Monday, January 31, 2011
Life: You'll never get out of it alive
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive.
Elbert Hubbard -US author (1856 - 1915)
Elbert Hubbard -US author (1856 - 1915)
Advice from a Survivor of a Home fire
1. Subscribe to an online data backup service (my external back up drive sat right next to my laptop in my office)
2. Keep passports in a safe deposit box
3. Take pictures of each room initially and update them as improvements are made (storing them somewhere offsite – like Flickr)
4. Take pictures and keep hyperlinks of all expensive purchases, including jewelry
5. Hire an architect (my dad in our case) or use floorplanner.com to document each floor layout along with precise wall/ceiling measurements, each outlet, light switch, crown molding, other trim, type of flooring, any unique items to structure of property
6. Put phones in a consistent place each night
7. Get fire ladders for any second floor bedrooms
8. Scan each photo and receipt, again keeping them offsite, or on an online data backup service
9. Do not be frugal with homeowner’s insurance. Spend the extra $50 per year for the most coverage
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Virtual Self can affect Real self
Your avatar may be just a virtual identity, but it can also affect how you are in the real world
"In this world of new media, people spend a lot of time interacting with digital versions of one another." --Jeremy Bailenson. If you spend a lot of time online, you may even have an electronic alter ego--an avatar. An avatar is a movable image that people design to represent themselves in virtual reality environments or in cyberspace.
"For some reason, I always pick really short people," says Stanford undergraduate student and avid video gamer Oliver Castaneda.
"I have multiple variations," says Michelle Del Rosario, another gamer and undergraduate student at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL) at Stanford University. "Sometimes I choose to look like a really fun and bubbly character. Sometimes I want to look very serious."Sounds like avatars are for fun and games but could avatars actually change us? Jeremy Bailenson thinks so. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he created the VHIL to study, among other things, the power avatars exert on their real world masters.
"As a lab, we've gone a bit out on a limb and argued that the reason you have an avatar is because an avatar makes you more human than human. It gives you the ability to do things you could never do in the physical world. You can be 10 years younger. You can swap your gender. You can be 30 pounds heavier or lighter. Any behavior or appearance you can imagine, you can transform your avatar to embody," explains Bailenson.
Sometimes, avatars are designed to be ideal versions of their creators, and there's now evidence that the virtual reality persona begins to influence the real life persona.
"Remember, in the virtual world--height, beauty--these things are free. We've demonstrated that if I increase the height of your avatar by 10 centimeters, you'll win a negotiation compared to if I decrease the height of your avatar by 10 centimeters."
Bailenson gives another example. "I use algorithms to age a 20-year-old undergraduate's avatar and then I give that undergraduate the opportunity to save money or to spend it frivolously. The undergraduate will put more money in savings as opposed to go out and spend it on partying."Your avatar also may affect your fitness. In another test, Del Rosario puts on a head-mounted display that reveals an avatar that looks just like her. As she runs in place, her avatar runs, too, and visibly loses weight. When Del Rosario stands still, her avatar stops, and gets fatter. As you might suspect, it is important that the avatar resemble its creator."So, the power comes from seeing yourself in the third person gaining and losing weight in accordance with your own physical behavior," says Bailenson. "Twenty-four hours later, people exercised more after being exposed to watching themselves run than watching someone else run."
And, as it turns out, Bailenson and colleagues say we also tend to prefer others who resemble us. The researchers reached that conclusion in 2004 when they subtly morphed students' faces with those of the presidential candidates. The students favored the hybrid candidate that included their own features.
"Even though nobody consciously detected that their own face was morphed inside the image, people whose face was morphed with Bush were more likely to vote for Bush in terms of their self-report on the survey. People whose face was morphed with Kerry indicated they'd be more likely to vote for Kerry. It's very powerful stuff," Bailenson says.
He believes avatars will soon play an even bigger role in our lives online. How we shape our own avatars and how we interact with others could have profound influences on our behavior.
"People like things that are similar to them whether it's verbally, non-verbally or an appearance. We like people that look like us," Bailenson explains. "We wanted to ask the big question in a world where I can make myself look more like you--how does that affect my ability to influence you?"
"Yeah," says Castaneda. "I think we're just beginning to explore all the potential there for, you know, re-imagining yourself in different worlds."And the line between reality and virtual reality gets blurrier every day.
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Ann Kellan, Science Nation Producer
Dealing with Guilt and Shame
Guilt is an emotion that involves self-blame or a sense of responsibility for a regretted thought or action. Like any other emotion, guilt is not necessarily based on facts. True guilt is what we feel when the facts of the situation justify the level of responsibility and regret we experience. Perceived guilt is what we feel when we take responsibility for something we really had no control over or when we misinterpret the consequences of our actions. Guilt can be a helpful emotion when it is justified. It motivates us to learn from our mistakes and make a change when warranted.
Shame is different from guilt. It is a sense of worthlessness or inadequacy about aspects of ourselves or in our basic nature. A good way to differentiate guilt and shame is this; we feel guilty for what we do and we feel ashamed of who we are. Shame is fear-based and drives us to want to hide or protect ourselves from scrutiny. It is hardly ever a helpful or motivating emotion.
Responses to Guilt and Shame
As with any other emotion, its not necessarily the feeling itself that is problematic. Rather, it is our response that can have unwanted consequences. Some unhelpful reactions to shame and guilt include:
•Defensiveness, attacking or striking out
•Relentless pursuit of power or perfection
•Blaming others
•Being overly nice or self-sacrificing
•Withdrawing or hiding
Is my Guilt Justified?
How do you know whether or not your feelings of guilt are based on fact and are in proportion to the regretted act?
1. Evaluate your level of responsibility for what happened:
•If a friend came to me with this situation, would I blame them for what happened?
•Did I really have control over the situation?
•Did I understand the potential consequences of my action?
•Am I looking at this with hindsight bias?
•Was my action the lesser of two evils?
2. Evaluate the seriousness of the consequences:
•If a friend was responsible, how serious would I consider it?
•If someone did it to me, how serious would it be to me?
•How important will this experience be five years from now?
•Can any harm that occurred be corrected?
Coping with Guilt
1. Tell Somebody
Shame makes us want to hide our thoughts and feelings. Keeping shameful secrets only allows them to grow because our imagination runs wild and unchecked by outside information. We may be able to hide our shame from others, but the painful thoughts and feelings remain inside us doing their work.
Expressing fears, either privately or to someone who is trusted and understanding, decreases their power and may allow them to be "let go". There is a long history of using self-disclosure to find relief from feelings of guilt and shame. Consider the practice of confession in some religious faiths. The transgressor acknowledges their wrongful acts to a spiritual leader or to their Higher Power and is absolved. Researchers have discovered there are even health benefits to certain kinds of self-disclosure.
2. Apologize
Apology holds great power. A sincere, well-executed apology has the potential to help heal wounds; both for the person who feels guilty as well as for those who were wronged. Conversely, a shallow or poorly communicated apology can re-traumatize the people who were hurt and intensify feelings of guilt in the responsible party. The following are guidelines for making a meaningful apology:
•Don't apologize unless you really mean it
•Say that you are sorry and explain why - be specific
•Take responsibility for your actions
•Recognize the feelings of the one you wronged
•Offer to make amends
•Don’t expect forgiveness
•Allow the one you wronged to be upset
3. Make Right the Wrongs
Sometimes opportunities exist to actually fix what was broken. Most of the time; however, what was done cannot be undone and making amends becomes a symbolic act showing a sincere willingness to make things right. It is amazing how doing something kind and selfless can contribute toward self-absolution and help heal hurt feelings. The power of penance has been recognized throughout history in many forums. For example, the ninth step toward recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous is making direct amends to those who were wronged.
4. Forgive Yourself
We tend to be our own worst critics which makes self-forgiveness something that is easier said than done. It involves an attitude of openness, self-acceptance, letting go of anger, and a belief in one's own worth and goodness. Self-forgiveness is not abdicating responsibility. It is seeing mistakes as opportunities for learning rather than as personal failure.
If you are dealing with feelings of guilt and shame and having trouble coping, it may be time to talk to a mental health professional. A good therapist can provide a safe place to disclose and explore your fears. You can find mental health professionals in your area through online therapist locators such as those hosted by the American Psychological Association, Psychology Today, Network Therapy and GoodTherapy.
Please also visit my website http://www.kctherapist.com/ for more information and resources regarding a variety of mental health concerns.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Web surveillance maps global disease trends
Software-based disease alert systems are considered to be excellent indicators . Type in a search for flu in Google and you will not only find out how sick you are but your data will also be recorded on its flu monitoring service.The service, which is part of the search engine's philanthropic arm, google.org, is just one of many software-based disease alert systems dotted around the worldwide web.
By gathering aggregate data from millions of people or by scouring the web for online news reports, blogs and chat room postings, these programs are considered to be excellent indicators of disease levels across the globe. "We've found what people search for are actually very good indicators of influenza in a population," Google Flu Trends spokeswoman Corrie Conrad told BBC World Service's Digital Planet.
"We have flu estimates for 28 countries and accuracy will vary depending on each country. But in the United States when compared with the official data from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), we found we were over 90% accurate. She added: "It can take one to two weeks for the CDC to collect data from the different doctors across the country that are part of their system but search data is updated automatically every day."
Google's world flu map shows estimate influenza levels in various countries.Users can gauge estimated levels of influenza by viewing Google's world flu level map (pictured) which projects various colours - green meaning the level of the virus is low and red meaning it is high.By clicking on each country, users will also find charts of flu levels over time, month to month.
Disease signs
Other systems, which include the Global Public Health Intelligence Network and HealthMap, employ a different method. They search internet news sites around the world for signs of disease.
"It is a wonderful use of modern technology which is amazingly quick” Prof David Spiegelhalter Cambridge University."We're essentially a web crawling tool very similar to Google in that we're scouring the web through tens of thousands of websites, every hour looking for specific clues about infectious diseases," explains HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein.
"Once we find those articles about an outbreak, we organise that information and put it on a map available to our users."According to Mr Brownstein, the system is also useful for tourists who are planning to travel abroad."They can see events happening in places they might travel to," he said. "For instance foot and mouth disease is in South Korea, there's cholera in many parts of the world especially in Haiti. There is polio happening in many parts of Africa including the DR Congo."
While both systems search the web for news, HealthMap also employs a "citizen reporting" scheme which allows the public to report events through iPhone and Google Android apps."This involves people taking a picture of a cluster of dead birds by their house, a photo of a line at a vaccination clinic or photos of themselves lying in a hospital bed," explains Mr Brownstein. "Their event becomes a dot on the map alongside all the other events."
Economic crisis
While these software-based disease alert systems may be quick and user friendly the real question is just how accurate are they compared to official bodies such as the World Health Organization?Mr Brownstein admits that while software-based disease alert systems are rapid, they not as reliable as official bodies.
"The World Health Organization has a mandate to release validated information because if they release it without going through proper channels, they could potentially be faced with a major economic crisis for reporting something which is not true," he argues."In our case we're willing to sacrifice a little bit of risk in terms of the information and not necessarily always validating it perfectly until we release it.
He continued: "On some level it is a nice balance between one website that is providing a rapid dissemination of information that you do have to take with a grain of salt at all times versus the validated information you might get from the World Health Organization or the Health Protection Agency in the UK."Professor David Spiegelhalter from the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University agrees.
He argues that while they may not be as reliable as official figures, speed is their greatest strength."It is a wonderful use of modern technology which is amazingly quick," he said. "You get things within a day without waiting for weeks. "They are valuable for recording what people are currently concerned about," he added. "They're not as accurate as official surveillance but that is not the issue, the idea is timeliness and getting things out to people in a way that is easy to understand and see."
By gathering aggregate data from millions of people or by scouring the web for online news reports, blogs and chat room postings, these programs are considered to be excellent indicators of disease levels across the globe. "We've found what people search for are actually very good indicators of influenza in a population," Google Flu Trends spokeswoman Corrie Conrad told BBC World Service's Digital Planet.
"We have flu estimates for 28 countries and accuracy will vary depending on each country. But in the United States when compared with the official data from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC), we found we were over 90% accurate. She added: "It can take one to two weeks for the CDC to collect data from the different doctors across the country that are part of their system but search data is updated automatically every day."
Google's world flu map shows estimate influenza levels in various countries.Users can gauge estimated levels of influenza by viewing Google's world flu level map (pictured) which projects various colours - green meaning the level of the virus is low and red meaning it is high.By clicking on each country, users will also find charts of flu levels over time, month to month.
Disease signs
Other systems, which include the Global Public Health Intelligence Network and HealthMap, employ a different method. They search internet news sites around the world for signs of disease.
"It is a wonderful use of modern technology which is amazingly quick” Prof David Spiegelhalter Cambridge University."We're essentially a web crawling tool very similar to Google in that we're scouring the web through tens of thousands of websites, every hour looking for specific clues about infectious diseases," explains HealthMap co-founder John Brownstein.
"Once we find those articles about an outbreak, we organise that information and put it on a map available to our users."According to Mr Brownstein, the system is also useful for tourists who are planning to travel abroad."They can see events happening in places they might travel to," he said. "For instance foot and mouth disease is in South Korea, there's cholera in many parts of the world especially in Haiti. There is polio happening in many parts of Africa including the DR Congo."
While both systems search the web for news, HealthMap also employs a "citizen reporting" scheme which allows the public to report events through iPhone and Google Android apps."This involves people taking a picture of a cluster of dead birds by their house, a photo of a line at a vaccination clinic or photos of themselves lying in a hospital bed," explains Mr Brownstein. "Their event becomes a dot on the map alongside all the other events."
Economic crisis
While these software-based disease alert systems may be quick and user friendly the real question is just how accurate are they compared to official bodies such as the World Health Organization?Mr Brownstein admits that while software-based disease alert systems are rapid, they not as reliable as official bodies.
