New Year's editorial from the Lancet published in 1911.
The past 100 years in medicine have shown incredible progress against some diseases, but infections like tuberculosis and issues of poverty remain, a medical journal says.
In this week's year-end editorial, the Lancet reflects on its lead editorial from 1911, titled "The Promise of 1911." In addressing the medical profession, the previous editorial urged legislation against the "grasping charlatan or dangerous quack," similar to modern-day sentiments of some, the journal noted.
"Between 1911 and 2011 there is much for medicine to be proud of — and also be humble about. New years bring new promise and new opportunities, but some old demons remain," the latest editorial concluded.
A 1911 discussion about the origin of cancer is a reminder of how much is still unknown about the disease, the new editorial said in promoting a study on the potential protective benefit of Aspirin against some cancers.An emphasis on syphilis in the first paper may seem dated, but the 21st century has seen cases on the rise again among high-risk groups in wealthy countries. The latest editorial pointed to a correspondent's article describing cocaine addiction in Montreal. Case reports from medical associations in Britain, an article datelined New York on a crackdown on trade in rotten eggs, and reports that identified tuberculosis, measles, diarrhea and respiratory infection as the leading causes of death in South Africa all dealt with themes of infectious disease and food safety that continue today.
Similar issues
"The behaviour of expert medical witnesses and the reporting of medicine by the lay press also came under discussion, as did jurisprudence and anesthesia, and even medical tourism," the 2011 editorial said of its 1911 counterpart.
Medical tourism remained in the media spotlight in 2010 with the emergence of the NDM-1 superbug, particularly in countries that promote surgeries for visitors. The 1911 editorial also complained about philanthropists "whose charity is excessive, poorly co-ordinated and indiscriminate," another issue that remains topical. The new editorial also discussed content from 1911 now rendered poignant by history, such as a book review of a handbook for medical officers on the battlefield — three years before the First World War began.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/30/medicine-new-year-advances.html#ixzz19hsmRZc3
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sleep apnea implants for tongue to be tested
A remote control unit turns on an experimental nerve stimulator to combat sleep apnea. Scientists are testing if the implanted device might help keep sufferers' airways open by zapping the tongue during sleep. (Associated Press) Loud snoring can signal sleep apnea, depriving sufferers of enough sleep to trigger a car crash, even a heart attack, but now scientists are beginning to test if an implanted pacemaker-like device might help.The device is designed to keep the airways open by zapping the tongue during sleep.
Wait, what does your tongue have to do with a good night's sleep?
One of the main causes of obstructive sleep apnea is that the tongue and throat muscles relax too much during sleep, enough to temporarily collapse and block breathing for 30 seconds or so at a time. The person jerks awake and gasps, a cycle that can repeat itself 30 or more times an hour, depriving patients of crucial deep sleep.
The idea behind the experimental implant: Stimulate the nerve that controls the base of the tongue with a mild electrical current during sleep, and maybe it will stay toned and in place like it does during the day rather than becoming floppy.By the end of January, Minneapolis-based Inspire Medical Systems plans to begin enrolling 100 apnea patients in a key study in the U.S. and Europe to see if so-called hypoglossal nerve stimulation really could work.
Looking for cure
Two competitors are developing similar implants: ImThera Medical of San Diego says it hopes to begin U.S. studies later next year, and Apnex Medical of St. Paul, Minn., has announced some small-scale testing.
"In this kind of research, we're not looking for little changes," says Dr. Meir Kryger, a sleep medicine specialist at Gaylord Hospital in Connecticut, who is helping to lead Inspire's study. "What we're looking for is actually cure."
Inspire's experimental implant stimulates the nerve that controls the base of the tongue with a mild electrical current during sleep. (Courtesy of Inspire) More than 12 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It's particularly common in people who are overweight and in middle-aged men, but anyone can have it. According to the 2009 Canadian Community Health Survey, 26 per cent of Canadian adults had a high risk of having obstructive sleep apnea.
Today's undisputed best treatment, called CPAP, uses special bedtime masks to gently blow air through the nose to keep airways open. But studies suggest at least 30 per cent of diagnosed apnea patients won't or can't use CPAP. They cite masks that fit poorly and leak, or say they feel claustrophobic, or rip them off while tossing and turning during the night.
Yet going untreated is more dangerous than just feeling tired. Sleep apnea stresses the body in ways that increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and diabetes. More immediately, severe apnea increases the chance of a car crash sevenfold.
Last year, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recommended that pilots, truck drivers and other commercial transportation operators start being screened for apnea, saying it has been a factor in incidents involving every mode of transit.
'No idea it's on'
Surgeons sometimes try removing part of the roof of the mouth or other soft tissues to treat apnea by widening airways. But it's hard to predict when these difficult operations will help, so they're usually reserved for the most severe cases.
Enter hypoglossal nerve stimulation.
With Inspire's system, doctors implant a small pacemaker-like generator under the skin near the collarbone, and snake a wire up under the jaw to that tongue-controlling nerve. A sensor at the diaphragm detects when a patient takes a breath, signaling the implant to zap the nerve.
Researchers adjust the power so that the nerve is stimulated just enough to keep the tongue from falling backward during sleep but not to stick out.Patients turn on the device at bedtime with a remote control, complete with a timer they can set so they fall asleep before the pulses begin.
"I don't have any idea while I'm sleeping that it's on," says Rik Krohn, 67, a Minneapolis man who'd given up on apnea treatment until volunteering for an early Inspire study last year — and says he now gets a good night's sleep. "It's a game-changer for me."
A caveat: Potential participants in Inspire's upcoming study must undergo a special exam where a tube snaked down the airway documents whether a tongue collapse or a problem with some other tissue is the true cause of their apnea, stresses Connecticut's Kryger. Obstructive sleep apnea can be treated by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Special bedtime masks gently blow air through the nose to keep airways open. But studies suggest at least 30 per cent of diagnosed apnea patients won't or can't use CPAP.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/29/sleep-apnea-nerve-stimulatation.html#ixzz19Wl8EknQ
Wait, what does your tongue have to do with a good night's sleep?
One of the main causes of obstructive sleep apnea is that the tongue and throat muscles relax too much during sleep, enough to temporarily collapse and block breathing for 30 seconds or so at a time. The person jerks awake and gasps, a cycle that can repeat itself 30 or more times an hour, depriving patients of crucial deep sleep.
The idea behind the experimental implant: Stimulate the nerve that controls the base of the tongue with a mild electrical current during sleep, and maybe it will stay toned and in place like it does during the day rather than becoming floppy.By the end of January, Minneapolis-based Inspire Medical Systems plans to begin enrolling 100 apnea patients in a key study in the U.S. and Europe to see if so-called hypoglossal nerve stimulation really could work.
Looking for cure
Two competitors are developing similar implants: ImThera Medical of San Diego says it hopes to begin U.S. studies later next year, and Apnex Medical of St. Paul, Minn., has announced some small-scale testing.
"In this kind of research, we're not looking for little changes," says Dr. Meir Kryger, a sleep medicine specialist at Gaylord Hospital in Connecticut, who is helping to lead Inspire's study. "What we're looking for is actually cure."
Inspire's experimental implant stimulates the nerve that controls the base of the tongue with a mild electrical current during sleep. (Courtesy of Inspire) More than 12 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It's particularly common in people who are overweight and in middle-aged men, but anyone can have it. According to the 2009 Canadian Community Health Survey, 26 per cent of Canadian adults had a high risk of having obstructive sleep apnea.
Today's undisputed best treatment, called CPAP, uses special bedtime masks to gently blow air through the nose to keep airways open. But studies suggest at least 30 per cent of diagnosed apnea patients won't or can't use CPAP. They cite masks that fit poorly and leak, or say they feel claustrophobic, or rip them off while tossing and turning during the night.
Yet going untreated is more dangerous than just feeling tired. Sleep apnea stresses the body in ways that increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke and diabetes. More immediately, severe apnea increases the chance of a car crash sevenfold.
Last year, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board recommended that pilots, truck drivers and other commercial transportation operators start being screened for apnea, saying it has been a factor in incidents involving every mode of transit.
'No idea it's on'
Surgeons sometimes try removing part of the roof of the mouth or other soft tissues to treat apnea by widening airways. But it's hard to predict when these difficult operations will help, so they're usually reserved for the most severe cases.
Enter hypoglossal nerve stimulation.
With Inspire's system, doctors implant a small pacemaker-like generator under the skin near the collarbone, and snake a wire up under the jaw to that tongue-controlling nerve. A sensor at the diaphragm detects when a patient takes a breath, signaling the implant to zap the nerve.
Researchers adjust the power so that the nerve is stimulated just enough to keep the tongue from falling backward during sleep but not to stick out.Patients turn on the device at bedtime with a remote control, complete with a timer they can set so they fall asleep before the pulses begin.
"I don't have any idea while I'm sleeping that it's on," says Rik Krohn, 67, a Minneapolis man who'd given up on apnea treatment until volunteering for an early Inspire study last year — and says he now gets a good night's sleep. "It's a game-changer for me."
A caveat: Potential participants in Inspire's upcoming study must undergo a special exam where a tube snaked down the airway documents whether a tongue collapse or a problem with some other tissue is the true cause of their apnea, stresses Connecticut's Kryger. Obstructive sleep apnea can be treated by continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Special bedtime masks gently blow air through the nose to keep airways open. But studies suggest at least 30 per cent of diagnosed apnea patients won't or can't use CPAP.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/12/29/sleep-apnea-nerve-stimulatation.html#ixzz19Wl8EknQ
New MRSA strain found in Isle of Man
The new strain is transmitted in swimming pools, gyms and sports centres. A new strain of the superbug MRSA has been found in the Isle of Man, the Department of Health (DoH) has confirmed. The DoH said it had recently detected a small number of cases of a bacterium called MRSA USA 300.
