http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100803212015.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2010) — The growing amount of human noise pollution in the ocean could lead fish away from good habitat and off to their death, according to new research from a UK-led team working on the Great Barrier Reef.
After developing for weeks at sea, baby tropical fish rely on natural noises to find the coral reefs where they can survive and thrive. However, the researchers found that short exposure to artificial noise makes fish become attracted to inappropriate sounds.
In earlier research, Dr Steve Simpson, Senior Researcher in the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences discovered that baby reef fish use sounds made by fish, shrimps and sea urchins as a cue to find coral reefs. With human noise pollution from ships, wind farms and oil prospecting on the increase, he is now concerned that this crucial behaviour is coming under threat.
He said: "When only a few weeks old, baby reef fish face a monumental challenge in locating and choosing suitable habitat. Reef noise gives them vital information, but if they can learn, remember and become attracted towards the wrong sounds, we might be leading them in all the wrong directions."
----- (skipping)
Dr Simpson said: "Anthropogenic noise has increased dramatically in recent years, with small boats, shipping, drilling, pile driving and seismic testing now sometimes drowning out the natural sounds of fish and snapping shrimps. If fish accidentally learn to follow the wrong sounds, they could end up stuck next to a construction site or follow a ship back out to sea."
..
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Go ahead and argue, it can be good for your health
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38698442/ns/health-behavior/
By Rachael Rettner
updated 8/13/2010 6:28:16 PM ET
SAN DIEGO — A little arguing now and then is good for you, if done for the right reasons, a new study suggests.
The results show when people experience tension with someone, whether their boss, spouse, or child, sidestepping confrontation could be bad for their health. Avoiding conflict was associated with more symptoms of physical problems the next day than was actually engaging in an argument.
Bypassing bickering was also associated with abnormal rises and falls of the stress hormone cortisol throughout the day.
"Relationships have important influences on how we feel on a daily basis, especially the problems in our relationships," said study researcher Kira Birditt, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. "How we deal with problems affects our daily well-being," she said.
Previous research has shown married couples who avoid argumentsare more likely to die earlier than their expressive counterparts. Another study found that expressing angercontributes to a sense of control and optimism that doesn't exist in people who respond in a fearful manner.
----- (skipping)
====================================================
This study compared people who avoided expressing disagreements vs. those who argued about them.
What about people who talk them out in a respectful way?
..
By Rachael Rettner
updated 8/13/2010 6:28:16 PM ET
SAN DIEGO — A little arguing now and then is good for you, if done for the right reasons, a new study suggests.
The results show when people experience tension with someone, whether their boss, spouse, or child, sidestepping confrontation could be bad for their health. Avoiding conflict was associated with more symptoms of physical problems the next day than was actually engaging in an argument.
Bypassing bickering was also associated with abnormal rises and falls of the stress hormone cortisol throughout the day.
"Relationships have important influences on how we feel on a daily basis, especially the problems in our relationships," said study researcher Kira Birditt, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. "How we deal with problems affects our daily well-being," she said.
Previous research has shown married couples who avoid argumentsare more likely to die earlier than their expressive counterparts. Another study found that expressing angercontributes to a sense of control and optimism that doesn't exist in people who respond in a fearful manner.
----- (skipping)
====================================================
This study compared people who avoided expressing disagreements vs. those who argued about them.
What about people who talk them out in a respectful way?
..
Friday, August 13, 2010
Trend continues with second hottest July on record
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_sc/us_sci_hot_july;_ylt=At3R6fu51Nj5guvOJRCbw0is0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFlMjJmYWF1BHBvcwM4MwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3BvbGl0aWNzBHNsawN0cmVuZGNvbnRpbnU-
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer – Fri Aug 13, 7:33 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The Earth continues to feel the heat.
Last month was the second warmest July on record, and so far 2010 remains on track to be the hottest year.
Worldwide, the average temperature in July was 61.6 degrees Fahrenheit (16.5 Celsius), the National Climatic Data Center reported Friday. Only July 1998 was hotter since recordkeeping began more than a century ago.
And the January-July period was the warmest first seven months of any year on record, averaging 58.1 F (14.5 C). In second place was January-July of 1998.
The report comes after a month of worldwide extremes including floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat. Atmospheric scientists have grown increasingly concerned about human-induced global warming in recent years, though political pressures and fierce arguments about climate change have slowed efforts to develop solutions.
----- (skipping)
For the United States the center noted that "intense heat either tied, or shattered, July monthly temperature records in several East Coast cities, including Washington, Atlantic City, N.J. and Hartford, Conn."
It was the hottest July on record for Delaware and Rhode Island and every East Coast state from Maine to Florida ranked in its top ten warmest.
Only Montana, Idaho, and Texas had average temperatures that were below-normal for the month.
Rainfall, averaged across the country, was much-above-normal in July, ranking in the 10 ten percent in the 1895-2010 period.
Much of the Plains and Upper Midwest experienced above normal wetness, the climate center noted. "Wisconsin had its second wettest July, while Texas had its fourth, Iowa its fifth and Missouri its eighth" wettest.
..
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid, Ap Science Writer – Fri Aug 13, 7:33 pm ET
WASHINGTON – The Earth continues to feel the heat.
Last month was the second warmest July on record, and so far 2010 remains on track to be the hottest year.
Worldwide, the average temperature in July was 61.6 degrees Fahrenheit (16.5 Celsius), the National Climatic Data Center reported Friday. Only July 1998 was hotter since recordkeeping began more than a century ago.
And the January-July period was the warmest first seven months of any year on record, averaging 58.1 F (14.5 C). In second place was January-July of 1998.
The report comes after a month of worldwide extremes including floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat. Atmospheric scientists have grown increasingly concerned about human-induced global warming in recent years, though political pressures and fierce arguments about climate change have slowed efforts to develop solutions.
----- (skipping)
For the United States the center noted that "intense heat either tied, or shattered, July monthly temperature records in several East Coast cities, including Washington, Atlantic City, N.J. and Hartford, Conn."
It was the hottest July on record for Delaware and Rhode Island and every East Coast state from Maine to Florida ranked in its top ten warmest.
Only Montana, Idaho, and Texas had average temperatures that were below-normal for the month.
Rainfall, averaged across the country, was much-above-normal in July, ranking in the 10 ten percent in the 1895-2010 period.
Much of the Plains and Upper Midwest experienced above normal wetness, the climate center noted. "Wisconsin had its second wettest July, while Texas had its fourth, Iowa its fifth and Missouri its eighth" wettest.
..
Students' Understanding of the Equal Sign Not Equal
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100810122200.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2010) — Taken very literally, not all students are created equal -- especially in their math learning skills, say Texas A&M University researchers who have found that not fully understanding the "equal sign" in a math problem could be a key to why U.S. students underperform their peers from other countries in math.
"About 70 percent of middle grades students in the United States exhibit misconceptions, but nearly none of the international students in Korea and China have a misunderstanding about the equal sign, and Turkish students exhibited far less incidence of the misconception than the U.S. students," note Robert M. Capraro and Mary Capraro of the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M.
----- (skipping)
Students who exhibit the correct understanding of the equal sign show the greatest achievement in mathematics and persist in fields that require mathematics proficiency like engineering, according to their research.
"The equal sign is pervasive and fundamentally linked to mathematics from kindergarten through upper-level calculus," Robert M. Capraro says. "The idea of symbols that convey relative meaning, such as the equal sign and "less than" and "greater than" signs, is complex and they serve as a precursor to ideas of variables, which also require the same level of abstract thinking."
The problem is students memorize procedures without fully understanding the mathematics, he notes.
"Students who have learned to memorize symbols and who have a limited understanding of the equal sign will tend to solve problems such as 4+3+2=( )+2 by adding the numbers on the left, and placing it in the parentheses, then add those terms and create another equal sign with the new answer," he explains. "So the work would look like 4+3+2=(9)+2=11.
"This response has been called a running equal sign -- similar to how a calculator might work when the numbers and equal sign are entered as they appear in the sentence," he explains. "However, this understanding is incorrect. The correct solution makes both sides equal. So the understanding should be 4+3+2=(7)+2. Now both sides of the equal sign equal 9."
One cause of the problem might be the textbooks, the research shows.
The Texas A&M researchers examined textbooks in China and the United States and found "Chinese textbooks provided the best examples for students and that even the best U.S. textbooks, those sponsored by the National Science Foundation, were lacking relational examples about the equal sign."
Parents and teachers can help the students. The two researchers suggest using mathematics manipulatives and encourage teachers "to read professional journals, become informed about the problem and modify their instruction."
..
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2010) — Taken very literally, not all students are created equal -- especially in their math learning skills, say Texas A&M University researchers who have found that not fully understanding the "equal sign" in a math problem could be a key to why U.S. students underperform their peers from other countries in math.
"About 70 percent of middle grades students in the United States exhibit misconceptions, but nearly none of the international students in Korea and China have a misunderstanding about the equal sign, and Turkish students exhibited far less incidence of the misconception than the U.S. students," note Robert M. Capraro and Mary Capraro of the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M.
----- (skipping)
Students who exhibit the correct understanding of the equal sign show the greatest achievement in mathematics and persist in fields that require mathematics proficiency like engineering, according to their research.
"The equal sign is pervasive and fundamentally linked to mathematics from kindergarten through upper-level calculus," Robert M. Capraro says. "The idea of symbols that convey relative meaning, such as the equal sign and "less than" and "greater than" signs, is complex and they serve as a precursor to ideas of variables, which also require the same level of abstract thinking."
The problem is students memorize procedures without fully understanding the mathematics, he notes.
"Students who have learned to memorize symbols and who have a limited understanding of the equal sign will tend to solve problems such as 4+3+2=( )+2 by adding the numbers on the left, and placing it in the parentheses, then add those terms and create another equal sign with the new answer," he explains. "So the work would look like 4+3+2=(9)+2=11.
"This response has been called a running equal sign -- similar to how a calculator might work when the numbers and equal sign are entered as they appear in the sentence," he explains. "However, this understanding is incorrect. The correct solution makes both sides equal. So the understanding should be 4+3+2=(7)+2. Now both sides of the equal sign equal 9."
One cause of the problem might be the textbooks, the research shows.
The Texas A&M researchers examined textbooks in China and the United States and found "Chinese textbooks provided the best examples for students and that even the best U.S. textbooks, those sponsored by the National Science Foundation, were lacking relational examples about the equal sign."
Parents and teachers can help the students. The two researchers suggest using mathematics manipulatives and encourage teachers "to read professional journals, become informed about the problem and modify their instruction."
..
Pakistan floods: How you can help
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38680246/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/38683476
updated 8/12/2010 6:07:14 PM ET
Hundreds of people have died, 2 million have been displaced and 14 million lives have been disrupted by exceptionally heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan since July. The U.N. says that even more lives could be lost if aid doesn't arrive soon.
Here's how you can help:
Donate, donate, donate (cash)
The U.S. government and most major relief organizations say that one of the very best ways to help is through cash. Cash donations are easily transferred overseas, don't consume manpower and warehouse space, and can be used by volunteers for the most pressing issues at hand.
For general donations, text "SWAT" to 50555 to donate $10 to help flood victims ( UN refugee agency and mGive)
For specific aid initiatives, you can look at various organizations that are involved in Pakistan flood relief efforts at InterAction
A few highlights from that list include (and are definitely not limited to):
CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe)
USA for UNHCR (USA for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees)
UNICEF (U.N. Children's Fund)
Volunteer/non-monetary contributions
If you have specific skills (medicine, engineering, communications, etc.) and want to volunteer your time and energy, go to Center for International Disaster Information.
What is the U.S. government doing?
Go to USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to find out.
===============================================
Please go to the original article for links to these organizations
..
updated 8/12/2010 6:07:14 PM ET
Hundreds of people have died, 2 million have been displaced and 14 million lives have been disrupted by exceptionally heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan since July. The U.N. says that even more lives could be lost if aid doesn't arrive soon.
Here's how you can help:
Donate, donate, donate (cash)
The U.S. government and most major relief organizations say that one of the very best ways to help is through cash. Cash donations are easily transferred overseas, don't consume manpower and warehouse space, and can be used by volunteers for the most pressing issues at hand.
For general donations, text "SWAT" to 50555 to donate $10 to help flood victims ( UN refugee agency and mGive)
For specific aid initiatives, you can look at various organizations that are involved in Pakistan flood relief efforts at InterAction
A few highlights from that list include (and are definitely not limited to):
CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe)
USA for UNHCR (USA for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees)
UNICEF (U.N. Children's Fund)
Volunteer/non-monetary contributions
If you have specific skills (medicine, engineering, communications, etc.) and want to volunteer your time and energy, go to Center for International Disaster Information.
What is the U.S. government doing?
Go to USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to find out.
===============================================
Please go to the original article for links to these organizations
..
Fun With Mortality Tables
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/fun-with-mortality-tables/
August 13, 2010, 5:50 pm
Hoo boy, if Social Security is the big thing in the next few months — which is starting to look possible — it’s going to be like old times again, shooting down all the usual fallacies one more time.
So: one thing you’re going to hear is something along the lines of, “In 1950 life expectancy was only 68 years, so hardly anyone was collecting Social Security; now it’s 78 years — the problem is obvious”.
Does anyone know what’s wrong with this? You over there in the corner?
That’s right: a life expectancy of 68 years doesn’t mean that a lot of people toddle along then suddenly keel over over after threescore and eight birthdays. Mostly it meant much higher child mortality than we have now, which has no relevance one way or the other to Social Security.
Much more to the point is the number of years people could expect to live after reaching 65: 14 years in 1950, 18.5 years now. Not so impressive a change, is it? And the retirement age is already 66 for my cohort, and scheduled to rise to 67 on current law.
Oh, and by the way, rising life expectancy was built into Social Security planning from the beginning. The big surprise has, if anything, been stagnating life expectancy among less affluent Americans.
=========================================================
Paul Krugman has a series of posts about facts about Social Security.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
..
August 13, 2010, 5:50 pm
Hoo boy, if Social Security is the big thing in the next few months — which is starting to look possible — it’s going to be like old times again, shooting down all the usual fallacies one more time.
So: one thing you’re going to hear is something along the lines of, “In 1950 life expectancy was only 68 years, so hardly anyone was collecting Social Security; now it’s 78 years — the problem is obvious”.
Does anyone know what’s wrong with this? You over there in the corner?
That’s right: a life expectancy of 68 years doesn’t mean that a lot of people toddle along then suddenly keel over over after threescore and eight birthdays. Mostly it meant much higher child mortality than we have now, which has no relevance one way or the other to Social Security.
Much more to the point is the number of years people could expect to live after reaching 65: 14 years in 1950, 18.5 years now. Not so impressive a change, is it? And the retirement age is already 66 for my cohort, and scheduled to rise to 67 on current law.
