A few nice weight loss images I found:
U.S. Army Reserve civil affairs teams work in the Horn of Africa
Image by SETAF-Africa
www.usaraf.army.mil
By Staff Sgt. Amanda Boersma, 418th Civil Affairs Battalion
CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers from 418th Civil Affairs Battalion are making a positive impact on the lives of people in East Africa through outreach programs.
The Belton, Missouri-based battalion oversees the work of several U.S. Army Reserve and Navy civil affairs units assigned to Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa.
In Harmakale, Ethiopia, Company D, 478th Civil Affairs Battalion worked with local officials to open an agricultural demonstration project that teaches area residents unique methods for crop irrigation in drought-prone areas. The team is one of two civil affairs units led by Maj. Reginald Kornegay, who also led community outreach efforts in Kitgum, Uganda during Natural Fire 10, a U.S. Army Africa-led humanitarian and disaster relief exercise in October 2009.
“These types of projects receive overwhelming support from local residents,” Kornegay said. “The villagers have begun purchasing supplies on their own to duplicate the nursery stations.”
Several senior officials attended the Feb. 11 project inauguration to include John Yates, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Tom Staal, USAID mission director and Lt. Col. Rich Appel, the 418th commander.
“U.S. Army civil affairs Soldiers fostered a cooperative effort with the local community, which has already made this project a success,” Appel said. “There is now the potential for projects like this in other villages throughout the region.”
In Djibouti, near CJTF-HOA’s headquarters at Camp Lemonier, Soldiers from the 478ths “Team Seminole” recently offered humanitarian assistance supplies to local people, including a water cistern at Balbala, a nearby community in need.
“Fire has destroyed a neighborhood there, to include homes for nine families,” Kornegay said. “A local leader told of their needs, the most vital being a way to collect water.”
Access to drinking water may prevent affected families from forced migration, often a cause of local turbulence, Kornegay said.
Further South, in Eldoret, Kenya, a team of Soldiers from the Danbury, Connecticut-based 411th Civil Affairs Battalion focuses on ways to improve local people’s lives. During a visit to an orphanage, Sgt. 1st Class Victor Fermin recently found a 13-year-old boy with poor hearing. The stop was part of an ongoing effort to conduct medical assessments.
“His hearing loss has affected his education. He has been held back in school,” Fermin said. “We look to local organization and companies in the U.S. to donate hearing aids.”
This event is one of several assessments at local orphanages that the team will do in the next few weeks.
Work on Kenyan primary school was another team project – a low-cost effort that greatly improve education for local children, said Capt. Roxana Pagan. It’s not all work, though. During a recent visit to the Ng’Arua Primary School, Pagan also practiced English skills with Kenyan students.
“This school is one of 10 minimal cost projects begun in the area by a previous civil affairs team,” Pagan said. “Our job is to assess the effectiveness and impact of the previous project and how we can improve upon them in the future
In Moroto, Uganda, two U.S. Army noncommissioned officers are working with the Ugandan People’s Defense Force and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to help animals in the area. Staff Sgt. Danielle Bayar and Staff Sgt. Eric Roth discussed plans for a UPDF-led veterinary clinic in Karamoja region of Northern Uganda. Local animal health workers will lead the effort, Roth said.
“We’ve found that pets and smaller animals who may carry rabies are often overlooked,” Roth said. “There is also a need to treat poultry for Newcastle disease, a virus that can be fatal for birds.”
In Gulu and Amuru, two towns in Northern Uganda, U.S. Army civil affairs Soldiers are assessing a two-year veterinary medicine program that wrapped up in 2009.
The project focused on animal health through vaccinations, training for students from Makerere University in Kampala and sustainable veterinary care for animals in the area. For people living in camps following unrest caused by the Lord’s
Resistance Army, animal care was key to them returning to their home villages.
Overall, the team found last year’s effort were successful – treated livestock increased in weight and were producing more milk. Now, a local nongovernmental organization offered grant funding to local veterinarians to open shops to treat livestock.
“Our U.S. Army Soldiers and Navy civil affairs personnel are doing great work across the Horn of Africa, is support of CJTF-HOA and U.S. Africa Command,” Appel said. “These efforts will continue to broaden the reach of U.S. strategic goals toward security, stability and peace for our partner nations and increase the level of prosperity for people throughout East Africa.”
To learn more about U.S. Army Africa visit our official website at www.usaraf.army.mil
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Sisterly Love – Even When Her Sister was sick her big sister was right there.
Image by Event Essentials Photography & Decor
Paige was diagnosed with West syndrome or West’s Syndrome (September 2010) it is an uncommon to rare epileptic disorder in infants.