The strain mostly affects young, fit and healthy people, is transmitted in sports centres, gyms, and pools and can cause serious infection, the DoH said.Like all strains, it is resistant to many antibiotics, it added.
Dr Katie Laird, senior lecturer in pharmaceutical microbiology at De Montfort University, said: "Bacteria are particularly good at adapting to their environment and through mutations in their DNA, which they are able to share with other bacteria, they can become resistant to antibiotics that are being utilised in healthcare environments."
The DoH has produced posters, booklets and leaflets about the new strain, to try to prevent it spreading further.There will also be a presentation at Keyll Darree Education and Training Centre in Strang, Douglas, on 17 January.
The strain mostly affects young, fit and healthy people, is transmitted in sports centres, gyms, and pools and can cause serious infection, the DoH said.Like all strains, it is resistant to many antibiotics, it added.
Dr Katie Laird, senior lecturer in pharmaceutical microbiology at De Montfort University, said: "Bacteria are particularly good at adapting to their environment and through mutations in their DNA, which they are able to share with other bacteria, they can become resistant to antibiotics that are being utilised in healthcare environments."
The DoH has produced posters, booklets and leaflets about the new strain, to try to prevent it spreading further.There will also be a presentation at Keyll Darree Education and Training Centre in Strang, Douglas, on 17 January.
Anger: It Motivates Others
On the whole, brain scans shore up what we've known all along about our emotions: some are positive and some are negative. Happiness, for instance, is positive — when people are in good moods, they tend to show more activity in certain regions on the left side of the brain. Emotions like depression and anxiety are negative, and tend to heighten activity in brain regions on the right.
But what about anger: positive or negative? The answer may not be quite so obvious.
There's a disconnect, for instance, between the psychology literature, which has traditionally labeled anger as a negative emotion, and brain scans, which have suggested that the brain may perceive anger as positive information.
"There's something unique about anger," says Henk Aarts, a psychologist at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. "Sometimes it has negative effects, but sometimes it also has some positive feelings that motivate you to do things that you like. We wanted to figure out what exactly the conditions might be." (More on Time.com: Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry?)
Some recent studies have touted the positive features of anger, but Aarts and other experimental psychologists at Utrecht University's Goal Lab wanted to investigate further. For their new study, which was recently published in Psychological Science, they presented computer images of various objects like pens and glasses to more than 200 respondents while flashing angry, fearful or expressionless faces in the corners of the screens. Then, to track the effect of these unconscious associations, respondents were asked if they desired the object onscreen. Some were also asked to squeeze a handgrip as hard as they could if they did.
The results showed that respondents tended not to want the objects associated with fearful faces, an expected outcome given the negative nature of this emotion. As for the people subjected to flashes of angry faces, however, they not only tended to want the objects more, but they also squeezed the handgrips harder, suggesting that they were willing to exert effort to acquire the objects. (More from Time.com:: Consumer Breakups: Why We Lash Out at the Brands We Once Loved)
"The results were surprising," Aarts says. "Usually, anger and fear go hand in hand — anger makes people fearful. But if you separate these two emotions, they have different effects when attached to objects."
Perhaps even more surprising are the results of a follow-up study that's currently awaiting publication. Using roughly the same study design, the Goal Lab researchers wondered whether flashes of anger would have an effect on the perceived value of the associated objects. Turns out, people are willing to pay more for pens paired with angry faces. (More on Time.com: The "Language Barriers" of Facial Expressions)
It's not entirely clear why anger motivates such behavior. "Angry faces could have been viewed as a challenge," says psychologist Philip Gable, who was not involved in the new study.
But Aarts offers an alternative explanation, one that he came up with after reviewing tapes of six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. "There's a picture of this guy near the finish line and you see anger in his face but you can also see this determination," he says. "What's interesting is the facial expression of anger almost completely overlaps with the facial expression of determination." (More from Time.com:: Five Paths to Understanding the Brain)
Further research is necessary, Aarts says, to figure out if the key to motivation lies somewhere between anger and determination. But for now, he stresses that the participants in his study did not experience anger themselves, but that "it was only the perception of anger that we activated."
That line between being angry and perceiving anger is crucial. As University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Leonard Berkowitz points out, anger "can be linked to an urge to hurt, and at times, even to destroy the target object." (More on Time.com: The New Map Of The Brain)
Still, the perception of anger appears to be a separate matter. Another study published in the same journal furthers the case for using anger as a motivational tool by demonstrating that team leaders were better at motivating their team to perform by expressing anger — but only if their team members tended to score low on measures of agreeableness to begin with. More agreeable team members responded better to like-minded leaders who expressed happiness.
The implications of these findings are intriguing, to say the least. Imagine the practical applications. Could it be, for instance, that replacing Ronald McDonald's smile with a frown, or hiring angry types as managers would spur some of us to buy more and work harder? Perhaps, but we won't be happy about it.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2037351,00.html#ixzz19FwtrXRG
But what about anger: positive or negative? The answer may not be quite so obvious.
There's a disconnect, for instance, between the psychology literature, which has traditionally labeled anger as a negative emotion, and brain scans, which have suggested that the brain may perceive anger as positive information.
"There's something unique about anger," says Henk Aarts, a psychologist at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. "Sometimes it has negative effects, but sometimes it also has some positive feelings that motivate you to do things that you like. We wanted to figure out what exactly the conditions might be." (More on Time.com: Brain Science: Does Being Left-Handed Make You Angry?)
Some recent studies have touted the positive features of anger, but Aarts and other experimental psychologists at Utrecht University's Goal Lab wanted to investigate further. For their new study, which was recently published in Psychological Science, they presented computer images of various objects like pens and glasses to more than 200 respondents while flashing angry, fearful or expressionless faces in the corners of the screens. Then, to track the effect of these unconscious associations, respondents were asked if they desired the object onscreen. Some were also asked to squeeze a handgrip as hard as they could if they did.
The results showed that respondents tended not to want the objects associated with fearful faces, an expected outcome given the negative nature of this emotion. As for the people subjected to flashes of angry faces, however, they not only tended to want the objects more, but they also squeezed the handgrips harder, suggesting that they were willing to exert effort to acquire the objects. (More from Time.com:: Consumer Breakups: Why We Lash Out at the Brands We Once Loved)
"The results were surprising," Aarts says. "Usually, anger and fear go hand in hand — anger makes people fearful. But if you separate these two emotions, they have different effects when attached to objects."
Perhaps even more surprising are the results of a follow-up study that's currently awaiting publication. Using roughly the same study design, the Goal Lab researchers wondered whether flashes of anger would have an effect on the perceived value of the associated objects. Turns out, people are willing to pay more for pens paired with angry faces. (More on Time.com: The "Language Barriers" of Facial Expressions)
It's not entirely clear why anger motivates such behavior. "Angry faces could have been viewed as a challenge," says psychologist Philip Gable, who was not involved in the new study.
But Aarts offers an alternative explanation, one that he came up with after reviewing tapes of six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. "There's a picture of this guy near the finish line and you see anger in his face but you can also see this determination," he says. "What's interesting is the facial expression of anger almost completely overlaps with the facial expression of determination." (More from Time.com:: Five Paths to Understanding the Brain)
Further research is necessary, Aarts says, to figure out if the key to motivation lies somewhere between anger and determination. But for now, he stresses that the participants in his study did not experience anger themselves, but that "it was only the perception of anger that we activated."
That line between being angry and perceiving anger is crucial. As University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Leonard Berkowitz points out, anger "can be linked to an urge to hurt, and at times, even to destroy the target object." (More on Time.com: The New Map Of The Brain)
Still, the perception of anger appears to be a separate matter. Another study published in the same journal furthers the case for using anger as a motivational tool by demonstrating that team leaders were better at motivating their team to perform by expressing anger — but only if their team members tended to score low on measures of agreeableness to begin with. More agreeable team members responded better to like-minded leaders who expressed happiness.
The implications of these findings are intriguing, to say the least. Imagine the practical applications. Could it be, for instance, that replacing Ronald McDonald's smile with a frown, or hiring angry types as managers would spur some of us to buy more and work harder? Perhaps, but we won't be happy about it.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2037351,00.html#ixzz19FwtrXRG
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Brain has social network feature, study says
Do you spend time with a lot of friends? That might mean a particular part of your brain is larger than usual.
It's the amygdala, which lies deep inside. Brain scans of 58 volunteers in a preliminary study indicated that the bigger the amygdala, the more friends and family the volunteers reported seeing regularly.That makes sense because the amygdala is at the centre of a brain network that's important for socializing, says Lisa Feldman Barrett, an author of the work published online Sunday by the journal Nature Neuroscience. For example, the network helps us recognize whether somebody is a stranger or an acquaintance, and a friend or a foe, said Barrett, of Northeastern University in Boston.
But does having a bigger amygdala lead to more friends, or does socializing with a lot of friends create a bigger amygdala? The study can't sort that out. But Barrett said it might be a bit of both. More research needed
She said her study now must be replicated by further research.
The work, supported by the U.S. government, was aimed at uncovering basic knowledge rather than producing any immediate practical payoff, she said. But it might someday lead to ways to help people maintain active social lives, she said. People have one amygdala in the left half of the brain and another in the right half. The findings of the new study held true for each one.
Arthur Toga, a brain-mapping expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, who didn't participate in the study, called the work well done and the statistical results strong. The idea of linking a brain structure to human behaviour is "interesting and important," he said.
Amygdala research made headlines earlier this month when researchers reported on a woman without a working amygdala. The woman felt no fear in threatening situations.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/27/brain-social-network-wired.html#ixzz19KeW0Hxp
It's the amygdala, which lies deep inside. Brain scans of 58 volunteers in a preliminary study indicated that the bigger the amygdala, the more friends and family the volunteers reported seeing regularly.That makes sense because the amygdala is at the centre of a brain network that's important for socializing, says Lisa Feldman Barrett, an author of the work published online Sunday by the journal Nature Neuroscience. For example, the network helps us recognize whether somebody is a stranger or an acquaintance, and a friend or a foe, said Barrett, of Northeastern University in Boston.
