Women’s pelvic health
American women born between 1946 and 1964 aren’t doing enough to guard against serious pelvic health problems, according to a new report which says one-third of all baby-boomer women — some 35 million — will be treated for a pelvic health problem before they reach age 60.
A study by the National Women’s Health Resource Center indicated that many aging women silently suffer because they are reluctant to consult a physician due to lack of education and stigmas associated with conditions that include heavy menstrual bleeding, uterine fibroids, stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.
The report indicates these conditions can be traced to a variety of factors – pregnancy, childbirth and genetic factors.
Another unsettling problem is that many female baby boomers are under- or misdiagnosed for pelvic problems because they are hesitant to talk to their doctors, the report noted.
However, maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle can significantly help with pelvic problems, and understanding the risks, symptoms and treatment options are vitally important. For more information, use this Web site: www.WhatsGoingonDownThere.com.
Jim Killackey, medical writer
News quiz
How closely have you been reading the news lately? Here’s a chance to test your recall:
1. Money raised at the July 1 Freedom Celebration at Crossroads Church will go to what cause?
a) African missions
b) Vietnam veterans
c) World War II memorial
d) USS Oklahoma memorial
2. Representatives of what government reached a cease-fire with Shiite rebels in a three-year fight that has claimed 4,000 lives this year?
a) Albania
b) Yemen
c) Lebanon
d) Israel
3. A Miami, OK, man was taking pictures of high water on what river when a wave knocked him off a ledge and swept him 15 miles away before his rescue?
a) Oklahoma River
b) Illinois River
c) Grand River
d) Mississippi River
4. Angel Cabrera won his first PGA event with his victory in the U.S. Open. What country does the golfer hail from?
a) Argentina
b) Bolivia
c) Bosnia-Herzegovina
d) Honduras
5. Police said a woman who robbed an Edmond store owner was accompanied by what?
a) Two men
b) Two children
c) Two dogs
d) Two cats
6. A museum devoted to a historical figure received several new items, including a stovepipe hat and bloodstained gloves. The figure in question is:
a) Attila the Hun
b) Abraham Lincoln
c) David Palmer
d) Rich Uncle Pennybags
7. The government in Iran criticized Great Britain for knighting whom?
a) George W. Bush
b) Mick Jagger
c) Keira Knightley
d) Salman Rushdie
8. Nine men were killed here fighting a blaze in a furniture store, the nation’s largest loss of firefighters since Sept. 11, 2001.
a) Charleston, S.C.
b) Charleston, Ill.
c) Charleston, W. Va.
d) Charlestown, R.I.
9. What will be built on the property in Tulsa where the once-fabled Camelot Hotel stood?
a) Dry cleaning store
b) Convenience store
c) Grocery store
d) Liquor store
10. What does China plan to build on Mount Everest?
a) A television antenna
b) A microwave tower
c) A paved highway
d) A theme park
11. Oklahoma City will spend $20 million more on improvements at State Fair arena and horse barns. Where does the money come from?
a) Horse tax
b) Horseshoe tax
c) Horse fly tax
d) Hotel tax
12. What caused Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer to temporarily suspend its rail service?
a) A strike by United Transportation Union members
b) Flooding in northern Texas
c) Passengers demanded to ride on buses
d) Rebuilt EMD F40PH diesels had not arrived
13. What did President Bush receive as Father’s Day presents?
a) Travel books by T. E. Lawrence
b) Two copies of “West Wing” scripts signed by Martin Sheen
c) Ties and a CD
d) The DVD “King of the Hill Season 6” and the book “The History of Austin City Limits”
14. Guthrie’s Carnegie Library has a problem with feeding some longtime tenants. Who are they?
a) Book borrowers eating in the cafeteria.
b) Termites, gnawing on the kitchen walls.
c) Employees, who make too little to pay for groceries.
d) Visitors who come to look at the architecture.
15. JamesOn Curry has decided to leave OSU for:
a) The NBA draft
b) The ESPN draft
c) OU, he’d rather wear crimson
d) Home, he’s tired of school and would rather deliver pizzas than take another algebra course.