"The World Health Organization has a mandate to release validated information because if they release it without going through proper channels, they could potentially be faced with a major economic crisis for reporting something which is not true," he argues."In our case we're willing to sacrifice a little bit of risk in terms of the information and not necessarily always validating it perfectly until we release it.
He continued: "On some level it is a nice balance between one website that is providing a rapid dissemination of information that you do have to take with a grain of salt at all times versus the validated information you might get from the World Health Organization or the Health Protection Agency in the UK."Professor David Spiegelhalter from the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at Cambridge University agrees.
He argues that while they may not be as reliable as official figures, speed is their greatest strength."It is a wonderful use of modern technology which is amazingly quick," he said. "You get things within a day without waiting for weeks. "They are valuable for recording what people are currently concerned about," he added. "They're not as accurate as official surveillance but that is not the issue, the idea is timeliness and getting things out to people in a way that is easy to understand and see."
Friday, January 28, 2011
Things that help you live longer
In An Atlantic Monthly article from last year there was a list of factors that help people live longer. The study profiled followed college age men from just after WWII to today.
Factors that help you Live Longer:
1. Mature psychological adaptations
2. Stable Marriage
3. Education
4. Not Smoking
5. Not Abusing Alcohol
6. Some Exercise
7. Healthy Weight
Factors that don’t matter:
1. Your cholesterol at age 50.
2. The Importance of Social Ease Decreases with Age
3. The importance of your childhood temperament goes down with age.
Exercise in college equates to better late in life mental health.
People who are depressed die earlier. Pessimists suffer physically more than optimists.
The bottom line of the study was:The only things that really matter in life are your relationships to other people.
Factors that help you Live Longer:
1. Mature psychological adaptations
2. Stable Marriage
3. Education
4. Not Smoking
5. Not Abusing Alcohol
6. Some Exercise
7. Healthy Weight
Factors that don’t matter:
1. Your cholesterol at age 50.
2. The Importance of Social Ease Decreases with Age
3. The importance of your childhood temperament goes down with age.
Exercise in college equates to better late in life mental health.
People who are depressed die earlier. Pessimists suffer physically more than optimists.
The bottom line of the study was:The only things that really matter in life are your relationships to other people.
Should you change careers?
Directions: Choose the statement that best describes how you feel.
a. I have never really felt comfortable in this career.
b. I still have a passion for what I do, just not my current job.
a. I really love my boss and co-workers, but I've become bored with what I do.
b. I feel as though my current work environment has soured my outlook.
a. I long for my weekends and vacations when I have time for my hobbies.
b. I love numerous hobbies, but enjoy them simply as a diversion from work.
a. I have so many years invested in this career that I simply can't change now.
b. I am ready to make the next job in my career path -- wherever that takes me.
a. I continually find new ways to reinvent myself and keep my career fresh.
b. While change is hard for me, I know I need to switch careers.
a. My family pushed me into this career and I don't want to do it anymore.
b. I've always found this career interesting, but am now in a dead-end job.
a. I really want to move to another career, but I just don't have any experience.
b. I haven't had a promotion in years, and feel unappreciated by my employer.
a. I feel uncomfortable at work, even to the point of being physically ill.
b. I still am paying off my education for my current career; I can't switch now.
a. I'm not really happy with my current situation because the challenge is gone for me.
b. I'm not really happy with my current situation because I've never enjoyed this field.
a. I still love the work that I do, but this job has become too predictable and boring.
b. I loved the work in the beginning - I think - but have lost interest over the years.
a. The longer I stay at my job, the more I feel I am an imposter.
b. The longer I stay in this field, the more people rely on me for my expertise.
a. I would like to make a career change, but don't have any idea about a better career for me.
b. I am ready to make the move to the next level, but my employer doesn't see it.
a. My life has become much too complicated, and I need to find a better balance.
b. My life has become too complicated, and I need an employer who values me.
a. I've reached an age where it is simply too late for me to make a big change in my career.
b. I've reached an age where I am well-respected in my career field, but not by my employer.
a. My job has not changed much for a number of years, and I feel I've outgrown it.
b. My priorities have changed, and I need to find a career that matches them.
a. I love my job, but feel I am not maximizing my potential.
b. My current career path does not match my long-term goals.
a. I've reached the highest possible position within my current organization, yet need more.
b. I want to make a radical change but feel I'm too old to go back to school.
a. I would like to make a career change, but I cannot risk it financially or emotionally.
b. I am not at all satisfied by my current job, but it provides me with a great income.
a. I've reached a point in my life where it is time to get what I'm due.
b. I've reached a point in my life where it is time for me to find my true calling.
a. I want to control my own destiny, perhaps be my own boss.
b. I want to find an employer who will truly value my talents and abilities.
a. I have never really felt comfortable in this career.
b. I still have a passion for what I do, just not my current job.
a. I really love my boss and co-workers, but I've become bored with what I do.
b. I feel as though my current work environment has soured my outlook.
a. I long for my weekends and vacations when I have time for my hobbies.
b. I love numerous hobbies, but enjoy them simply as a diversion from work.
a. I have so many years invested in this career that I simply can't change now.
b. I am ready to make the next job in my career path -- wherever that takes me.
a. I continually find new ways to reinvent myself and keep my career fresh.
b. While change is hard for me, I know I need to switch careers.
a. My family pushed me into this career and I don't want to do it anymore.
b. I've always found this career interesting, but am now in a dead-end job.
a. I really want to move to another career, but I just don't have any experience.
b. I haven't had a promotion in years, and feel unappreciated by my employer.
a. I feel uncomfortable at work, even to the point of being physically ill.
b. I still am paying off my education for my current career; I can't switch now.
a. I'm not really happy with my current situation because the challenge is gone for me.
b. I'm not really happy with my current situation because I've never enjoyed this field.
a. I still love the work that I do, but this job has become too predictable and boring.
b. I loved the work in the beginning - I think - but have lost interest over the years.
a. The longer I stay at my job, the more I feel I am an imposter.
b. The longer I stay in this field, the more people rely on me for my expertise.
a. I would like to make a career change, but don't have any idea about a better career for me.
b. I am ready to make the move to the next level, but my employer doesn't see it.
a. My life has become much too complicated, and I need to find a better balance.
b. My life has become too complicated, and I need an employer who values me.
a. I've reached an age where it is simply too late for me to make a big change in my career.
b. I've reached an age where I am well-respected in my career field, but not by my employer.
a. My job has not changed much for a number of years, and I feel I've outgrown it.
b. My priorities have changed, and I need to find a career that matches them.
a. I love my job, but feel I am not maximizing my potential.
b. My current career path does not match my long-term goals.
a. I've reached the highest possible position within my current organization, yet need more.
b. I want to make a radical change but feel I'm too old to go back to school.
a. I would like to make a career change, but I cannot risk it financially or emotionally.
b. I am not at all satisfied by my current job, but it provides me with a great income.
a. I've reached a point in my life where it is time to get what I'm due.
b. I've reached a point in my life where it is time for me to find my true calling.
a. I want to control my own destiny, perhaps be my own boss.
b. I want to find an employer who will truly value my talents and abilities.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Nudging people to eat healthy captures interest
CBC News
Marketers use package design, shelf placement tie-ins and temporary price cuts to lure grocery customers. Now researchers are exploiting that strategy to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Nudging people towards making healthier choices without resorting to bans could work, but the effectiveness of the approach isn't certain, a medical journal says.Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal includes an analysis and editorial that judge nudging — the concept of moving people towards healthier behaviour without banning choices or using financial incentives. The idea is based on behavioural economics and social psychology theory on how environments shape the way we act.Nudges aim to make eating more nutritious foods like fruit or getting more physical activity our default position. The seemingly simple, low-cost solution has captured the imagination of the public, researchers and policy makers, Theresa Marteau, director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University in the UK and her co-authors said.
"Nudging certainly works," Marteau and co-authors wrote.
"Shaping environments to cue certain behaviours is extremely effective, unfortunately often to the detriment of our health. The ready availability of foods that are packaged, presented, and engineered to stimulate our automatic, affective system has led us to consume more than we need — consumption that is further primed by advertising."
The researchers explored whether nudging can also be used to cue healthy behaviours and improve them.
In one study they cited, supermarkets put yellow duct tape across the width of supermarket carts with a sign requesting that shoppers place fruits and vegetables in half of the cart. The result? Customers bought double the number of fruits and veggies as before.
The shopping cart idea makes sense, said David Dunne, a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, who commented on the research to CBC News. He is an advertising consultant to both the private and public sector.
Fruits and veggies
Confronting people or shaming their unhealthy behaviour is an uphill struggle in marketing. But encouraging healthy behaviour by playing up the taste of delicious fruits like mandarin oranges in an advertising campaign, combined with promotional placements in stores during the holiday season, is a better strategy, Dunne said.
"A very good example actually would be success over the few years of baby carrots," Dunne said.
"If I'm going to have to chop and peel carrots every time I want to take them in for my lunch then I'm going to be less interested. This is something that just makes it easy for the consumer. It's convenient and they're usually prominently displayed in the vegetable section of the store."
Supermarkets already fund research into how to direct consumers' interest, such as placing sweets at children's eye level at check out counters. Exploiting that strategy, one experiment placed fruit at the cash register of school cafeterias. The amount of fruit that school children then bought increased by 70 per cent, the researchers said.
Supermarkets already fund research into how to direct consumers' interest, such as placing sweets at children's eye level at check out counters. Exploiting that strategy, one experiment placed fruit at the cash register of school cafeterias. The amount of fruit that school children then bought increased by 70 per cent, the researchers said.
Marteau's team said more research is needed to determine how well nudging works and its cost effectiveness, particularly without legislation to limit the powerful unhealthy nudges shaped by industry.
A journal editorial accompanying the paper notes nudging is based on paternalistic principle that it's legitimate to influence people's behaviour to make their lives healthier.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2011/01/26/nudge-healthy-behaviour-diet.html#ixzz1CFA1kP70
Marketers use package design, shelf placement tie-ins and temporary price cuts to lure grocery customers. Now researchers are exploiting that strategy to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Nudging people towards making healthier choices without resorting to bans could work, but the effectiveness of the approach isn't certain, a medical journal says.Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal includes an analysis and editorial that judge nudging — the concept of moving people towards healthier behaviour without banning choices or using financial incentives. The idea is based on behavioural economics and social psychology theory on how environments shape the way we act.Nudges aim to make eating more nutritious foods like fruit or getting more physical activity our default position. The seemingly simple, low-cost solution has captured the imagination of the public, researchers and policy makers, Theresa Marteau, director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University in the UK and her co-authors said.
"Nudging certainly works," Marteau and co-authors wrote.
"Shaping environments to cue certain behaviours is extremely effective, unfortunately often to the detriment of our health. The ready availability of foods that are packaged, presented, and engineered to stimulate our automatic, affective system has led us to consume more than we need — consumption that is further primed by advertising."
The researchers explored whether nudging can also be used to cue healthy behaviours and improve them.
In one study they cited, supermarkets put yellow duct tape across the width of supermarket carts with a sign requesting that shoppers place fruits and vegetables in half of the cart. The result? Customers bought double the number of fruits and veggies as before.
The shopping cart idea makes sense, said David Dunne, a professor of marketing at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, who commented on the research to CBC News. He is an advertising consultant to both the private and public sector.
Fruits and veggies
Confronting people or shaming their unhealthy behaviour is an uphill struggle in marketing. But encouraging healthy behaviour by playing up the taste of delicious fruits like mandarin oranges in an advertising campaign, combined with promotional placements in stores during the holiday season, is a better strategy, Dunne said.
"A very good example actually would be success over the few years of baby carrots," Dunne said.
"If I'm going to have to chop and peel carrots every time I want to take them in for my lunch then I'm going to be less interested. This is something that just makes it easy for the consumer. It's convenient and they're usually prominently displayed in the vegetable section of the store."
Supermarkets already fund research into how to direct consumers' interest, such as placing sweets at children's eye level at check out counters. Exploiting that strategy, one experiment placed fruit at the cash register of school cafeterias. The amount of fruit that school children then bought increased by 70 per cent, the researchers said.
Supermarkets already fund research into how to direct consumers' interest, such as placing sweets at children's eye level at check out counters. Exploiting that strategy, one experiment placed fruit at the cash register of school cafeterias. The amount of fruit that school children then bought increased by 70 per cent, the researchers said.
Marteau's team said more research is needed to determine how well nudging works and its cost effectiveness, particularly without legislation to limit the powerful unhealthy nudges shaped by industry.
A journal editorial accompanying the paper notes nudging is based on paternalistic principle that it's legitimate to influence people's behaviour to make their lives healthier.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2011/01/26/nudge-healthy-behaviour-diet.html#ixzz1CFA1kP70
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Stop, rewind: the scientists slowing the ageing processBy Neil Bowdler
The ageing process has been linked with many biological mechanisms. Scientists are slowly unlocking the secrets of ageing, and some suggest treatments may soon be at hand to slow or even reverse the ageing process.But what can science really achieve, and what are the dangers of meddling with our biological clocks? Could such treatments induce cancers in humans, for example, and what about the world's burgeoning population and the West's "pension time bomb"?
Chromosome tips
The ageing process is a complex one, and for long remained an impenetrable mystery, but progress is now being made. Late last year, a team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute published a Nature paper in which they detailed the reversing of the ageing process in mice.They targeted the chromosomes that reside within the nuclei of all our cells, and specifically telomeres, caps at the tips of chromosomes. The telomeres protect the chromosomes from damage, but also shorten with age, until the cells are no longer able to replicate.
“By understanding the ageing process, we can help combat arthritis, diabetes and heart disease” Professor Tim Spector King's College London
Professor Ronald DePinho and colleagues manipulated the the enzyme that regulates these tips - known as telomerase - on and off, and witnessed dramatic results. Boost the enzyme, and the mice appeared to rewind the clock."What we were expecting was a slowing or stabilisation of the ageing process," he told the BBC. "Instead we witnessed a dramatic reversal in the signs and symptoms of ageing.""These animals had their brains increase in size, they improved their cognition, their coat-hair was restored to a healthy sheen and their fertility was also restored." Of course, this was a story of mice, not men, and applying such principles to humans could be an altogether bigger challenge. Telomerase has been linked with cancer, and there are likely to be many other mechanisms involved in ageing. Many believe mitochondria may play a bigger role - genetic material contained within the cell but outside the nucleus. Mitochondria are the "power houses" of cells, but have also been seen to generate harmful chemicals linked with aging.