The syndrome is age-related, generally occurring between the third and the twelfth month, generally manifesting around the fifth month. There are various causes ("polyetiology"). The syndrome is often caused by an organic brain dysfunction whose origins may be prenatal, perinatal (caused during birth) or postnatal.
It is either Cryptogenic or Idiopathic.
Cryptogenic
When a direct cause cannot be determined but the child has other neurological disorder, the case is referred to as cryptogenic West syndrome, where an underlying cause is most likely but, even with modern means, cannot be detected. Currently the cryptogenic group is often combined with idiopathic while referred to as "cryptogenic".
Sometimes multiple children within the same family develop West syndrome. In this case it is also referred to as cryptogenic, in which genetic and sometimes hereditary influences play a role. There are known cases in which West syndrome appears in successive generations in boys; this has to do with X-chromosomal heredity.
[edit] Idiopathic
Occasionally the syndrome is referred to as idiopathic West syndrome, when a cause cannot be determined. Important diagnostic criteria are:
Regular development until the onset of the attacks or before the beginning of the therapy no pathological findings in neurological or neuroradiological studies no evidence of a trigger for the spasms
Those are becoming rare due to modern medicine.
Clinical presentation
The epileptic seizures which can be observed in infants with West syndrome fall into three categories, collectively known as infantile spasms. Typically, the following triad of attack types appears; while the three types usually appear simultaneously, they also can occur independently of each other:
Lightning attacks: Sudden, severe myoclonic convulsions of the entire body or several parts of the body in split seconds, and the legs in particular are bent (flexor muscle convulsions here are generally more severe than extensor ones).
Nodding attacks: Convulsions of the throat and neck flexor muscles, during which the chin is fitfully jerked towards the breast or the head is drawn inward.
Salaam or jackknife attacks: a flexor spasm with rapid bending of the head and torso forward and simultaneous raising and bending of the arms while partially drawing the hands together in front of the chest and/or flailing. If one imagined this act in slow motion, it would appear similar to the oriental ceremonial greeting (Salaam), from which this type of attack derives its name.
Paige was first put on Vigabatrin which she outgrew a month later. She was admitted again into Kingston General Hospital to begin a treatment called ACTH.
Therapy
Compared with other forms of epilepsy, West syndrome is difficult to treat. To raise the chance of successful treatment and keep down the risk of longer-lasting effects, it is very important that the condition is diagnosed as early as possible and that treatment begins straight away. However, there is no guarantee that therapy will work even in this case.
Insufficient research has yet been carried out into whether the form of treatment has an effect upon the long-term prognosis. Based on what is known today, the prognosis depends mainly on the cause of the attacks and the length of time that hypsarrhythmia lasts. In general it can be said that the prognosis is worse when the patient does not react as well to therapy and the epileptic over-activity in the brain continues. Treatment differs in each individual case and depends on the cause of the West syndrome (etiological classification) and the state of brain development at the time of the damage.
Due to their side-effects, two drugs are currently being used as the first-line treatment: ACTH and Vigabatrin.
[edit] ACTH
ACTH – Use primarily in United States
Side effects are: Weight gain, especially in the trunk and face, hypertension, metabolic abnormalities, severe irritability, osteoporosis, sepsis, and congestive heart failure.
[edit] Vigabatrin
Vigabatrin (Sabril) – Approved in several countries, including most of Europe, Canada, Mexico, and more recently the United States.
Side effects are: Somnolence, headache, dizziness, fatigue, weight gain, decreased vision or other vision changes
Vigabatrin is known for being effective, especially in children with tuberous sclerosis, with few and benign side effects. But due to some recent studies[4] showing visual field constriction (loss of peripheral vision), it was not approved in the United States until mid-2009. It is currently debated that a short use (6 months or less) of Vigabatrin will not affect vision. Also, considering the effect of frequent seizures on day to day life and mental development, some parents prefer to take the risk of some vision loss.
Other
When those two are proving ineffective, other drugs may be used in conjunction or alone. From those, corticosteroids (prednisone) are often used. In Japan, there is a good experience with pyridoxine therapy. Further, topiramate (Topamax), lamotrigine (Lamictal), levetiracetam (Keppra) and zonisamide (Zonegran) are amongst those drugs most widely used.
The ketogenic diet has been shown to be effective in treating infantile spams,[5] up to 70% of children having a 50% or more reduction in seizure.
You can read more on Infantile Spasms by going to : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_syndrome
You can also view my youtube channel:
www.youtube.com/user/Shaeree624
I have uploaded videos for those who wonder what the Syndrome is and looks like.
I posted pictures of my beautiful baby girl because people need to understand being chubby or overweight may not always be caused by overfeeding. My daughters was caused by the ACTH treatment which is a steroid.