16. The Vatican released a “Ten Commandments” dealing with what issue?
a) Rules for motorists on how to behave behind the wheel
b) Rules on when the Mass may be celebrated in Latin
c) A guide on bingo games in parish halls
d) Relationship between Catholics and followers of non-Christian faiths
17. Which country singer was arrested in McClain County on drug possession charges?
a) Garth Brooks
b) Toby Keith
c) Johnny Rodriguez
d) Glen Campbell
18. Two college students, believed to be overexuberant fans of “The Simpsons,” stole a life-sized statue of Homer Simpson from in front of a movie theater in what city on the day before the premiere of the big-screen version of the family comedy.
a) Hollywood, Calif.
b) Austin, Texas
c) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
d) London, England
19. The Federal Drug Administration has approved for public use a device called by its maker the “electronic nurse,” which will do what?
a) Administer high colonics
b) Wake the patient during the night to take pills
c) Administer back rubs
d) Dole out drugs on schedule and in correct doses
20. A British psychologist says he has the formula to prove June 22 was what?
a) The longest day
b) The shortest day
c) The saddest day
d) The happiest day
Answers:
1-d; 2-b; 3-c; 4-a; 5-b; 6-b; 7-d; 8-a; 9-b; 10-c; 11-d; 12-b; 13-c; 14-b; 15-a; 16-a; 17-c; 18-c; 19-d; 20-d; 21-c; 22-d
Week in review
In case you haven’t been able to keep up with all the news lately, this is your chance to catch up. Here’s a quick look at top stories from the past week or so:
As hundreds gathered in Memorial Park in Oklahoma City to kick of a week of gay pride events, many in attendance took a moment on what was the 20th year of gay pride events in the city to talk about how much more responsive the city has become to gay culture. This was the 20th year of gay pride events in the city.
Nearly $300,000 was raised at an Oklahoma City fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, an organizer of the event said.
The identification cards of two American soldiers missing since an attack on their unit in May were found in an al-Qaida safe house north of Baghdad.
District Attorney Mike Nifong will be disbarred for his prosecution of three Duke University lacrosse players falsely accused of rape, a North Carolina State Bar disciplinary committee decided.
A 5-year-old Oklahoma City boy missing for almost a day was found unharmed hiding inside a car.
The death toll in a drag racing accident in Selmer, Tenn., climbed to six.
In the deadliest Taliban attack since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, a suicide blast in Kabul destroyed a bus and killed 35 people and injured at least 50.
Torrential rains in northern Texas and southern Oklahoma inundated homes and businesses. In Texas, five people died in the flooding.
U.S. and Iraqi forces began major military operations to the north and south of Baghdad. Iraqi security forces were in the lead, backed by U.S. troops.
A Milwaukee police officer agreed to plead guilty to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen for taking his dead cousin’s identity as a teenager. Oscar Ayala-Cornejo, 24, also agreed to resign from the police force and be deported.
An experimental treatment for Parkinson’s disease seemed to improve symptoms without causing side effects in an early study of a dozen patients.
The Environmental Protection Agency proposed tightening smog standards for the first time in a decade, a move that could force Oklahoma to develop a plan to reduce ozone levels in several counties in the state.
A day after their helicopter crashed, officials with KOTV Channel 6 in Tulsa said they hope to have a new helicopter in the sky by early 2008.
Speaking at the Pentagon, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the surge of American troops in Iraq is going to mean more fighting against insurgents and that would result in more U.S. casualties.
Higher than expected hotel tax revenues led the Oklahoma City Council to approve spending $20 million more on improvements at the State Fair Arena and horse barns.
The historic Camelot Hotel in Tulsa, vacant for at least 10 years, will be demolished to make way for a QuikTrip store, which the company plans to open in time for its 50th anniversary next year.
The city council in Ada voted down a request to rezone land near the Pontotoc County Agri-Plex where the new county jail is supposed to be built.
Former Oklahoma State University basketball standout Byron Houston was charged with indecent exposure, which could carry a penalty of life in prison because he has three prior convictions for indecent exposure.
Southside Oklahoma City businessman Kenneth Ray White, who founded Resthaven Cemetery and Mausoleums and was one of the founders of Southwestern Bank and Co., died at age 93.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department made its Critical Incident Stress Management Program and honor guard available to Charleston, S.C., after nine firefighters there were killed fighting a fire in a furniture warehouse.
U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin’s first bill in Congress, a measure requiring more accountability for federal grants given to support women’s business centers, was approved by the House and now goes to the Senate for a vote.
Associated Wholesale Grocers announced it purchased 23 grocery stores in Oklahoma from Albertsons for an undisclosed price.
China plans to build a highway on the side of Mount Everest to ease the Olympic torch’s journey to the peak of the world’s tallest mountain before the 2008 Beijing Games. The 67-mile highway would go from the foot of the mountain to a base camp at 17,060 feet.
The former judge in the Kelsey Smith-Briggs case has written a book and said at a news conference he stands behind his decision to return the abused child to her mother four months before the 2-year-old died.
