Mitral stenosis is due to thickening and immobility of the mitral valve leaflets, resulting in obstruction in blood flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. The mitral valve leaflets are thickened and the commissures are fused along with thickening and shortening of the chordae tendineae. This mechanical obstruction leads to increases in pressure within the left atrium, pulmonary vasculature, and right side of the heart; in comparison, the left ventricle is unaffected if there is pure mitral stenosis.

Today, there are already innovated ways on how to make use of coconut oil, ways that are actually beneficial to your health. Aside from that, it can also serve as a beauty essential; one that you would want and need for healthy, beautiful skin and hair. In this book you will know how you can use coconut oil to your advantage. The best thing about considering coconut oil as a beauty regimen is that it is a natural product, as if it is Mother Nature's own gift for you, in her desire to make you even more beautiful. There are chemicals that treat your hair to condition it the way you want it-soft, shiny, fragrant, and damage-free. There are also invented chemicals which are used to minimize the cells in your skin that cause darkening. Although these chemicals can be effective, they are not exactly safe.

Grandpa's Letters is a collection of letters written by Wang Rumei (Youdan) to his youngest son Wang Xuan (Shaozhou) between 1932 and 1936. An accomplished Confucian scholar in retirement after a political career lasting more than two decades, Youdan belongs to the gentry class and the intellectuals of an older generation. Yet like most people in China at that time, his life and that of his family were severely affected by the political turmoil of this period, and he shared with the majority of the Chinese people a strong sense of nationalism and patriotism on the eve of the Japanese invasion of China (1938-1945). These letters are in both Chinese and English translation and are richly annotated in order to help the reader better understand Chinese culture, tradition, and customs. To be faithful to history, they are not edited. A phonetical transcription-pinyin-is included in the English version of certain poetry so that those who do not read Chinese can have a sense of what the poems sound like and can better understand the rules for Chinese classical poetry. Youdan's elegant and well-known calligraphy is also presented in the book as images.

A comprehensive compilation of entries illuminates the key trends, activities, and themes in organic, sustainable, and local food, covering consumers, organizations, farming, policies, and much more. The Encyclopedia of Organic, Sustainable, and Local Food pulls together a fascinating array of diverse, interdisciplinary topics to provide a thorough overview of our current alternative food system. With increasing attention focused on organic and local food, many people are attracted to these sustainable food choices. Yet despite its popularity, there are misconceptions and a general lack of understanding about organic and local food. This encyclopedia illuminates social concerns, economic trends, policy influences, and ecological terms to provide a comprehensive overview. Contributions from expert authors from government agencies, research universities, and private organizations provide key information on each of these relevant topics. Eating is a basic human activity, yet many people do not know where their food comes from. This book helps readers fill the gap between the trendy and the factual.

The Wonder of Life takes you from Earth's beginning and describes the events that preceded man and carries you along the path of man's education. This came through wars, then religion, and always through the silent killers of man as disease became one of the major carriers of education as well as death. You will journey through the battles with the silent killers and understand how man went from a defensive mode to one of the aggressor with the invention of the microscope. Follow the progress of the wins over the Staff infections, to the use of penicillin during the war and then the defeat of Polio; always in the search of what made man tick. This carries him through the discovery of DNA, the genetic code, AIDS, the human genome and to today's great hope of the use of stem cells to correct for the body's malfunction of its organs. It's an exciting story told in a novel manner for the layman to understand.

A Mother's Cry by Kerri J. Busteed is a story of about Rachel Spielbauer, a woman who so desperately feels the need for attention. Her entire life she has felt neglected and always had to find her own way to get the attention she felt she deserved. Rachel grew up to be an amazing woman who co-founded her own magazine and married a successful pilot for a commercial airline. Shortly after getting married she became pregnant. Rachel felt her life would now be perfect, until her heart was broken after the birth of her child. Once her life starts to get back to normal she begins to feel lonely and depressed. She needs to find a way to get attention and unfortunately for her child, finds that by having a child who is sick the staff at the hospital gives her the attention she so desperately desires. How far will Rachel go to get attention?

