This Beauty Vlogger Produces the Most Powerful Tutorials You’ll Ever See

At first glance beauty vlogger Reshma’s makeup tutorial might look like any other as she sits in a pale pink room decorated with all kinds of pretty, girly trimmings. But she was the victim of a 2014 sulfuric acid attack in Northern India and her real purpose is to promote the Make Love Not Scars campaign.

The vicious assault caused Reshma to lose one eye, with the other infected and left partially closed. Burns have disfigured much of her face. There are an estimated 1,000 incidents like this happening in India annually and 90 percent of them involve women, according to a BBC report.

The Make Love Not Scars petition’s purpose is simple – to stop the sales of over-the-counter acid. The chemical apparently costs just as much as a tube of lipstick (that would be $1.50 US) and is just as easy to obtain.

Watch her red lip tutorial and learn more about this incredibly important cause.

This article originally appeared on MIMIchatter.com.

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

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When Clock Springs Forward, Teen Brain May Fall Behind

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Teens lose much-needed sleep after the time change in spring, raising concerns about their driving safety, a new study shows.

This loss of sleep was associated with increased daytime sleepiness, lapses of attention and longer reaction times, according to the findings in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

“For many years now, sleep researchers have been concerned about sleep deprivation in adolescents. This study unveils a potential additional factor that may further restrict their sleep in the early spring,” principal investigator Dr. Ana Krieger said in a journal news release. She is medical director of the Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Researchers assessed sleep in 35 high school students, average age 16.5 years, on weeknights after the change to daylight savings time in March. The teens slept an average of 7 hours, 19 minutes a night, which was 32 minutes less than before the time change.

Teens should get a little more than nine hours of sleep a night, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Getting adequate sleep is key for many facets of an adolescent’s development,” Dr. Nathaniel Watson, academy president, said in the news release. “This study raises significant concern about the consequences of impeding their already hectic sleep schedules with Daylight Saving Time every spring.”

More information

The National Sleep Foundation has more about teens and sleep.

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Quitting Smoking After MS Diagnosis May Delay Disease Progression

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Multiple sclerosis progresses faster in people who continue to smoke compared to smokers who quit after their diagnosis, a new study finds.

“This study demonstrates that smoking after MS diagnosis has a negative impact on the progression of the disease, whereas reduced smoking may improve patient quality of life, with more years before [progression to secondary disease],” wrote Dr. Jan Hillert, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and colleagues.

“Evidence clearly supports advising patients with MS who smoke to quit. Health care services for patients with MS should be organized to support such a lifestyle change,” the study authors concluded in the report published online Sept. 8 in the journal JAMA Neurology.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the nervous system that affects your brain and spinal cord. Symptoms can include vision problems, muscle weakness, coordination and balance trouble, and thinking and memory problems.

Smoking is a known risk factor for MS, the study authors said. MS begins with irregular and worsening relapses, but usually changes after about 20 years into what is called secondary progressive (SP) disease. The time from disease onset to secondary progressive disease is a widely used measure of MS progression, the authors explained in a journal news release.

The study included more than 700 MS patients in Sweden who were smokers at the time of their diagnosis. Some patients continued smoking while others quit within a year, the researchers said.

Each additional year of smoking after MS diagnosis accelerated the time to secondary progressive disease by nearly 5 percent, the findings showed. People who continued to smoke each year after diagnosis converted to secondary progressive disease earlier (average age 48) than those who quit smoking (average age 56), the research revealed.

The study adds to evidence that smoking is a major modifiable risk factor for MS, Dr. Myla Goldman, of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and Dr. Olaf Stuve, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, wrote in an accompanying editorial.

“Most importantly, it provides the first evidence, to our knowledge, that quitting smoking appears to delay onset of secondary progressive MS and provide protective benefit. Therefore, even after MS diagnosis, smoking is a risk factor worth modifying,” Goldman and Stuve wrote.

More information

Get help with quitting smoking from SmokeFree.gov.

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Trying E-Cigarettes May Lead to Smoking, Study Suggests

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Young people who use e-cigarettes are much more likely to become smokers than those who don’t, a new study reports.

More than one-third of teens and young adults who tried the battery-powered devices wound up smoking tobacco within one year, even though they had said they would never be interested in smoking, according to the results of a nationwide survey.