A leading council of the nation’s largest doctors’ group wants to have video game “addiction” classified as a psychiatric disorder, to raise awareness and enable “sufferers” to get insurance coverage for treatment.
A computerized pill box that doles out patients’ drugs on schedule and in the correct doses received approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
USAO to represent Oklahoma in national robot race
Led by Dr. John K. Johnson, a team representing the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha hopes to compete in the third Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Grand Challenge using a completely autonomous vehicle.
Johnson is a scientist and teaches computer science at USAO.
The grand challenge is designed to have hand-modified robotic vehicles traverse through 60 miles of city streets and interact with traffic and signals while obeying state driving laws without the help of a human driver or global positioning system. It’s part of a mandate established by United State Congress calling for 400,000 robot-driven military vehicles on the road by 2015.
DARPA representatives will be in Chickasha on June 27 to evaluate USAO’s team. USAO is the only university in Oklahoma that applied for the Urban Challenge.
Fifty-three teams have been selected to receive site visits this month. Site visits are vehicle capability tests attended by DARPA officials. DARPA will select semi-finalists based on each vehicle’s performance at the site visit and an assessment of the team’s technical paper.
If selected, USAO’s team — called Team Nova — will compete in the Urban Challenge on Nov. 3.
The winning team receives $2 million. Second place receives $1 million and third place receives $500,000.
Team Nova has started the conversion process of a 2002 Ford Escape. Team members have gutted the vehicle’s interior and installed equipment racks, hardware for operating steering, gas, brakes, cameras, sonar equipment and laser radar.
Team Nova is comprised of a crew hand-picked by Johnson. Each member is a USAO current student or recent graduate.
Nearly 200 teams across the world applied for the Urban Challenge, with 89 making the first cut.
“Johnson’s extraordinary research and his long commitment to classroom teaching and involving students at every level is an amazing story. (Team Nova’s) selection by DARPA isn’t surprising and its work has gained national attention before. Its breakthrough research is taking place Oklahoma’s public liberal arts college; not at a research giant. That’s amazing,” USAO President John Feaver said.
Team Nova vehicle and crew
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Highway safety ideas sought
Oklahomans have an opportunity to share their concerns and present ideas about highway safety issues that could be included in Oklahoma’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan under a project spearheaded by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
The plan is required by the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The act requires states to have a strategic plan in place by Sept. 30 to improve highway safety.
The project’s goal is to identify Oklahoma’s key safety needs so officials can reduce highway fatalities and serious injuries 20 percent by 2015 compared to 2004 figures.
“These are ambitious goals that will only be achieved if all Oklahomans work together. This will help focus efforts on areas that will make the greatest impact,” said Dawn Sullivan, the state Transportation Department’s planning and research director.
Officials will focus on four areas: young drivers, lane departures, unsafe driver behaviors and intersections.
The strategic highway safety team is comprised of nearly six dozen people representing 44 state, federal, local and tribal governments, along with industry and other groups.
Ideas and concerns may be mailed to Terry Jessup, ODOT Planning and Research Division, 200 NE 21, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 or e-mailed to tjessup@odot.org.
The submission deadline is June 30.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Summer is for learning, too
Vielka McFarlane, long-time educator and founder of Celerity Educational Group, offers six tips for keeping children busy this summer.
“You have to motivate and stimulate their minds and bodies. You have to provide them with choices and opportunities to expand on the classroom knowledge they gained during the year,” McFarlane said.
McFarlane said how children are kept busy depends on their developmental stage and grade level.
McFarlane’s tips:
— Build. Have children build a kite, bird house, boat or LEGO structure. Building accesses spatial temporal reasoning and improves fine motor skills. More importantly, most kids get absorbed in the process of creation.
— Cook. Have children help in the kitchen or become chefs for the day. Cooking utilizes reading skills, math skills and basic judgment. The finished product will produce pride and self-confidence. It also gives parents a mini-vacation.
— Chess and Scrabble. Chess accesses math and sequencing skills. It’s an excellent way of keeping your child’s mind active and quick. Many public libraries have chess clubs that meet so children would have the opportunity to compete. Scrabble is an excellent way of building a child’s vocabulary and perfecting their dictionary skills. Parents can also compete with their child to keep their skills agile.
— Art. Summer art projects can be great for keeping children busy. Get them outside have them work on landscapes paintings or drawing. Have them work on a found art project. Looking for components for their project can become a treasure hunt. The art supplies parents provide can be minimal. The point is to give them ideas for their creation.
