Reece's Rainbow . . .

Reece's Rainbow is an adoption ministry for children with Down syndrome mainly, but also other special needs. They help to bring awareness and find families for the many orphans throughout the world, especially in Eastern Europe. 250 children have found families since Reece's Rainbow started in 2006. Many children have found their families this year and are in the process of being brought home.

The Bedford family is adopting their 3rd child with Down syndrome from Bulgaria. Their two other boys, Xander & Grifyn, came home from the Ukraine & Serbia in 2007 & 2008. You can see their blog here.

Shelley Bedford has a unique opportunity since she is adopting from Bulgaria. She has been able to get in contact with some parents in Bulgaria who have chose to keep & raise their child with Down syndrome. These families are going against the grain big time in their country by raising their children. Now, this may seem strange to some. But, in Eastern Europe (EE) parents are encouraged to give up their "imperfect" children (children with Down syndrome) and let the government raise them in orphanages & institutions. The orphanages & institutions do not give the child their fullest potential. Lack of resources, staff & love creates an environment where these children, who simply have an extra chromosome, do not thrive.

Some orphanages are very poor and the children have malnutrition and are very small. They also typically don't receive the kind of attention & care they need, which hinders them even more. Simply because these children don't have the love of a family, they do not thrive at all. You may have a 4 year old who is only 16lbs. That's not right. But, when these children are brought home to families they THRIVE. The turn around these children make is amazing.

Then you have the mental insitutions, which often times are much worse than the orphanages. The children will spend their day in cribs. Often times tied to their cribs for hours at a time. Even left in their own waste for a long time. Not all institutions are this way, but a lot are. In some EE countries, children are transferred from orphanges at 5 years old and sent to the institutions. Where they may spend just a few short months to a couple years before their death because of neglect & lack of love. Or, they may be there for many years and not be able to be adopted because that specific instition does not allow adoption once the children are transferred there. Thankfully there are some institutions which allow the children there to be adopted.

The boy Shelley is in the process of adopting from in Bulgaria is in an institution. But, he is not in one of the horrible institutions. He is in a place where there is more love & care given to the children.

Because of this opportunity Shelley has been given, a new branch of Reece's Rainbow has been started: Connecting The Rainbow. Connecting the Rainbow was put together to gather resources, therapy items & literature to give to the families in Eastern Europe who have chosen to keep their children. Becaue most people do not choose to keep their children with Down syndrome, the families who do keep their children do not have very many resources. So, Connecting The Rainbow was put together for people to donate items to and then they will be taken to Bulgaria.

So, check out the site and see if you are able to help Connecting the Rainbow in anyway! Shelley will hopefully be returning to Bulgaria in March or April and she hopes to be able to take a lot of supplies with her for the families there.

Qadoshyah

Longvida Curcumin Data & News

Well, I asked those who are using Longvida to get back to me with some info and any changes that they saw with Longvida after starting their child on it. I had a few people get back to me. Not as many as I had hoped, but at least we got some data. I know about 50 people who are using it and Dr. Leichtman has about 200 patients on it right now.

Over the last week I've compiled the info I received and put it all into one document. Here is the link to see the data we've "unofficially" compiled :) ~ Longvida Curcumin Data.pdf . Feel free to pass on to whoever is interested!

Longvida's website is also up and running. It has a lot of very good information on it and may answer a lot of questions anyone has. View their website here.

International Nutrition will have the bulk/powder form of Longvida available to ship out on Friday, Jan. 22nd. I don't know the price yet, but I will try to post the link up when I get it.

Qadoshyah

Life On The Ranch: Taco Tuesday

On Tuesdays we have "Taco Tuesdays" with our cousins & some friends. It's one of Osiyyah's favorite days of the week. First thing Tuesday morning he asks "Tuesday?" When we say, "Yeah, it's Taco Tuesday," he jumps up & down and claps his hands in excitement :).

