http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/cu-urp042514.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 29-Apr-2014
Contact: Steve Ormerod
Cardiff University
Urban river pollutants suppress wild bird development
New research indicates that hormone disrupting pollutants are affecting the health and development of wild birds nesting along the urban rivers of South Wales.
Findings published today in the Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry journal reveal that chicks of the Eurasian Dipper – a river bird that feeds exclusively on insects and fish in upland streams – are underweight compared to their rural counterparts. Also of concern is that birds nesting in urban rivers have altered hormone levels, and are hatching fewer female chicks than those nesting along rural rivers, which could have negative implications for the population's breeding and survival.
Data obtained by a team of scientists from Cardiff University, working in collaboration with the Universities of Saskatchewan and Exeter, and the Natural Environment Research Council, suggest that urban contaminants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PBDE flame-retardant chemicals (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) acquired through their food are to blame. Results showed a strong correlation between contamination by PBDEs and PCBs with depressed thyroid hormone levels in chicks – one thyroid hormone was 43% lower in chicks from urban rivers than those rural rivers.
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Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Mother's diet affects the 'silencing' of her child's genes
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/lsoh-mda042514.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 29-Apr-2014
Contact: Joel Winston
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Mother's diet affects the 'silencing' of her child's genes
A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications
A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
The first such evidence of the effect in humans opens up the possibility that a mother's diet before pregnancy could permanently affect many aspects of her children's lifelong health.
Researchers from the MRC International Nutrition Group, based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and MRC Unit, The Gambia, utilised a unique 'experiment of nature' in rural Gambia, where the population's dependence on own grown foods and a markedly seasonal climate impose a large difference in people's dietary patterns between rainy and dry seasons.
Through a selection process involving over 2,000 women, the researchers enrolled pregnant women who conceived at the peak of the rainy season (84 women) and the peak of the dry season (83 women). By measuring the concentrations of nutrients in their blood, and later analysing blood and hair follicle samples from their 2-8 month old infants, they found that a mother's diet before conception had a significant effect on the properties of her child's DNA.
While a child's genes are inherited directly from their parents, how these genes are expressed is controlled through 'epigenetic' modifications to the DNA. One such modification involves tagging gene regions with chemical compounds called methyl groups and results in silencing the genes. The addition of these compounds requires key nutrients including folate, vitamins B2, B6 and B12, choline and methionine.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 29-Apr-2014
Contact: Joel Winston
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Mother's diet affects the 'silencing' of her child's genes
A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications
A mother's diet before conception can permanently affect how her child's genes function, according to a study published in Nature Communications.
The first such evidence of the effect in humans opens up the possibility that a mother's diet before pregnancy could permanently affect many aspects of her children's lifelong health.
Researchers from the MRC International Nutrition Group, based at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and MRC Unit, The Gambia, utilised a unique 'experiment of nature' in rural Gambia, where the population's dependence on own grown foods and a markedly seasonal climate impose a large difference in people's dietary patterns between rainy and dry seasons.
Through a selection process involving over 2,000 women, the researchers enrolled pregnant women who conceived at the peak of the rainy season (84 women) and the peak of the dry season (83 women). By measuring the concentrations of nutrients in their blood, and later analysing blood and hair follicle samples from their 2-8 month old infants, they found that a mother's diet before conception had a significant effect on the properties of her child's DNA.
While a child's genes are inherited directly from their parents, how these genes are expressed is controlled through 'epigenetic' modifications to the DNA. One such modification involves tagging gene regions with chemical compounds called methyl groups and results in silencing the genes. The addition of these compounds requires key nutrients including folate, vitamins B2, B6 and B12, choline and methionine.
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Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Stress research in therapy dogs reveals animals’ needs
http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/en/infoservice/presseinformation/press-releases-2014/press-release-04-29-2014-stress-research-in-therapy-dogs-reveals-animals-needs/
04-29-2014 - Animals exert positive effects on humans. This fact has been proven scientifically and is used increasingly often for specific therapeutic purposes. Scientists at the Vetmeduni Vienna investigated how therapy dogs feel in a therapy setting and how one can create a largely stress-free situation for the animals. The current study shows that, during group therapy, dogs are not subjected to greater stress than they are during their leisure time. Prerequisites for this purpose are the voluntary involvement and self-determinism of the dogs. The results were published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior.
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04-29-2014 - Animals exert positive effects on humans. This fact has been proven scientifically and is used increasingly often for specific therapeutic purposes. Scientists at the Vetmeduni Vienna investigated how therapy dogs feel in a therapy setting and how one can create a largely stress-free situation for the animals. The current study shows that, during group therapy, dogs are not subjected to greater stress than they are during their leisure time. Prerequisites for this purpose are the voluntary involvement and self-determinism of the dogs. The results were published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior.
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Anti-bullying policy must focus on all of society
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/anti-bullying_policy_must_focus_on_all_of_society2
Policy to reduce bullying in the schoolyard needs to span all levels of society, say researchers from the University of Warwick, who warn that socioeconomic status is not a reliable indicator of whether a child is likely to become a bully.
Up to one third of children are involved in bullying, and a growing body of evidence has shown that bullying is a significant public health concern, which can cause long lasting health and social problems.
The new review, published in the American Journal of Public Health, advises that policy makers should be wary of assuming that bullies are more likely to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
In analysing 28 studies that reported an association between socioeconomic status and bullying, and adjusting for bias, the review showed that bullies were not more likely to come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and were only marginally less likely to come from the highest socioeconomic levels (2% less likely).
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Professor Wolke explained, “Bullying is about gaining access to resources and can be used to achieve elevated status within social groups. They are often the ring leaders that are not always detected by teachers .
Bullies are considered to reap social benefits from their actions due to the hierarchical nature of the schoolyard, where the most adept bullies become popular figures amongst their peers.
Neil Tippett, lead author of the review, added, “This hierarchy is familiar to us all from our own school days. In my view, so long as the rewards exist for bullies in the form of social status, it is difficult to make bullies to change their behaviours as there is little incentive for them to do so.”
“We need to think of ways to channel the abilities of bullies into prosocial activities where they can use their popularity and leadership qualities to benefit themselves and others ”
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Policy to reduce bullying in the schoolyard needs to span all levels of society, say researchers from the University of Warwick, who warn that socioeconomic status is not a reliable indicator of whether a child is likely to become a bully.
Up to one third of children are involved in bullying, and a growing body of evidence has shown that bullying is a significant public health concern, which can cause long lasting health and social problems.
The new review, published in the American Journal of Public Health, advises that policy makers should be wary of assuming that bullies are more likely to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
In analysing 28 studies that reported an association between socioeconomic status and bullying, and adjusting for bias, the review showed that bullies were not more likely to come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and were only marginally less likely to come from the highest socioeconomic levels (2% less likely).
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Professor Wolke explained, “Bullying is about gaining access to resources and can be used to achieve elevated status within social groups. They are often the ring leaders that are not always detected by teachers .
Bullies are considered to reap social benefits from their actions due to the hierarchical nature of the schoolyard, where the most adept bullies become popular figures amongst their peers.
Neil Tippett, lead author of the review, added, “This hierarchy is familiar to us all from our own school days. In my view, so long as the rewards exist for bullies in the form of social status, it is difficult to make bullies to change their behaviours as there is little incentive for them to do so.”
“We need to think of ways to channel the abilities of bullies into prosocial activities where they can use their popularity and leadership qualities to benefit themselves and others ”
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Male Researchers Stress Out Rodents
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/male-researchers-stress-out-rodents/
Apr 28, 2014 |By Alla Katsnelson
Male, but not female, experimenters induce intense stress in rodents that can dampen pain responses, according to a paper published today in Nature Methods. Such reactions affect the rodents’ behaviour and potentially confound the results of animal studies, the study suggests.
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It wasn’t just men who caused the stress spike in the rodents, but any nearby male animal, including guinea pigs, rats, cats and dogs. Male cage-mates of the animal being tested were the only exception, and produced no changes in stress hormone levels.
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More than just a curiosity, this stress response can throw a curveball into study results. On reanalysing data from the group’s past studies, such as on pain sensitivity to hot water, the researchers found that mice tested by men showed lower baseline pain sensitivity than mice tested by women.The work indirectly demonstrates potential effects on nearly any kind of medical research, says Joseph Garner, who studies mouse behavior and well-being at Stanford University in California.
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Animal researchers, says Garner, will have to embrace statistical methods that compensate for a greater range of variability. “We need to think about animals as more like human subjects,” he says, “than as controllable reagents.”
Apr 28, 2014 |By Alla Katsnelson
Male, but not female, experimenters induce intense stress in rodents that can dampen pain responses, according to a paper published today in Nature Methods. Such reactions affect the rodents’ behaviour and potentially confound the results of animal studies, the study suggests.
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It wasn’t just men who caused the stress spike in the rodents, but any nearby male animal, including guinea pigs, rats, cats and dogs. Male cage-mates of the animal being tested were the only exception, and produced no changes in stress hormone levels.
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More than just a curiosity, this stress response can throw a curveball into study results. On reanalysing data from the group’s past studies, such as on pain sensitivity to hot water, the researchers found that mice tested by men showed lower baseline pain sensitivity than mice tested by women.The work indirectly demonstrates potential effects on nearly any kind of medical research, says Joseph Garner, who studies mouse behavior and well-being at Stanford University in California.
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Animal researchers, says Garner, will have to embrace statistical methods that compensate for a greater range of variability. “We need to think about animals as more like human subjects,” he says, “than as controllable reagents.”
Welfare Mentality of the Rich
Of course, companies don't do anything. It's the people who own and run the companies who do things like trying to blackmail others to buy land for them.http://www.ajc.com/news/business/docs-ncr-eyes-incentives-for-midtown-campus/nfbsS/
April 16, 2014
By Greg Bluestein and J. Scott Trubey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NCR eyes incentives for Midtown campus
Financial technology giant NCR considered asking Georgia Tech’s foundation to spend as much as $30 million to buy land for a new corporate campus near the school that would house as many as 4,000 employees, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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The AJC first reported last month that the maker of ATMs and mobile transactions technologies was working with state, Atlanta and Georgia Tech officials to locate a site for a corporate campus near the state’s top technology university, and could add 1,000 jobs as part of the process.
NCR has about 30,000 employees worldwide and about 4,600 in Georgia.
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No, the Internet Explorer Bug Isn't Fixed, Despite Reports
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/no-internet-explorer-bug-isnt-fixed-despite-reports-n92426
By Julianne Pepitone
April 29, 2014
Incorrect reports are swirling that a major flaw in Internet Explorer has been fixed through a security update from Adobe on Monday.
But Adobe's update fixes a completely different issue -- which means Internet Explorer users are still at risk as they await a patch from Microsoft.
An Adobe spokesman confirmed to NBCNews: "The Microsoft advisory issued on April 26 is a separate issue from the Adobe bulletin issued April 28."
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In reality, Adobe's update fixes a serious but separate problem: a Flash bug that is actively being used to attack visitors of a Syrian government website. Security firm Kaspersky Labs posted about that issue on Monday, and Adobe credited Kaspersky in its security update for the alert.
That Flash bug is significant, and users should download Adobe's update. But it's entirely separate from the wider Internet Explorer problem.
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Meanwhile, Microsoft is working to fix that wider Internet Explorer bug. Until then users should exercise caution, and take steps like running alternative web browsers and downloading a Microsoft "toolkit" to help guard against attacks.
By Julianne Pepitone
April 29, 2014
Incorrect reports are swirling that a major flaw in Internet Explorer has been fixed through a security update from Adobe on Monday.
But Adobe's update fixes a completely different issue -- which means Internet Explorer users are still at risk as they await a patch from Microsoft.
An Adobe spokesman confirmed to NBCNews: "The Microsoft advisory issued on April 26 is a separate issue from the Adobe bulletin issued April 28."
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In reality, Adobe's update fixes a serious but separate problem: a Flash bug that is actively being used to attack visitors of a Syrian government website. Security firm Kaspersky Labs posted about that issue on Monday, and Adobe credited Kaspersky in its security update for the alert.
That Flash bug is significant, and users should download Adobe's update. But it's entirely separate from the wider Internet Explorer problem.
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Meanwhile, Microsoft is working to fix that wider Internet Explorer bug. Until then users should exercise caution, and take steps like running alternative web browsers and downloading a Microsoft "toolkit" to help guard against attacks.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Stop using Microsoft's IE browser until bug is fixed
The internet's been slow & flaky today. I wonder if this bug is to blame, or the bad weather in some parts of the U.S.? Maybe a combination.http://www.cnet.com/news/stop-using-ie-until-bug-is-fixed-says-us/
by Seth Rosenblatt
April 28, 2014
It's not often that the US government weighs in on the browser wars, but a new Internet Explorer vulnerability that affects all major versions of the browser from the past decade has forced it to raise an alarm: Stop using IE.
This zero-day exploit is an unpatched flaw in the Microsoft browser that allows attackers to run malicious code remotely. Security firm FireEye said that it is currently being used to attack financial and defense organizations in the US via Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11. Those versions of the browser run on Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, although the exploit is present in Internet Explorer 6 and above.
While the Department of Homeland Security's Computer Emergency Readiness Team regularly issues browser advisories, this is one of the few times that the CERT team has recommended that people avoid using a specific browser.
FireEye recommends that if you can't switch browsers, that you disable Internet Explorer's Flash plug-in. You can also use IE with Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit security app, but that will not be as secure as simply switching browsers.