— Write. Activate a child’s story telling abilities by reading them a portion of a story and having them finish the story in their own words. Younger children can also illustrate their stories. Writing flexes the entire brain and is beneficial for a child’s development and success in school.
— Take a tour. Taking tours can be fun and educational for children and parents. Contact a newspaper or television station and ask about arranging a tour. Learn about the inner workings of the media industry. Go to a museum or see an art exhibit find out exactly how art imitates life. Take a trip to the zoo and take in the sites and sounds of the wildlife. Spend a day in another world while experiencing life first hand.
McFarlane said the aforementioned ideas may seem basic but they utilize key mental and physical skills.
“The best way to keep a kid busy is to get them absorbed in a task and to almost trick them into learning. These six tips, with some preparation on your part, can keep a child active all summer and get them primed for the school year,” McFarlane said.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Just Rewards
I took a journalism “shadow” with me on an assignment yesterday. Nikolett Anneler, from Ninnekah, will be a freshman at the University of Oklahoma this fall. This summer she’s taking part in a camp with the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism. As part of the camp, she came to The Oklahoman for the afternoon to shadow a working journalist — me.
She didn’t realize it when she volunteered to go with me that she was in for a treat.
First, though, I made her suffer.
I drove her out to Luther to the Must Love Dogs Animal Rescue. I was warned the property, at the end of a dirt road, might be muddy, and that there would be 11 dogs on hand to great us. Poor Nikolett. Thinking she needed to put on a professional appaerance, she showed up in business clothes — nice blazer, slacks and pumps. She kindly volunteered to go with me, though. First we found her some rubber boots. I figured paper towels would have to do to take care of any dog slobber.
Thankfully, there was no mud, and the dogs were either in cages or in the house, so we didn’t even have any slobber, jumping or scratching. The downside was the heat. The themometer in the car said 93-degrees, but it felt more like 114 on the porch where we conducted our interview.
After I made Nikolett sweat for a good 30 minutes, I rewarded her by letting her take part in another assignment I’ve given myself for the summer — the great snow cone search.
It’s my goal to try as many snow cone flavors as I can over the summer. So Nikolett and I stopped at Scooby Cones on Memorial Road in Edmond on our way back to the office. There, the operator talked Nikolett into trying a “Liger,” something he convinced us was better than a Tiger’s Blood. Sure enough, it was pretty darn good. He wouldn’t tell us the “secret Scooby formula” but it tasted like a cross between an orange and cherry lifesaver. Thanks, Nikolett, for letting me taste your snow cone. I, on the other hand, got a passion fruit — very yummy.
Hey, real work requires real rewards.
Tricia Pemberton
Staff Writer
June 21 is the best day of the year
When I was younger, June 21 was always the best day of the year. It was the day each year when I received presents and a jellybean cake with candles topped with tiny flames. Yes, the anniversary of my arrival in this world is momentous, but I keep finding more and more reasons why June 21 is the best day of the year.
June 21 is widely known as the summer solstice. Essentially, June 21 is the first day of summer, but this is also the day where the earth soaks in the most sunlight. In Oklahoma City, the sun should rise at about 6:15 a.m. and will set around 8:49 p.m., according to the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department, where you can calculate any day’s sunrise and sunset at http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl.
For those of us who are naturally sunshiney, a full day of natural light much makes us even more chipper.
But if the summer solstice isn’t enough to make June 21 the best day of the year, tomorrow is also All-Couples Day. Never fear, single people: this is not the day of year where you must find a date to go to Red Lobster or you’ll be publicly shunned. Rather, it is ritualistically the day where young, unmarried women can find their true life-mates.
According to tradition, if a young woman fasted on June 21 and set out a table at midnight with a clean cloth, bread, cheese and ale and waited with her door open, the man she was to marry, or at least his spirit, would enter and feast with her. But I’m not getting my hopes up or leaving my door wide open.
If summer solstice and All-Couples Day aren’t enough to make the 21st of June the best day of year, tomorrow is also Recess at Work Day. Celebrated on the third calendar Thursday of each June, Recess at Work Day encourages businesses to organize a 30-to-90-minute break for their workers. Employees should turn off their computers and cell phones, go outside and do something fun as a group – anything from eating ice cream to playing games of Hopscotch and hide-and-go-seek.
If you don’t believe me, here’s a photo from RecessatWorkDay.com of a member of the American workforce enjoying her recess during last year’s Recess at Work Day.
So four questions remain for you before June 21 arrives:
1) How will you soak up the sun on summer solstice?
