http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101216073209.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2010) — Caffeine consumption in children is often blamed for sleep problems and bedwetting. Information on childhood caffeine consumption is limited, and many parents may not know the amount or effects of their child's caffeine consumption. In a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers found that 75% of children surveyed consumed caffeine on a daily basis, and the more caffeine the children consumed, the less they slept.
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Researchers found, however, that caffeine was not linked to bedwetting in these children. "Contrary to popular belief," Dr. Evans, coauthor and statistician, clarifies, "children were not more likely to wet the bed if they consumed caffeine, despite the fact that caffeine is a diuretic."
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Sunday, December 19, 2010
Teacher Effort Is Linked to Difficult Students' Inherited Traits
As most often, not an either/or situation. I tried teaching, and was not able to control the classroom, although I like the young people. Some people have a more effective personality for such things.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101216122016.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2010) — Challenging students take up more of their teachers' time -- and the difference between a tougher student and an easier one appears to be genetic, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study looked at young twins in the U.K. and asked their teachers how much of a handful they are.
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The researchers found that children who were more challenging at age five required more teacher effort at age 12. They also found that it's something about the children that makes it that way -- something heritable. They can't tell what it is, but they can tell it's there, and that their challenging behavior isn't, for example, the teacher's fault.
"What happens in the classroom isn't just a function of the teacher. It's also the kids who are in the classroom," says Houts. And it's possible to make life easier on teachers. It might be smart to spread the challenging students evenly between classes, for example.
Also, parents and teachers should consider working with children early on their challenging behaviors, so they don't cause as much trouble for teachers later. "If a teacher has to take time out to give individual attention to five challenging kids in her classroom, she can't focus on the whole classroom," Houts says.
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Saturday, December 18, 2010
Policies to Spur Renewable Energy Can Lower Energy Costs
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101216101839.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2010) — Southern USA could pay less for its electricity in 20 years than is currently projected if strong public policies are enacted to spur renewable energy production and use, according to a report released December 16 by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University.
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keptics of renewable energy production often cite the South as lacking renewable resources. However, the new report confirms that the right mix of public policies could drive the region to produce as much as 30 percent -- up from less than 4 percent -- of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Wind, biomass, hydro power and customer-owned renewables stand out as cost savers and are detailed for both utility-scale and customer-owned renewable, based on their cost-competitiveness.
"While the South enjoys some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, there is resistance to developing new technologies that seem much more costly than coal based electricity," said Etan Gumerman of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and a co-lead researcher on the study. "In reality, that's not the case."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2010) — Southern USA could pay less for its electricity in 20 years than is currently projected if strong public policies are enacted to spur renewable energy production and use, according to a report released December 16 by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University.
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keptics of renewable energy production often cite the South as lacking renewable resources. However, the new report confirms that the right mix of public policies could drive the region to produce as much as 30 percent -- up from less than 4 percent -- of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Wind, biomass, hydro power and customer-owned renewables stand out as cost savers and are detailed for both utility-scale and customer-owned renewable, based on their cost-competitiveness.
"While the South enjoys some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, there is resistance to developing new technologies that seem much more costly than coal based electricity," said Etan Gumerman of Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and a co-lead researcher on the study. "In reality, that's not the case."
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Increased BPA Exposure Linked to Reduced Egg Quality in Women
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101215092246.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2010) — A small-scale University of California, San Francisco-led study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization (IVF). As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent, according to the research team.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2010) — A small-scale University of California, San Francisco-led study has identified the first evidence in humans that exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) may compromise the quality of a woman's eggs retrieved for in vitro fertilization (IVF). As blood levels of BPA in the women studied doubled, the percentage of eggs that fertilized normally declined by 50 percent, according to the research team.
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Positive Mood Allows Human Brain to Think More Creatively
Makes sense to me. Also, I have found that I am much more likely to write songs when I am happy.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101215113253.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2010) — People who watch funny videos on the internet at work aren't necessarily wasting time. They may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science -- putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively.
"Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem solving and flexible yet careful thinking," says Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario.
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"If you have a project where you want to think innovatively, or you have a problem to carefully consider, being in a positive mood can help you to do that," Nadler says. And music is an easy way to get into a good mood. Everyone has a different type of music that works for them -- don't feel like you have to switch to Mozart, she says.
Nadler also thinks this may be a reason why people like to watch funny videos at work. "I think people are unconsciously trying to put themselves in a positive mood" -- so that apparent time-wasting may actually be good news for employers.
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I Hate Math! (Not After This, You Won't)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/12/16/132050207/this-is-for-the-i-hate-math-crowd-not-after-this-you-won-t?sc=fb&cc=fp
by Robert Krulwich
Vi Hart calls herself "a recreational mathemusician currently living on Long Island." She talks faster than a machine gun, loves math, and draws like a dream. Her newest video: "Doodling in Math Class: Snakes + Graphs" is eye-popping.
You may have noticed she's a touch angry about how math is taught in America. She thinks it can be done better — more intuitively, joyously.
So does Paul Lockhart, a math teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, NY. A few years ago, he wrote an essay, "A Mathematician's Lament," that's been all over the internet. I just discovered it. Here's how it starts:
A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. "We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world." Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made — all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
Since musicians are known to set down their ideas in the form of sheet music, these curious black dots and lines must constitute the "language of music." It is imperative that students become fluent in this language if they are to attain any degree of musical competence; indeed, it would be ludicrous to expect a child to sing a song or play an instrument without having a thorough grounding in music notation and theory. Playing and listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school.
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by Robert Krulwich
Vi Hart calls herself "a recreational mathemusician currently living on Long Island." She talks faster than a machine gun, loves math, and draws like a dream. Her newest video: "Doodling in Math Class: Snakes + Graphs" is eye-popping.
[See link above for video]
Also, on www.youtube.com, she has several videos on recreational mathematics.
You may have noticed she's a touch angry about how math is taught in America. She thinks it can be done better — more intuitively, joyously.
So does Paul Lockhart, a math teacher at Saint Ann's School in Brooklyn, NY. A few years ago, he wrote an essay, "A Mathematician's Lament," that's been all over the internet. I just discovered it. Here's how it starts:
A musician wakes from a terrible nightmare. In his dream he finds himself in a society where music education has been made mandatory. "We are helping our students become more competitive in an increasingly sound-filled world." Educators, school systems, and the state are put in charge of this vital project. Studies are commissioned, committees are formed, and decisions are made — all without the advice or participation of a single working musician or composer.
Since musicians are known to set down their ideas in the form of sheet music, these curious black dots and lines must constitute the "language of music." It is imperative that students become fluent in this language if they are to attain any degree of musical competence; indeed, it would be ludicrous to expect a child to sing a song or play an instrument without having a thorough grounding in music notation and theory. Playing and listening to music, let alone composing an original piece, are considered very advanced topics and are generally put off until college, and more often graduate school.
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The Adolescent Brain
In additions, young people have had less life experience, less time to think and develop their ethics.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/16/the-kids-can-t-help-it.html
by Russ Juskalian
December 16, 2010
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One of the most important discoveries in this area of study, says Dr. Frances Jensen, a neuroscientist at Harvard, is that our brains are not finished maturing by adolescence, as was previously thought. Adolescent brains “are only about 80 percent of the way to maturity,” she said at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in November. It takes until the mid-20s, and possibly later, for a brain to become fully developed.
An excess of gray matter (the stuff that does the processing) at the beginning of adolescence makes us particularly brilliant at learning—the reason we’re so good at picking up new languages starting in early childhood—but also particularly sensitive to the influences of our environment, both emotional and physical. Our brains’ processing centers haven’t been fully linked yet, particularly the parts responsible for helping to check our impulses and considering the long-term repercussions of our actions. “It’s like a brain that’s all revved up not knowing where it needs to go,” says Jensen.
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Friday, December 17, 2010
Total Lunar Eclipse Overnight Monday
http://www.11alive.com/rss/rss_story.aspx?storyid=168573&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d0bc8074928a45a%2C0
ATLANTA -- The first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years will help usher in the Winter Solstice during the early hours of Tuesday.
The eclipse, which is being called the Christmas Lunar Eclipse by some scientists, will be visible over all of North America, beginning locally at 12:27 a.m. Tuesday. The last total lunar eclipse -- which was also visible from Atlanta -- was on the evening of February 20, 2008.
The "total phase" -- which is the most visible portion of the eclipse -- will be visible from 2:40 a.m. to 3:53 a.m. The end of the eclipse will be at 6:06 a.m.
Unlike a solar eclipse, it is safe to look at a lunar eclipse -- which is when the moon passes through the earth's shadow as cast by the sun. During the total phase, the moon appears to have a dark reddish cast.
The Winter Solstice, which marks the official beginning of Winter, is Monday night at 6:38 p.m. Eastern Time.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40719498/ns/technology_and_science-space/
For a few hours on the night of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, the attention of tens of millions of people will be drawn skyward, where the mottled, coppery globe of our moon will hang completely immersed in the long, tapering cone of shadow cast out into space by our Earth. If the weather is clear, favorably placed skywatchers will have a view of one of nature's most beautiful spectacles: a total eclipse of the moon.
Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, which is only visible to those in the path of totality, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed from one's own backyard. The passage of the moon through the Earth's shadow is equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.
The total phase of the upcoming event will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western part of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii — a potential viewing audience of about 1.5 billion people. This will be the first opportunity from any place on earth to see the moon undergo a total eclipse in 34 months. [ Amazing photos of a total lunar eclipse]
This star chart shows where in the sky the upcoming lunar eclipse will appear. And check this NASA lunar eclipse chart to see how visible the eclipse will be from different regions around the world. [See the article for these links]
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ATLANTA -- The first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years will help usher in the Winter Solstice during the early hours of Tuesday.
The eclipse, which is being called the Christmas Lunar Eclipse by some scientists, will be visible over all of North America, beginning locally at 12:27 a.m. Tuesday. The last total lunar eclipse -- which was also visible from Atlanta -- was on the evening of February 20, 2008.
The "total phase" -- which is the most visible portion of the eclipse -- will be visible from 2:40 a.m. to 3:53 a.m. The end of the eclipse will be at 6:06 a.m.
Unlike a solar eclipse, it is safe to look at a lunar eclipse -- which is when the moon passes through the earth's shadow as cast by the sun. During the total phase, the moon appears to have a dark reddish cast.
The Winter Solstice, which marks the official beginning of Winter, is Monday night at 6:38 p.m. Eastern Time.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40719498/ns/technology_and_science-space/
For a few hours on the night of Dec. 20 to Dec. 21, the attention of tens of millions of people will be drawn skyward, where the mottled, coppery globe of our moon will hang completely immersed in the long, tapering cone of shadow cast out into space by our Earth. If the weather is clear, favorably placed skywatchers will have a view of one of nature's most beautiful spectacles: a total eclipse of the moon.
Unlike a total eclipse of the sun, which is only visible to those in the path of totality, eclipses of the moon can usually be observed from one's own backyard. The passage of the moon through the Earth's shadow is equally visible from all places within the hemisphere where the moon is above the horizon.
The total phase of the upcoming event will be visible across all of North and South America, as well as the northern and western part of Europe, and a small part of northeast Asia, including Korea and much of Japan. Totality will also be visible in its entirety from the North Island of New Zealand and Hawaii — a potential viewing audience of about 1.5 billion people. This will be the first opportunity from any place on earth to see the moon undergo a total eclipse in 34 months. [ Amazing photos of a total lunar eclipse]
This star chart shows where in the sky the upcoming lunar eclipse will appear. And check this NASA lunar eclipse chart to see how visible the eclipse will be from different regions around the world. [See the article for these links]
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Higher Co-Payments Increase Chance of Early Discontinuation of Breast Cancer Therapy
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101211201845.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — A higher prescription co-payment, especially among older women, is associated with both early discontinuation and incomplete use of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy, a life-saving therapy for women with hormone sensitive early stage breast cancer.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — A higher prescription co-payment, especially among older women, is associated with both early discontinuation and incomplete use of adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy, a life-saving therapy for women with hormone sensitive early stage breast cancer.
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When to End a Run to Avoid Injury: Runners Change Form When Running Exhausted
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209113548.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — Runners who continue running when they are exhausted unknowingly change their running form, which could be related to an increased risk for injury. A study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor of physical therapy at Indiana University, found that toward the end of a normal running session, runners generally displayed an increase in motion in their hips, knees and ankles.
"Our study showed that at the end of a normal run, when they were getting tired, their mechanics were beginning to change," Dierks said. "When you notice fatigue, you're most likely putting yourself at increased risk for injuries if you continue because it's more difficult to control the motion ranges." Dierks said an excessive range of motion in the joints generally is associated with overuse injuries. The extra motion makes it harder for the muscles, tendons and ligaments to handle the strain forces related to running.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — Runners who continue running when they are exhausted unknowingly change their running form, which could be related to an increased risk for injury. A study by Tracy Dierks, assistant professor of physical therapy at Indiana University, found that toward the end of a normal running session, runners generally displayed an increase in motion in their hips, knees and ankles.
