What a deer's antler can do for your health

Deer antler velvet is a major curative and health-giving ingredient in traditional Chinese herbal medicine. It comes from male deer, moose and elk which grow new antlers every year. But before the cartilaginous antlers are fully calcified or become bony, they develop soft velvety outer layers which are extracted or harvested in some countries. The stags are not harmed and the extraction often involves local anesthesia and some restraints as supervised by licensed veterinarians. The extract is then dried, processed and formulated in energy-boosting dietary supplements in sublingual spray and capsule forms.

Health benefits of deer antler velvet

In traditional Chinese folk medicine, deer velvet antler velvet provide different curative efficacies based on what part of the antler the substance was taken. The upper section of the antler produces a waxy substance used to stimulate growth in children. The middle section is called the blood piece used to cure arthritis in adults. Lastly, the bottom section or the bone piece is used for treating calcium deficiency and geriatric ailments.

This tradition has not escaped modern alternative natural medicine and the extracted deer antler velvet has found a large market following among athletes and bodybuilders for its claimed promises of boosting strength, performance endurance, and hastening the healing of injured muscles, tendons and cartilages.

What makes deer antler velvet special?

Deer antler velvet contains a growth hormone substance called IGF-1 or insulin-like growth factor 1. These growth hormones are bio-synthesized in the brain and liver to regulate body growth. Not enough growth hormones results in dwarfism. Doctors sometimes prescribe these hormones to children with growth problems. However, too much of it could lead to a type of gigantism or acromegaly.

As a growth hormone, several scientific studies have suggested that IGF-1 naturally stimulates protein synthesis and muscle tissue growth which in turn leads to stronger and beefier muscles. In addition, it reduces fatigue and hastens body repair when recovering from injuries. Despite the preliminary nature of these studies, supplements containing IGF-1 have become a favorite among athletes and bodybuilders to improve performance. While IGF-1 is naturally found in some food groups like dairy products and steaks, it is most abundant in deer velvet antlers.

Deer antler velvet supplements are available over the counter and do not require US FDA approval. However, it should be noted that the FDA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the National Football League, Major League Baseball and many other sports associations have banned the use of IGF-1 as an unfair performance boosting drug in itself. But as a diet supplement in the form of sprays and capsules, endocrinologist Alan, Rogol, MD of the University of Virginia said little evidence suggests that deer antler velvet has the same potency as pure IGF-1. To date, using the deer antler velvet supplement may be controversial, but it is allowed among professional and amateur sports associations.

The Basics of Personal Branding

When you want to be noticed, whether to get employment, win an election, create confidence in clients and business partners, or simply attract new friends, you need to advertise yourself. In today's digital age where just about every information one needs can be obtained from the internet, that means crafting an online personal brand to your online presence. You would effectively be selling yourself online.

Branding is a common marketing strategy that positions a product or service in the consciousness of target markets or the public so that it gets the right prominence amidst similar products or services competing to be noticed and bought. Its approach makes little difference when applied to creating the online persona that makes you a winner in the minds of the people you want to reach out to. Since Tom Peters, author of several best selling marketing books in the 80s and 90s, first introduced the term in 1997, online personal branding has become the buzzword among people on the move to claim their right to success in their career, business, and socio-political relationships via the internet.

Know yourself and establish what value you stand for

You can't brand yourself if you are clueless about your worth. Take some time to assess yourself. Your personal brand reflects who you are and what value or worth you can bring to society. It encapsulates more than just the explicit information about your statistics, profession, experience, and education you put on the Web, such as an online resume or a profile in a social networking site like Facebook of LinkedIn. Your personal brand must be able to put all these things to bear on what value you can add to your employer, business partner, or constituent. A realistic assessment of what you can do, what you love to do, what your philosophy is and your insights about what's happening around, and how you can make a difference, creates a compelling persona that can win friends, achieve career advancement, and personal success. You don't have to say it, but your actions online will show.

What this means is that you need to be actively involved online. Not only should you have a social networking presence, but be active in updating it. Having a personal blog site or two is instrumental in crafting an online personal brand, as Tom Peters pointed out. Blogs, especially from Wordpress with your name in the URL, not only creates a permanent online presence, but defines your online personal branding identity with what you post in these blogs. Having one or two about your profession or hobby linked to your Facebook page creates a three-dimensional character behind your name. Guest posting, or putting your insights in other people's blogs that interest you can be just as effective in adding the brand character to your online persona.