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Sunday, April 27, 2014
Searching for Happiness? Here's How to Find It
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/searching-happiness-find/story?id=23486216
April 27, 2014
COLUMN By LEE DYE via World News
It may be that the easiest way to kill happiness is to pursue happiness. A desperate search for happiness will likely put too much emphasis on self, and that could backfire.
Instead, scores of research projects suggest, it's better to put the emphasis on others, which psychologists call prosocial behavior. Concentrate on making someone else happy, and chances are you'll feel pretty good too.
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Psychologists led by Yale University concluded three years ago that happiness has a "dark side" because trying too hard to find it can lead to "disappointment and decreased happiness." Just try to make someone smile instead, the Stanford researchers would say.
April 27, 2014
COLUMN By LEE DYE via World News
It may be that the easiest way to kill happiness is to pursue happiness. A desperate search for happiness will likely put too much emphasis on self, and that could backfire.
Instead, scores of research projects suggest, it's better to put the emphasis on others, which psychologists call prosocial behavior. Concentrate on making someone else happy, and chances are you'll feel pretty good too.
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Psychologists led by Yale University concluded three years ago that happiness has a "dark side" because trying too hard to find it can lead to "disappointment and decreased happiness." Just try to make someone smile instead, the Stanford researchers would say.
Story behind the story
This article, like others, and those going around Facebook, with headlines such as "Driver sues boy she struck and killed".http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613923/She-trying-profit-grief-Family-teenager-killed-riding-bike-sued-driver-ran-him.html
I have had enough experience not to jump to the expected reaction of "How horrible". I wondered if she was suing in return for being sued, which is indeed what appears to be happening. I first checked Snopes, to make sure it wasn't just another urban myth. Then I did a search, and found several stories about it. The Daily Mail is known for its sensationlism, which is evident in the headlines and the beginning of the article, but they do eventually report on some other aspects of the situation.
I wasn't there and don't know the facts.
I do know that bicyclists are hard to see at night, and even if they have reflectors, they are visible from far enough away.
Family of teenager killed while riding his bike are being SUED for $1.35MILLION by the driver who ran into him
Sharlene Simon is seeking $1.35 million from estate of Brandon Majewski and the two 16-year-olds she injured
She claims she suffered emotional trauma after hitting Brandon and two of his friends as they cycled down a road
42-year-old did not face charges over the collision
ByJessica Jerreat
Published: 13:41 EST, 26 April 2014 | Updated: 08:21 EST, 27 April 2014
A Canadian family whose 17-year-old son was knocked off his bike and killed in 2012 were shocked to discover the driver who hit him plans to sue for $1.35 million.
Brandon Majewski had been cycling along a road near his Alcona home with two friends when Sharlene Simon hit them with her SUV, injuring two of them and killing Brandon.
Now the 42-year-old is suing Brandon's estate and the 16-year-olds she injured over claims she has suffered emotional trauma, and alleging that the friends were negligent.
The mother-of-three ran into the back of the friends at about 1.30am on October 28, 2012, as they returning home from a coffee shop.
She is seeking damages from Brandon's parents, Derek Majewski and Venetta Mlynczyk, as well as from Richard McLean, who broke his pelvis after being hit by her car, and Jake Roberts, who was also knocked from his bike.
According to the lawsuit filed at an Ontario court in December, Ms Simon 'sustained and will sustain great pain and suffering her enjoyment of life has been and will be lessened'.
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She alleged that the friends had been negligent, claiming: 'They did not apply their brakes properly. They were incompetent bicyclists.'
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'Unfortunately, the cyclists were not riding in a careful and prudent manner. They were riding in the middle of an unlit road at 1:30am,' Mr Ellis said.
'Their bicycles were not properly illuminated, nor did they have the proper reflectors. An independent accident reconstruction completed by law enforcement officials found that there was nothing Ms Simon could have done to avoid the collision.'
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He [Brandon's father] added that the bikes all were fitted with reflectors that would have been visible.
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Family lawyer Mr Cameron has made a routine lawsuit against Ms Simon to recoup medical and funeral costs on behalf of the victims and their families.
He alleges Simon was speeding and may have been intoxicated and talking on her cellphone. A police report showed she was going at 90km per hour in an 80 zone.
'Sharlene Simon failed to take reasonable care to avoid a collision which she saw or should have seen was likely to occur,' his claim states. 'She operated the motor vehicle while she was intoxicated.'
None of the allegations have been tested in court. Ms Simon was not breathalyzed at the scene.
Former Ga. technician falsified mammogram reports
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20140427/DADEHKUO1.html
April 27, 2014
By KATE BRUMBACK
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The lead radiological technologist at Perry Hospital in Perry, a small community about 100 miles south of Atlanta, had for about 18 months been signing off on mammograms and spitting out reports showing nearly 1,300 women were clear of any signs of breast cancer or abnormalities.
Except that she was wrong. Holmes and nine other women were later shown to have lumps or cancerous tumors growing inside them.
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The tech, Rachael Rapraeger, pleaded guilty earlier this month to 10 misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and one felony charge of computer forgery. She was sentenced to serve up to six months in a detention center, to serve 10 years on probation during which she can't work in the health care field and to pay a $12,500 fine.
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April 27, 2014
By KATE BRUMBACK
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The lead radiological technologist at Perry Hospital in Perry, a small community about 100 miles south of Atlanta, had for about 18 months been signing off on mammograms and spitting out reports showing nearly 1,300 women were clear of any signs of breast cancer or abnormalities.
Except that she was wrong. Holmes and nine other women were later shown to have lumps or cancerous tumors growing inside them.
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The tech, Rachael Rapraeger, pleaded guilty earlier this month to 10 misdemeanor charges of reckless conduct and one felony charge of computer forgery. She was sentenced to serve up to six months in a detention center, to serve 10 years on probation during which she can't work in the health care field and to pay a $12,500 fine.
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The Shadowy World of ‘Dark Money’ Campaign Spending
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/04/26/Shadowy-World-Dark-Money-Campaign-Spending
By Kim Barker and Theodore Meyer,ProPublica
April 26, 2014
To see how easy it is for a dark money group to ignore the Internal Revenue Service, look no further than the loftily named Government Integrity Fund.
The Fund, an Ohio nonprofit, spent more than $1 million in 2012 on TV ads attacking Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and praising his Republican opponent, Josh Mandel. Now the Fund's tax return, which ProPublica obtained from the IRS this week, indicates that the group spent most of its money on politics — even though IRS rules say nonprofits like the Fund aren't allowed to do that.
The Government Integrity Fund was founded in May 2011 and applied later that year for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status, swearing under penalty of perjury that it would not engage in politics but would instead "promote the social welfare of the citizens of Ohio." Within two months, the IRS had recognized the group.
It then devoted much of its resources to backing Mandel's unsuccessful bid to unseat Brown. As previously detailed by ProPublica, the Fund was linked to a former top Mandel staffer.
The Fund's return highlights the ways such nonprofits, known as dark money groups because they are not required to disclose their donors, can skirt IRS rules designed to limit their political activities. Such groups are playing an increasingly prominent role in elections, spending more than $256 million on election activity in 2012.
Dark money groups can spend money on politics as long as they can persuade the IRS that their primary purpose is social welfare. This can lead to quite creative accounting on tax forms, with groups describing ads that should qualify as political under IRS rules as "education" or "issue advocacy."
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The ads stopped short of telling people how to vote, but three nonprofit experts who reviewed them for ProPublica said they all qualified as election ads under IRS rules. "There's no question," said Brian Galle, a Boston College associate professor of law who has written about political activity by nonprofits. "It's not even close. They're blatantly political advertisements."
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Unraveling what the Government Integrity Fund spent in 2012 wasn't possible until recently because the group didn't file its tax return until January of this year, when it was two months overdue. The long wait highlights one of the major problems with regulating dark money groups and their spending: The IRS typically doesn't look at these groups until a tax return is filed, often more than a year after an election has been decided.
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The agency has revoked the nonprofit status of only one social welfare nonprofit, a liberal group, and its affiliates since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 paved the way for dark money groups to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into outside election ads.
Experts on nonprofits say the IRS has taken an even more hands-off approach since top officials admitted the agency had targeted applications from conservative groups for extra scrutiny, sparking a scandal and investigations. [As usual in reporting on this, the fact that liberal groups were also targeted is totally ignored.]
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By Kim Barker and Theodore Meyer,ProPublica
April 26, 2014
To see how easy it is for a dark money group to ignore the Internal Revenue Service, look no further than the loftily named Government Integrity Fund.
The Fund, an Ohio nonprofit, spent more than $1 million in 2012 on TV ads attacking Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and praising his Republican opponent, Josh Mandel. Now the Fund's tax return, which ProPublica obtained from the IRS this week, indicates that the group spent most of its money on politics — even though IRS rules say nonprofits like the Fund aren't allowed to do that.
The Government Integrity Fund was founded in May 2011 and applied later that year for IRS recognition of its tax-exempt status, swearing under penalty of perjury that it would not engage in politics but would instead "promote the social welfare of the citizens of Ohio." Within two months, the IRS had recognized the group.
It then devoted much of its resources to backing Mandel's unsuccessful bid to unseat Brown. As previously detailed by ProPublica, the Fund was linked to a former top Mandel staffer.
The Fund's return highlights the ways such nonprofits, known as dark money groups because they are not required to disclose their donors, can skirt IRS rules designed to limit their political activities. Such groups are playing an increasingly prominent role in elections, spending more than $256 million on election activity in 2012.
Dark money groups can spend money on politics as long as they can persuade the IRS that their primary purpose is social welfare. This can lead to quite creative accounting on tax forms, with groups describing ads that should qualify as political under IRS rules as "education" or "issue advocacy."
-----
The ads stopped short of telling people how to vote, but three nonprofit experts who reviewed them for ProPublica said they all qualified as election ads under IRS rules. "There's no question," said Brian Galle, a Boston College associate professor of law who has written about political activity by nonprofits. "It's not even close. They're blatantly political advertisements."
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Unraveling what the Government Integrity Fund spent in 2012 wasn't possible until recently because the group didn't file its tax return until January of this year, when it was two months overdue. The long wait highlights one of the major problems with regulating dark money groups and their spending: The IRS typically doesn't look at these groups until a tax return is filed, often more than a year after an election has been decided.
-----
The agency has revoked the nonprofit status of only one social welfare nonprofit, a liberal group, and its affiliates since the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision in 2010 paved the way for dark money groups to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into outside election ads.
Experts on nonprofits say the IRS has taken an even more hands-off approach since top officials admitted the agency had targeted applications from conservative groups for extra scrutiny, sparking a scandal and investigations. [As usual in reporting on this, the fact that liberal groups were also targeted is totally ignored.]
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Saturday, April 26, 2014
Wall Street’s secret pension swindle
Note that state and local pay levels are usually below those in the private sectors. One of the ways they get employees to fill these positions has been by promising secure pensions. But now many public pensions are being cut.http://www.salon.com/2014/04/24/wall_streets_secret_pension_swindle_partner/
So we have Republican state governments giving the running of the pension funds to their contributors from Wall Street, who rob the pensions, leading to shortfalls in funding, which is then used by the Republicans to reduce the pensions.
Apr 24, 2014
David Sirota
In the national debate over what to do about public pension shortfalls, here’s something you may not know: The texts of the agreements signed between those pension funds and financial firms are almost always secret. Yes, that’s right. Although they are public pensions that taxpayers contribute to and that public officials oversee, the exact terms of the financial deals being engineered in the public’s name and with public money are typically not available to you, the taxpayer.
To understand why that should be cause for concern, ponder some possibilities as they relate to pension deals with hedge funds, private equity partnerships and other so-called “alternative investments.” For example, it is possible that the secret terms of such agreements could allow other private individuals in the same investments to negotiate preferential terms for themselves, meaning public employees’ pension money enriches those private investors. It is also possible that the secret terms of the agreements create the heads-Wall-Street-wins, tails-pensions-lose effect — the one whereby retirees’ money is subjected to huge risks, yet financial firms’ profits are guaranteed regardless of returns.
North Carolina exemplifies the latter problem. In a new report for the union representing that state’s public employees, former Securities and Exchange Commission investigator Ted Siedle documents how secrecy is allowing financial firms to bilk the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System, which is the seventh largest public pension fund in America.
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According to Siedle’s report, this huge pension system now is authorized to invest up to 35 percent — or $30 billion — of its assets in alternatives. Consider, too, that Siedle’s report shows that with such a large allocation in these risky alternatives, the fund “has underperformed the average public plan by $6.8 billion.”
So what is happening to retirees’ money? As Siedle documents, more and more of it is going to pay the exorbitant fees charged by the Wall Street firms managing the pension money.
“Fees have skyrocketed over 1,000 percent since 2000 and have almost doubled since (2008) from $217 million to $416 million,” he writes, adding that “annual fees and expenses will amount to approximately $1 billion in the near future.”
The details get worse from there, which makes Siedle’s report a genuine must-read for anyone who wants to understand the larger story of public pensions. After all, North Carolina is not an isolated incident. In state after state, the financial industry is citing modest public pension shortfalls to justify pushing those pensions to invest more money in riskier and riskier high-fee investments — and to do so in secret.
