To whom it may concern

Graviola: Magic Cancer Fighter?

Jun 11 12:48pm

I've seen Internet sites touting graviola, which is being widely promoted as a cancer-fighting herb. Some Web sites claim that it is 10,000 times stronger than the chemotherapy drug Adriamycin, and that it is effective against prostate, lung, breast, colon and pancreatic cancers. None of this is true.

I asked Tieraona Low Dog, M.D., director of education at the Program in Integrative Medicine here at the University of Arizona, about graviola. Dr. Low Dog, an expert in botanical medicine, told me that it is the common name for Annona reticulata, also known as custard apple, a tree that grows in South America and the Caribbean islands and is prized by locals for its delicious fruit and medicinal properties. She explained that the unripe fruit is used traditionally to treat diarrhea and dysentery. The leaves are taken internally to eliminate worms and other parasites and are also applied topically for poorly healing wounds. The root bark is used to reduce fever.

The idea that graviola is an effective cancer fighter comes from research at Purdue University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences on the active components of the tree, unique substances known as annonaceous acetogenins. The Purdue investigators found them to be potent inhibitors of cancer cells while leaving normal cells alone. They also found the compounds to be effective against drug-resistant cancer cells.

But these were in vitro results - that is, the results of adding the annona derivatives to cancer cells growing in test tubes. This is a long way from clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of these compounds in people with cancer. In fact, I have found no human studies at all of graviola for the treatment of cancer or anything else. We do not even have basic safety data on graviola extracts. What's more, there is no way to tell whether commercially available graviola contains any of the compounds studied at Purdue. Indeed, the compounds used in the test tube studies didn't come from the custard apple tree at all, but from the leaves of annona glabra, a related tree that grows in Florida and produces a fruit called pond apple.

Dr. Low Dog says she wouldn't take or recommend graviola (or its extracts) as a dietary supplement. I agree.

The Dielenberg Brothers

Left to right: Gilbert, William, Teddy, Emile, and Francis

The Gupta girls and Ben

left to right (front): Hannah, Chloe, Ben
In the middle sits mum with her arms around Chloe,
Back row: Victoria and Olivia

What happy faces

Form the blogger

Happy Chinese New Year

to everyone who celebrates the occasion

A column from The Star

NY Times readers choose Penang as No 2 must-visit destination for 2009

By CHRISTINA CHIN

GEORGE TOWN: Readers of The New York Times have chosen Penang as the second best destination among “44 Places To Go in 2009”.

In top spot in the recommendations found on the paper’s website (http://www.nytimes.com) was Beirut.

The only other South-East Asian destination in the ranking is Phuket, which is in 15th place.

Tuck shop: A group of foreigners enjoying dim sum and noodles at an outdoor cafe in Penang.

Other places include Washington (fourth), Rome (fifth) and Metz in France (sixth). The newspaper ranked Penang in the 22nd spot while Phuket was placed 12th.

Besides the second spot in the overall readers’ ranking, Penang is also in the top 12 places in the frugal and food categories (both readers’ and the paper’s recommendations).

The New York Times said adventurous foodies are now turning to Penang, the culinary capital of Malaysia, where they are eating their way through one of South-East Asia’s liveliest street-food scenes.

It said there are city-run hawker stands everywhere and even refined dishes like char koay teow rarely cost more than US$2 (about RM7.20)

State Tourism Development, Culture, Arts and Heritage committee chairman Danny Law Heng Kiang said Penang was chosen by the readers because of its good food.

“The ranking is a boost for the state as a tourist destination.

“Penang food is so famous that I know of Singaporeans who fly here just to eat,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after launching the New World Park Chinese New Year programme at the food and beverage centre here yesterday.

A series of musical, art and dance performances are being held at the hawker-cum-cultural centre until Feb 9.

M o r e

Above: Is that you Ben? Don't hold back your laughter!! He he he eeeeeee!


Below: Dear, I am hungry! What about a drink?

Hey Guys!!!! L O O K

The best Christmas ever. Hi Claire, Alok, Chloe, Olivia, Victoria, Ben and Hannah, . Happy Christmas

Parent school of St Patricks, Kulim

St Xavier’s marks a new chapter after 156 years

GEORGE TOWN: Next year will mark the end of an era for the La Salle Brothers’ public school administration in Malaysia when the last Brother principal in the country retires.

St Xavier’s Institution (SXI) here will see a government servant lead the institution for the first time in over 150 years when Brother Paul Ho, its 29th religious head, steps down in June.

“SXI was the first school in the nation to be administered and fully owned by the Brothers and it can be called the epicentre of spreading the La Salle vision of educating the young,” said Brother Director of Malaysia Anthony Rogers.

Although Brother Paul’s retirement would mark the end of the line of Brother headmasters in the country, Brother Anthony says it will not be the end of the Lasallian legacy.

“A long time ago, when people thought of the schools, they would always think about the Brothers but over the years, we have grown beyond that.

“There is now a whole La Salle family made up of every boy and girl who has studied in our schools along with the teachers, parents, staff and collaborators who have had ties with the schools.