Create your unique online presence

You can't very well brand yourself without a unique online presence. What you can do is nail down your identity in a domain name. That means buying your own URL or domain name, like www.johndoe.com. For starters, make a Google search of your name and see what you find. If your name is unique enough, it may land on the first page if you have a Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking accounts. Otherwise, you may find you have several namesakes all over the result pages. This can present an online personal branding problem, like having so many iPhone brands when there's only one that matters. Play around with your name. If you have several namesakes, add your middle initial(s) or spell it out to create a unique domain name for you. Once you have your unique domain name, create your website using conventional tools or use it in Wordpress and Blogspot.

Does your personal brand have to be your name?

Not necessarily. You may have several brands, the same way that Samsung has several cellphone brands like the popular Galaxy brand among them. If you already enjoy brand equity in your name, meaning you are famous or have significant audience following like a newspaper columnist, politician, or celebrity, then by all means, use your name in your URL as your personal brand. If you are also a professional like a doctor, or an engineer, using your own name as a brand is always a good idea. But you don't have to. Corbett Barr of Think Traffic.net suggests having branding identity that is closer to the general topic in your blog. A blog site name can be specific to a project you are doing, such as photography in Africa, or creating dish recipes. And you can have several that focus on any aspect of your life. Even a movie review, if you love movies, can be a blog site. Then just create your personal profile in an "About Us" section.

Get linked from reputable sites.

Having a blog or website creates an online presence but is just the first step in establishing your personal online brand. As they say, no man is an island. Your online personal branding won't amount to much if no one else online bothers to refer to your sites. Just like in a CV or resume, you add credibility with a list of references, having other sites refer or link to your site pages does the same thing. Quite apart from the fact that back-linking is a search engine optimization method to increase traffic to your website, the fact that your site is being linked to by other websites or blogs completes your online personal branding by creating a vote of confidence that adds to the credibility of you personal brand. Just be sure the sites that link or refer to your site are respectable and adds to your worth, not from notorious or pornographic sites.

A skin disorder called psoriasis

A fairly common non-contagious skin disease, psoriasis causes an overproduction of skin cells that rapidly accumulate on the skin surface to form itchy, dry and thick red skin patches that can sometimes be painful and unsightly. The condition can occur anywhere on your skin surface. Etymologically, the name "psoriasis" comes from the Greek words "psora" meaning "itch," and "sis" meaning "action" or "condition."

Types of psoriasis and symptoms

Psoriasis can form skin patches ranging from one to a few spots characterized by dandruff-like scaling, to major eruptions covering large skin areas in severe cases. While psoriasis symptoms may vary among sufferers, they generally include one or a combination of the following:

- Incessant itching that becomes sore or inflamed with scratched;
- Reddened skin patches covered with silvery scales
- Swollen and stiff joints
- Small discolored scaling spots
- Dry and cracked skin that may bleed with the slightest scratch
- Pitted, thickened or ridged nails

There are at least eight major types of psoriasis based on dermatological signs: plaque, inverse, pustular, guttate and erythrodermic, psoriatic arthritis, nail, and scalp psoriasis.

(1) Plaque psoriasis is the most common, characterized by dry, raised, red lesions or plaques topped with silvery scales. Occurring anywhere on your body, including genitals and tissues inside the mouth, the lesions itch, get inflamed or may be painful and in severe cases, the skin adjacent joints may bleed.

(2) Inverse psoriasis is characterized by smooth patches of inflamed reddened skin appearing mainly in the armpits, groin, and skin folds under the breasts and around genitals. It is prevalent among moderate to severely obese people whose skin between skin folds are constantly irritated with friction and sweat.

(3) Pustular psoriasis is relatively uncommon and is characterized by fast developing pus-filled blisters erupting just a few hours after the skin reddens and gets inflamed. The reddened skin may first appear as widespread patches or in limited areas on the hands, feet or fingertips. The blisters dry up eventually in a day or two, but often reappear with some regularity in a matter of days or weeks. Their appearance can also come with severe itching, fatigue, fever, and chills.