Oh, and by the way, rising life expectancy was built into Social Security planning from the beginning. The big surprise has, if anything, been stagnating life expectancy among less affluent Americans.
=========================================================
Paul Krugman has a series of posts about facts about Social Security.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
..
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Hero dog seeks help after owner collapses
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38630839/ns/health-pet_health/
updated 8/9/2010 5:11:10 PM ET
YAMHILL, Ore. — A small dog who refused to return home until a neighbor followed her helped rescue her owner after he collapsed at home following heart surgery. Charles Mitchell said he was working in his yard last week in the Oregon wine country town of Yamhill when an 11-year-old dachshund named Missy scampered up and refused to leave.
Mitchell told the dog to go home, but she refused, and when he decided to follow her across the street to investigate, he found his neighbor, Charlie Burdon, had collapsed inside his home.
The police chief arrived with paramedics, Burdon was taken to the hospital. Burdon suffered an attack of vertigo and is recovering.
But Burdon and Mitchell, who have known each other for years, both said Missy is their hero.
----- (skipping)
..
updated 8/9/2010 5:11:10 PM ET
YAMHILL, Ore. — A small dog who refused to return home until a neighbor followed her helped rescue her owner after he collapsed at home following heart surgery. Charles Mitchell said he was working in his yard last week in the Oregon wine country town of Yamhill when an 11-year-old dachshund named Missy scampered up and refused to leave.
Mitchell told the dog to go home, but she refused, and when he decided to follow her across the street to investigate, he found his neighbor, Charlie Burdon, had collapsed inside his home.
The police chief arrived with paramedics, Burdon was taken to the hospital. Burdon suffered an attack of vertigo and is recovering.
But Burdon and Mitchell, who have known each other for years, both said Missy is their hero.
----- (skipping)
..
Pets vital to human evolution
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38639193/ns/technology_and_science-science/
By Larry O'Hanlon
updated 8/10/2010 10:14:15 AM ET
Dogs, cats, cows and other domesticated animals played a key role in human evolution, according to a theory being published by paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman of Penn State University.
The uniquely human habit of taking in and employing animals — even competitors like wolves —spurred on human tool-making and language, which have both driven humanity's success, Shipman says.
"Wherever you go in the world, whatever ecosystem, whatever culture, people live with animals," Shipman told Discovery News.
For early humans, taking in and caring for animals would seem like a poor strategy for survival. "On the face of it, you are wasting your resources. So this is a very weird behavior," Shipman said.
But it's not so weird in the context something else humans were doing about 2.6 million years ago: switching from a mostly vegetarian diet to one rich in meat. This happened because humans invented stone hunting tools that enabled them to compete with other top predators. Quite a rapid and bizarre switch for any animal, Shipman said.
"We shortcut the evolutionary process," said Shipman, who published her ideas in the latest issue of Current Anthropology and in an upcoming book. "We don't have the equipment to be carnivores."
So we invented the equipment, learned how to track and kill, and eventually took in animals who also knew how to hunt — like wolves and other canines. Others, like goats, cows and horses, provided milk, hair and, finally, hides and meat.
Managing all of these animals — or just tracking them — requires technology, knowledge and ways to preserves and convey information. So languages had to develop and evolve to meet the challenges.
Tracking game has even been argued to be the origin of scientific inquiry, said Peter Richerson, professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis.
One of the signs that this happened is in petroglyphs and other rock art left by ancient peoples. At first they were abstract, geometric patterns that are impossible to decipher. Then they converge on one subject: animals.
"Think what isn't there: people, landscapes, fruit and edible plants," said Shipman. This implies that animals and information about animals was of great importance.
There have also been genetic changes in both humans and our animals, Shipman argues.
For the animals those changes developed because human bred them for specific traits, like a cow that gives more milk or a hen that lays more eggs.
But this evolutionary influence works both ways. Dogs, for instance, might have have been selectively taken in by humans who shared genes for more compassion. Those humans then prospered —a.k.a. reproduced — with the dogs' help in hunting and securing their homes.
----- (skipping)
..
By Larry O'Hanlon
updated 8/10/2010 10:14:15 AM ET
Dogs, cats, cows and other domesticated animals played a key role in human evolution, according to a theory being published by paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman of Penn State University.
The uniquely human habit of taking in and employing animals — even competitors like wolves —spurred on human tool-making and language, which have both driven humanity's success, Shipman says.
"Wherever you go in the world, whatever ecosystem, whatever culture, people live with animals," Shipman told Discovery News.
For early humans, taking in and caring for animals would seem like a poor strategy for survival. "On the face of it, you are wasting your resources. So this is a very weird behavior," Shipman said.
But it's not so weird in the context something else humans were doing about 2.6 million years ago: switching from a mostly vegetarian diet to one rich in meat. This happened because humans invented stone hunting tools that enabled them to compete with other top predators. Quite a rapid and bizarre switch for any animal, Shipman said.
"We shortcut the evolutionary process," said Shipman, who published her ideas in the latest issue of Current Anthropology and in an upcoming book. "We don't have the equipment to be carnivores."
So we invented the equipment, learned how to track and kill, and eventually took in animals who also knew how to hunt — like wolves and other canines. Others, like goats, cows and horses, provided milk, hair and, finally, hides and meat.
Managing all of these animals — or just tracking them — requires technology, knowledge and ways to preserves and convey information. So languages had to develop and evolve to meet the challenges.
Tracking game has even been argued to be the origin of scientific inquiry, said Peter Richerson, professor emeritus in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California, Davis.
One of the signs that this happened is in petroglyphs and other rock art left by ancient peoples. At first they were abstract, geometric patterns that are impossible to decipher. Then they converge on one subject: animals.
"Think what isn't there: people, landscapes, fruit and edible plants," said Shipman. This implies that animals and information about animals was of great importance.
There have also been genetic changes in both humans and our animals, Shipman argues.
For the animals those changes developed because human bred them for specific traits, like a cow that gives more milk or a hen that lays more eggs.
But this evolutionary influence works both ways. Dogs, for instance, might have have been selectively taken in by humans who shared genes for more compassion. Those humans then prospered —a.k.a. reproduced — with the dogs' help in hunting and securing their homes.
----- (skipping)
..
Girl, 16, dies in Iowa flooding as others evacuate
There have been a string of extreme rain and snow falls this year. This was predicted decades ago by climate scientists, due to global warming. Of course, we cannot know that a specific event was due to GW, but we know that it is contributing. Warm air can hold more moisture. When it meets cooler air, there will be increased precipitation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38656393/ns/weather/
A 16-year-old girl died Wednesday when raging floodwaters swept three cars off a road near Des Moines, and hundreds had to evacuate their homes as widespread flooding struck Iowa after three nights of rain.
In Ames, flooding contributed to a water main break that forced the city to shut off water to its roughly 55,000 residents and left Iowa State University's basketball arena under 4 to 5 feet of water.
Rivers and creeks rose after storms dumped 2 to 4 inches of rain on central and eastern Iowa over night Wednesday, with 6 inches in some spots, the National Weather Service said. A snowy winter and wet spring and summer "set the stage" for the flooding, but the recent storms were the big problem, weather service meteorologist Jim Lee said.
"The bulk of this has been caused by those recent extreme rainfalls, especially back-to-back-to-back," he said.
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..
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Planets Align for the Perseid Meteor Shower
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/05aug_perseids/
August 5, 2010: You know it's a good night when a beautiful alignment of planets is the second best thing that's going to happen.
Thursday, August 12th, is such a night.
The show begins at sundown when Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon pop out of the western twilight in tight conjunction. All four heavenly objects will fit within a circle about 10 degrees in diameter, beaming together through the dusky colors of sunset. No telescope is required to enjoy this naked-eye event.
The planets will hang together in the western sky until 10 pm or so. When they leave, following the sun below the horizon, you should stay, because that is when the Perseid meteor shower begins. From 10 pm until dawn, meteors will flit across the starry sky in a display that's even more exciting than a planetary get-together.
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Every 133 years the huge comet swings through the inner solar system and leaves behind a trail of dust and gravel. When Earth passes through the debris, specks of comet-stuff hit the atmosphere at 140,000 mph and disintegrate in flashes of light. These meteors are called Perseids because they fly out of the constellation Perseus.
Swift-Tuttle's debris zone is so wide, Earth spends weeks inside it. Indeed, we are in the outskirts now, and sky watchers are already reporting a trickle of late-night Perseids. The trickle could turn into a torrent between August 11th and 13th when Earth passes through the heart of the debris trail.
2010 is a good year for Perseids because the Moon won't be up during the midnight-to-dawn hours of greatest activity. Lunar glare can wipe out a good meteor shower, but that won't be the case this time.
As Perseus rises and the night deepens, meteor rates will increase. For sheer numbers, the best time to look is during the darkest hours before dawn on Friday morning, Aug. 13th, when most observers will see dozens of Perseids per hour.
For best results, get away from city lights. The darkness of the countryside multiplies the visible meteor rate 3- to 10-fold. A good dark sky will even improve the planetary alignment, allowing faint Mars and Saturn to make their full contribution to the display. Many families plan camping trips to coincide with the Perseids. The Milky Way arching over a mountain campground provides the perfect backdrop for a meteor shower.
----- (skipping)
..
August 5, 2010: You know it's a good night when a beautiful alignment of planets is the second best thing that's going to happen.
Thursday, August 12th, is such a night.
The show begins at sundown when Venus, Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon pop out of the western twilight in tight conjunction. All four heavenly objects will fit within a circle about 10 degrees in diameter, beaming together through the dusky colors of sunset. No telescope is required to enjoy this naked-eye event.
The planets will hang together in the western sky until 10 pm or so. When they leave, following the sun below the horizon, you should stay, because that is when the Perseid meteor shower begins. From 10 pm until dawn, meteors will flit across the starry sky in a display that's even more exciting than a planetary get-together.
The Perseid meteor shower is caused by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Every 133 years the huge comet swings through the inner solar system and leaves behind a trail of dust and gravel. When Earth passes through the debris, specks of comet-stuff hit the atmosphere at 140,000 mph and disintegrate in flashes of light. These meteors are called Perseids because they fly out of the constellation Perseus.
Swift-Tuttle's debris zone is so wide, Earth spends weeks inside it. Indeed, we are in the outskirts now, and sky watchers are already reporting a trickle of late-night Perseids. The trickle could turn into a torrent between August 11th and 13th when Earth passes through the heart of the debris trail.
2010 is a good year for Perseids because the Moon won't be up during the midnight-to-dawn hours of greatest activity. Lunar glare can wipe out a good meteor shower, but that won't be the case this time.
As Perseus rises and the night deepens, meteor rates will increase. For sheer numbers, the best time to look is during the darkest hours before dawn on Friday morning, Aug. 13th, when most observers will see dozens of Perseids per hour.
For best results, get away from city lights. The darkness of the countryside multiplies the visible meteor rate 3- to 10-fold. A good dark sky will even improve the planetary alignment, allowing faint Mars and Saturn to make their full contribution to the display. Many families plan camping trips to coincide with the Perseids. The Milky Way arching over a mountain campground provides the perfect backdrop for a meteor shower.
----- (skipping)
..
Moscow's air clears, but it is still extraordinarily hot
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1574
A thunderstorm blew through Moscow early this morning, bringing a little rain and a very welcome shift of wind direction. The wind shift freed the city from the persistent wild fire smoke that had plagued the city for seven straight days. Temperatures at Moscow's Domodedovo airport hit 35°C (95°F) today, the 29th day in row that temperatures have exceeded 30°C (86°F) in Moscow. The average high temperature for August 11 is 21°C (69°F). Moscow's high temperatures have averaged 15°C (27°F) above average for the first eleven days of August--a truly extraordinary anomaly. There is some modest relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures of 30 - 31° (86 - 88°F) Thursday through Sunday. This is still 20°F above normal, but will be a welcome change from the extreme heat of the past two weeks. Long range forecasts from the ECMWF and GFS models show no major change to the ridge of high pressure locked in over Russia, for at least the next seven days. However, both models suggest that a trough of low pressure may be able to erode the ridge significantly 8 - 10 days from now, bringing cooler temperatures of 5°C (8°F) above average.
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A thunderstorm blew through Moscow early this morning, bringing a little rain and a very welcome shift of wind direction. The wind shift freed the city from the persistent wild fire smoke that had plagued the city for seven straight days. Temperatures at Moscow's Domodedovo airport hit 35°C (95°F) today, the 29th day in row that temperatures have exceeded 30°C (86°F) in Moscow. The average high temperature for August 11 is 21°C (69°F). Moscow's high temperatures have averaged 15°C (27°F) above average for the first eleven days of August--a truly extraordinary anomaly. There is some modest relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures of 30 - 31° (86 - 88°F) Thursday through Sunday. This is still 20°F above normal, but will be a welcome change from the extreme heat of the past two weeks. Long range forecasts from the ECMWF and GFS models show no major change to the ridge of high pressure locked in over Russia, for at least the next seven days. However, both models suggest that a trough of low pressure may be able to erode the ridge significantly 8 - 10 days from now, bringing cooler temperatures of 5°C (8°F) above average.
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Over 15,000 likely dead in Russian heat wave; Asian monsoon floods kill hundreds more
I consider those who are deliberately trying to mislead the public to think that global warming is not a problem, for the sake of higher short-term profits, are evil psychopathic mass murderers. They, including Exxon/Mobil, make BP look good.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1571
Posted by: JeffMasters, 3:13 PM GMT on August 09, 2010
The Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 brought temperatures of 37°C (99°F) to Moscow today, and smog and smoke from wildfires blanketed the city for a sixth straight day. Air pollution levels were 2 - 3 times the maximum safe level today, and peaked on Saturday, when when carbon monoxide hit 6.5 times the safe level. The death toll from heat and air pollution increased to approximately 330 people per day in Moscow in recent days, according to the head of the Moscow health department. Yevgenia Smirnova, an official from the Moscow registry office, said excess deaths in Moscow in July averaged 155 per day, compared to 2009. The heat wave began on June 27. These grim statistics suggest that in Moscow alone, the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 has likely killed at least 7,000 people so far. A plot of the departure of July 2010 temperatures from average (Figure 1) shows that the area of Russia experiencing incredible heat is vast, and that regions southeast of Moscow have the hottest, relative to average. Moscow is the largest city in Russia, with a population just over ten million, but there are several other major cities in the heat wave region. These include Saint Petersburg, Russia's 2nd most populous city (4.6 million), and Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's 5th most populous city (1.3 million people.) Thus, the Russian population affected by extreme heat is at least double the population of Moscow, and the death toll in Russia from the 2010 heat wave is probably at least 15,000, and may be much higher. The only comparable heat wave in European history occurred in 2003, and killed an estimated 40,000 - 50,000 people, mostly in France and Italy. While the temperatures in that heat wave were not as extreme as the Russian heat wave, the nighttime low temperatures in the 2003 heat wave were considerably higher. This tends to add to heat stress and causes a higher death toll. I expect that by the time the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 is over, it may rival the 2003 European heat wave as the deadliest heat wave in world history.