"Our study showed that at the end of a normal run, when they were getting tired, their mechanics were beginning to change," Dierks said. "When you notice fatigue, you're most likely putting yourself at increased risk for injuries if you continue because it's more difficult to control the motion ranges." Dierks said an excessive range of motion in the joints generally is associated with overuse injuries. The extra motion makes it harder for the muscles, tendons and ligaments to handle the strain forces related to running.
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Smoking Behind More Than a Third of Severe Rheumatoid Arthritis Cases
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213201859.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Smoking accounts for more than a third of cases of the most severe and common form of rheumatoid arthritis, indicates research published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
And it accounts for more than half of cases in people who are genetically susceptible to development of the disease, finds the study.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Smoking accounts for more than a third of cases of the most severe and common form of rheumatoid arthritis, indicates research published online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
And it accounts for more than half of cases in people who are genetically susceptible to development of the disease, finds the study.
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Want to look hotter? Hit the sack
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/15/5644892-want-to-look-hotter-hit-the-sack
JoNel Aleccia writes:Everyone knows that getting too little sleep makes you feel terrible, but new research suggests that cutting back on Zzzs actually makes you look noticeably worse as well.
Turns out, there’s a reason they call it beauty sleep.
That’s the bottom line of a Swedish study that finds that people are perceived as less attractive -- as well as less healthy and more tired -- when they’re sleep-deprived than when they’re well-rested.
And it should be a wake-up call to the 1 in 5 Americans who routinely get less than six hours of sleep a night, said John Axelsson, the researcher who led the study conducted at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.
“A good night’s sleep does not only improve your physiological health, it will also make you look healthier and more attractive, which in turn improves the chance of better treatments in a wide range of social situations,” said Axelsson, an associate professor in the clinical neuroscience department. His work was published online this week in the British Medical Journal.
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JoNel Aleccia writes:Everyone knows that getting too little sleep makes you feel terrible, but new research suggests that cutting back on Zzzs actually makes you look noticeably worse as well.
Turns out, there’s a reason they call it beauty sleep.
That’s the bottom line of a Swedish study that finds that people are perceived as less attractive -- as well as less healthy and more tired -- when they’re sleep-deprived than when they’re well-rested.
And it should be a wake-up call to the 1 in 5 Americans who routinely get less than six hours of sleep a night, said John Axelsson, the researcher who led the study conducted at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.
“A good night’s sleep does not only improve your physiological health, it will also make you look healthier and more attractive, which in turn improves the chance of better treatments in a wide range of social situations,” said Axelsson, an associate professor in the clinical neuroscience department. His work was published online this week in the British Medical Journal.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010
Want to have our cake and eat it too
On Dec. 3, NPR reported on a big storm in NY, where people were trapped in their cars for hours. Some asked why the government didn't rescue everybody. From my experience, I have no doubt that many of the people who complained that the government wasn't able to rescue everybody, also complain about paying taxes, and vote against them.
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Childhood trauma stays with you
I saw this in the print edition of USA Today on Aug. 16, 2010
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20100816/apa16_st.art.htm?loc=interstitialskip
By Sharon Jayson
USA TODAY
SAN DIEGO — Growing up in a troubled home can cut your life short or lead to a host of health problems later on, according to studies presented over the weekend at the American Psychological Association meeting.
In several major presentations, researchers outlined evidence that weathering difficulties as a child can set your health on the wrong course decades later.
"Our latest research shows that those reporting multiple adversities could shorten their life span by seven to 15 years," says Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a health psychologist at the Ohio State University College of Medicine. "What we have is clear evidence that adverse childhood experience may have lasting, measurable consequences." Such events include losing a parent, being abused or witnessing parental marital strife, which can lead to inflammation and cell aging much earlier than those who haven't had such strife, she says.
Researchers analyzed depression and childhood trauma in a sample of 132 healthy older adults to see how negative emotions and stressful experiences affect biochemical markers of stress such as telomeres — the ends of strands of DNA. Shorter telomeres have been linked with aging, age-related diseases and death.
Participants completed questionnaires on depression; past child abuse or neglect; a parent's death during childhood; witnessing severe marital problems; growing up with a family member suffering from mental illness or alcohol abuse; or lacking a close relationship with at least one adult.
"We found that childhood adversity was associated with shorter telomeres and increased levels of inflammation," Kiecolt-Glaser says. "Inflammation over time can lead to cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers."
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In her latest study, 212 teens ages 14-16 were monitored over three years to gauge the effect of poverty on sensitivity to stress and early signs of heart disease. Findings showed that years later, those from poor economic households had stiffer arteries and higher blood pressure as well as more thickening of their carotid artery walls.
The adolescent years are a critical time when stress has more impact, Matthews says, perhaps "because of their hormonal changes and their sensitivity to peer rejection, acceptance and how they interpret others' attitudes toward themselves," she says.
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Imagining Food Consumption Reduces Actual Consumption
I would say try different things and see what works for you.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209141134.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2010) — If you're looking to lose weight, it's okay to think about eating your favorite candy bar. In fact, go ahead and imagine devouring every last bite -- all in the name of your diet.
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Catnip Oil Repels Bloodsucking Flies
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208125811.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Catnip, the plant that attracts domestic cats like an irresistible force, has proven 99 percent effective in repelling the blood-sucking flies that attack horses and cows, causing $2 billion in annual loses to the cattle industry. That's the word from a report published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Junwei Zhu and colleagues note that stable flies not only inflict painful bites, but also transmit multiple diseases. Cattle harried by these bloodsuckers may produce less meat and milk, have trouble reproducing, and develop diseases that can be fatal. All traditional methods for controlling stable flies -- even heavy applications of powerful insecticides -- have proven less than effective. The scientists thus turned to catnip oil, already known to repel more than a dozen families of insects, including house flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Catnip, the plant that attracts domestic cats like an irresistible force, has proven 99 percent effective in repelling the blood-sucking flies that attack horses and cows, causing $2 billion in annual loses to the cattle industry. That's the word from a report published in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Junwei Zhu and colleagues note that stable flies not only inflict painful bites, but also transmit multiple diseases. Cattle harried by these bloodsuckers may produce less meat and milk, have trouble reproducing, and develop diseases that can be fatal. All traditional methods for controlling stable flies -- even heavy applications of powerful insecticides -- have proven less than effective. The scientists thus turned to catnip oil, already known to repel more than a dozen families of insects, including house flies, mosquitoes and cockroaches.
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Wal-Mart is recalling more than two million electric heaters
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/16/news/companies/walmart_recall/index.htm?hpt=T2
By Aaron Smith, staff writerDecember 16, 2010: 12:53 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wal-Mart is recalling more than two million electric heaters because of a "fire and burn hazard," the company said Thursday.
The retailer, in a joint statement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said it was recalling 2.2 million heaters of the following brands: Flow Pro, Airtech, Aloha Breeze and Comfort Essentials.
"The heaters can malfunction resulting in overheating, smoking, burning, melting and fire," said Wal-Mart and the commission.
So far, Wal-Mart said it has received four reports of injuries for "minor burns and smoke inhalation" and 11 reports of property damage. The company said that consumers should stop using the heaters and bring them to a Walmart store for a refund.
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) said the Chinese-made heaters were sold between 2001 and 2009.
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By Aaron Smith, staff writerDecember 16, 2010: 12:53 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wal-Mart is recalling more than two million electric heaters because of a "fire and burn hazard," the company said Thursday.
The retailer, in a joint statement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said it was recalling 2.2 million heaters of the following brands: Flow Pro, Airtech, Aloha Breeze and Comfort Essentials.
"The heaters can malfunction resulting in overheating, smoking, burning, melting and fire," said Wal-Mart and the commission.
So far, Wal-Mart said it has received four reports of injuries for "minor burns and smoke inhalation" and 11 reports of property damage. The company said that consumers should stop using the heaters and bring them to a Walmart store for a refund.
Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) said the Chinese-made heaters were sold between 2001 and 2009.
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Real revenge of the nerds? Better health
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/15/5656789-real-revenge-of-the-nerds-better-health
Kristin Kalning writes: High school nerds may not get the chicks , but they get better health as adults, says a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The findings are based on a study that followed 10,000 graduates from Wisconsin’s high school class of 1957. Researchers have gone back and asked the graduates various questions over the years, and for this report, participants were queried on their health.
UW Sociology professor Pamela Herd found that the better a study participant did in high school, the less likely he or she was to experience poor health as they reached retirement age.
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Kristin Kalning writes: High school nerds may not get the chicks , but they get better health as adults, says a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The findings are based on a study that followed 10,000 graduates from Wisconsin’s high school class of 1957. Researchers have gone back and asked the graduates various questions over the years, and for this report, participants were queried on their health.
UW Sociology professor Pamela Herd found that the better a study participant did in high school, the less likely he or she was to experience poor health as they reached retirement age.
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High Activity Staves Off Pounds, Especially for Women
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101214181233.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — People will gain significantly less weight by middle age -- especially women -- if they engage in moderate to vigorous activity nearly every day of the week starting as young adults, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — People will gain significantly less weight by middle age -- especially women -- if they engage in moderate to vigorous activity nearly every day of the week starting as young adults, according to new Northwestern Medicine research.
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What Child is This?
This is a beautiful instrumental
The intro is a little long, but worth waiting thru.
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The intro is a little long, but worth waiting thru.
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Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Women Smokers Shocked Into Giving Up Habit by Seeing Effect on Their Faces
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206211709.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Seeing the effect smoking will have on their faces shocks women into giving up the habit, research from Staffordshire University has revealed.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Seeing the effect smoking will have on their faces shocks women into giving up the habit, research from Staffordshire University has revealed.
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Three-Quarters of Hip Fracture Patients Are Vitamin D Deficient
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213101810.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — New Delhi researchers show that vitamin D levels may be a useful index for the assessment of hip fracture risk in elderly people.
A study in New Delhi India has revealed high rates of vitamin D deficiency among hip fracture patients, confirming the conclusions of similar international studies which point to vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for hip fracture.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — New Delhi researchers show that vitamin D levels may be a useful index for the assessment of hip fracture risk in elderly people.
A study in New Delhi India has revealed high rates of vitamin D deficiency among hip fracture patients, confirming the conclusions of similar international studies which point to vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for hip fracture.
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A Benefit of Flu: Protection from Asthma?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213130847.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — In a paper that suggests a new strategy to prevent asthma, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and their colleagues report that the influenza virus infection in young mice protected the mice as adults against the development of allergic asthma. The same protective effect was achieved by treating young mice with compound isolated from the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that colonizes the stomach and is best known for causing ulcers and increasing the risk of gastric cancers.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — In a paper that suggests a new strategy to prevent asthma, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and their colleagues report that the influenza virus infection in young mice protected the mice as adults against the development of allergic asthma. The same protective effect was achieved by treating young mice with compound isolated from the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that colonizes the stomach and is best known for causing ulcers and increasing the risk of gastric cancers.
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Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The Economy is so bad....
http://www.angrybearblog.com/2010/12/economy-is-so-bad.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FHzoh+%28Angry+Bear%29
The economy is so bad, if the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds", you call and ask if they meant you or them.
The economy is so bad, Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 congressmen.
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The economy is so bad, if the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds", you call and ask if they meant you or them.
The economy is so bad, Exxon-Mobil laid off 25 congressmen.
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Fire Disaster in Israel Is a Typical Example of Expected Climate Change Effects in the Mediterranean
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208083535.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — The fire disaster in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa is a typical example of climate change effect and a taste of the future, says Dr. Guy Pe'er, one of the authors of Israel's first report to the UN on climate change. Ten years ago, Dr. Pe'er and other Israeli scientists collated knowledge about the effects of climate change for Israel. They warned in the year 2000 of expected climatic fluctuations, heat events, decreased rainfall and delayed late winter rainfall, all of which would lead to increased risk of intense forest fires.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — The fire disaster in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa is a typical example of climate change effect and a taste of the future, says Dr. Guy Pe'er, one of the authors of Israel's first report to the UN on climate change. Ten years ago, Dr. Pe'er and other Israeli scientists collated knowledge about the effects of climate change for Israel. They warned in the year 2000 of expected climatic fluctuations, heat events, decreased rainfall and delayed late winter rainfall, all of which would lead to increased risk of intense forest fires.
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18.3 Million Baby Boomers Could Benefit from the Affordable Care Act
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101214085331.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — 18.3 million men and women ages 50 to 64 stand to benefit from provisions in the Affordable Care Act that expand access to affordable health insurance, assure that all health insurance provides a standard comprehensive benefit, prevent insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, and eliminate lifetime and annual limits in health insurance policies, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report released December 14.
