Tiny Houses for Families in Need

In a world where more and more families are struggling to find affordable housing, one former priest and his family are trying to make a difference. At the moment, former priest Nathan Monk, his wife Tashina, and their three children are living in a rental home in Florida that’s about 365m² (1,200ft²). But the family of five is going to be moving into a tiny home of only 91.5m², or 300 square foot. “But why?”, you may be thinking. “Why move your family of five into a house a quarter the size of the one you live in now, if you don’t need to?” Because Nathan and his family want to raise awareness of family homelessness. They want people to know how easy it would be to house a family of that size in somewhere so small and still have them living in relative comfort. So, with the help of two architects, Nathan designed the three-bedroom house he and his family are hoping to move into. And when the blueprints have been finalised, Nathan is going to be sharing them on the project's website, Tiny House Big Solution, along with DIY videos and ideas, all for free. The ultimate aim is for people and organisations to have access to the plans so that they might build their own tiny homes for families in need as either a transition or full-time home. Nathan has been working on helping the homeless for more than a decade, inspired by his own poverty-stricken childhood after his family lost their home. “A mythical promise had been built up by our parents that once everything was okay and we were out of poverty, we would get to go on an epic vacation to Disney World,” he explained. And although the trip didn’t actually happen, it all culminated in Nathan’s work for homelessness now. And he’s even written a book all about it called “Chasing the Mouse”, of which he hopes the proceeds can go towards taking his plans from paper to reality. After learning more about small house initiatives, Nathan realised that they didn’t really cater to families - a huge gap in the market that people had spoken of but hadn’t actually done anything about. “The thing is, as a society, we can’t continue the way we’re heading. This is not a sustainable model for living, and we are all feeling the effects,” it states on the Monks’ website. “Something in the system is broken, and we are being forced to adapt.” And by moving their family into such a tiny home, Nathan and Tashina are hoping they can prove a viable solution. The children are even on board, excited at the prospect of such an adventure. The family has a crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe to raise awareness for Nathan’s book and to raise money for the initiative. If you’d like to find out more, get updates, or make a donation, why not check it out? That way, you could directly impact the project and help families of the future have a home they might otherwise have had to struggle without. Image Source: Nathan Monk’s Instagram

Gene Therapy Breakthrough for Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis is one of those conditions that we are yet to have found a cure for. All we can hope for at the moment is to develop treatments that help elongate the sufferer's life and make it more worth living. And the latest trial, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, might just be what we have been waiting for. The condition, often shortened to CF, is caused by a faulty gene and affects the lungs and digestive system, by clogging them with thick mucus. Symptoms of CF include a persistent cough, difficulty in gaining weight, recurring chest and lung infections, and unusually salty sweat. In the UK, it is believed that one in every 2,500 babies are born with CF. Patients are often diagnosed in early childhood, and while they usually live into adulthood, the average lifespan for someone with the condition is only about 41. As we said, there isn't a cure just yet, only treatments aimed at easing the symptoms, or at least making the condition easier to live with. Now, about that trial we mentioned! The small study, led by Professor Eric Alton from the Imperial College London, involved 136 CF sufferers over the age of 12. The participants stopped using their regular medication and replaced it with an inhaled solution that was given once a month over the course of a year. Half of the group was randomly assigned a saline solution placebo. The remaining study participants were given a virus to inhale. This virus contained healthy copies of the gene that causes cystic fibrosis, which had been altered using gene therapy. All of the solutions were inhaled via a nebuliser, which the patients would be accustomed to because of their condition. This device produces a fine spray of liquid that is inhaled straight into the cells in the lungs, where it is needed. The lungs of the patients receiving just the placebo showed an average decline of 3-4% over that year-long trial. However, the patients who received the genetically-altered healthy cells didn't really show any decline, and even those with the most clogged lungs at the beginning of the study showed an improvement of around 3%. The national team behind the trial haven't yet found a way of making a more permanent change to the faulty gene that causes CF, and the effect is only modest and depends on the patient. But the team believes that with more doses per month, and combined with their regular treatment, the results could be vastly improved. Though, this can only be shown in more trials, and on a much larger scale. Professor Alton explained that the lungs are possibly one of the worst organs for the condition to attack because of how well they are defended. Usually in gene therapy, for example, bone marrow is taken from the patient and the work is carried out under controlled lab conditions and put back into the patient. "That is the low-hanging fruit," the professor explained. "We have gone for high-hanging fruit, but I am not at all sorry we have." Ed Owen, Chief Executive of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said the benefit of using gene therapy to help CF patients is that it could reduce the need for a daily cocktail of medication. "We will, therefore, continue to invest in innovative genetic research... to develop advancements," he concluded, "which will make further progress towards our goal of a life unlimited by cystic fibrosis."

