Category Archive

Kent Ninomiya - Happy Lunar New Year everyone! All around the world there are celebrations with feasts, fireworks and dancing dragons. It’s a time for Asian families and familes of Asian decent to get together and revel in the new year. It is Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day all wrapped into one in asian culture. It’s often called “Chinese New Year,” but this isn’t particularly accurate. While it is widely observed in China, it is also an important holiday for people throughout East Asia and of Asian ancestry all over the world. Believe it or not, there are still people out there who do not realize all Asian people are NOT Chinese. Lunar New Year is also a more accurate term. The holiday usually begins on the first day of the first lunar month. This makes the lunar calendar much more accurate than the Julian calendar. Jokes are often made about the Chinese being backward for celebrating the new year late. In reality the west celebrates the new year early. While the traditional Chinese calendar does not record continuously numbered years, 2008 is considered year 4705. So happy 4705 everyone! Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - There’s nothing like a snow day to bring a family together and give you a fabulous work out. It’s like a surprise holiday. That is if you don’t have to work. A lovely 6 inches fell over night prompting the kids to force me out of bed at the crack of dawn. First order of business was to clear the driveway of snow so we could get the car out. That’s a significant work out in itself. I had a good sweat going by the time I cut a path wide enough for our vehicle. All the while the kids romped and played on a miniature hill I created by my digging. Once we could get out the real play and exercise began. We went to the local hill for some serious sledding. There is nothing like the uncontrolled laughter of a family flying out of control down a steep snow covered hill. We think nothing of the vigourous climbs back up the hill for the next run. By the time we called it a day we had hiked miles up a steep slope. We were covered in snow and sweat. We were exhausted and giddy. The best kinds of exercise and happiness are the kinds that you don’t know you are getting. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - I don’t usually site other writers’ work directly but I came across an article that was just too interesting to pass up. Check out an article by Sarah Robbins from Prevention. It talks about how birth order can impact your health. My initial reaction was to laugh it off, but read on and you may find some points to ponder: Your oldest child is running for class president; the baby is running away from home. Birth order theories of personality make great cocktail party fodder. Just don’t try them on the psychologist standing near the hors d’oeuvres table — experts have been arguing for years about whether family position can account for kids’ personality differences, and there’s no resolution in sight. But your oldest child has allergies? Your youngest broke yet another bone? Now you’re talking.Surprise: There’s increasing evidence that your place in the family lineup can have an impact on your physical health — sometimes small, but in some cases substantial. Of course, there’s nothing you (or your spouse or kids) can do to change your birth order. But you can make sure to enjoy the benefits that come with it — and steer clear of the risks. Here, a birth order-based cheat sheet to help you and your loved ones beat your odds of allergies, asthma, accidents, and more.FirstbornThe Good News: A study in Science magazine showed that firstborns score an average of 3 points higher on IQ tests than their younger siblings. And being brainy goes along with better health, found a study from the University of Glasgow that suggests children who scored higher on IQ tests were less likely to develop coronary heart disease and some cancers.Watch For:Allergies and asthma: In a review of over 50 studies, researchers found that oldest kids are more likely to suffer from allergies, hay fever, eczema, and even asthma. The reason might be that firstborns are overprotected: Many are exposed to few bacteria or viruses until they start school, while younger siblings battle the bugs older sibs bring home — and therefore may develop stronger immune systems.Check to see if “colds” are actually allergies: If someone is constantly congested or sneezy, remember that allergies are the real culprit in about half of chronic sinus infections. “An allergy’s most prominent symptom is an itchy nose — not a runny nose,” says Amal Assa’ad, MD, a professor of allergy and immunology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “And allergies don’t come with fevers, aches, or chills.”Testicular cancer: A study from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that firstborn men have a greater risk of testicular cancer. The eldest is typically exposed to higher estrogen levels in the womb than later-born sibs — which may up his risk of disease.Keep an eye out: This relatively rare cancer can strike men as young as in their teens but is curable if found at an early stage. If your husband’s family has a history of this disease, the American Cancer Society suggests monthly self-exams, after a warm bath or shower.Middle ChildThe Good News: Your risk of gum disease is 5% lower, probably because your immune system got an early workout from the germs your older brother or sister brought home and is better able to dispatch oral bacteria.Watch For:Depression: “Middle children tend to have lower self-esteem than first- or last-borns, perhaps because parents are busy with the other kids,” says Frank J. Sulloway, PhD, author of Born to Rebel. A University of Wisconsin study found that parents spent less money and nearly 10% less time caring for them, compared with older or younger kids. And a University of Pennsylvania study found middle kids reported significantly more depressive symptoms.Make sure second-born isn’t second-class:”Kids who think they don’t get enough attention may feel down or defeated, so tack on extra time for the middle,” says Jennifer Hartstein, PsyD, a psychologist at the Child and Family Institute of the St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in New York City. “If you’re running to the supermarket, ask your middle child to come along.”Chronic fatigue syndrome:Preliminary research from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey suggests that middle kids are slightly more likely to suffer from CFS than their younger or older siblings.Know the signs: If you feel exhausted for 6 months, and rest doesn’t help, you may have CFS; for children and adolescents, it’s 3 months. “Remember, healthy kids don’t make excuses so they can skip trips to theme parks or sleepovers,” says Donnica Moore, MD, president of the Sapphire Women’s Health Group in Far Hills, NJ.Minimize your risk:Experts say CFS may be triggered by an infection — so good hygiene, staying current with vaccines, and healthy eating may offer you protection.YoungestThe Good News: Your risk of allergies is lower, thanks to those hand-me-down germs. Another benefit of being the baby: In Italian research, young adults who grew up with older siblings were 10% less likely to develop Hodgkin’s disease than only children.Watch For:Accidentsand preventable diseases: A 2005 study of childhood accidents at a Jerusalem ER found that kids with three or more siblings were 50% more likely to be injured than those from smaller families. When parents are spread thin and supervision gets lax, other important protections can fall by the wayside, too: A study of London-born children found their odds of being vaccinated decreased 20% for each additional child in the family.Be vigilant:Vaccinate your kids — and talk with your doctor about whether you should roll up your own sleeve. You may benefit from shots that weren’t available when you were younger and may need boosters for others.Risky behavior:Youngest kids go through puberty 3 months earlier on average than their older siblings, according to one analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. “Early puberty can cause an increase in risk taking,” says lead author Joseph Rodgers, PhD, of the University of Oklahoma. Youngest children start having sex about 2 months earlier than their older brothers and sisters; they’re also more likely to smoke cigarettes.Communicate: “Dabbling in risky behavior is part of being a teen,” says Hartstein. “So ask questions — and don’t shy away from any they may ask. Peer pressure is real, but parents have a huge protective influence, too.”