Adults ages 50-64 are currently suffering the highest rates of longtime unemployment among working-age adults, and millions are without health benefits. Of the 8.6 million currently uninsured in this age group -- 4.3 million men and 4.2 million women -- 3.3 million with incomes under $29,000 for a family of four will gain Medicaid coverage, 3.5 million with incomes up to $88,000 for a family of four will be able to gain subsidized private coverage through the new health insurance exchanges, and 1.4 million with higher incomes will gain new coverage with consumer protections.
In addition, an estimated 9.7 million older adults who have health insurance but have such high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income that they are effectively underinsured, will gain improved coverage through the implementation of essential benefit standards, limits on out-of-pocket spending, and elimination of lifetime benefit limits.
Uninsured adults in this age group face serious difficulty with access to needed care: three-quarters (75 %) report forgoing needed health care and medications because of costs and nearly half (46%) report not getting recommended preventive care. More than half of uninsured women in this age group had not had a mammogram within the past two years. Nearly 70 percent of uninsured and underinsured baby boomers report that they have problems paying medical bills or are paying off medical debt.
"A loss of employer health benefits can be devastating to men and women in this age group since their older age and higher rates of chronic health problems places them at risk of facing exorbitant premiums, having a condition excluded from their coverage, or being denied insurance altogether if they try to buy it on their own," said Commonwealth Fund Vice President Sara Collins, lead author of the report. "The Affordable Care Act will change all of that. Once its provisions are in full effect, older adults who lose their employer health insurance will have access to affordable and comprehensive health benefits regardless of their age or health."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2010) — 18.3 million men and women ages 50 to 64 stand to benefit from provisions in the Affordable Care Act that expand access to affordable health insurance, assure that all health insurance provides a standard comprehensive benefit, prevent insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions, and eliminate lifetime and annual limits in health insurance policies, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report released December 14.
Adults ages 50-64 are currently suffering the highest rates of longtime unemployment among working-age adults, and millions are without health benefits. Of the 8.6 million currently uninsured in this age group -- 4.3 million men and 4.2 million women -- 3.3 million with incomes under $29,000 for a family of four will gain Medicaid coverage, 3.5 million with incomes up to $88,000 for a family of four will be able to gain subsidized private coverage through the new health insurance exchanges, and 1.4 million with higher incomes will gain new coverage with consumer protections.
In addition, an estimated 9.7 million older adults who have health insurance but have such high out-of-pocket costs relative to their income that they are effectively underinsured, will gain improved coverage through the implementation of essential benefit standards, limits on out-of-pocket spending, and elimination of lifetime benefit limits.
Uninsured adults in this age group face serious difficulty with access to needed care: three-quarters (75 %) report forgoing needed health care and medications because of costs and nearly half (46%) report not getting recommended preventive care. More than half of uninsured women in this age group had not had a mammogram within the past two years. Nearly 70 percent of uninsured and underinsured baby boomers report that they have problems paying medical bills or are paying off medical debt.
"A loss of employer health benefits can be devastating to men and women in this age group since their older age and higher rates of chronic health problems places them at risk of facing exorbitant premiums, having a condition excluded from their coverage, or being denied insurance altogether if they try to buy it on their own," said Commonwealth Fund Vice President Sara Collins, lead author of the report. "The Affordable Care Act will change all of that. Once its provisions are in full effect, older adults who lose their employer health insurance will have access to affordable and comprehensive health benefits regardless of their age or health."
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Children Who Don’t Like Fruit and Vegetables Are 13 Times More Likely to Be Constipated
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213071111.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Primary school children who don't like eating fruit and vegetables are 13 times more likely to develop functional constipation than children who do, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Drinking less than 400ml of fluid a day also significantly increases the risk.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Primary school children who don't like eating fruit and vegetables are 13 times more likely to develop functional constipation than children who do, according to a study in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. Drinking less than 400ml of fluid a day also significantly increases the risk.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
Right or Left Handling at Birth: What Impact Does It Have on Development?
Maybe the thing that made the difference was not which side was "rubbed vigorously". Those who did the rubbing were probably mostly right-handed. So rubbing on one side may have been against the lay of the hair, and been uncomfortable.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101213122001.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2010) — Certain events experienced at the moment of birth have consequences on the emotional reactions of animals at an adult age. Researchers from the Laboratoire d'Ethologie Animale et Humaine (CNRS/Université de Rennes 1) have tested the effects of unilateral tactile stimulation on newborn foals. Their results show that animals handled on their right side at birth avoid contact with humans more often than those stimulated on their left side or not at all. Published in Biology Letters, this work raises questions on the organization of neonatal care in animals and humans.
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The ethologists tested the consequences of unilateral tactile stimulations on 28 newborn foals: 10 of them were handled just after birth on their right side (the newborn foals were "rubbed" vigorously for one hour on a single side), 9 others on their left side, while the remaining 9 were not handled at all. The researchers then observed medium-term effects: the reactions of foals to a human approach, when they were 10 days old, differed according to the side stimulated at birth. The right-handled animals fled at the approach of humans more often than the left-handled or unhandled foals.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
Top Chimps Tend to Suffer from More Parasites
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101208181348.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — A study of chimpanzees has revealed that dominant animals with higher testosterone levels tend to suffer from an increased burden of parasites.
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"Acquisition and maintenance of high dominance rank often involves frequent aggression, and testosterone has been considered the quintessential physiological moderator of such behavior. However, testosterone also causes suppression of the immune system."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — A study of chimpanzees has revealed that dominant animals with higher testosterone levels tend to suffer from an increased burden of parasites.
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"Acquisition and maintenance of high dominance rank often involves frequent aggression, and testosterone has been considered the quintessential physiological moderator of such behavior. However, testosterone also causes suppression of the immune system."
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Living in Certain Neighborhoods Increases the Chances Older Men and Women Will Develop Cancer
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209121435.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — Older people who live in racially segregated neighborhoods with high crime rates have a much higher chance of developing cancer than do older people with similar health histories and income levels who live in safer, less segregated neighborhoods.
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One of a growing number of studies documenting the connection between neighborhood characteristics and chronic health conditions, it is the first to show that living in more highly segregated areas with higher crime rates is linked with an increased risk of developing cancers of all kinds -- for whites as well as Blacks.
The chance of developing cancer is 31 percent higher for older men living in these kinds of neighborhoods, and 25 percent higher for older women.
The study also found that living in low-income neighborhoods increased the chances that older women would develop heart problems by 20 percent. They found no impact on older men.
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we found that segregation and crime increased the chances of developing cancer even after we controlled for socioeconomic resources at both the individual and the neighborhood level," Freedman said.
The researchers also examined levels of exposure to air pollution and other environmental toxins, but found that crime rates and racial segregation levels independently predicted cancer onset.
"The remarkable similarity in the size and strength of this relationship for both men and women is quite surprising given differences in the types of cancer each gender develops," she said. "This suggests that a nonspecific biological mechanism may be involved, possibly a stress response that interrupts the body's ability to fight the development of cancer cells."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2010) — Older people who live in racially segregated neighborhoods with high crime rates have a much higher chance of developing cancer than do older people with similar health histories and income levels who live in safer, less segregated neighborhoods.
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One of a growing number of studies documenting the connection between neighborhood characteristics and chronic health conditions, it is the first to show that living in more highly segregated areas with higher crime rates is linked with an increased risk of developing cancers of all kinds -- for whites as well as Blacks.
The chance of developing cancer is 31 percent higher for older men living in these kinds of neighborhoods, and 25 percent higher for older women.
The study also found that living in low-income neighborhoods increased the chances that older women would develop heart problems by 20 percent. They found no impact on older men.
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we found that segregation and crime increased the chances of developing cancer even after we controlled for socioeconomic resources at both the individual and the neighborhood level," Freedman said.
The researchers also examined levels of exposure to air pollution and other environmental toxins, but found that crime rates and racial segregation levels independently predicted cancer onset.
"The remarkable similarity in the size and strength of this relationship for both men and women is quite surprising given differences in the types of cancer each gender develops," she said. "This suggests that a nonspecific biological mechanism may be involved, possibly a stress response that interrupts the body's ability to fight the development of cancer cells."
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Tax deals
If the tax cuts for the top 1% are continued, they will continue to drive up the deficit. Then the deficit will be used to justify cuts in Social Security.
When the Republicans enacted these tax cuts, they made them time-limited, so that they would appear to have a smaller effect on future deficits.
They claim they that they stimulate the economy by helping big business add jobs and enlarge their businesses. But they have been in effect for years, and this hasn't happened. What happened is that big business increased jobs in other countries, where pay is lower. And they invested in scams that helped bring down the economy.
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When the Republicans enacted these tax cuts, they made them time-limited, so that they would appear to have a smaller effect on future deficits.
They claim they that they stimulate the economy by helping big business add jobs and enlarge their businesses. But they have been in effect for years, and this hasn't happened. What happened is that big business increased jobs in other countries, where pay is lower. And they invested in scams that helped bring down the economy.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Why Married Men Tend to Behave Better
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206201433.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Researchers have long argued that marriage generally reduces illegal and aggressive behaviors in men. It remained unclear, however, if that association was a function of matrimony itself or whether less "antisocial" men were simply more likely to get married.
The answer, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University behavior geneticist, appears to be both.
In the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, online December 6, S. Alexandra Burt and colleagues found that less antisocial men were more likely to get married. Once they were wed, however, the marriage itself appeared to further inhibit antisocial behavior.
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The study found that men with lower levels of antisocial behavior at ages 17 and 20 were more likely to have married by age 29 (researchers refer to the act of entering into marriage as a selection process). This is noteworthy since previous studies found little support that selection process influenced reduced rates of antisocial behavior among married men.
Burt said her finding may differ from past studies because marital rates have declined significantly in recent years, whereas marriage was more of the norm in the 1950s, meaning selection likely wasn't much of a factor.
Once the men were married, rates of antisocial behavior declined even more. When comparing identical twins in which one twin had married while the other had not, Burt said, the married twin generally engaged in lower levels of antisocial behavior than did the unmarried twin.
Burt said it's unlikely that marriage inhibits men's antisocial behavior directly, but rather that marriage is a marker for other factors such as social bonding or less time spent with delinquent peers. Another factor that seems to be important is marriage quality; the effect of marriage on antisocial behavior tends to be stronger in better marriages.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Researchers have long argued that marriage generally reduces illegal and aggressive behaviors in men. It remained unclear, however, if that association was a function of matrimony itself or whether less "antisocial" men were simply more likely to get married.
The answer, according to a new study led by a Michigan State University behavior geneticist, appears to be both.
In the December issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, online December 6, S. Alexandra Burt and colleagues found that less antisocial men were more likely to get married. Once they were wed, however, the marriage itself appeared to further inhibit antisocial behavior.
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The study found that men with lower levels of antisocial behavior at ages 17 and 20 were more likely to have married by age 29 (researchers refer to the act of entering into marriage as a selection process). This is noteworthy since previous studies found little support that selection process influenced reduced rates of antisocial behavior among married men.
Burt said her finding may differ from past studies because marital rates have declined significantly in recent years, whereas marriage was more of the norm in the 1950s, meaning selection likely wasn't much of a factor.
Once the men were married, rates of antisocial behavior declined even more. When comparing identical twins in which one twin had married while the other had not, Burt said, the married twin generally engaged in lower levels of antisocial behavior than did the unmarried twin.
Burt said it's unlikely that marriage inhibits men's antisocial behavior directly, but rather that marriage is a marker for other factors such as social bonding or less time spent with delinquent peers. Another factor that seems to be important is marriage quality; the effect of marriage on antisocial behavior tends to be stronger in better marriages.
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A Team With a Shared Lousy Temper Is Better at Mental Tasks
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101115161722.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Managers who want their team to perform better should let employees express negative emotions. Teams who share bad feelings solve complicated problems better, share more information with each other and have a greater solidarity, concludes Dutch researcher Annefloor Klep.
Many organisations want their employees to regulate negative emotions and only show positive ones. However, from the experiments of Annefloor Klep it has become apparent that this isn't always the right strategy. She found out that teams which share positive emotions are better at creative tasks; however, analytical tasks are handled better if a team shares negative emotions.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Managers who want their team to perform better should let employees express negative emotions. Teams who share bad feelings solve complicated problems better, share more information with each other and have a greater solidarity, concludes Dutch researcher Annefloor Klep.
Many organisations want their employees to regulate negative emotions and only show positive ones. However, from the experiments of Annefloor Klep it has become apparent that this isn't always the right strategy. She found out that teams which share positive emotions are better at creative tasks; however, analytical tasks are handled better if a team shares negative emotions.