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Friday, April 25, 2014
How To Avoid Fraud With Herbal Supplements
See the link below on where to get information to improve your chances of getting what you think you are buying.http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/health-health-care/herbal-supplements-not-all-theyre-cracked-up-to-be/nD6Z/
Friday, April 11, 2014
Clark Howard
Do you take herbal supplements? The sad news is you might not be getting what you pay for.
In a study published in the journal BMC Medicine, Canadian researchers tested 44 bottles of herbal supplements bought in Canada and the United States. A full one-third of the samples tested were adulterated; they did not have any of the key ingredients they promised.
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Here's are some quick highlights of the study's findings:
•Bottles of echinacea supplements contained ground bitter weed, a plant linked to rashes, nausea, and flatulence.
•One bottle of St. John's wort was wholly made of ground rice, while another contained a known laxative called Alexandrian senna. Neither of the 2 bottles tested contained the common active ingredient in St. John's wort called Hypericum perforatum.
•Gingko biloba supplements contained fillers and black walnut, the latter of which could be a potential threat to anyone with a tree nut allergy.
Twenty years ago Congress made a stupid decision to stop overseeing the herbal supplement industry. So now it's essentially the Wild West. You have supposedly legit companies spending heavy marketing dollars and putting garbage in their products.
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New data finds 1 in 5 liver injuries that show up in hospitals have been from dietary supplements, according to The New York Times. This is triple what it was 10 years ago. Some people recover, some do not.
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Quantum entaglement?
It is claimed that if two electrons are born together, measuring one appears to instantaneously alter the state of the other. Doesn't this interpretation depend on the assumption that the electrons do not have a particular state until measured? If they have related states when born, then it would not be surprising that measuring one will give us information on the state of the other at the same point in time.
‘Horsing around’ reduces stress hormones in youth
https://news.wsu.edu/2014/04/24/horsing-around-reduces-stress-hormones-in-youth/
April 24, 2014
By Rachel Webber, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences
New research from Washington State University reveals how youth who work with horses experience a substantial reduction in stress – and the evidence lies in kids’ saliva.
The results are published in the American Psychological Association’s Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin this month.
“We were coming at this from a prevention perspective,” said Patricia Pendry, a developmental psychologist at WSU who studies how stress “gets under the skin” and the effects of prevention programs on human development. “We are especially interested in optimizing healthy stress hormone production in young adolescents, because we know from other research that healthy stress hormone patterns may protect against the development of physical and mental health problems.”
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April 24, 2014
By Rachel Webber, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences
New research from Washington State University reveals how youth who work with horses experience a substantial reduction in stress – and the evidence lies in kids’ saliva.
The results are published in the American Psychological Association’s Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin this month.
“We were coming at this from a prevention perspective,” said Patricia Pendry, a developmental psychologist at WSU who studies how stress “gets under the skin” and the effects of prevention programs on human development. “We are especially interested in optimizing healthy stress hormone production in young adolescents, because we know from other research that healthy stress hormone patterns may protect against the development of physical and mental health problems.”
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Marital stress linked to depression
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uow-ina042514.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Apr-2014
Contact: Leo Dreyfuss
University of Wisconsin-Madison
It's not all wedded bliss: Marital stress linked to depression
MADISON, Wis. – Marital stress may make people more vulnerable to depression, according to a recent study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their colleagues.
The long-term study, published in the April 2014 Journal of Psychophysiology, shows that people who experience chronic marital stress are less able to savor positive experiences, a hallmark of depression. They are also more likely to report other depressive symptoms.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Apr-2014
Contact: Leo Dreyfuss
University of Wisconsin-Madison
It's not all wedded bliss: Marital stress linked to depression
MADISON, Wis. – Marital stress may make people more vulnerable to depression, according to a recent study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their colleagues.
The long-term study, published in the April 2014 Journal of Psychophysiology, shows that people who experience chronic marital stress are less able to savor positive experiences, a hallmark of depression. They are also more likely to report other depressive symptoms.
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Study finds almost half of homeless men had traumatic brain injury in their life
This is probably an under-estimate, because some people will have had such an injury, and not know it or remember it.http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/smh-sfa042514.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Apr-2014
Contact: Leslie Shepherd
St. Michael's Hospital
Study finds almost half of homeless men had traumatic brain injury in their life
TORONTO, April 25, 2014—Almost half of all homeless men who took part in a study by St. Michael's Hospital had suffered at least one traumatic brain injury in their life and 87 per cent of those injuries occurred before the men lost their homes.
While assaults were a major cause of those traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, (60 per cent) many were caused by potentially non-violent mechanisms such as sports and recreation (44 per cent) and motor vehicle collisions and falls (42 per cent).
The study, led by Dr. Jane Topolovec-Vranic, a clinical researcher in the hospital's Neuroscience Research Program, was published today in the journal CMAJ Open.
Dr. Topolovec-Vranic said it's important for health care providers and others who work with homeless people to be aware of any history of TBI because of the links between such injuries and mental health issues, substance abuse, seizures and general poorer physical health.
The fact that so many homeless men suffered a TBI before losing their home suggests such injuries could be a risk factor for becoming homeless, she said. That makes it even more important to monitor young people who suffer TBIs such as concussions for health and behavioural changes, she said.
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Separately, a recent study by Dr. Stephen Hwang of the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health, found the number of people who are homeless or vulnerably housed and who have also suffered a TBI may be as high as 61 per cent—seven times higher than the general population.
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Tech CEO Who Allegedly Hit His Girlfriend 117 Times Avoids Jail
http://www.businessinsider.com/radiumone-ceo-chahal-avoids-jail-time-2014-4
April 23, 2014
Alyson Shontell
RadiumOne’s founder, Chairman and CEO Gurbaksh “G” Chahal, appears to be the perfect tech entrepreneur.
His first startup sold for $40 million to ValueClick. His next startup, BlueLithium, was acquired by Yahoo for $300 million in cash. Oprah once gushed that the good-looking entrepreneur was single. Now, his ad-tech company is reportedly planning to raise $100 million in an initial public offering.
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On Aug. 5, 2013, security footage allegedly surfaced of Chahal "hitting and assaulting" his girlfriend, Juliet Kakish. The Examiner's Mike Aldax says Chahal attacked her "117 times over a half-hour period" in his San Francisco home.
The complaint against Chahal filed last August, obtained by Business Insider, listed 45 felony counts and two misdemeanors that accused Chahal of the following actions:
•Hitting Kakish repeatedly in the head
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•Dragging her from the bed to the floor
•Covering her mouth with his hand to obstruct her breathing
•Hitting her in the lower body approximately 15 times
•Hitting her in the head while holding his other hand over her mouth
•Threatening to kill her
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Chahal was arrested but was able to post the $1 million bail. He also hired an attorney.
For most people, video footage of this sort of alleged attack could mean serious jail time and possibly even the end of their careers. Instead, Chahal has managed to avoid jail altogether.
Last week, Chahal pleaded guilty to just the two misdemeanors, and he won’t have to do any jail time. Valleywag's Nitasha Tiku reports his sentence: He'll be put on probation for the next three years. He's also agreed to do many hours of community service and to enroll in a domestic violence program for roughly one year.
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April 23, 2014
Alyson Shontell
RadiumOne’s founder, Chairman and CEO Gurbaksh “G” Chahal, appears to be the perfect tech entrepreneur.
His first startup sold for $40 million to ValueClick. His next startup, BlueLithium, was acquired by Yahoo for $300 million in cash. Oprah once gushed that the good-looking entrepreneur was single. Now, his ad-tech company is reportedly planning to raise $100 million in an initial public offering.
-----
On Aug. 5, 2013, security footage allegedly surfaced of Chahal "hitting and assaulting" his girlfriend, Juliet Kakish. The Examiner's Mike Aldax says Chahal attacked her "117 times over a half-hour period" in his San Francisco home.
The complaint against Chahal filed last August, obtained by Business Insider, listed 45 felony counts and two misdemeanors that accused Chahal of the following actions:
•Hitting Kakish repeatedly in the head
-----
•Dragging her from the bed to the floor
•Covering her mouth with his hand to obstruct her breathing
•Hitting her in the lower body approximately 15 times
•Hitting her in the head while holding his other hand over her mouth
•Threatening to kill her
-----
Chahal was arrested but was able to post the $1 million bail. He also hired an attorney.
For most people, video footage of this sort of alleged attack could mean serious jail time and possibly even the end of their careers. Instead, Chahal has managed to avoid jail altogether.
Last week, Chahal pleaded guilty to just the two misdemeanors, and he won’t have to do any jail time. Valleywag's Nitasha Tiku reports his sentence: He'll be put on probation for the next three years. He's also agreed to do many hours of community service and to enroll in a domestic violence program for roughly one year.
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Thursday, April 24, 2014
Increasing daily coffee consumption may reduce type 2 diabetes risk
I can't stand coffee, so I'll just have to depend on a healthy diet & weight.http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/hsop-idc042214.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Marge Dwyer
Harvard School of Public Health
Increasing daily coffee consumption may reduce type 2 diabetes risk
Boston, MA — People who increased the amount of coffee they drank each day by more than one cup over a four-year period had a 11% lower risk for type 2 diabetes than those who made no changes to their coffee consumption, according to a new study led by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers. In addition, the study found that those who decreased their coffee consumption by more than a cup per day increased their type 2 diabetes risk by 17%.
"Our findings confirm those of previous studies that showed that higher coffee consumption was associated with lower type 2 diabetes risk," said Shilpa Bhupathiraju, lead author and research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH. "Most importantly, they provide new evidence that changes in coffee consumption habit can affect type 2 diabetes risk in a relatively short period of time."
The study appears online Thursday, April 24, 2014 in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes).
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Results showed that participants who increased their coffee consumption by more than one cup per day (median change=1.69 cups/day) over a four-year period had a 11% lower risk of type 2 diabetes in the subsequent four years compared to those who made no changes in consumption. (A cup of coffee was defined as eight ounces, black, or with a small amount of milk and/or sugar.) Those who lowered their daily coffee consumption by more than one cup (median change=2 cups/day) had a 17% higher risk for diabetes. Changes in decaffeinated coffee consumption and caffeinated tea consumption were not associated with changes in risk for type 2 diabetes.
"These findings further demonstrate that, for most people, coffee may have health benefits," said Frank Hu, senior author and professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH. "But coffee is only one of many factors that influence diabetes risk. More importantly, individuals should watch their weight and be physically active."
Children living with a lone parent are as happy as those with 2
A previous study I read found that children who are very happy in childhood tend to be less happy than others in adulthood. I guess because they didn't learn to cope with challenges.http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/bsa-clw042414.php
Of course, too much unhappiness is definitely harmful.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Children living with a lone parent are as happy as those with 2
Children living with a step-parent or a lone parent are as happy as those living with two biological parents, the British Sociological Association's annual conference in Leeds heard today [Thursday 24 April].
In a major UK study on wellbeing, researchers from NatCen Social Research analysed data from the Millennium Cohort Study on 12,877 children aged seven in 2008 and found no significant difference in happiness.
Whether the children lived with two biological parents, a step-parent and biological parent, or in a single parent family, made no difference to how they rated their happiness: 64% said they were happy 'sometimes or never', and 36% said they were 'happy all the time'.
Even when the researchers statistically removed the effects of other factors such as parental social class so that the effects of family type were isolated, the results showed no significant differences.
Jenny Chanfreau, Senior Researcher at NatCen, told the conference that, in contrast, relationships with parents and other children were strongly linked with how likely the seven-year-olds were to be happy. For instance, factors such as getting on well with siblings and not being bullied at school were associated with being happy all the time.
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Ms Chanfreau told the conference: "We found that the family type had no significant effect on the happiness of the seven-year-olds or the 11-15 year olds.
"It's the quality of the relationships in the home that matters – not the family composition. Getting on well with siblings, having fun with the family at weekends, and having a parent who reported rarely or never shouting when the child was naughty, were all linked with a higher likelihood of being happy all the time among seven-year olds.
"Pupil relations at school are also important – being bullied at school or being 'horrible' to others was strongly associated with lower happiness in the seven-year-olds, for instance."
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Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds
I have done a lot of my song-writing while hiking in the woods. On the other hand, I have also done a fair amount on long commutes, when I had a car whose radio didn't work.http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/apa-taw042414.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Lisa Bowen
American Psychological Association
Taking a walk may lead to more creativity than sitting, study finds
Free-flowing thought more likely while walking indoors or outdoors, research reveals
WASHINGTON -- When the task at hand requires some imagination, taking a walk may lead to more creative thinking than sitting, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
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While at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education, Oppezzo and colleague Daniel L. Schwartz, PhD, conducted studies involving 176 people, mostly college students. They found that those who walked instead of sitting or being pushed in a wheelchair consistently gave more creative responses on tests commonly used to measure creative thinking, such as thinking of alternate uses for common objects and coming up with original analogies to capture complex ideas. When asked to solve problems with a single answer, however, the walkers fell slightly behind those who responded while sitting, according to the study published in APA's Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition.
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To see if walking was the source of creative inspiration rather than being outdoors, another experiment with 40 participants compared responses of students walking outside or inside on a treadmill with the responses of students being pushed in a wheelchair outside and sitting inside. Again, the students who walked, whether indoors or outside, came up with more creative responses than those either sitting inside or being pushed in a wheelchair outdoors. "While being outdoors has many cognitive benefits, walking appears to have a very specific benefit of improving creativity," said Oppezzo.