Kent Ninomiya - I’ve always taken care of myself. I don’t drink or smoke. I eat well and exercise every day. Still, I find it increasingly difficult to stay slim and fit now that I’ve passed 40. It’s something every middle aged person complains about, but somehow I thought I would be immune since I considered myself fit. I accept that I am getting older but I refuse to accept that means I need to get soft and flabby. A few years ago I changed my focus from being big to being lean. I traded low rep heavy weights for higher rep maintenance weights. I also cut back on my protein and calories. The diet that fed my muscles through my youth was fattening me up in my middle age. This seemed to work fine until I decreased my weight work and increased my cardio. It actually made it harder for me to keep off the pounds. I was puzzled by this until I talked to several experts in fitness and nutrition. Apparently I lost muscle mass when I stopped lifting all those weights. Muscle burns a lot of calories, apparently more than cardio work in my case. So I hit the weights again and seeing the results. I will never stop lifting again. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Yo quiero a healthier taco! Continuing my look at better food choices when you dine out… how about Taco Bell? That’s right. The fast food chain has a “Fresco” menu with nine items with less than 9 grams of fat. That’s still quite a bit of fat for a little taco but much less than what the regular stuff packs. There’s nothing too innovative here. They just replace the cheese and sauce with salsa. The fatty meat and fried shell are still there. No one ever went to Taco Bell looking for health food so I doubt this will make anyone change their habits. However, if find yourself in a Taco Bell and are forced to eat, try something Fresco. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Starbucks is finally jumping on the healthy bandwagon. They plan to introduce a line of lighter products this year. The first will be skinny lattes and mochas. They are just 90 calories for a tall compared to 190 for a regular latte and 270 in a regular mocha. The shocker here isn’t that Starbucks is introducing diet coffee. It’s that many of us have been guzzling this stuff for years without realizing how fattening it was. Oh… the new drinks have no fat compared to 5 grams for a regular tall vanilla latte and 12 grams of fat for a tall caffe mocha. Feeling coffee remorse? You would have been better off with the doughnuts! Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - There’s a great article I came across on Yahoo health. It talks about all the extra years of life you’ll get by eating well, exercising and laying off the booze. When reading it the words “no kidding” came to mind. Someone actually did a study on that? There is no magic secret behind good health and long life. Do all the good things and avoid the bad things. So why doesn’t everyone do it? They either don’t want to live better and longer or they are too lazy to do what it takes. Everyone is looking for short cuts but study after study and real life experience tells us there are no short cuts. So here’s the article. Read it if you like but you already know what it tells you. Eat well, exercise and stay away from things that are bad for you. Kent Ninomiya

(Yahoo Health) To get an extra 14 years of life, don’t smoke, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly and drink alcohol in moderation. That’s the finding of a study that tracked about 20,000 people in the United Kingdom. Kay-Tee Khaw of the University of Cambridge and colleagues calculated that people who adopted these four healthy habits lived an average of 14 years longer than those who didn’t.
“We’ve known for a long time that these behaviors are good things to do, but we’ve never seen these additive benefits before,” said Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health at Britain’s Medical Research Council, which helped pay for the study.
“Just doing one of these behaviors helps, but every step you make to improve your health seems to have an added benefit,” said Jebb, who was not involved in the study.
The benefits were also seen regardless of whether or not people were fat and what social class they came from. The findings were published online Monday in the Public Library of Science Medicine journal.
The study included healthy adults aged 45 to 79. Participants filled in a health questionnaire between 1993 and 1997 and nurses conducted a medical exam at a clinic. Participants scored a point each for not smoking, regular physical activity, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and moderate alcohol intake.
Until 2006, the researchers tracked deaths from all causes, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory diseases. People who scored four points were four times less likely to die than those who scored zero, the research showed.
Khaw said that the study should convince people that improving their health does not always require extreme changes to their lifestyles.
“We didn’t ask these people to do anything exceptional,” Khaw said. “We measured normal behaviors that were entirely feasible within people’s normal, everyday lives.”
Public health experts said they hoped the study would inspire governments to help people adopt these changes.
“This research is an important piece of work which emphasizes how modifying just a few risk factors can add years to your life,” said Dr. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization.
But because the study only observed people rather than testing specific changes, experts said that it would be impossible to conclude that people who suddenly adopted these healthy behaviors would automatically gain 14 years.
“We can’t say that any one person could gain 14 years by doing these things,” said Armstrong. “The 14 years is an average across the population of what’s theoretically possible.”
But experts worry that the new findings may still not be enough to persuade people to change their unhealthy ways.
“Most people know that things like a good diet matter and that smoking is not good for you,” Jebb said. “We need to work on providing people with much more practical support to help them change.”