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Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Butter Contaminated by PBDE Flame Retardant
This chemical is suspected of being the cause of the big increase of hyper-thyroidism. I have two cats with hyper-thyroidism, and another one who is dead who had it. The fact that there seems to be especially high concentrations of this chemical is significant to me, because cats need a high-fat diet.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101207151613.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2010) — A new study reports what scientists believe is the worst documented U.S. case of food contamination with polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants. The incident also marks the first time food contamination has been thought to result from PBDEs in a food’s packaging.
One of ten samples of butter purchased at five Dallas grocery stores contained high concentrations of deca-BDE, a PBDE compound widely used in electronics as well as in textiles, wire and cable insulation, and automobile and airplane components. Animal studies have linked consumption of deca-BDE with thyroid hormone changes in adult rodents and neurobehavioral changes in young rodents.
PBDE levels in the contaminated butter were more than 135 times higher than the average of the other nine samples; levels of BDE-209, the main component of deca-BDE, were more than 900 times higher.
The contamination came to light during a routine investigation intended to help scientists improve estimates of the amount of PBDEs and other persistent organic pollutants people inadvertently consume in food. Scientists have detected low levels of these compounds in many fat-rich foods including fish such as salmon, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
Further investigation revealed the butter’s paper wrapper had PBDE levels more than 16 times greater than levels in the butter itself. It is unclear whether the paper was contaminated before or after it reached the butter packaging plant, according to lead author Arnold Schecter of the University of Texas School of Public Health, Dallas Campus. The source of the contamination also is unclear.
U.S. manufacturers have agreed to end all uses of deca-BDE by 2014, and the European Union phased it out in 2008. However, chemicals don’t vanish from the environment just because they’re phased out, Schecter says, and products containing deca-BDE often are used for many years. The authors of the paper agree their research underscores the need for a regulatory program that samples American food for persistent organic pollutants such as PBDEs.
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Head Lice Shrivel With Chemical-Free Warm-Air Device
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206093711.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — Four years after the LouseBuster prototype made headlines when research showed the chemical-free, warm-air device wiped out head lice on children, a new study reveals that a revamped, government-cleared model is highly effective.
"For a louse, it's like sticking your head out a window at 100 miles an hour; they're going to get dried out," says University of Utah biology Professor Dale Clayton, senior author of the study and a founder of Larada Sciences, a university spinoff company that sells or leases the LouseBuster to schools, camps, medical clinics and delousing businesses.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — Four years after the LouseBuster prototype made headlines when research showed the chemical-free, warm-air device wiped out head lice on children, a new study reveals that a revamped, government-cleared model is highly effective.
"For a louse, it's like sticking your head out a window at 100 miles an hour; they're going to get dried out," says University of Utah biology Professor Dale Clayton, senior author of the study and a founder of Larada Sciences, a university spinoff company that sells or leases the LouseBuster to schools, camps, medical clinics and delousing businesses.
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Over-Reactive Immune System Kills Young Adults During Pandemic Flu
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101205202526.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — A hallmark of pandemic flu throughout history, including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, has been its ability to make healthy young and middle-aged adults seriously ill and even kill this population in disproportionate numbers. In a paper published Dec. 5 in Nature Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers provide a possible explanation for this alarming phenomenon of pandemic flu. The study's findings suggest people are made critically ill, or even killed, by their own immune response.
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But why did infants and the frail elderly escape this mechanism of death in the H1N1 pandemic?
"We found in 2009, the elderly had good immunity because they had seen a very similar virus sometime before 1957. Babies hadn't seen many viruses at all so there was no trigger. It came down to the young adults -- primed with an ineffective response. Their bodies already had defenses against previous influenza viruses that look like this one but weren't close enough," Polack said.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — A hallmark of pandemic flu throughout history, including the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, has been its ability to make healthy young and middle-aged adults seriously ill and even kill this population in disproportionate numbers. In a paper published Dec. 5 in Nature Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers provide a possible explanation for this alarming phenomenon of pandemic flu. The study's findings suggest people are made critically ill, or even killed, by their own immune response.
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But why did infants and the frail elderly escape this mechanism of death in the H1N1 pandemic?
"We found in 2009, the elderly had good immunity because they had seen a very similar virus sometime before 1957. Babies hadn't seen many viruses at all so there was no trigger. It came down to the young adults -- primed with an ineffective response. Their bodies already had defenses against previous influenza viruses that look like this one but weren't close enough," Polack said.
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Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Lower Occurrence of Atopic Dermatitis in Children Whose Mothers Were Exposed to Farm Animals and Cats During Pregnancy
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101202124215.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — Atopic dermatitis (also known as atopic eczema) is a chronic and extremely painful inflammation of the skin that frequently occurs in early childhood, generally starting in infancy. Up to 20 percent of all children in industrialized countries are affected, making it one of the most common childhood skin diseases.
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Earlier research has already indicated that allergies are less common in children who grow up on farms and whose mothers live on farms during their pregnancy. Exposure to farm animals and bacteria frequently found in farms as well as drinking milk from the dairy offer the immune system protection.
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The researchers were able to demonstrate that women who spend their pregnancy in the proximity of farm animals and cats have children with a reduced risk of developing atopic dermatitis in their first two years of life. The research team also identified two genes in these children that are of vital importance for innate immunity and was able to link the expression of these genes to a lower likelihood of a doctor diagnosis of an allergic condition.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — Atopic dermatitis (also known as atopic eczema) is a chronic and extremely painful inflammation of the skin that frequently occurs in early childhood, generally starting in infancy. Up to 20 percent of all children in industrialized countries are affected, making it one of the most common childhood skin diseases.
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Earlier research has already indicated that allergies are less common in children who grow up on farms and whose mothers live on farms during their pregnancy. Exposure to farm animals and bacteria frequently found in farms as well as drinking milk from the dairy offer the immune system protection.
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The researchers were able to demonstrate that women who spend their pregnancy in the proximity of farm animals and cats have children with a reduced risk of developing atopic dermatitis in their first two years of life. The research team also identified two genes in these children that are of vital importance for innate immunity and was able to link the expression of these genes to a lower likelihood of a doctor diagnosis of an allergic condition.
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Carbon Dioxide-Free Energy Can Meet the World’s Energy Needs in 2050
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101116075800.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Taken as a whole, energy sources with low or no carbon emissions could easily cover the global energy supply in 2050, according to a new report from Denmark's Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. The challenge for a sustainable global energy system with low carbon emissions will be to use this potential in the energy system the best way possible seen from an economic point of view.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Taken as a whole, energy sources with low or no carbon emissions could easily cover the global energy supply in 2050, according to a new report from Denmark's Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. The challenge for a sustainable global energy system with low carbon emissions will be to use this potential in the energy system the best way possible seen from an economic point of view.
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Day care babies: More infections now, fewer later
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/06/daycare.kids/index.html?hpt=Sbin
By Denise Mann, Health.com
December 6, 2010 4:35 p.m. EST
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Babies who attend large-group child-care centers before they are 2 ½ years of age do get more respiratory and ear infections than those cared for at home, but they are less likely to come down with these ailments once they start elementary school, according to the study.
"Children have infections at the time they initiate large-group activities, whether they do it earlier or later," says study author Sylvana M. Côté, Ph.D., of Ste-Justine Hospital and the University of Montreal, Quebec, in an email. "I argue earlier is better to have infections because then kids do not miss school at a crucial time -- when learning to read and write."
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By Denise Mann, Health.com
December 6, 2010 4:35 p.m. EST
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Babies who attend large-group child-care centers before they are 2 ½ years of age do get more respiratory and ear infections than those cared for at home, but they are less likely to come down with these ailments once they start elementary school, according to the study.
"Children have infections at the time they initiate large-group activities, whether they do it earlier or later," says study author Sylvana M. Côté, Ph.D., of Ste-Justine Hospital and the University of Montreal, Quebec, in an email. "I argue earlier is better to have infections because then kids do not miss school at a crucial time -- when learning to read and write."
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Exposure to Mobile Phones Before and After Birth Linked to Kids' Behavioral Problems
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206201242.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Pregnant mums who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have kids with behavioural problems, particularly if those children start using mobile phones early themselves, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
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Children in both groups exposed to mobile phones before and after birth were 50% more likely to have behavioural problems, after taking account of a wide range of influential factors.
Those exposed to mobile phones before birth only were 40% more likely to have behavioural problems, while those with no prenatal exposure but with access to them by the age of 7 were 20% more likely to exhibit abnormal behaviours.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — Pregnant mums who regularly use mobile phones may be more likely to have kids with behavioural problems, particularly if those children start using mobile phones early themselves, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
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Children in both groups exposed to mobile phones before and after birth were 50% more likely to have behavioural problems, after taking account of a wide range of influential factors.
Those exposed to mobile phones before birth only were 40% more likely to have behavioural problems, while those with no prenatal exposure but with access to them by the age of 7 were 20% more likely to exhibit abnormal behaviours.
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Median Duration of Unemployment
The Median is the point at which half of the unemployed are employed for less than that amount of time, half for a greater amount of time.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/12/median-duration-of-unemployment.html
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http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/12/median-duration-of-unemployment.html
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Drive for Social Security Cuts Based on Deception
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/drive-for-social-security-cuts-based-on-deception
Mark Weisbrot
The Sacramento Bee (CA), December 2, 2010
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, December 2, 2010
According to a recent CNN poll, 60 percent of Americans under 60 and 70 percent of those under 50 believed that Social Security will not be able to pay them a benefit when they retire.
In reality, the likelihood that any living American’s Social Security benefits will not be paid to them when they retire is about the same as the probability that there will be no U.S. government at that time. Is anybody banking on that?
Of course if you are going to take something away from people, the first step is to convince them that it wasn’t really there in the first place. What makes the whole deception even more fascinating is that everyone is using the same assumptions about the future and the same numbers.
The common source for everyone writing and talking about Social Security is the annual Social Security Trustees Report. This shows that the program can pay all promised benefits for the next 27 years, without any changes at all. If nothing is done over the next 27 years, only about 75 percent of scheduled benefits would be payable in 2037; but that would still be more than what retirees receive today, after adjusting for inflation.
So, according to the assumptions and facts that everyone who writes or talks about Social Security is using, there is no basis for the belief that the majority of Americans under 60 hold. Since this deception is not about Afghanistan or some country on the other side of the world, but about a program that nearly a quarter of American adults receive a check from each month, it is all the more amazing. The enemies of Social Security have pulled off one of the greatest public relations scams in U.S. history.
What makes this subterfuge unique is that it is all based on verbal and accounting trickery. For example, it is common to combine Social Security and Medicare spending and say that their costs will become unsustainable. The trick here is that it is Medicare, not Social Security that leads to the explosion in public spending. And perhaps more importantly: it is not the aging population or Medicare itself that is the problem, but the United States’ private sector health care costs. If these were in line with any other high-income country such as Germany or Canada, our long-term budget deficit would turn into a surplus.
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Mark Weisbrot
The Sacramento Bee (CA), December 2, 2010
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, December 2, 2010
According to a recent CNN poll, 60 percent of Americans under 60 and 70 percent of those under 50 believed that Social Security will not be able to pay them a benefit when they retire.
In reality, the likelihood that any living American’s Social Security benefits will not be paid to them when they retire is about the same as the probability that there will be no U.S. government at that time. Is anybody banking on that?
Of course if you are going to take something away from people, the first step is to convince them that it wasn’t really there in the first place. What makes the whole deception even more fascinating is that everyone is using the same assumptions about the future and the same numbers.
The common source for everyone writing and talking about Social Security is the annual Social Security Trustees Report. This shows that the program can pay all promised benefits for the next 27 years, without any changes at all. If nothing is done over the next 27 years, only about 75 percent of scheduled benefits would be payable in 2037; but that would still be more than what retirees receive today, after adjusting for inflation.
So, according to the assumptions and facts that everyone who writes or talks about Social Security is using, there is no basis for the belief that the majority of Americans under 60 hold. Since this deception is not about Afghanistan or some country on the other side of the world, but about a program that nearly a quarter of American adults receive a check from each month, it is all the more amazing. The enemies of Social Security have pulled off one of the greatest public relations scams in U.S. history.
What makes this subterfuge unique is that it is all based on verbal and accounting trickery. For example, it is common to combine Social Security and Medicare spending and say that their costs will become unsustainable. The trick here is that it is Medicare, not Social Security that leads to the explosion in public spending. And perhaps more importantly: it is not the aging population or Medicare itself that is the problem, but the United States’ private sector health care costs. If these were in line with any other high-income country such as Germany or Canada, our long-term budget deficit would turn into a surplus.