Then there is the role played by free radicals, highly reactive atoms or molecules that attack our bodies. Stem cells, primitive cells which play a key role in renewing the human body, are also likely to be involved.
Anti-ageing drug
But even though a comprehensive picture of how we age is still to be constructed, there are scientists who are already testing anti-ageing treatments on humans.Telomeres are found at the ends of each chromosome, and shorten with age Professor David Sinclair is based at an ageing laboratory at Harvard Medical School. He and his colleagues have been working on synthetic drugs called "Sirtuin activating compounds" or STACs.Animal studies have indicated STACs can restore the health and life prospects of obese mice and early-stage trials in humans are now underway. The research follows earlier work on resveratrol, a naturally-occurring ingredient of red wine. Both resveratrol and STACs appear to mimic the effects of restricting calorie intake, which has been seen to slow ageing in animals."This isn't going to be an excuse to eat French fries all day and watch TV but is a way to augment your healthy lifestyle and give you the ultimate benefits of perfect health which your body is capable of," Professor Sinclair told the BBC.
"It doesn't change food intake - the mice eat just normally or they get fatter, but their body doesn't seem to know they're fat and their organs and even their longevity is as good as a really healthy mouse."But should we be experimenting with something so fundamental as ageing in the first place? And what of the ethical issues?
Professor Tim Spector of King's College London, who also works on the ageing process, says the focus is not on extending life, but on extending good health. "If it means by living a long time you're crippled by arthritis and can't get out of the house that's not much use to anyone." "But by understanding the ageing process, we can help combat arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, all these things which are age-related."
Professor James Goodwin, head of research at Age UK, believes access will quickly emerge as a key issue, should effective anti-ageing medical treatments be developed."Will everybody be able to get this technology which will give them a longer healthier life, or will it be restricted to the rich and wealthy?" he asks. "Or how will the poorer countries regard the richer countries of the world where everyone is living well and living longer?"
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
TB vaccine protects before and after exposure
TB causes symptoms such as coughing, chest pains and weight loss.A new vaccine that can fight tuberculosis (TB) before and after infection has been developed by Danish scientists.It could offer protection for many years more than is now possible.
TB is a huge global problem, particularly in developing countries, where access to antibiotics to treat the disease is limited.The latest vaccine, so far tested in animals, is featured in the journal Nature Medicine.TB is a disease of the lungs, causing symptoms such as coughing, chest pains and weight loss. Untreated, it can be deadly.However, only in a small number of cases - fewer than 5% - do the symptoms develop immediately after infection. In more than 90% of cases, once Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium which causes the disease, has invaded the body it changes its chemical signature, and lives in a dormant - or "latent" - state.
Usually the bacterium never emerges from this latent state, but in around 10% of cases it reactivates - often years or even decades later - to trigger severe symptoms.
Tuberculosis
• Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs
• It is transmitted via droplets from the lungs of people with the active form of the disease
• Symptoms of TB include coughing, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats
• Tuberculosis is treatable with a course of antibiotics
Current vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, work only if given before exposure to the bacterium.They do not prevent infection, but do prevent acute symptoms and disease from emerging.But once the bacterium has changed into its latent form it is effectively immune to the vaccine, and can bide its time, reactivating after the vaccine has ceased to have a preventative effect. If successful in human trials, the new vaccine would be able to tackle that problem.
'Major breakthrough'
Developed by a team at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, it combines proteins that trigger an immune response to both the active and latent forms of Mycobacterium.Researcher Professor Peter Lawætz Andersen said: "It might be possible to give a booster jab post-exposure to older children or even young adults which would protect them well into adulthood."Although TB can be treated with antibiotics, those drugs are often not easily accessible in the developing world, where the new vaccine could have the greatest benefit.
Professor Andersen said: "In these areas you cannot go in and treat more than half the local population. For instance, in Capetown 60% of people are thought to be infected."Professor Peter Davies, secretary of the group TB Alert, said: "A vaccine which can both protect against initial infection and protect from a breakdown of infection into disease is a major breakthrough.
"One of the main disadvantages of BCG was that it could only prevent infection going on to disease in the initially uninfected individual. It was therefore of no use in protecting infected adults who would become an infectious source of disease. Protecting children, though of value, does not protect against transmission, as children with active disease do not usually transmit disease."So far so good but we must remember that mice are not men (or women)."
Professor Francis Drobniewski, Director of the Health Protection Agency's National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory said: "This is an exciting and thoughtful piece of research. The existing BCG vaccine is cheap, safe, widely used but of limited efficacy. "With over nine million new TB cases globally each year and increasing levels of drug resistance new diagnostics, drugs and especially effective vaccines are desperately needed."
TB is a huge global problem, particularly in developing countries, where access to antibiotics to treat the disease is limited.The latest vaccine, so far tested in animals, is featured in the journal Nature Medicine.TB is a disease of the lungs, causing symptoms such as coughing, chest pains and weight loss. Untreated, it can be deadly.However, only in a small number of cases - fewer than 5% - do the symptoms develop immediately after infection. In more than 90% of cases, once Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium which causes the disease, has invaded the body it changes its chemical signature, and lives in a dormant - or "latent" - state.
Usually the bacterium never emerges from this latent state, but in around 10% of cases it reactivates - often years or even decades later - to trigger severe symptoms.
Tuberculosis
• Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs
• It is transmitted via droplets from the lungs of people with the active form of the disease
• Symptoms of TB include coughing, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats
• Tuberculosis is treatable with a course of antibiotics
Current vaccines, such as the BCG vaccine, work only if given before exposure to the bacterium.They do not prevent infection, but do prevent acute symptoms and disease from emerging.But once the bacterium has changed into its latent form it is effectively immune to the vaccine, and can bide its time, reactivating after the vaccine has ceased to have a preventative effect. If successful in human trials, the new vaccine would be able to tackle that problem.
'Major breakthrough'
Developed by a team at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, it combines proteins that trigger an immune response to both the active and latent forms of Mycobacterium.Researcher Professor Peter Lawætz Andersen said: "It might be possible to give a booster jab post-exposure to older children or even young adults which would protect them well into adulthood."Although TB can be treated with antibiotics, those drugs are often not easily accessible in the developing world, where the new vaccine could have the greatest benefit.
Professor Andersen said: "In these areas you cannot go in and treat more than half the local population. For instance, in Capetown 60% of people are thought to be infected."Professor Peter Davies, secretary of the group TB Alert, said: "A vaccine which can both protect against initial infection and protect from a breakdown of infection into disease is a major breakthrough.
"One of the main disadvantages of BCG was that it could only prevent infection going on to disease in the initially uninfected individual. It was therefore of no use in protecting infected adults who would become an infectious source of disease. Protecting children, though of value, does not protect against transmission, as children with active disease do not usually transmit disease."So far so good but we must remember that mice are not men (or women)."
Professor Francis Drobniewski, Director of the Health Protection Agency's National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory said: "This is an exciting and thoughtful piece of research. The existing BCG vaccine is cheap, safe, widely used but of limited efficacy. "With over nine million new TB cases globally each year and increasing levels of drug resistance new diagnostics, drugs and especially effective vaccines are desperately needed."
Monday, January 24, 2011
Davos 2011: The World’s grandest focus group?
By Lord Malloch-Brown -Former UN deputy secretary-general
First, the big trends that become conventional wisdom as they get repeated at seminars and cocktail parties over the course of the meetings.Second, the occasional canary in the mine-shaft or flash of light when somebody either sounds an alarm, or identifies an imminent breakthrough that is not yet orthodoxy.
The difficulty with the second is often just that.
Which of the many academics, entrepreneurs, IT executives, emerging market leaders and others straining to catch the attention of the world's powerful have really latched onto something new and which are just trying to get noticed?
Zeitgeist
Nouriel Roubini, the New York-based economist, was a bear at Davos well before most others noticed the looming 2008 financial crisis. Yet his warnings went largely unnoticed because, well, he is a bear and Davos-goers were making too much money to want to hear that the party was over. So the Davos focus group of several thousand teeming party-goers and seminar attendees tend to stick to the middle-brow Zeitgeist.
And this year again it is the rise of Asia and the broader apparent power shift away from the US and Europe to a fast expanding club of emerging economies. This year, 19 of the G-20 countries, the successor to the old western-heavy G-8, will be at Davos at the head of government or senior ministerial level.
Asia up, US down?
Who'll have the best ideas in Davos? Strikingly, the Chinese and Indian delegations will be the biggest ever from those countries. The number of Chinese delegates has gone up five-fold over the past decade and that of the Indians four-fold. Public relations concerns about high-living at a Swiss resort while there are unemployment lines back home may depress the number of American politicians and bankers who show up. All of this will feed a simple Davos paradigm of Asia up, the US down.
Thrice-burned
Beyond the country stakes, issues will, as always, get a look-in in between the frenetic networking of a global elite for whom Davos has become a strange village commons.The conference-opener, President Medvedev of Russia, is likely to be pressed by anxious investors on why, now that Mikhail Khodorkovsky of Yukos has been given a further jail sentence, they should trust the rule of law in Russia. The BP attendees, who have just paired up with Rosneft to drill in the Arctic, are likely to be similarly pressed in corridors and industry gatherings on why they think they won't get burned a third time by Russian partners.
Beating the drum
Beyond whether the world is safe for business, a perennial anxiety of Davos-goers, Davos has become adept at providing a platform for a global social and health agenda to balance out its business role. This year, the rumours are Bill Gates, perhaps together with David Cameron, may have something to announce on public health. Bono will be back beating the drum for education in poor countries, an expansion of his traditional health and poverty concerns.
And Professor Klaus Schwab, the host, and his team will be promoting a new Risk Register Network which reduces their guests' anxieties about 37 global risks and promises to keep an eye on them between meetings - so extending the hand wringing about who's up and who's down and what's really new and what isn't, as they scour their iPads and Blackberries on the other 360 days of the year for news of the new Zeitgeist from the makers of Davos.
The writer is chairman of global affairs at FTI Consulting and author of The Unfinished Global Revolution. He is a former UN deputy secretary-general, vice president of the World Bank and vice chairman of the World Economic Forum.
First, the big trends that become conventional wisdom as they get repeated at seminars and cocktail parties over the course of the meetings.Second, the occasional canary in the mine-shaft or flash of light when somebody either sounds an alarm, or identifies an imminent breakthrough that is not yet orthodoxy.
The difficulty with the second is often just that.
Which of the many academics, entrepreneurs, IT executives, emerging market leaders and others straining to catch the attention of the world's powerful have really latched onto something new and which are just trying to get noticed?
Zeitgeist
Nouriel Roubini, the New York-based economist, was a bear at Davos well before most others noticed the looming 2008 financial crisis. Yet his warnings went largely unnoticed because, well, he is a bear and Davos-goers were making too much money to want to hear that the party was over. So the Davos focus group of several thousand teeming party-goers and seminar attendees tend to stick to the middle-brow Zeitgeist.
And this year again it is the rise of Asia and the broader apparent power shift away from the US and Europe to a fast expanding club of emerging economies. This year, 19 of the G-20 countries, the successor to the old western-heavy G-8, will be at Davos at the head of government or senior ministerial level.
Asia up, US down?
Who'll have the best ideas in Davos? Strikingly, the Chinese and Indian delegations will be the biggest ever from those countries. The number of Chinese delegates has gone up five-fold over the past decade and that of the Indians four-fold. Public relations concerns about high-living at a Swiss resort while there are unemployment lines back home may depress the number of American politicians and bankers who show up. All of this will feed a simple Davos paradigm of Asia up, the US down.
Thrice-burned
Beyond the country stakes, issues will, as always, get a look-in in between the frenetic networking of a global elite for whom Davos has become a strange village commons.The conference-opener, President Medvedev of Russia, is likely to be pressed by anxious investors on why, now that Mikhail Khodorkovsky of Yukos has been given a further jail sentence, they should trust the rule of law in Russia. The BP attendees, who have just paired up with Rosneft to drill in the Arctic, are likely to be similarly pressed in corridors and industry gatherings on why they think they won't get burned a third time by Russian partners.
Beating the drum
Beyond whether the world is safe for business, a perennial anxiety of Davos-goers, Davos has become adept at providing a platform for a global social and health agenda to balance out its business role. This year, the rumours are Bill Gates, perhaps together with David Cameron, may have something to announce on public health. Bono will be back beating the drum for education in poor countries, an expansion of his traditional health and poverty concerns.
And Professor Klaus Schwab, the host, and his team will be promoting a new Risk Register Network which reduces their guests' anxieties about 37 global risks and promises to keep an eye on them between meetings - so extending the hand wringing about who's up and who's down and what's really new and what isn't, as they scour their iPads and Blackberries on the other 360 days of the year for news of the new Zeitgeist from the makers of Davos.
The writer is chairman of global affairs at FTI Consulting and author of The Unfinished Global Revolution. He is a former UN deputy secretary-general, vice president of the World Bank and vice chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Why Finland's schools are the best in the West
By Robert Smol, special to CBC News
In what's often called the real world, successful businesses are those that encourage their best employees, respond effectively to their clients needs and invest continually in their programs and infrastructure.
But does the same hold true when we talk about public education and substitute students for clients and teachers for employees?As far as I'm concerned, yes. But don't take my word for it. Just look at Finland.
Over the past decade its public education system has consistently been ranked as one of the best in the world, particularly so among Western democracies, in terms of student success.The Aalto University School of Science and Technology in Helsinki. Post-secondary education is free in Finland, one of the reasons over 90 per cent of its high school graduates carry on with their education. (Bob Strong/Reuters) Its main qualities? A public education noted for its highly educated teachers, innovative student-centered learning and decentralized management.In the international student achievement surveys, carried out for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Finland has almost consistently remained in the top four rankings in all three assessment categories: reading, math and science.