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Kent Ninomiya - The United States government drastically limits the type of research that can be done with stem cells. For people suffering from debilitating illnesses and spinal cord injuries stems cells are their last, best, and only hope. This standoff is apparently forcing Americans to head to China to get the treatment they can’t get at home. The associated press wrote this thought provoking article that is worthy of note. (AP) They’re paralyzed from diving accidents and car crashes, disabled by Parkinson’s, or blind. With few options available at home in America, they search the Internet for experimental treatments — and often land on Web sites promoting stem cell treatments in China.
They mortgage their houses and their hometowns hold fundraisers as they scrape together the tens of thousands of dollars needed for travel and the hope for a miracle cure.
A number of these medical tourists claim some success when they return home:
Jim Savage, a Houston man with paralysis from a spinal cord injury, says he can move his right arm. Penny Thomas of Hawaii says her Parkinson’s tremors are mostly gone. The parents of 6-year-old Rylea Barlett of Missouri, born with an optical defect, say she can see.
But documentation is mostly lacking, and Western doctors warn that patients are serving as guinea pigs in a country that isn’t doing the rigorous lab and human tests that are needed to prove a treatment is safe and effective.
Noting the lack of evidence, three Western doctors, undertook their own limited study. It involved seven patients with spinal cord injuries who chose to get fetal brain tissue injections at one hospital in China. The study reported “no clinically useful improvements” — even though most patients believed they were better. Five developed complications such as meningitis.
Experts in the West have theories about why some people think they’ve improved when the evidence is thin. Some are often getting intensive physical therapy, along with the mysterious injections; the placebo effect may also be a factor.
John Steeves, a professor at the University of British Columbia who heads an international group that monitors spinal cord treatments, has another theory. Some patients may be influenced by the amount of money they paid and the help they got from those who donated or helped raise money.
“Needless to say, when they come back, what are they going to report to their friends and neighbors? That it didn’t work?” said Steeves. “Nobody wants to hear that.”
He and other experts have written a booklet advising patients who are considering such treatments.
Western doctors discourage their patients from seeking such treatments. They note that it’s impossible to gauge the safety and effectiveness of the treatments, or even know what’s in the injections put into brains and spinal cords.
Patients and their families say they accept those risks. They simply don’t have time to wait for more conclusive evidence. For many, the trip to China is a journey of hope.
“It’s one of the only games in town,” said Savage, 44, a lawyer who suffered severe spinal cord injuries after a canoe trip 25 years ago.
Savage spent 2 1/2 months in late 2006 and early 2007 at a hospital in the southern China city of Shenzhen to get what he was told were stem cell injections in his spine from umbilical cord blood. He made the arrangements through Beike Biotechnology Co., which offers the treatments at a number of hospitals in China.
Afterward, Savage said he was able to move his right arm for the first time since his diving accident; a video made at the hospital appears to show slight movement. He also said he noticed greater strength in his abdomen and more sensation on his skin.
Just how many foreigners like Savage are coming to China for treatment isn’t known; and China is only one of several countries where such techniques are being offered.
Many Chinese doctors don’t wait for results of rigorous testing before treating patients and they offer what they say are stem cell or other cell treatments to those willing to pay.
What is known about the procedures being performed comes from material on their Web sites or from patients who give detailed accounts of their visits. Little has been published in scientific journals for other doctors to scrutinize.
The use of stem cells for treatments isn’t new. For decades, doctors around the world have been using adult stem cells from blood and bone marrow — and more recently from umbilical cord blood — to treat cancers of the blood like leukemia and lymphoma and blood diseases like sickle cell anemia.
Scientists have been exploring whether such adult stem cells and other cells such as those from the retina or fetal brain tissue could be used to replace cells lost because of injury or disease. And they are trying to figure out if there’s a way to stimulate the body’s own stem cells to make repairs.
But those strategies are still being investigated in the lab in animals; there have been very limited tests in people.
Whether any clinics in China are using the more controversial embryonic stem cells — doctors in some other countries claim to be — isn’t clear. These stem cells are taken from days-old embryos. They can develop into all types of cells, but research into their usefulness is in early stages.
Patients seek out these unproven treatments after hearing about them from other patients, patient groups or Web sites for the medical companies. The patients’ stories posted on the Internet usually tell of some kind of improvement from the treatments — slight movements in arms or legs, fewer spasms or tremors, a feeling of sensation, an ability to sweat.
Chris Hrabik, 21, has been disabled since a 2004 car crash left him with limited use of his hands and legs. His father took out a second mortgage on their Oak Ridge, Mo., home to help pay for $20,000 worth of stem cell injections at a Beike facility in China.
More than a year after returning home, Hrabik says he has nearly complete use of his left hand, with improvement in the right. He can work on his customized 1993 Nissan 240SX, a modified number complete with hand controls and racing seats.
He said he was able to move his left fingers within days of that first injection of umbilical cord stem cells into his spinal cord. There’s been little progress since he left China, but he called the incremental changes significant.
“I just wanted something back, no matter what it was,” said Hrabik, who attributes some of the changes to the physical therapy that he had in China.
Beike founder Sean Hu, who returned from abroad in 1999 with a doctorate in biochemistry, said the company has treated more than 1,000 patients, including 300 foreigners from 40 different countries. The only side effects have been slight fevers and headaches among a small percentage of patients, according to Hu.
He said patients with trauma injuries experience the most dramatic improvements; those with degenerative diseases such as ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, tend to improve initially but then slide back to their former condition within months.
“Patients shouldn’t have their expectations too high,” Hu said. “For patients to think they can walk again may be too much at this stage,” he said.
He’s now seeking venture capital to expand his web of treatment centers, labs and doctors and adapt proprietary techniques from researchers overseas.
“There is real potential here for China to take the lead in stem cells,” Hu said.
Also offering treatments is Tiantan Puhua in Beijing, a joint venture between Asia’s largest neurological hospital and an American medical group. Tiantan’s sunny, sparkling rooms are a far cry from the dour facilities and staff at most Chinese hospitals. Diseases treated there range from stroke and spinal cord injuries to cerebral palsy and ataxia, a rare neurological condition that can cause slurred speech.
The hospital says its stem cell injections are combined with daily, three-hour doses of intravenous drugs designed to stimulate production of the patient’s own stem cells. Physical rehabilitation and Chinese medicine are also part of the plan. A standard two-month course of treatment costs $30,000 to $35,000.
“We want to see actual improvements,” said Dr. Sherwood Yang, head of the hospital’s management team. “We are giving them another option at the highest level of safety.”
Yang contends that 90 percent of patients show some results, with the rest suffering disabilities that are too far advanced to respond to treatment.
“We are making no promises,” he added. “It’s impossible to say exactly how any given patient will respond.”
Western experts point to the lack of documented evidence that cell treatments have any benefit for spinal cord injuries or degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.
“All of us in the so-called Western world, if there was something valid, we’d be the first to be offering it,” said Steeves, the Canadian professor and director of the International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, known as ICORD.
Three other experts were involved in the study that found no improvement in the seven spinal cord injury patients who went for fetal brain tissue injections in China. The patients were evaluated before and after their surgery.
The doctors stressed their observations were no substitute for a larger, more strict investigation.
“People are looking for a cure,” said Dr. Bruce Dobkin, a neurology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, one of the study’s authors. “They may come to do something based more on a gut feeling. It’s like looking for a religious miracle.”
Along with the patients’ booklet of advice about exploring experimental treatments, Steeves and other researchers have drawn up a set of guidelines on how to do research in spinal cord injuries. Another researcher, Dr. Wise Young of Rutgers University, is assembling a network of Chinese medical centers and universities to train researchers and conduct studies that meet international standards.
Dr. Michael Okun, medical director of the National Parkinson Foundation, said his group discourages patients from seeking out experimental treatments unless they’re being done under the most rigorous research protocols.
“Stem cell therapy … is a really interesting area that has a lot of promise for therapeutic approaches. But we’re just not ready to be putting stem cells into people’s brains at this point in time,” said Okun.
But such warnings don’t dissuade people like Penny Thomas of Captain Cook, Hawaii. She sought treatment for Parkinson’s disease at Tiantan, where doctors drilled into her skull and injected what she was told were cells from a donor’s retina. One year later, she said her tremors are almost gone and her medication has been cut to one-half of a single pill.
“I have no regrets and would do it all over again if need be,” said Thomas, 53.
So would the parents of Rylea Barlett of Webb City, Mo. The family raised nearly $40,000 from friends and neighbors to spend a month in China at a Beike facility last summer, hoping treatments would cure their daughter’s blindness. The child was born with an optic nerve disorder.
Dawn Barlett said her daughter responded to lights shone in her eyes within a week after the first of a series of five stem cell injections and can now make out blurry images on TV.
“She had no vision whatsoever before we left,” the mother said. “There was no hope otherwise.”
The girl’s optometrist, Larry Brothers, said: “It truly is a miracle.”
But when pressed for details, he said he detected “subtle differences” in Rylea’s optic nerve after her return from China. Asked if he would characterize her progress as incremental, he said that “might be too optimistic.”