(4) Guttate psoriasis mainly affects people below 30 years of ages and is often triggered by bacterial infection like strep throat. The affected skin area is characterized by small, droplet-shaped sores appearing on your arms, legs, trunk, and scalp and are covered with a fine scaly skin, though not as thick as in plaque psoriasis. They can be single outbreaks that eventually goes away without treatment, but may recur repeatedly especially with repeated bouts of infectious respiratory ailments.

(5) Erythrodermic psoriasis is the least common, characterized by red, itchy or burning rashes over the entire body. The condition is often triggered by corticosteroids and other drugs, sunburn or another type of psoriasis that has not been managed.

(6) Psoriatic arthritis is the appearance of inflamed scaly skin and discolored pitted mails associated with swollen painful joints typical of arthritis. If left unmanaged, it could lead to conjunctivitis or other inflammatory eye conditions. The condition may affect any joint with symptoms that range from mild to severe, causing progressive joint damage that could lead to long lasting or permanent deformity.

(7) Nail psoriasis occur on fingernails and toenails, characterized by abnormal nail formation or growth, pitting, and discoloration. In severe cases, psoriatic nails may lead to onycholysis where the nails loosen and fall off from the nail bed.

(8) Scalp psoriasis appears as red, itchy areas with silvery-white scales on the scalp. This condition may initially appear to be dandruff where flakes of dead skin from your scalp fall off on your shoulders after scratching your scalp.

Cause

What triggers psoriasis is not fully understood, but is widely considered among medical circles to be an immune-mediated disease caused by the interaction of the body's immune system with the environment in people with genetic predisposition. The body's immune system, particularly the T lymphocyte or T cell roving the body to detect and fight off bacteria and foreign bodies, mistakes and attacks a normal skin cell like a pathogen and sends out erroneous signals to cause overproduction of new skin cells in an effort to fight infection or heal wounds.

More specifically, the overactive T cells trigger immune responses that include dilation of skin blood vessels and an increase in white blood cells that enter the outer dermal layers. These changes lead to increased production of both healthy skin cells and T cells that create an ongoing cycle where new skin cells move to the outer skin faster than dead skin cells can slough off so that the affect areas develops thick, scaly skin patches. The cycle won't end unless some treatment intervenes to halt or slow the process.

Triggers and risk factors

Psoriasis can be triggered, or if you already have one, worsened with the following factors that you be able to avoid:

- Injury to the skin that involves lacerations as well as severe sunburn and bug bites.
- Stress and oxidative stress which are known to affect the immune system;
- Withdrawal of certain medication such as systemic corticosteroid treatment;
- Prolonged cold or freezing weather;
- Heavy alcohol consumption;
- Smoking which not only increases risk of psoriasis but may worsen its severity;
- Use of certain drugs or medications which include anti-hypertensive drugs like beta blockers, bipolar disease medication such as lithium, as well as iodides and anti-malarial drugs;
- Family history of the diseases; some 40% of those afflicted with psoriasis have at least one other family member similarly afflicted which supports the hypothesis that psoriasis has genetic roots;
- Viral and bacterial infections; people diagnosed with HIV have been observed to be more susceptible than those with healthy immune systems while children with recurring infections such as strep throat have increased risk to psoriasis;
- Obesity increases risk of psoriasis in areas adjacent to skin folds where skin surfaces tend to rub each other when moving.

A scourge to a quality life

Psoriasis is a chronic persistent disease so that you could have weeks or months when its symptoms seem to improve or go into remission, then enter a period when it recurs or worsens. Depending on the type, severity and location of psoriasis, it can be just a simple annoyance for some people, but it can be quite disabling for others, both physically and emotionally. Severe cases can adversely affect the quality of home and work life. Pain and itching can interfere with routine self-care, walking, and sleeping. Plaques on hands can prevent you from performing well at certain jobs, sports or taking care of your kids. People with psoriasis often become self-conscious about their appearance, have poor self-esteem, inadequate sex life, and poor social relations, any of which could lead to emotional distress such as depression and social isolation.

Treating psoriasis

Treating psoriasis generally target two objectives: (1) to interrupt the cycle that leads to overproduction of skin cells, thereby slowing or halting plaque formation and skin inflammation, and (2) to remove existing skin scales and smooth the skin. The treatment can be categorized into three methods: topical treatments, light or phototherapy and systemic medications, but they are not exclusive and depending on the severity, may call for a combined use of two or more therapies.