“We’re handing over the baton and it’s a new paradigm which is formed with the same message by a community that knows what it means to be a Lasallian,” he said.

“Brother Paul’s incident is not new. Over the years, all our other schools have also been taken over by lay people.

“There is no real cause for concern as strong boards of governors have been formed to safeguard the traditions and it has been a long-standing promise by the Govern-ment to give us consultation in the appointing of heads in our schools,” Brother Anthony added.

“Since 1852 to 1965, the Brothers built 46 schools in Peninsular Malaysia and were also given 10 more in Sabah and Sarawak by the Bishop to administer,” he said.

On the future of the La Salle Brothers, Brother Anthony said there were many more good things to come.

“The Brothers’ initial priority was to set up a basic education system in the country and the Government has successfully taken over that responsibility.

“There are currently about 10 Brothers aged 40 to 60 who are still active in Malaysia and there has been a lot of thought about branching out into the setting up of private colleges or even universities.

“There is also an increasing number of children suffering from autism and providing education for children with special needs is also part of our plans,” he said.

Brother Paul, too, is positive about his impending retirement, and says the La Salle Brothers have achieved what they had set out to do.

“It’s okay. It’s moving and we have left our legacy.

“We hope that in whatever we have done, we have given the people what was expected. That is our yardstick of what a school should be.

“After all, we only came here to give education to the people of Malaysia and at the end of the day, we have done our job,” he said.

(Extract taken from the Star)

Residnece of Mr & Mrs W. Dielenberg

The house is on the right hand side of house number 16.
Address: 18 Maddock Place, Gordon, ACT, 2906

Who is this S.Y.T.

Just a reminder. The car port was built by me with little help.

Introducing

Hai, Kelly.
Ready for the party

Ru - Confucian scholar

(to read this extract from the Epoch Times double click on the scanned article to enlarge the print. It says a lot about the love of knowledge by the Chinese)

My interest in "Xu", "the need of a human being", is in the discussion on Nature and Nurture. My interest in the subject largely stems from being a father, a grandfather and a one time teacher.
We are all born with instinctive traits -- our nature. When someone uses the expression "chip of the old bloke " he means, in short, " like father like son" or conversely "like mother like daughter"except that it is not conventional to use the latter expression. We inherit not just looks and other visual characteristics of our parents, eg : skin colour or shades of grey or brown in the colour of our eyes but also our innate tendencies. We tend to behave in the same way our parents behave. We are inclined to behave through imitation. This is our nature.
As we grow we are nurtured through our interaction with our environment and through the imitation of the behaviour of others. The intake of food decides our weight and wellbeing. The education, both formal and informal, determines our knowledge and character. Education usually begins at a very young age to prepare us for life. We are said to be nurtured.
Mr Rudd, our P.M. believes very strongly in early childhood education beginning at the age of three. This could be the result of his Chinese language education, and/or the influence of Confuciannism and his long stay in China.
It is this process of nurturing that determines our status and quality in life.
The absence of this nurturing process almost always leads to underachievement.
I remember an advice given by a Malay politician that in order to do well in life the Malays have to follow the Chinese or the Jews. There is one flaw in this advice. The Chinese have a culture that has evolved from time in memorial. This culture stresses on the importance of education and the acquisition of knowledge . Without this inbuilt drive nothing will eventuate. Just following will result in nothing. Education and the strong urge to work hard diffirentiates the Chinese from others.

Sarah--- trying to reduce her carbon footprint while in France

Kuching, Sarawak

Fancy meeting you
Indegenous Dyak performance , Kuching.

The appartment

The lounge area looking down from the entertainment room
The magnificent ceiling lighting two floors from the dining area

Grandad and the grand children

Grandad and Gareth
Tristan Dielenberg

Teddy's new apartment

Posh dining room viewed from the lounge
Panels of wood carvings from Chengmai, Thailand, depicting rural life
The dining room reflected on the mirror serving as wall

This is a 'must read' Written partly in 'Manglish'-- Malaysian English

Hawker food to make my day

FOOD TRAIL WITH SAM CHEONG

Hard at work: Nelson at the wok.

WHEN it comes to good and cheap food, Salak South Garden is a place that is begging to be discovered. I found out about this place from my friend Lawrence Leong, who owns a small business there.

But prior to my visit, the namesake was a place that gave me the impression that it was far and away. This stigma had remained in my head since my secondary school days when a schoolmate had told me that he lived in Salak South.

Each time he mentioned the place, my reaction was: “Wah! So far ah?” That was back in the 80s when the road transportation link was not as good as it is today.

Now, this idyllic residential area is like a worn-out human heart – full of inner and outer ring roads bypassing its surroundings.

To get there alone, you will need good navigational skills. I'll get to that part later. So, what is good here? Well, there are many thing; let me start with two makan places in a specific area within this suburban setting.

Cheap and good: Nelson's 'masterpiece' char koay teow is priced at RM3.50 per plate.

Okay, first – there is Fatty Mok's Hakka Yong Tau Foo shop off Jalan Hang Tuah 1. According to my friend Leong, this eatery is well known for its curry laksa, yong tau foo (stuffed tofu and vegetables) and chicken soup noodles.

