The butterfly effect is a phrase that encapsulates the more technical notion of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory. Small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system. This is sometimes presented as esoteric behavior, but can be exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill might roll into any of several valleys depending on slight differences in initial position.
It is a common subject in fiction when presenting scenarios involving time travel and with "what if" scenarios where one storyline diverges at the moment of a seemingly minor event resulting in two significantly different outcomes.
//////////////////CONTINENTAL DRIFT=The most famous early proponent of continental drift, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener, was received skeptically when he proposed his theory in 1912, partly because he couldn't explain what might cause giant landmasses to move around. Expanding-earth advocates thought they could. They posited that once upon a time the earth had been much smaller and was completely encased in the supercontinent we now call Pangaea. Volcanic activity caused the planet to expand, cracking Pangaea apart like the shell of a boiled egg and leading to the eventual scattering of the continents.
Obvious objection: Where was all the extra volume that went into the expanding earth supposed to be coming from?
//////////////////////The most difficult thing in life is sorting our own head. Once you have done that life is always easy. Life is difficult when we have a choice. Life is alwasy easy if we have no choice because we just get on with it.
////////////////////////
From Chapter I: The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondancy
I.26. Then, Arjuna (son of Pritha) saw there (in the armies)
stationed, fathers and grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles,
brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends too.
I.27. (Arjuna saw) fathers-in-law and friends also in both the
armies. The son of Kunti, Arjuna, seeing all those kinsmen thus
standing arryed, spoke this, sorrowfully filled with deep pity.
//////////////////////Long-Lost Cousins
In contrast to chimpanzees, who live in male-dominated societies with infanticidal tendencies and other forms of lethal aggression, bonobos live in societies that are highly tolerant and peaceful thanks to female dominance, which maintains group cohesion and regulates tensions through sexual behavior.
//////////////////// Bonobos are notorious for their sexuality. Females rub their clitorises together; males have sexual activity with males. Neither age nor gender seems to matter. Sex is a tension-relieving activity in the group, used to soothe ruffled tempers or form alliances. It also appears to be a negotiating activity, engendering a high level of tolerance in bonobos.
So what we have are chimps who cooperate but aren't very tolerant, and bonobos who are very tolerant but don't really cooperate in the wild. What probably happened six million years ago, when hominids split from the ancestor we share with chimpanzees and bonobos, is that we became very tolerant, and this allowed us to cooperate in entirely new ways. Without this heightened tolerance, we would not be the species we are today.
////////////////////EDGE=
////////////////
Friday, 31 July 2009
HRT ATTCK-ART ATTCK
Reduced omega-3 and elevated trans-fatty acid levels predict nonfatal heart attack better than established risk factors
An article published online on June 9, 2009 in the British Journal of Nutrition reported the conclusion of a study conducted by South Korean researchers that red blood cell fatty acid profiles may prove to be a better predictor of who is at risk of heart disease than Framingham risk factors.
Framingham risk scores are calculated from values for the following traditional risk factors: age, gender, smoking status, total cholesterol levels, HDL-cholesterol levels, diabetes history and hypertension history. While an individual’s Framingham score is 70 to 80 percent accurate in predicting coronary heart disease risk, it fails to take into account more recently recognized risk factors that could improve its predictive value.
The researchers, from the Hanyang University in Seoul, matched 50 men and women with acute nonfatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) with 50 age and gender-matched controls who did not have a history of heart attack. Red blood cells were analyzed for levels of trans-fatty acids (undesirable fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil), and the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (found in fish and the algae they feed on).
LEU=
//////////////////
Jupiter and Saturn have acted as Earth’s “bouncers” for hundreds of millions of years by deflecting dangerous comets, astronomers claim.
JUPTER HOOVER
///////////////////Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
/////////////////////All Eat All
Jenny Diski: The Cannibal in Me
An Intellectual History of Cannibalism by Catalin Avramescu translated by Alistair Ian Blyth
Meiwes gave a TV interview and explained: ‘I sautéed the steak of Bernd, with salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg. I had it with Princess croquettes, Brussels sprouts and green pepper sauce.’ You begin to see, as the suburban lace curtain drifts into place, that the reality of cannibalism could be far less interesting than the idea of it. I think it’s the Princess croquettes in particular that cause the disappointmen
//////////////////"I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary
than I thought."
