MOEBIUS SYNDROME AWARENESS DAY IS COMING UP
...on January 24th.  And it's good to see that it is gaining some notice in the wider world.  For example, here's some notice of it from a blog on the Indianapolis Examiner page:
"January 24th, I'm told by a parent, is the first-ever Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. January 24 is a significant date in the history of Moebius Syndrome as it is the birth date of Professor Paul Julius Mobius, the neurologist who first diagnosed the disorder in 1888, and who was born on January 24th, 1853 .
The concept of the Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day was conceived by Donnie Downs, a board member of The Many Faces Of Moebius Syndrome website, whose son Caleb was born with the syndrome.
During the course of 2010 a cause page was started at  www.causes.com/causes/453553 in support of a Moebius Syndrome Awareness day – to date it has attracted 4343 members, all in support of Moebius Syndrome awareness.  The first ever Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day in 2011 will be supported by all three of the Moebius Syndrome organizations; The Moebius Syndrome Foundation www.moebiussyndrome.com; The Many Faces Of Moebius Syndrome  www.manyfacesofmoebiussyndrome.com; and The Moebius Syndrome Research Trust www.moebiusresearchtrust.org."

WEIGHT-TRAINING AND THE BRAIN
It appears lifting weights can be helpful in stimulating and nourishing brain function:
"...older women who lifted weights performed significantly better on various tests of cognitive functioning than women who completed toning classes. Ms. Liu-Ambrose has also done brain scans of people who lifted weights to determine whether neurogenesis is occurring in their brains, and the results, still unpublished, are encouraging, she said.  Just how resistance training initiates changes in cognition remains somewhat mysterious. Ms. Liu-Ambrose said that “we now know that resistance training has significant benefits on cardiovascular health” and reduces “cardiovascular risk factors,” which otherwise would raise “one’s risk of cognitive impairment.” She speculates that resistance training, by strengthening the heart, improves blood flow to the brain generally, which is associated with better cognitive function. Perhaps almost as important, she added, resistance training at first requires an upsurge in brain usage. You have to think about “proper form and learning the technique,” she said, “while there generally is less learning involved in aerobic training,” like running.  The brain benefits from being used, so that, in a neat circle, resistance training may both demand and create additional brain circuitry. Imagine what someone like Einstein might have accomplished if he had occasionally gone to the gym."

GINGERLY REDUCING THAT MUSCLE PAIN
I know some of us in the Moebius community deal daily with muscle pain.  You know what might be able to help a bit?  Ginger:
"Scientists recruited 74 adults and had them do exercises meant to induce muscle pain and inflammation. Over 11 days, the subjects ate either two grams of ginger a day or a placebo. Ultimately, the ginger groups experienced roughly 25 percent reductions in exercise-induced muscle pain 24 hours after a workout.  In a similar double-blind study, scientists compared what happened when subjects consumed either two grams of ginger or a placebo one day and then two days after exercise. The ginger appeared to have no effect shortly after ingestion. But it was associated with less soreness the following day, leading the researchers to conclude that ginger may help “attenuate the day-to-day progression of muscle pain.”

Now where did I put that phone number for the Chinese take-out place...

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life, no matter what may be one's aim." -John D. Rockefeller