(1) Topical treatments involve the application of creams and ointments that include topical corticosteroids, Vitamin D analogues such as Calcitrol, Calcipotriene and Anthralin, topical Retinoids such as tazarotine, Calcinerium inhibitors, Salicylic acid, and coal tars. Moisturizers may help soothe inflamed skin but will not treat psoriasis.

(2) Light therapy or phototherapy involves artificial UV light or natural sunlight without overdoing it. Controlled UV phototherapy can treat mild to moderate symptoms of psoriasis. Several variations in the treatment include Goeckerman therapy, Photochemotherapy, Excimer laser, and pulsed dye laser therapies.

(3) Systemic medication involves injected or oral medication that includes the administration of Retinoids, Methotrexate, Cyclosporine, Hydroxyurea, thioguanine, and immunomodulator drugs.

Prognosis

Psoriasis is considered a lifelong disease and there is currently no known single treatment that lasts, but the several medical solutions listed above, taken singly or in combination, have shown their efficacies in providing significant relief from its symptoms. Often the best treatment is coping with psoriasis. This can be a challenge, especially when the skin disorder covers large areas of your body or appears in places readily seen in public. But there are coping mechanisms that make it easier for sufferers to deal with the realities of this ailment. Learning about the disease, finding support groups, altering your lifestyle, undergoing the prescribe treatment regularly, and using make-ups to cover the affected skin can go a long way in coping successfully.

Weight loss through Bariatric Surgery

Introduction

Severely obese persons often cannot be helped with calorie-restricted diet and exercise even when supplemented with non-prescriptive weight loss drugs. Managing obesity can often be done with surgery which is considered the last resort of choice. This drastic solution is called bariatric surgery whose objective is to reduce stomach size and thereby reduce food intake.

The process involves either of two main procedures.[1].

(1) Malabsorptive procedures: reducing stomach size while creating malabsorption by altering how the nourishment is achieved. This has become a rare procedure due to its inherent risks for inducing severe nutritional deficiency.

(2) Restrictive procedures: This involves simply reducing the size of the stomach and the most widely performed bariatric surgery among severely obese patients.

 Who should undergo bariatric surgery?

As a last resort to weight loss, the U.S. National Institutes of Health suggests that obese people with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 suffering co-morbidities like diabetes or heart diseases, and those with BMI of 40 without diagnosed co-morbidities should strongly consider bariatric surgery. Recent medical research suggests that bariatric surgery could be most suitable for obese persons with a BMI of 35 to 40 without co-morbidities or a BMI of 30 to 35 diagnosed with co-morbidities. [1] In addition, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has indicated that bariatric surgery is most suitable for women who are at lest 80 lbs overweight and men who are at least 100 lbs overweight.[5]

Obese persons suffering co-morbidities like diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea can be considered candidates for bariatric surgery. One who is seriously considering it should consult with his or her doctor for the surgical options and a full disclosure of its potential post-surgical complications. [2]

How malabsorptive bariatric surgery works

Biliopancreatic diversion (BPD)

This is complex surgery where part of the stomach is resected to create a smaller pouch and where the distal part of the small intestine bypasses the jejunum and duodenum before being reconnected to the resected stomach pouch. BPD is now rarely performed mostly due to its high risk of complications such as gallstones and several nutritional deficiencies that, without supplementation, could lead to osteoporosis and anemia. [1]

How restrictive bariatric surgery works

A smaller stomach pouch gets full faster, and a feeling of satiation sets in so you eat fewer food portions over a shorter period of time and you lose weight progressively. Restrictive bariatric surgery reduces the size of the stomach through laparoscopic tools is the most popular and often involves the following.