But does having a bigger amygdala lead to more friends, or does socializing with a lot of friends create a bigger amygdala? The study can't sort that out. But Barrett said it might be a bit of both. More research needed
She said her study now must be replicated by further research.
The work, supported by the U.S. government, was aimed at uncovering basic knowledge rather than producing any immediate practical payoff, she said. But it might someday lead to ways to help people maintain active social lives, she said. People have one amygdala in the left half of the brain and another in the right half. The findings of the new study held true for each one.
Arthur Toga, a brain-mapping expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, who didn't participate in the study, called the work well done and the statistical results strong. The idea of linking a brain structure to human behaviour is "interesting and important," he said.
Amygdala research made headlines earlier this month when researchers reported on a woman without a working amygdala. The woman felt no fear in threatening situations.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/27/brain-social-network-wired.html#ixzz19KeW0Hxp
Monday, December 27, 2010
Ten top Medical Breakthroughs of 2010
Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
• AIDS Drugs Lower the Risk of HIV Infection
• Synthetic Cell
• Blood Test for Alzheimer's
• FDA Approves Botox for Migraines
• Taking the Resuscitation Out of CPR
• The FDA Restricts Avandia
• Blood Test for Heart Attack
• Predicting IVF Success
• Artificial Ovary
• Creating iPS Cells Safer and Faster
• AIDS Drugs Lower the Risk of HIV Infection
• Synthetic Cell
• Blood Test for Alzheimer's
• FDA Approves Botox for Migraines
• Taking the Resuscitation Out of CPR
• The FDA Restricts Avandia
• Blood Test for Heart Attack
• Predicting IVF Success
• Artificial Ovary
• Creating iPS Cells Safer and Faster
Evidence that Meditation may beat aging
The image of the ancient but youthful-looking sage meditating on a mountaintop might be closer to reality than you think, according to a new study that found that after a three-month stay at a meditation retreat, people showed higher levels of an enzyme associated with longevity. The study is preliminary and didn't show that meditation actually extends life, but the findings suggest a possible means by which it could.
Researchers led by Tonya Jacobs of the University of California-Davis compared 30 participants at a meditation retreat held at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado with matched controls on a waiting list for the retreat. Participants meditated six hours per day for three months. Their meditation centered on mindfulness — for instance, focusing solely on breathing, in the moment — and on lovingkindness and enhancing compassion towards others.
After the three-month intervention, researchers found that the meditators had on average about 30%* more activity of the enzyme telomerase than the controls did. Telomerase is responsible for repairing telomeres, the structures located on the ends chromosomes, which, like the plastic aglets at the tips of shoelaces, prevent the chromosome from unraveling. Each time a cell reproduces, its telomeres become shorter and less effective at protecting the chromosome — this, researchers believe, is a cause of aging. As the chromosome becomes more and more vulnerable, cell copying becomes sloppier and eventually stops when the telomeres disintegrate completely. Telomerase can mitigate — and possibly stop — cell aging.
"Something about being on a retreat for three months changed the [amount of] telomerase in the retreat group," says Elizabeth Blackburn, a study author who has won a Nobel Prize for her previous work on telomerase. "We didn't prove that it was meditation [that caused the change]. A lot of things happened during the retreat. But the interesting thing was that the changes we saw tracked quantifiably with the change in people's psychological well-being and outlook." (More on Time.com: Can Meditation Ease Pain?) In other words, people with higher levels of telomerase also showed more increases in psychological improvement. In retreat participants who showed no psychological change, telomerase levels were not any higher than in controls. (Researchers were unable to compare telomerase levels in the groups both before and after the retreat for logistical reasons.)
"It's a very good study with interesting results in terms of health implications," says Alan Marlatt, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington who has studied meditation for decades but was not associated with this research.Of course, the relationship between health and telomerase is complex. In a recent study in mice by Harvard researchers, they found that boosting levels of telomerase reversed signs of aging, restoring graying fur and fertility, increasing brain size and sharpening scent perception. Too much telomerase activity can also be a problem, however. A cell that reproduces endlessly sounds like a good thing at first — that cell would be immortal. But this is exactly what happens with cancer cells — infinite replication. "If telomerase levels go too far up, that's [associated with] cancer," says Clifford Saron, associate research scientist at the University of California-Davis Center for Mind and Brain and a co-author of the new paper. He notes, however, that the difference is one that is orders of magnitude higher—so that meditation could not possibly cause cancer*. (More on Time.com: Want to Eat Less? Imagine Eating More)
So how does meditation affect the machinery of cellular reproduction? Probably by reducing stress, research suggests. Severe psychological stress — particularly early in life and in the absence of social support — has been linked with poorer health, increasing risk for heart disease, stroke and some cancers. This is likely due to the negative effects of high levels of stress hormones on the brain and body. By reducing stress hormones, perhaps meditation contributes to healthier telomeres. In a study published a few years ago in Lancet Oncology, researchers compared 30 men before and after adopting lifestyle changes following a diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer. The patients started meditating, switched to a healthy plant-based diet, exercised and attended a support group. Like the new study, the Lancet Oncology paper found increases in telomerase linked with reduced psychological distress.
"The mind has a big influence on the body. If you get anxious, your heart beats faster and your stomach churns," says Blackburn. "But we don't know yet [if meditation is linked to] a reduction in stress hormones. The physiology is very complex."Recent evidence supports a connection: a study published this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed that mindfulness meditation can reduce relapse in patients who recovered from depression just as well as antidepressants. (More on Time.com: Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy One?)
Of course, the increases in telomerase seen in the current study could be due to some other unknown factor that separates the meditators from the controls. That's another reason why it's too early to suggest that stress-reducing mind-body interventions like meditation be prescribed as a treatment for any diseases or disorders. The study also did not show that meditation actually extends life, only that it may increase the activity of an enzyme that is associated with longevity.Still, research on meditation is expanding dramatically, with studies finding it helpful for pain, depression, addiction and many other conditions. "There's a very exciting dialogue going on," Marlatt says of the research. "It works for many different kinds of clinical problems. It's very promising."
That noise you hear in the background? Millions of new meditators chanting, "Om."
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/23/could-meditation-extend-life-intriguing-possibility-raised-by-new-study/#ixzz19FvuKlio
Researchers led by Tonya Jacobs of the University of California-Davis compared 30 participants at a meditation retreat held at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado with matched controls on a waiting list for the retreat. Participants meditated six hours per day for three months. Their meditation centered on mindfulness — for instance, focusing solely on breathing, in the moment — and on lovingkindness and enhancing compassion towards others.
After the three-month intervention, researchers found that the meditators had on average about 30%* more activity of the enzyme telomerase than the controls did. Telomerase is responsible for repairing telomeres, the structures located on the ends chromosomes, which, like the plastic aglets at the tips of shoelaces, prevent the chromosome from unraveling. Each time a cell reproduces, its telomeres become shorter and less effective at protecting the chromosome — this, researchers believe, is a cause of aging. As the chromosome becomes more and more vulnerable, cell copying becomes sloppier and eventually stops when the telomeres disintegrate completely. Telomerase can mitigate — and possibly stop — cell aging.
"Something about being on a retreat for three months changed the [amount of] telomerase in the retreat group," says Elizabeth Blackburn, a study author who has won a Nobel Prize for her previous work on telomerase. "We didn't prove that it was meditation [that caused the change]. A lot of things happened during the retreat. But the interesting thing was that the changes we saw tracked quantifiably with the change in people's psychological well-being and outlook." (More on Time.com: Can Meditation Ease Pain?) In other words, people with higher levels of telomerase also showed more increases in psychological improvement. In retreat participants who showed no psychological change, telomerase levels were not any higher than in controls. (Researchers were unable to compare telomerase levels in the groups both before and after the retreat for logistical reasons.)
"It's a very good study with interesting results in terms of health implications," says Alan Marlatt, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington who has studied meditation for decades but was not associated with this research.Of course, the relationship between health and telomerase is complex. In a recent study in mice by Harvard researchers, they found that boosting levels of telomerase reversed signs of aging, restoring graying fur and fertility, increasing brain size and sharpening scent perception. Too much telomerase activity can also be a problem, however. A cell that reproduces endlessly sounds like a good thing at first — that cell would be immortal. But this is exactly what happens with cancer cells — infinite replication. "If telomerase levels go too far up, that's [associated with] cancer," says Clifford Saron, associate research scientist at the University of California-Davis Center for Mind and Brain and a co-author of the new paper. He notes, however, that the difference is one that is orders of magnitude higher—so that meditation could not possibly cause cancer*. (More on Time.com: Want to Eat Less? Imagine Eating More)
So how does meditation affect the machinery of cellular reproduction? Probably by reducing stress, research suggests. Severe psychological stress — particularly early in life and in the absence of social support — has been linked with poorer health, increasing risk for heart disease, stroke and some cancers. This is likely due to the negative effects of high levels of stress hormones on the brain and body. By reducing stress hormones, perhaps meditation contributes to healthier telomeres. In a study published a few years ago in Lancet Oncology, researchers compared 30 men before and after adopting lifestyle changes following a diagnosis of low-risk prostate cancer. The patients started meditating, switched to a healthy plant-based diet, exercised and attended a support group. Like the new study, the Lancet Oncology paper found increases in telomerase linked with reduced psychological distress.
"The mind has a big influence on the body. If you get anxious, your heart beats faster and your stomach churns," says Blackburn. "But we don't know yet [if meditation is linked to] a reduction in stress hormones. The physiology is very complex."Recent evidence supports a connection: a study published this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry showed that mindfulness meditation can reduce relapse in patients who recovered from depression just as well as antidepressants. (More on Time.com: Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy One?)