He likes to help hand me the corn tortillas so that I can fry them. And, just watch us cook the food for dinner. In most of the kid's minds, it's not Taco Tuesday, until we're actually eating the tacos!



90 taco shells, 7 lbs of ground meat & a pot full of beans later, everything's ready ~


A little while after dinner, we do some line dancing. Osiyyah thrives on dancing and can keep up with the steps pretty well :)! Didn't get any pics of the dancing this time, maybe next time.

Qadoshyah

Nutrivene-D & What We Saw

The subject of Nutrivene-D and what it is still comes up fairly often. And that should be expected, since there are always new families coming to the message boards & email support lists asking questions.

But, I guess, in a way, I kind of forgot about it for a little bit. Nutrivene-D seems so elementary to where we are at now with Osiyyah. But, I have to remember, there are so many new families, or people who have never thought of or heard of TNI (Targeted Nutritional Intervention). And, so in light of that, I thought I would post what I wrote for our book - our experience & story with Nutrivene-D.

Now, let me say here, not everyone sees such drastic changes when starting their child on NTV-D. But, there are quite a few who have seen huge changes. Some give it to their child knowing that it should help in the long run. And, that is what really matters. This needs to be looked at as a marathon, not as a spring. The real benefits are what it does in the long run for children & adults with Down syndrome. Not, just the immediate results you may or may not see. Even if we hadn't seen results with Osiyyah, we would still use Nutrivene-D because of all the research that shows there are benefits (huge benefits) to using TNI.

---------------------------------------- Written in 2008:

Osiyyah and Targeted Nutritional Intervention

When Osiyyah was born, it was a surprise to us that he had Down syndrome. We knew absolutely nothing about Down syndrome.

Osiyyah was in the NICU for 2 weeks before coming home. Part of the concern of the doctors in the NICU was that he did not gain weight very well. At least some of this was due to his weak sucking when it came to breastfeeding. Because we knew absolutely nothing about DS, we had no specific questions nor where to find specific information. We relied on the hospital staff and doctors to give us information regarding Osiyyah during those first few months. Sadly, we needed far more information to get Osiyyah off to a good start in those early days.

Once he came home, we had to come back to the pediatrician’s office every two weeks for weight checks, because they were concerned about his poor weight gain. We kept daily weight records to know how much he was gaining a day. We would then total it up for the week, and for the month, etc. The doctors were very concerned for him because they did not know why he was gaining weight so slowly.

We asked the doctors many times why he was not gaining weight. They never had an answer for us. We asked if it was his thyroid. They said it was not. We asked if it was a deficiency of something. They said it was not. We researched as much as we could. I emailed and called various doctors who were specialists in Down syndrome, including Dr. Don C. VanDyke, and asked them various questions. They all said, if his thyroid and everything else is fine, then do not worry about his weight.

Besides his inability to gain weight well, Osiyyah was also not thriving in many areas other than his weight gain. His lack of weight gain and poor growth pattern were two very obvious examples of his failure to thrive. His muscle tone was very weak and his gross and fine motor skills were not that great. He also had terrible reflux and spit up all the time. We would go to the grocery store and people would ask, “What’s wrong with him?” Our doctors, at the time, gave us no answer as to why he was not thriving.

Finally, after several months of going to the doctors every two weeks, they were happy with his progress and we did not have to return every two weeks. We then searched for another doctor and found Dr. Kolchins in Encino, CA. Dr. Kolchins had seen a good handful of patients with Down syndrome through his career. With his experience, we were relieved to have him see Osiyyah because he actually would do something more than the other doctors my brother had seen his first 8 months. Dr. Kolchins ordered several blood tests, something which had not been done since he was a few months old.