The only exception was the most recent 2009 survey where Finland fell to sixth place in math. But that has more to do with other, in this case Asian, countries upping their scores than the Finns falling behind.
Yes, Canada has fared pretty well, too, in some of these rankings, particularly when you focus on the results from Ontario, B.C. and Alberta. But another no less important testament to Finland's success is how little the test scores differed among its disparate schools. The results by school were the most consistent among the systems that were studied.Clearly, Finland's public school system is doing something right and any country interested in improving its own might want to take a serious look.
Higher standards
One obvious reason for Finland's success is the high educational standards for its teachers.
In Finland, a master's degree is required to be a teacher at any level, including the primary grades.
Global rankings
The Paris-based OECD surveyed the reading, science and math performance of half a million students from more than 70 countries, employing a two-hour pencil-and-paper test. A difference of 40 points is roughly equivalent to a year of schooling.
Here are the top 10 rankings and scores for reading:
1.Shanghai province (China), 556
2.Korea, 539
3.Finland, 536
4.Hong Kong, 533
5.Singapore, 526
6.Canada, 524
7.New Zealand, 521
8.Japan, 520
9.Australia, 515
10.Netherlands, 508
Here in Ontario, I receive a monetary stipend for my master's degree; in Finland I would have to have that same post-graduate certificate just to be considered for the job.There, though, the higher requirement is more attainable in that all post-secondary education is tuition free. Another distinctive hallmark of the Finnish system is the high level of autonomy given to municipal boards and school administrators. In Finland, schools and courses are primarily organized around the needs and wants of the specific community that they serve."The state grant is not divided into specific amounts for salaries, labs, instruments, books or whatever — it is a lump sum and the school authorities can use it as they like," says Reijo Aholainen, a spokesperson for the Finnish ministry of education."You have to follow the national core curriculum but how you do it, whether you want more teachers or more computers, is a local decision on the part of the school board."
Less time in the classroom
Although they consistently hover near the top of the international rankings, Finnish students overall spend the lowest amount of time actually in the classroom when compared to other OECD countries.This is especially true for students age 9-11, where the Finns spend 640 hours in class over a school year as opposed to 810 hours on average for the OECD countries.In Finland there is no formal kindergarten as we know it although pre-primary programs are almost universally attended.
Students in Finland begin their compulsory education in Grade 1 where the usual intake age is seven. This would appear to challenge the belief held by many of my generation that the sooner you start formally teaching kids, the smarter they will become.What's more, Finland's primary, middle and upper secondary school classes are typically organized in 45-minute blocks, with each one followed by a 15-minute recess.If these teaching blocks need to be merged, say for high school science labs, then the free time is added to that as well. Let's put this in a Canadian context. Here in my high school near Toronto, students typically take four 75-minute classes with only five minutes between classes and a 40-minute lunch Certainly not much time to recharge.
Consumer choice
Another surprise about the Finnish system, particularly given its high test scores, is that school is only compulsory up to the end of Grade 9. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Finnish teens (over 95 per cent) apply to go on to upper-secondary school. But the key word here is apply, which means that the student is making a personal choice to continue learning. In my view, it is foolhardy to force those teens who clearly have no interest in learning to remain in school until they are 18, as we do here in Ontario. Believe me, I know!
But the truly impressive part of the Finnish system is the clear choice of educational streams that students have should they choose to continue on.Of the more than 95 per cent who stay in school, roughly 38 per cent move on to the separate vocational high schools, which offer a more hands-on, workplace-focused system of instruction, designed to set them up for further post-secondary education in the field of their choice.Over here, technology or shop courses are often seen, even at the institutional level, as "dumping grounds."In Finland, on the other hand, non-academically inclined students are, at least from an institutional perspective, given a clear, parallel and respectable educational choice.
Can we duplicate this?
Can we learn some things from Finland? Absolutely! But can we import it and expand it in Canada? I doubt that very much. For the most part, we are still in survival mode here in Canada when it comes to public education. To think of finding money to expand the system and pay for more highly qualified teachers is the stuff of dreams.
Can these same schools find the extra money to hire the extra teachers to help those students who fall behind, as the Finns do?
Is the Canadian taxpayer finally ready to invest in an elaborate parallel system of vocational high schools to accommodate those students who will not be going to university?
Can Canadian universities and colleges ever be tuition free?Sadly, I would reply no to all of the above. But we can dream.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/01/21/f-vp-smol.html#ixzz1BrwbFdvb
In what's often called the real world, successful businesses are those that encourage their best employees, respond effectively to their clients needs and invest continually in their programs and infrastructure.
But does the same hold true when we talk about public education and substitute students for clients and teachers for employees?As far as I'm concerned, yes. But don't take my word for it. Just look at Finland.
Over the past decade its public education system has consistently been ranked as one of the best in the world, particularly so among Western democracies, in terms of student success.The Aalto University School of Science and Technology in Helsinki. Post-secondary education is free in Finland, one of the reasons over 90 per cent of its high school graduates carry on with their education. (Bob Strong/Reuters) Its main qualities? A public education noted for its highly educated teachers, innovative student-centered learning and decentralized management.In the international student achievement surveys, carried out for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Finland has almost consistently remained in the top four rankings in all three assessment categories: reading, math and science.
The only exception was the most recent 2009 survey where Finland fell to sixth place in math. But that has more to do with other, in this case Asian, countries upping their scores than the Finns falling behind.
Yes, Canada has fared pretty well, too, in some of these rankings, particularly when you focus on the results from Ontario, B.C. and Alberta. But another no less important testament to Finland's success is how little the test scores differed among its disparate schools. The results by school were the most consistent among the systems that were studied.Clearly, Finland's public school system is doing something right and any country interested in improving its own might want to take a serious look.
Higher standards
One obvious reason for Finland's success is the high educational standards for its teachers.
In Finland, a master's degree is required to be a teacher at any level, including the primary grades.
Global rankings
The Paris-based OECD surveyed the reading, science and math performance of half a million students from more than 70 countries, employing a two-hour pencil-and-paper test. A difference of 40 points is roughly equivalent to a year of schooling.
Here are the top 10 rankings and scores for reading:
1.Shanghai province (China), 556
2.Korea, 539
3.Finland, 536
4.Hong Kong, 533
5.Singapore, 526
6.Canada, 524
7.New Zealand, 521
8.Japan, 520
9.Australia, 515
10.Netherlands, 508
Here in Ontario, I receive a monetary stipend for my master's degree; in Finland I would have to have that same post-graduate certificate just to be considered for the job.There, though, the higher requirement is more attainable in that all post-secondary education is tuition free. Another distinctive hallmark of the Finnish system is the high level of autonomy given to municipal boards and school administrators. In Finland, schools and courses are primarily organized around the needs and wants of the specific community that they serve."The state grant is not divided into specific amounts for salaries, labs, instruments, books or whatever — it is a lump sum and the school authorities can use it as they like," says Reijo Aholainen, a spokesperson for the Finnish ministry of education."You have to follow the national core curriculum but how you do it, whether you want more teachers or more computers, is a local decision on the part of the school board."
Less time in the classroom
Although they consistently hover near the top of the international rankings, Finnish students overall spend the lowest amount of time actually in the classroom when compared to other OECD countries.This is especially true for students age 9-11, where the Finns spend 640 hours in class over a school year as opposed to 810 hours on average for the OECD countries.In Finland there is no formal kindergarten as we know it although pre-primary programs are almost universally attended.
Students in Finland begin their compulsory education in Grade 1 where the usual intake age is seven. This would appear to challenge the belief held by many of my generation that the sooner you start formally teaching kids, the smarter they will become.What's more, Finland's primary, middle and upper secondary school classes are typically organized in 45-minute blocks, with each one followed by a 15-minute recess.If these teaching blocks need to be merged, say for high school science labs, then the free time is added to that as well. Let's put this in a Canadian context. Here in my high school near Toronto, students typically take four 75-minute classes with only five minutes between classes and a 40-minute lunch Certainly not much time to recharge.
Consumer choice
Another surprise about the Finnish system, particularly given its high test scores, is that school is only compulsory up to the end of Grade 9. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of Finnish teens (over 95 per cent) apply to go on to upper-secondary school. But the key word here is apply, which means that the student is making a personal choice to continue learning. In my view, it is foolhardy to force those teens who clearly have no interest in learning to remain in school until they are 18, as we do here in Ontario. Believe me, I know!
But the truly impressive part of the Finnish system is the clear choice of educational streams that students have should they choose to continue on.Of the more than 95 per cent who stay in school, roughly 38 per cent move on to the separate vocational high schools, which offer a more hands-on, workplace-focused system of instruction, designed to set them up for further post-secondary education in the field of their choice.Over here, technology or shop courses are often seen, even at the institutional level, as "dumping grounds."In Finland, on the other hand, non-academically inclined students are, at least from an institutional perspective, given a clear, parallel and respectable educational choice.
Can we duplicate this?
Can we learn some things from Finland? Absolutely! But can we import it and expand it in Canada? I doubt that very much. For the most part, we are still in survival mode here in Canada when it comes to public education. To think of finding money to expand the system and pay for more highly qualified teachers is the stuff of dreams.
Can these same schools find the extra money to hire the extra teachers to help those students who fall behind, as the Finns do?
Is the Canadian taxpayer finally ready to invest in an elaborate parallel system of vocational high schools to accommodate those students who will not be going to university?
Can Canadian universities and colleges ever be tuition free?Sadly, I would reply no to all of the above. But we can dream.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/01/21/f-vp-smol.html#ixzz1BrwbFdvb
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Private rooms in Hospitals reduce the transmission of infection
Private rooms
Converting the intensive care units in hospitals to private rooms could greatly reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections, new research suggests.
The study comes from a study of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which recently changed over the ICUs at three of its campuses from multi-bed units, in which beds were separated only by curtains, to single-patient rooms with private bathrooms.
For the study, Dana Y. Teltsch, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, led a team who compared the rates of patient-acquired infections before and after the change from multi-bed rooms to private rooms.
As a control group, they also used data on patients at a similar multi-bed facility at a second university hospital. The authors then compared infection rates of a total of 19,343 ICU admissions at both hospitals between 2000 and 2005.
The researchers found that after converting the multibed ICU to all a series of private rooms:
• the acquisition rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) fell by 47 per cent
• the rate of C. acquisition dropped 43 per cent
• yeast infection acquisition decreased 51 per cent
The adjusted rate of acquisition of C difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species (VRE), and MRSA combined decreased 54 per cent following the transition.
As well, the average length of stay for patients in the ICU at the comparison hospital increased steadily during the study, while the average length of stay at the intervention hospital fluctuated, but did not increase overall.
Additionally, the adjusted average length of stay in the ICU fell by an estimated 10 per cent after changing to private rooms.
The authors conclude that switching to single room ICUs can substantially reduce the rate at which patients acquire infectious organisms.
"An ICU environment with private rooms may facilitate better infection control practices, therefore reducing the transmission of infectious organisms," the authors write in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
Hospital–acquired infections occur in about 30 per cent of patients in intensive care units and typically lead to an increased length of stay in hospital, as well as additional costs
Dr. Vivian Loo, one the co-authors of the study, and the chief of microbiology at the MUHC notes that there is more to reducing the spread of illness than simply isolating patients.
"Of course, other factors are also important in preventing transmission, like hand hygiene, isolation precautions, antibiotic stewardship and housekeeping practices, but this study clearly demonstrates the crucial need for private rooms, particularly for this patient population," she said in a statement.
Converting the intensive care units in hospitals to private rooms could greatly reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections, new research suggests.
The study comes from a study of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which recently changed over the ICUs at three of its campuses from multi-bed units, in which beds were separated only by curtains, to single-patient rooms with private bathrooms.
For the study, Dana Y. Teltsch, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University, led a team who compared the rates of patient-acquired infections before and after the change from multi-bed rooms to private rooms.
As a control group, they also used data on patients at a similar multi-bed facility at a second university hospital. The authors then compared infection rates of a total of 19,343 ICU admissions at both hospitals between 2000 and 2005.
The researchers found that after converting the multibed ICU to all a series of private rooms:
• the acquisition rate of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) fell by 47 per cent
• the rate of C. acquisition dropped 43 per cent
• yeast infection acquisition decreased 51 per cent
The adjusted rate of acquisition of C difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species (VRE), and MRSA combined decreased 54 per cent following the transition.
As well, the average length of stay for patients in the ICU at the comparison hospital increased steadily during the study, while the average length of stay at the intervention hospital fluctuated, but did not increase overall.
Additionally, the adjusted average length of stay in the ICU fell by an estimated 10 per cent after changing to private rooms.
The authors conclude that switching to single room ICUs can substantially reduce the rate at which patients acquire infectious organisms.
"An ICU environment with private rooms may facilitate better infection control practices, therefore reducing the transmission of infectious organisms," the authors write in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
Hospital–acquired infections occur in about 30 per cent of patients in intensive care units and typically lead to an increased length of stay in hospital, as well as additional costs
Dr. Vivian Loo, one the co-authors of the study, and the chief of microbiology at the MUHC notes that there is more to reducing the spread of illness than simply isolating patients.
"Of course, other factors are also important in preventing transmission, like hand hygiene, isolation precautions, antibiotic stewardship and housekeeping practices, but this study clearly demonstrates the crucial need for private rooms, particularly for this patient population," she said in a statement.
Dalai Lama’s 18 rules for living
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs:
1. Respect for self
2. Respect for others
3. Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Autism linked to spacing of pregnancies
Autism
Children who are born only a year or so after an older sibling appear to be more likely to be diagnosed with autism than siblings with a bigger age gap, surprising new research suggests. The study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, is preliminary and the authors say more research is needed to confirm the finding. But the study is a large one, based on more than a half-million children, which reduces the likelihood that the findings were based on chance.