So, with that in mind, I made the necessary arrangement to catch up with my makan-kaki (food buddy) at his office.

But, I was not so lucky because there was a production hiccup in his daily schedule. “Sam ah! Eh, you carry on lah, mention my name to the shop and they'll know what to do. I cannot join you lah, sorry ah!” he apologised.

With or without Leong, I was determined to check out Fatty Mok's curry laksa, so when I got there after parking my car at the road kerb, I wasted no time in telling a Myanmar worker there what I wanted.

Service was prompt and as my bowl of noodles was delivered, I went snapping away with my pocket camera. While I was at it, the diners around me watched my actions closely.

I caught wind of two guys behind me having a conversation on a lone diner having his laksa and snapping away with a camera.

Good laksa dish: Fatty Mok's curry laksa.

“Eh, mutt yeh yan ah?” (in Cantonese: who is this guy?) one of the patrons asked. It felt intrusive, but a man has to do what he has to do when it comes to getting the job done.

Now, Fatty Mok's curry laksa, in my humble opinion, fulfilled my criteria for a good laksa dish. Why? The gravy is creamy and tasty, there are enough cockles for you to lose count, plenty of taugeh (bean sprouts), fresh tau foo pok (fried bean curd) and – best of all – enough char chee phei (deep-fried pig's skin).

A small bowl costs about RM4 and my complete meal cost only RM5 with a chilled glass of soya bean milk thrown in. Besides curried noodles, the shop is also known for its ching thong meen (soup noodles).

I would recommend this if you want something less spicy and well, having tasted it in an earlier session, I would say that the soup noodles are as good as the laksa offered by the shop.

Moving on, there is another stall located nearby which came highly recommended by Leong. And, his instruction was simple: “Go across fei loh Mok's and look out for the chap fan stall.”

He was referring to Nelson's Char Koay Teow and to the untrained eye, it is not easy to locate this stall. Which was why I brought my hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to lock-in the coordinates of the fried noodles stall.

Anyway, I made my way to the stall and the first thing I noticed was a hidden signboard that read: “Nelson's Char Koay Teow, open 8am–4pm, closed on Sundays.”

My immediate reaction was: “Yat teep kuai teow meen, tor-tor ngar choy” (a plate of koay teow and mee with plenty of bean sprouts).

Dumbfounded, the stall owner paused for a moment and then he went to work right away when the order was made. I watched as Nelson, the stall's operator, started stirring and clanging away at his wok.

It took less than five minutes for the noodles to be served on a plate lined with a piece of banana leaf. And, what I noticed was the hallmark of good fried noodles.

My father, who used to run a Hokkien mee stall at Lorong Bunus, off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, had taught me the finer points of identifying a well-done dish.

He said the noodles should not be too flat; it must have body and flavour and it should not be soggy or over-fried. What I saw at Nelson's was a masterpiece.

The char koay teow was tasty and rich in flavour. There was a generous serving of cockles to go with it and to nail it in the head - plenty of chee yau char (pork rind) was added.

And, at a price of RM3.50, it was unbeatable. The extra plate of noodles on top of my curry laksa at Fatty Mok's made my day. Soon, I would join my colleague Stuart Michael in his Beginner's column as a prime candidate for weight loss and management. By the way, I congratulate Michael for raising funds to support a charity home.

Okay, back to Salak South Garden. To get there, take a drive on the New Pantai Expressway, take the right exit to Jalan Kuchai Lama and when you approach the Ajinomoto junction, turn left and head straight for about 800 metres.

Once you get to a traffic light junction, turn left and take the left exit towards a hill slope and you are there. For those who navigate with their automobile GPS receivers, key in the following coordinates: Longtitude: N 03 05” 062', Latitude E 101 41” 687' and your navigator will do the rest to get you there. Good luck and happy hunting!

Earth warming solution

"Australia's methane emissions come primarily from 28 million cattle, 88 million sheep and a bunch of leaky coal mines. The livestock emissions, on their own, will cause significantly more warming in the next 20 years than all our coal-fired power stations."

This extract was taken from the Age dated10th July 2008.

I have added this, as a matter of interest, following the story about carbon footprint which I wrote some months ago.

How do we overcome this problem. Eat less meat. Reduce the number of sheep and cattle which number into the millions.

Why green?

The world-first study asked 22 men to eat 400 grams of broccoli a week for a year, in addition to their normal diet.

Tissue samples were taken from their prostate gland before the start of the trial and after six and 12 months, and analysed.

The study found the broccoli had a big effect on the expression of particular genes in the prostate associated with the formation of cancer and inflammation.

The research's leader, Professor Richard Mithen, said other vegetables and fruits also reduced the risk of developing prostate cancer, though probably in different ways.

"Once we understand these, we can provide much better dietary advice on which specific combinations of fruit and vegetable are likely to be particularly beneficial," he said. "Until then, eating two or three portions of cruciferous vegetable per week … should be encouraged."

The research was published in the online PLoS One journal yesterday.