I remember very vividly that day Dr. Kolchins called to tell us the results of Osiyyah’s blood tests. I was in the barn and my mom came in and said, “Dr. Kolchins called.” I was a bit scared, because I did not know what to think. I remembered reading various posts by parents on message boards about getting a call when their child’s blood work came back bad for Leukemia. My mom said, “Osiyyah’s thyroid is ‘borderline-hypo.’” We were relieved to find out that it was “only” that and not something more serious. Dr. Kolchins wanted to start Osiyyah on thyroid medication, but we asked him for a little time so we could do some research. Osiyyah was only 8 months old and we were going to start him on medication already? That was not something we wanted to do, if we had the choice.

I immediately began to research what we could do for Osiyyah. Were there any nutritional ways to help his thyroid? What would cause this? Within just a day or two, I found out about Targeted Nutritional Intervention, namely NuTriVene-D®. We researched it out as much as we could. I posted on various message boards and found that many people were adamantly opposed to it. I couldn’t understand why they would be so opposed to just some nutritional support! We finally decided we had nothing to lose and ordered a bottle of Nutrivene-D Daily Supplement Powder. This was one of the best choices we ever made for Osiyyah.

Once the Nutrivene-D arrived, we started giving it to Osiyyah. We slowly increased the dosage up to the recommended dosage. Within just days of starting Osiyyah on Nutrivene-D, he started improving. Within a couple weeks he was gaining weight and keeping the weight on. His cheeks started getting round and plump. His spitting up reduced greatly and over the next couple of months the reflux stopped. His muscle tone improved dramatically and within just 1 month, at the age of 9 months, he was able to sit without any support. He was nowhere near being able to sit before we started him on Nutrivene-D. He became much more aware of his surroundings and became much more interactive with his family. His gross and fine motor skills improved dramatically. He was pulling himself up to stand and standing at 13 months old and walked at 17 months old. He was no longer this skinny, “failure-to-thrive” little baby. He actually looked healthy and was aware of what was going on around him.

The change that Nutrivene-D did in Osiyyah was amazing. Just by supplying his body with a good nutritional supplement, he was able to thrive beyond what we believed he could or had hoped.

We took Osiyyah back to Dr. Kolchins just a few weeks after starting Nutrivene-D and gave Dr. Kolchins a “Physician’s Packet” from International Nutrition Inc. about TNI. We have not given Osiyyah thyroid medication to this day. We monitor him for hypothyroidism symptoms and have regular thyroid lab work done, adjusting his diet and nutritional supplements accordingly.

We ended up finding out that Osiyyah’s thyroid was high from the time he was born. We were never told about it until Dr. Kolchins told us when Osiyyah was 8 months old. If we would have found out about his thyroid problem sooner, we would have been able to find out about Nutrivene-D sooner. I greatly wish we could go back in time and re-do those first 8 months, but I am very thankful that we learned about TNI when we did – Osiyyah was still very young, only 8 months old. Although TNI is not for thyroid problems, by giving him TNI it was able to “stabilize” and help “normalize” his metabolic pathways in his body. His body was therefore able to function better.

Through the process of finding out about TNI, we learned about Dr. Lawrence Leichtman. Dr. Leichtman has traveling clinics around the states and is also president of the Trisomy 21 Research Foundation, Inc. and he is now Osiyyah’s doctor. I remember the very first visit Osiyyah had with him. Dr. Leichtman told us things we did not know and we were actually able to learn and benefit from the visit with him, instead of us questioning the doctors all the time and coming away with no answers. We are very thankful for Dr. Leichtman’s dedication, research, and support of the Down syndrome community, especially when it comes to TNI.

Osiyyah is now 3 years old and thriving far beyond the dark prognosis the “professionals” gave him early in his life. If we had not started him on Nutrivene-D, I am convinced that he would not be where he is right now and the prognosis those “professionals” gave when he was born may have been right.
----------------------------------------------------------

Qadoshyah

Alzheimer's Disease & Down Syndrome: Linked?

There has been talk on some of the Down syndrome lists about new research which came out recently about Alzheimer's disease. They found that there is a sort of mosaicism found in patients with AD - a third 21st chromosome in some of their cells. Which may be responsible for all the extra amyloid plaques which are a large part of AD.