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Altruistic adolescents less likely to become depressed
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uoia-saa042414.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Diana Yates
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Study: Altruistic adolescents less likely to become depressed
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It is better to give than to receive – at least if you're an adolescent and you enjoy giving, a new study suggests.
The study found that 15- and 16-year-olds who find pleasure in pro-social activities, such as giving their money to family members, are less likely to become depressed than those who get a bigger thrill from taking risks or keeping the money for themselves.
The researchers detail their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study focused on the ventral striatum, a brain region that regulates feelings of pleasure in response to rewards. Previous research has shown that ventral striatum activity tends to be more pronounced in adolescence, suggesting that people at this age experience the pleasure of rewards more intensely than younger children or adults.
Adolescence also is a time of heightened risk-taking, which may be related to young people's increased sensitivity to rewards, said University of Illinois psychology professor Eva Telzer, who led the research.
"There's this trend where from childhood to adolescence, morbidity and mortality rates increase 200 to 300 percent, and it's almost entirely due to these preventable risk-taking behaviors," she said.
Depressive symptoms also tend to increase during this time, she said.
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The researchers found that activity in the ventral striatum in response to different rewards predicted whether the subjects' depressive symptoms would worsen – or lessen – over time.
"If they show higher levels of reward activation in the ventral striatum in the context of the risk-taking task, they show increases in depressive symptoms over time," said Telzer, who also is a professor in the Beckman Institute at Illinois. "And if they show higher reward activation in the pro-social context, they show declines in depression.
"This study suggests that if we can somehow redirect adolescents away from risk-taking or self-centered rewards and toward engaging in these more pro-social behaviors, then perhaps that can have a positive impact on their well-being over time," she said.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Diana Yates
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Study: Altruistic adolescents less likely to become depressed
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — It is better to give than to receive – at least if you're an adolescent and you enjoy giving, a new study suggests.
The study found that 15- and 16-year-olds who find pleasure in pro-social activities, such as giving their money to family members, are less likely to become depressed than those who get a bigger thrill from taking risks or keeping the money for themselves.
The researchers detail their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study focused on the ventral striatum, a brain region that regulates feelings of pleasure in response to rewards. Previous research has shown that ventral striatum activity tends to be more pronounced in adolescence, suggesting that people at this age experience the pleasure of rewards more intensely than younger children or adults.
Adolescence also is a time of heightened risk-taking, which may be related to young people's increased sensitivity to rewards, said University of Illinois psychology professor Eva Telzer, who led the research.
"There's this trend where from childhood to adolescence, morbidity and mortality rates increase 200 to 300 percent, and it's almost entirely due to these preventable risk-taking behaviors," she said.
Depressive symptoms also tend to increase during this time, she said.
-----
The researchers found that activity in the ventral striatum in response to different rewards predicted whether the subjects' depressive symptoms would worsen – or lessen – over time.
"If they show higher levels of reward activation in the ventral striatum in the context of the risk-taking task, they show increases in depressive symptoms over time," said Telzer, who also is a professor in the Beckman Institute at Illinois. "And if they show higher reward activation in the pro-social context, they show declines in depression.
"This study suggests that if we can somehow redirect adolescents away from risk-taking or self-centered rewards and toward engaging in these more pro-social behaviors, then perhaps that can have a positive impact on their well-being over time," she said.
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Study finds accelerated soil carbon loss, increasing the rate of climate change
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/nau-sfa042414.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Bruce Hungate
Northern Arizona University
Study finds accelerated soil carbon loss, increasing the rate of climate change
Research published in Science today found that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause soil microbes to produce more carbon dioxide, accelerating climate change.
Two Northern Arizona University researchers led the study, which challenges previous understanding about how carbon accumulates in soil. Increased levels of CO2 accelerate plant growth, which causes more absorption of CO2 through photosynthesis.
Until now, the accepted belief was that carbon is then stored in wood and soil for a long time, slowing climate change. Yet this new research suggests that the extra carbon provides fuel to microorganisms in the soil whose byproducts (such as CO2) are released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
"Our findings mean that nature is not as efficient in slowing global warming as we previously thought," said Kees Jan van Groenigen, research fellow at the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at NAU and lead author of the study. "By overlooking this effect of increased CO2 on soil microbes, models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have overestimated the potential of soil to store carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect."
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 24-Apr-2014
Contact: Bruce Hungate
Northern Arizona University
Study finds accelerated soil carbon loss, increasing the rate of climate change
Research published in Science today found that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause soil microbes to produce more carbon dioxide, accelerating climate change.
Two Northern Arizona University researchers led the study, which challenges previous understanding about how carbon accumulates in soil. Increased levels of CO2 accelerate plant growth, which causes more absorption of CO2 through photosynthesis.
Until now, the accepted belief was that carbon is then stored in wood and soil for a long time, slowing climate change. Yet this new research suggests that the extra carbon provides fuel to microorganisms in the soil whose byproducts (such as CO2) are released into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
"Our findings mean that nature is not as efficient in slowing global warming as we previously thought," said Kees Jan van Groenigen, research fellow at the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at NAU and lead author of the study. "By overlooking this effect of increased CO2 on soil microbes, models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have overestimated the potential of soil to store carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect."
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Oregon Panel Recommends Switch to Federal Health Exchange
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/us/politics/oregon-considers-handing-troubled-insurance-exchange-to-us.html?partner=MYWAY&ei=5065&_r=0
By ROBERT PEAR and KIRK JOHNSONAPRIL 24, 2014
With encouragement from the Obama administration, an Oregon panel recommended Thursday that the state scrap the website for its beleaguered health insurance exchange and use the federal marketplace instead.
State officials concluded that it would be much less expensive to use the federal site, HealthCare.gov, than to repair the one built specially for the state, Cover Oregon. The first option would cost $4 million to $6 million, while the second would cost $78 million, state officials said.
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By ROBERT PEAR and KIRK JOHNSONAPRIL 24, 2014
With encouragement from the Obama administration, an Oregon panel recommended Thursday that the state scrap the website for its beleaguered health insurance exchange and use the federal marketplace instead.
State officials concluded that it would be much less expensive to use the federal site, HealthCare.gov, than to repair the one built specially for the state, Cover Oregon. The first option would cost $4 million to $6 million, while the second would cost $78 million, state officials said.
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Taxpayers Hit Twice by Fast-Food Pay Practices
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2014/04/22/Taxpayers-Hit-Twice-Fast-Food-Restaurant-Pay-Practices-Report
April 22, 2014
By Suzanne McGee,The Fiscal Times
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In a scathing analysis, the progressive Institute for Policy Studies has calculated that a law allowing corporations to deduct executives’ stock options and other so-called “performance pay” from their income taxes, without limits, costs taxpayers some $232 million in the last two years — based on just 20 large companies in the restaurant industry.
At the same time, the new report notes, large restaurant chains often pay their low-level workers "so little that many of them must rely on Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded anti-poverty programs." The Institute for Policy Studies says the 20 companies in its report are all members of the National Restaurant Association, which is fighting efforts to raise the minimum wage.
What the Institute for Policy Studies calls a “loophole” actually stems from changes to the tax code dating back to 1993. Congress, seeking to rein in executive pay, capped tax deductibility of cash payments at $1 million — but allowed for unlimited deductions for performance-based pay. That's opened the door to the explosion in use of stock option grants as the main source of executive compensation in the 1990s.
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Starbucks and CEO Howard Schultz benefited far more, though. Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz received $236 million in exercised stock options and other kinds of performance pay in the two-year period that the Institute for Policy Studies surveyed. That enabled Starbucks to cut its IRS bill by $82 million — "enough to raise the pay for 30,507 baristas to $10.10 per hour for a year of full-time work," the report says.
April 22, 2014
By Suzanne McGee,The Fiscal Times
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In a scathing analysis, the progressive Institute for Policy Studies has calculated that a law allowing corporations to deduct executives’ stock options and other so-called “performance pay” from their income taxes, without limits, costs taxpayers some $232 million in the last two years — based on just 20 large companies in the restaurant industry.
At the same time, the new report notes, large restaurant chains often pay their low-level workers "so little that many of them must rely on Medicaid and other taxpayer-funded anti-poverty programs." The Institute for Policy Studies says the 20 companies in its report are all members of the National Restaurant Association, which is fighting efforts to raise the minimum wage.
What the Institute for Policy Studies calls a “loophole” actually stems from changes to the tax code dating back to 1993. Congress, seeking to rein in executive pay, capped tax deductibility of cash payments at $1 million — but allowed for unlimited deductions for performance-based pay. That's opened the door to the explosion in use of stock option grants as the main source of executive compensation in the 1990s.
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Starbucks and CEO Howard Schultz benefited far more, though. Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz received $236 million in exercised stock options and other kinds of performance pay in the two-year period that the Institute for Policy Studies surveyed. That enabled Starbucks to cut its IRS bill by $82 million — "enough to raise the pay for 30,507 baristas to $10.10 per hour for a year of full-time work," the report says.
How Income Inequality Can Hurt the Economy
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/04/22/How-Income-Inequality-Can-Hurt-Economy
April 22, 2014
By Rob Garver,The Fiscal Times
Given that the adjectives most used in describing the economy’s recovery from the great recession include “sluggish” and “disappointing” it may come as a surprise to some that average household income in the U.S. is higher, in nominal terms, than it was in 2008.
Not only that, it passed the 2008 average as long ago as 2012. So, if income has recovered, the stock market is at record highs, and corporate earnings are way up, how come it doesn’t feel like there’s been much of a recovery?
An analysis released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a useful illustration of at least one thing that is unquestionably holding our economy back: income inequality.
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The key here, though, is to remember that the study measured “average” household income when it found a return to pre-recession levels. The headline number on the day the story was released was that 82 percent of the income gains went to the top 20 percent of households measured by income. That top quintile saw its nominal income increase on average by $8,358 per year, while the bottom quintile saw income decline by $275 in the same time period.
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What many people don’t grasp is that when high income households see their income increase, they generally don’t spend it. Cobet found that the top quintile increased spending by only $2,365 per year, meaning they spent about 29 percent of the extra income they received.
The next quintile down, which saw an annual increase in income of $1,862, spent an extra $1,348, or about 72 percent of the additional income.
But it’s in the three lowest quintiles where the story really gets interesting. For the second and third-lowest quintiles, total household spending increased by far more than income.
Households in the middle quintile earned only $69 more per year, but spent an additional $345, meaning that they increased their spending by 500 percent of their income gain. The next lowest quintile saw income increase by $143, but increased spending by $881 – 616 percent of their income gain.
Cobet, the study’s author and a senior economist at BLS said that there is no way of explaining the spending patterns except to assume that families “are using either savings and some version of credit card and other debt.”
For the first quintile, for whom income fell by $275, spending actually decreased. But the decrease -- $150 -- was not enough to offset the decline in income, meaning that they, too spent savings or borrowed.
What this means is that in total, household income in 2012 was, on average, $10,157 higher than in 2008. But average spending only increased by $4,789 – and even getting spending to that level required households in the bottom three quintiles to go into debt.
To economists, this shows the damage that income inequality can do to the economy as a whole. If the three lowest quartiles in income distribution had shared more equally in the increase in average income, they most certainly would have spent most or all of that increase. But as it is, $5,993 of the average increase of $10,157 – more than half – went into the savings of the highest quartile instead of being used for the purchase of goods and services, which boosts economic growth.
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The concentration of income growth at the top, he said, “has surely hurt consumption. Interestingly, it hasn’t helped investment much either, despite the higher savings rates of those at the top of the scale, since investment capital’s largely been hanging out on the sidelines given weak demand.”
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April 22, 2014
By Rob Garver,The Fiscal Times
Given that the adjectives most used in describing the economy’s recovery from the great recession include “sluggish” and “disappointing” it may come as a surprise to some that average household income in the U.S. is higher, in nominal terms, than it was in 2008.
Not only that, it passed the 2008 average as long ago as 2012. So, if income has recovered, the stock market is at record highs, and corporate earnings are way up, how come it doesn’t feel like there’s been much of a recovery?
An analysis released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a useful illustration of at least one thing that is unquestionably holding our economy back: income inequality.
-----
The key here, though, is to remember that the study measured “average” household income when it found a return to pre-recession levels. The headline number on the day the story was released was that 82 percent of the income gains went to the top 20 percent of households measured by income. That top quintile saw its nominal income increase on average by $8,358 per year, while the bottom quintile saw income decline by $275 in the same time period.
-----
What many people don’t grasp is that when high income households see their income increase, they generally don’t spend it. Cobet found that the top quintile increased spending by only $2,365 per year, meaning they spent about 29 percent of the extra income they received.
The next quintile down, which saw an annual increase in income of $1,862, spent an extra $1,348, or about 72 percent of the additional income.
But it’s in the three lowest quintiles where the story really gets interesting. For the second and third-lowest quintiles, total household spending increased by far more than income.
Households in the middle quintile earned only $69 more per year, but spent an additional $345, meaning that they increased their spending by 500 percent of their income gain. The next lowest quintile saw income increase by $143, but increased spending by $881 – 616 percent of their income gain.
Cobet, the study’s author and a senior economist at BLS said that there is no way of explaining the spending patterns except to assume that families “are using either savings and some version of credit card and other debt.”
For the first quintile, for whom income fell by $275, spending actually decreased. But the decrease -- $150 -- was not enough to offset the decline in income, meaning that they, too spent savings or borrowed.