/////////////////Bystander Effect" is probably at least somewhat familiar. The basic premise is that as the number of observers witnessing an emergency goes up the less likely it is that the observers will help the person in distress.
/////////////////..........contrary to the standard view, genes are not “unities of heredity” (and therefore do not last as “individuals”) for the simple reason that crossing-overs (the molecular processes that shuffle bits and pieces of genetic material, the real reason for sex) do not respect gene’s boundaries, but rather cut genes into pieces and shuffle them.
as Godfrey-Smith points out, for this and other reasons sophisticated theoretical biologists are abandoning talk of “genes” altogether, referring instead to the more diffuse concept of “genetic material.” As PGS puts it, this is “a stuff, not a discrete unit.”
//////////////////Mitochondria As Regulators Of The Cell Cycle
/////////////////The Empire of Trauma
An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood
Didier Fassin & Richard Rechtman
Translated by Rachel Gomme
To read the entire book description or the introduction, please visit: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8917.html
Today we are accustomed to psychiatrists being summoned to scenes of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, war, and other tragic events to care for the psychic trauma of victims--yet it has not always been so. The very idea of psychic trauma came into being only at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time was treated with suspicion. The Empire of Trauma tells the story of how the traumatic victim became culturally and politically respectable, and how trauma itself became an unassailable moral category.
/////////////////
An article published online on June 9, 2009 in the British Journal of Nutrition reported the conclusion of a study conducted by South Korean researchers that red blood cell fatty acid profiles may prove to be a better predictor of who is at risk of heart disease than Framingham risk factors.
Framingham risk scores are calculated from values for the following traditional risk factors: age, gender, smoking status, total cholesterol levels, HDL-cholesterol levels, diabetes history and hypertension history. While an individual’s Framingham score is 70 to 80 percent accurate in predicting coronary heart disease risk, it fails to take into account more recently recognized risk factors that could improve its predictive value.
The researchers, from the Hanyang University in Seoul, matched 50 men and women with acute nonfatal myocardial infarction (heart attack) with 50 age and gender-matched controls who did not have a history of heart attack. Red blood cells were analyzed for levels of trans-fatty acids (undesirable fatty acids found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil), and the beneficial omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (found in fish and the algae they feed on).
LEU=
//////////////////
Jupiter and Saturn have acted as Earth’s “bouncers” for hundreds of millions of years by deflecting dangerous comets, astronomers claim.
JUPTER HOOVER
///////////////////Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
– Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
/////////////////////All Eat All
Jenny Diski: The Cannibal in Me
An Intellectual History of Cannibalism by Catalin Avramescu translated by Alistair Ian Blyth
Meiwes gave a TV interview and explained: ‘I sautéed the steak of Bernd, with salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg. I had it with Princess croquettes, Brussels sprouts and green pepper sauce.’ You begin to see, as the suburban lace curtain drifts into place, that the reality of cannibalism could be far less interesting than the idea of it. I think it’s the Princess croquettes in particular that cause the disappointmen
//////////////////"I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary
than I thought."
/////////////////Bystander Effect" is probably at least somewhat familiar. The basic premise is that as the number of observers witnessing an emergency goes up the less likely it is that the observers will help the person in distress.
/////////////////..........contrary to the standard view, genes are not “unities of heredity” (and therefore do not last as “individuals”) for the simple reason that crossing-overs (the molecular processes that shuffle bits and pieces of genetic material, the real reason for sex) do not respect gene’s boundaries, but rather cut genes into pieces and shuffle them.
as Godfrey-Smith points out, for this and other reasons sophisticated theoretical biologists are abandoning talk of “genes” altogether, referring instead to the more diffuse concept of “genetic material.” As PGS puts it, this is “a stuff, not a discrete unit.”
//////////////////Mitochondria As Regulators Of The Cell Cycle
/////////////////The Empire of Trauma
An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood
Didier Fassin & Richard Rechtman
Translated by Rachel Gomme
To read the entire book description or the introduction, please visit: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8917.html
Today we are accustomed to psychiatrists being summoned to scenes of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, war, and other tragic events to care for the psychic trauma of victims--yet it has not always been so. The very idea of psychic trauma came into being only at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time was treated with suspicion. The Empire of Trauma tells the story of how the traumatic victim became culturally and politically respectable, and how trauma itself became an unassailable moral category.