The study looked at births from 1992 through 2002 in California. The researchers looked at second-born children born to the same parents whose older siblings didn't have autism. They found the overall prevalence of autism was less than one per cent in the study. But they found that the sooner the second child was conceived, the greater the likelihood that child would later be diagnosed with autism.
When mothers became pregnant with their second child three years or more after the first, about 2.5 out of every 1,000 second siblings were diagnosed with autism. But when the second pregnancy occurred less than a year after the birth of the older sibling, about 7.5 in every 1,000 of the children were diagnosed with autism. Rates were somewhere in the middle for mothers who became pregnant between one and three years after giving birth to their first kid. The effect was found for parents of all ages, decreasing the chance that it was the older age of the parents that increased the risk of autism and not the birth spacing.
The results seem to have surprised even the researchers who crunched the data.
"That was pretty shocking to us, to be honest," senior author Peter Bearman of Columbia University in New York told the Associated Press. The researchers said they took into account other risk factors for autism, such as the mother's age and race, and the child's gender, but the increased risk of close birth spacing remained. "No matter what we did, whether we were looking at autism severity, looking at age, or looking at all the various dimensions we could think of, we couldn't get rid of this finding," Bearman said.
Still, Bearman's team says more studies are needed to confirm the birth spacing link.
Some data suggests the rates of closely spaced births are increasing, perhaps because women are delaying childbirth and are eager to have children before their fertility declines. U.S. government data show the number of closely spaced births – babies born less than two years apart -- is rising, from 11 per cent of all births in 1995, to 18 per cent in 2002. Why having children in close succession would raise the risk of autism isn't clear. It could be a simple matter of better diagnosis, the authors say, since parents are more likely to notice developmental differences in their children if they are close in age. But biological factors could also play a role. It's known that pregnancy depletes a mother's store of key nutrients, such as iron and folate. Prior research has tied close birth spacing to low birth weights and prematurity, possibly because of lack of folate.
"And it could be a combination of effects, not a single explanation but a combination of dynamics," Bearman said.
The researchers looked at births from 1992 through 2002 in California. They analyzed data on second-born children born to the same parents whose older siblings didn't have autism. The information on autism diagnoses came from the state's Department of Developmental Services. The overall prevalence of autism was less than one per cent in the study. Of all the 662,730 second-born children in the analysis, 3,137 had an autism diagnosis. Of the 156,034 children conceived less than a year after the birth of their older siblings, 1,188 had an autism diagnosis -- a higher rate, but still less than one per cent.
Children with Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorders, milder forms of autism, weren't included. Government studies indicate about one in 100 children have autism disorders, including the milder forms.
Dr. Diane Ashton, March of Dimes' deputy medical director, called the study results an interesting finding that she hasn't seen in prior research. The results will have to be replicated, she said, but her organization already suggests at least a year between pregnancies.
"That is to allow the mother to rebuild depleted nutritional stores and decrease the risk for low birth weight and prematurity. Surely this evidence would provide additional reasons for those recommendations to be made," she said. The March of Dimes also recommends that all women of childbearing age take a daily multivitamin containing folic acid, an artificial version of folate. Since half of pregnancies aren't planned, the recommendation includes women who aren't trying to get pregnant.
The new study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Bearman hesitated to give advice to parents planning families because the results are so new and unconfirmed. Older parents may not want to wait two or three years for a second child because of other health concerns, he said.
"The advice for parents is to pay attention to the science," Bearman said.
Children who are born only a year or so after an older sibling appear to be more likely to be diagnosed with autism than siblings with a bigger age gap, surprising new research suggests. The study, which appears in the journal Pediatrics, is preliminary and the authors say more research is needed to confirm the finding. But the study is a large one, based on more than a half-million children, which reduces the likelihood that the findings were based on chance.
The study looked at births from 1992 through 2002 in California. The researchers looked at second-born children born to the same parents whose older siblings didn't have autism. They found the overall prevalence of autism was less than one per cent in the study. But they found that the sooner the second child was conceived, the greater the likelihood that child would later be diagnosed with autism.
When mothers became pregnant with their second child three years or more after the first, about 2.5 out of every 1,000 second siblings were diagnosed with autism. But when the second pregnancy occurred less than a year after the birth of the older sibling, about 7.5 in every 1,000 of the children were diagnosed with autism. Rates were somewhere in the middle for mothers who became pregnant between one and three years after giving birth to their first kid. The effect was found for parents of all ages, decreasing the chance that it was the older age of the parents that increased the risk of autism and not the birth spacing.
The results seem to have surprised even the researchers who crunched the data.
"That was pretty shocking to us, to be honest," senior author Peter Bearman of Columbia University in New York told the Associated Press. The researchers said they took into account other risk factors for autism, such as the mother's age and race, and the child's gender, but the increased risk of close birth spacing remained. "No matter what we did, whether we were looking at autism severity, looking at age, or looking at all the various dimensions we could think of, we couldn't get rid of this finding," Bearman said.
Still, Bearman's team says more studies are needed to confirm the birth spacing link.
Some data suggests the rates of closely spaced births are increasing, perhaps because women are delaying childbirth and are eager to have children before their fertility declines. U.S. government data show the number of closely spaced births – babies born less than two years apart -- is rising, from 11 per cent of all births in 1995, to 18 per cent in 2002. Why having children in close succession would raise the risk of autism isn't clear. It could be a simple matter of better diagnosis, the authors say, since parents are more likely to notice developmental differences in their children if they are close in age. But biological factors could also play a role. It's known that pregnancy depletes a mother's store of key nutrients, such as iron and folate. Prior research has tied close birth spacing to low birth weights and prematurity, possibly because of lack of folate.
"And it could be a combination of effects, not a single explanation but a combination of dynamics," Bearman said.
The researchers looked at births from 1992 through 2002 in California. They analyzed data on second-born children born to the same parents whose older siblings didn't have autism. The information on autism diagnoses came from the state's Department of Developmental Services. The overall prevalence of autism was less than one per cent in the study. Of all the 662,730 second-born children in the analysis, 3,137 had an autism diagnosis. Of the 156,034 children conceived less than a year after the birth of their older siblings, 1,188 had an autism diagnosis -- a higher rate, but still less than one per cent.
Children with Asperger's syndrome and pervasive developmental disorders, milder forms of autism, weren't included. Government studies indicate about one in 100 children have autism disorders, including the milder forms.
Dr. Diane Ashton, March of Dimes' deputy medical director, called the study results an interesting finding that she hasn't seen in prior research. The results will have to be replicated, she said, but her organization already suggests at least a year between pregnancies.
"That is to allow the mother to rebuild depleted nutritional stores and decrease the risk for low birth weight and prematurity. Surely this evidence would provide additional reasons for those recommendations to be made," she said. The March of Dimes also recommends that all women of childbearing age take a daily multivitamin containing folic acid, an artificial version of folate. Since half of pregnancies aren't planned, the recommendation includes women who aren't trying to get pregnant.
The new study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Bearman hesitated to give advice to parents planning families because the results are so new and unconfirmed. Older parents may not want to wait two or three years for a second child because of other health concerns, he said.
"The advice for parents is to pay attention to the science," Bearman said.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Smoking 'causes damage in minutes', US experts claim
There may be genetic damage just moments after smoking
Smoking damages the body in minutes rather than years, according to research in the US.
The report, published in Chemical Research in Toxicology, shows that chemicals which cause cancer form rapidly after smoking. Scientists involved in the small-scale study described the results as a stark warning to people considering smoking.Anti-smoking charity Ash described the research as "chilling" and as a warning that it is never too early to quit.The long term impact of smoking, from heart disease to a range of cancers, are well known. This study suggests the damage begins just moments after the first cigarette is smoked.
Faster than you might think
The researchers looked at the level of chemicals linked with cancer, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), in 12 patients after smoking. A PAH was added to the subject's cigarettes, which was then modified by the body and turned into another chemical which damages DNA and has been linked with cancer.The research shows this process only took between 15 and 30 minutes to take place.
Professor Stephen Hecht, from the University of Minnesota, said: "This study is unique, it is the first to investigate human metabolism of a PAH specifically delivered by inhalation in cigarette smoke, without interference by other sources of exposure such as air pollution or the diet.
The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes."Martin Dockrell, director of policy and research at Ash (Action on Smoking and Health), said: "Almost everybody knows that smoking can cause lung cancer.
"The chilling thing about this research is that it shows just how early the very first stages of that process begin - not in 30 years but within 30 minutes of a single cigarette for every subject in the study. "The process starts early but it is never too late to quit and the sooner you quit the sooner you start to reduce the harm."
The research was funded by the US National Cancer Institute.
Smoking damages the body in minutes rather than years, according to research in the US.
The report, published in Chemical Research in Toxicology, shows that chemicals which cause cancer form rapidly after smoking. Scientists involved in the small-scale study described the results as a stark warning to people considering smoking.Anti-smoking charity Ash described the research as "chilling" and as a warning that it is never too early to quit.The long term impact of smoking, from heart disease to a range of cancers, are well known. This study suggests the damage begins just moments after the first cigarette is smoked.
Faster than you might think
The researchers looked at the level of chemicals linked with cancer, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), in 12 patients after smoking. A PAH was added to the subject's cigarettes, which was then modified by the body and turned into another chemical which damages DNA and has been linked with cancer.The research shows this process only took between 15 and 30 minutes to take place.
Professor Stephen Hecht, from the University of Minnesota, said: "This study is unique, it is the first to investigate human metabolism of a PAH specifically delivered by inhalation in cigarette smoke, without interference by other sources of exposure such as air pollution or the diet.
The results reported here should serve as a stark warning to those who are considering starting to smoke cigarettes."Martin Dockrell, director of policy and research at Ash (Action on Smoking and Health), said: "Almost everybody knows that smoking can cause lung cancer.
"The chilling thing about this research is that it shows just how early the very first stages of that process begin - not in 30 years but within 30 minutes of a single cigarette for every subject in the study. "The process starts early but it is never too late to quit and the sooner you quit the sooner you start to reduce the harm."
The research was funded by the US National Cancer Institute.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Dealing with Anger
Recognising why you get angry
It's important to be aware of the positive feelings you get from anger as well as the negative ones.
By recognising the positive and negative feelings associated with your anger, it's important to find other means of concentrating on the positives ones.
Each person's positives are different, so there will be different solutions for everyone, but some strategies might include:
• Trying a non-contact competitive sport
• Learning relaxation or meditation
• Shouting and screaming in a private, quiet place
• Banging your fists into a pillow
• Going running
Any of these may help to vent your frustration and burn off any feelings you're bottling up.
Top
Dealing with flashpoints
However, this still leaves the problem of dealing differently with those situations that make you angry. This takes practice.
The first thing to do is list the situations that make you angry. Note down exactly what it is about them that makes you angry - it may be the immediate situation, or it could be that it represents a build-up of issues you haven't resolved.
Now ask yourself four questions about your interpretation of these situations:
1. What evidence is there to show this is accurate?
2. Is there another equally believable interpretation of what's going on here?
3. What action can I take to have some control of the situation?
4. If my best friend were in this situation, what advice would I give to them?
This won't dispel the anger for every situation, but when you're angry it can be difficult to assess a situation accurately. If a situation arises unexpectedly and you feel your temper rising, walk away and complete this exercise if you can.
Top
Resolving the issues
If your anger is not resolved by this, make sure you've given enough thought to what exactly you’re angry about. It will usually involve a person, but not necessarily the one who's the target of your anger in the situation and this is the person you need to work the situation out with.
You need to be sure exactly what you're angry about before you can resolve it. It will usually involve a person, but not necessarily the one who's the target of your anger in the situation and this is the person you need to work the situation out with.
To do this, find a time to raise the problem when you feel more in control of your temper. It may be a good idea to agree a time in advance.
It may feel like a tall order to discuss the issue without getting angry, but following a plan may help. Professor Richard Nelson-Jones has developed a good structure to use, called CUDSAIR. This stands for:
• Confront
• Understand
• Define
• Search
• Agree
• Implement
• Review
First, it's important that you confront the problem and not the person. State the nature of the problem and how it makes you feel. Be clear that it's the problem - not the person - that makes you feel like this. This way you'll develop a joint definition and ownership of what's going on.
Next, it's important to understand each other's view of the situation. It may help to agree that each person should be able to say what they think about the problem without being interrupted by the other. After this, identify areas where you disagree. Don't discuss the disagreements yet, just agree that you disagree. This is how you define the problem.
The next step is to search for solutions. Here, be as outrageous as you like - but again, don't make personal attacks. Generate as many possible solutions as you can - at the moment, it doesn't matter how unrealistic they seem.
Finally, you have to agree on a solution. This is probably the most delicate part of the whole process. It's important that you both make concessions and acknowledge those that the other person has made. It's also important not to have unrealistic expectations - it's likely that the final solution won't be ideal for either of you, but the resulting compromise will probably be better than the problems the anger generated.
It's important that you both keep to the agreement. It's also important not to overreact to any breaches. Point them out, but there's no need to get angry. You have the agreement to back you up.
However well you both stick to the agreement, it's worth having a review some time in the future to go through the CUDSAIR model again and see if things can't be improved further.
Recommended reading: Human Relationship Skills by Richard Nelson-Jones, ISBN 0415385873.
It's important to be aware of the positive feelings you get from anger as well as the negative ones.
By recognising the positive and negative feelings associated with your anger, it's important to find other means of concentrating on the positives ones.
Each person's positives are different, so there will be different solutions for everyone, but some strategies might include:
• Trying a non-contact competitive sport
• Learning relaxation or meditation
• Shouting and screaming in a private, quiet place
• Banging your fists into a pillow
• Going running
Any of these may help to vent your frustration and burn off any feelings you're bottling up.
Top
Dealing with flashpoints
However, this still leaves the problem of dealing differently with those situations that make you angry. This takes practice.
The first thing to do is list the situations that make you angry. Note down exactly what it is about them that makes you angry - it may be the immediate situation, or it could be that it represents a build-up of issues you haven't resolved.