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As Climate Talks Plod Along, The World Burns
Propagandists for the oil and coal industry are arguing that we can't keep global warming from happening to a certain extent, so we might as well not try at all. This makes as much sense as saying that since diabetics who are careful in treating their disease still suffer some ill effects, although they greatly reduce the damage, they shouldn't even bother. Or saying that since we cannot avoid exposure to a certain level of arsenic, we should drink it by the cupful.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/05/cancun-climate-talks/
By Brad Johnson on Dec 5th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
As the world’s environmental ministers arrive in Cancun, Mexico, for the 19th year of negotiations to address global warming pollution, new climate disasters are killing people across the planet. The slow-moving climate talks are hobbled by insufficient ambition, and uncertainty over whether the United States or China — the world’s largest climate polluters — will follow through with their Copenhagen Accord commitments. The Obama administration’s stated commitment to cut pollution by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels, after Republican climate deniers killed cap-and-trade legislation, now depends on whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s planned greenhouse standards survive a polluter onslaught.
Meanwhile, the building heat trapped by billions of tons of fossil fuel pollution is fueling catastrophic changes in the world’s climate system “here and now“:
– The worst wildfires in Israel’s history, fueled by record warmth and drought, “have destroyed large sections of Israel’s northern area” and killed 41 people. Four days of intense fire fighting during the celebration of Hanukkah, with assistance from Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Russia, France, Britain, Switzerland, Spain, US, Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, Azerbaijan and others, have finally begun to bring the devastation under control.
– Forty-two separate wildfires are burning in neighboring Lebanon, which has the same tinderbox conditions.
– Dynamic winter-storm systems driven by the rapidly warming Arctic have plunged much of Europe into killer cold weather for the second year in a row, months after a summer of record heat and precipitation. Up to 30 people have frozen to death in Poland, and thirty more were killed in the rest of Europe.
– Floods have hit Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia after “three weeks of torrential rains,” forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
– Thousands of people have been evacuated amid catastrophic floods in Australia that have already destroyed $500 million in crops, with rivers still rising.
– Thunderstorms, high winds and tornadoes ripped through the southern United States, injuring at least 30 people, destroying buildings, toppling trees, flooding highways and forcing schools to close.
– New Zealand is facing an intense heatwave and its third consecutive summer of drought.
Speaking at the funeral of a teenage volunteer firefighter, Israeli President Shimon Peres said the wildfire “disaster taught us that all of us, Jews, Arabs, Druze, and other peoples, share the same fate.” If the climate negotiators in Cancun can find the same sense of solidarity in crisis shown in their home countries, there could be reason for hope.
Brad Johnson is reporting and tweeting live from the international climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.
Update Also:
-- "The death toll from the incessant rains in Venezuela has risen to 34," with "more than 70,000 people who have been affected" by the catastrophic floods.
-- "As many as 200 people may have been buried in a landslide Sunday that swept over 10 houses near Medellin, Colombia's second largest city," as the country "has been lashed in recent weeks by heavy rains that have left at least 176 people dead and 225 injured, as well as 1.5 million people homeless nationwide."
-- In India, "more than 150 people have died following heavy rains in the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu over the past few days."
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1706
Posted by: JeffMasters, 9:07 PM GMT on December 06, 2010
Colombia's heaviest rains in history triggered a landslide in the poor hillside community of Bello on Sunday, killing at least 20 people and leaving 125 missing. This year's unprecedented rainy season had already killed 176 people prior to Sunday, making it one of the deadliest flooding years in Colombia's history, according to the director of Colombia's national disaster management office, Luz Armanda Pulido. In 2009, 110 people died in flooding disasters, and 48 were killed in 2008, according to Colombian Red Cross director of national relief operations Carlos Ivan Marquez. This year's rains are the heaviest in the 42 years since Colombia's weather service was created and began taking data, agency director Ricardo Lozano said. The resulting flooding has destroyed or damaged the homes of 1.6 million people. Colombia's president Juan Manuel Santos said the number of homeless from the flooding could reach 2 million, and said "the tragedy the country is going through has no precedents in our history." Neighboring Venezuela has also been hard-hit by this year's severe rainy season--at least 30 people are dead from floods and mudslides, and tens of thousands homeless. More rain is in the forecast--the latest forecast from the GFS model (Figure 2)--calls for an additional 4 - 6 inches (100 - 150 mm) across much of western and northern Colombia in the coming week.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101205202514.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2010) — Climate change is causing wildfires to burn more fiercely, pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than previously thought, according to a new study to be published in Nature Geoscience this week.
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"These findings are worrisome because about half the world's soil carbon is locked in northern permafrost and peatland soils. This is carbon that has accumulated in ecosystems a little bit at a time for thousands of years, but is being released very rapidly through increased burning."
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Pray Tell: Americans Stretching the Truth About Church Attendance
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101201124353.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries.
"Americans have long been viewed as exceptionally religious compared to other nations in the developed world," said Philip Brenner, a research fellow at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the author of the study. "But this study suggests that American religiosity may be exceptional not in terms of actual behavior, but rather in terms of identity.
"In the U.S., and to a lesser extent in Canada, the gap between what we say and what we do is substantial, and has been so for the last several decades."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries.
"Americans have long been viewed as exceptionally religious compared to other nations in the developed world," said Philip Brenner, a research fellow at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and the author of the study. "But this study suggests that American religiosity may be exceptional not in terms of actual behavior, but rather in terms of identity.
"In the U.S., and to a lesser extent in Canada, the gap between what we say and what we do is substantial, and has been so for the last several decades."
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Monday, December 06, 2010
Imitating Someone's Accent Makes It Easier to Understand Them
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101206161826.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — In conversation, we often imitate each other's speech style and may even change our accent to fit that of the person we're talking to. A recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that imitating someone who speaks with a regional or foreign accent may actually help you understand them better.
"If people are talking to each other, they tend to sort of move their speech toward each other," says Patti Adank, of the University of Manchester, who co-wrote the study with Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 6, 2010) — In conversation, we often imitate each other's speech style and may even change our accent to fit that of the person we're talking to. A recent study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that imitating someone who speaks with a regional or foreign accent may actually help you understand them better.
"If people are talking to each other, they tend to sort of move their speech toward each other," says Patti Adank, of the University of Manchester, who co-wrote the study with Peter Hagoort and Harold Bekkering from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
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lose-lose move for Obama
This article expresses my own views on this issue, with better wording than I would probably come up with.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/06/zelizer.deficit.trap/index.html?hpt=T2
By Julian E. Zelizer, Special to CNN
December 6, 2010 7:48 a.m. EST
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Yet Obama should be extremely cautious before he shifts the focus of his agenda. Emphasizing deficits over unemployment threatens to carry huge political costs for Democrats. The latest unemployment numbers are a stark reminder of the terrible shape of the economy. Regardless of the conventional wisdom, moreover, the move won't leave him in a stronger political position. At a time when many economists believe that the time is not right to move toward deficit reduction, given that the economy is still fragile and unstable, Obama is heading into a political trap.
The major political problem for Obama is that making deficit reduction an immediate priority is unlikely to win over Republican support. The record since 2008 has been that even when Obama gives ground to the GOP on issues like health care and economic policy, Republicans have rarely offered their support in return. Rather, the GOP has demanded more from the president, while continuing to attack the administration as left-of-center.
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http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/12/06/zelizer.deficit.trap/index.html?hpt=T2
By Julian E. Zelizer, Special to CNN
December 6, 2010 7:48 a.m. EST
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Yet Obama should be extremely cautious before he shifts the focus of his agenda. Emphasizing deficits over unemployment threatens to carry huge political costs for Democrats. The latest unemployment numbers are a stark reminder of the terrible shape of the economy. Regardless of the conventional wisdom, moreover, the move won't leave him in a stronger political position. At a time when many economists believe that the time is not right to move toward deficit reduction, given that the economy is still fragile and unstable, Obama is heading into a political trap.
The major political problem for Obama is that making deficit reduction an immediate priority is unlikely to win over Republican support. The record since 2008 has been that even when Obama gives ground to the GOP on issues like health care and economic policy, Republicans have rarely offered their support in return. Rather, the GOP has demanded more from the president, while continuing to attack the administration as left-of-center.
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Federal taxes as a percentage of GDP at lowest point in 60 years
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/12/06/taxes_at_60_year_low.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29
links to the following:
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/12/06/chart-of-the-day-u-s-taxes/
* Federal taxes are the lowest in 60 years, which gives you a pretty good idea of why America’s long-term debt ratios are a big problem. If the taxes reverted to somewhere near their historical mean, the problem would be solved at a stroke.
* Income taxes, in particular, both personal and corporate, are low and falling. That trend is not sustainable.
* Employment taxes, by contrast—the regressive bit of the fiscal structure—are bearing a large and increasing share of the brunt. Any time that somebody starts complaining about how the poor don’t pay income tax, point them to this chart. Income taxes are just one part of the pie, and everybody with a job pays employment taxes.
* There aren’t any wealth taxes, but the closest thing we’ve got—estate and gift taxes—have shrunk to zero, after contributing a non-negligible amount to the public fisc in earlier decades.
If you were structuring a tax code from scratch, it would look nothing like this. But the problem is that tax hikes seem to be politically impossible no matter which party is in power. And since any revamp of the tax code would involve tax hikes somewhere, I fear we’re fiscally doomed.
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links to the following:
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2010/12/06/chart-of-the-day-u-s-taxes/
* Federal taxes are the lowest in 60 years, which gives you a pretty good idea of why America’s long-term debt ratios are a big problem. If the taxes reverted to somewhere near their historical mean, the problem would be solved at a stroke.
* Income taxes, in particular, both personal and corporate, are low and falling. That trend is not sustainable.
* Employment taxes, by contrast—the regressive bit of the fiscal structure—are bearing a large and increasing share of the brunt. Any time that somebody starts complaining about how the poor don’t pay income tax, point them to this chart. Income taxes are just one part of the pie, and everybody with a job pays employment taxes.
* There aren’t any wealth taxes, but the closest thing we’ve got—estate and gift taxes—have shrunk to zero, after contributing a non-negligible amount to the public fisc in earlier decades.
If you were structuring a tax code from scratch, it would look nothing like this. But the problem is that tax hikes seem to be politically impossible no matter which party is in power. And since any revamp of the tax code would involve tax hikes somewhere, I fear we’re fiscally doomed.
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What to Do If You Are Bitten by a Snake
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101201142504.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — Should you be the victim of a snakebite, the best thing you can do is get to a hospital as quickly as possible, according to a new review article from the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Current medical treatments, including new medications and surgery, if necessary, are far more effective for snakebites than anything you can do on your own.
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If you are bitten:
* Identify the type of snake if possible. If a smartphone or other camera is available, take a photo of the snake and bring it with you to the hospital.
* Get away from the snake.
* Do not attempt to suck out the venom.
* Do not apply a tourniquet unless you have a great deal of knowledge about snakes and the effects of snakebites. For some types of venom, a tourniquet can actually do more harm than good.
* Immobilize the affected body part.
* Remove all rings or restrictive jewelry on the affected limb, since snakebites often cause swelling.
* Get to a hospital or healthcare facility as quickly as you can. Do not wait and watch for symptoms.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — Should you be the victim of a snakebite, the best thing you can do is get to a hospital as quickly as possible, according to a new review article from the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS). Current medical treatments, including new medications and surgery, if necessary, are far more effective for snakebites than anything you can do on your own.
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If you are bitten:
* Identify the type of snake if possible. If a smartphone or other camera is available, take a photo of the snake and bring it with you to the hospital.
* Get away from the snake.
* Do not attempt to suck out the venom.
* Do not apply a tourniquet unless you have a great deal of knowledge about snakes and the effects of snakebites. For some types of venom, a tourniquet can actually do more harm than good.
* Immobilize the affected body part.
* Remove all rings or restrictive jewelry on the affected limb, since snakebites often cause swelling.
* Get to a hospital or healthcare facility as quickly as you can. Do not wait and watch for symptoms.
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Loss of Species Large and Small Threatens Human Health
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101201134156.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — The loss of biodiversity -- from beneficial bacteria to charismatic mammals -- threatens human health. That's the conclusion of a study published this week in the journal Nature by scientists who study biodiversity and infectious diseases.
The work reveals a critical connection between conservation and disease. Species losses in ecosystems such as forests and fields result in increases in pathogens -- disease-causing organisms -- the researchers found.
The animals, plants, and microbes most likely to disappear as biodiversity is lost are often those that buffer infectious disease transmission. Those that remain tend to be species that magnify the transmission of infectious diseases like West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and hantavirus.
"We knew of specific cases in which declines in biodiversity increase the incidence of disease," says Felicia Keesing, an ecologist at Bard College in Annandale, N.Y., and first author of the paper. "But we've learned that the pattern is much more general: biodiversity loss tends to increase pathogen transmission across a wide range of infectious disease systems."