Of course, the increases in telomerase seen in the current study could be due to some other unknown factor that separates the meditators from the controls. That's another reason why it's too early to suggest that stress-reducing mind-body interventions like meditation be prescribed as a treatment for any diseases or disorders. The study also did not show that meditation actually extends life, only that it may increase the activity of an enzyme that is associated with longevity.Still, research on meditation is expanding dramatically, with studies finding it helpful for pain, depression, addiction and many other conditions. "There's a very exciting dialogue going on," Marlatt says of the research. "It works for many different kinds of clinical problems. It's very promising."
That noise you hear in the background? Millions of new meditators chanting, "Om."
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/23/could-meditation-extend-life-intriguing-possibility-raised-by-new-study/#ixzz19FvuKlio
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Global flu warning after UK hit- YES really!
The flu is not a joke nor is it a conspiracy theory. It is a real, mutating disease and we really missed a bullet with H1N1 last year. We all need to practice sound hygiene and health practices to beat it this year.
Experts are urging people to have the vaccine in the UK to protect them against flu viruses .
Northern hemisphere countries are being told by health experts to brace themselves for flu outbreaks.
There has been a well-publicised surge of cases in the UK during December with swine flu appearing to be the dominant of the three strains circulating. But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned much of the rest of Europe was also beginning to see increases too.
Meanwhile, parts of the US and Canada have reported higher levels. Many of those being infected are younger age groups. This is because elderly people have some immunity to swine flu, most probably because of exposure to a similar strain many years ago.In the UK, the number of people who have died with all types of flu this winter hit 27 this week after another 10 deaths.The volume of patients going to their doctor with flu-like illnesses also rose, more than doubling to 87.1 per 100,000 in the past week.
Children
Cases have been highest in children aged between five and 14, followed by children under four and then those aged between 15 and 44. But the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said a very large outbreak was "not likely".The situation has led to a rise in patients in intensive care beds and also in those using the NHS's phone hotline, NHS Direct.Health experts said most people with flu would be able to "self-care" by taking plenty of rest, drinking fluids and taking pain relief.
However, those with severe symptoms are being advised to consult their doctor.Professor John Watson, an expert in respiratory disease at the HPA, said: "The level of flu activity we are currently seeing is at levels often seen during the winter flu seasons. "Recent research conducted by the HPA has suggested that a very substantial wave of activity associated with the pandemic strain is not likely."
In the UK at-risk groups are being urged to come forward for vaccinations. The numbers getting immunised are still too low, doctors have said.The rates being seen elsewhere in Europe are not as high as in the UK, but the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said there was evidence that the winter flu epidemics were "starting".
Russia and the Ukraine are thought to be the worst hit outside the UK.
Experts are urging people to have the vaccine in the UK to protect them against flu viruses .
Northern hemisphere countries are being told by health experts to brace themselves for flu outbreaks.
There has been a well-publicised surge of cases in the UK during December with swine flu appearing to be the dominant of the three strains circulating. But the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned much of the rest of Europe was also beginning to see increases too.
Meanwhile, parts of the US and Canada have reported higher levels. Many of those being infected are younger age groups. This is because elderly people have some immunity to swine flu, most probably because of exposure to a similar strain many years ago.In the UK, the number of people who have died with all types of flu this winter hit 27 this week after another 10 deaths.The volume of patients going to their doctor with flu-like illnesses also rose, more than doubling to 87.1 per 100,000 in the past week.
Children
Cases have been highest in children aged between five and 14, followed by children under four and then those aged between 15 and 44. But the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA) said a very large outbreak was "not likely".The situation has led to a rise in patients in intensive care beds and also in those using the NHS's phone hotline, NHS Direct.Health experts said most people with flu would be able to "self-care" by taking plenty of rest, drinking fluids and taking pain relief.
However, those with severe symptoms are being advised to consult their doctor.Professor John Watson, an expert in respiratory disease at the HPA, said: "The level of flu activity we are currently seeing is at levels often seen during the winter flu seasons. "Recent research conducted by the HPA has suggested that a very substantial wave of activity associated with the pandemic strain is not likely."
In the UK at-risk groups are being urged to come forward for vaccinations. The numbers getting immunised are still too low, doctors have said.The rates being seen elsewhere in Europe are not as high as in the UK, but the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said there was evidence that the winter flu epidemics were "starting".
Russia and the Ukraine are thought to be the worst hit outside the UK.
US pilot 'probed over YouTube videos of airport lapses
San Francisco International Airport has a strict screening regime for passengers
US officials are investigating a pilot who released videos allegedly revealing security lapses at San Francisco's airport, the pilot's lawyer says. Lawyer Don Werno said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was checking whether his client had revealed sensitive information.
The videos on YouTube allegedly showed ground crew members swiping security cards and then entering the airport's secure areas without any screening.The TSA said it had "taken action".
'Confident'
Mr Werno said the 50-year-old pilot, who has not been identified, remained employed with a major airline, but had been withdrawn from a programme that trained flight crew to help prevent hijackings. The pilot's federally issued firearm had been confiscated, he said.The lawyer said that the pilot, in videos posted in November and December, had wanted to highlight what he felt were security gaps for ground crews - including luggage handlers and caterers - at San Francisco International Airport.
He added that the tapes hardly contained any sensitive information as they could have been shot by any passenger aboard a taxiing plane.The TSA said in a statement that it was "confident in the tools the airport has implemented and reminds passengers there are security measures in place that are both seen and unseen". It added that it "responded and took action in this situation because the pilot in question was an FFDO" (federal flight deck officer). "FFDOs must be able to maintain sensitive security information as a condition of the FFDO programme," it said, without providing further details.
The videos have now been removed from YouTube.
US officials are investigating a pilot who released videos allegedly revealing security lapses at San Francisco's airport, the pilot's lawyer says. Lawyer Don Werno said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was checking whether his client had revealed sensitive information.
The videos on YouTube allegedly showed ground crew members swiping security cards and then entering the airport's secure areas without any screening.The TSA said it had "taken action".
'Confident'
Mr Werno said the 50-year-old pilot, who has not been identified, remained employed with a major airline, but had been withdrawn from a programme that trained flight crew to help prevent hijackings. The pilot's federally issued firearm had been confiscated, he said.The lawyer said that the pilot, in videos posted in November and December, had wanted to highlight what he felt were security gaps for ground crews - including luggage handlers and caterers - at San Francisco International Airport.
He added that the tapes hardly contained any sensitive information as they could have been shot by any passenger aboard a taxiing plane.The TSA said in a statement that it was "confident in the tools the airport has implemented and reminds passengers there are security measures in place that are both seen and unseen". It added that it "responded and took action in this situation because the pilot in question was an FFDO" (federal flight deck officer). "FFDOs must be able to maintain sensitive security information as a condition of the FFDO programme," it said, without providing further details.
The videos have now been removed from YouTube.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Natural solution for Sinusitis
A Sweet Solution for Sinusitis
Testing samples of three sinusitis-causing bacteria, University of Ottawa researchers found that honey knocked out the notoriously drug-resistant bugs more effectively than antibiotics did.
Honey, a source of bacteria-fighting hydrogen peroxide, offers antioxidants that help mend mucous membranes, says naturopathic doctor Keri Marshall. Although manuka honey may have the highest level of antibacterial activity, she says, all varieties can help kill off sinusitis-related pathogens. "You can take it right off the spoon or stir your honey into herbal tea two or three times a day to get the added benefit of warm liquid and nourishing herbs," Marshall
Read more at Wholeliving.com: A Sweet Solution for Sinusitis
Testing samples of three sinusitis-causing bacteria, University of Ottawa researchers found that honey knocked out the notoriously drug-resistant bugs more effectively than antibiotics did.
Honey, a source of bacteria-fighting hydrogen peroxide, offers antioxidants that help mend mucous membranes, says naturopathic doctor Keri Marshall. Although manuka honey may have the highest level of antibacterial activity, she says, all varieties can help kill off sinusitis-related pathogens. "You can take it right off the spoon or stir your honey into herbal tea two or three times a day to get the added benefit of warm liquid and nourishing herbs," Marshall
Read more at Wholeliving.com: A Sweet Solution for Sinusitis
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Health Tip: Recognizing Symptoms of Shingles
(HealthDay News) - Shingles is caused by the herpes zoster virus, the same one that causes chickenpox.
After chickenpox subsides, the virus becomes inactive (dormant), until an unknown factor triggers its reemergence as shingles- a painful, blistering rash. The U.S. National Library of Medicine says you're more likely to develop shingles if you're 60 or older, had chickenpox before you were 1 year old, and have a condition that's caused a weakened immune system.
The agency says these symptoms are typical of shingles:
-Pain in the abdomen.
-Difficulty moving facial muscles.
-Droopy eyelids.
-Fever and chills.
-Lesions near the genitals.
-Headache.
-Hearing loss.
-Joint pain.
-Inability to fully move the eyes.
-Swollen glands.
-Taste and vision problems.
Copyright 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
After chickenpox subsides, the virus becomes inactive (dormant), until an unknown factor triggers its reemergence as shingles- a painful, blistering rash. The U.S. National Library of Medicine says you're more likely to develop shingles if you're 60 or older, had chickenpox before you were 1 year old, and have a condition that's caused a weakened immune system.
The agency says these symptoms are typical of shingles:
-Pain in the abdomen.
-Difficulty moving facial muscles.
-Droopy eyelids.
-Fever and chills.
-Lesions near the genitals.
-Headache.
-Hearing loss.
-Joint pain.
-Inability to fully move the eyes.
-Swollen glands.
-Taste and vision problems.
Copyright 2010 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Research on all things Christmas
Researchers have long studied the science of the season, exploring issues including how to build the perfect Christmas tree, why we give bad gifts, and how Santa's reindeer lifts his sled into the night air cutting quickly through time zones. Here is a roundup of recent research into the holiday season.
O Christmas tree!
