Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/82612
Wednesday, September 12, 2012 – Daily News FEATURES Gelatin won't make stronger fingernails TOR K: My fin- gernails chip and split a lot. Is there anything I can do to make them stronger? I've heard eating gelatin can help. DEAR READ- ER: Misconcep- tions about finger- nails are common, and so are remedies claiming to make your nails better. But like it or not, there's relatively little you can do to change the overall health of your nails. It's a myth that eating gelatin will encourage healthy, longer nails. I can see where the myth start- ed. Gelatin is made of processed collagen. Colla- gen is an important pro- tein; it provides strength and elasticity to skin, car- tilage, tendons, ligaments and other body parts. So someone figured that brit- tle fingernails needed more collagen. There are two problems with that line of reason- ing. First, the collagen you eat gets digested in your gut. More important, your fingernails are not made up of collagen; they're made up of ker- atin. Although it's also a structural protein, keratin is unrelated to gelatin. That's why eating gelatin or soaking your nails in it will not affect your nails in any way. It's also unlikely that your nails are unhealthy due to inadequate dietary protein or other missing nutrients. My skin-spe- cialist colleagues tell me that the culprit behind brittle nails is usually dehydration. This may result from living in a dry climate or from frequent use of nail polish remover. Moisturizers can help — but supplements and diet won't. DEAR DOC- Nail growth slows after age 20. Most people notice that their finger- nails tend to become more brittle and thinner with age. Some people have faster-growing nails than others, and some people are able to grow long and strong nails while others can't. To help keep Dr. K by Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. injury. Wear gloves if you are performing manual labor. — Protect fin- gernails from nails regularly to keep them short and smoothly rounded at the tips. nails. — Don't bite your — Apply moisturizer to your hands and nails while they're wet. your fingernails healthy: — Trim your — Use a nail hardener or clear polish to strength- en the nails. — Limit use of nail polish remover to twice a month to avoid excessive nail dryness, which can make them brittle. — If you get mani- cures, stick with reputable nail salons that sterilize instruments. Better yet, bring your own. Dear Annie: My wife's sister and her husband moved in with my mother- in-law 30 years ago. Mom was the sole caregiver until age limited her ability, and then government aid allowed for home assis- tance. Mom supported them while my brother-in- law spent every dime on alcohol and toys. When Mom died two years ago, my sister-in-law ended up in a nursing home. My brother-in-law is in bankruptcy and has done nothing to plan for his wife's needs. My wife owns the house, although there is a lien on it from the state because of the aid my sis- ter-in-law received. My wife and I cannot manage the responsibility or expense of maintaining the home, and we'd like to sell it and pay back the state. Four months ago, we informed my brother-in-law that we will be putting it up for sale. But he has not moved out. In fact, he says his lawyer told him he can drag it out for a year. Annie's Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar but understand that there is only so much you can do if your brother-in- law is unwilling to help himself. Dear Annie: I'd like to see my children wait until marriage before having sex, but I realize that proba- bly will not happen. I want to be able to advise my children correctly, so here are my questions: What is the age of consent? And if two 15- year-olds are intimate and caught, are both punished the same? Under the current system, a 17- Long ago, when I was in medical training, I had a patient who suffered from many different "important" diseases. She had heart failure, her kid- neys were not working well, years of smoking had caused emphysema of her lungs, and she had trouble walking because of severe arthritis in her hips. The treatments available at that time were only partially effec- tive. I asked her how she had been doing, and I was startled when she replied: "I've got no complaints, doctor, except can you do something about my nails?" I learned that if a medical condition is important to a patient, it doesn't matter if it's not on my list of "important" diseases — it should be important to me. Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. To send questions, go to AskDoctorK.com, or write: Ask Doctor K, 10 Shattuck St., Second Floor, Boston, MA 02115. The Sierra Club, Yahi Group • Saturday, Sept. 22 – Upper Park Ecological Reserve As bad as my brother-in-law is, I still feel some compassion for him, although I do not feel we are responsible for him. His bad deci- sions and inability to plan are his own fault. I have held onto the letter informing him to vacate the house. I need help with licking the stamp so we can move on. — C. Dear C.:You can hire a lawyer to have your brother-in-law evicted Program • September Program - The Great Gray Owl pre- sented by Josh Hull. Mon- day, Sept. 17, 6:30 p.m., Chico Creek Nature Center. The Great Gray Owl exists in low numbers in the Sierra Nevada and is listed as endangered by the State of California. These owls live in mid and high-elevation forests and meadow sys- tems in and around Yosemite National Park. Although a highly charis- matic species, much of the life history and ecology of these secretive remains a mystery. In order to