Worst Russian heat wave in 1,000 years of history
The temperature at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport hit 99°F (37°C) today. Prior to this year, the hottest temperature in Moscow's history was 37.2°C (99°F), set in August 1920. The Moscow Observatory has now matched or exceeded this 1920 all-time record five times in the past two weeks. Temperatures the past 27 days in a row have exceeded 30°C in Moscow. Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said in a statement today, "Our ancestors haven't observed or registered a heat like that within 1,000 years. This phenomenon is absolutely unique." There is some slight relief in sight--the latest forecast for Moscow calls for high temperatures of 31 - 33°C (88 - 91 °F) Wednesday though Sunday.
Belarus records its hottest temperature in history for the second day in a row
The Russian heat wave has also affected the neighboring nations of Ukraine and Belarus. All three nations have recorded their hottest temperatures in history over the past few weeks. Belarus, on the western border of Russia, recorded its hottest temperature in history on Saturday, August 7, when the mercury hit 38.9°C (102°F) in Gomel. This broke the all-time record for extreme heat set just one day before, the 38.7°C (101.7°F) recorded in Gorky. Prior to 2010, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Belarus was the 38.0°C (100.4°F) in Vasiliyevichy on Aug. 20, 1946. As I described in detail in Saturday's post, Belarus' new all-time extreme heat record gives the year 2010 the most national extreme heat records for a single year--seventeen. These nations comprise 19% of the total land area of Earth. This is the largest area of Earth's surface to experience all-time record high temperatures in any single year in the historical record. Looking back at the past decade, which was the hottest decade in the historical record, Seventy-five countries set extreme hottest temperature records (33% of all countries.) For comparison, fifteen countries set extreme coldest temperature records over the past ten years (6% of all countries). Earth has now seen four consecutive months with its warmest temperature on record, and the first half of 2010 was the warmest such 6-month period in the planet's history. It is not a surprise that many all-time extreme heat records are being shattered when the planet as a whole is so warm. Global warming "loads the dice" to favor extreme heat events unprecedented in recorded history.
July SSTs in the tropical Atlantic set a new record
Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) in the Atlantic's Main Development Region for hurricanes had their warmest July on record, according to an analysis I did of historical SST data from the UK Hadley Center. SST data goes back to 1850, though there is much missing data before 1910 and during WWI and WWII. SSTs in the Main Development Region (10°N to 20°N and 20°W to 80°W) were 1.33°C above average during July, beating the previous record of 1.19°C set in July 2005. July 2010 was the sixth straight record warm month in the tropical Atlantic, and had the third warmest anomaly of any month in history. The five warmest months in history for the tropical Atlantic have all occurred this year. As I explained in detail in a post on record February SSTs in the Atlantic, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) and its close cousin, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), are largely to blame for the record SSTs, though global warming and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) also play a role.
The magnitude of the anomaly has increased slightly since June, because trade winds over the tropical Atlantic were at below-normal speeds during July. These lower trade wind speeds were due to the fact that the Bermuda-Azores High had below-normal surface pressures over the past month. The Bermuda-Azores High and its associated trade winds are forecast to remain at below-average strength during the next two weeks, according to the latest runs of the GFS model. This means that Atlantic SST anomalies will continue to stay at record warm levels during the remainder of August, and probably during September as well. This should significantly increase the odds of getting major hurricanes in the Atlantic during the peak part of hurricane season, mid-August through mid-October.
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Brainless slime mould makes decisions like humans
I'm sure you can come up with your own snide remarks about human intelligence.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/08/10/brainless-slime-mould-makes-decisions-like-humans/
A couple arrive at a fancy restaurant and they’re offered the wine list. This establishment only has two bottles on offer, one costing £5 and the other costing £25. The second bottle seems too expensive and the diners select the cheaper one. The next week, they return. Now, there’s a third bottle on the list but it’s a vintage, priced at a staggering £1,000. Suddenly, the £25 bottle doesn’t seem all that expensive, and this time, the diners choose it instead.
Businesses use this tactic all the time – an extremely expensive option is used to make mid-range ones suddenly seem like attractive buys. The strategy only works because humans like to compare our options, rather than paying attention to their absolute values. In the wine example, the existence of the third bottle shouldn’t matter – the £25 option costs the same amount either way, but in one scenario it looks like a rip-off and in another, it looks like a steal. The simple fact is that to us, a thing’s value depends on the things around it. Economists often refer to this as “irrational”.
But if that’s the case, we’re not alone in our folly. Other animals, from birds to bees, make choices in the same way. Now, Tanya Latty and Madeleine Beekman from the University of Sydney, have found the same style of decision-making in a creature that’s completely unlike any of these animals – the slime mould, Physarum polycephalum. It’s a single-celled, amoeba-like creature that doesn’t have a brain.
Physarum spends most of its life as a large mat called a ‘plasmodium’, which is a single cell that contains many nuclei. The plasmodium searches for food by moving along like an amoeba and sending out a network of tendrils. Its search patterns are very sophisticated for a brainless organism. A Japanese group found that if they placed the mould among food sources arranged like Tokyo’s urban centres, it created a network that closely resembled Tokyo’s actual railway system. The slimy network was optimised to transport nutrients to the main plasmodium.
Scientists have long since discovered that you can run simple decision-making experiments with Physarum by presenting it with several food sources and seeing how it behaves. Typically, the plasmodium touches all the potential meals and then either ‘decides’ to move towards one, or splits itself among many.
Latty and Beekman did one such test using two food sources – one containing 3% oatmeal and covered in darkness (known as 3D), and another with 5% oatmeal that was brightly lit (5L). Bright light easily damages Physarum, so it had to choose between a heftier but more irritating food source, and a smaller but more pleasant one. With no clear winner, it’s not surprising that the slime mould had no preference – it oozed towards each option just as often as the other.
But things changed when Latty and Beekman added a third option into the mix – a food source containing 1% oatmeal and shrouded in shadow (1D). This third alternative is clearly the inferior one, and Physarum had little time for it. However, its presence changed the mould’s attitude toward the previous two options. Now, 80% of the plasmodia headed towards the 3D source, while around 20% chose the brightly-lit 5L one.
These results strongly suggest that, like humans, Physarum doesn’t attach any intrinsic value to the options that are available to it. Instead, it compares its alternatives. Add something new into the mix, and its decisions change. The presence of the 1D option made the 3D one more attractive by comparison, even though the 3D and 5L alternatives were fundamentally unchanged.
This style of ‘comparative valuation’ may seem uncannily human, but it’s also one that’s shared by hummingbirds, starlings, honeybees and many other animals. In fact, Latty and Beekman think that it’s a “common feature of biological decision-making”. Certainly, it’s a much easier process – comparing two nearby options is less “computationally intensive” than making absolute judgments about each of them.
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As Crops Wither in Russia's Severe Drought, Vital Plant Field Bank Faces Demolition
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100808212810.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — As the fate of Europe's largest collection of fruit and berries hangs in the balance of a Russian court decision, the Global Crop Diversity Trust issued an urgent appeal for the Russian government to embrace its heroic tradition as protector of the world's crop diversity and halt the planned destruction of an incredibly valuable crop collection near St. Petersburg.
Pavlovsk Experiment Station is the largest European field genebank for fruits and berries, and is part of the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry, where Russian scientists famously starved to death rather than eat the seeds under their protection during the 900-day siege of Leningrad during World War II.
At issue is an effort by residential real estate developers to build houses on land occupied by Pavlovsk Station. The take-over would involve bulldozing Pavlovsk's field collections amassed over the last century -- collections that contain thousands of varieties of apples, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, currants and other crops -- 90 percent of which are not found anywhere else in the world.
"It is a bitter irony that the single most deliberately destructive act against crop diversity, at least in my lifetime, could be about to happen in Russia of all places -- the country that invented the modern seed bank," said Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which aims to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide and supports the operations of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — As the fate of Europe's largest collection of fruit and berries hangs in the balance of a Russian court decision, the Global Crop Diversity Trust issued an urgent appeal for the Russian government to embrace its heroic tradition as protector of the world's crop diversity and halt the planned destruction of an incredibly valuable crop collection near St. Petersburg.
Pavlovsk Experiment Station is the largest European field genebank for fruits and berries, and is part of the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry, where Russian scientists famously starved to death rather than eat the seeds under their protection during the 900-day siege of Leningrad during World War II.
At issue is an effort by residential real estate developers to build houses on land occupied by Pavlovsk Station. The take-over would involve bulldozing Pavlovsk's field collections amassed over the last century -- collections that contain thousands of varieties of apples, strawberries, cherries, raspberries, currants and other crops -- 90 percent of which are not found anywhere else in the world.
"It is a bitter irony that the single most deliberately destructive act against crop diversity, at least in my lifetime, could be about to happen in Russia of all places -- the country that invented the modern seed bank," said Cary Fowler of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which aims to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide and supports the operations of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle.
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Tuesday, August 10, 2010
GOP To Introduce Lame-Duck Prohibition Resolution
The extreme hypocrisy of Republicans is good for a laugh, even though repulsive. If the show were on the other foot, they would be outraged.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/gop-to-introduce-lame-duc_n_675630.html
First Posted: 08- 9-10 12:35 PM | Updated: 08- 9-10 02:47 PM
House Republicans are going forward with plans to introduce a resolution on Tuesday to prohibit the House of Representatives from assembling during the two-month period following the November elections.
A GOP leadership aide confirmed to the Huffington Post that the resolution, authored by Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for the purposes of preventing Democrats from passing legislative items during the lame-duck session, would be introduced before the House passes additional Medicaid and teacher funding. The aide argued that comments on Sunday by Carol Browner, the White House's top energy and environmental adviser, suggesting that energy legislation could be considered during the so-called lame duck period, proved that the resolution was pertinent.
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Brain Responds Same to Acute and Chronic Sleep Loss
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100809161230.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — Burning the candle at both ends for a week may take an even bigger toll than you thought.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that five nights of restricted sleep--four hours a night--affect the brain in a way similar to that seen after acute total sleep deprivation.
The new study in rats, appearing in the current online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to the growing evidence scientists are accumulating about the negative effects of restricted sleep for both the brain and the body.
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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that five nights of restricted sleep--four hours a night--affect the brain in a way similar to that seen after acute total sleep deprivation.
The new study in rats, appearing in the current online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to the growing evidence scientists are accumulating about the negative effects of restricted sleep for both the brain and the body.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — Burning the candle at both ends for a week may take an even bigger toll than you thought.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that five nights of restricted sleep--four hours a night--affect the brain in a way similar to that seen after acute total sleep deprivation.
The new study in rats, appearing in the current online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to the growing evidence scientists are accumulating about the negative effects of restricted sleep for both the brain and the body.
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Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have found that five nights of restricted sleep--four hours a night--affect the brain in a way similar to that seen after acute total sleep deprivation.
The new study in rats, appearing in the current online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to the growing evidence scientists are accumulating about the negative effects of restricted sleep for both the brain and the body.
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Larger Waist Associated With Greater Risk of Death
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100809161126.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — Individuals with a large waist circumference appear to have a greater risk of dying from any cause over a nine-year period, according to a report in the August 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Having a large waist circumference has previously been associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease, according to background information in the article. This may be because waist circumference is strongly correlated with fat tissue in the viscera -- surrounding the organs in the abdomen -- which is thought to be more dangerous than fat tissue under the skin.
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After adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and other risk factors, very large waists (120 centimeters or 47 inches or larger in men, and 110 centimeters or 42 inches or larger in women) were associated with approximately twice the risk of death during the study period. A larger waist was associated with higher risk of death across all categories of BMI, including normal weight, overweight and obese; however, among women, the association was strongest for those at a normal weight.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — Individuals with a large waist circumference appear to have a greater risk of dying from any cause over a nine-year period, according to a report in the August 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Having a large waist circumference has previously been associated with inflammation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, abnormal cholesterol levels and heart disease, according to background information in the article. This may be because waist circumference is strongly correlated with fat tissue in the viscera -- surrounding the organs in the abdomen -- which is thought to be more dangerous than fat tissue under the skin.
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After adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and other risk factors, very large waists (120 centimeters or 47 inches or larger in men, and 110 centimeters or 42 inches or larger in women) were associated with approximately twice the risk of death during the study period. A larger waist was associated with higher risk of death across all categories of BMI, including normal weight, overweight and obese; however, among women, the association was strongest for those at a normal weight.
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Hand Prosthesis That Eases Phantom Pain
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100806125508.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — The pain of losing a body part is twofold, as patients not only suffer from wound pain. Often they are also affected by so called phantom pain. Unlike bodily wounds which will eventually heal, phantom pain often lasts for years and sometimes a lifetime.
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But now scientists of the University of Jena give cause for hope to the affected patients. Together with the trauma surgeons of the Jena University Hospital, business partners and supported by the German Social Accident Insurance (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, DGVU) Professor Weiss´s team modified conventional hand prostheses in order to reduce phantom pain after an underarm amputation.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2010) — The pain of losing a body part is twofold, as patients not only suffer from wound pain. Often they are also affected by so called phantom pain. Unlike bodily wounds which will eventually heal, phantom pain often lasts for years and sometimes a lifetime.
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But now scientists of the University of Jena give cause for hope to the affected patients. Together with the trauma surgeons of the Jena University Hospital, business partners and supported by the German Social Accident Insurance (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, DGVU) Professor Weiss´s team modified conventional hand prostheses in order to reduce phantom pain after an underarm amputation.
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Monday, August 09, 2010
Child injuries drop after N.Y. booster seat law
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38628701/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
updated 8/9/2010 2:55:59 PM ET
NEW YORK — Traffic injuries among children ages 4 to 6 declined in New York State in the wake of a law requiring them to be strapped into car booster seats, researchers reported Monday.
Most U.S. states now require that children who have outgrown traditional car seats use a car booster seat, which raises a child high enough so that the car seatbelts can be positioned properly — with the shoulder strap across the shoulder and not the neck, and the lap belt across the hips.
Studies have shown that booster seats protect children in a crash. But the new research, reported in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to compare injury rates before and after a state law mandating booster seats.
Starting in March 2005, New York State required that children between the ages of 4 and 6 ride in a car booster seat. For the current study, researchers with the state health department compared traffic injury rates among children in that age group during the two years before the law was implemented with rates across the three years after the law took hold.
They found that traffic injury rates among 4- to 6-year-olds dipped 18 percent between the two time periods — from an average of 29 per 10,000 children to 25 per 10,000.
The figures also suggest that the law deserves the credit, according to Dr. Kainan Sun and colleagues at the New York State Department of Health.
Before the law went into effect, 29 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds involved in car accidents were strapped into a booster seat at the time of the crash, the researchers found; that figure rose to 50 percent after the law took hold.