Kent Ninomiya - Get a load of what I found on yahoo health. Diet soda can make you fat? That explains why so many overweight people drink diet soda. Check this out:
One recent study has shown that people who drink diet soda still have a 41 percent chance of being overweight.
What is even more interesting about this research is that these diet-soda drinkers have a greater risk for obesity than do those who drink regular sodas.
How is this possible? It can’t be that the diet sodas are causing obesity, since they contain no calories.
Some researchers believe that the problem with diet sodas is this: When people consume diet drinks, they think they’re doing something “good” for their body — and then they feel free to splurge on other, high-calorie items.
For example, if you are eating at McDonald’s and order a diet soda in place of a regular soda, you may think, “Now I can super-size my meal.” People don’t do this intentionally; it just happens and we don’t pay attention to it — and then the extra pounds slip on board and stow away.
There is also some research that suggests diet sodas may actually stimulate the appetite. This explanation of the relationship between diet sodas and obesity is that the overly sweet taste of diet drinks actually creates a craving for still more sweet things, thus upping calorie consumption.
What then should you do about your drink choices?
First, remember: Everything in moderation. If you are drinking a lot of regular or diet soda each day, decreasing your intake of either may help you lose weight. Also, think about when during the day you drink diet sodas; do you then tend to splurge on other calories?
Although escaping the obesity epidemic isn’t as easy as avoiding diet sodas, you should think about what you drink.

