Hi. Recently, on the TV I heard a talk about new chances of detecting certain cancers. The interviewers were wondering whether blood tests could help in the detection of cancer.

Morphology is one of the most basic and most frequently performed tests. According to researchers at the University of California at San Diego, this simple test can detect the cancer and determine where the tumor cells grow. Many cancers, especially in the advanced stage, cause anemia. For example macrocythemic anemia can signal gastric cancer.

 It turned out that in every cancer patient not only cancer cells circulate in blood, but also in this blood circulates ‘cell-free DNA’ that comes from cancer cells. This free DNA is different from the DNA from healthy cells. However, the possibility of its detection is greater with the increasing number of these cells. So, it complicates the situation because it indicates an advanced stage of the disease. It is very hard to detect cancer when these cells are scarce. 

 This is probably a step forward, but unfortunately, we can not call this a breakthrough. I hope it will come soon.

Frank Andriat “ROSE AFGHANE’’

Today I want to present you a book I've just read. Six young Afghan girls tell -with emotion and modesty- a moment of their life. Despite the war, despite the exile, despite death, they talk about their country in a very poignant way.
6 teenagers - 6 Afghan roses, tell us their adventures through a key moment of their existence, They live between violence, religion, extremism, war, family, exile and hope .
I really enjoyed discovering these 6 stories: the fate of these adolescent girls is often tragic but always filled with the feeling that a better future is possible, they only knew the war.

Farzana, who had chosen to rebel by admitting her love to the handsome Noorullah, can’t stand that his family betrothed him to another girl.

 Najmah, who lives in Paris, doesn't dare to ask her father why he looks so sad and why he finally left Afghanistan despite the fear. But she manages to discover his secret…
 Mariam realizes that her brother becomes a terrorist but she doesn’t know how to tell it to her father.
Chekeba and Sharif, who clandestinely left the country in the direction of France, have to answer a questionnaire of a French civil servant about the circumstances of this flight. They can’t say everything…

Although their adventures are different, mamy common aspects are visible and this is the beauty of this volume.

Avocado is considered as one of the healthiest food. Many claim that this is  "Superfood”. For some people it may be a surprise that it is a fruit, not a vegetable. In some parts of the world avocado it is called the “alligator pear” because of its shape and dark green, rough skin. Although avocado contains a lot of calories, this calories are full of nutritional value.

The health benefits of avocados:

Ø  Brain: avocado combines the omega-3 fatty acid with natural vitamin E, which is a clinically validated as prevention against the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Ø  Heart: included in the avocado vitamin B6 and folic acid naturally help regulate homocysteine, which - if it is too much - is the indication of a bad heart condition.

Ø  Pregnancy: Folic acid is commonly recommended for pregnant women to help develop the child’s brain and other organs.

Ø  Eyes: Avocados contain carotenoids - lutein. Lutein is an antioxidant that protects the eyes from damage caused by oxidative stress.

Ø  The blood sugar level: monounsaturated fatty acids can prevent or reverse insulin resistance, one of the causes of Type II diabetes.

Ø  Malignancies: avocados may help protect against prostate cancer and breast cancer.

So... let's eat avocado!

Recently we celebrated Fat Thursday. That day we can eat a lot of delicious donuts. Unfortunately, donuts bring to mind calories. But Fat Tuesday is a tradition! Once a year you can afford this pleasure :)

·         How many calories have a donut? It depends. The classic donut with a weight of 80 grams has 341 calories.

·         How many donuts does the average Pole eat on this day? The average is two or three.

·         In 2015 the winner consumed 10 donuts in 6 minutes and 36 seconds.

·         Happy Donut? There is a tradition which assumes that anyone who finds a nut in the donut find happiness. This custom is forgotten, but the real housewives know about this custom and practice it.

·         Romans celebrated Fat Thursday first. They celebrated in this way the end of winter and expressed joy because of the coming of spring. In Poland, Fat Thursday began celebrating around the seventeenth century.

Today I want to show you some interesting facts you should know

•  A killer whale is able to jump up to 5 meters above the water surface.
• A human blinks about 20 times per minute.
• When a person dies, the first sense that  he loses is sight. Hearing is the last.
• We see our nose all the time but the brain ignores it.
• Our left lung is smaller than our right lung to allow room for heart.
• To make a step you use 200 muscles.
• We use 17 muscles to smile.
• The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
• The tooth is the only part of the human body which can not regenerate itself.
• The human nose can recognize 50 000 different odors
• The navel divides the body of a newborn baby into two equal parts.
  

Hello! Today I want to present you my summary of very interesting article ;) 

The article entitled “How Sugar Addiction Works” written by Melanie Radzicki  McManus presents the problem of addiction to sugar.  At the beginning, the author underlines that the average people’s daily caloric intake of sugar is upper that should be. In general, the best amount of sugar totals less than 5 percent, but  in Portugal, for example, in children’s diet the amount of extra sugars represents 25% of kids’ daily calories.  This omnipresence of added sugar is due to the fact that these sugars are added during food processing to give them a better taste.

Next, the author passes on a reflection if it is possible to be addicted to sweets. As in the case of other addictions, people who adore sweets do not control the consumption. Also,  when we eat sweets, huge amounts of dopamine are emitted. It is released into the bloodstream, resulting in stimulation of “reward center”.  This multiplies the feeling of pleasure and this is another common trait with other addictions. On the other hand, one team of scientists claimed that people can be addicted to eating but not to the chemical substances contained in food - but it does not change the fact that sugar has bad impact on health.

In recent years addition of sugar into food has become very popular. It was due to the change in dietary habits and the resignation of fats in 1980. But as we know, fat gives flavor to dishes, so the food industry had to replace it with something. They switched to sugar. Consequently,  sugar consumption increased. It is worth to remind here what is the repercussion of the spike-and-crash syndrome. This phenomenon causes a “loosening” of blood sugar levels which means rapid rise and fall of glucose levels. Unluckily, then our body demands more sugar and so on.

Fortunately, there is the light at the end of the tunnel. The Food and Drug Administration want to include added sugars on the “nutrition facts” label. It may signify interest in this problem.

The article ends with a reflection on how to wean from eating sweets. For example, we can gradually reduce the number of teaspoons of sugar added to coffee or we can begin to exercise (it affects the brain and then it is more resistant to sight of sweets).

Disadvantages of smoking

Smoking  is  a  bad  habit  for  several  reasons  which  are  associated  with  health,  beauty  and money. First of all, smoke has a very big influence on the health state.  Studies show that lung cancer  is  a  disease  that  affects  almost  exclusively  smokers.  But  there  are  also  many  other ailments caused by cigarettes,  for example cardiovascular disease or ocular discomfort. Next, this habit destroys  beauty. Among smokers skin  aging is visible much faster  and this problem appears,  among other things,  through spots on the skin and  previous  formation  of wrinkles. Similarly,  the  hair becomes brittle  and  the  teeth turn yellow.  Consequently, the smoker  looks much older.  Finally,  smoking concerns individual financial issues.  Small amounts regularly spent on cigarettes grow to the value of foreign trips, modern electronic equipment, and even a decent car. In other words, cigarette smoking  results in serious consequences that  involve health, good looks and cash.