The pattern holds true for various types of pathogens -- viruses, bacteria, fungi -- and for many types of hosts, whether humans, other animals, or plants.
"When a clinical trial of a drug shows that it works," says Keesing, "the trial is halted so the drug can be made available. In a similar way, the protective effect of biodiversity is clear enough that we need to implement policies to preserve it now."
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For humans and other species to remain healthy, it will take more than a village -- we need an entire planet, the scientists say, one with its diversity thriving.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2010) — The loss of biodiversity -- from beneficial bacteria to charismatic mammals -- threatens human health. That's the conclusion of a study published this week in the journal Nature by scientists who study biodiversity and infectious diseases.
The work reveals a critical connection between conservation and disease. Species losses in ecosystems such as forests and fields result in increases in pathogens -- disease-causing organisms -- the researchers found.
The animals, plants, and microbes most likely to disappear as biodiversity is lost are often those that buffer infectious disease transmission. Those that remain tend to be species that magnify the transmission of infectious diseases like West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and hantavirus.
"We knew of specific cases in which declines in biodiversity increase the incidence of disease," says Felicia Keesing, an ecologist at Bard College in Annandale, N.Y., and first author of the paper. "But we've learned that the pattern is much more general: biodiversity loss tends to increase pathogen transmission across a wide range of infectious disease systems."
The pattern holds true for various types of pathogens -- viruses, bacteria, fungi -- and for many types of hosts, whether humans, other animals, or plants.
"When a clinical trial of a drug shows that it works," says Keesing, "the trial is halted so the drug can be made available. In a similar way, the protective effect of biodiversity is clear enough that we need to implement policies to preserve it now."
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For humans and other species to remain healthy, it will take more than a village -- we need an entire planet, the scientists say, one with its diversity thriving.
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Sunday, December 05, 2010
Smoking May Thin the Brain
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101202124205.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Many brain imaging studies have reported that tobacco smoking is associated with large-scale and wide-spread structural brain abnormalities.
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Tax Cuts for Limbaugh, Beck and Palin
from e-mail from Rep. Alan Grayson
We hear a lot of talk about the “Bush Tax Cuts.” And why not? According to Newsweek, George W. Bush “earns” $4.2 million from paid speeches, public appearances and miscellaneous punditry each year. Hence the Bush Tax Cuts cut Bush’s own taxes by an amazing $187,552 each year. And that’s not even counting how much the Bush tax cuts engorge Bush’s investment income.
So Bush cut his own taxes. No wonder Bush is in favor of extending those tax cuts.
He’s not the only one. Here is how much the Bush tax cuts benefit – each year – some other folks you may have heard of:
Rush Limbaugh - $2,689,135.
Glenn Beck - $1,512,352
Sean Hannity - $1,006,352
Bill O’Reilly - $914,352
Sarah Palin - $638,352
Newt Gingrich - $247,352
See it all laid out, at my speech right here.
Maybe we should call them the “Rush Limbaugh Tax Cuts.” Or the “Glenn Beck Tax Cuts.” Because the reason why these right-wing blowhards support tax cuts for the rich is that they support tax cuts for themselves.
Which will cost our country almost $100 billion a year. Enough to give $30,000-a-year jobs to 3 million Americans. To cut unemployment by two percent, immediately. And to get our economy moving again.
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We hear a lot of talk about the “Bush Tax Cuts.” And why not? According to Newsweek, George W. Bush “earns” $4.2 million from paid speeches, public appearances and miscellaneous punditry each year. Hence the Bush Tax Cuts cut Bush’s own taxes by an amazing $187,552 each year. And that’s not even counting how much the Bush tax cuts engorge Bush’s investment income.
So Bush cut his own taxes. No wonder Bush is in favor of extending those tax cuts.
He’s not the only one. Here is how much the Bush tax cuts benefit – each year – some other folks you may have heard of:
Rush Limbaugh - $2,689,135.
Glenn Beck - $1,512,352
Sean Hannity - $1,006,352
Bill O’Reilly - $914,352
Sarah Palin - $638,352
Newt Gingrich - $247,352
See it all laid out, at my speech right here.
Maybe we should call them the “Rush Limbaugh Tax Cuts.” Or the “Glenn Beck Tax Cuts.” Because the reason why these right-wing blowhards support tax cuts for the rich is that they support tax cuts for themselves.
Which will cost our country almost $100 billion a year. Enough to give $30,000-a-year jobs to 3 million Americans. To cut unemployment by two percent, immediately. And to get our economy moving again.
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Reaching 100 Years of Age May Be More About Attitude and Adaptation Than Health History
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101201105338.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — University of Georgia research has provided new clues on surviving to be 100 years old, finding that how we feel about ourselves and our ability to adapt to an accumulation of challenging life experiences may be as or more important than health factors.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — University of Georgia research has provided new clues on surviving to be 100 years old, finding that how we feel about ourselves and our ability to adapt to an accumulation of challenging life experiences may be as or more important than health factors.
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Study Suggests That Quitting Smoking Improves Mood
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101202124236.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Quitting smoking is certainly healthy for the body, but doctors and scientists haven't been sure whether quitting makes people happier, especially since conventional wisdom says many smokers use cigarettes to ease anxiety and depression. In a new study, researchers tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit and found that they were never happier than when they were being successful, for however long that was.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Quitting smoking is certainly healthy for the body, but doctors and scientists haven't been sure whether quitting makes people happier, especially since conventional wisdom says many smokers use cigarettes to ease anxiety and depression. In a new study, researchers tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit and found that they were never happier than when they were being successful, for however long that was.
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Saturday, December 04, 2010
Vitamins Might Promote Harmful Algal Blooms in Coastal Waters
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101203165534.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — Harmful algal blooms, which negatively affect coastal ecosystems, public health, economies and fisheries around the world, may be promoted by vitamins B-1 and B-12 according to Stony Brook University scientists, whose findings were published in an early online edition (Nov. 10) and in the current issue (Nov. 30) of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS ).
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"Harmful algal blooms are not a new phenomenon, although many people may know them by other names such as red tides or brown tides," Dr. Gobler said. "These events can harm humans by causing poisoning from shellfish contaminated with algal toxins and can damage marine ecosystems by killing fish and other marine life. The distribution, frequency and intensity of these events have increased across the globe and scientists have been struggling to determine why this is happening."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — Harmful algal blooms, which negatively affect coastal ecosystems, public health, economies and fisheries around the world, may be promoted by vitamins B-1 and B-12 according to Stony Brook University scientists, whose findings were published in an early online edition (Nov. 10) and in the current issue (Nov. 30) of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS ).
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"Harmful algal blooms are not a new phenomenon, although many people may know them by other names such as red tides or brown tides," Dr. Gobler said. "These events can harm humans by causing poisoning from shellfish contaminated with algal toxins and can damage marine ecosystems by killing fish and other marine life. The distribution, frequency and intensity of these events have increased across the globe and scientists have been struggling to determine why this is happening."
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Heavy Smoking During Pregnancy Linked to Kids Becoming Repeat Offenders as Adults
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101115210939.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2010) — Mums who smoke heavily while pregnant run the risk of having kids who grow up to become repeat criminal offenders, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The findings held true, even after taking account of a comprehensive range of family and social factors, such as mental ill health and deprivation, which are likely to influence behaviours, the research showed.
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The findings showed that children whose mothers had smoked heavily during the pregnancy were the most likely to have a criminal record as an adult. They had a 30% increased chance of having been arrested, and this applied to women just as much as it did to men.
The children of women who smoked heavily during the pregnancy were also more likely to be repeat criminal offenders as adults.
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 15, 2010) — Mums who smoke heavily while pregnant run the risk of having kids who grow up to become repeat criminal offenders, suggests research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The findings held true, even after taking account of a comprehensive range of family and social factors, such as mental ill health and deprivation, which are likely to influence behaviours, the research showed.
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The findings showed that children whose mothers had smoked heavily during the pregnancy were the most likely to have a criminal record as an adult. They had a 30% increased chance of having been arrested, and this applied to women just as much as it did to men.
The children of women who smoked heavily during the pregnancy were also more likely to be repeat criminal offenders as adults.
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Unemployment benefits
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/026896.php
December 2, 2010
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In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee and council member Cecilia Rouse urged Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits for millions of Americans who are out of work, citing a new report that argues not doing so would have dire consequences for the U.S. economy.
The council's report, which details how a failure to extend the aid would affect people on a state-by-state level, says nearly seven million Americans could lose coverage by the end of next year and that 600,000 jobs are at stake. Goolsbee contended the gross domestic product would be six-tenths of a percent point lower in December of next year if the benefits are not extended, slowing the nation's recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.
According to an earlier report by the National Employment Law Project, some two million workers nationally could lose benefits in December if they are not extended, an estimate the CEA also uses. The U.S. Joint Economic Committee estimates failure to extend the benefits program "would drain the economy of $80 billion in purchasing power and result in the loss of over one million jobs over the next year."
"The data is quite clear from many outside sources that people on unemployment insurance, when they lose the unemployment insurance, there's a very significant drop off in the amount of consumption spending that they do," Goolsbee said. "If you're going to have millions of people just before the holidays losing their benefits and then multiple millions in the months that follow losing their benefits, the impact on consumer spending is significant."
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December 2, 2010
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In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee and council member Cecilia Rouse urged Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits for millions of Americans who are out of work, citing a new report that argues not doing so would have dire consequences for the U.S. economy.
The council's report, which details how a failure to extend the aid would affect people on a state-by-state level, says nearly seven million Americans could lose coverage by the end of next year and that 600,000 jobs are at stake. Goolsbee contended the gross domestic product would be six-tenths of a percent point lower in December of next year if the benefits are not extended, slowing the nation's recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression.
According to an earlier report by the National Employment Law Project, some two million workers nationally could lose benefits in December if they are not extended, an estimate the CEA also uses. The U.S. Joint Economic Committee estimates failure to extend the benefits program "would drain the economy of $80 billion in purchasing power and result in the loss of over one million jobs over the next year."
"The data is quite clear from many outside sources that people on unemployment insurance, when they lose the unemployment insurance, there's a very significant drop off in the amount of consumption spending that they do," Goolsbee said. "If you're going to have millions of people just before the holidays losing their benefits and then multiple millions in the months that follow losing their benefits, the impact on consumer spending is significant."
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The President Has No Time
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/12/02/the_president_has_no_time.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticalWire+%28Political+Wire%29
December 02, 2010
"How should a president respond to a job that is increasingly an endless series of emergencies?" asks Slate, noting that the president is constantly struggling "to decide what can benefit from his attention and what's a media creation or a trick of the opposition that will waste his time."
"The conventional wisdom has emerged that the president has not sufficiently connected with voters in his first term... When is he going to find the time? There is always going to be another WikiLeaks emergency. There is always going to be a misbehaving North Korea or a bomb plot that we never hear about but that occupies the president's time. The expectations for presidential action must be reconfigured. The president may still have to pretend that he can do everything, but in truth he has to make wise choices in a frantic world, because the president never gets to Inbox Zero."
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December 02, 2010
"How should a president respond to a job that is increasingly an endless series of emergencies?" asks Slate, noting that the president is constantly struggling "to decide what can benefit from his attention and what's a media creation or a trick of the opposition that will waste his time."
"The conventional wisdom has emerged that the president has not sufficiently connected with voters in his first term... When is he going to find the time? There is always going to be another WikiLeaks emergency. There is always going to be a misbehaving North Korea or a bomb plot that we never hear about but that occupies the president's time. The expectations for presidential action must be reconfigured. The president may still have to pretend that he can do everything, but in truth he has to make wise choices in a frantic world, because the president never gets to Inbox Zero."
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Friday, December 03, 2010
Scalia Mocks Sotomayor’s Compassion For ‘People Sitting in Their Feces for Days in a Dazed State’
Nothing new. When Reagan was president, the majority Republican justices on the supreme court ruled that it is not unconstitutional to execute a person when evidence shows they are innocent, as long as the trial was conducted properly.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/03/scalia-feces/
One California inmate dies every eight days from inadequate medical care. In one case, a prisoner who experienced “recurrent severe abdominal pain and vomiting over a five week period” received no treatment until they eventually died. Moreover, lawsuits stretch back twenty years seeking to remedy these unconstitutional conditions — until a federal court finally ordered the state to reduce its prison population. That order is now before the Supreme Court.
Against this backdrop, Justice Sonia Sotomayor confronted California’s attorney with some of the more horrific stories from California’s unconstitutional prison system, and received a mocking response from fellow Justice Antonin Scalia:
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: Well, the best interest of the State of California, isn’t it to deliver adequate constitutional care to the people that it incarcerates? That’s a constitutional obligation.
MR. PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And California recognizes that.