/////////////////
Thursday, 30 July 2009
DBBI PRDY -RT TO LV AND CHCE TO DTH
//////////////Max Ehrmann in the 1920s-PSD=DESIDERATA=
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
////////////////////Certainly this Nature of mountains and oceans and starry skies is
> > worthy of reference, but I think the WPM captures only half of the full
> > spirit of Pantheism. The other half is pointed at by this quote from
> > Epictetus. "When your doors are shut and your room is dark," he writes,
> > in other words when we no longer experience through our senses, "you are
> > not alone/The will of nature is within you." Turned away from our
> > senses, turned inward, we also find Nature. In fact we find the most
> > incredible of all of Nature's creations: conscious awareness,
> > understanding, and intentionality. This is what we are made of. This
> > is what CAN feel a deep sense of peace and belonging in the midst of
> > Nature.
> >
//////////////////////
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.
////////////////////Certainly this Nature of mountains and oceans and starry skies is
> > worthy of reference, but I think the WPM captures only half of the full
> > spirit of Pantheism. The other half is pointed at by this quote from
> > Epictetus. "When your doors are shut and your room is dark," he writes,
> > in other words when we no longer experience through our senses, "you are
> > not alone/The will of nature is within you." Turned away from our
> > senses, turned inward, we also find Nature. In fact we find the most
> > incredible of all of Nature's creations: conscious awareness,
> > understanding, and intentionality. This is what we are made of. This
> > is what CAN feel a deep sense of peace and belonging in the midst of
> > Nature.
> >
//////////////////////
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
CDS BDV CBTAR-290709-CR CRSH CRSS 5K BUFFERED
//////////////////..........ABT COM=Clinical Depression Vs. Sadness
Monday July 20, 2009
Q. What is the difference between clinical depression and sadness?
A. Although depression is often thought of a being an extreme state of sadness, there is a vast difference between clinical depression and sadness. Sadness is a part of being human, a natural reaction to painful circumstances. All of us will experience sadness at some point in our lives. Depression, however, is a physical illness with many more symptoms than an unhappy mood. The person with clinical depression finds that there is not always a logical reason for his dark feelings. Exhortations from well-meaning friends and family for him to "snap out of it" provide only frustration for he can no more "snap out of it" than the diabetic can will his pancreas to produce more insulin. Sadness is a transient feeling that passes as a person comes to term with his troubles. Depression can linger for weeks, months or even years. The sad person feels bad, but continues to cope with living. A person with clinical depression may feel overwhelmed and hopeless.
/////////////////Diabetic Diet: The Basics
Be consistent. Eat about the same amount of food each day around the same times of day, and don't skip meals or regular snacks.
Watch the type of calories you eat. Between 40 percent to 60 percent of the calories in a healthy diet will come from carbohydrates. Around 20 percent of calories should come from protein and 30 percent or less from fat.
Consume carbohydrates high in fiber. They digest slowly and keep blood sugar levels stable. Pick foods made with whole grains rather than products containing processed grains. Brown rice, dried beans, whole wheat spaghetti, and lentils are good choices.
Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. In general, eat more non-starchy vegetables, and reduce your portions of everything else. Non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, spinach, carrots, or green beans are best. Remember that whole fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than juices or dried fruit.
Eat foods low in saturated fat and free of trans-fats. Choose lean meats. Cuts of beef and pork that end in "loin," like pork loin and sirloin, are winners. Skip the skin on poultry.
Steer clear of foods that contain large amounts of added sugars. Drink water instead of soda or fruit punch. Avoid high-calorie snack foods like cookies, cake, and ice cream.
////////////////////AVOID CIC-COOKIES,ICE CREAM,CAKE-IN FACT BAN THEM LIKE TOBACCO
/////////////////////SOLUBLE FIBERS-Insoluble or Soluble Fiber: Which Lowers Cholesterol?
Studies Show That Soluble Fiber May Help Lower Cholesterol More
By Jennifer Moll, About.com
Updated: May 27, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
There are two types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. While both of these are important to include in your diet, studies have shown that one type of fiber can also help to lower your cholesterol.