(1) Sleeve gastrectomy

The stomach is surgically reduced to around 15% of its former size and using surgical staples, or sutures or both, leaves the stomach looking like a banana-shaped tube and is irreversible. As the stomach size is reduced, the portion where hormones are produced to stimulate hunger (Ghrelin) is likewise removed and has been shows to be effecting moves patients with a BMI higher than 55. A majority of patients undergoing this surgical process can expect to lose about 30% to 50% of their excess body weight in 6 months to a year. [1]

(2) Adjustable gastric banding

A silicone band that can be inflated with 4 to 12cc of saline solution is placed around the stomach. When inflated, it constricts the stomach to create a smaller stomach pouch at the top section, decreases the size of the passage between this pouch and the lower stomach and slows food passage between the two. Once food is digested in the upper stomach pouch, no further digestion takes place in the lower stomach and the digested simply passes to the intestines. [1]

 The resulting smaller stomach pouch holds about ½ to 1 cup of food while the entire stomach could hold 6 cups. As a reversible and adjustable process, you can expect a few visits back to the surgeon to adjust the band with the injection or suction of saline solution to achieve optimal constriction. The band is tightened or loosened so that hunger is best controlled but not too tight for digested food not to flow freely. [7]

Obese people can expect to lose 33% to 50% of their excess weight after undergoing this procedure and can be achieved slower than with Gastric Bypass surgery over a 3-year period. [6] In addition, gastric banding can be reversed once the obesity is corrected or when the proper BMI is achieved, if the patient so desires. [8].

(3) Gastric Bypass Surgery

The most popular form of gastric bypass surgery is the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass where a small stomach pouch is formed using a stapler device, and connected to the distal small intestine. The upper section of the small intestine is then re-connected to form a Y-shaped configuration. About 140,000 gastric bypass surgery has been done as of 2005 to make it the most widely used bariatric surgery. But its success has been largely due to the stringent post-surgery compliance to a prescribed diet and eating pattern. [1]

Health Benefits

Medical studies have shown that bariatric surgery can cause significant long-term weight loss efficacy, recovery from diabetes, improvement in cardiovascular risk factors, and halving statistical mortality rates reduced from 40% to 23%. [2] In addition, the more popular forms of bariatric surgery have been known to lose about 40% to 50% of unwanted weight. That's because the smaller stomach resulting from the surgery makes you feel full faster every meal and thus, decreases your food cravings and consumption.

Complications and side effects

Complications from any kind of surgery are high and barbaric surgery complications are common. A study of 2522 insurance claims showed that about 22% suffered initial complications while 40% suffered complications within 6 months of surgery. Some of the more common complications include:

-Diarrhea and bloating after meals (gastric dumping syndrome), requiring medication or smaller meals: 20%
-Leaks at the surgical site (12%),
-Incisional hernia (7%),
-Surgical wound Infections (6%)
-Pneumonia: 4%

Mortality rate among patients with no known co-morbidities is small at 0.2%. Most of complications have been observed to be common among patients aged over 40. However, they were significantly reduced when bariatric surgery is performed by seasoned doctors or surgeons. [3] A study on the end-point safety of bariatric surgery shows that mortality, serious complications, re-interventions and further hospitalization occurred in 1.0% of patients who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, 4.8% in laparoscopic gastric bypass, and 7.8% in open gastric bypass. [4] Gastric banding procedure has shown the least complication rate. But as with any surgery, band gastric surgery carries the same risk of wound infections and minor bleeding which can often be treated with antibiotics.

 Conclusion

If you are obese or overweight with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or higher, undergoing restrictive bariatric surgical procedure is generally safe when performed by experienced surgeons or healthcare professionals specializing in the process. In February 2011, the FDA reduced the recommended BMI threshold to 30 for those considering the process. This opened up the surgical weight loss solution even to those with moderate obesity. If you are even moderately obese and have been going through diet and exercise regimens for years with little or no success, a bariatric surgery such as gastric banding or gastric bypass surgery can be your most effective and long lasting weight management solution.

Sources:
[1] http://www.news-medical.net/health/Bariatric-Surgery-What-is-Bariatric-Surgery.aspx
[2] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe0904837
[3] http://www.news-medical.net/health/Bariatric-Surgery-Side-Effects.aspx
[4] http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe0904837
[5] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/weightlosssurgery.html
[6] http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007388.htm
[7] http://www.webmd.com/diet/weight-loss-surgery/gastric-banding-surgery-for-weight-loss
[8] http://www.seaviewsurgeon.com.au/surgery-treatments/gastric-banding/