In addition, no similar reduction in traffic injuries among children younger than 4, who were not affected by the new booster-seat law, was seen during the study period.
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updated 8/9/2010 2:55:59 PM ET
NEW YORK — Traffic injuries among children ages 4 to 6 declined in New York State in the wake of a law requiring them to be strapped into car booster seats, researchers reported Monday.
Most U.S. states now require that children who have outgrown traditional car seats use a car booster seat, which raises a child high enough so that the car seatbelts can be positioned properly — with the shoulder strap across the shoulder and not the neck, and the lap belt across the hips.
Studies have shown that booster seats protect children in a crash. But the new research, reported in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to compare injury rates before and after a state law mandating booster seats.
Starting in March 2005, New York State required that children between the ages of 4 and 6 ride in a car booster seat. For the current study, researchers with the state health department compared traffic injury rates among children in that age group during the two years before the law was implemented with rates across the three years after the law took hold.
They found that traffic injury rates among 4- to 6-year-olds dipped 18 percent between the two time periods — from an average of 29 per 10,000 children to 25 per 10,000.
The figures also suggest that the law deserves the credit, according to Dr. Kainan Sun and colleagues at the New York State Department of Health.
Before the law went into effect, 29 percent of 4- to 6-year-olds involved in car accidents were strapped into a booster seat at the time of the crash, the researchers found; that figure rose to 50 percent after the law took hold.
In addition, no similar reduction in traffic injuries among children younger than 4, who were not affected by the new booster-seat law, was seen during the study period.
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Russians worry heat wave deaths underreported
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38625697/ns/world_news-europe/
msnbc.com news services
updated 2 hours 54 minutes ago
MOSCOW — Muscovites are dying from extreme heat and smoke faster than their bodies can be stored, cremated or buried, and Russians are worried the death toll could be far higher than the official count.
Morgues are overflowing and one crematorium in the Russian capital is working around the clock in three shifts, according to staff, even as the health ministry disputes a senior doctor's statement that the monthly death toll doubled in July.
In Mitino on Moscow's northwest, a note at a crematorium warned that it was not accepting any new orders for cremation.
The crematorium's four furnaces are currently "processing" 49 bodies per day, with cremations every 20 minutes, according to a timetable available at the reception.
"Furnaces overheat in these temperatures, and we have to cool them," Vladimir, a security guard, told Reuters. "In practice, there are up to 80-90 cremations per day, and the crematorium's teams work in three shifts day and night to cope."
The Khimkinskoye cemetery in northern Moscow was packed with funeral buses, with a dozen burial ceremonies taking place.
"Since this heat nightmare started ... there has been a drastic increase in funerals over the past two months, two or three times above the average," a cemetery worker said.
As the scorching heat sets new temperature records almost daily and a thick acrid smog from forest fires chokes the giant city of over 10 million, the question of the real number of heat-induced deaths has become a political issue for Muscovites.
Official data show at least 52 people have died in severe fires raging in parts of European Russia in the past few weeks.
But there are no statistics referring to Moscow, amid some media reports that the city's paramedics are told not to include "heat stroke" in death records "to avoid panic."
Deaths double?
But the head of the city's health department Andrei Seltsovsky said Monday that deaths had almost doubled to 700 daily, with heat being the main killer.
"The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360 and 380 people per day. Today, we are around 700," Seltsovsky told a city government meeting.
He said heat stroke was the main cause of the recent increase in deaths. Ambulance dispatches in Moscow were up by about a quarter to 10,000 a day and problems linked to heart disease, bronchial asthma and strokes had increased, he said.
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Acrid smog blanketed Moscow for a sixth straight day Monday, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances two to three times higher than what is considered safe. Those airborne pollutants reached a record over the weekend — exceeding the safe limit by nearly seven times.
About 550 separate blazes were burning nationwide Monday, mainly across western Russia, including about 40 around Moscow, according to the Emergencies Ministry. Forest and peat bog fires have been triggered by the most intense heat wave in 130 years of record keeping.
Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said judging by historic documents, this heat wave could be the worst in up to 1,000 years.
"Our ancestors haven't observed or registered a heat like that within 1,000 years," Frolov said at a news conference. "This phenomenon is absolutely unique."
He said the heat in Moscow reflects the global climate's increased volatility.
Daily highs have reached up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the usual summer average of 75 F. And, according to the forecast, there will be no respite this week.
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msnbc.com news services
updated 2 hours 54 minutes ago
MOSCOW — Muscovites are dying from extreme heat and smoke faster than their bodies can be stored, cremated or buried, and Russians are worried the death toll could be far higher than the official count.
Morgues are overflowing and one crematorium in the Russian capital is working around the clock in three shifts, according to staff, even as the health ministry disputes a senior doctor's statement that the monthly death toll doubled in July.
In Mitino on Moscow's northwest, a note at a crematorium warned that it was not accepting any new orders for cremation.
The crematorium's four furnaces are currently "processing" 49 bodies per day, with cremations every 20 minutes, according to a timetable available at the reception.
"Furnaces overheat in these temperatures, and we have to cool them," Vladimir, a security guard, told Reuters. "In practice, there are up to 80-90 cremations per day, and the crematorium's teams work in three shifts day and night to cope."
The Khimkinskoye cemetery in northern Moscow was packed with funeral buses, with a dozen burial ceremonies taking place.
"Since this heat nightmare started ... there has been a drastic increase in funerals over the past two months, two or three times above the average," a cemetery worker said.
As the scorching heat sets new temperature records almost daily and a thick acrid smog from forest fires chokes the giant city of over 10 million, the question of the real number of heat-induced deaths has become a political issue for Muscovites.
Official data show at least 52 people have died in severe fires raging in parts of European Russia in the past few weeks.
But there are no statistics referring to Moscow, amid some media reports that the city's paramedics are told not to include "heat stroke" in death records "to avoid panic."
Deaths double?
But the head of the city's health department Andrei Seltsovsky said Monday that deaths had almost doubled to 700 daily, with heat being the main killer.
"The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360 and 380 people per day. Today, we are around 700," Seltsovsky told a city government meeting.
He said heat stroke was the main cause of the recent increase in deaths. Ambulance dispatches in Moscow were up by about a quarter to 10,000 a day and problems linked to heart disease, bronchial asthma and strokes had increased, he said.
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Acrid smog blanketed Moscow for a sixth straight day Monday, with concentrations of carbon monoxide and other poisonous substances two to three times higher than what is considered safe. Those airborne pollutants reached a record over the weekend — exceeding the safe limit by nearly seven times.
About 550 separate blazes were burning nationwide Monday, mainly across western Russia, including about 40 around Moscow, according to the Emergencies Ministry. Forest and peat bog fires have been triggered by the most intense heat wave in 130 years of record keeping.
Alexander Frolov, head of Russia's weather service, said judging by historic documents, this heat wave could be the worst in up to 1,000 years.
"Our ancestors haven't observed or registered a heat like that within 1,000 years," Frolov said at a news conference. "This phenomenon is absolutely unique."
He said the heat in Moscow reflects the global climate's increased volatility.
Daily highs have reached up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the usual summer average of 75 F. And, according to the forecast, there will be no respite this week.
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Russian fires prompt Kremlin to make u-turn and embrace climate change
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/09/98851/russian-fires-prompt-kremlin-to.html
By Fred Weir | The Christian Science Monitor
MOSCOW — Russia's heat wave, along with its disastrous fallout, finally may have persuaded the Kremlin to combat climate change.
Russian officials, who until now have resisted dramatic action out of fears it would dampen economic growth, lately have issued strong statements linking global warming to the emergency Russia is facing. Some hope the abrupt change of tune will result in more effective environmental policies, even after the smog dies down.
"There is no question that we need to get ahead of climate change," said Vladimir Slivyak, a co-chair of Ecodefense, a grassroots Russian environmental group. "This is a wake-up call."
The crisis, which seems to have taken the Kremlin by surprise, features a fierce and unremitting heat wave that's now well into its second month, a drought that's ruined as much as a third of the vitally important grain crop and a wave of seemingly uncontrollable wildfires that have blanketed half of European Russia, including the capital Moscow, in a cloud of smoke.
Russia's state meteorological service said smog conditions in Moscow have eased from a Saturday peak, but the Ministry of Emergency Services warned that Moscow-region fires have tripled size in the past week, spreading from 65 to 210 hectares. Meanwhile, an average of 700 people are dying per day in Moscow, double the average rate, which health officials blamed on the smog.
"Our country has not experienced such a heat wave in the last 50 or even 100 years," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week in a speech published in English on the Kremlin's website. "We need to learn our lessons from what has happened, and from the unprecedented heat wave that we have faced this summer.
"Everyone is talking about climate change now," he continued. "Unfortunately, what is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past. This means that we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past."
Those are arguably the strongest words about climate change that a Kremlin leader has ever delivered to a domestic audience.
By Fred Weir | The Christian Science Monitor
MOSCOW — Russia's heat wave, along with its disastrous fallout, finally may have persuaded the Kremlin to combat climate change.
Russian officials, who until now have resisted dramatic action out of fears it would dampen economic growth, lately have issued strong statements linking global warming to the emergency Russia is facing. Some hope the abrupt change of tune will result in more effective environmental policies, even after the smog dies down.
"There is no question that we need to get ahead of climate change," said Vladimir Slivyak, a co-chair of Ecodefense, a grassroots Russian environmental group. "This is a wake-up call."
The crisis, which seems to have taken the Kremlin by surprise, features a fierce and unremitting heat wave that's now well into its second month, a drought that's ruined as much as a third of the vitally important grain crop and a wave of seemingly uncontrollable wildfires that have blanketed half of European Russia, including the capital Moscow, in a cloud of smoke.
Russia's state meteorological service said smog conditions in Moscow have eased from a Saturday peak, but the Ministry of Emergency Services warned that Moscow-region fires have tripled size in the past week, spreading from 65 to 210 hectares. Meanwhile, an average of 700 people are dying per day in Moscow, double the average rate, which health officials blamed on the smog.
"Our country has not experienced such a heat wave in the last 50 or even 100 years," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last week in a speech published in English on the Kremlin's website. "We need to learn our lessons from what has happened, and from the unprecedented heat wave that we have faced this summer.
"Everyone is talking about climate change now," he continued. "Unfortunately, what is happening now in our central regions is evidence of this global climate change, because we have never in our history faced such weather conditions in the past. This means that we need to change the way we work, change the methods that we used in the past."
Those are arguably the strongest words about climate change that a Kremlin leader has ever delivered to a domestic audience.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Study points to gap in US medical education
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/08/08/study_points_to_gap_in_us_medical_education/
By Pat Wechsler
Bloomberg News / August 8, 2010
NEW YORK — Patients of doctors who went to medical school outside the country and weren’t American citizens had a 9 percent lower death rate on average than those whose doctors trained at home, a study showed.
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Not all international medical school graduates had good results.
US citizens who attended medical schools abroad underperformed graduates of US medical schools and citizens from other countries who went to school outside the United States. Internationally trained foreign doctors had a 16 percent lower mortality rate among their patients than Americans schooled overseas, according to the article.
..
By Pat Wechsler
Bloomberg News / August 8, 2010
NEW YORK — Patients of doctors who went to medical school outside the country and weren’t American citizens had a 9 percent lower death rate on average than those whose doctors trained at home, a study showed.
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Not all international medical school graduates had good results.
US citizens who attended medical schools abroad underperformed graduates of US medical schools and citizens from other countries who went to school outside the United States. Internationally trained foreign doctors had a 16 percent lower mortality rate among their patients than Americans schooled overseas, according to the article.
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Children's Vegetable Intake Linked to Popeye Cartoons
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100806080218.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 6, 2010) — Popeye cartoons, tasting parties and junior cooking classes can help increase vegetable intake in kindergarten children, according to new research published in the journal Nutrition & Dietetics.
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food.
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* Food groups
* Vegetable
* Leaf vegetable
* Mediterranean diet
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food.
Twenty six kindergarten children aged four to five participated in the eight week study. The researchers recorded the kinds and amounts of fruit and vegetables eaten by the children before and after the program.
Lead researcher Professor Chutima Sirikulchayanonta said: "We got the children planting vegetable seeds, taking part in fruit and vegetable tasting parties, cooking vegetable soup, and watching Popeye cartoons. We also sent letters to parents with tips on encouraging their kids to eat fruit and vegetables, and teachers sat with children at lunch to role model healthy eating."
Professor Sirikulchayanonta and her colleagues found vegetable intake doubled and the types of vegetables the children consumed increased from two to four. Parents also reported their children talked about vegetables more often and were proud they had eaten them in their school lunch.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 6, 2010) — Popeye cartoons, tasting parties and junior cooking classes can help increase vegetable intake in kindergarten children, according to new research published in the journal Nutrition & Dietetics.
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food.
----- (skipping)
* Food groups
* Vegetable
* Leaf vegetable
* Mediterranean diet
Researchers at Mahidol University in Bangkok found the type and amount of vegetables children ate improved after they took part in a program using multimedia and role models to promote healthy food.
Twenty six kindergarten children aged four to five participated in the eight week study. The researchers recorded the kinds and amounts of fruit and vegetables eaten by the children before and after the program.
Lead researcher Professor Chutima Sirikulchayanonta said: "We got the children planting vegetable seeds, taking part in fruit and vegetable tasting parties, cooking vegetable soup, and watching Popeye cartoons. We also sent letters to parents with tips on encouraging their kids to eat fruit and vegetables, and teachers sat with children at lunch to role model healthy eating."
Professor Sirikulchayanonta and her colleagues found vegetable intake doubled and the types of vegetables the children consumed increased from two to four. Parents also reported their children talked about vegetables more often and were proud they had eaten them in their school lunch.
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Rushing Too Fast to Online Learning?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100628092756.htm
ScienceDaily (June 25, 2010) — A combination of fiscal constraints and improvements in technology has led to an increased reliance on online classes of all types -- many of which use Internet versions of traditional, live lectures. Now a new study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) raises questions about that fast-growing trend in higher education.
"Online instruction may be more economical to deliver than live instruction, but there is no free lunch," said David Figlio, Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and primary author of the NBER working paper released this month. "Simply putting traditional courses online could have negative consequences, especially for lower-performing and language minority students."
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"We didn't test whether Internet courses are good or bad per se," said Figlio, who teaches in Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy and is a faculty fellow at its Institute for Policy Research. "But we did find modest evidence that live-only instruction results in higher learning outcomes than Internet instruction."
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ScienceDaily (June 25, 2010) — A combination of fiscal constraints and improvements in technology has led to an increased reliance on online classes of all types -- many of which use Internet versions of traditional, live lectures. Now a new study released by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) raises questions about that fast-growing trend in higher education.
"Online instruction may be more economical to deliver than live instruction, but there is no free lunch," said David Figlio, Orrington Lunt Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and primary author of the NBER working paper released this month. "Simply putting traditional courses online could have negative consequences, especially for lower-performing and language minority students."
