Israel's Healthy.io raises $60 million, gets FDA ok for urine test

Israel's Healthy.io raises $60 million, gets FDA ok for urine test
Reuters: Health
Israel's Healthy.io said on Thursday it raised $60 million in funding and received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its smartphone-based urine albumin test to aid in diagnosing chronic kidney disease.

U.S. judge approves novel framework for opioid settlement talks

U.S. judge approves novel framework for opioid settlement talks
Reuters: Health
A federal judge on Wednesday approved the substance of a proposal by lawyers representing cities and counties suing drug companies over the U.S. opioid epidemic that would bring every state and municipality in the country into their settlement talks.

Doctors have successfully treated an infant with a rare childhood leukemia using a targeted therapy approved for adults with advanced liver and kidney cancer, an example of growing shift in cancer treatment, where the genes, rather than the type of cancer, determine optimal therapy.

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Antarctic sea sponge extracts provide leads for new malaria treatments, reports a new study. Current medications are becoming less effective as drug resistance spreads. The peptide blocks infection and development of the malaria parasite in liver cells in a culture dish as effectively as primaquine.

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'Doing me a favor': Vapers open to Trump's proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes

'Doing me a favor': Vapers open to Trump's proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes
Reuters: Health
New Yorkers who vape do not seem to mind if President Donald Trump pushes through a proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes, admitting that widespread youth addiction needed to be controlled and expressing hope that it might help them quit.

Three Crucial Challenges for Today’s Fathers

Each year more information points to the connection between father involvement and positive developmental outcomes for children. Being present and parenting in a proactive way affect all domains of children’s well-being. Fathers play a unique role in their child’s life and, as times change and roles evolve, new challenges arise. 

Parenting, in general, has never been more demanding with the proliferation of choices, technology, and the loss of many family and community protective factors. While wanting the best for our families is at the forefront of our thinking, three important aspects of development will help fathers engage this vision from inside out.

1. Developing as a Parent

Parenting roles continue to evolve, and many fathers take a more active role in raising children. And research on parenting styles clarifies the need for fathers to be both supportive and demanding. Relationships require consistent attention and having rituals that build the parent-child bond are crucial. Trust, autonomy, and initiative all develop within this bond and the responsive current of connection.

Also, proactive parenting means discipline is about teaching rather than punishment. Fathers can make a significant impact by focusing on the principles of authoritative parenting. This encompasses teaching what you want your children to be able to know and to do rather than focusing on managing negative behaviors. 

A wealth of information points to the benefits of fathers being warm and responsive while also providing consistent structure, choices, and limits. Children are better regulated, socially adept, and more able to solve problems when fathers take a balanced approach. But this authoritative style must evolve as children develop and requires fathers to adapt in the process. Understanding children’s needs within the framework of development is critical to healthy father-child connection and providing stability through transitions. 

In summary, certain principles of parenting weave through each stage of childhood. Yet as children develop fathers must adapt to the challenges of the current stage which brings new tasks for both child and father.

2. Developing as an Adult

The stages of child development are well-documented. Less attention has been paid to stages of adult development, often presented as a one-size fits all from post-adolescence onward. A profound reason is that at some point adult development is optional and requires a proactive choice, one based in vision and potential. Fathers can choose this developmental arc, one that enriches experience and broadens knowledge and abilities in the role. 

This path of self-development deepens and raises awareness of self, relationships, and how the world works. Adults who engage this process are reflective about their experiences and proactively consider goals, personal growth, and deepening relationships. In becoming more aware and able, we can see others more clearly. And this developmental space allows us to truly see our children, their needs and unique gifts, rather than be enmeshed in their story.    

While this process is complex, it is noteworthy that there is only a small correlation between age and stages of adult development. In fact, most adults do not develop to the point of reflecting on roles such as fatherhood, what they have learned from their experience of being fathered, and society’s embedded parenting values. 

