Researchers report a breakthrough discovery in allergy medicine. The research, published in Nature Medicine, found a species of infant gut bacteria that protects against food allergies. The findings have the potential to create a sea-change in allergy prevention and treatment.

Allergies Defined

An allergy is an immune system reaction to something harmless to most people. The immune system fights illness and keeps you well. When you have an allergy, your immune system falsely recognizes the allergen as a danger to your health. It sends out antibodies to protect you, which is an allergic reaction. If you are allergic to eggs, which are normally harmless when fresh, it means your body mistakes eggs for something like poison. An allergic reaction can range from mild respiratory irritation to anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening condition. 

Immunotherapy

Today, the front-line treatment for allergies is oral immunotherapy. Your doctor gives you a small dose of the allergen itself, slowly increasing the amount. This allows your body to build up a tolerance. Oral immunotherapy can help make your allergies less severe. Still, the only way to completely prevent an allergic reaction is to completely avoid the thing you are allergic to.

A New Discovery

The groundbreaking research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital was performed on a group of laboratory mice. The researchers gave mice an oral formulation of “five or six” species of human infant gut bacteria. The bacteria were effective in protecting the mice from developing allergies. In mice who already had established allergies, the bacteria actually reversed the illness. They became allergy-free.

“With these microbes, we are resetting the immune system,” said co-senior author Lynn Bry, MD, Ph.D., director of the Massachusetts Host-Microbiome Center at the Brigham.

Bacteriotherapy

This new approach, called bacteriotherapy, changes the immune system’s wiring. Unlike the current (immunotherapy) method, it does so without using the allergens themselves. One of the benefits of bacteriotherapy is it has the potential to make you immune to food allergies as a category, instead of one food at a time. It represents “a better therapeutic and better diagnostic approach to disease.”

“This has given us a credible therapeutic that we can now take forward for patient care,” said Bry.

Diagnosing Allergies

Sometimes, allergies can be difficult to diagnose. The signs and symptoms are not always severe. They can even be mistaken for the common cold. To distinguish between a cold and allergies, pay attention to substances (foods, scents, chemicals, etc.) that you come into contact with. If you have a reaction every time you drink milk, you may have a dairy allergy. To be sure, you should always consult with an established allergy doctor.

Allergy Treatment Options

Allergy treatment options range from short-term symptom control to long-term allergy relief. What your doctor prescribes will depend on the severity of your condition. 

Dr. xxx may recommend a combination of the following: 

• Allergy Drops (Immunotherapy)
• Antihistamines
• Decongestants
• Nasal Sprays
• Leukotriene Inhibitors
• Mast Cell Inhibitors
• Dehumidifiers

Allergy Drops

One of your best options is allergy drops. Allergy drops are immunotherapy especially helpful for those who cannot tolerate allergy shots. They also work for people who don’t respond to allergy shots. Like any immunotherapy, allergy shots deliver a slowly increasing amount of antigen (allergen) until the body builds a tolerance to them. The drops are placed under the tongue, where they are absorbed. Research shows this is a friendlier and more effective route for long-term desensitization.

Dr. xxx recommends his patients keep using allergy drops for three to five years. This allows the body to build up a lasting, and possibly permanent, immunity. Contact Dr. xxx today to find out more.

Are you a creative spirit, always coming up with ideas to add a splash of color here or a ribbon there? If so, it’s a good bet you have an art or craft room full of supplies and “nowhere to put them.” Take a cue from these inventive storage hacks to make your art room organized, productive, and original– and let xxx glue help you do it.

Borrow From the Kitchen

The kitchen is full of items with delicious (happy) associations that bring joy to your art and craft room. There are surprisingly many pieces you can borrow from the kitchen which work great for art and craft supply storage.

Cheese Grater Pencil Holder

This adorable pencil holder from boredpanda.com has a semi-industrial feel. The grating holes remind us of little pencil sharpeners, and the metal looks especially nice against a handful of your favorite colored pencils. Use xxx glue products to attach a simple cheese grater to your wall and let dry.

Egg Carton Organizer

This simple but effective organizer can be custom designed to suit your tastes. Paint a clean, empty egg carton any way you like and let it dry. Then, use the compartments to store loose items.

Cookie Jars-Full of Buttons, Odds-and-Ends

Your color-coded buttons will look precious when displayed in glass cookie jars straight from mom’s kitchen. Cookie jar-type storage can also be used for spools of thread, bundles of ribbon, pins, tacks, or any other small item. This image from diynetwork.com shows thread organized by color.