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"We didn't test whether Internet courses are good or bad per se," said Figlio, who teaches in Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy and is a faculty fellow at its Institute for Policy Research. "But we did find modest evidence that live-only instruction results in higher learning outcomes than Internet instruction."
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Saturday, August 07, 2010
Homes of the Poor and the Affluent Both Have High Levels of Endocrine Disruptors
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804122717.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2010) — Homes in low-income and affluent communities in California both had similarly high levels of endocrine disruptors, and the levels were higher in indoor air than outdoor air, according to a new study believed to be the first that paired indoor and outdoor air samples for such wide range (104) of these substances. The study appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology.
Ruthann Rudel and colleagues note concern about the reproductive and other health effects of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), which are found in many products used in the home. Examples include phthalates, which are found in vinyl and other plastics, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are found in older paints, electrical equipment, and building materials. EDCs also are among the ingredients in some pesticides, fragrances, and other materials.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 5, 2010) — Homes in low-income and affluent communities in California both had similarly high levels of endocrine disruptors, and the levels were higher in indoor air than outdoor air, according to a new study believed to be the first that paired indoor and outdoor air samples for such wide range (104) of these substances. The study appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology.
Ruthann Rudel and colleagues note concern about the reproductive and other health effects of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), which are found in many products used in the home. Examples include phthalates, which are found in vinyl and other plastics, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are found in older paints, electrical equipment, and building materials. EDCs also are among the ingredients in some pesticides, fragrances, and other materials.
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Hungry children and youth have more health problems
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/jaaj-hca073010.php
Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: NCI Press Officers
JAMA and Archives Journals
Hungry children and youth have more health problems
Children and youth who experience hunger appear more likely to have health problems, and repeated episodes of hunger may be particularly toxic, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Food insecurity—a lack of adequate access to food for financial reasons—affected approximately 15 percent of American households in 2008, according to background information in the article. This marks an increase from 11 percent in 2007 and the highest prevalence since monitoring began in 1995. Child hunger is an extreme manifestation of food insecurity, defined as a period of time when children experience being hungry because their family has run out of food or the money to buy food.
Sharon I. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., M.H.Sc., R.D., now of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., and then of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues analyzed data from a Canadian survey of 5,809 children age 10 to 15 years and 3,333 youth age 16 to 21 years over a 10-year period, from 1994 to 2004-2005. During this time, 3.3 percent of children and 3.9 percent of youth had ever experienced hunger and 1.1 percent of children and 1.4 percent of youth were hungry at two or more time points.
Overall, more than one in 10 children (13.5 percent) and one in four youth (28.6 percent) reported poor health in the final round of the survey. Rates of poor health were higher among those who were hungry at any time than among those who had never experienced hunger (32.9 percent vs. 12.8 percent for children and 47.3 percent vs. 27.9 percent for youth). The association between hunger and poor health among children persisted after adjustment for baseline health and for other household markers of disadvantage, including low income and lack of home ownership.
Although one episode of hunger was not associated with chronic conditions or with asthma, youth who were hungry more than once during the survey were more likely to have asthma or any chronic illness than those who had never been hungry.
"The mechanism by which childhood hunger negatively affects health is not well understood. Food insecurity has been associated with emotional and psychological stress among children, which could exert a negative effect on general health and contribute to heightened risk of chronic diseases," the authors write. "While abnormal body weight may also negatively influence health and increase vulnerability to a range of chronic conditions, the existing research has not confirmed an association between food insecurity and body weight among children."
"The findings of this study add to the literature showing that hunger is a serious risk factor for long-term poor health among children and youth, pointing to the relevance of severe food insecurity as an identifiable marker of vulnerability," the authors conclude. "Clinicians should familiarize themselves with risk factors for household food insecurity, which are largely related to economic disadvantage, and take steps to ensure that potentially vulnerable families receive available support. The findings also reinforce the need for advocacy for policy interventions to eliminate problems of poverty and food insecurity, which pose an unacceptable but remediable risk to children."
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..
Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: NCI Press Officers
JAMA and Archives Journals
Hungry children and youth have more health problems
Children and youth who experience hunger appear more likely to have health problems, and repeated episodes of hunger may be particularly toxic, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Food insecurity—a lack of adequate access to food for financial reasons—affected approximately 15 percent of American households in 2008, according to background information in the article. This marks an increase from 11 percent in 2007 and the highest prevalence since monitoring began in 1995. Child hunger is an extreme manifestation of food insecurity, defined as a period of time when children experience being hungry because their family has run out of food or the money to buy food.
Sharon I. Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., M.H.Sc., R.D., now of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md., and then of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and colleagues analyzed data from a Canadian survey of 5,809 children age 10 to 15 years and 3,333 youth age 16 to 21 years over a 10-year period, from 1994 to 2004-2005. During this time, 3.3 percent of children and 3.9 percent of youth had ever experienced hunger and 1.1 percent of children and 1.4 percent of youth were hungry at two or more time points.
Overall, more than one in 10 children (13.5 percent) and one in four youth (28.6 percent) reported poor health in the final round of the survey. Rates of poor health were higher among those who were hungry at any time than among those who had never experienced hunger (32.9 percent vs. 12.8 percent for children and 47.3 percent vs. 27.9 percent for youth). The association between hunger and poor health among children persisted after adjustment for baseline health and for other household markers of disadvantage, including low income and lack of home ownership.
Although one episode of hunger was not associated with chronic conditions or with asthma, youth who were hungry more than once during the survey were more likely to have asthma or any chronic illness than those who had never been hungry.
"The mechanism by which childhood hunger negatively affects health is not well understood. Food insecurity has been associated with emotional and psychological stress among children, which could exert a negative effect on general health and contribute to heightened risk of chronic diseases," the authors write. "While abnormal body weight may also negatively influence health and increase vulnerability to a range of chronic conditions, the existing research has not confirmed an association between food insecurity and body weight among children."
"The findings of this study add to the literature showing that hunger is a serious risk factor for long-term poor health among children and youth, pointing to the relevance of severe food insecurity as an identifiable marker of vulnerability," the authors conclude. "Clinicians should familiarize themselves with risk factors for household food insecurity, which are largely related to economic disadvantage, and take steps to ensure that potentially vulnerable families receive available support. The findings also reinforce the need for advocacy for policy interventions to eliminate problems of poverty and food insecurity, which pose an unacceptable but remediable risk to children."
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Emotions help animals to make choices
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/uob-eha080310.php
Public release date: 3-Aug-2010
Contact: Joanne Fryer
University of Bristol
Emotions help animals to make choices
Happy? Angry? Anxious? How can we measure animal emotions?
To understand how animals experience the world and how they should be treated, people need to better understand their emotional lives. A new review of animal emotion suggests that, as in humans, emotions may tell animals about how dangerous or opportunity-laden their world is, and guide the choices that they make.
The review by Bristol University's Professor Mike Mendl and Dr Liz Paul and Lincoln University's Dr Oliver Burman, is published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
An animal living in a world where it is regularly threatened by predators will develop a negative emotion or 'mood', such as anxiety, whereas one in an environment with plenty of opportunities to acquire resources for survival will be in a more positive mood state.
The researchers argue that these emotional states not only reflect the animal's experiences, they also help it decide how to make choices, especially in ambiguous situations, which could have good or bad outcomes. An animal in a negative state will benefit from adopting a safety-first, 'pessimistic' response to an ambiguous event -- for example interpreting a rustle in the grass as signalling a predator - while an animal in a positive state will benefit from a more 'optimistic' response, interpreting it as signalling prey.
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Public release date: 3-Aug-2010
Contact: Joanne Fryer
University of Bristol
Emotions help animals to make choices
Happy? Angry? Anxious? How can we measure animal emotions?
To understand how animals experience the world and how they should be treated, people need to better understand their emotional lives. A new review of animal emotion suggests that, as in humans, emotions may tell animals about how dangerous or opportunity-laden their world is, and guide the choices that they make.
The review by Bristol University's Professor Mike Mendl and Dr Liz Paul and Lincoln University's Dr Oliver Burman, is published online in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
An animal living in a world where it is regularly threatened by predators will develop a negative emotion or 'mood', such as anxiety, whereas one in an environment with plenty of opportunities to acquire resources for survival will be in a more positive mood state.
The researchers argue that these emotional states not only reflect the animal's experiences, they also help it decide how to make choices, especially in ambiguous situations, which could have good or bad outcomes. An animal in a negative state will benefit from adopting a safety-first, 'pessimistic' response to an ambiguous event -- for example interpreting a rustle in the grass as signalling a predator - while an animal in a positive state will benefit from a more 'optimistic' response, interpreting it as signalling prey.
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Friday, August 06, 2010
Travelling by Car Increases Global Temperatures More Than Travelling by Plane, but Only in the Long Term
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100804103648.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2010) — Driving alone in a car increases global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run traveling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 3, 2010) — Driving alone in a car increases global temperatures in the long run more than making the same long-distance journey by air according to a new study. However, in the short run traveling by air has a larger adverse climate impact because airplanes strongly affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes.
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Sociological study links state tax credit programs to higher birth weight
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/asa-ssl080210.php
Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: Daniel Fowler
American Sociological Association
Sociological study links state tax credit programs to higher birth weight
WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2010 — Relieving poverty during pregnancy can reduce the incidence of low- birth-weight babies and may help break the succession of childhood poor health, a study published in the August 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR) has found.
How healthy a baby is at birth can set the stage for later life outcomes such as IQ, education, and adult health, according to the study led by Kate Strully, a professor of sociology and epidemiology at the University at Albany. Babies born to poor mothers frequently weigh less at birth than those born to middle class and wealthier mothers. Lower-birth-weight babies, particularly those under 5.5 pounds, are at higher risk of dying in the first year of life. They are less likely to excel academically and obtain high school degrees. As adults, they earn less than adults who as babies were larger at birth and are at risk of reproducing the cycle of inequality over generations.
In the study, titled "Effects of Prenatal Poverty on Infant Health: State Earned Income Tax Credits and Birth Weight," the researchers tested whether access to state anti-poverty programs diminished the occurrence of low-birth-weight, at-risk babies. In particular, the authors used the recently expanded, state-based Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) programs to determine whether improved income in single mothers suggested improved prenatal health, higher birth weights, and reduced maternal smoking. The EITC, the tax credit programs that supplement the incomes of low-wage workers, comprise the largest anti-poverty plans in the United States, and in many states have supplanted traditional welfare programs.
The study's authors found evidence that participation in state EITC is directly linked to higher birth weights, including reducing chances that a mother smoked during pregnancy.
"The EITC reduces poverty for millions of families each year. But, we know very little about how it is affects families and children beyond income," said Strully. "Our study offers encouraging evidence that, by relieving poverty with this tax program, we are helping women have healthier babies."
Because the EITC is targeted at low-wage workers and significantly impacts the employment of single mothers, the authors limited their primary samples to unmarried mothers with a high school degree or less. To test the effects of state EITC on earnings and employment, the study obtained data from the 1980 through 2002 U.S. Natality Detail File, a statistical record of nearly every birth in the United States. Information in the Natality File is collected directly from birth certificates, ensuring that birth weights, recorded by medical professionals rather than recalled by survey respondents, are accurate. Further data, including income and household information, were collected from the 1980 through 2002 March demographic supplements to the Current Population Surveys (CPS). The annual data, collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, are based on a rotating national probability sample of 58,000 households. To qualify for EITC, a person must have some earnings but have an adjusted gross income below a threshold that varies by year and by family size.
Strully cautions that not all anti-poverty policies or programs such as EITC produce health improvements among babies born to high-risk mothers. In addition, the study suggests that mothers age 19 to 35 who live in states with active EITCs benefit more from the tax breaks and incentives than younger women or mothers over 35.
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Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: Daniel Fowler
American Sociological Association
Sociological study links state tax credit programs to higher birth weight
WASHINGTON, DC, August 2, 2010 — Relieving poverty during pregnancy can reduce the incidence of low- birth-weight babies and may help break the succession of childhood poor health, a study published in the August 2010 issue of the American Sociological Review (ASR) has found.
How healthy a baby is at birth can set the stage for later life outcomes such as IQ, education, and adult health, according to the study led by Kate Strully, a professor of sociology and epidemiology at the University at Albany. Babies born to poor mothers frequently weigh less at birth than those born to middle class and wealthier mothers. Lower-birth-weight babies, particularly those under 5.5 pounds, are at higher risk of dying in the first year of life. They are less likely to excel academically and obtain high school degrees. As adults, they earn less than adults who as babies were larger at birth and are at risk of reproducing the cycle of inequality over generations.
In the study, titled "Effects of Prenatal Poverty on Infant Health: State Earned Income Tax Credits and Birth Weight," the researchers tested whether access to state anti-poverty programs diminished the occurrence of low-birth-weight, at-risk babies. In particular, the authors used the recently expanded, state-based Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) programs to determine whether improved income in single mothers suggested improved prenatal health, higher birth weights, and reduced maternal smoking. The EITC, the tax credit programs that supplement the incomes of low-wage workers, comprise the largest anti-poverty plans in the United States, and in many states have supplanted traditional welfare programs.
The study's authors found evidence that participation in state EITC is directly linked to higher birth weights, including reducing chances that a mother smoked during pregnancy.
"The EITC reduces poverty for millions of families each year. But, we know very little about how it is affects families and children beyond income," said Strully. "Our study offers encouraging evidence that, by relieving poverty with this tax program, we are helping women have healthier babies."
Because the EITC is targeted at low-wage workers and significantly impacts the employment of single mothers, the authors limited their primary samples to unmarried mothers with a high school degree or less. To test the effects of state EITC on earnings and employment, the study obtained data from the 1980 through 2002 U.S. Natality Detail File, a statistical record of nearly every birth in the United States. Information in the Natality File is collected directly from birth certificates, ensuring that birth weights, recorded by medical professionals rather than recalled by survey respondents, are accurate. Further data, including income and household information, were collected from the 1980 through 2002 March demographic supplements to the Current Population Surveys (CPS). The annual data, collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, are based on a rotating national probability sample of 58,000 households. To qualify for EITC, a person must have some earnings but have an adjusted gross income below a threshold that varies by year and by family size.
Strully cautions that not all anti-poverty policies or programs such as EITC produce health improvements among babies born to high-risk mothers. In addition, the study suggests that mothers age 19 to 35 who live in states with active EITCs benefit more from the tax breaks and incentives than younger women or mothers over 35.
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No fee National Parks Aug. 14 - 15
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-06-02-national-parks-free-weekends_N.htm
Updated 6/2/2009 5:39 PM
By Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service is looking to stimulate summer vacations at national parks.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that entrance fees at 147 national parks and monuments — including the Grand Canyon and Yosemite — will be waived on three weekends this summer. The weekends are June 20-21, July 18-19 and August 15-16.