2) How will you and your special someone celebrate All-Couples Day? If you are single, do expect to find your true soul mate?
3) Will you invent a fun activity for your coworkers to celebrate Recess at Work Day?
And most importantly, question No. 4:
4) Do you now agree that my birthday is the greatest day of the year?
-Lindsay Goodier, NewsOK.com Editor
Medi Flight goes green at night
Oklahoma City-based Medi Flight is the first medical helicopter service in the state to equip its fleet of helicopters with night vision goggles.
Several Medi Flight pilots have been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to use the state-of-the-art ITT ANVIS-9 Aviator Night Vision Imaging Systems. The other pilots will be certified during the next several weeks.
The United States military uses the same night vision technology.
“Not only do the goggles allow our pilots to fly more safely throughout the night, but they also let them locate and safely land at dark emergency response scenes,” Medi Flight director Marvin McLellan said. “With this advantage we can travel faster, land more quickly and get the patients off the ground and to the appropriate hospital with less delay. In a critical situation speed equals saved lives.”
Medi Flight, in existence for 27 years, conducts more than 5,000 flights a year and 1,500 of those are at night.
“It’s like a little visible green window to let you see through a dark, dark world,” said Bryan Palmer, Medi Flight pilot and program aviation manager. “Safety for our patients, our crew and the first responders at a scene has always been our top priority. The (night goggles) will save and protect lives in Oklahoma.”
Medi Flight’s base is at the Trauma One Center at OU Medical Center. It has satellite bases in Chickasha and Seminole.
Medi Flight has flown more than 4.5 million miles and carried more than 37,000 critically ill and injured patients, officials said.
Frequently asked questions:
How do the night vision goggles work?
Night vision goggles contain an image intensifier tube which senses the smallest amount of light in the night sky using the moon and stars and converts the light energy into electrical energy. The energy exits the tube and passes through a thin small disk called a “microchannel plate.” As electrons bounce off the channels in the plate, more electrons are released resulting in thousands of electrons. Electrons strike the phosphor screen similar to a small television screen, resulting in the release of photons (energy that “glows green”). The small amount of light has been greatly intensified to a visible level of brightness. The user sees the intensified image on the screen.
How far can you see using night vision goggles?
Many factors determine how far a user can see using night vision goggles. Those factors include the type of goggle used, the size of the objects in the viewing area and the level of darkness. Generally, unless goggles are equipped with a special magnification lens, distance is viewed normally. For example, unaided night vision is 20/200 or less. With night vision goggles, vision is 20/20.
How much do night vision goggles cost?
Approximately $12,000 each plus the cost of training, certifications and helicopter cockpit modifications.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
Centennial Grove honors Stanley Draper Jr.
The Greater Oklahoma City Tree Bank recently planted a Centennial Grove along the shoreline of the Oklahoma River in Oklahoma City to honor longtime civic promoter Stanley Draper Jr.
Draper died May 27, 2006. He was 83.
William J. Kopplin, a board member and volunteer for The Tree Bank Foundation, initiated the statewide program to plant Centennial Groves of 100 or more trees by communities and civic organizations in commemoration of the Oklahoma Centennial this year. Groves are planted on public land or land accessible to the public.
Oklahoma City’s Centennial Grove in is one-half mile south of Reno Avenue and east of Pennsylvania Avenue.
David Yost, an Oklahoma City developer and board member of The Tree Bank Foundation, donated trees for the grove and most of the trees were grown on Yost’s tree farm. Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department employees planted trees on property owned by the Oklahoma City Riverfront Redevelopment Authority.
Tree species include Loblolly Pine, Shumard Oak, Eastern Redbud, bald cypress, sycamore, Desert-willow, Goldenrain tree and Lacebark Elm.
“This is a living tribute to Stanley Draper Jr.; a man who loved Oklahoma City deeply and was the heart of The Tree Bank (Foundation),” Yost said. “As founder and executive director of the Oklahoma City All-Sports Association, Stanley advanced athletics in this town. We think a tree grove by the Oklahoma River with its many sporting events and a backdrop of Oklahoma City’s skyline is a perfect venue to honor Stanley.”
Draper served as president of The Tree Bank Foundation for six years and was a member of the organization’s board of director for 17 years.
Organizations interested in planting a grove may call The Tree Bank Foundation at 330-4701, e-mail treebankok@msn.com or visit the Web site www.thetreebank.org.
Two dozen Centennial Groves have been completed, are in progress or are in the planning stages. Fourteen groves are in the Oklahoma City area.
Brian Sargent
Staff Writer