1/18 scale garage diorama

My hobby five years ago was collecting 1/18 die cast model cars and making garage dioramas on my table and taking photos.  Here's one with three action features dressed up like auto mechanics attending to a Lamborghini Miura (AutoArt)

Relieving your baby's stuffy nose

If your baby is down with common colds, chances are you will not hear the end of it. Your infant child will not keep you asleep with cries that begs your help to relieve stuffy nose. You should know; a stuffy nose or nasal congestion is one breathing distress that can keep you awake yourself. Infants are more vulnerable and wouldn't know how to breathe through their mouth when their nasal passages are clogged up with dried phlegm or mucus. Infants breathe by inhaling and exhaling through their nose and even simple routines like eating and sleeping becomes a problem for the little one and also to you. We all know how a crying infant can be quite stressful for you, your spouse and the rest of the household.

Here are some health care suggestions your or your spouse can do at home to help unclog your baby's nasal passage and provide the relief for stuffy nose your precious infant needs.

(1) Position a humidifier in your infant's room. Dry air tend to aggravate dry mucous in your baby's nasal airways and a humidifier sends water particulates that help break up the dried mucus clogging up these airways. Set the humidifier to deliver 30% to 50% humidity and give it some time to work.

(2) Give your baby a steamy bath or just expose him or her in a bathroom with steaming water on the faucet or shower nozzle for a few minutes. The humidity from the steamy water will help break up the dried mucous. Hold your baby standing up or in a vertical position as this helps the nasal mucus to drain and clear up the airways for easier breathing. Use a baby carrier to help maintain your baby sitting upright to help in the process while allowing you to do some other chore.

(3) Use saline drops which can help break up dried or thick mucous clogging the nasal passage. These drops are available over the counter or your can make a saline solution yourself. Breast milk is another option as it has antibacterial qualities and allows you to use a few drops to help clear-up your baby's nasal congestion.

(4) See if you can use a nasal aspirator. It suctions out stagnant mucous from your baby's nasal passage. There are several types available at your local drugstore. The most popular ones are the conventional bulb syringe that enters the nose, but this can result in swelling of the sinus airways and worsen the stuffiness if used too often. Find a nasal aspirator that doesn't need to enter the nose when used. Or simply limit the number of times a bulb syringe enters the nose.
(5) Lastly, your infant could have some allergic reaction to dust, fibers in their favorite stuffed toys or the fur from any pet you may have. It is prudent to keep your baby away from any of these.

Most babies should get relief from nasal congestion or stuffiness from the above suggestions. For kids under 2 years old, do not administer over the counter cough and cold medication. If none of the above suggestions work and your baby's stuffiness worsens or if fever develops in babies younger than 3 months, bring your baby to your pediatrician as soon as possible.

Social Media Optimization - the new SEO dimension

Social Media Optimization opens a steam valve in the world of eMarketing

Online marketing takes on a new challenge presented by new search algorithms that are increasingly putting more value on your social media presence than ever before. The SEO industry is making sure that online businesses continue to benefit from search engine marketing efforts with social media optimization (SMO) that has opened up new opportunities to leverage your presence in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, along with media sharing sites like YouTube to be a step ahead of competition.

Over the last 5 years, social networks have created an entirely novel way of reaching your markets through its word-of-mouth potential to bring your products and service to millions without even spending the usual ad dollars behind traditional marketing communication channels. Social media optimization (SMO) is the new darling behind social media marketing that has now become an essential component in boosting your online presence. It is an online marketing tool that makes your content readily accessible and shareable across the social media networks.

Supercharge your online marketing efforts with the hottest new technologies

While SEO technology allows eMarketing to generate as much traffic to your commercial website as possible, there is now a compelling paradigm where generation of web traffic gives way to ensuring that as many online users see your website's content. This is what SMO technology does to the online business. Today, driven by the changes in Google's search algorithm, content is king.

It no longer matters where your content resides. Search engines like Google need not even be the first point of contact to your adds. SMO done right can bring people to view your content from apps, widgets, videos in YouTube, or Photos is Flickr. YouTube itself is now only second to Google as a search engine. Just make a search on YouTube, and you get results in several pages just like in any search engine. Same with Facebook and Flickr, and similar social networks and media sharing site. Your website can be accessed and shared whether you're at home, office or on the road through mobile phones. In fact, the more transportable your content is, the more it can reach more people. Social media can further increase web traffic from several websites through word-of-mouth social referral traffic.