Breaking Point captures the essence of teenage suicide and the "trigger" factors that cause it. Compelling new information with vignettes that remind us of each tragic loss.

Written to encourage defensive action, Levine's book is meant both as a guide and a reference to understanding and preventing dementia. It is intended for lay people interested in learning about dementia and the measures that can be taken to repel its onslaught, as well as for caregivers and family members of impaired patients. Defying Dementia is presented in two sections. First, Levine explains the various types of dementia, its increasing incidence and current treatments, and the treatments being tested and on the horizon. The role of physiology and fresh insights from the field of genetics are included. The second section focuses on methods that can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle to help avoid dementia. How do we motivate individuals to take action or change behavior in response to a possible threat that has not yet materialized? When the threat is dementia, argues longtime neurologist Robert Levine, it is an issue of considerable importance. The earlier the campaign is initiated to defeat this lurking foe, the greater the chances the combatant will emerge victorious. Written to encourage such defensive action, Levine's book is meant both as a guide and a reference to understanding and preventing dementia. It is intended for lay people interested in learning about dementia and the measures that can be taken to repel its onslaught, as well as for caregivers and family members of impaired patients. Defying Dementia is presented in two sections. First, Levine explains the various types of dementia, its increasing incidence and current treatments, and the treatments being tested and on the horizon. The role of physiology and fresh insights from the field of genetics are included. The second section focuses on methods that can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle to help avoid dementia. Vignettes illustrate how dementia in its many forms can be recognized as it emerges. With proper actions on our part, we can achieve mastery, Levine writes. The transformation may not be easy, but recognizing the scourge that dementia is, and the way it devours the humanity of its victims, may inspire us to move ahead. Preparation is the key word; building solid defenses over time. And while any moment is worthwhile to begin this task, the earlier the better.

Better Barbershop singing through yoga... Yoga in 4-Part Harmony is a book about yoga and singing better. Fun instruction and colorful illustrations are blended into a seamless flow that is easy to follow. Proven methods for improving breathing, stamina and focus to name a few. The book focuses on these main sections: Breath, Foundation and Mind/Energy. There are step by step instructions with helpful pose illustrations. Both yoga poses and breathing exercises include variations for chorus and quartet use as well as the traditional individual variation. Sue brings real barbershop experience to her explanations of the concepts contained in the book. She developed the concepts while singing in a Sweet Adelines Chorus. Sue suggests effective yoga poses to calm the mind before a performance and to sleep better before competition. She also uses poses to help create better connection between riser buddies or members of a quartet. The poses and exercises are great tools to add to any barbershop singer's toolkit

The Broken Mask is a novel of time and torment, from the Great Depression to the computer revolution. An epic drama that illustrates the agony that each life depicted must endure and how each does, or does not, overcome their personal successes and tragedies. The scope of the saga sweeps across the country allowing the reader an opportunity to vividly imagine the beautiful grandeur. The Broken Mask tells about families and relationships-about generations of blood connections, about a relationship between a boy and his father, his mother, and his grandparents. About two men with diverse backgrounds, and the pain and suffering each must endure as the cards of life are dealt to each. Dirk Wescott was raised in a poor family in Oil City, a small town in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California. While Matthew Purcell Jr. was born to an affluent family in Santa Rosa, a moderate size city fifty miles north of San Francisco. Matt and Dirk are destined to clash. Book I details Dirk and his family .The plot details their lives and the personal misery Dirk suffers triggered by the tragic death of his father and his mother's illicit behavior. Book II tells of Matt, his family, and his conflict with Dirk. Throughout the novel Matt tries to do more for Dirk, and it isn't until Dirk's tragic death that Matt was finally set free from the burden of Dirk Wescott and his tragic life. While Dirk Wescott is overcome by the psychosis brought on by his jealousy of Matt and elements in his upbringing that drive him to violence. Dirk is intelligent, athletic, and an excellent manipulator people until the walls come crashing down. Will the reader pity Dirk? Or be jealous of Matt, as is Dirk? Now, I presentto you a saga of American life centered on the lives of two young men. Dirk Wescott and Matthew Purcell Jr. are not living beings, nor have they ever been alive. But, it has been my pleasure to meet and cavort about with life's splen