Are Down syndrome & Alzheimer's disease linked more closely than we realized? That is what it appears.

Alzheimer A{beta} Peptide Induces Chromosome Mis-Segregation and Aneuploidy, Including Trisomy 21; Requirement for Tau and APP.

Granic A, Padmanabhan J, Norden M, Potter H.

Eric Pfeiffer Suncoast Alzheimer's Center, Byrd Alzheimer's Institute, Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, School of Aging Studies, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, University of South Florida, Tampa FL, 33613.

Monitoring Editor: Yixian Zheng Both sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease patients exhibit increased chromosome aneuploidy, particularly trisomy 21, in neurons and other cells. Significantly, trisomy 21/Down syndrome patients develop early onset AD pathology. We investigated the mechanism underlying mosaic chromosome aneuploidy in AD and report that FAD mutations in the Alzheimer Amyloid Precursor Protein gene, APP, induce chromosome mis-segregation and aneuploidy in transgenic mice and in transfected cells. Furthermore, adding synthetic Abeta peptide, the pathogenic product of APP, to cultured cells causes rapid and robust chromosome mis-segregation leading to aneuploid, including trisomy 21, daughters, which is prevented by LiCl addition or Ca++ chelation and is replicated in tau KO cells, implicating GSK-3beta, calpain, and Tau-dependent microtubule transport in the aneugenic activity of Abeta. Furthermore, APP KO cells are resistant to the aneugenic activity of Abeta, as they have been shown previously to be resistant to Abeta-induced tau phosphorylation and cell toxicity. These results indicate that Abeta-induced microtubule dysfunction leads to aneuploid neurons and may thereby contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

**Full Text: http://www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/reprint/E09-10-0850v1

Quote from the full text:

"In sum, the data of this paper and previous results show that the AB peptide found at increased levels in both sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease interferes with mitosis and chromosome segregation, thus leading to trisomy 21 mosaicism and other chromosome aneuploidy. The implication of the results is that MT disruption leading to cell cycle, chromosome mis-segregation, and other cytoskeletal defects in neuronal precursor cells may underlie many of the neurotoxic aspects of Alzheimer's disease. The findings also suggests that novel approaches to diagnosis and treatment directed at detecting and preventing disruption of MT function and/or the development of chromosome aneuploidy with age may be successful against Alzheimer's disease and possibly other age associated disorders."

This is one main reason Longvida Curcumin has captured so much attention in the Down syndrome community. It is an excellent antioxidant, but it has the potential to clear those nasty amyloid plaques from the brain. That shows much promise!

Qadoshyah

Peanut Brittle Extravaganza

Last week, I decided to try to make peanut brittle. So, of course, I asked Osiyyah if he wanted to help and he enthusiastically answered with a "Yeah!" So, off into the kitchen we went to try to make homemade peanut brittle.

Osiyyah thoroughly enjoys helping make stuff in the kitchen. Or helping with anything for that matter :). But, he can be a little messy sometimes.

Like this picture. He was having fun dumping the baking soda all over the counter, haha! No biggie, we'll just clean it up.


He got a kick out of being able to stir the sugars while they melted :). He always likes someome to take a picture of what he's doing too!




Getting the peanuts in the measuring cup.

The finished product before it cooled. It didn't turn out like it was supposed to. Oh well, the kids had fun scrapping the gooey peanut "brittle" off the pan, since it still tasted good.

Qadoshyah

Life On The Ranch

As you may know, we live on a ranch. So, it makes for some fun times & opportunities. Especially when the animals start having babies :). It's a great opportunity for all the kids and very neat they are all able to grow up on a 44-acre ranch out in the country. What a blessing the Lord has given us! I think this has been a wonderful opportunity for Osiyyah as well . . . it makes him want to do so much & be so involved with everything. I'll try to post a blog here & there about our life on the ranch, as you'll probably enjoy it.