Mason Jar Pincushion Sewing Kits

Smashedpeasandcarrots.com has a great DIY Sewing Kit idea which utilizes empty mason jars from the kitchen to create vessels for your thread. Turn the lid into a pincushion and voila! Your sewing needs are organized in one place. To make this project the best it can be, get some xxx glue help from xxx glue products.

Lazy Susan Supplies Holder

You may have used a large one in a restaurant, and (if you’re lucky) a smaller one to organize your kitchen table. Why not use a lazy Susan in the art room? They’re not only fun to use but they make searching for supplies easier. This DIY Spinning Caddy from HGTV.com is made from a lazy Susan, three cake pans, and candlesticks glued together with some xxx glue help.  Xxx glue products are durable, reliable, and have been trusted around the world for over 60 years.

Washi Tape Spice Rack

This colorful idea from stampedinhisimage.blogspot.com involves repurposing the space in a standard spice rack to organize all those rolls of Washi Tape you’ve got rolling around in your art room. There are various styles of spice racks which can include drawers (as pictured) or open shelving so your Washi Tape can be tucked away or put on full display.

Muffin Pan Desk Organizer

Bring the “sweet scent” of freshly baked muffins into your workspace by placing a new or vintage muffin tin on your worktable or desk as an organizer. This idea from apartmenttherapy.com is perfect for collecting office supplies like paperclips and push pins as well as small scraps of paper, stickers, and any other little item you have collected that needs keeping track of.  For those projects that require xxx glue help, muffin tins are perfect for storing small tubes of xxx glue products.

 

Maintaining your work-life balance is only one of the many challenges you will face while undergoing breast cancer treatment. You will probably experience extra stress and anxiety while you adjust to therapy and learn to cope with illness. This is a time to take care of yourself by eating right, getting enough rest, and if possible, exercising. If you take it one step at a time, you may find that balancing life with breast cancer treatment is completely do-able.

Work-Life Balance

Finding a healthy work-life balance is a continuous process- especially as your priorities, interests, family, and schedule perpetually change. Here are a few ideas to help you find the best work-life balance for you:

Track Your Activity

Track everything you do for a week – work and personal. Decide what satisfies you the most, and what tasks are necessary. Delegate or cut out the remainder.

Explore All Your Options

Ask your employer about flexible hours, a compressed work week, job sharing, telecommuting or other scheduling flexibility to help reduce stress and free up time for other things.

Leave Work at Work

Make a conscious decision to separate work time from personal time. Because of modern technology, there are virtually no boundaries between work and home and many people are tempted to use their computers or smartphones to finish projects after-hours. Enforce your own boundaries and focus on personal or family time while at home.

Get Better at Time Management

Make a point to run a few errands every day instead of saving them all for your day off. Put family events on a weekly calendar and keep a daily to-do list. Make as many notes as you need!

Build an Emergency Support Network

At work, join forces with co-workers who can cover for you, and vice-versa. At home, enlist trusted friends and loved ones to help with your kids or household responsibilities when you need to work late or travel.

Managing Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety can be very frustrating issues as they are pervasive in life, especially when going through breast cancer treatment. Here are some helpful tips for treating and reducing your symptoms:

Exercise

Whether you go for a walk, take a dance class, of life weights, exercise is one of the best things you can do to combat stress and anxiety. The physical activity relieves tension and lifts a heavy spirit. Exercise also sends endorphins to your brain, boosting your mood for hours or longer.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness helps you reconnect with the sources of strength, balance and peace that practitioners of this technique believe are already within you. Through mindfulness skills, you learn to distance yourself from thoughts, emotions and reactions that lead you to feel out of control. Instead, you refocus on simple moments in the present and discover that right now, in this moment, you are okay.

Relaxation Techniques

Deep breathing is a very simple and effective method of relaxation for when you feel anxious. As you inhale, inflate your abdomen out if you can; hold for a few seconds. Then exhale fully, using your abdominal muscles to push out all the breath (talk with your doctor first if you had surgery that affects these muscles). Breathing techniques taught in yoga, meditation and mindfulness practices also help reduce stress.

Laughter

Keeping your sense of humor intact is important, especially when you feel stressed. Laughter brings on the body’s relaxation response, boosts immune function, and can be a good coping mechanism. Spend time with people you think are funny, put on a funny movie, and find humor in the life’s little moments.

Pets

Bonding with a pet can be one of the most emotionally rewarding experiences of your day-to- day life. Pets provide love, comfort, joy, and laughter. They can also be sources of routine, diversion, exercise, and physical comfort. If you’re not feeling well and need help feeding or walking your pet, you can ask a friend to help.