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR: So when are you going to get to that? When are you going to avoid the needless deaths that were reported in this record? When are you going to avoid or get around people sitting in their feces for days in a dazed state? When are you going to get to a point where you are going to deliver care that is going to be adequate?
JUSTICE SCALIA: Don’t be rhetorical.
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Long-Term Exposure to Pesticides May Be Linked to Dementia
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101201191134.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Long term exposure to pesticides may be linked to the development of dementia, suggests research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
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This decline in MMSE score "is particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow up and the relatively young age of the participants," say the authors, who add that previous research has already reported an association between pesticide exposure and poor performance for several of the tests used in this study.
"The mild impairment we observed raises the question of the potentially higher risks of injury in this population and also of the possible evolution towards neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or other dementias," they say.
And they add: "Numerous studies have shown that low cognitive performances are associated with risk of dementia."
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 2, 2010) — Long term exposure to pesticides may be linked to the development of dementia, suggests research published online in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
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This decline in MMSE score "is particularly striking in view of the short duration of follow up and the relatively young age of the participants," say the authors, who add that previous research has already reported an association between pesticide exposure and poor performance for several of the tests used in this study.
"The mild impairment we observed raises the question of the potentially higher risks of injury in this population and also of the possible evolution towards neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease or other dementias," they say.
And they add: "Numerous studies have shown that low cognitive performances are associated with risk of dementia."
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Anesthetic Gases Heats Climate as Much as One Million Cars,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101203081644.htm
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — When doctors want their patients asleep during surgery, they gently turn the gas tap. But anesthetic gasses have a global warming potential as high as a refrigerant that is on its way to be banned in the European Union. Yet there is no obligation to report anesthetic gasses along with other greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, refrigerants and laughing gas.
One kilogram of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1,620 kilos of CO2. That has been shown by a recent study carried out by chemists from University of Copenhagen and NASA in collaboration with anesthesiologists from the University of Michigan Medical School. The amount of gas needed for a single surgical procedure is not high, but in the US alone surgery related anesthetics affected the climate as much as would one million cars.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — When doctors want their patients asleep during surgery, they gently turn the gas tap. But anesthetic gasses have a global warming potential as high as a refrigerant that is on its way to be banned in the European Union. Yet there is no obligation to report anesthetic gasses along with other greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, refrigerants and laughing gas.
One kilogram of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1,620 kilos of CO2. That has been shown by a recent study carried out by chemists from University of Copenhagen and NASA in collaboration with anesthesiologists from the University of Michigan Medical School. The amount of gas needed for a single surgical procedure is not high, but in the US alone surgery related anesthetics affected the climate as much as would one million cars.
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157 Republicans Vote Against Deficit-Reducing Bill That Gives Free, Healthy Meals To Hungry Kids
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/02/republicans-block-deficit-reducing-bill-that-gives-free-healthy-meals-to-hungry-kids/
Well-versed in obstructing help to the hungry, House Republicans first blocked, then voted against the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act yesterday, a bill that “would give more needy children the opportunity to eat free lunches at school and make those lunches healthier.” The Senate passed this bill by unanimous consent in August — essentially a 100-0 vote in favor of providing school meals to the nation’s 17 million hungry kids.
But 157 House Republicans had a different message for hungry children: get in line. During the House’s first attempt to pass the bill yesterday, Republicans “used a procedural maneuver” to add an amendment requiring background checks for child care workers. Recognizing it as a poison pill, House Democrats delayed the final vote till today rather than allow an amendment to “kill the bill.” The main champion of this tactic Rep. John Kline (R-MN) decried the Hunger-Free Act as a Democratic ploy to increase government spending. On the House floor yesterday, Kline insisted the bill was massive “deficit spending,” dismissing the bill’s offsets as a “stalling tactic that obscures government expansion”:
An equally indignant Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) called the pay-for “a farce!” “It’s a farce, it’s a lie. And it’s borrowing more from our children and this kind of idiocy just has to stop,” he added.
The only “lie” emanating from the House floor yesterday came directly from Kline and Broun. The bill is indeed paid for, unfortunately with offsets from food stamp benefits included in the Recovery Act. Because of the Congressional pay-as-you-go rules that prohibits deficit spending on non-emergency measures, Democrats reluctantly raided much-needed food stamp funds — again — to pay for the Hunger-Free Act. Kline and Broun’s outrage at such a strategy is curious, considering Republicans have pushed the same exact strategy in the past.
Not only is their “deficit spending” cry hypocritical, it is also a downright lie. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the offsets in the Senate bill will actually generate “total savings that effectively meet or exceed costs” while simultaneously providing meals to hungry children. Essentially, 157 Republicans voted to block the holy grail of legislation. The House did, however, pass the bill today and it will now go to the President for signature.
The GOP’s continuing callous treatment of those in need was not lost on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “If cutting off unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans wasn’t enough, House Republicans are now blocking critical legislation to help schools feed thousands of hungry children,” he told ThinkProgress. “Childhood nutrition shouldn’t be a partisan issue. But Congressional Republicans – intent on blocking any progress while President Obama is in office – are willing to put hungry children in the partisan crosshairs.”
..
Well-versed in obstructing help to the hungry, House Republicans first blocked, then voted against the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act yesterday, a bill that “would give more needy children the opportunity to eat free lunches at school and make those lunches healthier.” The Senate passed this bill by unanimous consent in August — essentially a 100-0 vote in favor of providing school meals to the nation’s 17 million hungry kids.
But 157 House Republicans had a different message for hungry children: get in line. During the House’s first attempt to pass the bill yesterday, Republicans “used a procedural maneuver” to add an amendment requiring background checks for child care workers. Recognizing it as a poison pill, House Democrats delayed the final vote till today rather than allow an amendment to “kill the bill.” The main champion of this tactic Rep. John Kline (R-MN) decried the Hunger-Free Act as a Democratic ploy to increase government spending. On the House floor yesterday, Kline insisted the bill was massive “deficit spending,” dismissing the bill’s offsets as a “stalling tactic that obscures government expansion”:
KLINE: The people are telling us, stop spending money we don’t have…this bill spends another $4.5 billion on various programs and initiatives and creates or expands 17, 17 separate federal programs…The majority claims this bill is paid for. They want us to believe we can grow government with no cost or consequences, but the American people know that’s just not true. ----- (skipping)
An equally indignant Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) called the pay-for “a farce!” “It’s a farce, it’s a lie. And it’s borrowing more from our children and this kind of idiocy just has to stop,” he added.
The only “lie” emanating from the House floor yesterday came directly from Kline and Broun. The bill is indeed paid for, unfortunately with offsets from food stamp benefits included in the Recovery Act. Because of the Congressional pay-as-you-go rules that prohibits deficit spending on non-emergency measures, Democrats reluctantly raided much-needed food stamp funds — again — to pay for the Hunger-Free Act. Kline and Broun’s outrage at such a strategy is curious, considering Republicans have pushed the same exact strategy in the past.
Not only is their “deficit spending” cry hypocritical, it is also a downright lie. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the offsets in the Senate bill will actually generate “total savings that effectively meet or exceed costs” while simultaneously providing meals to hungry children. Essentially, 157 Republicans voted to block the holy grail of legislation. The House did, however, pass the bill today and it will now go to the President for signature.
The GOP’s continuing callous treatment of those in need was not lost on Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “If cutting off unemployment insurance for out-of-work Americans wasn’t enough, House Republicans are now blocking critical legislation to help schools feed thousands of hungry children,” he told ThinkProgress. “Childhood nutrition shouldn’t be a partisan issue. But Congressional Republicans – intent on blocking any progress while President Obama is in office – are willing to put hungry children in the partisan crosshairs.”
..
Strange bedfellows and ethanol subsidies
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/026878.php
December 1, 2010
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS AND ETHANOL SUBSIDIES.... This may not seem like the sexiest issue on the policy landscape, but the fight over ethanol subsidies keeps getting increasingly interesting.
To briefly recap, there are two existing ethanol subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the calendar year, which means Congress may have to act pretty quickly to save them -- if they're to be saved.
The question is what conservative Republicans are prepared to do about it. On the one hand, congressional Republicans inclined to do what corporate lobbyists tell them to do, and the lobbyists naturally want the industry subsidies to continue. The American Future Fund is a shadowy right-wing group that raised all kinds of secret money to help Republicans win midterm elections, and it just so happens to have been created in large part by a wealthy executive of an ethanol producer. It's a safe bet he'll expect his GOP friends to repay his assistance.
On the other, the subsides are expensive, unnecessary, and ultimately counter-productive, and a prime target for anyone who cares even a little about spending cuts.
In a new twist, we're seeing some unusual alliances coming together.
What could bring together the liberal MoveOn.Org, the Tea Party-aligned FreedomWorks, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn?
Ethanol subsidies -- they're all against them.... In a letter Monday to congressional leaders, MoveOn.org Political Action, FreedomWorks, and more than four dozen groups called on Congress to let the ethanol tax credit expire at the end of the year.
"At a time of spiraling deficits, we do not believe Congress should continue subsidizing gasoline refiners for something that they are already required to do" under federal law, according to the letter, which was also signed by the Sierra Club, the American Conservative Union, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
Feinstein and Coburn are working together on this, and have 15 senators from both parties on their side.
Their efforts, in turn, have prompted a separate, bipartisan group of 15 senators to do the exact opposite, urging Senate leaders to extend the subsidies. "Allowing the provisions to expire or remain expired would threaten jobs, harm the environment, weaken our renewable fuels industries and increase our dependence on foreign oil," the group, led by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), wrote in their letter.
I honestly can't think of the last time this many liberals and conservatives teamed up on both sides of an issue.
Also note, it seems Republicans are in the tougher spot here. High-profile GOP senators like Grassley and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) want to prove their fiscal conservatism, but they've been strong supporters of subsidies like these for years, and their constituents expect them to deliver.
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December 1, 2010
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS AND ETHANOL SUBSIDIES.... This may not seem like the sexiest issue on the policy landscape, but the fight over ethanol subsidies keeps getting increasingly interesting.
To briefly recap, there are two existing ethanol subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the calendar year, which means Congress may have to act pretty quickly to save them -- if they're to be saved.
The question is what conservative Republicans are prepared to do about it. On the one hand, congressional Republicans inclined to do what corporate lobbyists tell them to do, and the lobbyists naturally want the industry subsidies to continue. The American Future Fund is a shadowy right-wing group that raised all kinds of secret money to help Republicans win midterm elections, and it just so happens to have been created in large part by a wealthy executive of an ethanol producer. It's a safe bet he'll expect his GOP friends to repay his assistance.
On the other, the subsides are expensive, unnecessary, and ultimately counter-productive, and a prime target for anyone who cares even a little about spending cuts.
In a new twist, we're seeing some unusual alliances coming together.
What could bring together the liberal MoveOn.Org, the Tea Party-aligned FreedomWorks, California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn?
Ethanol subsidies -- they're all against them.... In a letter Monday to congressional leaders, MoveOn.org Political Action, FreedomWorks, and more than four dozen groups called on Congress to let the ethanol tax credit expire at the end of the year.
"At a time of spiraling deficits, we do not believe Congress should continue subsidizing gasoline refiners for something that they are already required to do" under federal law, according to the letter, which was also signed by the Sierra Club, the American Conservative Union, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
Feinstein and Coburn are working together on this, and have 15 senators from both parties on their side.
Their efforts, in turn, have prompted a separate, bipartisan group of 15 senators to do the exact opposite, urging Senate leaders to extend the subsidies. "Allowing the provisions to expire or remain expired would threaten jobs, harm the environment, weaken our renewable fuels industries and increase our dependence on foreign oil," the group, led by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), wrote in their letter.
I honestly can't think of the last time this many liberals and conservatives teamed up on both sides of an issue.
Also note, it seems Republicans are in the tougher spot here. High-profile GOP senators like Grassley and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) want to prove their fiscal conservatism, but they've been strong supporters of subsidies like these for years, and their constituents expect them to deliver.
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Last decade warmest on record
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40474599/ns/us_news-environment/
updated 12/2/2010 12:41:45 PM ET 2010-12-02T17:41:45
CANCUN, Mexico — This last decade was the warmest since temperature records began in 1850, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said Thursday in a review issued on the sidelines of U.N. talks in Mexico that are seeking ways to rein in global warming.
"Recent warming has been especially strong in Africa, parts of Asia, and parts of the Arctic," it said in a statement. "The Saharan/Arabian, East African, Central Asian and Greenland/Arctic Canada sub-regions have all had 2001-10 temperatures 1.2 to 1.4 degrees C (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average, and 0.7 degrees C to 0.9 degrees C (about 1.5 F) warmer than any previous decade."