Starting a couple weeks ago my 15 year old sister's goats have started to have babies - or "kiddings." My sister bottle raises all the baby goats, so that we can have milk sooner & more of it for our family. That's the only reason we have a herd of 50 or 60 dairy goats - for milk for our family. It's the only kind of milk Osiyyah can have, so it is a must for him anyways.

Because the baby goats are bottle-raised they are very friendly. Osiyyah & the other kids thoroughly enjoying bottling & playing with the babies too! Suriyah (my sister) has had 15 baby goats born so far, I believe. And, she has plenty more who are due soon. After the kiddings have subsided, my sister will be milking around 20 does twice a day, which gives us about 6-8 gallons a day, I think.

Here are a couple pictures of Osiyyah & the goats:



The weather here last week was incredibly cold - temps below zero and then just barely getting into the teens or 20 degrees during the day. So, needless to say, the pond we have on our property was frozen. Frozen a good 4-5 inches thick. It made for some fun "pond skiing"! Osiyyah & all the kiddos had quite a blast on it :).







These beautiful "ice falls" are just about 5 miles down the road from our house. Amazing!


Hope you've enjoyed a peek at our life on the ranch :)!

Qadoshyah

Curcumin & Iron

Some have heard about Curcumin's iron chelation properties and it has caused some concern, understandably. So, I went ahead and researched it out further.

I did ask Blake about it and then I went ahead and researched it out for myself. My findings are consistent with what I have heard from others.

From what I have researched, Curcumin appears to act as an iron chelator. It actually seems to be part of the benefits of Curcumin and one of the ways it is a powerful antioxidant. Here is a quote from the full text of one of the abstracts I will post below (listed with a couple ** by it):

“Iron chelators could be important as chemopreventive agents, and have mechanisms of action consistent with that role. Iron chelators prevent the participation of iron in the Fenton reaction, which reductively cleaves hydrogen peroxide to produce the hydroxyl radical. By inhibiting this and other iron-catalyzed pathways of oxidative stress [45], iron chelators substantially reduce oxidative injury to critical cellular targets, including DNA, lipids, and protein [46,47]. Such an ability to protect against oxidative stress is a hallmark of a chemopreventive agent [48].”

The iron chelation properties of Curcumin do not seem to be much of a concern though. It should be watched if a person is prone to low levels of iron already or anemic to begin with. But, technically it should not be a problem. If there are excessive levels of iron it may chelate some of them, but it doesn’t automatically take away all iron in the body.

----Some abstracts covering this topic:

Curcumin, a cancer chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent, is a biologically active iron chelator.

Jiao Y, Wilkinson J 4th, Di X, Wang W, Hatcher H, Kock ND, D'Agostino R Jr, Knovich MA, Torti FM, Torti SV.

Curcumin is a natural product currently in human clinical trials for a variety of neoplastic, preneoplastic, and inflammatory conditions. We previously observed that, in cultured cells, curcumin exhibits properties of an iron chelator. To test whether the chelator activity of curcumin is sufficient to induce iron deficiency in vivo, mice were placed on diets containing graded concentrations of both iron and curcumin for 26 weeks. Mice receiving the lowest level of dietary iron exhibited borderline iron deficiency, with reductions in spleen and liver iron, but little effect on hemoglobin, hematocrit, transferrin saturation, or plasma iron. Against this backdrop of subclinical iron deficiency, curcumin exerted profound 2 effects on systemic iron, inducing a dose-dependent decline in hematocrit, hemoglobin, serum iron, and transferrin saturation, the appearance of microcytic anisocytotic red blood cells, and decreases in spleen and liver iron content. Curcumin repressed synthesis of hepcidin, a peptide that plays a central role in regulation of systemic iron balance. These results demonstrate that curcumin has the potential to affect systemic iron metabolism, particularly in a setting of subclinical iron deficiency. This may affect the use of curcumin in patients with marginal iron stores or those exhibiting the anemia of cancer and chronic disease.