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Updated 6/2/2009 5:39 PM
By Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service is looking to stimulate summer vacations at national parks.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday that entrance fees at 147 national parks and monuments — including the Grand Canyon and Yosemite — will be waived on three weekends this summer. The weekends are June 20-21, July 18-19 and August 15-16.
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Mind over matter? The psychology of healing
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/uon-mom080210.php
Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: Emma Rayner
University of Nottingham
Mind over matter? The psychology of healing
People suffering from diabetes-related foot ulcers show different rates of healing according to the way they cope and their psychological state of mind, according to new research by a health psychologist at The University of Nottingham.
The large study published in the journal Diabetologia this month has shown that the way patients cope with the condition and their levels of depression, affect how the wound heals or worsens.
The work by Professor Kavita Vedhara from the University's Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, has sparked a follow-on project to develop psychological treatments to reduce depression in sufferers and help them cope more effectively with this debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition.
Foot ulcers are open sores which form when a minor skin injury fails to heal because of microvascular and metabolic dysfunction caused by diabetes. Up to fifteen per cent of people with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2, develop foot or leg ulcers with many suffering depression and poorer quality of life as a result.
The increased morbidity and mortality caused by the condition are estimated to cost UK health services £220 million per year. The costs are exacerbated by slow healing rates with two thirds of ulcers remaining unhealed after 20 weeks of treatment. The five year amputation and death rates among patients are 19 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. Ulcers account for around four out of five lower leg amputations and half of diabetes-related hospital admissions.
During the five-year study 93 patients (68 men and 25 women) with diabetic foot ulcers were recruited from specialist podiatry clinics across the UK. Clinical and demographic determinants of healing; psychological distress, coping style and levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in saliva were assessed and recorded at the start of a 24 week monitoring period. The size of each patient's ulcer was also measured at the start, and then at 6, 12 and 24 weeks to record the extent of healing or otherwise of the ulcer.
The results of the research showed that the likelihood of the ulcer healing over a 24 week period was predicted by how individual's coped. Surprisingly perhaps, patients who showed a 'confrontational' way of coping (a style characterised by a desire to take control) with the ulcer and its treatment were less likely to have a healed ulcer at the end of the 24 week period.
Professor Vedhara said: "My colleagues and I believe that this confrontational approach may, inadvertently, be unhelpful in this context because these ulcers take a long time to heal. As a result, individuals with confrontational coping may experience distress and frustration because their attempts to take control do not result in rapid improvements."
A secondary analysis of each patient examined the relationship of psycho-social factors with the change in the size of the ulcer over the observation period. Whereas the first analysis showed that only confrontation coping, not anxiety or depression, was a significant predictor of healing, the second showed that depression was a significant predictor in how the size of the ulcer changed over time, with patients with clinical depression showing smaller changes in ulcer size over time i.e., they showed less improvement or healing.
..
Public release date: 2-Aug-2010
Contact: Emma Rayner
University of Nottingham
Mind over matter? The psychology of healing
People suffering from diabetes-related foot ulcers show different rates of healing according to the way they cope and their psychological state of mind, according to new research by a health psychologist at The University of Nottingham.
The large study published in the journal Diabetologia this month has shown that the way patients cope with the condition and their levels of depression, affect how the wound heals or worsens.
The work by Professor Kavita Vedhara from the University's Institute of Work, Health and Organisations, has sparked a follow-on project to develop psychological treatments to reduce depression in sufferers and help them cope more effectively with this debilitating and potentially life-threatening condition.
Foot ulcers are open sores which form when a minor skin injury fails to heal because of microvascular and metabolic dysfunction caused by diabetes. Up to fifteen per cent of people with diabetes, both Type 1 and Type 2, develop foot or leg ulcers with many suffering depression and poorer quality of life as a result.
The increased morbidity and mortality caused by the condition are estimated to cost UK health services £220 million per year. The costs are exacerbated by slow healing rates with two thirds of ulcers remaining unhealed after 20 weeks of treatment. The five year amputation and death rates among patients are 19 per cent and 44 per cent respectively. Ulcers account for around four out of five lower leg amputations and half of diabetes-related hospital admissions.
During the five-year study 93 patients (68 men and 25 women) with diabetic foot ulcers were recruited from specialist podiatry clinics across the UK. Clinical and demographic determinants of healing; psychological distress, coping style and levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) in saliva were assessed and recorded at the start of a 24 week monitoring period. The size of each patient's ulcer was also measured at the start, and then at 6, 12 and 24 weeks to record the extent of healing or otherwise of the ulcer.
The results of the research showed that the likelihood of the ulcer healing over a 24 week period was predicted by how individual's coped. Surprisingly perhaps, patients who showed a 'confrontational' way of coping (a style characterised by a desire to take control) with the ulcer and its treatment were less likely to have a healed ulcer at the end of the 24 week period.
Professor Vedhara said: "My colleagues and I believe that this confrontational approach may, inadvertently, be unhelpful in this context because these ulcers take a long time to heal. As a result, individuals with confrontational coping may experience distress and frustration because their attempts to take control do not result in rapid improvements."
A secondary analysis of each patient examined the relationship of psycho-social factors with the change in the size of the ulcer over the observation period. Whereas the first analysis showed that only confrontation coping, not anxiety or depression, was a significant predictor of healing, the second showed that depression was a significant predictor in how the size of the ulcer changed over time, with patients with clinical depression showing smaller changes in ulcer size over time i.e., they showed less improvement or healing.
..
Many dietary supplements are contaminated
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38542031/ns/health-alternative_medicine/
By Maggie Fox Health and Science Editor
updated 8/3/2010 2:38:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Many popular dietary supplements contain ingredients that may cause cancer, heart problems, liver or kidney damage, but U.S. stores sell them anyway and Americans spend millions on them, according to Consumer Reports.
The consumer magazine published a report on Tuesday highlighting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's lack of power to regulate such supplements, and said the agency rarely uses what little power it does have.
The report from the influential group urged Congress to speed up small moves toward giving the agency more clout, especially in regulating supplements.
Despite the "natural" labels carried by many of the supplements, many are contaminated.
Yet Americans flock to take them, according to the magazine, citing the Nutrition Business Journal as saying the market was worth $26.7 billion in 2009.
"Of the more than 54,000 dietary supplement products in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, only about a third have some level of safety and effectiveness that is supported by scientific evidence," the report reads.
In addition, the FDA has not inspected any supplement factories in China, even though the agency set up field offices there starting in 2008, Consumer Reports said.
The organization pointed to 12 supplement ingredients in particular that it said could be dangerous: aconite, bitter orange, chaparral, colloidal silver, coltsfoot, comfrey, country mallow, germanium, greater celandine, kava, lobelia, and yohimbe.
Potential dangers include liver and kidney damage, heart rhythm disorders and unhealthy blood pressure levels, it said.
The group is critical of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act or DSHEA, which it describes as industry friendly and which prevents the FDA from regulating supplements in the same way as it regulates prescription medications.
The Federal Trade Commission regulates the marketing of herbal supplements, whose makers are not allowed to claim they treat medical conditions.
The FDA has banned only one supplement ingredient — ephedrine alkaloids — although it has persuaded many companies to pull their products off the market.
----- (skipping)
..
By Maggie Fox Health and Science Editor
updated 8/3/2010 2:38:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Many popular dietary supplements contain ingredients that may cause cancer, heart problems, liver or kidney damage, but U.S. stores sell them anyway and Americans spend millions on them, according to Consumer Reports.
The consumer magazine published a report on Tuesday highlighting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's lack of power to regulate such supplements, and said the agency rarely uses what little power it does have.
The report from the influential group urged Congress to speed up small moves toward giving the agency more clout, especially in regulating supplements.
Despite the "natural" labels carried by many of the supplements, many are contaminated.
Yet Americans flock to take them, according to the magazine, citing the Nutrition Business Journal as saying the market was worth $26.7 billion in 2009.
"Of the more than 54,000 dietary supplement products in the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, only about a third have some level of safety and effectiveness that is supported by scientific evidence," the report reads.
In addition, the FDA has not inspected any supplement factories in China, even though the agency set up field offices there starting in 2008, Consumer Reports said.
The organization pointed to 12 supplement ingredients in particular that it said could be dangerous: aconite, bitter orange, chaparral, colloidal silver, coltsfoot, comfrey, country mallow, germanium, greater celandine, kava, lobelia, and yohimbe.
Potential dangers include liver and kidney damage, heart rhythm disorders and unhealthy blood pressure levels, it said.
The group is critical of the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act or DSHEA, which it describes as industry friendly and which prevents the FDA from regulating supplements in the same way as it regulates prescription medications.
The Federal Trade Commission regulates the marketing of herbal supplements, whose makers are not allowed to claim they treat medical conditions.
The FDA has banned only one supplement ingredient — ephedrine alkaloids — although it has persuaded many companies to pull their products off the market.
----- (skipping)
..
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Net neutrality
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2010/08/net-neutrality-a-buzzword-that-fools-almost-everyone.html
Posted: Thursday, August 5 2010 at 01:38 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
It's a nightmare scenario: One day, you log on to the Web, and only 20 or 25 Web sites built by brand-name Net companies fire up quickly. Everything else -- all the mom-and-pop sites, all the niche retailers, all the alternative blogs you read -- dribble out onto your screen like it's 1996 all over again.
But this is a nightmare, too: You log on to the Web after work, and nothing seems to be working. That's because the people living in the three other apartments in your building are busy downloading one pirated Blu-ray movie while watching another. Or spammers have taken control of your neighbors' machines and are pumping out millions of e-mails, totally clogging your Internet pipe. You call your ISP and complain. An operator there says, "Sorry, those pirates and spammers have just as much right to the network as you do."
The important debate on net neutrality is perhaps the most misunderstood technology argument of our time. Sure, neutrality is good and discrimination is bad. And of course, it's terrible that companies like Google and Verizon seem to be holding secret meetings that will decide the future of our beloved free Internet. It's a shame that this important debate has been dragged down by sloganeering and extremism.
Here are two important points everyone should understand about this fight.
1. This is not the fight of big companies vs. little people that it has been cast to be. It is big companies vs. other big companies. It's Web content suppliers like Skype and YouTube vs. Web bandwidth suppliers like Comcast and Verizon. You, dear reader, are a pawn.
2. "Net neutrality," as described by its extreme supporters, does not exist today, and that's a good thing. Internet service providers "de-prioritize" certain kinds of traffic already, such as spam or denial of service attacks. And in an even more subtle way, network neutrality cannot exist in the Internet's current architecture. By its nature, the system itself is kinder to some kinds of communication over others. The TCP protocol used to move packet traffic around the Web favors latency-tolerant applications, such as e-mail, over real-time communications, like video chat. That's just the way the technology works.
For regular readers of this column, you know I love a good chance to express outrage at companies like Verizon. There is a lot going on here that smells bad. No one should trust Google and Verizon -- or the other members of the telecom-and-Internet cabal that's been holding secret meetings with the FCC -- to settle this issue in a way that benefits consumers. They will not. This is the real shame of the net neutrality debate. Neither the agency nor those companies have any good will with the American public that would create a trusting enough environment that might enable a sensible debate. I fear this works to the advantage of companies looking to exploit consumers even more for profit.
----- (skipping)
Posted: Thursday, August 5 2010 at 01:38 pm CT by Bob Sullivan
It's a nightmare scenario: One day, you log on to the Web, and only 20 or 25 Web sites built by brand-name Net companies fire up quickly. Everything else -- all the mom-and-pop sites, all the niche retailers, all the alternative blogs you read -- dribble out onto your screen like it's 1996 all over again.
But this is a nightmare, too: You log on to the Web after work, and nothing seems to be working. That's because the people living in the three other apartments in your building are busy downloading one pirated Blu-ray movie while watching another. Or spammers have taken control of your neighbors' machines and are pumping out millions of e-mails, totally clogging your Internet pipe. You call your ISP and complain. An operator there says, "Sorry, those pirates and spammers have just as much right to the network as you do."
The important debate on net neutrality is perhaps the most misunderstood technology argument of our time. Sure, neutrality is good and discrimination is bad. And of course, it's terrible that companies like Google and Verizon seem to be holding secret meetings that will decide the future of our beloved free Internet. It's a shame that this important debate has been dragged down by sloganeering and extremism.
Here are two important points everyone should understand about this fight.
1. This is not the fight of big companies vs. little people that it has been cast to be. It is big companies vs. other big companies. It's Web content suppliers like Skype and YouTube vs. Web bandwidth suppliers like Comcast and Verizon. You, dear reader, are a pawn.
2. "Net neutrality," as described by its extreme supporters, does not exist today, and that's a good thing. Internet service providers "de-prioritize" certain kinds of traffic already, such as spam or denial of service attacks. And in an even more subtle way, network neutrality cannot exist in the Internet's current architecture. By its nature, the system itself is kinder to some kinds of communication over others. The TCP protocol used to move packet traffic around the Web favors latency-tolerant applications, such as e-mail, over real-time communications, like video chat. That's just the way the technology works.
For regular readers of this column, you know I love a good chance to express outrage at companies like Verizon. There is a lot going on here that smells bad. No one should trust Google and Verizon -- or the other members of the telecom-and-Internet cabal that's been holding secret meetings with the FCC -- to settle this issue in a way that benefits consumers. They will not. This is the real shame of the net neutrality debate. Neither the agency nor those companies have any good will with the American public that would create a trusting enough environment that might enable a sensible debate. I fear this works to the advantage of companies looking to exploit consumers even more for profit.
----- (skipping)
Secondhand smoke may be hurting kids' grades
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38471348/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
updated 7/29/2010 2:15:56 PM ET
NEW YORK — Children and teenagers exposed to secondhand smoke at home may get poorer grades than their peers from smoke-free homes, a study of Hong Kong students suggests.
Secondhand smoke is a well-known health threat to children, being linked to increased risks of asthma, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Studies have also found a connection between smoking during pregnancy and higher risks of childhood behavior problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Some research has also found that children exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb or at home may trail their peers when it comes to cognitive abilities like reasoning and remembering. But whether secondhand smoke itself is to blame remains unclear.
In the new study, researchers found that among 23,000 11- to 20-year-old non-smoking students, the one-third who lived with at least one smoker were more likely to describe their own school performance as "poor."
Of students who said they were exposed to smoking at home at least five days a week, 23 percent said their school performance was poor compared with their classmates'. That rate was 20 percent among kids who had less frequent secondhand-smoke exposure at home, and 17 percent among those from smoke-free homes.
The researchers were able to account for certain other factors, like parents' education levels and the type of housing -- both markers of socioeconomic status. They found that students' exposure to secondhand smoke, itself, was linked to a 14 percent to 28 percent greater risk of poor school performance, depending on how frequent the exposure was.
