Real estate

FORTY years ago there were on the map of Kansas a few red spots indicating the location of forts, and here and there along the streams near the State’s eastern border were little circles indicating towns. Many of the names upon that early map remain, and designate hopeless villages, the scenes of brave deeds and patriotic efforts ; and a few of the towns of a generation ago survive, fulfilling in some small measure the bright dreams of their founders. But most of the old names, once familiar to the whole nation, are forgotten. Could some ghost of those stirring times come back to call the roll, how many such towns would fail to respond ! Quidaro ? Gone ! Mariposa ? Gone ! Sumner ? Gone! Tecumseh ? Gone ! Minneola? Gone! From 1870, for several years eastern and central Kansas was a battle-ground between man and nature. In those years the desert was finally subdued. During the succeeding decade, men devoted themselves to the occupation of running up and down the newly made garden with … [Read more...] about A Typical Kansas Community

I. JOHN FORSTER, who lived to complete but one of the three volumes in which he had planned to write the Life of Jonathan Swift, speaks in the preface of his hero’s correspondence “ with his friend Knightley Chetwode, of Woodbrooke, during the seventeen years (1714-1731) which followed his appointment to the deanery of St. Patrick’s. Of these letters,” Forster goes on to say, “the richest addition to the correspondence of this most masterly of English letter-writers since it was first collected, more does not need to be said here ; but of the late representative of the Chetwode family I crave permission to add a word. His rare talents and taste suffered from his delicate health and fastidious temperament, but in my life I have seen few things more delightful than his pride in the connection of his race and name with the companionship of Swift. Such was the jealous care with which he preserved the letters, treasuring them as an heirloom of honour, that he would never allow them to be … [Read more...] about Some Unpublished Letters of Dean Swift

Dental experts have warned against bad oral hygiene habits that people think are a good idea—but are actually causing harm. "Whether you are 80 or eight, your oral health is important," Roopali Kulkarni, a trained dentist , assistant director of the postgraduate oral medicine program at Penn Dental Medicine, and spokesperson for the American Dental Association (ADA), told Newsweek . "Your mouth is a window into the health of your body and touches every aspect of our lives. "It can show signs of nutritional deficiencies or general infection. Systemic diseases, those that affect the entire body, may first become apparent because of mouth lesions or other oral problems." How many teeth do humans have? Humans develop two sets of teeth over our lifetimes. Babies are usually born with 20 baby teeth, although these don't start appearing—or erupting—until the age of about six months old. Usually by the age of three, the full set of 20 teeth has erupted, and commonly by around … [Read more...] about The horrible habits dentists want you to stop doing now

Update | At-home DNA tests are "not intended for medical use," meaning that the data they give you shouldn't be used as a replacement for a real medical diagnosis. At-home genetic testing companies like 23andMe, Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA and My Heritage are gaining popularity as a relatively cheap way to understand one's ethnicity and genetic history. Yet new research suggests that some results identifing genetic issues may be innaccurate—and that as much as 40 percent of analyses of these at-home genetic tests implying genetic disorders could be innacurate. Researchers at AmbryGenetics conducted a study of 49 individuals who had done "direct-to-consumer" DNA tests who then sent their genetic results to third parties for analysis. AmbryGenetics then checked those analyses with a more detailed and expensive genetic test. They found that only 60 percent of the genetic variance results could be confirmed. While this is a relatively small sample of 49 people, the thirteen … [Read more...] about Nearly half of at-home DNA test results could be wrong

Biotech company CRISPR Therapeutics is set to treat Europe's patients with the CRISPR gene-editing tool this year following regulatory approval for trials. Researchers will apply the much-hyped tool to patients with beta thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder that affects the body's production of hemoglobin—a protein red blood cells use to carry oxygen around the body—U.K.'s Telegraph newspaper reported. The condition is treatable, but can cause bone deformities, fatigue and severe anaemia. Patients with severe anemia from thalassaemia may undergo blood transfusions every two weeks, the CDC reports. Beta thalassemia is relatively common worldwide, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine , with thousands of children born with the condition each year. CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a tool which researchers can use to modify DNA sequences and alter the function of genes. Also known as CRISPR-Cas9, it was inspired by … [Read more...] about Is genetic engineering on its way to a hospital near you?