Dubbed "Mr. Christmas Tree," Washington State University researcher Gary Chastagner has ambitiously set out to build a better tree. The goal: develop a tree whose branches would not shed its needles. Chastagner will, over the coming years, examine branches of different conifers, testing needle retention and cataloguing genetic markers.
"This isn't genetically modified work, just pretty much traditional genetic selection and horticulture," he told WSU Today in January 2010.
Chastagner along with Eric Hinesley in 2009 released a study in which they raised questions about the efficacy of flame retardants. The researchers suggested an ample amount of fresh, cold water is key to keeping Christmas trees green and healthy, noting some retardants in fact caused the branches of Douglas firs to dry faster than those that had not been treated at all.
Among Chastagner's other tips:
• At the tree lot, tap the butt of the tree on the ground. Brown needles will naturally fall from the tree but an abundance of green needles indicates the tree is already drying out.
• A tree with a 10 cm diameter tree trunk should be placed in about 3.8 litres of water.
• Keep the tree away from vents, fireplaces and sunlight and lower the room temperature.
Tidings of comfort and joy
The tradition of stuffing the mailbox with Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwaanza and New Year's cards is actually good for the soul, according to a 1997 Penn State study that suggests the custom is a meaningful confirmation of relationships.
Lead researcher Karen Fingerman, a professor of human development and family studies, surveyed 87 men and women aged 24 to 87. The participants were asked about the holiday cards they received that year. They were also asked about the most significant cards they received.
"For many of the older recipients, the cards were a link to their personal past, a living memory," Fingerman said in a release. "They took them as a reaffirmation of self — of who they were and how they got to where they were. They found comfort in and derived meaning from the continued existence of a form of the social contact that transcends time and geographic distance."
Younger participants similarly reported the card giving traditions were a method to establish and maintain social contacts.
Cancer screenings best attended near Christmas
Holiday checklist: presents wrapped, stockings stuffed, cards mailed, colonoscopy scheduled?
Timing cancer screenings to coincide with Christmas, New Year's or birthday milestones may help improve attendance rates, according to a Norwegian study released in 2008.
Researchers Geir Hoff and Michael Bretthauer recruited over 20,000 people aged 50 to 64 and assigned them a colorectal cancer screening appointment.
The study found that participation rates were highest when participants received appointment invitations in December (72.3 per cent) as compared with the remaining 11 months (64.2 per cent). People who received letters in the month of their birthday were also more likely to attend (67.9 per cent versus 64.5 per cent).
"Perception of aging may be the key factor, but other mechanisms such as "housekeeping business" or simply "getting things done" before annual milestones may also be considered as explanations for the observed difference in attendance," the study said.
Loved ones + holidays = bad gifts
Christmas gifts miss the mark? Take comfort consumers, you're not alone. Researchers in a 2006 study suggest there's a reason why people often buy the wrong presents for those they love most.
Davy Lerouge and Luk Warlop theorize, in an article published in the Journal of Consumer Research, that we often feel overconfident when buying for loved ones. Shoppers also often mistakenly assume their tastes are the same as the gift recipient's.
"Research on product attitude predictions suggests, and this research confirms, that familiarity with another consumer is not particularly helpful when predicting the other's product attitudes," the authors wrote in their study.
Lerouge and Warlop surveyed couples who had been dating for more than six months, asking them individually to select bedroom furniture they thought would appeal to their partner.
The researchers found that people tended to ignore cues about what their partner may like and go with their preconceived notions instead.
"Our results suggest that familiarity caused [people] to put an overly heavy weight on pre-stored information," the authors wrote. "The pre-stored information that people possess about their partner is extensive. This elaborate knowledge makes predictors overly confident, such that they do not even attend to product-specific attitude feedback."
Make a list, ask a stranger to check it twice
Think you'll use that juicer all the time? Before shelling out seek advice from a stranger, researchers suggested in a 2009 study that theorized we may not know ourselves as well as we think.
"People make optimistic predictions about themselves," said Albright College professor Jeffrey Vietri in a release. "They expect relationships to last longer, tasks to take less time and things to turn out generally better than they will." And when they ask for a waffle-maker for Christmas, they think, "I'll use this all the time!"
Researchers asked 164 participants how often they thought they might use an item during the holiday season. The study found that people used items 59 per cent less frequently than expected. In a second group observers were told of the participants' initial projection and were asked to make their own prediction about how much the item would be used. The group of informed observers over-predicted 10 per cent of the time.
"The informed observers took the recipient's predictions and poured salt on them," Vietri said. "If the recipient said they'd use something three times a day, the informed observers predicted they would use it closer to once a day. When they saw low predictions, they guessed the recipient would use it even less."
The study was published in the journal Social Influence.
Secrets of Santa's souped-up sled
Santa's annual whirl around the world for many years proved an unsolved puzzle — how does he visit the homes of all the girls and boys around the globe so quickly in a creaky old sled jam-packed with presents? The answer: honeycombed titanium alloy runners, reindeers outfitted with jet-packs and a sleek nano-toymaker magic sack, according to researcher Larry Silverberg.
In a visiting scholar exchange, Silverberg — a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina's State University — learned of new technologies Santa is continuing to develop.
"As the first scholar to participate in the SW-NPL program, I learned that we have a long way to go to catch up with Santa in fields ranging from aerodynamics and thermodynamics to materials science." Silverberg said in a 2009 release.
Aerodynamic, lightweight runners help move the sleigh quickly on land and cut through the air in flight. Laser sensors on the sleigh help Santa navigate the winter skies and a nano-structured sleigh skin reduces drag by nearly 90 per cent.
Silverberg also describes Santa's magic sack, crafted with carbon-based soot from chimneys. A reversible thermodynamic processor helps Santa create toys for children on site, thereby cutting down Santa's load of gifts.
Relativity clouds also help Santa meet his deadline, Silverberg explains.
"Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, space can be squeezed like an orange and light can be bent," he said. "Relativity clouds are controllable domains — rips in time — that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye."
Santa Claus, public health pariah?
With a bulging belly, penchant for the pipe and absolute disregard for speed limits, Santa is a poor public health role model, suggested a recent study published in the British Medical Journal.
Australian researcher Dr. Nathan Grills in 2009 reviewed literature and web-based materials to evaluate Santa's potential negative influence. Gills suggests that families should be supportive of a dieting plan for Santa, forgoing the cookies, mince pies, milk and brandy for carrots and celery sticks. The study also proposes Santa might consider trading in his reindeer for a bike.
Santa's role as pitchman must also be scrutinized and reconsidered, Grills also argued.
"Public health needs to be aware of what giant multinational capitalists realized long ago: that Santa sells, and sometimes he sells harmful products," the study said. "Several countries, like the U.K., limit what can be advertised to children. Since Santa is a childhood icon should we prevent him from selling products such as alcohol and unhealthy foods?"
Santa: Jolly, fit and fat
Santa's ability to shrug off depression despite weight gain was the subject of a 2006 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The researchers, from the University of Montreal, examined the competing HAHA and HOHO lifestyle characteristics in their study of St. Nick.
"As it is universally acknowledged that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole in Canada, we examined prospective Canadian population data to explore whether a HAHA (Happy, Active Healthy, Active lifestyle) factor could balance the HOHO (Happy, Overweight Happy, Obese) attributes, and whether this in turn might explain why Santa remains upbeat, even if he is not trim."
The researchers postulated that a sedentary lifestyle is directly linked with a low jolly quotient. The authors suggest therefore that Santa's rigorous fitness training, a practice he follows to keep him in shape for Christmas Eve, helps boost his mood.
"[To] have the stamina to travel at light speed, Santa must follow a strict fitness regime like other racing drivers. Furthermore, ELF (Enhanced Lung Function) appears to be associated with GIFT (Graduated Intensity Fitness Training) programs. Finally, the ability to race from rooftop to rooftop and contort through chimneys of all shapes and sizes indicates that although Santa may be cheerful, he is also likely to practise JOLLY (Jogging and Life-Long Yoga). This is the secret of Santa's persona," the authors said in the study.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/12/06/f-holiday-research.html#ixzz18awhPmzd
O Christmas tree!
Dubbed "Mr. Christmas Tree," Washington State University researcher Gary Chastagner has ambitiously set out to build a better tree. The goal: develop a tree whose branches would not shed its needles. Chastagner will, over the coming years, examine branches of different conifers, testing needle retention and cataloguing genetic markers.
"This isn't genetically modified work, just pretty much traditional genetic selection and horticulture," he told WSU Today in January 2010.
Chastagner along with Eric Hinesley in 2009 released a study in which they raised questions about the efficacy of flame retardants. The researchers suggested an ample amount of fresh, cold water is key to keeping Christmas trees green and healthy, noting some retardants in fact caused the branches of Douglas firs to dry faster than those that had not been treated at all.
Among Chastagner's other tips:
• At the tree lot, tap the butt of the tree on the ground. Brown needles will naturally fall from the tree but an abundance of green needles indicates the tree is already drying out.
• A tree with a 10 cm diameter tree trunk should be placed in about 3.8 litres of water.
• Keep the tree away from vents, fireplaces and sunlight and lower the room temperature.
Tidings of comfort and joy
The tradition of stuffing the mailbox with Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwaanza and New Year's cards is actually good for the soul, according to a 1997 Penn State study that suggests the custom is a meaningful confirmation of relationships.
Lead researcher Karen Fingerman, a professor of human development and family studies, surveyed 87 men and women aged 24 to 87. The participants were asked about the holiday cards they received that year. They were also asked about the most significant cards they received.
"For many of the older recipients, the cards were a link to their personal past, a living memory," Fingerman said in a release. "They took them as a reaffirmation of self — of who they were and how they got to where they were. They found comfort in and derived meaning from the continued existence of a form of the social contact that transcends time and geographic distance."
Younger participants similarly reported the card giving traditions were a method to establish and maintain social contacts.
