Muscle over fat

I suppose it is no different today than at any time in our nation's history, but why is only bad news considered to be news? Why can't we get daily updates about the success stories from our soldiers in Iraq? Why don't we get hourly news reports reinforcing our nation's farm products as wholesome and necessary?

I am not quite sure other than I realize that we, as humans, just aren't wired to relate to good news as well as that with a hint of a scare. If you are in need of a scare today, you might as well quit reading now. From this point forward, this column is reporting only good news that you otherwise probably wouldn't hear much about; so if you like it, tell all of your friends and neighbors.

"Milk does the body good" has been proven in a whole new sense at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Researchers compared the effects of drinking nonfat milk, a soy protein drink or a carbohydrate drink on muscle building and fat burning after subjects completed weight lifting workouts. The research was done by Stuart M. Phillips, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology and an exercise physiologist. The results have been published in the Aug. 1, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Phillips and his colleagues recruited 56 healthy young men, average age 22, and assigned them to drink milk, a soy drink or a carbohydrate drink immediately after their weight training exercises and then one hour later. The milk and soy drinks were matched for protein, fat, and carb content. Each had 18 grams of protein, 1.5 grams of fat and 23 grams of carbohydrates.

Participants weight-trained five days a week for 12 weeks, and all the participants were novices. They had not done any weight training for the past eight months. The exercises were done on standard weight training machines, which worked out all the major muscle groups, with participants increasing repetitions as they gained strength.

The milk drinkers gained the most muscle. "The gains of muscle in the milk group were 8.8 pounds, vs. 6 pounds for the soy group, vs. 5.3 pounds for the control group (drinking the carbohydrate drink)," says Phillips. "The group that drank the milk gained 60 percent more muscle than the carbohydrate group and 40 percent more than the soy group," Phillips says.

Those who drank milk also had more strength gains than the other two groups in two kinds of individual exercises: knee extensions and hamstring curls.

The milk drinkers also lost more body fat. "They lost almost 2 pounds of body fat," he says. "The soy group barely changed, in terms of body fat. It was about a third of a pound. In the control group (the carbohydrate drinkers) it was about a pound of body fat lost.

Experts have responded to these results indicating that they are not really sure why the milk protein is beneficial, but think that the calcium may allow your body to burn more fat. Interestingly enough--as our nation attempts to figure out why so many of our youths are overweight--could it be that we are overlooking some simple reasons: too much couch time, poor drink choices and not enough milk?

The National Institute of Health indicates that fewer than one in 10 girls and just one in four boys ages 9 through 13 are getting enough calcium. Some experts call osteoporosis a juvenile disease because poor bone mass in adulthood often begins in adolescence. Soda and sports drinks not only take the place of milk, but they also tie up calcium and vitamin D so that they are not available for use by the growing body. This results in tooth decay and an increased likelihood of broken bones.

During growth spurts, it is essential that growing children get enough calcium to supply their bones with needed nutrients. In fact, 90 percent of a person's peak bone mass for adulthood is established by the late teen years. The strength and health of an adult's bones largely depends on calcium intake during formative years.

Yet, we have seen a trend of kids drinking less milk every year. Activists have been trying to get milk and dairy products out of our kid's diets. And the results of this study confirm what farm families have known all along: Milk and dairy products are an essential part of your daily diet, no matter how old you are. Of course, naysayers have overlooked the fact that the first food substance we are provided at birth is milk. Would our maker have started us off on the wrong foot? We need to get back to a basic diet that includes milk, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables--and good, old-fashioned hard work--and we can make a big dent in the obesity problem in this country.

Source: http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/aug07/aug27/Muscleoverfat.cfm

Hoops boss posts positive news on Price

Shamrock Rovers manager Pat Scully has revealed that club captain Aidan Price could be available for a first-team return within the next four weeks.

Price has been sidelined for most of the season with a broken bone in his foot.

The injury has knitted successfully, however, and the former Kilkenny City man is almost ready to step up his recovery.

Scully said: “Aidan could be back as early as next month. He’s been on a course of antibiotics that’s helped to speed up the healing process.

“He could be back in training in about 3-4 weeks’ time and subsequently play in the final month of the season. It’s great to see that his toe is finally improving.”

Source: http://www.eleven-a-side.com/premier/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=29009

Broken bones

Fractures

If you haven't broken a bone yourself, you probably know someone who has. There are many different types of fracture, the most common of which is a simple fracture, when a bone breaks cleanly. If you put out your arms when you fall, you could end up with an impacted fracture, where the ends of two bones are forced into one another. A sharp sudden twist of a bone in a game of football could result in a jagged spiral fracture. Road accidents often cause comminuted fractures, where a bone breaks into fragments, or compression fractures, where a bone is crushed.

Realignment

In order to stop broken bones from healing in the wrong shape, it is important that they are realigned. The bones can be coaxed back into position by a doctor's hands, or the bone ends can be secured together with pins and wires. If a bone is severely fractured in several places, an incision is made in the skin to expose the bone, and a combination of plates, wires, screws, rods and nails are inserted to hold the pieces of bone in place. The broken bones are then immobilised, often with a plaster cast, so they can start to heal.

Repair

Simple fractures usually take about 6-8 weeks to heal, although larger or elderly bones take longer. There are four main steps to bone repair:

1. The blood vessels ruptured in a broken bone cause a blood filled swelling called a haematoma at the site of the fracture


2. A cartilage callus forms in place of the haematoma. It acts to splint the broken bone


3. A bony callus forms, replacing the cartilage with a callus made of spongy bone


4. The bony callus remodels in response to stress placed on it, forming a strong, permanent patch at the fracture site

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/articles/skeleton/broken_bones.shtml

Injuries dent Kilcar's hopes

A spate of injury blows have dented the hopes of Kilcar going into tomorrow night's Senior Football Championship quarter-final replay meeting with Glenswilly with manager of the Towney-based club, Neilly Byrne, pondering over the potential loss of four key players.