What this means is that in total, household income in 2012 was, on average, $10,157 higher than in 2008. But average spending only increased by $4,789 – and even getting spending to that level required households in the bottom three quintiles to go into debt.
To economists, this shows the damage that income inequality can do to the economy as a whole. If the three lowest quartiles in income distribution had shared more equally in the increase in average income, they most certainly would have spent most or all of that increase. But as it is, $5,993 of the average increase of $10,157 – more than half – went into the savings of the highest quartile instead of being used for the purchase of goods and services, which boosts economic growth.
-----
The concentration of income growth at the top, he said, “has surely hurt consumption. Interestingly, it hasn’t helped investment much either, despite the higher savings rates of those at the top of the scale, since investment capital’s largely been hanging out on the sidelines given weak demand.”
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Wednesday, April 23, 2014
States with the Most Federal Disaster Aid Sent Climate-Science Deniers to Congress
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/report/2013/09/12/73895/states-of-denial-states-with-the-most-federal-disaster-aid-sent-climate-science-deniers-to-congress-2/
By Daniel J. Weiss, Jackie Weidman, and Stephanie Pinkalla | September 12, 2013
The United States suffered from numerous extreme weather events in 2011 and 2012. In fact, there were 25 severe storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires that each caused more than $1 billion in economic damages, with a total price tag of $188 billion. To help communities recover from these violent weather events, the federal government spent nearly $62 billion for disaster relief in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. These federal funds only cover a portion of recovery costs; private insurance and individuals harmed by the events also spent billions of dollars.
There is recent evidence that climate change played a role in the extreme weather events of 2012.
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Interestingly, many of the states that received the most federal recovery aid to cope with climate-linked extreme weather have federal legislators who are climate-science deniers. The 10 states that received the most federal recovery aid in FY 2011 and 2012 elected 47 climate-science deniers to the Senate and the House. Nearly two-thirds of the senators from these top 10 recipient states voted against granting federal emergency aid to New Jersey and New York after Superstorm Sandy.
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As the following map shows, the 10 states that received the most federal disaster relief are primarily farm states in the plains and the Midwest. These states suffered billions of dollars of crop losses due to prolonged drought in 2011 and 2012. This necessitated an estimated $28 billion in crop insurance expenditures in FY 2011 and 2012, which comprised a majority of the spending for disaster programs where we could identify state-by-state expenditures.
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By Daniel J. Weiss, Jackie Weidman, and Stephanie Pinkalla | September 12, 2013
The United States suffered from numerous extreme weather events in 2011 and 2012. In fact, there were 25 severe storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires that each caused more than $1 billion in economic damages, with a total price tag of $188 billion. To help communities recover from these violent weather events, the federal government spent nearly $62 billion for disaster relief in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. These federal funds only cover a portion of recovery costs; private insurance and individuals harmed by the events also spent billions of dollars.
There is recent evidence that climate change played a role in the extreme weather events of 2012.
-----
Interestingly, many of the states that received the most federal recovery aid to cope with climate-linked extreme weather have federal legislators who are climate-science deniers. The 10 states that received the most federal recovery aid in FY 2011 and 2012 elected 47 climate-science deniers to the Senate and the House. Nearly two-thirds of the senators from these top 10 recipient states voted against granting federal emergency aid to New Jersey and New York after Superstorm Sandy.
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As the following map shows, the 10 states that received the most federal disaster relief are primarily farm states in the plains and the Midwest. These states suffered billions of dollars of crop losses due to prolonged drought in 2011 and 2012. This necessitated an estimated $28 billion in crop insurance expenditures in FY 2011 and 2012, which comprised a majority of the spending for disaster programs where we could identify state-by-state expenditures.
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Two Colorado fourth graders busted for selling marijuana
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/04/colorado-fourth-graders-busted-for-selling-pot/
April 23, 2014
By Clayton Sandell
Two Colorado fourth graders were busted for selling marijuana at their elementary school, prompting officials today to urge adults to keep their weed locked away from kids.
School officials said a 10-year-old fourth grade boy brought a small quantity of leafy marijuana to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday.
“He sold it to three other fourth graders on the school playground, which resulted in a profit to the young man of $11,” John Gates, director of safety and security for the Greeley-Evans School District, told ABC News.
The next day, Gates said one of the three young buyers brought a marijuana edible to school and gave it to the boy who sold the pot on Monday. That boy took a bite, but did not suffer any ill effects, Gates said.
Both boys apparently got the weed from relatives, according to Gates.
“Both of these kids took the marijuana without the consent of their grandparents,” said Gates.
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Adults 21 and older have been able to buy recreational marijuana legally in Colorado since Jan. 1.
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The side effects of edible marijuana – which can be far more potent than smoking a joint – have been raising new concerns after two recent deaths in Colorado. In one, a 19-year old college student died when he jumped off a hotel balcony after eating a marijuana-laced cookie. In the second, Richard Kirk, 47, was charged with shooting and killing his wife while she called 9-1-1, telling police her husband had consumed pot-infused candy.
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April 23, 2014
By Clayton Sandell
Two Colorado fourth graders were busted for selling marijuana at their elementary school, prompting officials today to urge adults to keep their weed locked away from kids.
School officials said a 10-year-old fourth grade boy brought a small quantity of leafy marijuana to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday.
“He sold it to three other fourth graders on the school playground, which resulted in a profit to the young man of $11,” John Gates, director of safety and security for the Greeley-Evans School District, told ABC News.
The next day, Gates said one of the three young buyers brought a marijuana edible to school and gave it to the boy who sold the pot on Monday. That boy took a bite, but did not suffer any ill effects, Gates said.
Both boys apparently got the weed from relatives, according to Gates.
“Both of these kids took the marijuana without the consent of their grandparents,” said Gates.
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Adults 21 and older have been able to buy recreational marijuana legally in Colorado since Jan. 1.
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The side effects of edible marijuana – which can be far more potent than smoking a joint – have been raising new concerns after two recent deaths in Colorado. In one, a 19-year old college student died when he jumped off a hotel balcony after eating a marijuana-laced cookie. In the second, Richard Kirk, 47, was charged with shooting and killing his wife while she called 9-1-1, telling police her husband had consumed pot-infused candy.
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Midlife occupational and leisure-time physical activity limits mobility in old age
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/aof-moa042314.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Professor Taina Rantanen
Academy of Finland
Midlife occupational and leisure-time physical activity limits mobility in old age
Inverse Effects of Midlife Occupational and Leisure Time Physical Activity on Mobility Limitation in Old Age
Strenuous occupational physical activity in midlife increases the risk of mobility limitation in old age, whereas leisure-time physical activity decreases the risk. This is found in a study which followed up 5,200 public sector employees for 28 years. The study was conducted at the Gerontology Research Center in Finland and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
Heavy physical labor is often repetitive, wears the body and lasts for several hours a day. On the contrast, leisure-time physical activity is designed to improve fitness and provide recreation and a typical exercise session lasts for one or two hours. Even though both are based on muscle activity and result in energy expenditure, their long-term consequences are different.
"A person doing heavy manual work may compensate for its detrimental effects by participating in brisk leisure-time physical activity," says professor Taina Rantanen, the leader of the research group.
"Mobility limitation is an important determinant of a person's possibilities to participate in the society and to utilize community amenities. Current policy emphasizes the importance of promoting independent living among older people," Rantanen adds.
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In long follow-up studies of older people it is necessary to take into account that some of the participants may die before the study ends. Only the healthiest and strongest participants are available for the follow-up assessments, which may lead to the underestimation of the age-related changes," says Professor Rantanen.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Professor Taina Rantanen
Academy of Finland
Midlife occupational and leisure-time physical activity limits mobility in old age
Inverse Effects of Midlife Occupational and Leisure Time Physical Activity on Mobility Limitation in Old Age
Strenuous occupational physical activity in midlife increases the risk of mobility limitation in old age, whereas leisure-time physical activity decreases the risk. This is found in a study which followed up 5,200 public sector employees for 28 years. The study was conducted at the Gerontology Research Center in Finland and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.
Heavy physical labor is often repetitive, wears the body and lasts for several hours a day. On the contrast, leisure-time physical activity is designed to improve fitness and provide recreation and a typical exercise session lasts for one or two hours. Even though both are based on muscle activity and result in energy expenditure, their long-term consequences are different.
"A person doing heavy manual work may compensate for its detrimental effects by participating in brisk leisure-time physical activity," says professor Taina Rantanen, the leader of the research group.
"Mobility limitation is an important determinant of a person's possibilities to participate in the society and to utilize community amenities. Current policy emphasizes the importance of promoting independent living among older people," Rantanen adds.
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In long follow-up studies of older people it is necessary to take into account that some of the participants may die before the study ends. Only the healthiest and strongest participants are available for the follow-up assessments, which may lead to the underestimation of the age-related changes," says Professor Rantanen.
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Marijuana use may increase heart complications in young, middle-aged adults
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/aha-mum041814.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Karen Astle
American Heart Association
Marijuana use may increase heart complications in young, middle-aged adults
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
Marijuana use may result in cardiovascular-related complications — even death — among young and middle-aged adults, according to a French study reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
"In prior research, we identified several remarkable cases of cardiovascular complications as the reasons for hospital admission of young marijuana users," said Émilie Jouanjus, Pharm.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and a medical faculty member at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in Toulouse, France. "This unexpected finding deserved to be further analyzed, especially given that the medicinal use of marijuana has become more prevalent and some governments are legalizing its use."
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Karen Astle
American Heart Association
Marijuana use may increase heart complications in young, middle-aged adults
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
Marijuana use may result in cardiovascular-related complications — even death — among young and middle-aged adults, according to a French study reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
"In prior research, we identified several remarkable cases of cardiovascular complications as the reasons for hospital admission of young marijuana users," said Émilie Jouanjus, Pharm.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study and a medical faculty member at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in Toulouse, France. "This unexpected finding deserved to be further analyzed, especially given that the medicinal use of marijuana has become more prevalent and some governments are legalizing its use."
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Exercise Keeps Hippocampus Healthy in People at Risk for Alzheimer's
http://www.umdrightnow.umd.edu/news/exercise-keeps-hippocampus-healthy-people-risk-alzheimers
April 23, 2014
Contacts: Kelly Blake
A study of older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease shows that moderate physical activity may protect brain health and stave off shrinkage of the hippocampus – the brain region responsible for memory and spatial orientation that is attacked first in Alzheimer's disease. Dr. J. Carson Smith, a kinesiology researcher in the University of Maryland School of Public Health who conducted the study, says that while all of us will lose some brain volume as we age, those with an increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease typically show greater hippocampal atrophy over time. The findings are published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
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Of all four groups studied, only those at high genetic risk for Alzheimer's who did not exercise experienced a decrease in hippocampal volume (3 percent) over the 18-month period. All other groups, including those at high risk for Alzheimer's but who were physically active, maintained the volume of their hippocampus.
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Dr. Smith has previously shown that a walking exercise intervention for patients with mild cognitive decline improved cognitive function by improving the efficiency of brain activity associated with memory.
April 23, 2014
Contacts: Kelly Blake
A study of older adults at increased risk for Alzheimer's disease shows that moderate physical activity may protect brain health and stave off shrinkage of the hippocampus – the brain region responsible for memory and spatial orientation that is attacked first in Alzheimer's disease. Dr. J. Carson Smith, a kinesiology researcher in the University of Maryland School of Public Health who conducted the study, says that while all of us will lose some brain volume as we age, those with an increased genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease typically show greater hippocampal atrophy over time. The findings are published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
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Of all four groups studied, only those at high genetic risk for Alzheimer's who did not exercise experienced a decrease in hippocampal volume (3 percent) over the 18-month period. All other groups, including those at high risk for Alzheimer's but who were physically active, maintained the volume of their hippocampus.
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Dr. Smith has previously shown that a walking exercise intervention for patients with mild cognitive decline improved cognitive function by improving the efficiency of brain activity associated with memory.
Biting into Whole Foods can Make Children Rowdy
I wonder if it is the act of eating their food with their fingers which causes this, maybe causing them to feel more like younger children?http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/OP/bite_vs_chew
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A new Cornell study published in Eating Behaviors, found that when 6-10 year old children ate foods they had to bite with their front teeth— such as drumsticks, whole apples, or corn on the cob— they were rowdier than when these foods had been cut. "They were twice as likely to disobey adults and twice as aggressive toward other kids," said Brian Wansink, Professor and Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab.
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Iron consumption can increase risk for heart disease
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/iu-sic042314.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Tracy James
Indiana University
Study: Iron consumption can increase risk for heart disease
A new study from the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington has bolstered the link between red meat consumption and heart disease by finding a strong association between heme iron, found only in meat, and potentially deadly coronary heart disease.
The study found that heme iron consumption increased the risk for coronary heart disease by 57 percent, while no association was found between nonheme iron, which is in plant and other non-meat sources, and coronary heart disease.
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The body treats the two kinds of iron differently. It can better control absorption of iron from vegetable sources, including iron supplements, but not so with iron from meat sources.
"The observed positive association between heme iron and risk of CHD may be explained by the high bioavailability of heme iron and its role as the primary source of iron in iron-replete participants," the researchers wrote in the journal article. "Heme iron is absorbed at a much greater rate in comparison to nonheme iron (37 percent vs. 5 percent). Once absorbed, it may contribute as a catalyst in the oxidation of LDLs, causing tissue-damaging inflammation, which is a potential risk factor for CHD."