Talking it Out

No matter how loving and supportive your friends and family are, talking to someone outside that circle can be helpful. You can find Support Groups at hospitals, at cancer centers, in the community, or online. Even if you regularly attend a support group, there may be times when you might benefit from private sessions with a confidential, knowledgeable listener such as a Therapist. This could mean a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or community counselor.

You’re not “failing to cope” if you seek counseling services. In fact, asking for help is a sign of strength.

Added Strategies

• Maintain a good sleep schedule. Rest or nap when you need to.
• Take your medicine for pain or anxiety as prescribed.
• Try not to compare yourself to anyone else, even someone with the same type of breast cancer.

Teaching kids to use glue is a great way to get them involved with crafting. There are so many wonderful projects to make using xxx glue products which will engage their creativity and their physical senses.

 

Did you know that doing arts and crafts with your child is good for their brain? We already know that arts and crafts are good for social and emotional development, but recent studies conducted by Dr. Richard Rende, a developmental psychologist, show that these activities are good for cognitive development as well.

 

This means that arts and crafts touch on nearly every part of your child’s development. So, that messy activity involving glitter and xxx glue products may just be worth a lot more than you previously thought.

 

These are some of the major benefits of crafting with children.

Hones Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills are small movements dedicated to specific tasks. People utilize their fine motor skills when they do things like write with a pencil, eat with a knife and fork, or use a key to open the front door. As you can see, these are important life skills that should be developed at an early age. Many craft projects your child participates in at school and at home, such as those involving macaroni chains and pipe cleaner shapes, involve their fine motor skills.

Project: Homemade Edible Fingerpaint

When you make your own edible fingerpaint, like this one from theimaginationtree.com, toddlers and babies as young as six months old can join in the fun. This product is easy to make, is non-toxic, and lasts a long time. It is not delicious, so chances are most of it will end up on the page where it belongs and not in your child’s belly.

Supplies:

* 2 cups of cornstarch

* 1 cup of cold water

* 4.5 cups of boiling water

* Liquid food coloring

Instructions:

1. Stir the cornstarch and cold water together.
2. Add the boiling water one cup at a time, stirring between each cup.
3. Keep stirring until it melts into a “custard-like” consistency.
4. Separate the mixture into individual jars and add food coloring.  
5. Allow your child to enjoy painting with her fingers and hands!

Helps with Visual Processing Ability

Visual processing skill is your ability to see and assess the visual information around you. As an adult, you may notice patterns, colors, and physical improbabilities without delay. You can do that because of the skills you learned in your early childhood– by naming and identifying colors, shapes, and objects. Visual processing is vital for the development of early reading and math skills. It is also necessary to complete everyday tasks. Without developing this ability, your child would not be able to ride a bike or play catch, for instance.

Dot-to-Dot Pictures with Super Glue Products

Do you remember dot-to-dot pictures from your childhood? Your teacher may have presented you with a page scattered with numbered dots, instructing you to use a single colored pencil to connect 1-to-2-to-3, and so on. When you were done, you had drawn a picture!

 

These dot-to-dot pictures from kidsactivitiesblog.com can be “painted” using xxx glue products such as xxx and then sprinkled with glitter to create a very special craft. Your child will exercise his hand-eye coordination in addition to his visual thinking skills, and practice working with glue while he’s at it! 

Promotes Executive Function

Executive function controls impulses, focuses attention, and uses memory. It is also responsible for emotional control, planning and organizing, and taking action (task initiation.) Executive function is promoted when you sit down for quality time with your child and work on a directed activity like a craft. From activities like these, the child learns to plan their behavior and becomes successful at more grown-up tasks like study and work.

Skyrockets Self-Esteem

One of the most important phases of development for toddlers is when they begin to feel good about themselves. Arts and crafts activities that empower children and encourage self-esteem can be vital at this stage of growth and create positive emotional responses to learning. Just the feeling of having created something encourages a feeling of self-pride.

Rainbow Compliments

Ourfamilyworld.com recommends this fun activity to boost your child’s confidence in multiple ways at once.

Supplies:

White paper

Colored construction paper

Scissors

xxx glue products

Colored pencils

Instructions:

1. Cut a large cloud shape out of the white piece of paper.
2. Cut one long strip out of each color of construction paper.
3. Ask your child to tell you one good thing about themselves for each piece of colored paper. If they need some help, you can add your own compliments to some of the colors.  
4. Use xxx glue products to glue the colored strips to the top or bottom of the cloud, forming a beautiful rainbow of feel-good compliments.