Now ask yourself four questions about your interpretation of these situations:
1. What evidence is there to show this is accurate?
2. Is there another equally believable interpretation of what's going on here?
3. What action can I take to have some control of the situation?
4. If my best friend were in this situation, what advice would I give to them?
This won't dispel the anger for every situation, but when you're angry it can be difficult to assess a situation accurately. If a situation arises unexpectedly and you feel your temper rising, walk away and complete this exercise if you can.
Top
Resolving the issues
If your anger is not resolved by this, make sure you've given enough thought to what exactly you’re angry about. It will usually involve a person, but not necessarily the one who's the target of your anger in the situation and this is the person you need to work the situation out with.
You need to be sure exactly what you're angry about before you can resolve it. It will usually involve a person, but not necessarily the one who's the target of your anger in the situation and this is the person you need to work the situation out with.
To do this, find a time to raise the problem when you feel more in control of your temper. It may be a good idea to agree a time in advance.
It may feel like a tall order to discuss the issue without getting angry, but following a plan may help. Professor Richard Nelson-Jones has developed a good structure to use, called CUDSAIR. This stands for:
• Confront
• Understand
• Define
• Search
• Agree
• Implement
• Review
First, it's important that you confront the problem and not the person. State the nature of the problem and how it makes you feel. Be clear that it's the problem - not the person - that makes you feel like this. This way you'll develop a joint definition and ownership of what's going on.
Next, it's important to understand each other's view of the situation. It may help to agree that each person should be able to say what they think about the problem without being interrupted by the other. After this, identify areas where you disagree. Don't discuss the disagreements yet, just agree that you disagree. This is how you define the problem.
The next step is to search for solutions. Here, be as outrageous as you like - but again, don't make personal attacks. Generate as many possible solutions as you can - at the moment, it doesn't matter how unrealistic they seem.
Finally, you have to agree on a solution. This is probably the most delicate part of the whole process. It's important that you both make concessions and acknowledge those that the other person has made. It's also important not to have unrealistic expectations - it's likely that the final solution won't be ideal for either of you, but the resulting compromise will probably be better than the problems the anger generated.
It's important that you both keep to the agreement. It's also important not to overreact to any breaches. Point them out, but there's no need to get angry. You have the agreement to back you up.
However well you both stick to the agreement, it's worth having a review some time in the future to go through the CUDSAIR model again and see if things can't be improved further.
Recommended reading: Human Relationship Skills by Richard Nelson-Jones, ISBN 0415385873.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
400th POST- Stroke recovey boosted by a course of Prozac
Stroke recovery boosted by a course of Prozac
Improving motor functions in stroke patients helps their independence
Giving stroke patients Prozac soon after the event could help their recovery from paralysis, a study has found. Researchers discovered more improvement in movement and greater independence after three months in patients taking the antidepressant (also known as fluoxetine), compared to placebo.
The Lancet Neurology study was based on research on 118 patients in France. UK stroke experts said the findings were "promising".This was the largest study of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and stroke recovery to date.Tests on stroke patients 90 days after being given the drug found that patients taking fluoxetine had gained significantly more function in their upper and lower limbs than patients who were not given the drug.
Patients in the fluoxetine group were also more likely to be coping independently.All patients in the study had moderate to severe motor disabilities following their stroke.
'Dual benefit?'
The study noted that the side-effects from the antidepressant were generally mild and infrequent, although this group did notice more instances of nausea and diarrhoea.
“It's very interesting to see that this already licensed drug could have a dual benefit”
The authors, led by Professor François Chollet, said: "The positive effect of the drug on motor function of recovering patients suggests that the... action of SSRIs provides a new pathway that should be explored further in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke."
Every year in the UK 150,000 people have a stroke and a third of these will be left with a disability such as paralysis down one side of their body. Dr Sharlin Ahmed, research liaison officer at the UK Stroke Association, said: "We are continually searching for new treatments which can improve the outcomes for stroke survivors and the results of this research look promising.
"Antidepressants, such as fluoxetine, can be used to treat stroke patients with depression which is a common side effect of stroke, so it's very interesting to see that this already licensed drug could have a dual benefit. "However, further research needs to be undertaken before the use of this antidepressant can be accepted as an effective treatment for improving movement following a stroke."
Improving motor functions in stroke patients helps their independence
Giving stroke patients Prozac soon after the event could help their recovery from paralysis, a study has found. Researchers discovered more improvement in movement and greater independence after three months in patients taking the antidepressant (also known as fluoxetine), compared to placebo.
The Lancet Neurology study was based on research on 118 patients in France. UK stroke experts said the findings were "promising".This was the largest study of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and stroke recovery to date.Tests on stroke patients 90 days after being given the drug found that patients taking fluoxetine had gained significantly more function in their upper and lower limbs than patients who were not given the drug.
Patients in the fluoxetine group were also more likely to be coping independently.All patients in the study had moderate to severe motor disabilities following their stroke.
'Dual benefit?'
The study noted that the side-effects from the antidepressant were generally mild and infrequent, although this group did notice more instances of nausea and diarrhoea.
“It's very interesting to see that this already licensed drug could have a dual benefit”
The authors, led by Professor François Chollet, said: "The positive effect of the drug on motor function of recovering patients suggests that the... action of SSRIs provides a new pathway that should be explored further in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke."
Every year in the UK 150,000 people have a stroke and a third of these will be left with a disability such as paralysis down one side of their body. Dr Sharlin Ahmed, research liaison officer at the UK Stroke Association, said: "We are continually searching for new treatments which can improve the outcomes for stroke survivors and the results of this research look promising.
"Antidepressants, such as fluoxetine, can be used to treat stroke patients with depression which is a common side effect of stroke, so it's very interesting to see that this already licensed drug could have a dual benefit. "However, further research needs to be undertaken before the use of this antidepressant can be accepted as an effective treatment for improving movement following a stroke."
Monday, January 17, 2011
Melatonin production falls if the lights are on
Having the lights on in the evening may be damaging to health
Having the lights on before bedtime could result in a worse night's sleep, according to a study to be published in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
The research shows that the body produces less of the sleep hormone melatonin when exposed to light.
Sleep patterns have been linked to some types of cancer, blood pressure and diabetes. The US researchers also found lower melatonin levels in shift workers. Lifestyles may have moved on from a day/night rhythm, but it seems the human body has not.The pineal gland produces melatonin through the night and starts when darkness falls. Researchers have shown that switching on lights in the home switches off the hormone's production.
Less melatonin
In the study, 116 people spent five days in room where the amount of light and sleep was controlled. They were awake for 16 hours and asleep for eight hours each day.Initially the patients were exposed to 16 hours of room light during their waking hours. They were then moved onto eight hours of room light in the morning and eight hours of dim light in the evening.The researchers found that electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppressed melatonin levels. With dim light, melatonin was produced for 90 minutes more a day.
Dr Joshua Gooley, lead author from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said: "Our study shows that this exposure to indoor light has a strong suppressive effect on the hormone melatonin. "This could, in turn, have effects on sleep quality and the body's ability to regulate body temperature, blood pressure and glucose levels."
Keeping the lights on through the night also reduced the amount of melatonin produced.Dr Gooley said: "Given that chronic light suppression of melatonin has been hypothesised to increase relative risk for some types of cancer and that melatonin receptor genes have been linked to type 2 diabetes, our findings could have important health implications for shift workers."
Having the lights on before bedtime could result in a worse night's sleep, according to a study to be published in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.
The research shows that the body produces less of the sleep hormone melatonin when exposed to light.
Sleep patterns have been linked to some types of cancer, blood pressure and diabetes. The US researchers also found lower melatonin levels in shift workers. Lifestyles may have moved on from a day/night rhythm, but it seems the human body has not.The pineal gland produces melatonin through the night and starts when darkness falls. Researchers have shown that switching on lights in the home switches off the hormone's production.
Less melatonin
In the study, 116 people spent five days in room where the amount of light and sleep was controlled. They were awake for 16 hours and asleep for eight hours each day.Initially the patients were exposed to 16 hours of room light during their waking hours. They were then moved onto eight hours of room light in the morning and eight hours of dim light in the evening.The researchers found that electrical light between dusk and bedtime strongly suppressed melatonin levels. With dim light, melatonin was produced for 90 minutes more a day.
Dr Joshua Gooley, lead author from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, said: "Our study shows that this exposure to indoor light has a strong suppressive effect on the hormone melatonin. "This could, in turn, have effects on sleep quality and the body's ability to regulate body temperature, blood pressure and glucose levels."
Keeping the lights on through the night also reduced the amount of melatonin produced.Dr Gooley said: "Given that chronic light suppression of melatonin has been hypothesised to increase relative risk for some types of cancer and that melatonin receptor genes have been linked to type 2 diabetes, our findings could have important health implications for shift workers."
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Swine flu offers 'extraordinary super immunity'
By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News
Swine flu infection boosted immunity to surprising degrees
People who recover from swine flu may be left with an extraordinary natural ability to fight off flu viruses, findings suggests.In beating a bout of H1N1 the body makes antibodies that can kill many other flu strains, a study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine shows.Doctors hope to harness this power to make a universal flu vaccine that would protect against any type of influenza.Ultimately this could replace the "best guess" flu vaccines currently used.
Such a vaccine is the "holy grail" for flu researchers. Many scientists are already testing different prototypes to put an end to the yearly race to predict coming flu strains and quickly mass produce a new vaccine each flu season. Dr Patrick Wilson who led the latest research said the H1N1 swine flu virus that reached pandemic levels infecting an estimated 60 million people last year, had provided a unique opportunity for researchers.
“This work gives us more confidence that it will be possible to generate a universal flu vaccine” Dr Sarah Gilbert Flu vaccine expert at Oxford University "It demonstrates how to make a single vaccine that could potentially provide immunity to all influenza. "The surprise was that such a very different influenza strain, as opposed to the most common strains, could lead us to something so widely applicable."
Extraordinary immunity
In the nine patients they studied who had caught swine flu during the pandemic, they found the infection had triggered the production of a wide range of antibodies that are only very rarely seen after seasonal flu infections or flu vaccination.Five antibodies isolated by the team could fight all the seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade, the devastating "Spanish flu" strain from 1918 which killed up to 50m people, plus a potentially deadly bird flu H5N1 strain.The researchers believe the "extraordinarily" powerful antibodies were created as the body learned how to fight the new infection with swine flu using its old memory of how to fight off other flu viruses.
Next they plan to examine the immune response of people who were vaccinated against last year's swine flu but did not get sick to see if they too have the same super immunity to flu.Dr Sarah Gilbert is a expert in viruses at Oxford University and has been testing her own prototype universal flu vaccine.She said: "Many scientists are working to develop a vaccine that would protect against the many strains of flu virus. "This work gives us more confidence that it will be possible to generate a universal flu vaccine."But she said it would take many years for a product to go through the necessary tests and trials.
"It will take at least five years before anything like this could be widely available."
Swine flu infection boosted immunity to surprising degrees
People who recover from swine flu may be left with an extraordinary natural ability to fight off flu viruses, findings suggests.In beating a bout of H1N1 the body makes antibodies that can kill many other flu strains, a study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine shows.Doctors hope to harness this power to make a universal flu vaccine that would protect against any type of influenza.Ultimately this could replace the "best guess" flu vaccines currently used.
Such a vaccine is the "holy grail" for flu researchers. Many scientists are already testing different prototypes to put an end to the yearly race to predict coming flu strains and quickly mass produce a new vaccine each flu season. Dr Patrick Wilson who led the latest research said the H1N1 swine flu virus that reached pandemic levels infecting an estimated 60 million people last year, had provided a unique opportunity for researchers.
“This work gives us more confidence that it will be possible to generate a universal flu vaccine” Dr Sarah Gilbert Flu vaccine expert at Oxford University "It demonstrates how to make a single vaccine that could potentially provide immunity to all influenza. "The surprise was that such a very different influenza strain, as opposed to the most common strains, could lead us to something so widely applicable."
Extraordinary immunity
In the nine patients they studied who had caught swine flu during the pandemic, they found the infection had triggered the production of a wide range of antibodies that are only very rarely seen after seasonal flu infections or flu vaccination.Five antibodies isolated by the team could fight all the seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade, the devastating "Spanish flu" strain from 1918 which killed up to 50m people, plus a potentially deadly bird flu H5N1 strain.The researchers believe the "extraordinarily" powerful antibodies were created as the body learned how to fight the new infection with swine flu using its old memory of how to fight off other flu viruses.
Next they plan to examine the immune response of people who were vaccinated against last year's swine flu but did not get sick to see if they too have the same super immunity to flu.Dr Sarah Gilbert is a expert in viruses at Oxford University and has been testing her own prototype universal flu vaccine.She said: "Many scientists are working to develop a vaccine that would protect against the many strains of flu virus. "This work gives us more confidence that it will be possible to generate a universal flu vaccine."But she said it would take many years for a product to go through the necessary tests and trials.
"It will take at least five years before anything like this could be widely available."
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Copper surfaces can kill hospital microbes, study finds
Paul Taylor
Most people check into a hospital with the hope of getting better. However, many patients pick up serious infections during their stay in the health-care system. Despite fastidious cleaning and the routine use of gloves by staff, the number of hospital-acquired infections in Canada has swelled to an estimated 250,000 cases a year, resulting in 8,000 to 12,000 deaths. Other developed countries are facing a similar threat to patient safety.
But U.S. researchers now think they have hit upon a relatively easy way to overcome this serious problem – cover frequently-touched surfaces with copper. Bacteria and viruses can’t survive for very long on the metal, thereby reducing the risk of harmful bugs spreading from one person to another.
“It is a simple, elegant solution,” said Michael Schmidt, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dr. Schmidt led a pilot study in which copper was used instead of stainless steel and plastic in a wide range of objects in the intensive-care units of three U.S. hospitals. Copper covered the bed rails, tray tables, call buttons, IV poles and chair arms.