Iron stores in the body increase over time. The only way to reduce iron in the body is by bleeding, donating blood or menstruation. Some dietary choices, such as coffee and tea, also can inhibit iron absorption.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Tracy James
Indiana University
Study: Iron consumption can increase risk for heart disease
A new study from the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington has bolstered the link between red meat consumption and heart disease by finding a strong association between heme iron, found only in meat, and potentially deadly coronary heart disease.
The study found that heme iron consumption increased the risk for coronary heart disease by 57 percent, while no association was found between nonheme iron, which is in plant and other non-meat sources, and coronary heart disease.
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The body treats the two kinds of iron differently. It can better control absorption of iron from vegetable sources, including iron supplements, but not so with iron from meat sources.
"The observed positive association between heme iron and risk of CHD may be explained by the high bioavailability of heme iron and its role as the primary source of iron in iron-replete participants," the researchers wrote in the journal article. "Heme iron is absorbed at a much greater rate in comparison to nonheme iron (37 percent vs. 5 percent). Once absorbed, it may contribute as a catalyst in the oxidation of LDLs, causing tissue-damaging inflammation, which is a potential risk factor for CHD."
Iron stores in the body increase over time. The only way to reduce iron in the body is by bleeding, donating blood or menstruation. Some dietary choices, such as coffee and tea, also can inhibit iron absorption.
In lab tests, the antimicrobial ingredient triclosan spurs growth of breast cancer cells
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Michael Bernstein
American Chemical Society
In lab tests, the antimicrobial ingredient triclosan spurs growth of breast cancer cells
Some manufacturers are turning away from using triclosan as an antimicrobial ingredient in soaps, toothpastes and other products over health concerns. And now scientists are reporting new evidence that appears to support these worries. Their study, published in the ACS journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, found that triclosan, as well as another commercial substance called octylphenol, promoted the growth of human breast cancer cells in lab dishes and breast cancer tumors in mice.
Kyung-Chul Choi and colleagues note that hormonal imbalances seem to play a role in the development of breast cancer. Given that link, researchers are investigating whether endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are compounds that act like hormones, might spur cancer cell growth. EDCs have become ubiquitous in products, in the environment and even in our bodies. Research has found that two EDCs — triclosan, an antimicrobial ingredient in many products, including soaps, cosmetics and cutting boards; and octylphenol, which is in some paints, pesticides and plastics — have accumulated in the environment. Additionally, triclosan is reportedly in the urine of an estimated 75 percent of Americans. Choi's team wanted to see what effect the two compounds have on breast cancer cells.
In tests on human breast cancer cells and in special immunodeficient mice with tissue grafts, the scientists found that both agents interfered with genes involved with breast cancer cell growth, resulting in more cancer cells. Mice that were exposed to the two compounds had larger and denser breast cancer tumors than the control group. "Although the doses of EDCs were somewhat high, we did this to simulate their effects of daily exposure, as well as body accumulation due to long-term exposure, simultaneously in animal experiments," said Choi. "Thus, exposure to EDCs may significantly increase the risk of breast cancer development and adversely affect human health," the researchers state in the paper.
The authors cite funding from the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Rural Development Administration of Korea.
More Americans in their golden years are going hungry
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uoic-ma042314.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Debra Levey Larson
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
More Americans in their golden years are going hungry
URBANA, Ill. - In a country as wealthy as the United States, it may come as a surprise that one in 12 seniors do not have access to adequate food due to lack of money or other financial resources. They are food insecure.
Recent research at the University of Illinois using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) revealed that the seniors who are dealing with hunger are also facing negative health and nutrition consequences.
"In 2011, 8.35 percent of Americans over age 60 faced the threat of hunger—that translates to 4.8 million people," said Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois soybean industry endowed professor in agricultural strategy in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and executive director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory who led the data analysis on the study.
Hand-in-hand with hunger goes a lower intake of calories, vitamins, and other nutrients, which puts them at risk for a wide variety of ailments.
"Seniors who are food insecure reported higher incidence of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attack, gum disease, and a host of other health problems than adults their age who are food secure," Gundersen said. "In addition, food-insecure seniors have worse general health outcomes, more daily activity limitations, and are more likely to suffer from depression.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Debra Levey Larson
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
More Americans in their golden years are going hungry
URBANA, Ill. - In a country as wealthy as the United States, it may come as a surprise that one in 12 seniors do not have access to adequate food due to lack of money or other financial resources. They are food insecure.
Recent research at the University of Illinois using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) revealed that the seniors who are dealing with hunger are also facing negative health and nutrition consequences.
"In 2011, 8.35 percent of Americans over age 60 faced the threat of hunger—that translates to 4.8 million people," said Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois soybean industry endowed professor in agricultural strategy in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and executive director of the National Soybean Research Laboratory who led the data analysis on the study.
Hand-in-hand with hunger goes a lower intake of calories, vitamins, and other nutrients, which puts them at risk for a wide variety of ailments.
"Seniors who are food insecure reported higher incidence of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attack, gum disease, and a host of other health problems than adults their age who are food secure," Gundersen said. "In addition, food-insecure seniors have worse general health outcomes, more daily activity limitations, and are more likely to suffer from depression.
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Higher education associated with better recovery from traumatic brain injury
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/jhm-hea042314.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Stephanie Desmon
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Higher education associated with better recovery from traumatic brain injury
Better-educated people appear to be significantly more likely to recover from a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), suggesting that a brain's "cognitive reserve" may play a role in helping people get back to their previous lives, new Johns Hopkins research shows.
The researchers, reporting in the journal Neurology, found that those with the equivalent of at least a college education are seven times more likely than those who didn't finish high school to be disability-free one year after a TBI serious enough to warrant inpatient time in a hospital and rehabilitation facility.
The findings, while new among TBI investigators, mirror those in Alzheimer's disease research, in which higher educational attainment — believed to be an indicator of a more active, or more effective, use of the brain's "muscles" and therefore its cognitive reserve — has been linked to slower progression of dementia.
"After this type of brain injury, some patients experience lifelong disability, while others with very similar damage achieve a full recovery," says study leader Eric B. Schneider, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Center for Surgical Trials and Outcomes Research. "Our work suggests that cognitive reserve ¬— the brain's ability to be resilient in the face of insult or injury — could account for the difference."
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Stephanie Desmon
Johns Hopkins Medicine
Higher education associated with better recovery from traumatic brain injury
Better-educated people appear to be significantly more likely to recover from a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), suggesting that a brain's "cognitive reserve" may play a role in helping people get back to their previous lives, new Johns Hopkins research shows.
The researchers, reporting in the journal Neurology, found that those with the equivalent of at least a college education are seven times more likely than those who didn't finish high school to be disability-free one year after a TBI serious enough to warrant inpatient time in a hospital and rehabilitation facility.
The findings, while new among TBI investigators, mirror those in Alzheimer's disease research, in which higher educational attainment — believed to be an indicator of a more active, or more effective, use of the brain's "muscles" and therefore its cognitive reserve — has been linked to slower progression of dementia.
"After this type of brain injury, some patients experience lifelong disability, while others with very similar damage achieve a full recovery," says study leader Eric B. Schneider, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Center for Surgical Trials and Outcomes Research. "Our work suggests that cognitive reserve ¬— the brain's ability to be resilient in the face of insult or injury — could account for the difference."
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Too many chefs: Smaller groups exhibit more accurate decision-making
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/pu-tmc042314.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Morgan Kelly
Princeton University
Too many chefs: Smaller groups exhibit more accurate decision-making
The trope that the likelihood of an accurate group decision increases with the abundance of brains involved might not hold up when a collective faces a variety of factors — as often happens in life and nature. Instead, Princeton University researchers report that smaller groups actually tend to make more accurate decisions while larger assemblies may become excessively focused on only certain pieces of information.
The findings present a significant caveat to what is known about collective intelligence, or the "wisdom of crowds," wherein individual observations — even if imperfect — coalesces into a single, accurate group decision.
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But collective decision-making has rarely been tested under complex, "realistic" circumstances where information comes from multiple sources, the Princeton researchers report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. In these scenarios, crowd wisdom peaks early then becomes less accurate as more individuals become involved, explained senior author Iain Couzin, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Apr-2014
Contact: Morgan Kelly
Princeton University
Too many chefs: Smaller groups exhibit more accurate decision-making
The trope that the likelihood of an accurate group decision increases with the abundance of brains involved might not hold up when a collective faces a variety of factors — as often happens in life and nature. Instead, Princeton University researchers report that smaller groups actually tend to make more accurate decisions while larger assemblies may become excessively focused on only certain pieces of information.
The findings present a significant caveat to what is known about collective intelligence, or the "wisdom of crowds," wherein individual observations — even if imperfect — coalesces into a single, accurate group decision.
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But collective decision-making has rarely been tested under complex, "realistic" circumstances where information comes from multiple sources, the Princeton researchers report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. In these scenarios, crowd wisdom peaks early then becomes less accurate as more individuals become involved, explained senior author Iain Couzin, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
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Arctic sea ice falls to 5th lowest March extent on record
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2669
Arctic sea ice extent during March was 5th lowest in the 36-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The winter maximum extent of Arctic sea ice came on March 21, and was the 5th lowest such peak on record. Temperatures in the Arctic were 2 - 6°C (4 -11°F) above average during the last half of the month, but a late-season surge in ice extent came as the Arctic Oscillation turned strongly positive the second week of March, with unusually low sea level pressure in the eastern Arctic and the northern North Atlantic. The associated pattern of surface winds helped to spread out the ice pack, keeping ice extent greater than it would have been. There was a modest increase in thick, multi-year ice over the winter, and the Arctic is in better shape to resist a record summer melt season this year than it was in 2013.
Arctic sea ice extent during March was 5th lowest in the 36-year satellite record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The winter maximum extent of Arctic sea ice came on March 21, and was the 5th lowest such peak on record. Temperatures in the Arctic were 2 - 6°C (4 -11°F) above average during the last half of the month, but a late-season surge in ice extent came as the Arctic Oscillation turned strongly positive the second week of March, with unusually low sea level pressure in the eastern Arctic and the northern North Atlantic. The associated pattern of surface winds helped to spread out the ice pack, keeping ice extent greater than it would have been. There was a modest increase in thick, multi-year ice over the winter, and the Arctic is in better shape to resist a record summer melt season this year than it was in 2013.
World’s Top Serial Bird Killers Put Infamous Windmills to Shame
Golly, who would have a stake in propagating false information on alternatives to fossil fuels?http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-21/beware-the-blades-of-death-world-s-top-serial-bird-killers-.html
By Tom Randall Apr 21, 2014
Pity the birds.
As if cats weren’t bad enough, humans have invented all sorts of torture devices for our winged friends. We’ve paved over their nesting sites to make room for Olive Gardens and have broken up their skyscapes with glass buildings and radio towers.
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Windmills aren’t the biggest serial killer, but are instead the smallest threat to birds worthy of mention, on par with airplanes. Turbines are responsible for as little as one percent of the deaths caused by the next smallest killer, communications towers.
You would hardly know this by reading Twitter or scanning the comments on any news article about wind power.
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No matter whose estimates you use, deaths by turbine don’t compare to cats, cars, power lines or buildings. It’s almost as if there’s been a concerted effort to make people think wind turbines are more menacing than they actually are.
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It’s nice for wind-farm planners to take migration patterns and endangered habitats into account. But even if wind turbines were to double in size and provide 100 percent of our energy needs (both of which defy the laws of physics as we currently understand them), they still wouldn’t compare to the modern scourges of high-tension power lines or buildings with glass windows. Not even close.
The alternative to renewable energy sources like wind and solar is to burn ever more fossil fuels. Animals are threatened by those, too, including North America’s most common hairless mammal: the human. Roughly 20,000 of these moderately-intelligent animals die prematurely each year from air pollution from coal and oil, according to a study ordered by Congress.
After Some Counties In Texas Released Air Pollution Data, A State Agency Cut Their Funding
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/23/3430014/texas-pollution-data-release-funding-cut/
By Jeff Sprosson April 23, 2014
Earlier this month, a coalition of county governments in Texas posted a study that air pollution would increase significantly by 2018 thanks to a local drilling boom. One week later, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality slashed the coalition’s budget for air quality planning.
The study in question was an inventory of emissions from the Eagle Ford shale, which, with the advent of hydraulic fracturing, has seen a boom in natural gas and oil drilling over the past few years. The analysis was put together at the behest of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), a coalition that oversees thirteen counties in and around San Antonio. An initial draft of the study came out in November of last year, and the final version was completed on April 4.
About a week later, the Center for Public Integrity reports, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), slashed AACOG’s air-quality planning budget by 25 percent.
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Since 2012, San Antonio’s monitors have already recorded air pollution levels as high as 87 parts per billion — while the federal standard is 75 parts per billion.
Earlier this year, an eight-month investigation by InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity found that Texas officials were failing to adequately monitor air pollution from the Eagle Ford shale, or to engage in any serious regulatory enforcement.
By Jeff Sprosson April 23, 2014
Earlier this month, a coalition of county governments in Texas posted a study that air pollution would increase significantly by 2018 thanks to a local drilling boom. One week later, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality slashed the coalition’s budget for air quality planning.