Kent Ninomiya - I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope your 2008 is fullfilling and fruitful. Let’s all treat each other well and work toward peace and harmony. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Over the past week I have eaten enough junk food to last a lifetime. Combine that with an extreme lack of activity and you get an expanding waistline. Sure, I thought about putting down the pie and getting off the couch, but it never amounted to anything. My holiday gift to myself is to take it easy over the holidays. I indulge in extra food and watch more football. I only make a token effort at exercise. I do this knowing that I earned it. I plan ahead and try to work out more before the holidays. I go in slim and come out fat and rested. I also know that I will work extra hard after the holidays to burn off what I gained. Some will say this is a bad cycle but I disagree. The body needs rest now and then. A week of indulgence can kick start any exercise program and heal nagging injuries. It’s also fun to let yourself go for a bit. If you have discipline you can work it off in January. There’s not much else to do in January anyway. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya - Over the past week I have eaten enough junk food to last a lifetime. Combine that with an extreme lack of activity and you get an expanding waistline. Sure, I thought about putting down the pie and getting off the couch, but it never amounted to anything. My holiday gift to myself is to take it easy over the holidays. I indulge in extra food and watch more football. I only make a token effort at exercise. I do this knowing that I earned it. I plan ahead and try to work out more before the holidays. I go in slim and come out fat and rested. I also know that I will work extra hard after the holidays to burn off what I gained. Some will say this is a bad cycle but I disagree. The body needs rest now and then. A week of indulgence can kick start any exercise program and heal nagging injuries. It’s also fun to let yourself go for a bit. If you have discipline you can work it off in January. There’s not much else to do in January anyway. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. My son hates broccoli. I mean he really hates the stuff! However, since everyone else in the family doesn’t mind it and it is very good for you, we tend to eat it often. Making him eat his broccoli involves a combination of incentives, cajoling and threats. It always involves a battle. When we went on vacation for a week I told him that he didn’t have to eat broccoli for the entire vacation IF he promised not to complain about eating it when we returned. He enjoyed his broccoli free week but grimaces every time I remind him that he’s not allowed to complain about consuming it anymore. To his credit he eats it anyway. The other day he proposed something that left speechless. He said since he had to eat broccoli, something he hates, I should have to eat pickles. I hate pickles. His logic is flawless. If he’s suffering why shouldn’t I? The only response I could come up with was “because I’m the Daddy and I’m not eating pickles. Kent Ninomiya

Since I can’t send a Christmas card to everyone, i’d like to use this blog to hand out my best wishes to all of you this holiday season. Thank you all for your support and interest. May you have a happy and fruitful new year as well!
Take care,
Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. I’d like to pause and take a moment to reflect on this holiday season. As I get older I gain a greater understanding of the importance of Christmas as a family experience. Young adults tend to discard the ritual of family gatherings and togetherness for independence. However, once new children enter the equation the holiday regains it’s place. Christmas is all about the children and how their faces light up when they open their gifts. That look is the parents’ gift. There are also important lessons in Christmas. Delayed gratification is perhaps the most torturous of the lessons for kids. Waiting to open gifts is both painful and rewarding for them. Gratitude is another lesson. That’s a tough one. With the bounty of gifts before them it’s hard for children to think about others. They just want the presents. It’s the parent’s job to link the two together. It’s not always an easy task. Of course the most important lesson of all is family. The act of doing everything together is what Christmas is all about. So enjoy the holiday everyone! Merry Christmas! Kent Ninomiya.