Cancer screenings best attended near Christmas
Holiday checklist: presents wrapped, stockings stuffed, cards mailed, colonoscopy scheduled?
Timing cancer screenings to coincide with Christmas, New Year's or birthday milestones may help improve attendance rates, according to a Norwegian study released in 2008.
Researchers Geir Hoff and Michael Bretthauer recruited over 20,000 people aged 50 to 64 and assigned them a colorectal cancer screening appointment.
The study found that participation rates were highest when participants received appointment invitations in December (72.3 per cent) as compared with the remaining 11 months (64.2 per cent). People who received letters in the month of their birthday were also more likely to attend (67.9 per cent versus 64.5 per cent).
"Perception of aging may be the key factor, but other mechanisms such as "housekeeping business" or simply "getting things done" before annual milestones may also be considered as explanations for the observed difference in attendance," the study said.
Loved ones + holidays = bad gifts
Christmas gifts miss the mark? Take comfort consumers, you're not alone. Researchers in a 2006 study suggest there's a reason why people often buy the wrong presents for those they love most.
Davy Lerouge and Luk Warlop theorize, in an article published in the Journal of Consumer Research, that we often feel overconfident when buying for loved ones. Shoppers also often mistakenly assume their tastes are the same as the gift recipient's.
"Research on product attitude predictions suggests, and this research confirms, that familiarity with another consumer is not particularly helpful when predicting the other's product attitudes," the authors wrote in their study.
Lerouge and Warlop surveyed couples who had been dating for more than six months, asking them individually to select bedroom furniture they thought would appeal to their partner.
The researchers found that people tended to ignore cues about what their partner may like and go with their preconceived notions instead.
"Our results suggest that familiarity caused [people] to put an overly heavy weight on pre-stored information," the authors wrote. "The pre-stored information that people possess about their partner is extensive. This elaborate knowledge makes predictors overly confident, such that they do not even attend to product-specific attitude feedback."
Make a list, ask a stranger to check it twice
Think you'll use that juicer all the time? Before shelling out seek advice from a stranger, researchers suggested in a 2009 study that theorized we may not know ourselves as well as we think.
"People make optimistic predictions about themselves," said Albright College professor Jeffrey Vietri in a release. "They expect relationships to last longer, tasks to take less time and things to turn out generally better than they will." And when they ask for a waffle-maker for Christmas, they think, "I'll use this all the time!"
Researchers asked 164 participants how often they thought they might use an item during the holiday season. The study found that people used items 59 per cent less frequently than expected. In a second group observers were told of the participants' initial projection and were asked to make their own prediction about how much the item would be used. The group of informed observers over-predicted 10 per cent of the time.
"The informed observers took the recipient's predictions and poured salt on them," Vietri said. "If the recipient said they'd use something three times a day, the informed observers predicted they would use it closer to once a day. When they saw low predictions, they guessed the recipient would use it even less."
The study was published in the journal Social Influence.
Secrets of Santa's souped-up sled
Santa's annual whirl around the world for many years proved an unsolved puzzle — how does he visit the homes of all the girls and boys around the globe so quickly in a creaky old sled jam-packed with presents? The answer: honeycombed titanium alloy runners, reindeers outfitted with jet-packs and a sleek nano-toymaker magic sack, according to researcher Larry Silverberg.
In a visiting scholar exchange, Silverberg — a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at North Carolina's State University — learned of new technologies Santa is continuing to develop.
"As the first scholar to participate in the SW-NPL program, I learned that we have a long way to go to catch up with Santa in fields ranging from aerodynamics and thermodynamics to materials science." Silverberg said in a 2009 release.
Aerodynamic, lightweight runners help move the sleigh quickly on land and cut through the air in flight. Laser sensors on the sleigh help Santa navigate the winter skies and a nano-structured sleigh skin reduces drag by nearly 90 per cent.
Silverberg also describes Santa's magic sack, crafted with carbon-based soot from chimneys. A reversible thermodynamic processor helps Santa create toys for children on site, thereby cutting down Santa's load of gifts.
Relativity clouds also help Santa meet his deadline, Silverberg explains.
"Based on his advanced knowledge of the theory of relativity, Santa recognizes that time can be stretched like a rubber band, space can be squeezed like an orange and light can be bent," he said. "Relativity clouds are controllable domains — rips in time — that allow him months to deliver presents while only a few minutes pass on Earth. The presents are truly delivered in a wink of an eye."
Santa Claus, public health pariah?
With a bulging belly, penchant for the pipe and absolute disregard for speed limits, Santa is a poor public health role model, suggested a recent study published in the British Medical Journal.
Australian researcher Dr. Nathan Grills in 2009 reviewed literature and web-based materials to evaluate Santa's potential negative influence. Gills suggests that families should be supportive of a dieting plan for Santa, forgoing the cookies, mince pies, milk and brandy for carrots and celery sticks. The study also proposes Santa might consider trading in his reindeer for a bike.
Santa's role as pitchman must also be scrutinized and reconsidered, Grills also argued.
"Public health needs to be aware of what giant multinational capitalists realized long ago: that Santa sells, and sometimes he sells harmful products," the study said. "Several countries, like the U.K., limit what can be advertised to children. Since Santa is a childhood icon should we prevent him from selling products such as alcohol and unhealthy foods?"
Santa: Jolly, fit and fat
Santa's ability to shrug off depression despite weight gain was the subject of a 2006 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
The researchers, from the University of Montreal, examined the competing HAHA and HOHO lifestyle characteristics in their study of St. Nick.
"As it is universally acknowledged that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole in Canada, we examined prospective Canadian population data to explore whether a HAHA (Happy, Active Healthy, Active lifestyle) factor could balance the HOHO (Happy, Overweight Happy, Obese) attributes, and whether this in turn might explain why Santa remains upbeat, even if he is not trim."
The researchers postulated that a sedentary lifestyle is directly linked with a low jolly quotient. The authors suggest therefore that Santa's rigorous fitness training, a practice he follows to keep him in shape for Christmas Eve, helps boost his mood.
"[To] have the stamina to travel at light speed, Santa must follow a strict fitness regime like other racing drivers. Furthermore, ELF (Enhanced Lung Function) appears to be associated with GIFT (Graduated Intensity Fitness Training) programs. Finally, the ability to race from rooftop to rooftop and contort through chimneys of all shapes and sizes indicates that although Santa may be cheerful, he is also likely to practise JOLLY (Jogging and Life-Long Yoga). This is the secret of Santa's persona," the authors said in the study.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/12/06/f-holiday-research.html#ixzz18awhPmzd
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
New guidance on vitamin D recommends midday sunshine
By Jane Dreaper Health correspondent, BBC News
Short spells in the sun boost vitamin D levels
Seven organisations have issued joint advice on vitamin D, which the body gets from natural sunlight.The nutrient keeps bones strong, and protects against conditions like osteoporosis. The guidance was drawn up because it is thought fears about skin cancer have made people too cautious about being in the sun. Cancer Research UK and the National Osteoporosis Society are among the bodies which agree that "little and frequent" spells in summer sunshine several times a week can benefit your health. The experts now say it is fine to go outside in strong sun in the middle of the day, as long as you cover up or apply sunscreen before your skin goes red.
"A good diet and sensible sun exposure will be adequate for most people to minimise their cancer risk." Professor Peter Johnson
Cancer Research UK
Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, said: "Total sun protection with high factor suncream on all the time is not ideal, in terms of vitamin D levels."Even Australia has changed its policy on this. They're now producing charts showing parts of Australia where sun protection may not be required during some parts of the year.
"Some of the messages about sun exposure have been too negative. UK summer sunshine isn't desperately strong. We don't have many days in the year when it is very intense. "What's changed is that we're now saying that exposure of 10 to 15 minutes to the UK summer sun, without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."Official government advice already recommends vitamin D supplements for pregnant women and children aged under five. But the experts who wrote the joint statement say mothers often are not made aware of this recommendation. They suggest women consult their GP.
Winter levels of vitamin D can be helped by a break in the tropical sun - or by eating oily fish, liver and fortified margarine.
'Complex area'
Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, Professor Peter Johnson, said: "A good diet and sensible sun exposure will be adequate for the great majority of the UK population to minimise their cancer risk.
"The area of vitamin D and cancer is complex.
"There's some evidence, which is strongest in bowel cancer, that low levels of vitamin D in the blood correlate with the risk of developing cancer.
"But that doesn't mean those low levels cause bowel cancer.
"We think overall that low levels of vitamin D are unlikely to be major contributors to the chances of developing cancer in the UK population."
The joint statement also highlighted questions about vitamin D that warrant further research.These include finding out the optimal levels of vitamin D, and more detail about the role of dietary sources and supplements.
Short spells in the sun boost vitamin D levels
Seven organisations have issued joint advice on vitamin D, which the body gets from natural sunlight.The nutrient keeps bones strong, and protects against conditions like osteoporosis. The guidance was drawn up because it is thought fears about skin cancer have made people too cautious about being in the sun. Cancer Research UK and the National Osteoporosis Society are among the bodies which agree that "little and frequent" spells in summer sunshine several times a week can benefit your health. The experts now say it is fine to go outside in strong sun in the middle of the day, as long as you cover up or apply sunscreen before your skin goes red.
"A good diet and sensible sun exposure will be adequate for most people to minimise their cancer risk." Professor Peter Johnson
Cancer Research UK
Professor Rona Mackie, from the British Association of Dermatologists, said: "Total sun protection with high factor suncream on all the time is not ideal, in terms of vitamin D levels."Even Australia has changed its policy on this. They're now producing charts showing parts of Australia where sun protection may not be required during some parts of the year.
"Some of the messages about sun exposure have been too negative. UK summer sunshine isn't desperately strong. We don't have many days in the year when it is very intense. "What's changed is that we're now saying that exposure of 10 to 15 minutes to the UK summer sun, without suncream, several times a week is probably a safe balance between adequate vitamin D levels and any risk of skin cancer."Official government advice already recommends vitamin D supplements for pregnant women and children aged under five. But the experts who wrote the joint statement say mothers often are not made aware of this recommendation. They suggest women consult their GP.