The study in question was an inventory of emissions from the Eagle Ford shale, which, with the advent of hydraulic fracturing, has seen a boom in natural gas and oil drilling over the past few years. The analysis was put together at the behest of the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), a coalition that oversees thirteen counties in and around San Antonio. An initial draft of the study came out in November of last year, and the final version was completed on April 4.
About a week later, the Center for Public Integrity reports, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), slashed AACOG’s air-quality planning budget by 25 percent.
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Since 2012, San Antonio’s monitors have already recorded air pollution levels as high as 87 parts per billion — while the federal standard is 75 parts per billion.
Earlier this year, an eight-month investigation by InsideClimate News and the Center for Public Integrity found that Texas officials were failing to adequately monitor air pollution from the Eagle Ford shale, or to engage in any serious regulatory enforcement.
"Bionic eye" restores sight to blind man
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bionic-eye-retina-implant-surgery-restores-sight-to-michigan-man/
April 23, 2014
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Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa as a teenager, Pontz has been almost completely blind for years. Now, thanks to a high-tech procedure that involved the surgical implantation of a "bionic eye," he's regained enough of his eyesight to catch small glimpses of his wife, grandson and cat.
"It's awesome. It's exciting - seeing something new every day," Pontz said during a recent appointment at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. The 55-year-old former competitive weightlifter and factory worker is one of four people in the U.S. to receive an artificial retina since the Food and Drug Administration signed off on its use last year.
The facility in Ann Arbor has been the site of all four such surgeries since FDA approval. A fifth is scheduled for next month.
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Not all of the 100,000 or so people in the U.S. with retinitis pigmentosa can benefit from the bionic eye. An estimated 10,000 have vision low enough, said Dr. Brian Mech, an executive with Second Sight Medical Products Inc., the Sylmar, Calif.-based company that makes the device. Of those, about 7,500 are eligible for the surgery.
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The artificial retina procedure has been performed several-dozen times over the past few years in Europe, and the expectation is that it will find similar success in the U.S., where the University of Michigan is one of 12 centers accepting consultations for patients.
Candidates for the retinal prosthesis must be 25 or older with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa that has progressed to the point of having "bare light" or no light perception in both eyes.
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April 23, 2014
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Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa as a teenager, Pontz has been almost completely blind for years. Now, thanks to a high-tech procedure that involved the surgical implantation of a "bionic eye," he's regained enough of his eyesight to catch small glimpses of his wife, grandson and cat.
"It's awesome. It's exciting - seeing something new every day," Pontz said during a recent appointment at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. The 55-year-old former competitive weightlifter and factory worker is one of four people in the U.S. to receive an artificial retina since the Food and Drug Administration signed off on its use last year.
The facility in Ann Arbor has been the site of all four such surgeries since FDA approval. A fifth is scheduled for next month.
-----
Not all of the 100,000 or so people in the U.S. with retinitis pigmentosa can benefit from the bionic eye. An estimated 10,000 have vision low enough, said Dr. Brian Mech, an executive with Second Sight Medical Products Inc., the Sylmar, Calif.-based company that makes the device. Of those, about 7,500 are eligible for the surgery.
-----
The artificial retina procedure has been performed several-dozen times over the past few years in Europe, and the expectation is that it will find similar success in the U.S., where the University of Michigan is one of 12 centers accepting consultations for patients.
Candidates for the retinal prosthesis must be 25 or older with end-stage retinitis pigmentosa that has progressed to the point of having "bare light" or no light perception in both eyes.
-----
Silicon Valley workers accuse tech giants of collusion
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/silicon-valley-software-engineers-accuse-google-apple-intel-adobe-of-collusion/
April 22, 2014
With its lavish perks and sprawling campuses, Silicon Valley has at times been the envy of many in corporate America, but nearly 65,000 software engineers claim they were unable to jump companies for higher pay because of a series of deals allegedly made by their bosses -- bosses like Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google and Apple's Steve Jobs.
"These were non-solicitation agreements whereby all of these companies agreed secretly not to poach or cold-call each other's workers," said Mark Ames, senior editor of PandoDaily.
A probe by the U.S. Justice Department in 2010 revealed that several companies agreed to keep do-not-call lists and shared confidential salary information to prevent bidding wars, reports CBS News' Carter Evans. They settled the anti-trust complaint, but now Apple, Google, Adobe and Intel are the target of a civil lawsuit by employees seeking $3 billion in damages.
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"Undoubtedly the biggest villain is Steve Jobs," Ames said. "Without Steve Jobs' force and bullying, I doubt this would have gone off the ground. I mean it becomes clear with just about everybody involved, every CEO who agrees with this arrangement. They understand it's illegal and they're generally scared of Steve Jobs, and he's not scared of anyone or anything."
However, Jobs failed to get Facebook to bite the apple. Executive Sheryl Sandberg repeatedly refused to join the non-poaching agreements.
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April 22, 2014
With its lavish perks and sprawling campuses, Silicon Valley has at times been the envy of many in corporate America, but nearly 65,000 software engineers claim they were unable to jump companies for higher pay because of a series of deals allegedly made by their bosses -- bosses like Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt of Google and Apple's Steve Jobs.
"These were non-solicitation agreements whereby all of these companies agreed secretly not to poach or cold-call each other's workers," said Mark Ames, senior editor of PandoDaily.
A probe by the U.S. Justice Department in 2010 revealed that several companies agreed to keep do-not-call lists and shared confidential salary information to prevent bidding wars, reports CBS News' Carter Evans. They settled the anti-trust complaint, but now Apple, Google, Adobe and Intel are the target of a civil lawsuit by employees seeking $3 billion in damages.
-----
"Undoubtedly the biggest villain is Steve Jobs," Ames said. "Without Steve Jobs' force and bullying, I doubt this would have gone off the ground. I mean it becomes clear with just about everybody involved, every CEO who agrees with this arrangement. They understand it's illegal and they're generally scared of Steve Jobs, and he's not scared of anyone or anything."
However, Jobs failed to get Facebook to bite the apple. Executive Sheryl Sandberg repeatedly refused to join the non-poaching agreements.
-----
Why the U.S. middle class is falling behind Canada’s
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-the-us-middle-class-is-falling-behind-canadas/
By/Aimee Picchi/MoneyWatch/April 23, 2014
The economic backbone of the U.S. -- its middle class -- has lost ground over the past decade, thanks to wage stagnation and a greater distribution of wealth going to top earners.
An analysis of data by The New York Times finds that after-tax middle-class incomes in Canada have pulled ahead of American middle-class earners. On top of that, the poor in some European countries actually earn more than the poor in America.
While the report confirms what many Americans feel every day when they check their bank accounts -- that they're barely treading water -- the eye-opener is how far the U.S. consumer has fallen when compared with other countries. Median per capital income in the U.S. has barely budged since 2000, while Canadians have seen their median income jump 20 percent
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So how did Canada surpass the U.S. middle class? For one, younger Americans are losing ground in educational attainment when compared with their peers in Canada and other countries, the study found.
But America's growing income inequality is also posing a problem for the middle class. While it's difficult to find recent comparisons across countries for CEO-to-worker pay ratios, the ratio in America is at least double that of other countries, Mishel notes. The disparity between the average U.S. worker's income and CEO pay has also been growing wider, with CEOs pulling in a 331-to-1 ratio in 2013, up from a 46-to-1 ratio in 1983.
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America's poor are also dragging behind other the poor of other countries. People at the 20th percentile in Netherlands and Canada earned 15 percent more income than someone in the same percentile in the U.S., The New York Times found.
-----
By/Aimee Picchi/MoneyWatch/April 23, 2014
The economic backbone of the U.S. -- its middle class -- has lost ground over the past decade, thanks to wage stagnation and a greater distribution of wealth going to top earners.
An analysis of data by The New York Times finds that after-tax middle-class incomes in Canada have pulled ahead of American middle-class earners. On top of that, the poor in some European countries actually earn more than the poor in America.
While the report confirms what many Americans feel every day when they check their bank accounts -- that they're barely treading water -- the eye-opener is how far the U.S. consumer has fallen when compared with other countries. Median per capital income in the U.S. has barely budged since 2000, while Canadians have seen their median income jump 20 percent
-----
So how did Canada surpass the U.S. middle class? For one, younger Americans are losing ground in educational attainment when compared with their peers in Canada and other countries, the study found.
But America's growing income inequality is also posing a problem for the middle class. While it's difficult to find recent comparisons across countries for CEO-to-worker pay ratios, the ratio in America is at least double that of other countries, Mishel notes. The disparity between the average U.S. worker's income and CEO pay has also been growing wider, with CEOs pulling in a 331-to-1 ratio in 2013, up from a 46-to-1 ratio in 1983.
-----
America's poor are also dragging behind other the poor of other countries. People at the 20th percentile in Netherlands and Canada earned 15 percent more income than someone in the same percentile in the U.S., The New York Times found.
-----
Impact of childhood bullying still evident after 40 years
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/kcl-ioc041614.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014
Contact: Seil Collins
King's College London
Impact of childhood bullying still evident after 40 years
Negative impact of bullying was found to be persistent and pervasive, with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood
The negative social, physical and mental health effects of childhood bullying are still evident nearly 40 years later, according to new research by King's College London. The study is the first to look at the effects of bullying beyond early adulthood, and is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
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Dr Ryu Takizawa, lead author of the paper from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, says: "Our study shows that the effects of bullying are still visible nearly four decades later. The impact of bullying is persistent and pervasive, with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood."
Just over a quarter of children in the study (28%) had been bullied occasionally, and 15% bullied frequently – similar to rates in the UK today.
Individuals who were bullied in childhood were more likely to have poorer physical and psychological health and cognitive functioning at age 50. Individuals who were frequently bullied in childhood were at an increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders, and suicidal thoughts.
Individuals who were bullied in childhood were also more likely to have lower educational levels, with men who were bullied more likely to be unemployed and earn less. Social relationships and well-being were also affected. Individuals who had been bullied were less likely to be in a relationship, to have good social support, and were more likely to report lower quality of life and life satisfaction.
Professor Louise Arseneault, senior author, also from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's adds: "We need to move away from any perception that bullying is just an inevitable part of growing-up. Teachers, parents and policy-makers should be aware that what happens in the school playground can have long-term repercussions for children. Programmes to stop bullying are extremely important, but we also need to focus our efforts on early intervention to prevent potential problems persisting into adolescence and adulthood."
Bullying is characterized by repeated hurtful actions by children of a similar age, where the victim finds it difficult to defend themselves. The harmful effect of bullying remained even when other factors including childhood IQ, emotional and behavioural problems, parents' socioeconomic status and low parental involvement, were taken into account.
-----
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014
Contact: Seil Collins
King's College London
Impact of childhood bullying still evident after 40 years
Negative impact of bullying was found to be persistent and pervasive, with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood
The negative social, physical and mental health effects of childhood bullying are still evident nearly 40 years later, according to new research by King's College London. The study is the first to look at the effects of bullying beyond early adulthood, and is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
-----
Dr Ryu Takizawa, lead author of the paper from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, says: "Our study shows that the effects of bullying are still visible nearly four decades later. The impact of bullying is persistent and pervasive, with health, social and economic consequences lasting well into adulthood."
Just over a quarter of children in the study (28%) had been bullied occasionally, and 15% bullied frequently – similar to rates in the UK today.
Individuals who were bullied in childhood were more likely to have poorer physical and psychological health and cognitive functioning at age 50. Individuals who were frequently bullied in childhood were at an increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders, and suicidal thoughts.
Individuals who were bullied in childhood were also more likely to have lower educational levels, with men who were bullied more likely to be unemployed and earn less. Social relationships and well-being were also affected. Individuals who had been bullied were less likely to be in a relationship, to have good social support, and were more likely to report lower quality of life and life satisfaction.
Professor Louise Arseneault, senior author, also from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's adds: "We need to move away from any perception that bullying is just an inevitable part of growing-up. Teachers, parents and policy-makers should be aware that what happens in the school playground can have long-term repercussions for children. Programmes to stop bullying are extremely important, but we also need to focus our efforts on early intervention to prevent potential problems persisting into adolescence and adulthood."
Bullying is characterized by repeated hurtful actions by children of a similar age, where the victim finds it difficult to defend themselves. The harmful effect of bullying remained even when other factors including childhood IQ, emotional and behavioural problems, parents' socioeconomic status and low parental involvement, were taken into account.
-----
New evidence of suicide epidemic among India’s ‘marginalised’ farmers
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/new-evidence-of-suicide-epidemic-among-indias-marginalised-farmers
17 Apr 2014
A new study has found that India’s shocking rates of suicide are highest in areas with the most debt-ridden farmers who are clinging to tiny smallholdings – less than one hectare – and trying to grow ‘cash crops’, such as cotton and coffee, that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations.
The research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India’s agriculture sector following the ‘liberalisation’ of the nation’s economy during the 1990s. Researchers say that policy intervention to stabilise the price of cash crops and relieve indebted farmers may help stem the tide of suicide that has swept the Indian countryside.
This latest work follows on from a recent Lancet study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), which showed Indian suicide rates to be among the highest in the world – with suicide the second leading cause of death among young adults in India.
In 2010, 187,000 Indians killed themselves – one fifth of all global suicides.
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The shame and stress of no longer being able to provide for their families has resulted in hundreds of thousands of male farmers, and in many cases their wives too, taking their own lives by drinking the modern pesticides designed to provide them with bountiful harvests – a truly horrific end as the chemicals cause swift muscle and breathing paralysis.
