New Way to Experience Dentistry

    Have you ever had your hand held during a dental procedure you feel uneasy about? What about a dental office that mimics（模仿） the spirit of Disneyland? If you're looking for a dental office that provides the best careand the best environment, you're looking for Dr. Licking's office in Sunnyvale.

    Officer manager Judy, who has worked with Dr. Licking for 38 years, speaks highly of his kindness. She believes. that the office is “the Disneyland of dentistry”. Everyone from children to their grandparents loves the environment and care they receive from this welcoming office.

    Dr. Licking is known as the best dental care provider for anyone who fears facing appointments with the dental office. The staff goes out of their way to make patients feel comfortable and at ease. Dr. Licking and Judy set the standard with their saying, “when someone comes to your home, you stand up and welcome them, like an old family friend.”

    Dr. Licking'soffice has all. They recently relocated to put the new equipment into their practice. The office is equipped with an intra-oral video camera, and as a patient you can get pictures of your teeth as you're walking out the door.

    Setting himself apart from other dentists, Dr. Licking continues his education beyond what is required. For this reason, he is one of few dentists in the country who offers ozone treatment. Ozone cannaturally stop decay (蛀蚀) in its tracks. For more information on this new technology, visit their websiteat www.drjohnlicking.com.

    Dr. Licking's office is Diamond Certified, an honor given only to companies with the higher quality after extensive and continual research. Dr. Licking's office extends an invitation to you to meet their gentle staff and offers you a free office visit, including x-rays and an exam.

    The office holds extended hours ranging from 7 a. m. to 8 p, m., Monday through Thursday. Don't worry ifyou have an emergency. Dr. Licking's office responds to all emergencies and urgent calls.

JOHN LICKING, D.D.S.

Cosmetic & Family Dentistry since 1970

408—736—6235

drjohnlicking.com

877 W.Fremont Ave. Suite C3,Sunnyvale

Dear John,

    My name is Amber and I want to share my story with you because what you've shared about life and positive energy has changed my life. This past year has been one of the hardest for me. I felt I was stuck in a position that had nothing to do with what I wanted to do with my life. In January, after two years of being together, my boyfriend left me.

    I read your blog every morning as I drink my coffee at work, but it wasn't until this March that I told myself "no more negativity" as you taught readers in your blog.

    Since then I've got into new habits at work to keep my energy positive. When people walk in the front door, I'm the first face they see, so I smile big when I say "good morning" to them, especially on Mondays. Instead of waiting for someone to ask me for help, I offer it with an open mind. The CEO noticed my change and offered me the executive assistant position that I wanted.

   One of the biggest things I've taken to heart from your blog is changing my opinions on my job. Yes, it was not an important position, but when I was passionate （热情的） about it, I could make my life fulfilling.

    All in all, I have to thank you somehow for having the passion to help others because it truly is inspiring to me. So thank you so much, John. My life has changed because your words pointed me in the right direction, Take care!

Sincerely ,

Amber

    Navarathri, which is celebrated throughout India, falls in September or October. On the first three days, people pray (祈祷) to the goddess Durga, the protector who destroys all evil. The next three days they pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Then, also for three days, they look to Saraswathi, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. The tenth and final day of the festival is for the goddess Durga. On this day many years ago, Durga killed the evil buffalo-headed monster, Mahishasura.

    My daughter and I took out the models of the gods and goddesses that we had stored away last year. Soon the room was littered with all kinds of dolls. We usually buy at least one new doll every year. On the tenth day, the dolls are carefully put away. If a doll is too damaged to be shown, it is never thrown away. Instead, it is put deep into the seas.

    In our hallway six long wooden steps are set up. First, we spread a thick white cloth over the steps. Now it's time to put the dolls on the steps carefully. Every year, the gollu is different. Sometimes — as the collection grows — there is no space to fit all of the dolls on the steps. Smaller dolls can also be placed on the floor.

    Every night there are prayers, music, dancing, and a large meal for many people. In northern India, the children sing songs while doing the dandiya raas, a traditional dance. Every dancer also has two wooden sticks — called dandiya — that he or she uses to make a sound in time to the lovely music. Dancing the dandiya raas helps people think of the true meaning of Navarathri — togetherness, laughter, and fun!

    A study showed that the experiences children have in their first few years are important. These experiences affect the development of the brain. When children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things, which makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion (万亿) connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.