Kent Ninomiya. Despite all the warnings and toy regulations we still hear about children hurt and killed by toys over the holidays. Here’s a much needed refresher I found on child toy safety. Dennis Thompson (HealthDay News) — Holiday toys are supposed to surprise and delight. But this year, toys are threatening to cause more worry than joy. Millions of toys made in China have been recalled in recent months by toy companies, many because they were decorated with lead paint. The recalls involve popular brands, including Hot Wheels, Barbie, and Thomas the Tank Engine, among others.
The recalls have also pushed toy safety to the forefront of consumers’ consciousness.
“We are hoping the unprecedented news attention will remind parents to make wise toy choices,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG, a national consumer advocacy group. “There’s nothing new about what happened here, except it was on the front page.”
An estimated 202,300 toy-related injuries were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2005, and there were 20 deaths. Nine of the deaths involved choking or asphyxiation, and the toys included six small balls, a balloon, a bead from a toy horse figurine, and a toy dart, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported.
Lead paint is a more insidious hazard to children, because its toxic effects usually aren’t immediate. Prolonged exposure can affect a child’s mental and physical development, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There is no safe dose,” Mierzwinski said. “Continued exposure makes it worse. Parents must get the lead out of their child’s environment.”
To keep up with toy recalls, whether due to lead content or other safety problems, parents should frequent the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Web site at www.recalls.gov.
Parents should also be careful with any toy, new or old, said Christine Bradley, safety program manager for Prevent Blindness America. “Just because something’s new to the market doesn’t make it necessarily safer,” she said.
And parents should know that just because a toy sits on a store shelf, that doesn’t make it safe. U.S. PIRG reported finding some toys for children under 3 years of age with small parts but no warning label identifying the toys as a potential choking hazard.
Some toys can pose a hazard even if they meet the letter of the law. Last year, two small children suffocated when oversized, plastic toy nails sold with a play tool bench became lodged in their throats, U.S. PIRG said.
Toys containing tiny yet powerful magnets are raising new concerns among safety advocates.
A 2-year-old boy in Redmond, Wash., died in 2005 after ingesting magnets that had fallen out of plastic building blocks that the boy’s 10-year-old brother was playing with. The magnets entered the boy’s small intestine and then connected, twisting his intestine and forcing deadly bacteria into his bloodstream.
“They’re very powerful, tiny little cylinders,” Mierzwinski said. “Several get trapped and can fold the intestine to cause a blockage.”
One of the first things parents should consider when choosing a toy is whether their child is old enough to enjoy it properly.
“You want to buy toys that are age-appropriate and show children how to use them,” Bradley said.
Prevent Blindness America offers these other suggestions:
Read all warnings and instructions on the box.
Avoid toys with sharp or rigid points, spikes, rods or dangerous edges.
Buy toys that will withstand impact and not break into dangerous shards.
Avoid toys that shoot or include parts that fly off.
“Any sort of toy weapon, that’s just got eye injury written all over it,” Bradley said.
Parents also should look for the letters “ASTM” on the toy’s packaging. This means the product meets the national safety standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials.
And parents should take care to keep older children’s toys away from their younger siblings, as their toys can contain small parts or balls that can choke a younger child.
“If you have a child who still mouths things, keep the older child’s small parts away,” Mierzwinski said. “You’ve really got to check your toy chests. Make sure toys belonging to older children are not available to smaller children.”
If giving a riding toy like a scooter or bicycle, parents should make sure they also buy protective gear like helmets and pads, and make sure their kids use them.
Finally, parents should avoid buying one of the most common — yet one of the most dangerous — items on the toy market: latex balloons. Balloons and pieces of broken balloons can block a child’s airway and should never be given to children younger than 8.
“Balloons are a terrible choking hazard,” Mierzwinski said.

Kent Ninomiya. Would you like to eat anything you want and lose weight at the same time? Just try walking. I am serious here. This is no gimmick. I’ve done it myself many times. On an extended trip to Europe I drank real Coke and downed every candy bar and hamburger I could find yet lost nearly 18 pounds. It’s all because I walked everywhere. On a week long visit to Disney World I consumed every fried and sugared item I saw, yet lost 5 pounds. Of course I was on my feet 10-12 hours a day at these times. It’s all about anaerobic exercise. Walking raises metabolism a bit causing you to burn more calories all the time. Without even trying your fat melts away. The catch here is that it’s virtually impossible to force yourself to walk that much. No person in their right mind would continue walking when their legs ached and they’re ready to collapse from exhaustion. However if you are two miles from your hotel with no other way to get there or spending hundreds of dollars a day on a vacation at an amusement park… you will walk. Try it. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya.
Thank you to everyone who wrote to me with words of support. I am back and new posts will appear on my blogs starting tomorrow. Thank you for your backing and patience.
Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya.

I’ve been reading more and more lately about the importance of fathers spending quality and quantity time with their children. I know most of you will say “no kidding” to that advice, but how many of us actually make it their first priority and do it? When I say first priority I mean first. That means preferring time with your kids to time in front of the TV, computer and newspaper. That means being home instead of at work or at the bar. That means running around the playground and wrestling on the ground instead of shooing them away and telling them to go play somewhere else. When you think of it that way, guilt slides in and we realize we all do these things to some degree. The truth is we can all do more to interact with our kids. Of course there are limits. We would all go crazy hanging out with the monsters 24/7. The key is notching up the time without ratcheting up the stress. Primarily it’s making your kids #1 in your life. This is no small task but it’s probably the most important decision you will ever make. Think about it. If you’re not here on Earth to raise quality children why are you here? They are your link to immortality and the greatest reflection of who you were are a person. If you have lousy kids you were probably a lousy person. Why is it that the worst parents ignore or abuse their kids when they’re small then wonder why they are delinquents when they become teenagers? The best parents do a great job and wonder what more they can do. I decided when my kids were born that they were my primary job. When I had to opportunity to take a sabbatical to be with them I jumped at the opportunity. It didn’t help the career but so what. What do money, fame and the adoration of strangers mean when your kids wont come to see you when you’re old? Be sure to live your life deliberately and you wont be surprised by the outcome. Invest the time and effort in your kids now and you will have a wonderful relationship with them when they grow up. If you’re not going to do that then why did you have kids in the first place? You might as well enjoy them.

Kent Ninomiya

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Kent Ninomiya.