**Iron chelation in the biological activity of curcumin.** **Click here for full text**

Jiao Y, Wilkinson J 4th, Christine Pietsch E, Buss JL, Wang W, Planalp R, Torti FM, Torti SV.
Department of Cancer Biology, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA.

Curcumin is among the more successful chemopreventive compounds investigated in recent years, and is currently in human trials to prevent cancer. The mechanism of action of curcumin is complex and likely multifactorial. We have made the unexpected observation that curcumin strikingly modulates proteins of iron metabolism in cells and in tissues, suggesting that curcumin has properties of an iron chelator. Curcumin increased mRNA levels of ferritin and GSTalpha in cultured liver cells. Unexpectedly, however, although levels of GSTalpha protein increased in parallel with mRNA levels in response to curcumin, levels of ferritin protein declined. Since iron chelators repress ferritin translation, we considered that curcumin may act as an iron chelator. To test this hypothesis, we measured the effect of curcumin on transferrin receptor 1, a protein stabilized under conditions of iron limitation, as well as the ability of curcumin to activate iron regulatory proteins (IRPs). Both transferrin receptor 1 and activated IRP, indicators of iron depletion, increased in response to curcumin. Consistent with the hypothesis that curcumin acts as an iron chelator, mice that were fed diets supplemented with curcumin exhibited a decline in levels of ferritin protein in the liver. These results suggest that iron chelation may be an additional mode of action of curcumin.

Curcumin: From ancient medicine to current clinical trials

H. Hatcher1, R. Planalp2, J. Cho2, F. M. Torti1, 4 and S. V. Torti3, 4

Abstract. Curcumin is the active ingredient in the traditional herbal remedy and dietary spice turmeric (Curcuma longa). Curcumin has a surprisingly wide range of beneficial properties, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activity. The pleiotropic activities of curcumin derive from its complex chemistry as well as its ability to influence multiple signaling pathways, including survival pathways such as those regulated by NF-κB, Akt, and growth factors; cytoprotective pathways dependent on Nrf2; and metastatic and angiogenic pathways. Curcumin is a free radical scavenger and hydrogen donor, and exhibits both pro- and antioxidant activity. It also binds metals, particularly iron and copper, and can function as an iron chelator. Curcumin is remarkably non-toxic and exhibits limited bioavailability. Curcumin exhibits great promise as a therapeutic agent, and is currently in human clinical trials for a variety of conditions, including multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, myelodysplastic syndromes, colon cancer, psoriasis and Alzheimer’s disease.
A theoretical study on Cu(II)-chelating properties of curcumin and its implications for curcumin as a multipotent agent to combat Alzheimer's disease. Curcumin has been recognized as an efficient natural product to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) by scavenging radicals and blocking Aβ aggregation. As metal ions, e.g. Cu(II), are also implicated in AD and curcumin is a metal chelator, it is interesting to investigate curcumin's metal-chelating property, which stimulates our interest to evaluate curcumin's Cu(II)-chelating ability and the effect of Cu(II) on its radical-scavenging activity by theoretical calculation. It was revealed that curcumin could efficiently sequester Cu(II) and the Cu(II)-curcumin complexes were more active than the parent curcumin in scavenging radicals by donating proton or electron. Therefore, curcumin is a multipotent agent to combat AD, with the activities of scavenging ROS, blocking Aβ aggregation and chelating metal ions.

Efficacy of curcuminoids in alleviation of iron overload and lipid peroxidation in thalassemic mice.

Thephinlap C, Phisalaphong C, Fucharoen S, Porter JB, Srichairatanakool S.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.