By comparison, only 10 percent of those who had never used e-cigarettes ended up becoming smokers, researchers reported in the Sept. 8 online issue of JAMA Pediatrics.

The results line up with a study released in August, in which Los Angeles-area teens were three to four times more likely to try smoking after they’d experimented with an e-cigarette, said Dr. James Sargent, senior author of the current study. Sargent is a professor of pediatrics and community & family medicine at Dartmouth University’s Geisel School of Medicine in Hanover, N.H.

“The real concern is that if it does indeed move these adolescents in the direction of smoking cigarettes, it’s going to turn around the two-decade-long decline in teen smoking that we’ve seen,” Sargent said. “The government needs to get off the pot on this. They need to act.”

The survey involved a national sample of nearly 700 teens and young adults, aged 16 to 26. Participants filled out a baseline survey and a follow-up survey one year later.

All participants were considered “non-susceptible” to becoming smokers because they had responded “definitely no” when asked if they would try a cigarette offered by a friend or if they would smoke a cigarette within the next year.

The first set of surveys took place in 2012 and 2013, before e-cigarette use boomed among teenagers, Sargent said. E-cigarette use among high schoolers tripled between 2013 and 2014, leaping from 4.5 percent to 13.4 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As a result, only 16 of the 694 participants had tried an e-cigarette at the time of the first survey.

Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to education about e-cigarettes and vapor products, scoffed at the notion of basing any findings on such a small national sample.

But lead author Dr. Brian Primack said that findings were statistically significant, even after controlling for other risk factors for smoking.

By the next year, 38 percent of the baseline e-cigarette users had started smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes.

“It clearly raises concern about the effect of e-cigarettes as a gateway for youth and young adults to transition into traditional cigarettes,” said Cliff Douglas, director of the American Cancer Society Tobacco Control Center. “It’s one more bit of evidence in emerging data in this area. It’s not conclusive, but it certainly is cautionary, and points toward the need for an effective regulatory structure in this country for these new products.”

E-cigarettes help prepare young people to start smoking by providing a training-wheels version of the habit, Sargent said.

“They’re practicing all of the parts of the behavior except lighting up that they would need to use a cigarette,” he said.

E-cigarette users are also being exposed to nicotine, just at lower levels than with regular cigarettes. As young people become more heavily addicted, they are likely to turn to tobacco, said Primack, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

“When they need a higher dose of nicotine or a faster rush, then they transition to traditional cigarettes,” he said.

The authors urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to regulate the e-cigarette industry. At this time, there is no regulation of e-cigarettes, although the FDA has issued proposed rules that would grant it that authority.

But Conley said that teen tobacco smoking rates have continued to decline, and argued that e-cigarettes will help keep people from smoking.

“No one should be surprised to find an association between e-cigarette experimentation and smoking experimentation,” Conley said. “It makes sense that youth who are willing to try a vapor product will be more willing to try a cigarette than someone who will not try vaping.”

More information

For more on e-cigarettes, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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Survival Rates Improve for Extreme ‘Preemie’ Babies

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Advances in treatment are boosting survival and lowering complication rates for babies born extremely premature in the United States, a new study shows.

“Our analysis shows that survival of extremely premature infants and survival without major health problems have improved over 20 years,” study author Dr. Barbara Stoll, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, said in a university news release.

“One of our most important new findings is a significant increase in survival without major neonatal health problems for infants born at 25-28 weeks,” she said. A full-term pregnancy typically lasts 40 weeks.

In the study, Stoll’s group looked at data on more than 34,600 extremely preterm births — delivered at between 22 to 28 weeks of pregnancy occurring nationwide between 1993 and 2012.

From 2009 to 2012, the survival rate rose from 27 percent to 33 percent for infants born at 23 weeks, and increased from 63 percent to 65 percent for infants born at 24 weeks, the study found.

There were smaller increases in survival rates for infants born at 25 and 27 weeks, but no change for infants born at 22, 26 and 28 weeks.

Survival without major complications rose about 2 percent each year for infants born at 25 to 28 weeks, but there was no change for those born at 22 to 24 weeks.

Dr. Jennifer Wu is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She said many factors have combined to help these very tiny newborns survive.