When the researchers took culture swabs from the copper surfaces, they found the level of microbes had “dropped well below what is considered to be a risk,” Dr. Schmidt said. “And it doesn’t need any intervention other than normal cleaning.” The findings were presented at a recent medical conference in Atlanta.
Previous lab studies have shown that copper and copper alloys, such as brass and bronze, kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria within two hours.
Scientist aren’t sure why copper has such powerful anti-microbial properties. But Dr. Schmidt suspects that copper’s killing power is related to the fact that the metal is a tremendous conductor of electricity. “What I think is probably happening is that microbes are literally short-circuiting,” he said, adding that bacteria would lose electrons if they remain in constant contact with copper.
He noted that some astute ancient civilizations used copper as a purifier. For instance, the Phoenicians stored water in copper pots to make it drinkable.
The research community’s interest in copper was rekindled about a decade ago, when a nursing study found fewer patient infections in hospital rooms with copper door handles. The copper industry has sponsored some of the initial research. But Dr. Schmidt’s latest study was funded by the U.S. military.
He is now planning to do a large clinical trial to determine whether reducing the number of microbes on hospital surfaces actually translates into fewer infections. “Hospital administrators are reluctant to make capital purchases [of copper equipment] unless we can demonstrate a clear-cut benefit to patients.”
There is, of course, a limit to what can be replaced with copper. But he sees no reason why a lot of commonly-used hospital equipment can’t be made partly of copper – including computer mice and keyboards.
Vaccine scare fallout
A doctor who claimed to have discovered a connection between a common childhood vaccine and the development of autism has been stripped of his license to practice medicine in his native Britain.
The General Medical Council took the disciplinary action against Andrew Wakefield earlier this week, after a lengthy investigation concluded that his research amounts to professional misconduct.
In 1998, Dr. Wakefield helped to fuel a parental backlash against vaccines by spearheading a study that linked the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination with the onset of symptoms associated with autism. The research was published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, adding to its credibility.
But since then, one study after another has failed to find an association between vaccinations and autism. What’s more, it’s come to light that Dr. Wakefield was getting paid by lawyers mounting a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers on behalf of parents who believe their children were harmed by the shots. Earlier this year, The Lancet took the unusual step of formally retracting the paper.
Amid the controversy, Dr. Wakefield left Britain in 2004 and moved to Texas, where he started work as a researcher at an alternative medicine clinic.
Dr. Wakefield told the Associated Press he plans to appeal the loss of his British medical licence. On NBC’s Today Show, he said the council’s penalty is just “a little bump in the road” and reiterated his assertion that vaccines can lead to autism.
Sharks get cancer, too
A drug derived from shark cartilage does not improve the overall survival of lung-cancer patients, according to the results of a study published this week in the U.S.-based Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The clinical trial, led by Charles Lu at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, involved 379 patients at hospitals throughout the United States and Canada. About half the patients were given the shark derivative, called AE-941 or Neovastat, while the balance got a placebo. All the patients also received standard chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
“Clearly these results demonstrate that AE-941 is not an effective therapeutic agent for lung cancer,” Dr. Lu said in a statement. “So, too, these findings have to cast major skepticism on shark-cartilage products that are being sold for profit and have no data to support their efficacy as cancer-fighting agent.”
Even so, an editorial accompanying the study argues that AE-941 may still “be worthy of further investigation” because all the questions posed by the alternative treatment can’t be answered by a single study.
Popular interest in shark-cartilage supplements took off in the early 1990s with the publication of the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer by William Lane. The book’s title, however, is a bit misleading because sharks do, indeed, get cancer.
AE-941, made by Quebec-based Aeterna Zentaris Inc., is available only to patients in clinical trials and cannot be purchased commercially.
Most people check into a hospital with the hope of getting better. However, many patients pick up serious infections during their stay in the health-care system. Despite fastidious cleaning and the routine use of gloves by staff, the number of hospital-acquired infections in Canada has swelled to an estimated 250,000 cases a year, resulting in 8,000 to 12,000 deaths. Other developed countries are facing a similar threat to patient safety.
But U.S. researchers now think they have hit upon a relatively easy way to overcome this serious problem – cover frequently-touched surfaces with copper. Bacteria and viruses can’t survive for very long on the metal, thereby reducing the risk of harmful bugs spreading from one person to another.
“It is a simple, elegant solution,” said Michael Schmidt, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dr. Schmidt led a pilot study in which copper was used instead of stainless steel and plastic in a wide range of objects in the intensive-care units of three U.S. hospitals. Copper covered the bed rails, tray tables, call buttons, IV poles and chair arms.
When the researchers took culture swabs from the copper surfaces, they found the level of microbes had “dropped well below what is considered to be a risk,” Dr. Schmidt said. “And it doesn’t need any intervention other than normal cleaning.” The findings were presented at a recent medical conference in Atlanta.
Previous lab studies have shown that copper and copper alloys, such as brass and bronze, kill 99.9 per cent of bacteria within two hours.
Scientist aren’t sure why copper has such powerful anti-microbial properties. But Dr. Schmidt suspects that copper’s killing power is related to the fact that the metal is a tremendous conductor of electricity. “What I think is probably happening is that microbes are literally short-circuiting,” he said, adding that bacteria would lose electrons if they remain in constant contact with copper.
He noted that some astute ancient civilizations used copper as a purifier. For instance, the Phoenicians stored water in copper pots to make it drinkable.
The research community’s interest in copper was rekindled about a decade ago, when a nursing study found fewer patient infections in hospital rooms with copper door handles. The copper industry has sponsored some of the initial research. But Dr. Schmidt’s latest study was funded by the U.S. military.
He is now planning to do a large clinical trial to determine whether reducing the number of microbes on hospital surfaces actually translates into fewer infections. “Hospital administrators are reluctant to make capital purchases [of copper equipment] unless we can demonstrate a clear-cut benefit to patients.”
There is, of course, a limit to what can be replaced with copper. But he sees no reason why a lot of commonly-used hospital equipment can’t be made partly of copper – including computer mice and keyboards.
Vaccine scare fallout
A doctor who claimed to have discovered a connection between a common childhood vaccine and the development of autism has been stripped of his license to practice medicine in his native Britain.
The General Medical Council took the disciplinary action against Andrew Wakefield earlier this week, after a lengthy investigation concluded that his research amounts to professional misconduct.
In 1998, Dr. Wakefield helped to fuel a parental backlash against vaccines by spearheading a study that linked the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination with the onset of symptoms associated with autism. The research was published in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, adding to its credibility.
But since then, one study after another has failed to find an association between vaccinations and autism. What’s more, it’s come to light that Dr. Wakefield was getting paid by lawyers mounting a lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers on behalf of parents who believe their children were harmed by the shots. Earlier this year, The Lancet took the unusual step of formally retracting the paper.
Amid the controversy, Dr. Wakefield left Britain in 2004 and moved to Texas, where he started work as a researcher at an alternative medicine clinic.
Dr. Wakefield told the Associated Press he plans to appeal the loss of his British medical licence. On NBC’s Today Show, he said the council’s penalty is just “a little bump in the road” and reiterated his assertion that vaccines can lead to autism.
Sharks get cancer, too
A drug derived from shark cartilage does not improve the overall survival of lung-cancer patients, according to the results of a study published this week in the U.S.-based Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The clinical trial, led by Charles Lu at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, involved 379 patients at hospitals throughout the United States and Canada. About half the patients were given the shark derivative, called AE-941 or Neovastat, while the balance got a placebo. All the patients also received standard chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
“Clearly these results demonstrate that AE-941 is not an effective therapeutic agent for lung cancer,” Dr. Lu said in a statement. “So, too, these findings have to cast major skepticism on shark-cartilage products that are being sold for profit and have no data to support their efficacy as cancer-fighting agent.”
Even so, an editorial accompanying the study argues that AE-941 may still “be worthy of further investigation” because all the questions posed by the alternative treatment can’t be answered by a single study.
Popular interest in shark-cartilage supplements took off in the early 1990s with the publication of the book Sharks Don’t Get Cancer by William Lane. The book’s title, however, is a bit misleading because sharks do, indeed, get cancer.
AE-941, made by Quebec-based Aeterna Zentaris Inc., is available only to patients in clinical trials and cannot be purchased commercially.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Move it!
Researchers are offering some good news and bad news about jobs that keep you chained to your desk all day.
The bad news: too much sitting at work is bad for you. The good news: moving around even for just 60 seconds at a time is good for you, your heart and your waistline. The findings come from one of the biggest studies to date on the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, tracking the daily movements of nearly 5,000 adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006.
To no one's surprise, the researchers found that, compared to people who spent the least amount of time sitting, people who spent the most time being sedentary in a typical week had:
• bigger waist circumferences
• lower levels of "good" HDL cholesterol
• higher levels of C-reactive protein (an important marker of inflammation)
But the researchers also found that the more breaks people took during the time they spent being sedentary, the smaller their waist circumference and lower their biomarkers of inflammation. In fact, the top 25 per cent of people with sedentary workdays who took the most breaks had a waist circumference that was, on average, 4.1 cm smaller than those in the lowest 25 per cent. The breaks didn't need to involve exercise; they could be as simple as getting up and walking around. And the breaks could be as short as 60 seconds for them to offer benefits.
The study was conducted by having participants wear a small device called an accelerometer, which monitors not only the amount of walking or running activity, but the intensity of it as well. All the participants wore the device on their rights hip during waking hours for seven days. The least amount of sedentary time was 1.8 hours per day; the most was 21.2 hours per day. The least number of breaks over the full seven days was 99, and the most was 1,258.
Dr. Genevieve Healy, a research fellow at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia who led the study, says it's well-accepted that moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise provides health benefits. But the potential risks of prolonged sitting are something only just being realized. She said her research highlights the importance of taking regular breaks throughout the day to just move around. That could be a simple as walking over to a colleague's desk, rather than phoning or emailing, using the washrooms on another floor, or even making phone calls while standing up. "The indications are that we should be getting up regularly. We think getting up every 30 minutes is a good starting point," Healy told CTV News.
Dr. David Lau, an endocrinologist who is also the president of Obesity Canada, says it's becoming clear that sitting for too long is simply not good for our health. This study has practical implications since most of us spend most of the day sitting at the computer working," he told CTV. "This would be the first study to show that you can see benefits even with small changes in activity in the course of a day."
Dr. Mark Tremblay, the director of Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research at the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa, says it's not clear why sitting for too long could be dangerous and why moving around can help.
"It may not be the movement per se that is causing the improvement; rather, the interruptions to the immobility," he speculates.
He says since so many of us aren't motivated to exercise, the advice to move around a number of times a day might be easier to follow. "This might be a soft initial step to get people to interrupt their sedentariness on the long road to getting them to do more," he says. Dr. Lau says he's long tried to incorporate exercise into his workday. "If I spend time on the computer, I make sure I climb stairs 12 flights of stairs three or four times consecutively," he says. "Every hour, get up and walk around, go to the washroom, walk around, do something that gets you away from your desk."
With a report from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro
The bad news: too much sitting at work is bad for you. The good news: moving around even for just 60 seconds at a time is good for you, your heart and your waistline. The findings come from one of the biggest studies to date on the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, tracking the daily movements of nearly 5,000 adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2003 and 2006.
To no one's surprise, the researchers found that, compared to people who spent the least amount of time sitting, people who spent the most time being sedentary in a typical week had:
• bigger waist circumferences
• lower levels of "good" HDL cholesterol
• higher levels of C-reactive protein (an important marker of inflammation)
But the researchers also found that the more breaks people took during the time they spent being sedentary, the smaller their waist circumference and lower their biomarkers of inflammation. In fact, the top 25 per cent of people with sedentary workdays who took the most breaks had a waist circumference that was, on average, 4.1 cm smaller than those in the lowest 25 per cent. The breaks didn't need to involve exercise; they could be as simple as getting up and walking around. And the breaks could be as short as 60 seconds for them to offer benefits.
The study was conducted by having participants wear a small device called an accelerometer, which monitors not only the amount of walking or running activity, but the intensity of it as well. All the participants wore the device on their rights hip during waking hours for seven days. The least amount of sedentary time was 1.8 hours per day; the most was 21.2 hours per day. The least number of breaks over the full seven days was 99, and the most was 1,258.
Dr. Genevieve Healy, a research fellow at the School of Population Health at the University of Queensland in Australia who led the study, says it's well-accepted that moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise provides health benefits. But the potential risks of prolonged sitting are something only just being realized. She said her research highlights the importance of taking regular breaks throughout the day to just move around. That could be a simple as walking over to a colleague's desk, rather than phoning or emailing, using the washrooms on another floor, or even making phone calls while standing up. "The indications are that we should be getting up regularly. We think getting up every 30 minutes is a good starting point," Healy told CTV News.
Dr. David Lau, an endocrinologist who is also the president of Obesity Canada, says it's becoming clear that sitting for too long is simply not good for our health. This study has practical implications since most of us spend most of the day sitting at the computer working," he told CTV. "This would be the first study to show that you can see benefits even with small changes in activity in the course of a day."
Dr. Mark Tremblay, the director of Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research at the CHEO Research Institute in Ottawa, says it's not clear why sitting for too long could be dangerous and why moving around can help.
"It may not be the movement per se that is causing the improvement; rather, the interruptions to the immobility," he speculates.
He says since so many of us aren't motivated to exercise, the advice to move around a number of times a day might be easier to follow. "This might be a soft initial step to get people to interrupt their sedentariness on the long road to getting them to do more," he says. Dr. Lau says he's long tried to incorporate exercise into his workday. "If I spend time on the computer, I make sure I climb stairs 12 flights of stairs three or four times consecutively," he says. "Every hour, get up and walk around, go to the washroom, walk around, do something that gets you away from your desk."
With a report from CTV medical specialist Avis Favaro
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
What is C. Difficile and how do you get it?