I would like to reflect today on the passing of a colleague and friend. All of Chicago and the broadcast news community is saddened to learn of the death of John Drury. I had the privilege of working with John for 5 years at WLS. Despite being the biggest star in town he was always warm and down to earth. He led by example for 50 years exuding class and dignity. He gave me some wonderful advice on excelling in the business that I still rely on today. This from the WLS web site:November 25, 2007 - John Drury, one of Chicago’s most respected and beloved journalists, has died at his home in Wheaton, Illinois, from complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS disease. He was 80-years-old. Before his retirement from ABC 7 Chicago in 2002, Drury anchored the top-rated 10:00 p.m. newscast for 16 years, becoming a fixture in Chicago broadcasting during an iconic career that spanned four decades here. According to ABC7 President and General Manager, Emily Barr, “John was the consummate journalist - driven, passionate about telling the truth and of course, a great communicator. Throughout his 50-year career, viewers trusted him to deliver the news with fairness and accuracy and he never let them down. He was a wonderful, caring man who conducted himself with grace, loved to laugh and always made others feel at ease. All of us who worked with him are richer for having had the opportunity to be his colleague and his friend. We miss him and wish his devoted wife Ann and his family peace.”John’s family released the following statement: “John passed away peacefully this evening at his home surrounded by his family. Not only did he fight ALS, he gave back to the community by raising awareness to this disease. We want to thank everyone who has supported John throughout his career and throughout his battle with ALS.”Born in Peoria, Illinois, on January 4, 1927, Drury was the youngest of fours sons. He grew up during the Depression, in Aurora, Illinois and learned about great storytelling when the family gathered around the radio to listen to Edward R. Murrow. He left West Aurora High School early to enlist in the Navy during World War II. When he returned home from the war he got his first job in radio at a community college and then as a student at the University of Iowa.I will miss John but revel in the memory of what he taught me about being a newsman. Kent Ninomiya

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Kent Ninomiya. Part of working in TV news is working unusual hours. Throughout every journalist’s career they will work holidays, weekends, early mornings, and of course nights. In fact in local news you are at the top of the food chain if you work nights. The “main” show is considered the late news. So imagine my chagrin to read this article by Maria Cheng, AP Medical Writer. LONDON - Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a “probable” cause of cancer. It is a surprising step validating a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark. Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen. The American Cancer Society says it will likely follow. Up to now, the U.S. organization has considered the work-cancer link to be “uncertain, controversial or unproven.”
The higher cancer rates don’t prove working overnight can cause cancer. There may be other factors common among graveyard shift workers that raise their risk for cancer.
However, scientists suspect that overnight work is dangerous because it disrupts the circadian rhythm, the body’s biological clock. The hormone melatonin, which can suppress tumor development, is normally produced at night.
If the graveyard shift theory eventually proves correct, millions of people worldwide could be affected. Experts estimate that nearly 20 percent of the working population in developed countries work night shifts.
Among the first to spot the night shift-cancer connection was Richard Stevens, a cancer epidemiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In 1987, Stevens published a paper suggesting a link between light at night and breast cancer.
Back then, he was trying to figure out why breast cancer incidence suddenly shot up starting in the 1930s in industrialized societies, where nighttime work was considered a hallmark of progress. Most scientists were bewildered by his proposal.
But in recent years, several studies have found that women working at night over many years were indeed more prone to breast cancer. Also, animals that have their light-dark schedules switched develop more cancerous tumors and die earlier.
Some research also suggests that men working at night may have a higher rate of prostate cancer.
Because these studies mostly focused on nurses and airline crews, bigger studies in different populations are needed to confirm or disprove the findings.
There are still plenty of skeptics. And to put the risk in perspective, the “probable carcinogen” tag means that the link between overnight work and cancer is merely plausible.
Among the long list of agents that are listed as “known” carcinogens are alcoholic beverages and birth control pills. Such lists say nothing about exposure amount or length of time or how likely they are to cause cancer. The American Cancer Society Web site notes that carcinogens do not cause cancer at all times.
Still, many doubters of the night shift link may be won over by the IARC’s analysis to be published in the December issue of the journal Lancet Oncology.
“The indications are positive,” said Vincent Cogliano, who heads up the agency’s carcinogen classifications unit. “There was enough of a pattern in people who do shift work to recognize that there’s an increase in cancer, but we can’t rule out the possibility of other factors.”
Scientists believe having lower melatonin levels can raise the risk of developing cancer. Light shuts down melatonin production, so people working in artificial light at night may have lower melatonin levels.
Melatonin can be taken as a supplement, but experts don’t recommend it long-term, since that could ruin the body’s ability to produce it naturally.
Sleep deprivation may be another factor in cancer risk. People who work at night are not usually able to completely reverse their day and night cycles.
“Night shift people tend to be day shift people who are trying to stay awake at night,” said Mark Rea, director of the Light Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, who is not connected with the IARC analysis.
Not getting enough sleep makes your immune system vulnerable to attack, and less able to fight off potentially cancerous cells.
Confusing your body’s natural rhythm can also lead to a breakdown of other essential tasks. “Timing is very important,” Rea said. Certain processes like cell division and DNA repair happen at regular times.
Even worse than working an overnight shift is flipping between daytime and overnight work.
“The problem is re-setting your body’s clock,” said Aaron Blair, of the United States’ National Cancer Institute, who chaired IARC’s recent meeting on shift work. “If you worked at night and stayed on it, that would be less disruptive than constantly changing shifts.”
Anyone whose light and dark schedule is often disrupted — including frequent long-haul travelers or insomniacs — could theoretically face the same increased cancer risk, Stevens said.
He advises workers to sleep in a darkened room once they get off work. “The balance between light and dark is very important for your body. Just get a dark night’s sleep.”
Meanwhile, scientists are trying to come up with ways to reduce night workers’ cancer risk. And some companies are experimenting with different lighting, seeking a type that doesn’t affect melatonin production.
So far, the color that seems to have the least effect on melatonin is one that few people would enjoy working under: red.