“Several obstetric and pediatric interventions have brought about these improvements,” she explained. “A larger percentage of mothers in preterm labor are receiving steroids and this results in accelerated lung maturity [for babies], and respiratory interventions for premature infants have also changed.”

However, the study suggests that while improvements have occurred, much more must be done to save babies’ lives.

“Although overall survival increased for infants aged 23 and 24 weeks, few infants younger than 25 weeks’ gestational age survived without major neonatal [complications], underscoring the continued need for interventions to improve outcomes for the most immature infants,” the research team wrote.

Stoll added that, “at the same time, we must focus on reducing the high rates of preterm birth, with approximately 450,000 infants born prematurely in the United States each year.”

The study was published in the Sept. 8 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

The March of Dimes has more about preterm labor and birth.

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Half of U.S. Adults Have Diabetes or High Risk of Getting It: Report

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Close to half of all American adults have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes, a new study finds.

Up to 14 percent of adults had diagnosed or undiagnosed type 2 diabetes in 2011-2012, and about 38 percent had diagnosed or undiagnosed prediabetes, the researchers reported. Prediabetes is defined as having elevated blood sugar levels that aren’t high enough to be called full-blown diabetes, the researchers explained.

“Prediabetes puts people at risk of diabetes in the future,” said lead researcher Catherine Cowie. She is program director of the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ division of diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic diseases.

About one-third of those Americans with type 2 diabetes don’t know they have it, and most of those with prediabetes are unaware of their condition, the study authors said. For these adults, the findings should be a wake-up call to get treatment and make lifestyle changes that include losing weight and being more active, Cowie said.

Although data from recent years suggests that the increase in the prevalence of diabetes may be leveling off, it’s still too high, Cowie added.

“Diabetes can be treated, but only if it is diagnosed,” she explained. “The medical community needs to be aware that there is a high rate of undiagnosed diabetes in the population.”

Type 2 diabetes is caused by obesity, poor eating habits and lack of exercise.

The new report was published Sept. 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For the study, Cowie and her colleagues estimated the prevalence and trends in type 2 diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes using data from U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.

According to the report, of the slightly more than 14 percent of adults with type 2 diabetes, 9 percent had been diagnosed with the condition and just over 5 percent remained undiagnosed. In addition, 38 percent of adults had prediabetes, but more than 36 percent remained undiagnosed.

The prevalence of diabetes among whites was just over 11 percent, which was lower than among other groups. Among blacks, the prevalence of diabetes was almost 22 percent, among Asians it was close to 21 percent, and among Hispanics it was more than 22 percent, the researchers found.

As to the prevalence of prediabetes, it was more than 30 percent in all sex and racial/ethnic categories and was highest among whites and blacks, Cowie said.

The highest number of undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes was among Asians (51 percent) and Hispanics (49 percent), the researchers found.

Dr. William Herman is a professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial. He said, “The doubling in the rate of obesity in the U.S. between 1980 and 2000 was followed 10 years later by a dramatic increase in the rate of type 2 diabetes.”

Now it appears that the stabilization in the rate of obesity in the United States that has occurred since 2000 may be associated with a leveling off in the prevalence of diabetes, beginning in about 2010, he said.

Changes in cultural attitudes toward obesity, changes in food policy, implementation of ways to identify people at risk for type 2 diabetes and support for behavioral change may be beginning to have an effect on the twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes, Herman suggested.

“Although progress has been made, expanded and sustained efforts will be needed to address these pressing health problems,” he said.

More information

For more about type 2 diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

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Sleep Apnea May Hurt Kids’ Grades

By Tara Haelle
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — When children have sleep troubles due to breathing problems — such as sleep apnea — they may struggle in school, new research suggests.

“Sleep apnea may not be directly causing academic problems,” said study lead author Barbara Galland, a research associate professor at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.

“Instead, sleep apnea may interfere with getting a good night’s sleep, which may, in turn, contribute to children having a hard time paying attention and being less ready to learn and perform academically during the day,” she said.

Sleep apnea is a type of sleep-disordered breathing, or irregular breathing while asleep. A person with sleep apnea frequently stops breathing for short periods of time, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

This new study looked at the results of more than a dozen individual studies. Although it couldn’t prove cause and effect, most of the research accounted for other major factors that could influence school achievement, Galland said.