SMO is about having a larger and more active social media presence for your brand, whether your organization has one or not, as SMO leverages the social networks of others to your benefit. SMO can lead more people to see your content as friends encourage their friends down the line to read your specific content. If your content can appeal to one person, there's a higher chance their friends are just as likely to be interested in your content. Just imagine the multiplier effect if your content can appeal to a dozen from your targeted markets. At the end of the day, a high viewership of your content leads to significant improvements in search engine optimization, as major search engines count on the quality links from these social media sites as a vote to your website that carries more weight than the backlinks from your articles in e-zines and directories.

Invest in a Keyword Optimizer to start off you SEO

Using the right keywords for your site increases the chances your web pages will land in the first page pf a search return. Unfortunately, website developers and business owners search-optimizing their online presence often make the mistake of defining their keywords simply based on what they associate their products with. It doesn't always work. Why? Because keywords are what customers use when searching for what they need, not what you think your products or services mean. In short, you need to do more relevant research on your keywords and even use keyword optimizing tools to fine-tune your research.

Long Tail Keywords

Finding the right keywords gets a bit more challenging when it comes to narrowing down a search for long-tail keywords. These are 3+ word strings or phrases that your customer might use to get a more focused product search. For instance, both "budget cellphone in Dallas for 2013" and "best Verizon budget cellphone 2013" are long tail keywords that derive from the theme keyword "cellphone." Targeting "cellphone" gets millions of searches on Google each month. But when you search the term, you get 59 million websites in a search result. You don't want to compete with that many websites and expect to be #1 among 59 million other sites many of which are also search-optimizing their pages.

But when you plug "best Verizon budget cellphone 2013" in a Google search, the return is reduced to 7.3 million. That's still a lot to compete with, but represents a significant narrowing that gives you better chances of landing in the first page search result. The main point to consider in long tail keywords is that they are just part, albeit a critical one, of any SEO effort. With several of your webpages, including blogs and content in e-zines optimized for your long tail keyword, your optimization efforts add up week after week and eventually land you on the first page. Also bear in mind that your homepage need not land on the search return. Your inner web pages might land there well ahead of your homepage. It all depends on how the inner pages use your keywords so that subject topic being searched could be better served by your inner pages.

Software tools that optimize your keyword research

There are a number of online software tools you can use such as the Google Adwords Keyword Tool which is one of the most popular keyword research tools used by only marketers to generate targeted traffic to their websites. It's a free tool on the side. What it does best is provide a list of top long tail keywords that matches your theme keyword based on its extensive database of search query information only Google has as the largest search engine on the planet. However, this advantage is watered down since you won't be able to leverage on what other search engines have which 3rd party non-Google owned keyword optimizers enjoy. In addition, there can be literally thousands of these keyword suggestions that are often inaccurate and require a lot of filtering. You're pretty much on your own to narrow down and choose the most suitable for your site.

It is here where some of the more competent keyword optimizing tools can automate the process to arrive at a precise keyword targeting following the four golden rules in keyword optimization - Relevance, Traffic, Competition, and Commerciality. The Google Keyword tool can best be used as your starting point and Master Samurai can pull an initial list of keywords from it. Then its applies PBR (Phrase to Broad Match) and SEOT (SEO Traffic) relevancy filters to remove any misleading or irrelevant keywords and shorten the list to a few, down to the top ten keywords that are used by the top ranking websites in the industry where your product or service belongs. These are the websites you will want to beat and you can use some of the keywords they use to kick-start your SEO effort.

Conclusion

The only drawback is that these tools, at least the better ones, do not come for free, though often offered  with a one-month free trial so you can check out first hand what it can do that the Google Adwords Keyword tool can't. But consider their modest price tags, often ranging from $150 to $250 as a small investment in making your SEO initiatives start off on the right direction, easily and with more confidence. Keyword optimization is the first step in any SEO effort. Do it wrong and all your subsequent SEO efforts will surely fail. But not with a competent Keyword optimizing tool at your side.