Hospital infections
In severe cases, C. difficile can cause critical illness and death in elderly or very sick patients. It seemed to come out of nowhere — a virulent strain of bacteria called Clostridium difficile. It picked up that name because when it was first discovered, it was difficult to grow in the lab. C. difficile is not an uncommon bacterium — but it had some infectious-disease specialists worrying that it has become the most dangerous superbug to hit North American hospitals in a decade.
With the death toll reaching at least 460 patients at 22 hospitals in Ontario since 2006, the Ontario government announced it would require hospitals to publicly report the number of cases they were managing. Quebec was the first province to make the move, after 16 people died at the Honoré-Mercier Hospital in St-Hyacinthe after contracting C. difficile between May and November 2006. Hospitals in Alberta and Saskatchewan have also experienced periodic outbreaks.
What is C. difficile?
C. difficile bacteria grow in the large bowel. They thrive in the stool compressed inside the colon.
The bacteria produce two toxins that cause diarrhea and damage the cells lining the bowel. However, not all strains of C. difficile produce toxin. These strains are unlikely to cause disease and patients colonized by them remain healthy.In severe cases, C. difficile can cause critical illness and death in elderly or very sick patients.
Why are health care officials concerned?
The experts investigating the 2005 outbreak in Quebec said the bacterium appears to have mutated into a highly contagious and lethal strain — and they don't know why. It has caused almost four times the usual number of cases of severe diarrhea in hospitals, and can persist in the body for months despite repeated antibiotic treatments.Doctors know C. difficile flourish after patients take certain antibiotics. Now it seems any antibiotic can bring on the disease."Something happened 18 to 24 months ago, where the use of particular antibiotics didn't seem to matter anymore," said Dr. Mark Miller, chief of infectious diseases at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital.
In October 2008, researchers in Montreal concluded that hospitals are not the only place that people come down with C. difficile, and antibiotics aren't always linked to the infection, which challenged conventional thinking on the disease.When people, particularly seniors, pick up C. difficile outside of hospitals, it may be because they have a weakened immune system, underlying bowel disease, or fewer beneficial flora in the intestines to help keep C. difficile levels in check, said study author Sandra Dial, an intensive-care physician at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal.
How do I get it?
The bacteria are often picked up in hospital. Infections tend to arise when a hospitalized patient — who has been unwittingly colonized by the bug — is given antibiotics for another condition. Your risk of contracting the bacteria rises if you're undergoing chemotherapy, have abdominal surgery or have other stomach or intestine problems.C. difficile bacteria also make spores that can be found in the environment — on toilet seats or doorknobs, for instance.
How does it spread?
If you get diarrhea from C. difficile infection, you can spread the bacteria by touching something — like a doorknob — if you haven't washed your hands. The spores produced by C. difficile can withstand the effects of drying and direct sunlight and survive on surfaces for weeks.When someone else comes in contact with those spores and touches their hand to their face, for instance, the spores can get into the gastro-intestinal tract and cause diarrhea.
How is it treated?
Even though the bacteria are sometimes triggered when a patient takes antibiotics, the most effective treatments are certain antibiotics. Short courses — three to five days — of antibiotics such as flagyl and vancomycin are most common. In some cases, doctors also inject patients with immunoglobulins to boost their immune systems.
How is the spread of C. difficile controlled?
Infected patients are often separated from non-affected patients. Hospital staff who deal with infected patients will wear disposable gloves and aprons. Areas that patients come in contact with are rigorously cleaned with warm water and detergent t—o remove spores that can spread the condition.The most efficient way to prevent person-to-person spread of C. difficile is to thoroughly wash your hands before and after patient contact.
What should I do if I'm caring for someone affected by C. difficile?
Wash your hands often:
• Before you eat or prepare food.
• After you use the toilet or handle a bedpan.
• Before and after you touch a person with C. difficile.
More tips:
• If you must handle stool, wear rubber gloves.
• Clean the washroom daily.
• Put disposable wastes — like diapers — into plastic bags, tie them and discard with the rest of the trash.
• If clothes are heavily soiled with stool, wash them separately with detergent and bleach. Do not mix with the rest of your laundry.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/16/f-c-difficile.html#ixzz1AgY9dh8e
In severe cases, C. difficile can cause critical illness and death in elderly or very sick patients. It seemed to come out of nowhere — a virulent strain of bacteria called Clostridium difficile. It picked up that name because when it was first discovered, it was difficult to grow in the lab. C. difficile is not an uncommon bacterium — but it had some infectious-disease specialists worrying that it has become the most dangerous superbug to hit North American hospitals in a decade.
With the death toll reaching at least 460 patients at 22 hospitals in Ontario since 2006, the Ontario government announced it would require hospitals to publicly report the number of cases they were managing. Quebec was the first province to make the move, after 16 people died at the Honoré-Mercier Hospital in St-Hyacinthe after contracting C. difficile between May and November 2006. Hospitals in Alberta and Saskatchewan have also experienced periodic outbreaks.
What is C. difficile?
C. difficile bacteria grow in the large bowel. They thrive in the stool compressed inside the colon.
The bacteria produce two toxins that cause diarrhea and damage the cells lining the bowel. However, not all strains of C. difficile produce toxin. These strains are unlikely to cause disease and patients colonized by them remain healthy.In severe cases, C. difficile can cause critical illness and death in elderly or very sick patients.
Why are health care officials concerned?
The experts investigating the 2005 outbreak in Quebec said the bacterium appears to have mutated into a highly contagious and lethal strain — and they don't know why. It has caused almost four times the usual number of cases of severe diarrhea in hospitals, and can persist in the body for months despite repeated antibiotic treatments.Doctors know C. difficile flourish after patients take certain antibiotics. Now it seems any antibiotic can bring on the disease."Something happened 18 to 24 months ago, where the use of particular antibiotics didn't seem to matter anymore," said Dr. Mark Miller, chief of infectious diseases at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital.
In October 2008, researchers in Montreal concluded that hospitals are not the only place that people come down with C. difficile, and antibiotics aren't always linked to the infection, which challenged conventional thinking on the disease.When people, particularly seniors, pick up C. difficile outside of hospitals, it may be because they have a weakened immune system, underlying bowel disease, or fewer beneficial flora in the intestines to help keep C. difficile levels in check, said study author Sandra Dial, an intensive-care physician at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal.
How do I get it?
The bacteria are often picked up in hospital. Infections tend to arise when a hospitalized patient — who has been unwittingly colonized by the bug — is given antibiotics for another condition. Your risk of contracting the bacteria rises if you're undergoing chemotherapy, have abdominal surgery or have other stomach or intestine problems.C. difficile bacteria also make spores that can be found in the environment — on toilet seats or doorknobs, for instance.
How does it spread?
If you get diarrhea from C. difficile infection, you can spread the bacteria by touching something — like a doorknob — if you haven't washed your hands. The spores produced by C. difficile can withstand the effects of drying and direct sunlight and survive on surfaces for weeks.When someone else comes in contact with those spores and touches their hand to their face, for instance, the spores can get into the gastro-intestinal tract and cause diarrhea.
How is it treated?
Even though the bacteria are sometimes triggered when a patient takes antibiotics, the most effective treatments are certain antibiotics. Short courses — three to five days — of antibiotics such as flagyl and vancomycin are most common. In some cases, doctors also inject patients with immunoglobulins to boost their immune systems.
How is the spread of C. difficile controlled?
Infected patients are often separated from non-affected patients. Hospital staff who deal with infected patients will wear disposable gloves and aprons. Areas that patients come in contact with are rigorously cleaned with warm water and detergent t—o remove spores that can spread the condition.The most efficient way to prevent person-to-person spread of C. difficile is to thoroughly wash your hands before and after patient contact.
What should I do if I'm caring for someone affected by C. difficile?
Wash your hands often:
• Before you eat or prepare food.
• After you use the toilet or handle a bedpan.
• Before and after you touch a person with C. difficile.
More tips:
• If you must handle stool, wear rubber gloves.
• Clean the washroom daily.
• Put disposable wastes — like diapers — into plastic bags, tie them and discard with the rest of the trash.
• If clothes are heavily soiled with stool, wash them separately with detergent and bleach. Do not mix with the rest of your laundry.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/16/f-c-difficile.html#ixzz1AgY9dh8e
Monday, January 10, 2011
This being human is a guest house
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
- Rumi
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
- Rumi
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Walking Faster
Your walking speed can tell a lot about you - including your life expectancy. Amazingly, your walking speed is just as good an indicator of how long you'll live as your health history, smoking habits, and blood pressure combined.
It's possible to do a basic life expectancy calculation based on a person's age and gender, but there's no real way to know how accurate that estimate is for any given person without knowing more about his or her medical history. You can figure out a more detailed estimate by combining information about a person's chronic conditions, medical conditions, blood pressure, body mass index, and hospitalization history, but it turns out you can get just as good an answer with ten feet of pavement and a stopwatch.
That's the discovery made by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, who have put together nine studies that ran from 1986 to 2000 that investigated the relationship between walking speed and life expectancy in senior citizens. The results revealed a clear link between the two variables, the researchers explain:
"Predicted years of remaining life for each sex and age increased as gait speed increased, with a gait speed of about 0.8 meters [2.6 feet]/second at the median [midpoint] life expectancy at most ages for both sexes. Gait speeds of 1.0 meter [3.3 feet]/second or higher consistently demonstrated survival that was longer than expected by age and sex alone. In this older adult population the relationship of gait speed with remaining years of life was consistent across age groups, but the absolute number of expected remaining years of life was larger at younger ages."
Simply looking at a person's age, gender, and walking speed is as reliable a predictor of life expectancy as any other known method. Admittedly, estimating life expectancy is still an inexact science, but it's pretty awesome - and maybe a little disturbing - that there's such a simple way to estimate how many years you've got left. But why is walking speed such a powerful indicator? The researchers have an idea:
"Walking requires energy, movement control, and support and places demands on multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems. Slowing gait may reflect both damaged systems and a high energy cost of walking."
Now, a person's health is obviously a complex thing, and it's not as though a person's walking speed can magically reveal everything about a person's constitution. That said, it probably wouldn't hurt to try quickening the pace every once in a while.
It's possible to do a basic life expectancy calculation based on a person's age and gender, but there's no real way to know how accurate that estimate is for any given person without knowing more about his or her medical history. You can figure out a more detailed estimate by combining information about a person's chronic conditions, medical conditions, blood pressure, body mass index, and hospitalization history, but it turns out you can get just as good an answer with ten feet of pavement and a stopwatch.
That's the discovery made by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, who have put together nine studies that ran from 1986 to 2000 that investigated the relationship between walking speed and life expectancy in senior citizens. The results revealed a clear link between the two variables, the researchers explain:
"Predicted years of remaining life for each sex and age increased as gait speed increased, with a gait speed of about 0.8 meters [2.6 feet]/second at the median [midpoint] life expectancy at most ages for both sexes. Gait speeds of 1.0 meter [3.3 feet]/second or higher consistently demonstrated survival that was longer than expected by age and sex alone. In this older adult population the relationship of gait speed with remaining years of life was consistent across age groups, but the absolute number of expected remaining years of life was larger at younger ages."
Simply looking at a person's age, gender, and walking speed is as reliable a predictor of life expectancy as any other known method. Admittedly, estimating life expectancy is still an inexact science, but it's pretty awesome - and maybe a little disturbing - that there's such a simple way to estimate how many years you've got left. But why is walking speed such a powerful indicator? The researchers have an idea:
"Walking requires energy, movement control, and support and places demands on multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems. Slowing gait may reflect both damaged systems and a high energy cost of walking."
Now, a person's health is obviously a complex thing, and it's not as though a person's walking speed can magically reveal everything about a person's constitution. That said, it probably wouldn't hurt to try quickening the pace every once in a while.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Cold or flu? It's not just in your head
Not sure if you're coming down with a cold, the flu or just one of those 24-hour flu bugs that leaves you feeling nauseated?
Well, first off, that 24-hour bug isn't the flu at all. If it has kicked you in the gut, you probably have viral gastroenteritis — an infection caused by a variety of viruses that results in vomiting or diarrhea. It is often called the "stomach flu," even though it's not caused by any of the influenza viruses.
A cold and the flu share some of the same symptoms. But even a bad cold is pretty mild, compared to a bout with the flu.No pill or herb will get rid of either — each is caused by viruses and antibiotics are useless against them. You can take things that might ease your symptoms, but there is no cure. Your illness will have to run its course.A cold usually comes on gradually — over the course of a day or two. Generally, it leaves you feeling tired, sneezing, coughing and plagued by a running nose. You often don't have a fever, but when you do, it's only slightly higher than normal. Colds usually last three to four days, but can hang around for 10 days to two weeks.
Flu, on the other hand, comes on suddenly and hits hard. You will feel weak and tired and you could run a fever as high as 40 C. Your muscles and joints will probably ache, you will feel chilled and could have a severe headache and sore throat. Getting off the couch or out of bed will be a chore. The fever may last three to five days, but you could feel weak and tired for two to three weeks.
Well, first off, that 24-hour bug isn't the flu at all. If it has kicked you in the gut, you probably have viral gastroenteritis — an infection caused by a variety of viruses that results in vomiting or diarrhea. It is often called the "stomach flu," even though it's not caused by any of the influenza viruses.
A cold and the flu share some of the same symptoms. But even a bad cold is pretty mild, compared to a bout with the flu.No pill or herb will get rid of either — each is caused by viruses and antibiotics are useless against them. You can take things that might ease your symptoms, but there is no cure. Your illness will have to run its course.A cold usually comes on gradually — over the course of a day or two. Generally, it leaves you feeling tired, sneezing, coughing and plagued by a running nose. You often don't have a fever, but when you do, it's only slightly higher than normal. Colds usually last three to four days, but can hang around for 10 days to two weeks.
Flu, on the other hand, comes on suddenly and hits hard. You will feel weak and tired and you could run a fever as high as 40 C. Your muscles and joints will probably ache, you will feel chilled and could have a severe headache and sore throat. Getting off the couch or out of bed will be a chore. The fever may last three to five days, but you could feel weak and tired for two to three weeks.
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