The findings were published online Sept. 7 in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers reviewed the results of 16 studies dealing with sleep apnea or related disorders in children and academic achievement. The investigators found that children with sleep-disordered breathing did worse in language arts, math and science tests compared to those without such conditions.

“If a large sample of children without sleep-disordered breathing achieved an average 70 percent score for a test examination,” Galland explained, “a comparable sample of children of the same age with sleep-disordered breathing would be estimated to achieve an average score 11 percent below (59 percent).”

The children with sleep apnea didn’t have worse performance in school overall, but one reason for this result may be differences among the studies included in the analysis, the researchers suggested. Further, more of the children with sleep apnea had unsatisfactory progress or learning problems than kids without sleep apnea.

“Although many studies find that the average achievement of children with sleep-disordered breathing remains in the range of typical children, some children with sleep-disordered breathing may be performing less well on the tests,” Galland said. “What we do not know is, which children are more likely to do less well.”

If a child receives treatment for sleep apnea, it’s unclear how much that might affect academics, Galland said. The research is mixed, with some studies suggesting children can focus better when their sleep apnea is treated, she said.

Dr. Holger Link is a pediatric pulmonology and sleep medicine doctor at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in Portland, Ore. He said, “How well an individual child will respond to surgery may vary depending on the severity and duration of sleep apnea and other factors like age, genetics, other health or mental problems, emotional and educational resources at home.”

The same is true for the condition itself, he added.

Link said each child responds differently. “You could have two children of the same age and gender with the same severity of sleep apnea and one of them will have minimal problems with academic performance and the other may suffer significantly,” he said.

Sleep apnea that goes untreated can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“Given the potential adverse consequences of sleep-disordered breathing on health, behavioral and learning outcomes in children, it is important for parents and clinicians to recognize symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing,” Galland said.

One such symptom is snoring, said Dr. Danelle Fisher, vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif.

“Children who snore should be monitored to see if the snoring turns into choking noises, pauses in breathing and sudden gasping for air,” Fisher said. She recommends parents talk to their child’s pediatrician about snoring or similar symptoms.

Even a child without clear snoring may show others symptoms, however, Link said. For example: noisy breathing, sleeping with the mouth open, short pauses in breathing, restless sleep and awakenings from sleep.

“Some children will complain of sleepiness or decreased energy in the morning or during the day,” Link said, though not all children will show that sleepiness. “Some children will be very irritable and moody or have difficulty focusing at tasks at school or at home.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be screened for snoring, he said. And they should undergo additional evaluation and treatment if it appears that they have sleep apnea.

More information

For more about sleep apnea, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

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Most Americans View Access to Health Care as a Moral Issue…

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) — An overwhelming majority of Americans believes that access to health care is a moral issue, and that the United States should be able to afford universal health care if other developed nations can do the same.

But after that, Americans are still deeply divided over many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more than five years after President Barack Obama signed the controversial health-reform legislation into law, a new HealthDay/Harris Poll found.

“Many supporters of the ACA believed that it would become more popular — like Medicare and Medicaid — when it enabled many more people who previously did not have health insurance to get it. That has not happened,” said Humphrey Taylor, chairman emeritus of The Harris Poll.

The law, championed by Obama and often called Obamacare, continues to be popular with most Democrats and unpopular with most Republicans.

“But there is a remarkable consensus, regardless of party affiliation, that ensuring that sick people get the care they need is a moral issue,” Taylor added.

The poll was conducted online, in English, within the United States between Aug. 12-17 among 2,212 adults aged 18 and older.

The complexity of the Affordable Care Act and the U.S. health care system likely explains much of the public’s divide over the law, Taylor said.

“Health care policy is complicated, which helps to explain why many people react positively to apparently contradictory policy positions,” Taylor said. “One is reminded of H.L. Mencken’s comment that ‘for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.’ “

For starters, public opinion regarding Obamacare remains as polarized as ever, with 33 percent of adults wanting to repeal it, 30 percent wanting to keep some parts of it and change others, and 26 percent wanting to keep it as is, the poll found.

These attitudes have barely budged since the law was passed. The biggest change has been an increase from 21 percent to 30 percent in those who want to keep some parts of the law and change others.

On the other hand, a substantial 49 percent of the public supports the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that insurance subsidies provided under the ACA are legal, although much of that support comes from Democrats. About 28 percent of the public opposes that decision, and 22 percent are undecided.