We have already known some of the other heatlhy benefits that fiber has to offer. It helps with normal bowel function and it adds bulk to foods to make you feel fuller. However, there is evidence of another, essential benefit that fiber may have is that it can improve your heart health.
Types of Fiber
Although there are several forms of fiber, they can be classified into two major groups: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. While both are good for the body, only one group has been shown to be beneficial in lowering your cholesterol.
Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water and forms a gel-like consistency in the digestive tract. On the other hand, insoluble fiber cannot be dissolved in water, so it passes through the digestive tract relatively unchanged. When it comes to your heart health, it appears that only soluble fiber is beneficial in lowering your cholesterol. In fact, studies have shown that consuming 10 to 25 grams soluble fiber a day can lower cholesterol by 18%.
However, it appears to only lower your “bad” cholesterol (LDL) –- your “good” cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides are only minimally, if at all, affected by soluble fiber. Additionally, insoluble fiber does not appear to affect cholesterol levels, but it is important in maintaining a healthy colon.
Where Can I Get Soluble Fiber?
A variety of foods contain soluble fiber. By consuming the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes in the Food Pyramid, you should be able to obtain the recommended amount of soluble fiber each day.
While fiber supplements can be used to fulfill this requirement, it is not recommended that you use them as substitute for eating a healthy . Fruits and vegetables also contain important nutrients, such as vitamins, that cannot be obtained through a fiber supplement.
/////////////////
Peace with a club in hand is war.
~Portuguese Proverb~
////////////////HEART VS MIND=AMYGDALA VS FRONTAL CORTEX
////////////////Chapter I: The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondancy
I.47. Sanjaya said(to Dhritarashtra):
Having thus spoken in the midst of the battlefield, Arjuna,
casting away his bow and arrow, sat down on the seat of the
chariot with his mind overwhelmed with sorrow.
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science
of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between
Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the first discourse entitled
'THE YOGA OF THE DESPONDANCY OF ARJUNA'.
CR CRSH DSPNDNCY
//////////////////Risky Driving Puts Young Drivers At High Danger Of Crashing (July 25, 2009) -- Australia's largest study of young drivers has shown that risky driving habits are putting young drivers at a significantly increased risk of crashing, irrespective of their perceptions about road safety. The study surveyed 20,000 young drivers and examined their crashes reported to police. Young drivers involved in the study who said they undertook risky driving were 50 percent more likely to crash. ..
////////////////////////////////////////////////////Chimps, Like Humans, Focus On Faces (July 28, 2009) -- A chimp's attention is captured by faces more effectively than by bananas. A series of experiments suggests that the apes are wired to respond to faces in a similar manner to humans. .
////////////////////
Monday July 20, 2009
Q. What is the difference between clinical depression and sadness?
A. Although depression is often thought of a being an extreme state of sadness, there is a vast difference between clinical depression and sadness. Sadness is a part of being human, a natural reaction to painful circumstances. All of us will experience sadness at some point in our lives. Depression, however, is a physical illness with many more symptoms than an unhappy mood. The person with clinical depression finds that there is not always a logical reason for his dark feelings. Exhortations from well-meaning friends and family for him to "snap out of it" provide only frustration for he can no more "snap out of it" than the diabetic can will his pancreas to produce more insulin. Sadness is a transient feeling that passes as a person comes to term with his troubles. Depression can linger for weeks, months or even years. The sad person feels bad, but continues to cope with living. A person with clinical depression may feel overwhelmed and hopeless.
/////////////////Diabetic Diet: The Basics
Be consistent. Eat about the same amount of food each day around the same times of day, and don't skip meals or regular snacks.
Watch the type of calories you eat. Between 40 percent to 60 percent of the calories in a healthy diet will come from carbohydrates. Around 20 percent of calories should come from protein and 30 percent or less from fat.
Consume carbohydrates high in fiber. They digest slowly and keep blood sugar levels stable. Pick foods made with whole grains rather than products containing processed grains. Brown rice, dried beans, whole wheat spaghetti, and lentils are good choices.