The developmental path requires fathers to consider these aspects and take a more self-authoring role based in self-identified values. While this concept is simplified, development proceeds in complexity in the intrapersonal and interpersonal realms, centered on our way of knowing (cognitive) and meaning-making (social-emotional). Generally, adults mature in a progression: 

• Self-centered to…
• Relationship and role-centered to…
• Self-authoring and value-centered to…
• Principle-centered

Developing as an adult is an ongoing process of reflection and adaptation. In becoming more self-aware, we meet life’s challenges in more capable ways and from the inside-out. With self-development, fathers are better able to meet children where they are on their own evolving path. 

3. Making Sense of Our Story 

What we’ve learned from research on attachment and development is that we weave our life stories based in meaning. A wise saying offers that the best thing we can give our children is roots and wings. But we must be aware of our own roots first. Making sense of our childhood and our experience of being parented is a powerful predictor of our ability to parent.  

Reflecting on these formative years helps fathers to be present and confident in the moment. What we haven’t made sense of tends to intrude on the present and meddles in father-child interactions in emotionally charged forms or in disconnection (you might even find yourself using your parents’ exact phrases or ultimatums). Importantly, having a clear personal narrative frees us to father regardless of our past. No childhood is perfect — even if our memories have idyllic scenes. The continuum of experiences from fond memories to troubling times become clearer under the light of reflection and meaning-making. And we can learn and makes sense of supportive or adverse experiences freeing us to choose who we want to be as a father in the moment.

In summary, these three developmental paths require fathers to step back and consider how their own growth, vision, and early experiences influence the parent-child relationship. In engaging these developmental challenges, fathers can provide the open and rich space for their children to be and grow. While these three paths are challenging, the effort is a worthy investment in self, fatherhood, and family.

Coping with Grief: The Ball & The Box

Grief strikes each person in a different way. When we lose someone we love, that loss can hit us hard, all at once. Or it might lie in waiting until weeks or even months have passed before rearing its dark head.

One of the things that might be difficult to understand is that for most people, the grief of a loss never leaves a person completely. The loss stays with most of us forever. It changes over time — it may start off as huge and overwhelming, but becomes smaller over time.

I came across this analogy on Twitter (by Lauren Herschel) about how grief is felt by many people and thought I’d share it with you.

Imagine your life is a box and the grief you feel is a ball inside of the box. Also inside the box is a pain button:

In the beginning, when the loss is so fresh and new, the grief that many people feel is overwhelming and large. It’s so large, in fact, that every time you move the box — moving through your every day life — the grief ball can’t help but hit the pain button:

The ball rattles around the box at random, hitting the pain button every time. This is how many people initially experience loss. You can’t control it and you can’t stop it. The pain just keeps coming pretty regularly, no matter what you do or how much others try and comfort you. The pain a person experiences may feel unrelenting and never-ending.

Over time, however, the ball starts to shrink on its own:

You still go through life and the grief ball still rattles around inside the box. But because the ball has gotten smaller, it hits the pain button a little less often. You almost feel like you can go through most days without even having the pain button hit. But when it does hit, it can be completely random and unexpected. Like when you’re staring at the person’s name in your friend’s list, or come across their favorite video or TV show. The pain button still delivers the same amount of pain no matter how large or small the ball is.

As time passes, the ball continues to shrink and with it, our grief for the loss experienced.

Most people never forget the loss they experienced. But over time, the ball becomes so small that it rarely hits the pain button. When it does, it is still as painful and hard to understand as it was the very first time we felt it. But the frequency of the hits has decreases significantly. This gives a person more time in-between each hit, time used to recover and feel “normal” again.

Time also allows our hearts to heal and to begin to remember the person as they were in life.

Grief is never experienced the same way for any two people. But it helps to know that grief impacts most of us in a way where the pain is intense at the beginning, but the frequency (if not the intensity) of the pain lessens over time. Most of us walk through life, carrying our own box with a ball of grief inside of it. Remember that the next time you see someone, as they may be struggling with their own ball in the box.

Learn more: 5 Stages of Grief & Loss

 

Credit to Lauren Herschel for this story from Twitter. Graphic design by Sarah Grohol.