----- (skipping)
Still, Ho's team notes, it is biologically plausible that the many toxic compounds in tobacco smoke -- including lead, arsenic, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide -- could affect children's cognitive abilities.
..
updated 7/29/2010 2:15:56 PM ET
NEW YORK — Children and teenagers exposed to secondhand smoke at home may get poorer grades than their peers from smoke-free homes, a study of Hong Kong students suggests.
Secondhand smoke is a well-known health threat to children, being linked to increased risks of asthma, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Studies have also found a connection between smoking during pregnancy and higher risks of childhood behavior problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Some research has also found that children exposed to cigarette smoke in the womb or at home may trail their peers when it comes to cognitive abilities like reasoning and remembering. But whether secondhand smoke itself is to blame remains unclear.
In the new study, researchers found that among 23,000 11- to 20-year-old non-smoking students, the one-third who lived with at least one smoker were more likely to describe their own school performance as "poor."
Of students who said they were exposed to smoking at home at least five days a week, 23 percent said their school performance was poor compared with their classmates'. That rate was 20 percent among kids who had less frequent secondhand-smoke exposure at home, and 17 percent among those from smoke-free homes.
The researchers were able to account for certain other factors, like parents' education levels and the type of housing -- both markers of socioeconomic status. They found that students' exposure to secondhand smoke, itself, was linked to a 14 percent to 28 percent greater risk of poor school performance, depending on how frequent the exposure was.
----- (skipping)
Still, Ho's team notes, it is biologically plausible that the many toxic compounds in tobacco smoke -- including lead, arsenic, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide -- could affect children's cognitive abilities.
..
Carnivorous mice spread deadly plague in prairie dog towns
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/su-cms080310.php
Public release date: 3-Aug-2010
Contact: Mark Shwartz
Stanford University
Carnivorous mice spread deadly plague in prairie dog towns, Stanford study finds
Prairie dogs, once abundant in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, have been decimated in recent decades by plague – a virulent bacterial disease spread by fleas.
Plague outbreaks periodically sweep through large prairie dog towns with thousands of inhabitants, killing virtually the entire population within months. Other prairie dogs move in and build a new colony, which eventually is wiped out when the disease returns.
This pattern of re-colonization followed by devastation can occur over many years. The question for scientists is how does plague persist after a colony has been wiped out?
"A fundamental question in disease ecology is what happens to pathogens in between the periods when they cause all of this devastation," said James Holland Jones, an associate professor of anthropology and a center fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
"Previous studies have suggested some sort of magical reservoir for the plague pathogen," Jones said. "Maybe it gets into the soil and infects the re-colonized prairie dog town. Or perhaps it's carried in by some carnivore. Who knows?"
Jones and his colleagues may have finally solved this longstanding mystery. The likely culprit, they say, is the grasshopper mouse, a carnivorous rodent that carries plague-infected fleas across the rigid territorial boundaries separating isolated family groups within the prairie dog colony.
"We found that when grasshopper mouse density gets high enough, you get an epizootic – the animal equivalent of an epidemic – and virtually all of the prairie dogs die," Jones explained.
This finding, published in the July 26 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have significant implications for understanding how infectious diseases spread in animals and humans.
"Plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and the causative agent of Black Death that killed 200 million Europeans in the 14th century, arrived in the United States via San Francisco around 1900 and still infects people worldwide," Jones said.
----- (skipping)
..
Public release date: 3-Aug-2010
Contact: Mark Shwartz
Stanford University
Carnivorous mice spread deadly plague in prairie dog towns, Stanford study finds
Prairie dogs, once abundant in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, have been decimated in recent decades by plague – a virulent bacterial disease spread by fleas.
Plague outbreaks periodically sweep through large prairie dog towns with thousands of inhabitants, killing virtually the entire population within months. Other prairie dogs move in and build a new colony, which eventually is wiped out when the disease returns.
This pattern of re-colonization followed by devastation can occur over many years. The question for scientists is how does plague persist after a colony has been wiped out?
"A fundamental question in disease ecology is what happens to pathogens in between the periods when they cause all of this devastation," said James Holland Jones, an associate professor of anthropology and a center fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.
"Previous studies have suggested some sort of magical reservoir for the plague pathogen," Jones said. "Maybe it gets into the soil and infects the re-colonized prairie dog town. Or perhaps it's carried in by some carnivore. Who knows?"
Jones and his colleagues may have finally solved this longstanding mystery. The likely culprit, they say, is the grasshopper mouse, a carnivorous rodent that carries plague-infected fleas across the rigid territorial boundaries separating isolated family groups within the prairie dog colony.
"We found that when grasshopper mouse density gets high enough, you get an epizootic – the animal equivalent of an epidemic – and virtually all of the prairie dogs die," Jones explained.
This finding, published in the July 26 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could have significant implications for understanding how infectious diseases spread in animals and humans.
"Plague, a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and the causative agent of Black Death that killed 200 million Europeans in the 14th century, arrived in the United States via San Francisco around 1900 and still infects people worldwide," Jones said.
----- (skipping)
..
Sperm may be harmed by exposure to BPA
http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=7913
Aug. 3, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—In one of the first human studies of its kind, researchers have found that urinary concentrations of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, may be related to decreased sperm quality and sperm concentration.
However, the researchers are quick to point out that these results are preliminary and more study is needed. Several studies have documented adverse effects of BPA on semen in rodents, but none are known to have reported similar relationships in humans.
BPA is a common chemical that's stirred much controversy in the media lately over its safety. Critics say that BPA mimics the body's own hormones and may lead to negative health effects. BPA is most commonly used to make plastics and epoxy resins used in food and beverage cans, and people are exposed primarily through diet, although other routes are possible. More than 6 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually.
The new study suggests that more research should focus on BPA and health effects in adults, says John Meeker, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
----- (skipping)
..
Aug. 3, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—In one of the first human studies of its kind, researchers have found that urinary concentrations of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, may be related to decreased sperm quality and sperm concentration.
However, the researchers are quick to point out that these results are preliminary and more study is needed. Several studies have documented adverse effects of BPA on semen in rodents, but none are known to have reported similar relationships in humans.
BPA is a common chemical that's stirred much controversy in the media lately over its safety. Critics say that BPA mimics the body's own hormones and may lead to negative health effects. BPA is most commonly used to make plastics and epoxy resins used in food and beverage cans, and people are exposed primarily through diet, although other routes are possible. More than 6 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually.
The new study suggests that more research should focus on BPA and health effects in adults, says John Meeker, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
----- (skipping)
..
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Will Russia's Heat Wave End Its Global-Warming Doubts? Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008081,00.html?hpt=T2#ixzz0vbCU5FLX
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008081,00.html?hpt=T2
By Simon Shuster / Moscow Monday, Aug. 02, 2010
Russians are not used to heat waves. When the high temperatures that have overwhelmed Russia over the past six weeks first arrived in June, some 1,200 Russians drowned at the country's beaches. "The majority of those who drowned were drunk," the Emergencies Ministry concluded in mid-July, citing the Russian habit of taking vodka to cool off by the sea. But while overconsumption of vodka is a familiar scourge in Russia, extreme heat is not, and as the worst heat wave on record spawns wildfires that are destroying entire villages, Russian officials have made what for them is a startling admission: global warming is very real.
At a meeting of international sporting officials in Moscow on July 30, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that in 14 regions of the country, "practically everything is burning. The weather is anomalously hot." Then, as TV cameras zoomed in on the perspiration shining on his forehead, Medvedev announced, "What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us, meaning all heads of state, all heads of social organizations, in order to take a more energetic approach to countering the global changes to the climate."
For Medvedev, such sentiments mark a striking about-face. Only last year, he announced that Russia, the world's third largest polluter after China and the U.S., would be spewing 30% more planet-warming gases into the atmosphere by 2020. "We will not cut our development potential," he said during the summer of 2009 (an unusually mild one), just a few months before attending the Copenhagen climate summit, which in December failed to reach a substantial agreement on how to limit carbon emissions.
----- (skipping)
Now that Medvedev is also acknowledging the effects of climate change, Russia's official line on the subject could start to change, Chuprov says. But he warns that convincing the public of the threat from global warming may be difficult. "The status quo can change quickly in the minds of bureaucrats if the leadership gives the signal. But in the minds of the people, myths are much more difficult to uproot," he says. As if to prove the point, Russia's largest circulation newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, ran a headline on July 31 that asked, "Is the Russian heat wave the result of the USA testing its climate weapon?" The daily's answer was "Yes, probably."
..
By Simon Shuster / Moscow Monday, Aug. 02, 2010
Russians are not used to heat waves. When the high temperatures that have overwhelmed Russia over the past six weeks first arrived in June, some 1,200 Russians drowned at the country's beaches. "The majority of those who drowned were drunk," the Emergencies Ministry concluded in mid-July, citing the Russian habit of taking vodka to cool off by the sea. But while overconsumption of vodka is a familiar scourge in Russia, extreme heat is not, and as the worst heat wave on record spawns wildfires that are destroying entire villages, Russian officials have made what for them is a startling admission: global warming is very real.
At a meeting of international sporting officials in Moscow on July 30, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced that in 14 regions of the country, "practically everything is burning. The weather is anomalously hot." Then, as TV cameras zoomed in on the perspiration shining on his forehead, Medvedev announced, "What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us, meaning all heads of state, all heads of social organizations, in order to take a more energetic approach to countering the global changes to the climate."
For Medvedev, such sentiments mark a striking about-face. Only last year, he announced that Russia, the world's third largest polluter after China and the U.S., would be spewing 30% more planet-warming gases into the atmosphere by 2020. "We will not cut our development potential," he said during the summer of 2009 (an unusually mild one), just a few months before attending the Copenhagen climate summit, which in December failed to reach a substantial agreement on how to limit carbon emissions.
----- (skipping)
Now that Medvedev is also acknowledging the effects of climate change, Russia's official line on the subject could start to change, Chuprov says. But he warns that convincing the public of the threat from global warming may be difficult. "The status quo can change quickly in the minds of bureaucrats if the leadership gives the signal. But in the minds of the people, myths are much more difficult to uproot," he says. As if to prove the point, Russia's largest circulation newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, ran a headline on July 31 that asked, "Is the Russian heat wave the result of the USA testing its climate weapon?" The daily's answer was "Yes, probably."
..
Republicans block small business lending bill
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38469644/ns/business-small_business/
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
updated 7/29/2010 12:49:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a bill to increase small business lending Thursday, dealing a setback to President Barack Obama's jobs agenda.
The bill would create a $30 billion government fund to help community banks increase lending to small businesses, combining it with about $12 billion in tax breaks aimed at small businesses. Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans to small businesses, helping to loosen tight credit markets.
----- (skipping)
..
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
updated 7/29/2010 12:49:41 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a bill to increase small business lending Thursday, dealing a setback to President Barack Obama's jobs agenda.
The bill would create a $30 billion government fund to help community banks increase lending to small businesses, combining it with about $12 billion in tax breaks aimed at small businesses. Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans to small businesses, helping to loosen tight credit markets.
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..
Delusions of Grandeur
“Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.”
“Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all the other three.” Thomas Paine
..
“Interested men, who are not to be trusted; weak men who cannot see; prejudiced men who will not see; and a certain set of moderate men, who think better of the European world than it deserves; and this last class by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to this continent than all the other three.” Thomas Paine
..
K-9 PTSD? Some vets say dogs stressed by war, too
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100803/ap_on_re_us/us_ptsd_military_dogs;_ylt=Aqj6YAEy3CHt9K98QoOwlmms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFpbW92dDZmBHBvcwMyMwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDay05cHRzZHNvbWV2
By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 3, 4:32 pm ET
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Gina was a playful 2-year-old German shepherd when she went to Iraq as a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the military, conducting door-to-door searches and witnessing all sorts of noisy explosions.
She returned home to Colorado cowering and fearful. When her handlers tried to take her into a building, she would stiffen her legs and resist. Once inside, she would tuck her tail beneath her body and slink along the floor. She would hide under furniture or in a corner to avoid people.
A military veterinarian diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder — a condition that some experts say can afflict dogs just like it does humans.
"She showed all the symptoms and she had all the signs," said Master Sgt. Eric Haynes, the kennel master at Peterson Air Force Base. "She was terrified of everybody and it was obviously a condition that led her down that road."
A year later, Gina is on the mend. Frequent walks among friendly people and a gradual reintroduction to the noises of military life have begun to overcome her fears, Haynes said.
Haynes describes her progress as "outstanding."
"Pretty fabulous, actually," added Staff Sgt. Melinda Miller, who's been Gina's handler since May. "She makes me look pretty good."
PTSD is well-documented among American servicemen and women returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but its existence in animals is less clear-cut. Some veterinarians say animals do experience it, or a version of it.
"There is a condition in dogs which is almost precisely the same, if not precisely the same, as PTSD in humans," said Nicholas Dodman, head of the animal behavior program at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
----- (skipping)
..
By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Dan Elliott, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 3, 4:32 pm ET
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – Gina was a playful 2-year-old German shepherd when she went to Iraq as a highly trained bomb-sniffing dog with the military, conducting door-to-door searches and witnessing all sorts of noisy explosions.
She returned home to Colorado cowering and fearful. When her handlers tried to take her into a building, she would stiffen her legs and resist. Once inside, she would tuck her tail beneath her body and slink along the floor. She would hide under furniture or in a corner to avoid people.
A military veterinarian diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder — a condition that some experts say can afflict dogs just like it does humans.
"She showed all the symptoms and she had all the signs," said Master Sgt. Eric Haynes, the kennel master at Peterson Air Force Base. "She was terrified of everybody and it was obviously a condition that led her down that road."
A year later, Gina is on the mend. Frequent walks among friendly people and a gradual reintroduction to the noises of military life have begun to overcome her fears, Haynes said.
Haynes describes her progress as "outstanding."
"Pretty fabulous, actually," added Staff Sgt. Melinda Miller, who's been Gina's handler since May. "She makes me look pretty good."
PTSD is well-documented among American servicemen and women returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but its existence in animals is less clear-cut. Some veterinarians say animals do experience it, or a version of it.
"There is a condition in dogs which is almost precisely the same, if not precisely the same, as PTSD in humans," said Nicholas Dodman, head of the animal behavior program at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
----- (skipping)
..
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Heat Records
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1565
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Ukraine ties its record for hottest temperature in history
On August 1, Ukraine tied its record for hottest temperature in its history when the mercury hit 41.3°C (106.3°F) at Lukhansk. The Ukraine also reached 41.3°C on July 20 and 21, 2007, at Voznesensk. Sixteen of 225 nations on Earth have set extreme highest temperature in history records this year, the most of any year. The year 2007 is in second place, with fifteen such records.
Five major U.S. cities record their warmest month in history during July
July 2010 was the warmest month in history for five U.S. cities:
Las Vegas, NV: 96.2°F (old record: 95.3°F, July 2005).