The Streets Barber – Clean Cut, Clean Start

You know how when you leave the hairdressers you feel like a million dollars? Imagine how it would make you feel if you hadn't been able to get a haircut for months, or even years, because you have been living on the streets. One barber in Melbourne, Australia, has been trying to give homeless people a fresh start. He spends his only day off a week giving out free haircuts - and sometimes even treating his clients to a little extra. Nasir Sobhani, 26, used to live in Canada and is a former drug addict. After spending time in rehab and managing to get clean about three years ago, he moved to Australia and become an apprentice barber. One day, Sobhani spoke to someone who was cleaning the windows of the barbershop he was apprenticing in. He found out that the man was a recovering heroin addict who had been sober for a month. After talking to the man a little longer, Sobhani managed to convince him to get a haircut to celebrate his month-long sobriety. After the window cleaner's new look was complete, his mother came along to proudly take a photo of her son, and it got the apprentice thinking. "I used to see a homeless person and given them loose change and think, 'I've done my part for the day,'" Sobhani explained. "But I realised that wasn't enough." So about a year ago, Sobhani now trained up as a fully-fledged barber, he decided to use his new powers for good. Working six days a week, he would use his one day off to take off on his skateboard, barber kit in hand, and look out for people living on the streets. And when he found them, he would talk to them, learn their story, and offer them a haircut, documenting their transformation on his Instagram account. He called this initiative Clean Cut, Clean Start. It might not sound like a lot - a haircut, but remember what we said at the start. For people with little else, a haircut can make a world of difference. But more than that, Sobhani feels he really connects with his "street clients" because of his own past. He doesn't just cut their hair and skateboard away. He talks to them and reminds them that they are people too. One time, he took his makeup artist friend along with him, who gave makeovers to some of the street workers. He also bought a new outfit for one of his clients, whose clothes were falling apart. And his work has not gone unnoticed. He was the subject of a short PLGRM documentary called The Streets Barber, which you can check out below. "They feel so ashamed of who they are," Sobhani said. "So letting them know they are worthy of human interaction is actually the main thing here." [video width="600" height="275" id="6MZSlvq54Fs" type="youtube"]

Cuba is First Country to Eradicate Mum-to-Baby HIV and Syphilis

When it comes to HIV, the unlikely second-most affected region of the world is the Caribbean. About 1% of the adult population suffer from the disease, and the only region with a higher rate is sub-Saharan Africa. After learning this information, it might come as a happy shock to find out that one Caribbean country, Cuba, has become the first country in the world to eradicate mother-to-baby transmission of HIV. But not only HIV, but also syphilis! The WHO (World Health Organisation) is calling it one of the greatest possible public health achievements ever. Every year, there are about 1.4 million women with HIV, who fall pregnant. If left untreated, there's between a 15% and 45% chance of the virus being passed onto their unborn or newborn child, whether it be during pregnancy or delivery, or even through breastfeeding. It's a similar story with syphilis, where nearly a million pregnant women in the world are found to have syphilis every year. But it is possible to avoid complications for the baby if there is early testing and treatment. Cuba now has the lowest HIV rates - not only in the Caribbean region but in the world. And it's all down to comprehensive measures that were first put in place decades ago by the WHO and PAHO (Pan-American Health Organisation). The country first destroyed any potentially infected human blood products and banned them from being imported. Coupled with testing for anyone who travelled abroad and could have contracted the disease while they were away, HIV was effectively prevented from being brought into the country from an outside source. Then came the education programmes, free basic health care to all of the Cuban citizens, and medical examinations. Anyone found to be HIV-positive were admitted into special health centres, like a sort of quarantine. The problem with these centres, though, was that they were a severe infringement on the patients' human rights back in the 1980s. But the care and facilities have improved a lot since those days, don't worry about that! The measures also ensured that pregnant women had access to testing and treatment as soon as possible into their pregnancy, administering antiretroviral medicines to the mothers and their children. And that scary almost-50% chance of transmitting HIV or syphilis to their babies was dramatically crushed to only 1%. This means that out of all the children in Cuba that are born from a mother with HIV, less than 2% have the disease themselves. In fact, in 2013, only two babies were born with HIV in the whole of the country. PAHO's Dr Carissa Etienne explained that Cuba's achieve will inspire "other countries towards the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis". And we couldn't agree more; we can't wait until the rest of the world has followed in these incredible footsteps!

