About Air Purifiers

I've always been intrigued with the notion of air purifiers—especially as someone who suffers from asthma and allergies. However, I never quite believed all of the claims that air purifier companies made—claims like removes mold and bacteria from the air and makes it easier to breathe. That makes it sound like an oxygen tent or a clean room at a high-tech factory, not a tabletop device.

I don't know if I had been talking about this on Facebook or Twitter, but earlier in the year the PR people for Zon Personal Air Purifier reached out to me and asked if they could send me a unit to try out. Of course, they wanted me to eventually write about the unit—which I'm doing now—but I wouldn't be doing so if I didn't think there was something to share.

And that something is this: that Zon Personal Air Purifier turned my normally sneeze-prone teenage daughter into a sniffle-free person.

The Zon Personal Air Purifier sat in its original packaging for months. I just couldn't figure out how it might be useful, since we try to keep our home as allergen-free as possible. We have hardwood floors throughout, and a no-open-window policy, lest dust or pollen fly around the inside of our house. (Here are other ways you can improve indoor air quality.)

A few months ago my teenage daughter signed up for a two-week college theater course that required her to live in the un-air conditioned dorms of a nearby four-year college. And that would be during the summer when the mercury nudged towards 100 degrees for days on end.

When summer rolled around and we needed to pack her up, we decided to take the Zon Personal Air Purifier along with her box fan. This would be all she had to "cool" her dorm room.

Two weeks later, when we went to pick up her up, she raved about how the air purifier seemed to "change" the air while she was sleeping. She said it allowed her to wake up, in her dorm room each morning, with the windows having been open all night, without a stuffed nose or any allergy feelings.

Since then she's continued to keep the air purifier going 24/7 in her bedroom. This is the first summer in years that she hasn't complained about her allergies.

I mentioned this phenomenon to a Facebook friend recently. He commented that he, too, was never able to sleep with the windows open because of allergies. However, now that he has an air purifier next to his bed (he didn't mention the brand), he can enjoy cool summer evenings with the windows open, listening to the crickets as he's going to sleep, and wake up in the morning with a clear nose and clear head.

10 Belligerent Songs That Will Scare Children into Leaving You Alone

In Swann's Way, Marcel Proust spends roughly 5,000 words grousing about how calamitous insomnia can be. One can only imagine how much more monstrously prodigious and exhausting this rant would have been had the French novelist ever procreated.

There's nothing more vexing for a parent than a child who won't sleep. Adolescent sleeplessness can turn the most level-headed mom or dad into a complete aggro lunatic. I know; I've reached that point with my own little insomniacs.

Months of active bedtime resistance have left me desperate. I've heard of Old World grandmothers pacifying unruly babies with a few drops of the hard stuff, but I ultimately decided against such a course of action because I couldn't figure out if mine were single malt or blended malt kind of kids.

Getting my teeth cleaned recently, I blurted out to the dentist, "So if I wanted to borrow the ol' sleeping gas machine -- just for a week or so--how would I arrange that with you?" I've resorted to preposterous threats: I showed the kids James Mollison's engrossing book Where Children Sleep, which depicts adolescent bedrooms from around the world, and said, "See that poor kid in China who sleeps on a wafer-thin pallet on a dungy floor underneath a poster of Mao Zedong? That's what I'm going to turn your bedroom into if you don't hit the rack right now." I've even taken to reading them Proust at bedtime. Maybe I just need Samuel L. Jackson to pop by.

A number of major studies have shown that children get about an hour less sleep each night than they did three decades years ago. Earlier this year, Pediatrics published a study by University of Chicago investigators that said children who sleep less than their peers are four times more likely to have issues with obesity. Many sleep scientists also believe this lost hour can have a significant impact on a child's developing brain.

"We have an incendiary situation today," goes a recent quote from Dr. Matthew Walker, a professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of California Berkeley, "where the intensity of learning that kids are going through is so much greater, yet the amount of sleep they get to process that learning is so much less. If these linear trends continue, the rubber band will soon snap."

Yeah, either that or us parents.

Anyway, as I sat in my home office one night, plowing through a freelance assignment but having the creative process repeatedly dragged to a screeching halt because my kids are leaving their beds to inform me that they needed a glass of water, extra blankets, a twelfth kiss goodnight, the thermostat set to 71.3 degrees, two air purifiers, and rose petals scattered across their pillows, I thought I had stumbled upon a remedy. I cobbled together a playlist of soothing and somnolent music, songs that can provide the right environment to promote sleep -- Flying Saucer Attack's "Come and Close My Eyes"; Library Tapes' "And the Rain Did Fall; selections from Robert Rich's Drones and Trances, Loscil's Endless Falls, Japancakes' remake of Loveless, and Wendy Carlos' Sonic Seasonings; a little bit of Nicolas Jarr, recently praised at Pitchfork for making great putting-your-daughter-to-sleep music -- but then decided to turn the whole endeavor on its head.