 

Have you ever been asked, “What do you do for fun?” and wracked your brain for an answer? You won’t have to do that once you’ve installed a multi-purpose game room in your home!

And please skip saying you don’t have the basement space for a rec room. Game rooms/rec rooms can be built anywhere in your house– in a spare bedroom, an unused office or a (formerly) dusty attic. This is a great motivation to clear out the clutter – it’s time!

 

Pick a Theme

• Wrap yourself in childhood fun with Monopoly or Candyland-themed decor and a closetful of classic board games.
• Online gamer? Situate yourself in virtual reality paradise by decorating in the theme of your favorite world.
• What card shark wouldn’t want a genuine casino in their home? Look up one-of-a-kind card tables and cool chairs to make your players drop their poker face.
• Sports fans can cover the walls with their favorite team’s paraphernalia.
• Pick a decade and go retro! Find furniture, lighting fixtures, and other décor from the era of your choice. You can even seek out vintage games!
• Build an in-house arcade and make it just as noisy and colorful as the real thing. Your game room will be “the talk of the block!”
• Lots of people have pool tables in their rec rooms, but how many have a full-blown billiard room? Take the theme to new levels by designing around the pool table’s style. Add other standing games, such as foosball and air hockey.
• Choose a “Luxe Life” theme, complete with vintage bar accessories and luxury bar stools; “refined” table games like chess (or one of these classic 19^th Century Parlor Games) played on an antique game table; and, some classical symphonic tunes playing in the background.

 

Add a Home Theatre

Games and movies go together like popcorn and candy. They’re both tons of fun, right?

Combine your game room with a home theatre for the ultimate happy place. Choose comfortable seating like classically comfortable sofas and sectionals from xxx and set them up around a big coffee table at knee-height. Then, put up a big projection screen to fill your wall with fascinating images.

You can settle in on the sofa and put your feet up (plus have a place to put your soda) on the table during movie night. Plus, the sofa and table set will double as a gathering place during game time or for a social occasion. Sports fans will appreciate that this is a fabulous set-up for game watching! When things get crowded, get a better view of the screen by adding luxury bar stools from xxx.

Don’t Forget the Watering Hole

A bar stocked with drinks and snacks is a must-have for your personalized game room. Luxury bar stools from xxx “transcend the fashion of the moment, bridging past and future to create a sense of timeless style and luxury.” The addition of luxury bar stools liven up your game room by providing seating not only guests and players but spectators as well. We all need people to cheer us on, don’t we?

 

Get Set for Gaming

Discover a truly immersive gaming experience with Gaming Chairs, which are comfortable to sit in for hours on end. Not only that- they have built-in speakers, cupholders, and interactive vibration to get you all caught up in the action.

By mounting your gaming consoles on the wall, you can easily hide unsightly wires. This both simplifies TV connection and eliminates the need for a TV stand. To save even more space, mount the controllers on the wall as well (the controllers will become a neat-looking decoration to boot.)

And, here is another reason to install that home theatre: you can use the projector for gaming. Just imagine being immersed in your virtual reality worlds on that huge screen!

 

Ultimate Game Room for Kids

Your kids will surely thank you when you present them with their very own, kids’-centered playroom. This isn’t your typical playroom with a bunch of stuffed animals thrown around and random puzzle pieces scattered around the floor. Think carefully and pick a design theme that will tickle them, such as their favorite cartoon show or color scheme.

Blogger Julie of Julie Loves Home wrote about how she did a “$100 Chalkboard & Graffiti Guest-Game Room Makeover” on an underutilized room in her home. She bought some chalk and spray paint and, with restraint, let the kids design their hearts out. The result was a room they couldn’t live without.

Julie’s Guest-Game Room Makeover

 

Once you have chosen your design theme, consider installing:

• A mini children’s library, which can evolve as the kids grow
• A “Wall of Fame” where you frame and hang your children’s artwork and accolades
• A closetful of board games
• A must-have chalkboard wall (buy chalkboard paint or contact paper here)
• Plenty of storage accessories to keep things tidy
• Check out Amazon’s Best Sellers in Rec Room Games for Kids

 

Keep Score with a Classic Scoreboard

*This commercial scoreboard from M&S Sporting Goods is on the pricey side;
but you can buy a magnetic chalkboard from Amazon and use this as a DIY template!