Winter levels of vitamin D can be helped by a break in the tropical sun - or by eating oily fish, liver and fortified margarine.
'Complex area'
Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, Professor Peter Johnson, said: "A good diet and sensible sun exposure will be adequate for the great majority of the UK population to minimise their cancer risk.
"The area of vitamin D and cancer is complex.
"There's some evidence, which is strongest in bowel cancer, that low levels of vitamin D in the blood correlate with the risk of developing cancer.
"But that doesn't mean those low levels cause bowel cancer.
"We think overall that low levels of vitamin D are unlikely to be major contributors to the chances of developing cancer in the UK population."
The joint statement also highlighted questions about vitamin D that warrant further research.These include finding out the optimal levels of vitamin D, and more detail about the role of dietary sources and supplements.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Great Ideas: Electric Car Sharing in Paris
Paris to launch electric car-sharing program
Last Updated: Thursday, December 16, 2010 | 8:41 AM ET
The Associated Press
After its successful bike-sharing program, the city of Paris in moving into higher gear — now preparing to lend out 3,000 electric cars across the City of Light.
City officials are announcing Thursday which of three companies or partnerships has been chosen to run Autolib', an automobile-sharing program modelled on Paris's successful, three-year-old bicycle-sharing program, Velib'.
City Hall spokesman Damien Steffan said the service, set to begin in Paris and nearby suburbs by the end of 2011, will make Paris the first major world city with a car-sharing program of its size.
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe will name on Thursday the winner of a yearlong selection process to choose the operator in a news conference at which details of the program are also expected to emerge.
Three groups are in the running: a consortium of rental car giant Avis, Paris public transport authority RATP, national rail operator SNCF and Vinci Park, an operator of parking garages; Bollore, a French conglomerate owned by billionaire entrepreneur Vincent Bollore; and Veolia Transport Urbain, an international operator of public transport systems.
The cars are to be positioned at 1,000 stations in metropolitan Paris and will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Users will have to have a driver's licence and pay a subscription fee to borrow one of the cars.
Velib' makes available more than 20,000 bikes at nearly 1,500 stations around the city and nearby suburbs. Infrequent users can pay by credit card, while subscribers pay a yearly fee of $33 to have access to the bikes.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/12/16/tech-paris-car-sharing-bikes-electric.html#ixzz18I1E1I1y
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Food born illness warning for Cancer patients
15 December 2010 Last updated at 13:00 ET
Listeria causes food poisoning
Listeria warning to cancer patients
Listeria causes food poisoningAdvice for pregnant women on avoiding soft cheeses and certain other foods should be extended to cancer patients, according to public health experts.
Research by the Health Protection Agency found cancer patients were at increased risk of food poisoning from listeria bacteria.
The illness, which is rare, is linked to foods like soft cheeses and pate.
Cancer Research UK said patients undergoing chemotherapy should be particularly careful.
Martin Ledwick, head information nurse, said: "Currently patients who are receiving high doses of chemotherapy should be advised to take precautions to avoid food-born infections.
"This study may suggest that this advice should be extended to all cancer patients having any type of treatment that compromises their immunity.
"However, as it is not clear from the work what type of treatments the cancer patients with listeria were having, it's not certain whether this precaution is absolutely necessary for all cancer patients."
Food poisoningListeria is a rare but serious illness caused by food containing the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes.
If caught during pregnancy, it can cause miscarriage. The infection can also lead to blood poisoning or meningitis in people with a weak immune system.
Cases are on the rise in the UK, particularly in the over-60s.
A team from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) reviewed 1,413 people, excluding pregnant women, who had listeria between 1999 and 2009 in England.
Most of these had underlying conditions, which put them at increased risk of catching listeria.
Cancer patients had a particularly high risk - almost five times that of people with other illnesses such as diabetes.
The highest rate was among those with cancers of the blood.
Dr Bob Adak of the HPA said: Our research has shown that those receiving cancer treatment or suffering from a variety of conditions, including diabetes, kidney or liver disease, should be offered appropriate health advice on how to avoid listeria.
"At present this is given passively and mainly to pregnant women, but clearly there are other groups of people who need to be advised on what they can do to protect their health.
"Listeria can cause serious illness or even death in those people who have serious underlying health conditions.
"Taking steps to avoid infection is a very important part of managing their health and these groups need to be made aware of how they should do this."
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Women and Heart Attacks
How Do I Know If I Am Having a Heart Attack? By Tony Neaverson |
Most patients have symptoms prior to an actual heart attack – generally a “tightness” behind the breastbone, which generally is caused by an increase in heart rate. The coronary arteries fill in between heart beats therefore anything which increases your heart rate will reduce the time your coronary arteries have to provide blood flow to the heart muscle- the myocardium. Once the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen it becomes irritable leading to palpitations and, if not relieved, death of the muscle. |
| Most patients have symptoms prior to an actual heart attack – generally a “tightness” behind the breastbone, which generally is caused by an increase in heart rate. The coronary arteries fill in between heart beats therefore anything which increases your heart rate will reduce the time your coronary arteries have to provide blood flow to the heart muscle- the myocardium. Once the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen it becomes irritable leading to palpitations and, if not relieved, death of the muscle. Surrounding the dead muscle is a variable sized area of heart muscle at risk of dying because of inadequate oxygen supply – this condition is known as myocardial ischaemia. The heart rate is under the control of the autonomic nervous systems, which, in the case of the heart, is driven by adrenaline the so-called “flight or fight” hormone. Adrenaline acts at various sites of the body - On the sinus node in the heart which controls rate to increase heart rate - On the bronchial tubes in the lung to cause them to dilate allowing greater flow of air into the lungs - On the small arteries in the skin and gut to constrict (narrow) reducing blood flow to these areas and making more blood available to the muscles- to fight or fly - Increases the blood sugar by increasing breakdown of glycogen to glucose, important food for the muscles to contract better. Whilst increased adrenaline production is common with exercise it also occurs in states of shock, fear, or anger producing gooseflesh and sweating (remember the first time you saw the shower scene in the Hitchcock Movie Psycho). As well as increasing the heart rate adrenaline may cause cardiac irregularity, increased blood pressure, or palpitations. It is this irregularity which may lead the heart to chaotic beats and finally fibrillation and death. This is the first symptom of a heart attack in about 20% of people – sudden death – the victim just collapses to the ground. Whilst he may gasp a few breaths he has no cardiac output- no blood is leaving his heart- he is pulseless. This terminal condition (ventricular fibrillation) is very easily treated by first aid measures and cardiac shock- termed defibrillation. Nowadays many areas which have high populations (or as in aeroplanes, confined areas) have people friendly defibrillators available which only shock patients who have rhythms which are treatable by shock. These machines have easy instructions and any bystander who can read can apply the electrodes and save the patient’s life. Often people wrongly refer to this cause of death as a massive heart attack- it takes some time (often up to an hour) to die from a massive heart attack. In this case the heart attack causes such significant damage to the main ventricle of the heart as to reduce blood pressure to critically low levels and death results. Cause of Heart Attacks The pathological cause of heart attacks is a clot of blood, which forms over an area on the lining of a coronary artery which, is “ready” for a clot to form – this area is termed a vulnerable plaque. It was previously thought that clots developed on the lining of arterial walls that had become calcified and thickened - it is now known that rarely are these areas the sites of clots. Calcification and deposition of cholesterol within the arterial wall reduces the lumen size and therefore flow of blood through this section of the artery is likewise reduced. This reduced flow may be sufficient to provide enough oxygen to the heart muscle during rest or light work. However once the heart is required to work harder the blood flow is insufficient to provide enough oxygen to the heart muscle and symptoms follow. Angina- Pectoris and Decubitus When the heart muscle receives insufficient oxygen it produces lactic and pyruvic acids and these produces the tightness in the chest known as angina the type of angina which occurs during exercise is termed Angina Pectoris. The obvious treatment is to reduce the heart work by ceasing whatever activity has caused the heart rate to rise. Whilst typically angina pectoris occurs as tightness in the chest it may move up into the throat or down one or both arms. Occasionally it may only occur in the teeth or in the back between the shoulder blades. Patients may describe it as a “weight on my chest” or “constriction”. Occasionally the only symptom may be acute breathlessness. The cardinal feature is the relation to increased heart work and its relief by stopping activity. In addition one should use a trintrin preparation. If pain is present use another dose after five minutes or so and repeat twice. The treatment of angina is beyond the scope of this article however drugs which reduce the work the heart has to do (like putting a governor on your heart) are most effective and as they block the action of adrenaline are termed betablockers. Drugs, which dilate the coronary arteries (trintrins), are also helpful. These come as patches, tablets for sucking, sprays for inhalation or as solutions for intravenous use in hospital. These should be used only when the tightness is present and not when you feel giddy or weak as they will reduce blood pressure and may cause you to faint. These also dilate all arteries and therefore may cause headache. Trintrins are particularly dangerous when used in conjunction with some of the newer drugs for erectile dysfunction eg viagra and these must not be used within 24 hours of each other Spasm of the coronary arteries may also cause reduction in blood flow to the heart. Everyone has some degree of spasm within their bodies and angina is generally due to mixture of both atheroma and spasm. However angina, which occurs at rest particularly at night around 2.0am waking the patient, is due to vasospasm and is termed angina decubitus. The symptoms are similar to angina pectoris but in this case it is spasm of the artery and the treatment is not betablockade therapy but a group of drugs called calcium antagonists. These drugs relieve the spasm of the artery. Unstable Angina Should the pain be prolonged and not relieved by rest and trintrin therapy the term unstable angina is used. In this case the pain is more severe and often associated with an increase in sympathetic overactivity. Symptoms such as sweating, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, faintness or a feeling of wanting to faint (presyncope), or even syncope are common. This is a medical emergency and an ambulance should be called without delay, as it is impossible to differentiate unstable angina from a heart attack without electrocardiograph and blood studies. If