An increasing trend

Nearly 13 percent of 600 respondents in the 2010 study said they battle asthma. In contrast, the rate of Texas residents with asthma is 6.5 percent, according to 2009 figures, the most recent period of available state data.

Asthma causes to airways narrow and swell, according to the Mayo Clinic’s website. The most common symptoms are coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Asthma can’t be cured, but its symptoms can be controlled.

Richardson said there is little the Health Department can do to address the asthma problem.

“We don’t have funding for chronic disease prevention,” he said, adding that his department operates on a $2.3-million budget.

There are usually four factors that trigger asthma: genetics, allergies, respiratory infections or environmental factors, such as pollution, Richardson said. While conceding that the causes for Amarillo’s cases need more research, the city’s asthma problem appears to be mostly tied to genetics and allergies, he said.

Meganne Walsh, a pediatrician who runs a clinic in the 700 block of North Polk Street, said the majority of her asthma patients suffer seasonal asthma. She said they usually show symptoms during the spring or fall, when the allergen count is highest.

“About 20 to 25 percent of my patients have asthma,” Walsh said, adding that she has between 3,000 and 4,000 patients. “Some have it bad, where they have to take (treatment) every day. Others, have it when they do extreme activities such as sports.”

Nabarun Ghosh, a biology professor at West Texas A&M University, said Amarillo’s high asthma rate is probably due to a combination of factors, including wind-driven pollen, crop farming and the worldwide increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

One type of mold considered a major trigger of asthma is alternaria, Ghosh said. The Texas Panhandle has a large farming community and a source of mold is dying crops, he said. “Of the mold growing on the surface of plants when dying off, 90 percent is alternaria,” Ghosh said.

Since 2000, Ghosh has collected allergens and air particles by using a machine called the Burkard Spore Trap. The machine has a green fan-like blade and sits on WT’s agriculture and natural sciences building.

Ghosh said his work has shown there has been an overall increase in molds the past few years. His data shows there were 800 to 900 alternaria per cubic meter Wednesday. On Aug. 15, 2008, the alternaria count was 500 to 600 per cubic meter.

The mold count is generally the same throughout an entire season, Ghosh said.

Ghosh said one well-known place that has registered an increase in pollens is Palo Duro Canyon State Park. He said the canyon has a 20- to 30-mile trail of ragweed, which is known to produce a great deal of allergens. The ragweed trail he’s seen is shaped like a funnel, he said.

“About three years ago, there were simple patches (of ragweed), not that continuous trail,” Ghosh said. “Now it’s continuous.”

Strong winds carry pollens from border states, Ghosh said. Pollen from a species of highly allergenic conifer trees in Oklahoma have been found in the Panhandle, he said.

Ghosh said he’s been working on projects to help asthma and frequent allergy sufferers.

One of Ghosh’s projects, a collaboration with a Las Vegas company, is an air purifier that uses no filter. He said the purifier uses ultraviolet light to attack air allergens and floating bacteria. He said the purifier combats indoor allergens.

Sharp plans aggressive expansion

Nepali electronics market is flooded with Korean products. To provide customers with additional choices, SG Global has introduced Sharp, a Japanese brand in the market.

With plans to have dealers and showrooms in 35 different cities of Nepal in four months, SG Global, is looking to ensure its footprint all over the nation within this year.

"Nepali people value Japanese brands and we are providing them," said Raju Bhetwal Chhetri, vice-president of SG Global. The company claimed to be receiving overwhelming response from customers since its launch a couple of days ago. "The response we are receiving is better than what we had anticipated in the current market situation," said Chettri.

SG Global inaugurated the Sharp outlet named Sharp World at Naxal on Thursday.

Sharp World will showcase its vast range of products including LCD TV, LED TV, refrigerator, microwave oven, washing machine, DVD player, home theatre, air purifier, vacuum cleaner, generator and many more items. Sharp LCD TV with Quattron technology has RGB+Y feature to take the visual experience to a new level, claims Sharp world.

Similarly, Sharp microwave oven with its salt and fat reduction technology is one of the healthier technologies of its kind. Air purifier, another product, is one of the unique products and it not only freshens up the air but also kills the airborne viruses of the atmosphere and makes the ambience fresh and healthy.

Similarly, every Sharp product is equipped with unique and user-friendly features. Due to unmatched features and high quality of Sharp products, SG Global is confident that the Nepali market will receive the Sharp products well.

"SG Global is also planning to open a showroom in Jwalakhel in about six months apart from expansions outside the Kathmandu Valley. We believe we are going to establish ourselves firmly in the market within a year," said Chettri.

High-tech tool helps Calgary drivers find parking

Drivers may now be able to save time finding a parking space downtown with the click of a mouse.

The Calgary Parking Authority has launched a system that keeps a realtime tally of available stalls in all seven of its parkades so drivers know before they head downtown what the chances of finding a spot are.