So I could actually argue that a night shift is bad for my health, though I doubt any news directors would buy it. It at least gives journalists one more thing to whine about. Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya

I officially give up on Bionic Woman. Like many of my generation, I had high hopes for this 70’s rehash. It’s produced by the same people who did an admirable job on Battlestar Galactica, so naturally I expected the same effort. Instead it appears they didn’t make any effort at all. The actress portraying Jamie Summers, while attractive, does a poor job convincing us that she has any motivation. The scripts are weak and go nowhere. The point of the show is that this woman is bionic, but they don’t showcase her abilities at all. I have no idea why she’s a spy now and they spend way too much time pursuing a pointless romance. I imagine they’re trying to attract female viewers but it’s at the cost of the core male audience. They completely dropped the initial story line involving the other bionic woman and the father of her dead fiance. That held promise but they lost their way. I am now just waiting for the cancellation ax to fall and put a merciful end to this failed experiment. Still, I’m hoping they’ll come to their senses and get back to basics before it’s too late.

Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya

According to my daughter these are the top five Disney princesses:

1)  Sleeping Beauty
2)  Snow White
3)  Cinderella
4)  Ariel
5)  Belle

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Kent Ninomiya - List of the best Quentin Tarantino films

1)  Kill Bill 1
2)  Resevoir Dogs
3)  Desperado
4)  Kill Bill 2
5)  Pulp Fiction

What do you think?
Kent Ninomiya

Kent Ninomiya. I would like to reflect today on the passing of a colleague and friend. All of Chicago and the broadcast news community is saddened to learn of the death of John Drury. I had the privilege of working with John for 5 years at WLS. Despite being the biggest star in town he was always warm and down to earth. He led by example for 50 years exuding class and dignity. He gave me some wonderful advice on excelling in the business that I still rely on today. This from the WLS web site:November 25, 2007 - John Drury, one of Chicago’s most respected and beloved journalists, has died at his home in Wheaton, Illinois, from complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS disease. He was 80-years-old. Before his retirement from ABC 7 Chicago in 2002, Drury anchored the top-rated 10:00 p.m. newscast for 16 years, becoming a fixture in Chicago broadcasting during an iconic career that spanned four decades here. According to ABC7 President and General Manager, Emily Barr, “John was the consummate journalist - driven, passionate about telling the truth and of course, a great communicator. Throughout his 50-year career, viewers trusted him to deliver the news with fairness and accuracy and he never let them down. He was a wonderful, caring man who conducted himself with grace, loved to laugh and always made others feel at ease. All of us who worked with him are richer for having had the opportunity to be his colleague and his friend. We miss him and wish his devoted wife Ann and his family peace.”John’s family released the following statement: “John passed away peacefully this evening at his home surrounded by his family. Not only did he fight ALS, he gave back to the community by raising awareness to this disease. We want to thank everyone who has supported John throughout his career and throughout his battle with ALS.”Born in Peoria, Illinois, on January 4, 1927, Drury was the youngest of fours sons. He grew up during the Depression, in Aurora, Illinois and learned about great storytelling when the family gathered around the radio to listen to Edward R. Murrow. He left West Aurora High School early to enlist in the Navy during World War II. When he returned home from the war he got his first job in radio at a community college and then as a student at the University of Iowa.I will miss John but revel in the memory of what he taught me about being a newsman. Kent Ninomiya

Over the past 20 years Kent Ninomiya has worked for television stations across the country as a news anchor, reporter and news executive. His career covers the West Coast, East Coast and places in between. Besides his work in broadcast journalism, Kent Ninomiya is also an avid traveler and writer. He has visited 90 countries and regions on all 7 continents as well as all 50 states. Kent Ninomiya is also a devout family man and father to two young children.Kent Ninomiya was born and raised in California. He was graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where he received a BA in Social Sciences with an emphasis on History, Political Science and Mass Communications.Ninomiya’s television career started behind the scenes working and interning for KTVU in Oakland, KGO in San Francisco, and the Washington D.C. bureau of CNN.Kent Ninomiya’s first on air job was as an assignment editor-reporter for WGGB, the ABC television station in Springfield, Massachusetts. He then moved on anchor morning cut-ins and report for KIEM, the NBC television station in Eureka, California.Ninomiya later reported and was a fill-in anchor for KJEO the CBS television station in Fresno, KFSN the ABC television station in Frenso, KGTV the ABC television station in San Diego, and WLS the ABC television station in Chicago.Kent Ninomiya returned to KGO in San Francisco as the weekday 5am - 7am anchor. He later anchored weekend evenings for KCOP in Los Angeles. While there, KCOP became part of a duopoly with LA’s FOX station KTTV. Ninomiya filed reports for both stations.Kent Ninomiya was named primary news anchor for KSTP in Minneapolis-St Paul in 2003. Ninomiya was the first full blooded Asian American male to be a primary news anchor in the United States. His pairing with Harris Faulkner, an African American female, was heralded as a bold step forward by journalist organizations.

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