you believe that you may have this syndrome whilst waiting for the ambulance chew a whole aspirin tablet. This condition is generally associated with a clot being formed within one of the main coronary arteries and hospitalisation is necessary so that a definitive diagnosis may be made and urgent treatment to protect the heart from damage instituted. Differential Diagnosis Angina is often confused with indigestion and many patients rationalise that whilst they may consider the pain could be angina it “simply cannot happen to me’ and it is probably only indigestion or just wind. One eminent Professor of Cardiology writing in one of the journals described how he waited for eighteen hours before going to Hospital as he thought it “ was simply bad indigestion”. He finished up with bypass surgery! Indigestion is generally in the pit of the stomach burning in nature, often relieved by belching or by drinking a glass of milk or alkali. It has no relation to exercise, rarely referred to the arms or back, and may come up into throat as a burning sensation. Trintrins have no effect. Hiatus hernia or oesophageal reflux may mimic vasospastic angina as they both occur at night when the patient is prone. Silent Ischaemia Some patients, generally those with high pain thresholds, may have myocardial ischaemia which is entirely asymptomatic. Rarely patients may be found with classical electrocardiographic changes of a heart attack without remembering anything remotely like the symptoms, which are noted above. On a treadmill exercise test these patients may develop changes on their cardiograph, which are diagnostic of myocardial ischaemia. They may develop high blood pressure or more dangerous, a fall in blood pressure during exercise without any actual pain. These patients are very difficult to treat, as, unlike most of us, they do not get chest tightness of pressure before they develop dangerous cardiac abnormalities. These people require invasive or nuclear studies to ascertain the workload that causes trouble. They can then be warned to control their work level. Heart Failure and Cardiac Irregularities Patients in their senior years may develop heart failure without any pain or tightness. The Electrocardiographic changes of a previous heart attack are found on routine examination. Atrial fibrillation, a not uncommon rhythm disturbance, often has myocardial ischaemia as its underlying cause, particularly in the elderly. This irregularity results in a reduction in the output from the left ventricle (stroke volume). As blood continues to fill the ventricle from above the lower output results in the heart becoming distended with blood. Heart muscle like all other muscles when stretched contracts with greater strength thereby increasing the output. The patient is unaware of anything the matter with his heart until an xray is taken showing an enlarged heart . (Compensated Heart Failure) However if the reason for the reduction in stroke volume remains then eventually (when the heart cannot enlarge further) pressure within the ventricle rises and is passed backwards through the atrium and on into the pulmonary arterioles causing fluid to move into the air sacs of the lungs and the patients notices increasing shortness of breath breathlessness. (Decompensated Heart Failure) |
Article Provided by Neocardia
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Counting China's Billions- National Census
Beijing (CNN) -- What does it take to count more than one billion people in China? Six-and-a-half million census-takers going door to door, visiting more than 400 million households nationwide for several days.
The world's most populous nation is conducting its sixth national census after a gap of 10 years (the last one showed a population of 1.29 billion). The counting is done, but the numbers need to be collated and crunched. Results won't be announced until April 2011, but there is already much anticipation.
"The information gathered is vital for China's economic and social policies," Vice Premier Li Keqiang told state-run Xinhua news agency. "Only by getting a clear picture of the population could we better plan and provide people with equal public services in education, health care, housing and pension."
The Chinese word for population combines the pictographic characters for ren (person) and kou (mouth). In this sense, the current census will be counting mouths, not heads, consistent with the traditional Chinese notion that despite the country's economic boom, the main challenge remains how to feed its huge population.
Who will feed China is a recurring issue since the population is aging. The country's population policies of the last three decades -- particularly the one-child policy --- means the majority of China's citizens are now in their prime working years.
By 2050, there will be only 1.6 working-age adults for every person aged 60 and above, creating a heavy dependency ratio.
The census will record a person's age, sex, ethnic origin, occupation, nationality and other data. For the first time, foreigners will be included. The government has allocated a budget of $104 million to the process --- which hasn't been easy.
"Counting people is difficult," said Gu Yanzhou, deputy director of Beijing's city census team. "Counting people on the move is even more difficult."
"Even in terms of buildings, there are changes every day," Gu added. "Buildings are torn down, new ones go up. People move. We must check buildings and maps, so we don't miss counting people."
See more of CNN's coverage of China
China is in the middle of the greatest move toward urbanization the world has seen -- more than 10 million move from rural areas to cities each year.
Some 47 percent of the population now live in towns and cities as rural migrants -- called liudong renkou (floating population) -- who continue to move out of villages. People have become richer, own private property and are generally more wary about government intrusion into their lives.
"People have little knowledge about the census and often link it to vacancy rates and property taxes. Another reason is that people feel unsafe letting strangers in for fear of being swindled," Yu Xuming, director of the Shanghai census office, told local media.
Beijing's Gu Yanzhou attributes such occasional reluctance to "misunderstanding."
"Some residents thought the census count might be used to punish them, say, if a migrant family has more than one child," Gu said, noting that information given to census-takers will not be used as the basis for any form of punishment.
China has tried to limit population growth by enforcing birth-control rules for the past thirty years, limiting most couples to one child. The government says that without the policy, there would be some 300 million more people.
But many families, especially in the countryside, have extra children and have failed to report the births. Couples who have violated the strict rules may be not willing to admit this.
When China carried out the 1982 census, the first after Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, people were "very cooperative," said Aprodicio Laquian, representative of the United Nations Population Fund in China during the 1980s. "They lined up patiently to be counted. Now, I hear some residents are hesitant to open their doors."
Census officials remain confident that census-takers -- mostly students and government functionaries -- will manage to hold errors to an acceptable level.
"It's inevitable that some people will slip the tally," said Gu. "Our aim is keep it to below 0.5% -- that means missing at most five in 1,000."
Just how staggering is the notion of having a billion-plus population? When I first reported on China's census in 1982, its first since 1964, the TIME Magazine story we wrote made a rough calculation.
With the population then standing at 1.008 billion, our story reckoned that, if all the Chinese stood four abreast, in rows six feet (1.8 meters) apart, and marched through Beijing's Gate of Heavenly Peace at a steady pace of 3 miles an hour (5 kph), it would take more than 10 years for them to pass.
Now, with the population estimated at more than 1.3 billion, that march past will surely take a bit longer.
The world's most populous nation is conducting its sixth national census after a gap of 10 years (the last one showed a population of 1.29 billion). The counting is done, but the numbers need to be collated and crunched. Results won't be announced until April 2011, but there is already much anticipation.
"The information gathered is vital for China's economic and social policies," Vice Premier Li Keqiang told state-run Xinhua news agency. "Only by getting a clear picture of the population could we better plan and provide people with equal public services in education, health care, housing and pension."
The Chinese word for population combines the pictographic characters for ren (person) and kou (mouth). In this sense, the current census will be counting mouths, not heads, consistent with the traditional Chinese notion that despite the country's economic boom, the main challenge remains how to feed its huge population.
Who will feed China is a recurring issue since the population is aging. The country's population policies of the last three decades -- particularly the one-child policy --- means the majority of China's citizens are now in their prime working years.
By 2050, there will be only 1.6 working-age adults for every person aged 60 and above, creating a heavy dependency ratio.
The census will record a person's age, sex, ethnic origin, occupation, nationality and other data. For the first time, foreigners will be included. The government has allocated a budget of $104 million to the process --- which hasn't been easy.
"Counting people is difficult," said Gu Yanzhou, deputy director of Beijing's city census team. "Counting people on the move is even more difficult."
"Even in terms of buildings, there are changes every day," Gu added. "Buildings are torn down, new ones go up. People move. We must check buildings and maps, so we don't miss counting people."
See more of CNN's coverage of China
China is in the middle of the greatest move toward urbanization the world has seen -- more than 10 million move from rural areas to cities each year.
Some 47 percent of the population now live in towns and cities as rural migrants -- called liudong renkou (floating population) -- who continue to move out of villages. People have become richer, own private property and are generally more wary about government intrusion into their lives.
"People have little knowledge about the census and often link it to vacancy rates and property taxes. Another reason is that people feel unsafe letting strangers in for fear of being swindled," Yu Xuming, director of the Shanghai census office, told local media.
Beijing's Gu Yanzhou attributes such occasional reluctance to "misunderstanding."
"Some residents thought the census count might be used to punish them, say, if a migrant family has more than one child," Gu said, noting that information given to census-takers will not be used as the basis for any form of punishment.
China has tried to limit population growth by enforcing birth-control rules for the past thirty years, limiting most couples to one child. The government says that without the policy, there would be some 300 million more people.
But many families, especially in the countryside, have extra children and have failed to report the births. Couples who have violated the strict rules may be not willing to admit this.
When China carried out the 1982 census, the first after Chairman Mao Zedong died in 1976, people were "very cooperative," said Aprodicio Laquian, representative of the United Nations Population Fund in China during the 1980s. "They lined up patiently to be counted. Now, I hear some residents are hesitant to open their doors."
Census officials remain confident that census-takers -- mostly students and government functionaries -- will manage to hold errors to an acceptable level.
"It's inevitable that some people will slip the tally," said Gu. "Our aim is keep it to below 0.5% -- that means missing at most five in 1,000."
Just how staggering is the notion of having a billion-plus population? When I first reported on China's census in 1982, its first since 1964, the TIME Magazine story we wrote made a rough calculation.
With the population then standing at 1.008 billion, our story reckoned that, if all the Chinese stood four abreast, in rows six feet (1.8 meters) apart, and marched through Beijing's Gate of Heavenly Peace at a steady pace of 3 miles an hour (5 kph), it would take more than 10 years for them to pass.
Now, with the population estimated at more than 1.3 billion, that march past will surely take a bit longer.
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