    Researcher Judit Gervain tested how good newborns are at distinguishing different sound patterns. Her researchers produced images of the brains of babies as they heard different sound patterns. For example, one order was mu-ba-ba. This is the pattern "A-B-B". Another order was mu-ba-ge. This is the pattern "A-B-C". The images showed that the part of the brain responsible for speech was more active during the "A-B-B" pattern. This shows that babies can tell the difference between different patterns. They also were sensitive to where it occurred in the order.

    Gervain is excited by these findings because the order of sounds is the building block of words and grammar. "Position is key to language," she says. "If something is at the beginning or at the end, it makes a big difference: 'John caught the bear.' is very different from 'The bear caught John.' "

    Researchers led by scientist Patricia Kuhl have found that language delivered by televisions, audio books, the Internet, or smartphones－no matter how educational－doesn't appear to be enough for children's brain development. They carried out a study of nine-month-old American babies. They expected the first group who'd watched videos in Chinese to show the same kind of learning as the second group who were brought face-to-face with the same sounds. Instead they found a huge difference. The babies in the second group were able to distinguish between similar Chinese sounds as well as native listeners. But the other babies－regardless of whether they had watched the video or listened to the audio－learned nothing.

    Elephants have impressed us for centuries. They are big, clever, and sociable. But what if someone told you that they may also hold the key to fighting cancer (癌症)?

    People have been wondering why elephants do not develop cancer, even though they have lifespans (寿命) that are similar to humans, living for around 50 to 70 years.

    Now scientists believe they know why. A team at the University of Chicago, US has found that elephants carry a large number of genes that stop tumors (肿瘤) from developing. To be precise, they found 20 copies of an anti­tumor gene called TP53 in elephants. Most other species, including humans, only carry one copy.

    According to the research, which was recently published on the online science network BioRxiv, the extra copies of the gene improved the animal's sensitivity to DNA damage. This lets the cells quickly kill themselves when damaged before they can go on to form deadly tumors.

    “An increased risk of developing cancer has stood in the way of the evolution of large body sizes in many animals，” study author Dr. Vincent Lynch told The Guardian. If every living cell (细胞) has the same chance of becoming cancerous, large creatures with long lifespans like whales and elephants should have a greater risk of developing cancer than humans and mice do. But across species, the risk of cancer does not show a connection with body mass.

    This_phenomenon was found by Oxford University scientist Richard Peto in the 1970s and later named "Peto's paradox". Evolutionary (进化的) biologists believe it results from larger animals using protection that many smaller animals do not. In the elephant's case, the making of TP53 is nature's way of keeping this species alive.

    The study also found that when the same genes were brought to life in mice, they had the same cancer resistance (抵抗) as elephants. This means researchers could use the discovery to develop new treatments that can help stop cancers from spreading or even developing in the first place.

    "Nature has already figured out how to prevent cancer, " said Joshua Schiffman, an oncologist at the School of Medicine, University of Utah, US.

    “It's up to us to learn how different animals tackle (处理) the problem so we can use those strategies to prevent cancer in people.”

    Primary school students in China started using new editions of their textbooks last September, with new illustrations(插图)to go with classic Chinese poems.

    With the 110 classic poems for primary school students from Grade One to Six come one hundred illustrations painted by artist Huang Guoxiang of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. The old version of Chinese was in use for more than 10 years. "Our aesthetic(美学的)tastes have changed. The illustrations in textbooks should keep up with that," said Huang.

    "An editor from People's Education Press called me last September and asked whether I was interested –to create illustrations for three poems: Ode to Goose, Min Nong and Spring Dawn. I made it. After about 20 days, the publisher called me again and asked me to do all of them," Huang said.

    Huang also said he referred to the Chinese textbooks his son used previously before working on a new painting.

    But he did not just create any ink paintings; Huang changed his style of painting a little bit for his young readers. Primary school students may not necessarily be attracted to traditional Chinese ink painting, as the stokes(笔画)tend to be thick and the colors dark. So he mixed ink painting with watercolor to make the pictures visually appealing to the young readers while fully expressing the meanings of classic poems.

    "It's not that difficult to illustrate a single poem. The hard part is: sometimes there are three poems on one page and the contents of these poems may change greatly, so it was difficult for me to express the feelings of all of them with one illustration. Sometimes I had to think with a bigger picture and create something that fits it all," added Huang.