Added Kennedy: “The liberalisation of the Indian economy is most often associated with near-double digit growth, the rise of India as an economic powerhouse, and the emergence of wealthy urban middle classes. But it is often forgotten that over 833 million people – almost 70% of the Indian population – still live in rural areas.
“A large proportion of these rural inhabitants have not benefited from the economic growth of the past twenty years. In fact, liberalisation has brought about a crisis in the agricultural sector that has pushed many small-scale cash crops farmers into debt and in some cases to suicide.”
17 Apr 2014
A new study has found that India’s shocking rates of suicide are highest in areas with the most debt-ridden farmers who are clinging to tiny smallholdings – less than one hectare – and trying to grow ‘cash crops’, such as cotton and coffee, that are highly susceptible to global price fluctuations.
The research supports a range of previous case studies that point to a crisis in key areas of India’s agriculture sector following the ‘liberalisation’ of the nation’s economy during the 1990s. Researchers say that policy intervention to stabilise the price of cash crops and relieve indebted farmers may help stem the tide of suicide that has swept the Indian countryside.
This latest work follows on from a recent Lancet study by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), which showed Indian suicide rates to be among the highest in the world – with suicide the second leading cause of death among young adults in India.
In 2010, 187,000 Indians killed themselves – one fifth of all global suicides.
-----
The shame and stress of no longer being able to provide for their families has resulted in hundreds of thousands of male farmers, and in many cases their wives too, taking their own lives by drinking the modern pesticides designed to provide them with bountiful harvests – a truly horrific end as the chemicals cause swift muscle and breathing paralysis.
Added Kennedy: “The liberalisation of the Indian economy is most often associated with near-double digit growth, the rise of India as an economic powerhouse, and the emergence of wealthy urban middle classes. But it is often forgotten that over 833 million people – almost 70% of the Indian population – still live in rural areas.
“A large proportion of these rural inhabitants have not benefited from the economic growth of the past twenty years. In fact, liberalisation has brought about a crisis in the agricultural sector that has pushed many small-scale cash crops farmers into debt and in some cases to suicide.”
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Food shortages could be most critical world issue by mid-century
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/taac-fsc041714.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014
Contact: Kathleen Phillips
Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
Food shortages could be most critical world issue by mid-century
The world is less than 40 years away from a food shortage that will have serious implications for people and governments, according to a top scientist at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy," said Dr. Fred Davies, senior science advisor for the agency's bureau of food security. "Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today."
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He said the world population will increase 30 percent to 9 billion people by mid-century. That would call for a 70 percent increase in food to meet demand.
"But resource limitations will constrain global food systems," Davies added. "The increases currently projected for crop production from biotechnology, genetics, agronomics and horticulture will not be sufficient to meet food demand." Davies said the ability to discover ways to keep pace with food demand have been curtailed by cutbacks in spending on research.
"The U.S. agricultural productivity has averaged less than 1.2 percent per year between 1990 and 2007," he said.
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One in eight people worldwide, he added, already suffers from chronic undernourishment, and 75 percent of the world's chronically poor are in the mid-income nations such as China, India, Brazil and the Philippines.
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014
Contact: Kathleen Phillips
Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
Food shortages could be most critical world issue by mid-century
The world is less than 40 years away from a food shortage that will have serious implications for people and governments, according to a top scientist at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"For the first time in human history, food production will be limited on a global scale by the availability of land, water and energy," said Dr. Fred Davies, senior science advisor for the agency's bureau of food security. "Food issues could become as politically destabilizing by 2050 as energy issues are today."
-----
He said the world population will increase 30 percent to 9 billion people by mid-century. That would call for a 70 percent increase in food to meet demand.
"But resource limitations will constrain global food systems," Davies added. "The increases currently projected for crop production from biotechnology, genetics, agronomics and horticulture will not be sufficient to meet food demand." Davies said the ability to discover ways to keep pace with food demand have been curtailed by cutbacks in spending on research.
"The U.S. agricultural productivity has averaged less than 1.2 percent per year between 1990 and 2007," he said.
-----
One in eight people worldwide, he added, already suffers from chronic undernourishment, and 75 percent of the world's chronically poor are in the mid-income nations such as China, India, Brazil and the Philippines.
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Internet Use May Cut Retirees’ Depression
http://www.geron.org/About%20Us/press-room/Archived%20Press%20Releases/84-2014-press-releases/2009-internet-use-may-cut-retirees-depression
April 17, 2014
Gerontological Society of America
Spending time online has the potential to ward off depression among retirees, particularly among those who live alone, according to research published online in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. In the article “Internet Use and Depression Among Retired Older Adults in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis,” the authors report that Internet use reduced the probability of a depressed state by 33 percent among their study sample.
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April 17, 2014
Gerontological Society of America
Spending time online has the potential to ward off depression among retirees, particularly among those who live alone, according to research published online in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. In the article “Internet Use and Depression Among Retired Older Adults in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis,” the authors report that Internet use reduced the probability of a depressed state by 33 percent among their study sample.
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Fish consumption advisories fail to cover all types of contaminants
http://ose.utsc.utoronto.ca/ose/story.php?id=6055§id=1
Mar 31, 2014 | Don Campbell
University of Toronto, Scarborough
A new study suggests that fish consumption advisories for expecting mothers are ineffective in reducing infant exposure to long-lived contaminants like persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
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Their model estimates that women who stop eating fish shortly before or during their pregnancy may only lower their child’s exposure to POPs by 10 to 15 per cent.
“We have to be careful in saying fish advisories don’t work at all because they can work very well for reducing exposure to quickly eliminated contaminants, such as mercury,” says Binnington. “But for POPs we found that they are not very effective.”
POPs are compounds that take a long time to break down and as a result can persist in the environment and begin to accumulate in humans by way of the food chain. While many POPs such as DDT and PCBs have long been banned from production, they still exist in the environment. Fish advisories have been developed for these chemicals because they are easily passed from mothers to their children during pregnancy and nursing, potentially impacting healthy infant neurodevelopment.
Binnington says consumption advisories for many POPs are ineffective because they can remain in the body for years or even decades due to properties that make it difficult for the human body to eliminate them. The same is not true for mercury-based advisories, as the time it remains in the body is much shorter compared to POPs.
“Something like mercury stays in the body for only a few months and by temporarily adjusting your diet you can reduce exposure,” says Binnington.
The limitation with consumption advisories is that while they inform people what not to eat, they do not offer much in the way of healthy alternatives, says Wania. In fact, substituting fish with meat such as beef may even end up doing more harm.
“Substituting fish with beef may actually result in higher exposure to other contaminants,” he says, adding there is also a loss of nutritional benefits by not eating fish.
-----
Mar 31, 2014 | Don Campbell
University of Toronto, Scarborough
A new study suggests that fish consumption advisories for expecting mothers are ineffective in reducing infant exposure to long-lived contaminants like persistent organic pollutants (POPs).
-----
Their model estimates that women who stop eating fish shortly before or during their pregnancy may only lower their child’s exposure to POPs by 10 to 15 per cent.
“We have to be careful in saying fish advisories don’t work at all because they can work very well for reducing exposure to quickly eliminated contaminants, such as mercury,” says Binnington. “But for POPs we found that they are not very effective.”
POPs are compounds that take a long time to break down and as a result can persist in the environment and begin to accumulate in humans by way of the food chain. While many POPs such as DDT and PCBs have long been banned from production, they still exist in the environment. Fish advisories have been developed for these chemicals because they are easily passed from mothers to their children during pregnancy and nursing, potentially impacting healthy infant neurodevelopment.
Binnington says consumption advisories for many POPs are ineffective because they can remain in the body for years or even decades due to properties that make it difficult for the human body to eliminate them. The same is not true for mercury-based advisories, as the time it remains in the body is much shorter compared to POPs.
“Something like mercury stays in the body for only a few months and by temporarily adjusting your diet you can reduce exposure,” says Binnington.
The limitation with consumption advisories is that while they inform people what not to eat, they do not offer much in the way of healthy alternatives, says Wania. In fact, substituting fish with meat such as beef may even end up doing more harm.
“Substituting fish with beef may actually result in higher exposure to other contaminants,” he says, adding there is also a loss of nutritional benefits by not eating fish.
-----
More, bigger wildfires burning western U.S., study shows
http://news.agu.org/press-release/more-bigger-wildfires-burning-western-u-s-study-shows/
17 April 2014
American Geophysical Union
Wildfires across the western United States have been getting bigger and more frequent over the last 30 years – a trend that could continue as climate change causes temperatures to rise and drought to become more severe in the coming decades, according to new research.
The number of wildfires over 1,000 acres in size in the region stretching from Nebraska to California increased by a rate of seven fires a year from 1984 to 2011, according to a new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal published by the American Geophysical Union.
The total area these fires burned increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres a year – an area the size of Las Vegas, according to the study. Individually, the largest wildfires grew at a rate of 350 acres a year, the new research says.
“We looked at the probability that increases of this magnitude could be random, and in each case it was less than one percent,” said Philip Dennison, an associate professor of geography at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and lead author of the paper.
-----
17 April 2014
American Geophysical Union
Wildfires across the western United States have been getting bigger and more frequent over the last 30 years – a trend that could continue as climate change causes temperatures to rise and drought to become more severe in the coming decades, according to new research.
The number of wildfires over 1,000 acres in size in the region stretching from Nebraska to California increased by a rate of seven fires a year from 1984 to 2011, according to a new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal published by the American Geophysical Union.
The total area these fires burned increased at a rate of nearly 90,000 acres a year – an area the size of Las Vegas, according to the study. Individually, the largest wildfires grew at a rate of 350 acres a year, the new research says.
“We looked at the probability that increases of this magnitude could be random, and in each case it was less than one percent,” said Philip Dennison, an associate professor of geography at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and lead author of the paper.
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The ilk of human kindness
Older women more compassionate than "other older adults". Tactful way to put it.http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uoc--tio041714.php
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014
Contact: Scott Lafee
University of California - San Diego
The ilk of human kindness
Older women with gumption score high on compassion
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine report that older women, plucky individuals and those who have suffered a recent major loss are more likely to be compassionate toward strangers than other older adults.
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"We are interested in anything that can help older people age more successfully," said Lisa Eyler, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and co-author. "We know that social connections are important to health and well-being, and we know that people who want to be kind to others garner greater social support. If we can foster compassion in people, we can improve their health and well-being, and maybe even longevity."
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Women, independent of their age, income, education, race, marital status or mental health status, scored higher on the compassion test, on average, than men. Higher levels of compassion were also observed among both men and women who had "walked a mile in another person's shoes" and experienced a personal loss, such as a death in the family or illness, in the last year.
Those who reported higher confidence in their ability to bounce back from hard times also reported more empathy toward strangers and joy from helping those in need.
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Vitamin B3 Might Have Been Made in Space, Delivered to Earth by Meteorites
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/vitamin-b3-might-have-been-made-in-space-delivered-to-earth-by-meteorites/
April 17, 2014
NASA
Ancient Earth might have had an extraterrestrial supply of vitamin B3 delivered by carbon-rich meteorites, according to a new analysis by NASA-funded researchers. The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts.
"It is always difficult to put a value on the connection between meteorites and the origin of life; for example, earlier work has shown that vitamin B3 could have been produced non-biologically on ancient Earth, but it's possible that an added source of vitamin B3 could have been helpful," said Karen Smith of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa. "Vitamin B3, also called nicotinic acid or niacin, is a precursor to NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), which is essential to metabolism and likely very ancient in origin." Smith is lead author of a paper on this research, along with co-authors from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., now available online in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
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The team doubts the vitamin B3 and other molecules found in their meteorites came from terrestrial life for two reasons. First, the vitamin B3 was found along with its structural isomers – related molecules that have the same chemical formula but whose atoms are attached in a different order. These other molecules aren't used by life. Non-biological chemistry tends to produce a wide variety of molecules -- basically everything permitted by the materials and conditions present -- but life makes only the molecules it needs. If contamination from terrestrial life was the source of the vitamin B3 in the meteorites, then only the vitamin should have been found, not the other, related molecules.
-----
April 17, 2014
NASA
Ancient Earth might have had an extraterrestrial supply of vitamin B3 delivered by carbon-rich meteorites, according to a new analysis by NASA-funded researchers. The result supports a theory that the origin of life may have been assisted by a supply of key molecules created in space and brought to Earth by comet and meteor impacts.
"It is always difficult to put a value on the connection between meteorites and the origin of life; for example, earlier work has shown that vitamin B3 could have been produced non-biologically on ancient Earth, but it's possible that an added source of vitamin B3 could have been helpful," said Karen Smith of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pa. "Vitamin B3, also called nicotinic acid or niacin, is a precursor to NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), which is essential to metabolism and likely very ancient in origin." Smith is lead author of a paper on this research, along with co-authors from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., now available online in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta.
-----
The team doubts the vitamin B3 and other molecules found in their meteorites came from terrestrial life for two reasons. First, the vitamin B3 was found along with its structural isomers – related molecules that have the same chemical formula but whose atoms are attached in a different order. These other molecules aren't used by life. Non-biological chemistry tends to produce a wide variety of molecules -- basically everything permitted by the materials and conditions present -- but life makes only the molecules it needs. If contamination from terrestrial life was the source of the vitamin B3 in the meteorites, then only the vitamin should have been found, not the other, related molecules.
-----
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