“It’s added convenience,” said general manager Troy McLeod.

“I think it might provide additional comfort for those coming downtown, especially those who don’t come downtown often.”

The CPA has a parking guidance system (PGS) to count available spots using devices at the entries and exits of parkades and sensors in the stalls.

The information is kept up to date in the operations control centre, and the CPA realized it could share the information with the public fairly easily and at essentially no extra cost, said McLeod.

Updates will be made approximately every 30 seconds, he said.

The service also allows Calgarians to receive automatic updates on computers or phones that are equipped with Internet Explorer 7 of higher.

They can subscribe to the feed with a Really Simply Syndication (RSS) reader, but with Alberta’s new distracted driving legislation to launch in a week, motorists are reminded not to check updates while they are driving.

The CPA has 5,327 stalls between its seven parkades, approximately 23% of which are open for hourly or daily parking.

Parkade availability updating is the first step in a larger plan to provide Calgarians’ access to parking information.

The CPA is working with a city agency to develop an iPhone application — expected to debut this fall — that would include the stall counts, but also other features including the ability to a make parking payments.

As well, historical parking data for on-street parking will be uploaded daily on the parking authority’s website starting this fall.

McLeod said the CPA does not have realtime information for its 2,300 on-street spots downtown, but can provide drivers with an idea of which areas tend to be busiest at which time of day.

Crews at fire-damaged Swiftwater school wipe down everything

Spraying, sweeping, wiping and scrubbing, an army of workers continued Wednesday to clean up fire damage at Swiftwater Elementary Center in a bid to get the school open by next week.

"We'd of course love to have the building open by Monday, but we won't open it until we can be sure it's healthy for our students and staff," said Pocono Mountain School District spokeswoman Wendy Frable.

About 125 workers from the emergency cleanup company Servpro sprayed nearly every item inside certain classrooms with a special solution to remove dust and any particles of soot that may have trickled down from the roof.

They arrived Monday, a day after a lightning strike ignited a fire on the school's roof.

Removing soot is usually of chief importance when it comes to cleaning up fire damage because soot is a carcinogen. But parents of Swiftwater Elementary Center students can rest assured, Frable and Servpro workers said, because a metal firewall beneath the roof's shingles essentially caught almost all the debris and soot and prevented it from reaching the rest of the school. Frable said the school's ventilation system was off when the fire started.

Still, workers took pains to wipe down walls and lockers with special sponges. Workers also removed the thousands of corkboard tiles that compose the ceilings above many classrooms. Corkboard is a porous material, and cleanup crews believed it wise to replace the tiles because hazardous particles might collect in them.

Servpro was most concerned with water damage that the building had sustained, but workers suctioned the big puddles left behind by firefighters putting out the blaze.

Many industrial-strength air purifiers were working to remove particles and a faint burnt scent from the air. Frable said school officials will have air quality test results this week.

The cost of the fire damage still hasn't been figured out, she said. A roofing company will eventually rebuild the roof, but the status of the roof will have no bearing on whether officials decide to open next Monday. It's the cleanup inside the schools halls and classes that counts.

That Bird Dust To A Minimum; Do All Birds Have Dust?

If you are a bird owner, you know that bird dust can be a very big problem if you live with a powder-down bird. If not dealt with, it can cause health problems for you and your bird.

So, what is bird dust? It is a white powder( or usually white), that specific birds produce to keep their feathers soft and their skin properly moisturized. The bird will make this dust as long as he lives and must do this or he can suffer from many health issues. You will just have to find ways to cut down on the dust in the bird`s room and around the rest of the house.

What is the difference between bird dust and bird dander? Dander is microscopic and can`t be seen with the naked eye. Dander is the natural process of replenishing old skin with new skin, which will be better able to protect the bird and ward off infection and disease. This is also a life time process and a powder-down bird produces dust AND dander.

All birds don`t produce a powder dust, but the 3 types of parrots that are most well known for producing powder down are Cockatiels, Cockatoos and African Greys. All members of the Parrot family are powder-down birds.

You can reduce the amount of dust the bird spreads by gently misting your bird with water, by using a spray bottle and this is very effective in reducing the amount of dust that goes airborne. You should always mist early enough in the day, so that the bird will go through the night with dry feathers as they will be less likely to get a chill as the temperature drops at night.  as per  www.articlealley.com

Your very best way to reduce all that airborne dust is by using a filtering system. Your heating/cooling system may have filters on them but they cannot keep up with the amount of dust the bird produces. You will need to use a portable air filter with a HEPA, or High Efficiency  Particle Arresting Filter.

This HEPA filter plus an air cleaner that has multiple pre-filters and a filter of military carbon cloth will give your bird and you daily relief from the particle, dust-filled air. Keeping the air clean will keep your bird(and you) healthy and less susceptible to respiratory diseases.  where they carry the Austin Air Allergy Machine HEPA Air Purifier for Bird Dust, for $518.99.