Atlantic City, NJ: 79.8°F (old record: 78.7°F, July 1983)
Washington, D.C.: 83.1°F (tied with July 1993)
Baltimore, MD: 81.5°F (tied with July 1995)
Trenton, NJ: 80.5°F (tied with July 1955)
Also, in June, Miami, FL recorded its warmest month in history: 85.6°F (old record: 85.4°F in June 1998.)
Commentary
None of the 303 major U.S. cities listed in the records section of Chris Burt's book Extreme Weather has set a coldest month in history record since 1994 (these 303 cites were selected to represent a broad spectrum of U.S. climate zones, are not all big cities, have a good range of elevations, and in most cases have data going back to the 1880s.) There were just three such records (1% of the 303 major U.S. cities) set in the past twenty years, 1991 - 2010. In contrast, 97 out of 303 major U.S. cities (32%) set records for their warmest month in history during the past twenty years. It is much harder to set a coldest month in history record than a coldest day in history record in a warming climate, since it requires cold for an extended period of time--not just a sudden extreme cold snap.
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Ukraine ties its record for hottest temperature in history
On August 1, Ukraine tied its record for hottest temperature in its history when the mercury hit 41.3°C (106.3°F) at Lukhansk. The Ukraine also reached 41.3°C on July 20 and 21, 2007, at Voznesensk. Sixteen of 225 nations on Earth have set extreme highest temperature in history records this year, the most of any year. The year 2007 is in second place, with fifteen such records.
Five major U.S. cities record their warmest month in history during July
July 2010 was the warmest month in history for five U.S. cities:
Las Vegas, NV: 96.2°F (old record: 95.3°F, July 2005).
Atlantic City, NJ: 79.8°F (old record: 78.7°F, July 1983)
Washington, D.C.: 83.1°F (tied with July 1993)
Baltimore, MD: 81.5°F (tied with July 1995)
Trenton, NJ: 80.5°F (tied with July 1955)
Also, in June, Miami, FL recorded its warmest month in history: 85.6°F (old record: 85.4°F in June 1998.)
Commentary
None of the 303 major U.S. cities listed in the records section of Chris Burt's book Extreme Weather has set a coldest month in history record since 1994 (these 303 cites were selected to represent a broad spectrum of U.S. climate zones, are not all big cities, have a good range of elevations, and in most cases have data going back to the 1880s.) There were just three such records (1% of the 303 major U.S. cities) set in the past twenty years, 1991 - 2010. In contrast, 97 out of 303 major U.S. cities (32%) set records for their warmest month in history during the past twenty years. It is much harder to set a coldest month in history record than a coldest day in history record in a warming climate, since it requires cold for an extended period of time--not just a sudden extreme cold snap.
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Mystery as Tokyo loses track of its centenarians
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100803/ap_on_he_me/as_japan_missing_centenarians;_ylt=ApalPNfrfGr4sWAw43Dmm2Ws0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFkY2tiaXBiBHBvcwMxMzYEc2VjA2FjY29yZGlvbl9oZWFsdGgEc2xrA215c3Rlcnlhc3Rvaw--
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 3, 11:54 am ET
TOKYO – Japanese authorities admitted Tuesday they'd lost track of a 113-year-old woman listed as Tokyo's oldest, days after police searched the home of the city's official oldest man — only to find his long-dead, mummified body.
Officials launched a search this week for Fusa Furuya, born in July 1897 and listed as Tokyo's oldest citizen, after it emerged her whereabouts are unknown.
Several other celebrated centenarians are also unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping and follow-up in a country that prides itself in its number of long-lived citizens but also frets about an unraveling of traditional family ties.
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The missing elderly people could cast doubt on the exact number of centenarians in Japan, a figure that has been rising for decades.
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By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Writer – Tue Aug 3, 11:54 am ET
TOKYO – Japanese authorities admitted Tuesday they'd lost track of a 113-year-old woman listed as Tokyo's oldest, days after police searched the home of the city's official oldest man — only to find his long-dead, mummified body.
Officials launched a search this week for Fusa Furuya, born in July 1897 and listed as Tokyo's oldest citizen, after it emerged her whereabouts are unknown.
Several other celebrated centenarians are also unaccounted for due to poor record-keeping and follow-up in a country that prides itself in its number of long-lived citizens but also frets about an unraveling of traditional family ties.
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The missing elderly people could cast doubt on the exact number of centenarians in Japan, a figure that has been rising for decades.
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High Heels May Lead to Joint Degeneration and Knee Osteoarthritis
This is no surprise to me. I consider high heels to be a torture device.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802141901.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — While women have been making a fashion statement in high heels for years -- wearing trendy stilettos, wedges, pumps and kitten heels -- there's reason for concern about what those heels may be doing to their knees and joints over time. A new study by an Iowa State University kinesiology master's student has found that prolonged wearing of and walking in high heels can contribute
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New Solar Energy Conversion Process Could Double Solar Efficiency of Solar Cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802101813.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.
Stanford engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2010) — A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source.
Stanford engineers have figured out how to simultaneously use the light and heat of the sun to generate electricity in a way that could make solar power production more than twice as efficient as existing methods and potentially cheap enough to compete with oil.
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Defining Prosperity Down
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/opinion/02krugman.html?WT.mc_id=OP-SM-E-FB-SM-LIN-DPD-080210-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 1, 2010
I’m starting to have a sick feeling about prospects for American workers — but not, or not entirely, for the reasons you might think.
Yes, growth is slowing, and the odds are that unemployment will rise, not fall, in the months ahead. That’s bad. But what’s worse is the growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal.
And I worry that those in power, rather than taking responsibility for job creation, will soon declare that high unemployment is “structural,” a permanent part of the economic landscape — and that by condemning large numbers of Americans to long-term joblessness, they’ll turn that excuse into dismal reality.
Not long ago, anyone predicting that one in six American workers would soon be unemployed or underemployed, and that the average unemployed worker would have been jobless for 35 weeks, would have been dismissed as outlandishly pessimistic — in part because if anything like that happened, policy makers would surely be pulling out all the stops on behalf of job creation.
But now it has happened, and what do we see?
First, we see Congress sitting on its hands, with Republicans and conservative Democrats refusing to spend anything to create jobs, and unwilling even to mitigate the suffering of the jobless.
We’re told that we can’t afford to help the unemployed — that we must get budget deficits down immediately or the “bond vigilantes” will send U.S. borrowing costs sky-high. Some of us have tried to point out that those bond vigilantes are, as far as anyone can tell, figments of the deficit hawks’ imagination — far from fleeing U.S. debt, investors have been buying it eagerly, driving interest rates to historic lows. But the fearmongers are unmoved: fighting deficits, they insist, must take priority over everything else — everything else, that is, except tax cuts for the rich, which must be extended, no matter how much red ink they create.
The point is that a large part of Congress — large enough to block any action on jobs — cares a lot about taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population, but very little about the plight of Americans who can’t find work.
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By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 1, 2010
I’m starting to have a sick feeling about prospects for American workers — but not, or not entirely, for the reasons you might think.
Yes, growth is slowing, and the odds are that unemployment will rise, not fall, in the months ahead. That’s bad. But what’s worse is the growing evidence that our governing elite just doesn’t care — that a once-unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal.
And I worry that those in power, rather than taking responsibility for job creation, will soon declare that high unemployment is “structural,” a permanent part of the economic landscape — and that by condemning large numbers of Americans to long-term joblessness, they’ll turn that excuse into dismal reality.
Not long ago, anyone predicting that one in six American workers would soon be unemployed or underemployed, and that the average unemployed worker would have been jobless for 35 weeks, would have been dismissed as outlandishly pessimistic — in part because if anything like that happened, policy makers would surely be pulling out all the stops on behalf of job creation.
But now it has happened, and what do we see?
First, we see Congress sitting on its hands, with Republicans and conservative Democrats refusing to spend anything to create jobs, and unwilling even to mitigate the suffering of the jobless.
We’re told that we can’t afford to help the unemployed — that we must get budget deficits down immediately or the “bond vigilantes” will send U.S. borrowing costs sky-high. Some of us have tried to point out that those bond vigilantes are, as far as anyone can tell, figments of the deficit hawks’ imagination — far from fleeing U.S. debt, investors have been buying it eagerly, driving interest rates to historic lows. But the fearmongers are unmoved: fighting deficits, they insist, must take priority over everything else — everything else, that is, except tax cuts for the rich, which must be extended, no matter how much red ink they create.
The point is that a large part of Congress — large enough to block any action on jobs — cares a lot about taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population, but very little about the plight of Americans who can’t find work.
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Monday, August 02, 2010
'Nothing left' for Pakistan flood survivors
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38520314/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
updated 2 hours 50 minutes ago
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Relief efforts in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest picked up pace Monday, but survivors complained about government inaction — a worrying sign for authorities seeking public support for the fight against militants in the region.
Around 300 people blocked a major road in the hard-hit Nowshera district to protest at receiving little or no aid, witnesses said. Other survivors returned to devastated villages, wading through waist-high water to salvage chairs, plates and other possessions — a wall clock, a battered fridge — from beneath mud and debris.
"We have nothing, we are just depending on the mercy of God. Nothing left except this wet wheat," said Marjan Khan, sorting through piles of the grain laid out on wooden beds.
Scores of bridges, roads and buildings have been washed away by the torrents, which were triggered by exceptionally heavy monsoon rain. The floods are the worst in a generation, and weather forecasters say more rains are due to fall south and central Pakistan.
2 million need assistance
The death toll was at least 1,200 on Monday, with up to 2 million survivors requiring assistance.
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updated 2 hours 50 minutes ago
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Relief efforts in Pakistan's flood-ravaged northwest picked up pace Monday, but survivors complained about government inaction — a worrying sign for authorities seeking public support for the fight against militants in the region.
Around 300 people blocked a major road in the hard-hit Nowshera district to protest at receiving little or no aid, witnesses said. Other survivors returned to devastated villages, wading through waist-high water to salvage chairs, plates and other possessions — a wall clock, a battered fridge — from beneath mud and debris.
"We have nothing, we are just depending on the mercy of God. Nothing left except this wet wheat," said Marjan Khan, sorting through piles of the grain laid out on wooden beds.
Scores of bridges, roads and buildings have been washed away by the torrents, which were triggered by exceptionally heavy monsoon rain. The floods are the worst in a generation, and weather forecasters say more rains are due to fall south and central Pakistan.
2 million need assistance
The death toll was at least 1,200 on Monday, with up to 2 million survivors requiring assistance.
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Diet and Alcohol Alter Epigenetics of Breast Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100730074354.htm
ScienceDaily (July 30, 2010) — Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research, published in Ecological Management & Restoration, challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
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ScienceDaily (July 30, 2010) — Australian scientists researching environmental restoration projects have found that the reforestation of damaged rainforests is more efficient at capturing carbon than controversial softwood monoculture plantations. The research, published in Ecological Management & Restoration, challenges traditional views on the efficiency of industrial monoculture plantations.
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Sunday, August 01, 2010
Western Diet Link to ADHD
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100729091454.htm
ScienceDaily (July 29, 2010) — A new study from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and a 'Western-style' diet in adolescents.
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"We found a diet high in the Western pattern of foods was associated with more than double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis compared with a diet low in the Western pattern, after adjusting for numerous other social and family influences," Dr Oddy said
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A "healthy" pattern is a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and fish. It tends to be higher in omega-3 fatty acids, folate and fibre. A "Western" pattern is a diet with a trend towards takeaway foods, confectionary, processed, fried and refined foods. These diets tend to be higher in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium.
"When we looked at specific foods, having an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a diet high in takeaway foods, processed meats, red meat, high fat dairy products and confectionary," Dr Oddy said.
"We suggest that a Western dietary pattern may indicate the adolescent has a less optimal fatty acid profile, whereas a diet higher in omega-3 fatty acids is thought to hold benefits for mental health and optimal brain function.
"It also may be that the Western dietary pattern doesn't provide enough essential micronutrients that are needed for brain function, particularly attention and concentration, or that a Western diet might contain more colours, flavours and additives that have been linked to an increase in ADHD symptoms. It may also be that impulsivity, which is a characteristic of ADHD, leads to poor dietary choices such as quick snacks when hungry."
Dr Oddy said that whilst this study suggests that diet may be implicated in ADHD, more research is needed to determine the nature of the relationship.
"This is a cross-sectional study so we cannot be sure whether a poor diet leads to ADHD or whether ADHD leads to poor dietary choices and cravings," Dr Oddy said.
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ScienceDaily (July 29, 2010) — A new study from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and a 'Western-style' diet in adolescents.
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"We found a diet high in the Western pattern of foods was associated with more than double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis compared with a diet low in the Western pattern, after adjusting for numerous other social and family influences," Dr Oddy said
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A "healthy" pattern is a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and fish. It tends to be higher in omega-3 fatty acids, folate and fibre. A "Western" pattern is a diet with a trend towards takeaway foods, confectionary, processed, fried and refined foods. These diets tend to be higher in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium.
"When we looked at specific foods, having an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a diet high in takeaway foods, processed meats, red meat, high fat dairy products and confectionary," Dr Oddy said.
"We suggest that a Western dietary pattern may indicate the adolescent has a less optimal fatty acid profile, whereas a diet higher in omega-3 fatty acids is thought to hold benefits for mental health and optimal brain function.
"It also may be that the Western dietary pattern doesn't provide enough essential micronutrients that are needed for brain function, particularly attention and concentration, or that a Western diet might contain more colours, flavours and additives that have been linked to an increase in ADHD symptoms. It may also be that impulsivity, which is a characteristic of ADHD, leads to poor dietary choices such as quick snacks when hungry."
Dr Oddy said that whilst this study suggests that diet may be implicated in ADHD, more research is needed to determine the nature of the relationship.
"This is a cross-sectional study so we cannot be sure whether a poor diet leads to ADHD or whether ADHD leads to poor dietary choices and cravings," Dr Oddy said.
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Russia sends army to battle deadly wildfires
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38500481/ns/world_news-europe/
updated 7/31/2010 12:47:34 PM ET
MASLOVKA, Russia — Russia sent the army on Saturday to battle wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and were threatening dozens of towns and villages. Thick smoke and ash slowed firefighting efforts and thousands of people were being evacuated.
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Many regions of the country are suffering through their hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago. Officials said Friday over 214,136 acres of parched woodland and peat bog were burning in at least 14 of the country's 83 regions, mainly in western Russia.
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updated 7/31/2010 12:47:34 PM ET
MASLOVKA, Russia — Russia sent the army on Saturday to battle wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and were threatening dozens of towns and villages. Thick smoke and ash slowed firefighting efforts and thousands of people were being evacuated.
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Many regions of the country are suffering through their hottest summer since record-keeping began 130 years ago. Officials said Friday over 214,136 acres of parched woodland and peat bog were burning in at least 14 of the country's 83 regions, mainly in western Russia.
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