Taking in the right calories to lose weight

Overweight folks are always on the lookout for the best diet regimens that can lose excess fat. They often ask "how many calories should I eat to lose weight?" If you read the many nuggets of wisdom from several weight loss experts online, there are a few answers to the question that makes sense. Here are a couple of them:

You need a good calorie calculator

In theory, a pound of body weight equals around 3,500 calories. That means you need to consume fewer than 3,500 over a stretch of time to lose one pound. This can be your goal if set realistically over a period of time. For instance, you can eat 500 fewer calories per day and lose a pound in a week (500 x 7 day). Just be sure you don't go below daily survival calories. In general, you need no less than 1200 calories a day for female, and 1600 - 1800 calories for male.

There are several calorie calculators online. After specifying you age, weight, height, daily activity level (from sedentary to very active) and how much body weight you want to lose over a period of time, the better online calculators return with a recommended calorie intake over a period of time that progressively goes down as you lose weight over the period you've specified. One such helpful and well-designed calorie calculator can be found at www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/.

It's not the calories you take in that matters, as long as you burn off more calories than you take in.

Apart from taking the right calories, Losing weight is also about burning excess fat. That won't happen if you continue to take in more calories than you burn off. This is often the mantra behind aerobics and strength-developing workouts. You can take in 500 more calories from your favorite ice cream, cakes and soda, but if you lose that much or more in a workout, then you can maintain or lose weight. Losing weight requires a holistic approach that uses the right mix of diet and exercise.

WebMD's Elaine Magee, MPH, RD (www.webmd.com/diet/features/8-ways-to-burn-calories-and-fight-fat) makes this point with her eight-point suggestion on how best to burn calories, the first of which is a rigorous workout. Cited in her article Christopher Wharton, PhD from the Yale University pointed out that the more time spent exercising, the more calories are burned. He further stresses the value of building muscle mass with the right strength exercise. Apart from burning calories in each workout session, having muscles burns more calories than body fat does even when you're at rest. Ten pounds of muscle can burn 50 calories each day compared to 20 calories from an equal amount of body fat even when doing nothing.

Burning calories is not exclusively the domain of gym workouts. Everything the body does burn calories. Magee points out that firing up the digestive process alone burns calories. Hence, spreading your food intake over several short meals and snacks each day will turn on your digestion and burn more calories than if you were to take the usual heavy meals during lunch and dinner only.

Even fidgeting burns calories since they get you to move a part of your body repeatedly while sitting or doing nothing. Jamie Pope from the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing cited in Magee's article revealed that any body movement spends energy and mundane body movements like fidgeting have been shown in many studies to burn calories, possibly even more than formal gym workouts. Rob Stein of the Washington posts (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41897-2005Jan27.html) corroborate this and cites a 2005 study conducted by James A. Levine of the Mayo Clinic which showed that fidgeting along could lose 350 lbs a day, enough to lose 10-35 lbs a year. While losing 10 lbs in a year is not exactly the goal of many obese people, it certainly helps the weight loss effort even when you're doing anything at all.

Conclusion

A calorie calculator won't reduce your weight, but the information on the right calories you need over a period of time provides a valuable guide to your weight loss effort. At the very least, this directly answers the question, "how many calories should I eat to lose weight?" Indirectly, knowing that every type of body movement and activity burns calories, from spreading your meals more evenly each day, fidgeting, to a formal gym workout session will complement a diet regimen that allows you to consume the calories within the prescribed levels. With a strong determination, such a knowledge religiously followed can get you to succeed in achieving your weight loss goal.

Promoting Manila

The 500-year old city of Manila in the Philippines is one of the cheapest and most entertaining cities to visit in this part of the world. Your first day can start with a visit to the historic Spanish fortress city of Fort Santiago in Intramuros along with the majestic 16th century Manila Cathedral. Just a few minutes away, take a stroll on the city's most popular landmark - the Rizal Park.

The National Museum is next to get a glimpse of local culture and history. Then, just half an hour's ride south is Villa Escudera, a rustic sugar plantation where you can savor a sumptuous buffet of native delicacies while wading in the waters near a waterfall. You can end your day with a majestic view of the Manila sunset right from your hotel.

On day two, shopping for the best bargains is your next fun activity at the Quiapo and Divisoria districts. Then, before leaving, get a taste of local fast food from Jollibee and know why it has trumped McDonald's as the number one fast food chain in the country.