Women Crowdfund Homeless Man’s Funeral

Duc Van Tran was a regular feature beneath one of the overpasses in Houston, Texas. According to the locals, Duc never asked for help or money and just went about minding his own business. No one really knew much about him, and that's thought to be down to a possible language barrier. Whatever Duc's situation was, though, he was part of the community, and some of the residents would bring him food, drink, and other items. Two of these generous locals are Rosa Quintero and Adriana Castro Garcia. They would regularly bring him homemade meals, or food they'd bought him from the shop, but they still knew so little about him. "He would just give a look of 'thank you' with a smile and go back to his cart," they said. But one day, Duc disappeared from his spot, and after not seeing him for a while, they started to worry. They started asking around to see if anyone knew where he had gotten to. That is when they learned that Duc had been killed one night in May after being struck by a drunk driver beneath the overpass. It was thought that Duc had been sleeping when the driver lost control of the vehicle. "I really don't watch TV or listen to the radio," explained Rosa, "so I had no idea what happened until the beginning of this month." She contacted the medical examiner's office to find out about Duc's arrangements and was surprised to hear that his body was still there, unclaimed. Rose informed the medical examiner that she would like to claim Duc's body - an expensive procedure. "I just want to provide him a nice funeral," she explained. To raise the money for a funeral and cremation for Duc, Rosa and Adriana set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page, asking for donations to go towards funeral costs. "Mr Tran may be gone, but we have the opportunity now to do right by him and acknowledge him as a member of our family in this community," they said on the page. The event was set up with a target of $2,500, and people responded really well! At the time of writing - a week after the fund was started - almost 180 people had donated to the cause and it had reached a staggering $5,580. Duc Van Tran's funeral is to be held this Saturday (details are on GoFundMe), and it is all thanks to Rosa Quintero and Adriana Castro Garcia. They wanted to show that although no one knew very much about the man beneath the overpass, he still mattered to them.

Do Working Mothers Have More Successful Children?

If you have children or are thinking about it, then you might have given some thought to who will go out to work and who is staying at home to look after the kids. Do you still to the "traditional" roles and have mum as the primary caregiver while dad goes to work, or does mum become the breadwinner of the family? Whichever choice you make, you might feel as if you are "abandoning" your children in favour of career, or that people will think you are not cut out to earn money for your family. And how might your choice affect your children in later life? But worry no more! According to international research carried out by Harvard University in the US, children of working mothers might fair better as adults. The International Social Survey Programme examined data from 24 countries between 2002 and 2012, and the pattern was pretty consistent around the world. The results revealed that one in three adult daughters of mothers who worked were in managerial positions in their workplace, compared with one in four daughters of homemaker mothers. They were also found to be enjoying better careers and more equal relationships, as well as earning an average of 4% more. "Mothers' employment teaches daughters a set of skills that enable greater participation in the workplace and in leadership roles," explained the authors of the study. On top of this, the researchers didn't find any links between a mother going out to work and her son's working patterns. However, the sons of working mothers tended to be more caring and family-orientated in the home than the sons of stay-at-home mums. The study authors, led by Professor Kathleen McGinn, explained that over the years, more and more women have been entering the workplace and leaving their partners at home looking after the children. Although is is becoming more common practise, some people are still worried about society's reaction to this choice and are choosing to remain in the so-called established family roles of dad-at-work and mum-at-home. The study authors are hoping the research will help to promote respect for whatever choices parents make, in the workplace or at home. "Whether mums or dads stay at home or are employed, children benefit from exposure to role models offering a wide set of alternatives for leading rich and rewarding lives," they said. So whichever parents has a job, and whichever one runs the household, neither situation makes one a better parent over the other. As long as the children are brought up in a happy and healthy environment, that’s what really counts to help your children grow into the kind of adult you want them to be.

Brain-Training App Could Help Stop Snacking

We've all dabbled in brain-training exercises for fun or to try and make ourselves smarter, but what about if we could use them to stop reaching for the biscuits in-between meals? According to a small study from the Universities of Exeter and Cardiff, such an app could help with that, helping people to stay away from snack foods. They have published the research in the journal Appetite. The study involved 82 people between the ages of 23 and 65, all of whom said that they indulged in high-calorie snacks at least three times in a week. The study participants were divided into two groups and played a game created by psychologists at the universities. But each group's game differed slightly. One group played the game that had been designed to help train the user to stay away from snack foods by asking them to avoid pressing a key in the app when pictures of certain foods popped up. The other 41 participants - the control group - played the same game, but with pictures unrelated to food. The game only lasts for 10 minutes and the users played it four times in a week. According to food journals kept by all of the participants, during that test week, no change was seen in the food intake of the control group. The test group, however, lost an average of 0.7kg (1.5lb) and were consuming about 220 fewer calories each day. Furthermore, the results were seen to last up to six months later, with most of the test group maintaining their new healthy habits! Study lead Dr Natalia Lawrence said that although the research is still in its early days and larger studies are still needed, she believes the game could help some people change their eating habits for good. "It is free, easy to do, and 88% of our participants said they would be happy to keep doing it," she added. "This opens up exciting possibilities for new behaviour change interventions based on underlying psychological processes." Dr Lawrence concluded by explaining this study shows how something as simple as a free app could change people's everyday eating behaviour. We'll be looking forward to when it's in the app stores!