While no single weather event can be traced to human activity and greenhouse gases, WMO Secretary-General Michel said natural variation cannot explain the decade-long record. "If you don't take the human emission into account you cannot reproduce what you observe," he said.
Moreover, Jarraud said there is a "significant possibility 2010 could be the warmest" year on record, surpassing 1998 and 2005.
The British Met Office — one of the three main groups that compiled the data that was then peer-reviewed — said 2010 was "more likely than not" the warmest year.
A final review in early 2011 will determine 2010's place, though there is still a chance 2010 will be just below 1998 and 2005 if December cools, the WMO stated.
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updated 12/2/2010 12:41:45 PM ET 2010-12-02T17:41:45
CANCUN, Mexico — This last decade was the warmest since temperature records began in 1850, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said Thursday in a review issued on the sidelines of U.N. talks in Mexico that are seeking ways to rein in global warming.
"Recent warming has been especially strong in Africa, parts of Asia, and parts of the Arctic," it said in a statement. "The Saharan/Arabian, East African, Central Asian and Greenland/Arctic Canada sub-regions have all had 2001-10 temperatures 1.2 to 1.4 degrees C (about 2 degrees Fahrenheit) above the long-term average, and 0.7 degrees C to 0.9 degrees C (about 1.5 F) warmer than any previous decade."
While no single weather event can be traced to human activity and greenhouse gases, WMO Secretary-General Michel said natural variation cannot explain the decade-long record. "If you don't take the human emission into account you cannot reproduce what you observe," he said.
Moreover, Jarraud said there is a "significant possibility 2010 could be the warmest" year on record, surpassing 1998 and 2005.
The British Met Office — one of the three main groups that compiled the data that was then peer-reviewed — said 2010 was "more likely than not" the warmest year.
A final review in early 2011 will determine 2010's place, though there is still a chance 2010 will be just below 1998 and 2005 if December cools, the WMO stated.
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Thursday, December 02, 2010
Informative link
Lots of interesting news at the following link:
http://thinkprogress.org/
Including articles on the following:
Conservative columnist David Brooks slams GOP obstructionism.
Before Bankruptcy, Conservatives Touted Ireland As Model For U.S., for its low corporate taxes.
Nigerian Government To Charge Dick Cheney In Massive Bribery Case on behalf of Halliburton.
Tea Party Nation President Doesn’t Deny He Thinks Restricting Voting To Property Owners Is A ‘Wise Idea’
Anti-Spending Tea Party Caucus Members Took Over $1 Billion In Earmarks
Anti-Spending Tea Party Caucus Members Took Over $1 Billion In Earmarks
Media Pushes Narrative That Arabs Want War With Iran, Ignores Cables That Show Arabs Urging Restraint
Republican National Committee hairman Candidate Mike Duncan: ‘There Is Not Enough Money’ In Politics
..
http://thinkprogress.org/
Including articles on the following:
Conservative columnist David Brooks slams GOP obstructionism.
Before Bankruptcy, Conservatives Touted Ireland As Model For U.S., for its low corporate taxes.
Nigerian Government To Charge Dick Cheney In Massive Bribery Case on behalf of Halliburton.
Tea Party Nation President Doesn’t Deny He Thinks Restricting Voting To Property Owners Is A ‘Wise Idea’
Anti-Spending Tea Party Caucus Members Took Over $1 Billion In Earmarks
Anti-Spending Tea Party Caucus Members Took Over $1 Billion In Earmarks
Media Pushes Narrative That Arabs Want War With Iran, Ignores Cables That Show Arabs Urging Restraint
Republican National Committee hairman Candidate Mike Duncan: ‘There Is Not Enough Money’ In Politics
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House passes extension on middle-class tax cuts only
Of course, the Republicans want to extend tax cuts for the ultra-rich, then say deficits are so horrible they have to cut social security and medicare.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40470255/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
updated 12/2/2010 9:07:09 AM ET 2010-12-02T14:07:09
WASHINGTON — The House passed a bill Thursday to extend middle class tax cuts while letting those for the wealthy expire, even as talks continued on extending them all.
The House bill was a political maneuver to satisfy Democratic lawmakers' supporters who oppose extending tax cuts for the wealthy. It has no chance in the Senate, where Democrats need Republican support to pass tax legislation.
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio used barnyard language to describe the House vote to reporters during a news conference.
Boehner calls middle-class tax bill 'chicken crap'
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Have a gut problem? Try swallowing some worms
http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/01/5561835-have-a-gut-problem-try-swallowing-some-worms-
Melissa Dahl writes: Here's a disgusting version of the game "would you rather" for your Wednesday afternoon: Lose your colon? Or swallow 1,500 worms?
In 2004, a 36-year-old California man faced that unappetizing conundrum after failed treatments for his ulcerative colitis meant he might need his colon removed, reports MyHealthNewsDaily. Instead, he hopped a plane to Thailand to see a parasitologist -- and then gulped down 1,500 parasitic worm eggs. We'll let you digest that for a minute.
Turns out, the squirmy little worms did the trick to help soothe the man's inflammatory bowel disease symptoms, according to the case study, which was published today in the December issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine. Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation in the colon, which kills the cells that normally line the organ, and painful ulcers form in the cells' place. After this guy swallowed the worms, his body (understandably) tried to get rid of the squiggly creatures by producing a thick lining of mucus (this story just keeps getting grosser, doesn't it?) -- and that helped ease the pain caused by the colitis.
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Melissa Dahl writes: Here's a disgusting version of the game "would you rather" for your Wednesday afternoon: Lose your colon? Or swallow 1,500 worms?
In 2004, a 36-year-old California man faced that unappetizing conundrum after failed treatments for his ulcerative colitis meant he might need his colon removed, reports MyHealthNewsDaily. Instead, he hopped a plane to Thailand to see a parasitologist -- and then gulped down 1,500 parasitic worm eggs. We'll let you digest that for a minute.
Turns out, the squirmy little worms did the trick to help soothe the man's inflammatory bowel disease symptoms, according to the case study, which was published today in the December issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine. Ulcerative colitis causes inflammation in the colon, which kills the cells that normally line the organ, and painful ulcers form in the cells' place. After this guy swallowed the worms, his body (understandably) tried to get rid of the squiggly creatures by producing a thick lining of mucus (this story just keeps getting grosser, doesn't it?) -- and that helped ease the pain caused by the colitis.
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Cannabis Compounds Found to Trigger Unique Immune Cells Which Promote Cancer Growth
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101124214728.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2010) — An international team of immunologists studying the effects of cannabis have discovered how smoking marijuana can trigger a suppression of the body's immune functions. The research, published in the European Journal of Immunology, reveals why cannabis users are more susceptible to certain types of cancers and infections.
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2010) — An international team of immunologists studying the effects of cannabis have discovered how smoking marijuana can trigger a suppression of the body's immune functions. The research, published in the European Journal of Immunology, reveals why cannabis users are more susceptible to certain types of cancers and infections.
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GOP to block all bills until tax cuts are addressed
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/01/5559969-gop-to-block-all-bills-until-tax-cuts-are-addressed
From NBC’s Ken Strickland and Kelly O'Donnell
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced this morning that Republicans will block any legislation from coming to the Senate floor until two key economic issues are addressed: funding the government (the “continuing resolution” which must pass to prevent a government shutdown) and the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.
McConnell said that members of his caucus are united in the pledge to use procedural votes to prevent any other non-economic issues -- including the new START treaty, the DREAM Act, or the defense authorization bill that contains a potential repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy – from coming to the floor for debate.
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==============================================================
I thought most voters are most interested in employment, and the deficit.
You know what all the talk recently about "shared sacrifice" means. The poor and middle-class sacrifice for the benefit of the ultra-rich.
..
From NBC’s Ken Strickland and Kelly O'Donnell
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced this morning that Republicans will block any legislation from coming to the Senate floor until two key economic issues are addressed: funding the government (the “continuing resolution” which must pass to prevent a government shutdown) and the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts.
McConnell said that members of his caucus are united in the pledge to use procedural votes to prevent any other non-economic issues -- including the new START treaty, the DREAM Act, or the defense authorization bill that contains a potential repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy – from coming to the floor for debate.
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I thought most voters are most interested in employment, and the deficit.
You know what all the talk recently about "shared sacrifice" means. The poor and middle-class sacrifice for the benefit of the ultra-rich.
..
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Cinnamon Can Replace Harmful Chemicals Used to Create Nanoparticles
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101129131814.htm
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During the study, the researchers found that active chemicals in cinnamon are released when the nanoparticles are created. When these chemicals, known as phytochemicals, are combined with the gold nanoparticles, they can be used for cancer treatment. The phytochemicals can enter into cancer cells and assist in the destruction or imaging of cancer cells, Katti said.
"Our gold nanoparticles are not only ecologically and biologically benign, they also are biologically active against cancer cells," Katti said.
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During the study, the researchers found that active chemicals in cinnamon are released when the nanoparticles are created. When these chemicals, known as phytochemicals, are combined with the gold nanoparticles, they can be used for cancer treatment. The phytochemicals can enter into cancer cells and assist in the destruction or imaging of cancer cells, Katti said.
"Our gold nanoparticles are not only ecologically and biologically benign, they also are biologically active against cancer cells," Katti said.
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Promising New Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Under Development
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101118131017.htm
ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2010) — Successfully treating and reversing the effects of multiple sclerosis, or MS, may one day be possible using a drug originally developed to treat chronic pain, according to Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Watkins and her colleagues in CU-Boulder's department of psychology and neuroscience discovered that a single injection of a compound called ATL313 -- an anti-inflammatory drug being developed to treat chronic pain -- stopped the progression of MS-caused paralysis in rats for weeks at a time.
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ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2010) — Successfully treating and reversing the effects of multiple sclerosis, or MS, may one day be possible using a drug originally developed to treat chronic pain, according to Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins of the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Watkins and her colleagues in CU-Boulder's department of psychology and neuroscience discovered that a single injection of a compound called ATL313 -- an anti-inflammatory drug being developed to treat chronic pain -- stopped the progression of MS-caused paralysis in rats for weeks at a time.
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American Exceptionalism
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_11/026836.php
THE OFFENSIVE, MIND-NUMBING DEBATE OVER 'AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM'.... Karen Tumulty reports today on one of the Republicans' favorite attack lines targeting President Obama.
"American exceptionalism" is a phrase that, until recently, was rarely heard outside the confines of think tanks, opinion journals and university history departments.
But with Republicans and tea party activists accusing President Obama and the Democrats of turning the country toward socialism, the idea that the United States is inherently superior to the world's other nations has become the battle cry from a new front in the ongoing culture wars. Lately, it seems to be on the lips of just about every Republican who is giving any thought to running for president in 2012.
That's not an exaggeration. Tumulty notes examples of GOP rhetoric on "exceptionalism" from Romney, Pence, Palin, Gingrich, Huckabee, and Santorum, and I've heard related rhetoric from like-minded Republican voices such as Liz Cheney.
The idea is pretty straightforward: those who accept American exceptionalism believe that the United States has a special and irreplaceable role in the world, quite possibly as a result of supernatural intervention, that gives us a unique character and identity.
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Conservative politicians use the phrase "America is the greatest" to manipulate people into voting for them against the publics own interests.
Worship of one's country is anti-Christian, immoral, and does not show love of country. If you love your country, you want what is best for it, you are willing to work to help it be better. The belief that our country is the best in every respect is a contrivance we use to exempt us from effort that might be needed to make it better.
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THE OFFENSIVE, MIND-NUMBING DEBATE OVER 'AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM'.... Karen Tumulty reports today on one of the Republicans' favorite attack lines targeting President Obama.
"American exceptionalism" is a phrase that, until recently, was rarely heard outside the confines of think tanks, opinion journals and university history departments.
But with Republicans and tea party activists accusing President Obama and the Democrats of turning the country toward socialism, the idea that the United States is inherently superior to the world's other nations has become the battle cry from a new front in the ongoing culture wars. Lately, it seems to be on the lips of just about every Republican who is giving any thought to running for president in 2012.
That's not an exaggeration. Tumulty notes examples of GOP rhetoric on "exceptionalism" from Romney, Pence, Palin, Gingrich, Huckabee, and Santorum, and I've heard related rhetoric from like-minded Republican voices such as Liz Cheney.
The idea is pretty straightforward: those who accept American exceptionalism believe that the United States has a special and irreplaceable role in the world, quite possibly as a result of supernatural intervention, that gives us a unique character and identity.
----- (skipping)
======================================================
Conservative politicians use the phrase "America is the greatest" to manipulate people into voting for them against the publics own interests.
Worship of one's country is anti-Christian, immoral, and does not show love of country. If you love your country, you want what is best for it, you are willing to work to help it be better. The belief that our country is the best in every respect is a contrivance we use to exempt us from effort that might be needed to make it better.
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