advance conservation efforts, a team of agency and academic scientists has been studying the Great Gray Owls of the Sierra Nevada. Josh Hull will be presenting some of the recent evolutionary and eco- logical findings from this work. Hike. We'll hike from the green gate down into the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve and have lunch by flow- ing Big Chico Creek. Bring lunch, water and footwear with tread. A 5-6 mile hike with a 500' climb at the end. Meet at Chico Park & Ride at 9 a.m. Rain cancels. Leader: Alan, 891-8789 or ajmendoza@prodigy.net. Unless otherwise noted, trips are free and open to the public and begin at the trailhead. For more infor- mation contact Wayland Augur at 519-4724 or email wba@acm.org or visit http://www.motherlode.sierra- club.org/yahi/outing.htm. year-old boy could have consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend and go to jail. The boy is branded for life as a sex offender. I think these laws are outdated and need to be modified. — Ellen in Florida Dear Ellen: The age of consent more quickly, but it sounds as if you are reluctant to do that. However, unless you are willing to let him stay indefinitely, you both are only postponing the inevitable. Talk to your brother-in-law calmly, and find out what his future plans are. Ask how you can help him move into more man- ageable accommodations. Suggest he contact AA (aa.org). Do as much as you can to ease your conscience, 3B Irresponsible brother-in-law dragging his feet the number of years between them, etc. The underage partner is not punished, and if both kids are 15, neither is punished unless there was coercion. These laws were intended to pro- tect children from predatory adults, although we agree that a distinction should be made for teenagers who have consensual sex with their boyfriends and girlfriends. Until then, however, please be sure your children understand the risks and urge them to be careful. Dear Annie: The letter from ''Sad Wife'' resonated with me. For years, my husband could not hold a decent job. I realized, after he was fired from his last job, that I didn't believe in him. When he asked me, with tears in his eyes, whether I would divorce him, I decided to have complete faith. From that point forward, I truly believed he would be successful. I stayed positive, encouraging and kept him motivated. Within months, he had two amazing job offers. Now he has a great career, and our relationship is stronger than ever. Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are right. — Proud Wife Annie's Mailbox is written by varies by state and falls somewhere between 16 and 18. You can find this information on the Internet sim- ply by typing ''age of consent by state'' into your search engine. The punishment also varies by state and depends on the age of the older part- ner, the age of the younger partner, Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Altacal Audubon program and field trip activities Field Trips birds • Sept. 21 - 23, Friday – Sunday - Point Reyes National Seashore - Point Reyes National Seashore is well-known for its excellent birding. The seashore and surrounding areas offer many different habitats from grasslands, estuaries, and coastal scrub to forests. The projection of the Point Reyes peninsula some 10 miles seaward from the "mainland" makes Point Reyes National Seashore a landing spot for many vagrants - birds that may have made errors in naviga- tion and thus are unexpect- ed in this area. Each fall these vagrants seek out rest- ing spots along the peninsu- la on their way south. Some of these rarities have includ- ed Black-throated Blue Warbler, American Red- start, White-throated Spar- row, Palm Warbler and Pro- thonotary Warbler. We will visit these vagrant traps (resting spots), such as the Fish Docks, the lighthouse rocks and cliff areas, Abbott's Lagoon, Tomales Bay, Drake's Beach, Bear Valley, Olema Marsh and the famous historic ranches along the way. We will camp Friday and Saturday night at Olema RV Resort and Campground. Please contact Jennifer at 530-345- 9356 or jpchico@sbcglob- al.net if you are interested in going. Trip is limited to 12. All programs and activi- ties are free of cost unless otherwise indicated and are open to the public. For more information call Wayland Augur at 530-519-4724 or email wba@acm.org or visit http://www.altacal.org. Every picture tells a story. Josh Hull works with the US Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice in Sacramento on endangered species recov- ery and is also an Adjunct Professor at UC Davis. In addition to his work with Great Gray Owls, Josh is involved with several other raptor research projects including an examination of North American Merlins and raptor banding in the Marin Headlands. http://dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com Visit dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com throughout the day. News • Sports • Entertainment • Best Images of the Day See photojournalism at its best. Bookmark dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com today. http://dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com/ If every picture is worth a thousand words, the dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com Media Center will take your breath away. Filled with images from across America and the globe, our Media Center is constantly updated to showcase the best in photojournalism. Bookmark dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com today and see the world in a whole new way. DAILYNEWS dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY http://dfm-ssp.medianewsgroup.com