For kids and adults alike, no game or competition is complete without keeping score. “Watch the game heat up” or “keep track of your winning streak” with a DIY scoreboard – either traditional chalk or dry erase-style.

 

[Source: Extra Space Storage}

Keyword: luxury bar stools

With almost no downside due to minimal recovery time and relatively low cost and a huge upside of a dramatic but widely loved look, ‘dimpleplasty’ – plastic surgery to create dimples – is growing into “the Next Big Thing.”
Selfie Culture Creates Dimple-Desire “Our selfie-driven culture is contributing to why we are getting more dimpleplasty requests,” says Atlanta’s Dr. Wright Jones, MD, creator of the dimpleplasty. He explains that millennial men and women, and the younger selfie-set in general, don’t want to look any older, “overdone and plumped.”
Why Dimples? Dimpleplasty is increasingly seen as an effective anti-aging treatment and a way to look fresh, “cute,” and approachable. A terrific example is celebrity Jennifer Garner, who “is over 40 but has an instant youthfulness that is considerably younger when she flashes her gorgeous smile,” says Dr. Jones. This trending treatment has a timeless quality as well: dimples are often seen as sexy, and some cultures consider them a sign of good fortune.

Which Celebrities Have Dimples To-Die-For?
For women, the most requested celebrity dimples are those like:
• Gabrielle Union
• Miranda Kerr
• Kate Middleton
• Jennifer Garner

Men most often request celebrity dimples like:
• Harry Styles
• Brad Pitt
• Eddie Cibrian
• Usher Designer Cleft Chins?

Some surgeons have even begun performing dimpleplasties on the chin, creating a cleft look (which coincidentally men used to have filled in!)

Patients come in requesting designer cleft chins like those of celebrities such as:
• Ben Affleck
• Patrick Dempsey
• Demi Lovato
• Fergie
• Sandra Bullock

The Dimpleplasty Procedure Dr. Jones, founder of Muse Plastic Surgery (and dimpleplasty inventor) says his first dimpleplasty came four years ago when a patient asked if he could give her dimples like his own. This lead him to research and spend a lot of time smiling and analyzing his own face. In this way, he figured out the dynamics of the facial muscles. The procedure is minimally invasive, takes just 30 minutes in the doctor’s office, and is done under local anesthesia. There are no external cuts or bandages involved. During the procedure, an incision is made inside the mouth, where a defect is created in the cheek muscle. The defect is then attached to the undersurface of the skin, so the dimples are seen when the face moves but not when it is relaxed, just like with natural dimples. Fat can be removed to further customize, deepen or contour the dimpling. Once the swelling goes down there is no visible scar or sign of the procedure.

Can You Make Yourself Develop Dimples Without Surgery?
Absolutely not! But from early on until the present day, that simple fact hasn’t stopped people from trying!

The Dimple Machine
The Dimple Machine was invented in 1936 by Isabella Gilbert of New York (It was no coincidence that this was the year the Shirley Temple movie “Dimples” came out.) The Dimple Machine was a headgear that pressed at the two sides of the face at the dimple points. Although today it regularly makes lists of “bad beauty inventions,” at the time it fueled the trendy belief that you could “make” dimples yourself with willpower and something pointy.

YouTube Videos
Just search YouTube today and you will find a shocking number of “how-to” videos that teach you how to make your own dimples. Many show how to make temporary indentations by pressing hard on the skin or working magic with makeup.

Dimple Piercings
Contemporary cheek piercing can fake or enhance the appearance of dimples by placing jewelry at the dimple site. A lesser-known alternative is micro dermal implants, which are said to avoid some of the drawbacks of cheek piercings.
Why are Some Smiles So Cute? The Reason People Have Dimples

Chin Dimples
Believe it or not, Demi Lovato and Ben Affleck’s “hot” chin dimples are the results of birth defects! Chin dimples are caused by an underlying bone cleft in the chin. The prevailing theory among scientists is that cleft chins are the result of a problem in fetal development in which the left and right sides of the chin don’t fuse together properly in the womb.

Cheek Dimples

Are They Genetic?
Yes, scientists generally agree that cheek dimples are genetic, but there is some argument as to whether having two parents with dimples guarantees that you will be born with dimples 100 percent of the time. It’s a puzzle that’s still being solved.

What Creates Them Physically?
There are two separate theories about what causes the actual dimple to form in your cheek.
1. It’s a product of shorter muscles around the mouth
2. The more popular theory: It’s a defect in a facial muscle (zygomaticus major, a large muscle in the side of your face) and the dimple forms due to a divide in the muscle, which is normally in one piece.