Non-transferrin bound iron (NTBI) is detectable in plasma of beta-thalassemia patients and participates in free-radical formation and oxidative tissue damage. Desferrioxamine (DFO), deferiprone (DFP) and deferasirox (DFX) are iron chelators used for treatment of iron overload; however they may cause adverse effects. Curcuminoids (CUR) exhibits many pharmacological activities and presents beta-diketone group to bind metal ions. Iron-chelating capacity of CUR was investigated in thalassemic mice. The mice (C57BL/6 stain); wild type ((mu)beta(+/+)) and heterozygous beta-knockout ((mu)beta(th-3/+)) were fed with ferrocene-supplemented diet for 2 months, and coincidently intervened with CUR (200 mg/kg/day) and DFP (50 mg/kg/day). Plasma NTBI was quantified using NTA chelation/HPLC method, and MDA concentration was analyzed by TBARS-based HPLC. Hepatic iron content (HIC) and total glutathione concentration were measured colorimetrically. Tissue iron accumulation was determined by Perl's staining. Ferrocene-supplemented diet induced occurrence of NTBI in plasma of thalassemic mice as well as markedly increased iron deposition in spleen and liver. Treatment with CUR and DFP decreased levels of the NTBI and MDA effectively. Hepatic MDA and nonheme iron content was also decreased in liver of the treated mice whilst total glutathione levels were increased. Importantly, the CUR and DFP reduced liver weight index and iron accumulation. Clearly, CUR is effective in chelation of plasma NTBI in iron-loaded thalassemic mice. Consequently, it can alleviate iron toxicity and harmfulness of free radicals. In prospective, efficacy of curcumin in removal of labile iron pool (LIP) in hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes are essential for investigation.

--------

Another plus for Curcumin: Hydrogen peroxide scavenger ~

Antioxidant and radical scavenging properties of curcumin.

Ak T, Gülçin I.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Atatürk University, TR-25240 Erzurum, Turkey.

Curcumin (diferuoyl methane) is a phenolic compound and a major component of Curcuma longa L. In the present paper, we determined the antioxidant activity of curcumin by employing various in vitro antioxidant assays such as 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl free radical (DPPH*) scavenging, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (DMPD) radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity determination by ferric thiocyanate, total reducing ability determination by the Fe(3+)-Fe(2+) transformation method, superoxide anion radical scavenging by the riboflavin/methionine/illuminate system, hydrogen peroxide scavenging and ferrous ions (Fe(2+)) chelating activities. Curcumin inhibited 97.3% lipid peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 15 microg/mL concentration (20 mM). On the other hand, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA, 123 mM), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 102 mM), alpha-tocopherol (51 mM) and trolox (90 mM) as standard antioxidants indicated inhibition of 95.4, 99.7, 84.6 and 95.6% on peroxidation of linoleic acid emulsion at 45 microg/mL concentration, respectively. In addition, curcumin had an effective DPPH* scavenging, ABTS*(+) scavenging, DMPD*(+) scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, ferric ions (Fe(3+)) reducing power and ferrous ions (Fe(2+)) chelating activities. Also, BHA, BHT, alpha-tocopherol and trolox, were used as the reference antioxidant and radical scavenger compounds. According to the present study, curcumin can be used in the pharmacological and food industry because of these properties.

Qadoshyah

A Trail of Research

Since Osiyyah was born we've been on the "research trail." Trying to find out everything we possibly could about Down syndrome. What we needed to know to help him best. Etcetera . . . the list goes on.

For months, all I did was research. Reading websites. Asking questions on message boards. Reading books. Calling & talking to various doctors.

When Osiyyah was 8 months old, the research need grew by leaps & bounds. We found out about nutritional things that could be done for Osiyyah . . . and he needed that kind of help. For months, it was all so overwhelming. It felt like a race against time to get everything researched. To know whether this was the right thing to give Osiyyah. Or, if there was something new that we should be giving Osiyyah.

I spent hours on PubMed, reading medical abstracts & journals. Or, searching Google Scholar for research papers.

There came a time when things all started to make a bit more sense. . . Osiyyah was probably around 18 months old to 2 years old at this time, I think. The puzzle pieces all started falling into place and the big picture didn't seem so daunting anymore.