Definitely out are Ciaran McShane and Ciaran McGinley, while there are also doubts being expressed about the fitness of Patrick Gallagher and Luke Carr.

McShane and McGinley both sustained injuries in Sunday's first meeting of the sides. McShane was forced off with a broken collar bone - the second time this season he has picked up such an injury having broken it earlier in the year against Buncrana. Ciaran McGinley, meanwhile, also sustained a broken bone on Sunday, the wing half-back breaking a bone in his arm, meaning that he will also miss tomorrow night's replay.

And, the worries do not stop at that with Luke Carr and Patrick Gallagher also doubtful. Both players had to sit out the action last weekend and are again not expected to be 100%, meaning they will probably not start tomorrow night's game.

"In Championship games you need everybody," Neilly Byrne told the Donegal News earlier in the week.

Full article: http://www.nwipp-newspapers.com/DN/free/289663364878657.php

Third-grader's broken arm at recess spurs call for changes

PEABODY - The parents of a Center School student - whose fall at recess landed him 15 days in the hospital - want school officials to take measures ensuring no other child endures similar woes.

Third-grader Christopher LeClerc fell from a slide May 31 and broke his left arm so severely that the upper arm bone pushed against his skin, cutting off blood supply to the rest of the arm, his mother, Leandra, wrote in a letter to Principal Madeline Roy and members of the School Committee.

"I'm like, 'Oh, my God,'" Leandra LeClerc said Monday. "You would have thought he would have been hit by a car."

According to the letter, the boy was found by the lunch monitor, who escorted him to the office of the school nurse, Priscilla Raposo, where he was given an ice pack, but no sling, for his arm. Sometime after that, the school called LeClerc and she arrived within 10 minutes of the call, LeClerc said Monday.

When she tried to put her son in the car, he was unable to lift his arm without screaming, and she realized an ambulance was needed.

In her two-page letter dated July 30, Leandra LeClerc explained her son could have lost his arm and added that her son still hasn't recovered the full use of it.

The day of the accident, Christopher required orthopedic surgery in which three pins were placed to keep his bone in place. Doctors later learned the child had also bruised his liver and contracted a staph infection. He still has a blood clot, LeClerc wrote.

"This was pretty severe," she said. "It was just one thing after another."

Leandra and her husband, Christopher, are "asking and expecting" major changes, she said. The parents want four steps taken:

* not moving a child until a nurse can evaluate the victim;

* calling an ambulance and parents if a child is seriously injured;

* offering additional training to nursing staff; and

* creating a safety committee.

The couple wanted something positive to come of all this, she said.

"Awareness isn't always a bad thing," said Leandra LeClerc, an X-ray technician. "It's going to make things better for everyone."

Aside from vaccination shots, her child has been healthy, but he's become anxious from all the medical issues, she said. Christopher has finally taken a break from hospital visits before starting up physical therapy in mid-September, Leandra LeClerc said.

Full article: http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_234094044

Damewood suffers broken bone in neck

MONMOUTH - The last thing you want to see during a team scrimmage is any sort of injury.

However, during Saturday's Monmouth-Roseville Gatorade Scrimmage, the injury bug bit hard.

Junior running back Jeremy Damewood suffered a broke bone in his neck halfway through the Titan's scrimmage. Damewood was taken from the field by ambulance to OSF in Monmouth before being moved to St. Francis Hospital in Peoria.

Monmouth-Roseville coach Curt Crum told the Review Atlas Sunday afternoon that Damewood was to undergo surgery to repair the bone in his vertebrae.

"They had to perform surgery," Crum said. "It is certainly a serious injury but they are hopeful for a full recovery."

The injury isn't related to paralysis as Crum said Damewood has feeling in his extremities.

Crum also said Damewood was in good spirits before his surgery.

The injury occurred after Damewood caught a pass from quarterback Ryan Nelson, turned up field and tackled by junior linebacker Bryan Utsinger and senior defensive back John Ayers.

"He came down in such a way where his head hit the ground and broke a bone in his neck," Crum said.

At press time, it was unknown how long Damewood would be in the hospital. However, Crum said he has plenty of company to keep him busy.

"There have been numerous phone calls asking how he is doing," Crum said. "He is talking with his family and some of his friends have been here to see him."

Source: http://www.reviewatlas.com/articles/2007/08/20/sports/sports1.txt

In Japan, it's all games until you break an arm

TOKYO (AP) — Lose a game of chess to a computer, and you could bruise your ego. Lose an arm-wrestling match to a Japanese arcade machine, and you could break your arm.

Distributor Atlus said Tuesday it will remove all 150 Arm Spirit arm wrestling machines from Japanese arcades after three players broke their arms grappling with the machine's mechanized appendage.

"The machine isn't that strong, much less so than a muscular man. Even women should be able to beat it," said Atlus spokeswoman Ayano Sakiyama, calling the recall "a precaution."

"We think that maybe some players get overexcited and twist their arms in an unnatural way," she said. The company was investigating the incidents and checking the machines for any signs of malfunction.

Players of Arm Spirit advance through 10 levels, battling a French maid, drunken martial arts master and a Chihuahua before reaching the final showdown with a professional wrestler.

The arcade machine is not distributed overseas.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2007-08-21-japan-arm-wrestling_N.htm?csp=34