An estimated 16.9 million people have gained health insurance coverage since Obamacare took effect, but not all of them gained coverage due to the law.

The poll also found that a 63 percent to 21 percent majority favors a universal health care system — by party affiliation the breakdown is 33 percent Republican, 87 percent Democrat and 61 percent independent. And a 76 percent to 24 percent majority also agrees that since most other advanced countries can afford to provide universal health insurance, so could this country.

In addition, an overwhelming 84 percent to 16 percent majority believes that having a system that ensures that sick people get the care they need is a moral issue. That includes 75 percent of Republicans and 91 percent of Democrats.

But, 52 percent of Americans think it’s an individual’s personal responsibility to figure out how to obtain health insurance. And exactly half — 50 percent — say that providing a system of universal coverage so everyone has health insurance would cost too much.

For the most part, those numbers provide hope for supporters of health care reform that, as the Affordable Care Act continues onward, more people will rally to it, said Rachel Klein, director of organizational strategy for the health care advocacy group Families USA.

“Americans really believe people should be able to get health care when they need it, and that’s what the Affordable Care Act is enabling to happen,” Klein said. “We’re still in the early days of the Affordable Care Act, and I think things will become clearer as more people are impacted by the provisions of the act.”

But Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the free-market National Center for Policy Analysis, argues that the conflicting views are a reflection of “the recognition that health care is expensive, and there are limits to what the nation can afford in terms of new entitlements.”

And, Herrick added, “These views are also consistent with the idea of a health care safety net that provides a minimal level of coverage, but affords most people the option to spend more if they want to. Programs like Medicaid are an example. By all measures, Medicaid is inferior to private coverage. Yet, the program has significant support — even among Republicans.”

Attitudes about the Affordable Care Act, and what kind of health care system the country should have, remain sharply divided along party lines. For example:

• 65 percent of Republicans, but only 10 percent of Democrats, favor repealing the ACA.
• 73 percent of Democrats, but only 22 percent of Republicans, agree with the Supreme Court’s decision on subsidies.
• 65 percent of Democrats, but only 19 percent of Republicans, believe that health care should be an entitlement.
• 87 percent of Democrats, but only 33 percent of Republicans, favor a universal health care system.

More information

For more on the Affordable Care Act, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

For more details on the poll, click here.

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Power crunches

Target your abs with this dynamic crunch – just two steps to an awesome core workout.

How to
1. Standing shoulder-width apart with your core braced, raise one knee to meet the opposite elbow with explosive force before returning to stationary position.

2. Repeat with the opposite leg to create an alternating movement.

Tip: Exhale at each point the knee reaches the opposite arm's elbow to contract the abdominal muscles.


NEXT: Browse our collection of amazing abs workouts or try a cross crunch with WH&F head trainer Nikki Fogden-Moore!

Words and workout by Melissa Le Man, images by Noel Daganta
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The 3 Knives Every Home Chef Needs

Which blades make the cut? These simple yet powerful essentials.

Henckel’s International classic 8-inch chef’s knife

Photo: Victor Prado

A workhorse with a tough high-carbon stainless-steel blade and a comfy handle (the steel extends through it for balance) that chops, dices and minces like a boss. ($55, amazon.com)

Wusthof classic 9-inch double-serrated bread knife

Photo: Victor Prado

The edge cleanly slices through bread or roasted meat, sans crumbs or tearing. ($110, amazon.com)

Victorinox Swiss classic 3¼-inch paring knife

Photo: Victor Prado

The flexible, lightweight yet supersharp blade lets you get in close on delicate jobs like coring tomatoes, hulling strawberries and slicing garlic. ($8, amazon.com)

And to keep ’em sharp, you should also pick up these handy accessories:

Victorinox 10-inch honing steel

Photo: Victor Prado

Run chef’s and paring knives a few times along this tool before each use to hone their edges. ($20, amazon.com)

King double-sided stone

 

Photo: Victor Prado

When honing isn’t enough, use this about twice a year. The coarse side sharpens blades; the fine side refines and polishes. ($39, amazon.com)

RELATED:

14 Clever Cooking Hacks You Need to Try

How to Use a Chef Knife

How to Carve a Turkey

 

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