I haven't spent hours on PubMed for awhile. But, it's time to do that some again. There are always new things in the works of Down syndrome research. I have a folder in my email program that has a lot of topics & areas of research to look into.

Since we give Osiyyah quite a few supplements at this time and he is doing so well, there's not the feeling of "we need to get this figured out right now." But, because there is really still so much to research & look into. There is so much yet unknown about Down syndrome. So much that may be out there to help kiddos with DS. I know of several things that various parents/families are looking into right now to see if it'll help kids with DS.

One mom has even taken the initative and started giving her son EGCG (better known as Green Tea extract). She has found a very promising avenue, so I'm hoping to look into that very soon. And there is still so much to look at & do with Longvida Curcumin. What more can it do? How exactly is it helping kiddos with DS?

So, with all that said . . . hopefully you'll be seeing some research-oriented posts here & there from me. If I can start going through my "look at/to research" folder and find things which will be helpful . . . or at least of interest.

Qadoshyah

A New Year . . . A New Decade

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2010 already.

It seems like yesterday, but also so long ago, that it was just 2000. I never, in my wildest dreams, would've thought I would be a big sister to a 4 1/2 year old little boy with Down syndrome 10 years ago. Hey, there were only 8 kids in my family at that time anyway! Down syndrome never even entered my mind at that point.

Kid #9 in our family, a little boy, after having 3 girls in a row, came in 2002. My mom almost died after he was born, so my parents waited a few years before baby #10 & #11 were to come along.

Baby # 9, Barokyah, was 3 1/2 years old when my mom found out she was pregnant, in 2004. She was very sick with this pregnancy, unlike any of her other pregnancies. We figured something had to be different . . . and twins was a likely scenario.

At her first ultrasound at 14 weeks, the doctor didn't see a second baby. We weren't sure why my mom was so sick at that point. But, as the weeks went by and my mom's belly was growing bigger than any other pregnancy, we went in for another ultrasound at 29 weeks. That's when the doctor asked "So, when did you grow another one?!" Our whole family was thrilled!

2004 was a rough year for our family with my mom's twin pregnancy & the death of my grandpa. My 19 yr old (at the time 14 yr old) sister & I (I was 16 at the time) had a lot on our plates. We pretty much had to run the house & take care of the kids for the couple months before the twins were born, as mom was on bed rest.

Finally came February 2005 when my mom went into labor & the twins were born on the 3rd. They were so adorable & sweet! It was after the twins were born that we found out the little boy had Down syndrome. No big deal in my mind. I'd just try to do as much as I could for him.

After two long weeks, mom & the babies were home & out of the NICU.

Since 2005, we've learned a lot . . . and been on quite the roller coaster ride. From tears of happiness to tears to sadness. But, I am so. incredibly. thankful for God bringing Osiyyah into our lives almost 5 years ago.

I don't know what our life would be like with out Osiyyah. It would be dull.

Just a couple years ago, I never would have known we would be . . .

. . . living in Oklahoma, in the country with a 44 acre ranch
. . . going to a wonderful speech therapist who is so willing to work with us
. . . have a brother who is actually communicating & talking with us, even though most people wouldn't understand him, we do.
. . . and so much more . . . God has blessed us tremendously the last 10 years.

We had a New Years party last night, played with "ba-oons" (as Osiyyah says), ate lots of yummy snacks & desserts, & danced until 2am. I was doing "interpretive" or "sign language" dancing to a song & Osiyyah quickly joined in with all of us who were doing it. I always have such a blast when he dances with me. He watches & follows so closely (even though he knows the dances so well by now ;)). And makes sweet & goofy faces all along.

Last night as we were dancing, I was so thankful & blessed to have him there by my side dancing with us all. Just like one of the others and doing it as well as he can . . . which really is very good!

And that's how he is in our family: Sure, he is slower at times, but he is just like one of the others. A blessing.

Qadoshyah