Eat plenty of vegetables and fruits. In general, eat more non-starchy vegetables, and reduce your portions of everything else. Non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, spinach, carrots, or green beans are best. Remember that whole fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than juices or dried fruit.
Eat foods low in saturated fat and free of trans-fats. Choose lean meats. Cuts of beef and pork that end in "loin," like pork loin and sirloin, are winners. Skip the skin on poultry.
Steer clear of foods that contain large amounts of added sugars. Drink water instead of soda or fruit punch. Avoid high-calorie snack foods like cookies, cake, and ice cream.
////////////////////AVOID CIC-COOKIES,ICE CREAM,CAKE-IN FACT BAN THEM LIKE TOBACCO
/////////////////////SOLUBLE FIBERS-Insoluble or Soluble Fiber: Which Lowers Cholesterol?
Studies Show That Soluble Fiber May Help Lower Cholesterol More
By Jennifer Moll, About.com
Updated: May 27, 2009
About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by the Medical Review Board
There are two types of fiber: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. While both of these are important to include in your diet, studies have shown that one type of fiber can also help to lower your cholesterol.
We have already known some of the other heatlhy benefits that fiber has to offer. It helps with normal bowel function and it adds bulk to foods to make you feel fuller. However, there is evidence of another, essential benefit that fiber may have is that it can improve your heart health.
Types of Fiber
Although there are several forms of fiber, they can be classified into two major groups: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. While both are good for the body, only one group has been shown to be beneficial in lowering your cholesterol.
Soluble fiber can be dissolved in water and forms a gel-like consistency in the digestive tract. On the other hand, insoluble fiber cannot be dissolved in water, so it passes through the digestive tract relatively unchanged. When it comes to your heart health, it appears that only soluble fiber is beneficial in lowering your cholesterol. In fact, studies have shown that consuming 10 to 25 grams soluble fiber a day can lower cholesterol by 18%.
However, it appears to only lower your “bad” cholesterol (LDL) –- your “good” cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides are only minimally, if at all, affected by soluble fiber. Additionally, insoluble fiber does not appear to affect cholesterol levels, but it is important in maintaining a healthy colon.
Where Can I Get Soluble Fiber?
A variety of foods contain soluble fiber. By consuming the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes in the Food Pyramid, you should be able to obtain the recommended amount of soluble fiber each day.
While fiber supplements can be used to fulfill this requirement, it is not recommended that you use them as substitute for eating a healthy . Fruits and vegetables also contain important nutrients, such as vitamins, that cannot be obtained through a fiber supplement.
/////////////////
Peace with a club in hand is war.
~Portuguese Proverb~
////////////////HEART VS MIND=AMYGDALA VS FRONTAL CORTEX
////////////////Chapter I: The Yoga of Arjuna's Despondancy
I.47. Sanjaya said(to Dhritarashtra):
Having thus spoken in the midst of the battlefield, Arjuna,
casting away his bow and arrow, sat down on the seat of the
chariot with his mind overwhelmed with sorrow.
Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science
of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between
Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the first discourse entitled
'THE YOGA OF THE DESPONDANCY OF ARJUNA'.
CR CRSH DSPNDNCY
//////////////////Risky Driving Puts Young Drivers At High Danger Of Crashing (July 25, 2009) -- Australia's largest study of young drivers has shown that risky driving habits are putting young drivers at a significantly increased risk of crashing, irrespective of their perceptions about road safety. The study surveyed 20,000 young drivers and examined their crashes reported to police. Young drivers involved in the study who said they undertook risky driving were 50 percent more likely to crash. ..
////////////////////////////////////////////////////Chimps, Like Humans, Focus On Faces (July 28, 2009) -- A chimp's attention is captured by faces more effectively than by bananas. A series of experiments suggests that the apes are wired to respond to faces in a similar manner to humans. .
////////////////////
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
CDS-BDV-CR TO BE SCRAPPED
////////////////4K + 1K FR A FCKING CR CRSH
//////////
"Give me a mathematics that has, as a theorem, that humming birds feed on nectar from flowers and pollinate the flower field, mutualist conditions of their very joint existence in the universe."
///////////Evolution in the Ulam-von Neumann universe now drives evolution (and economics) in our universe, rather than the other way around. The current misbehavior of our economy, however much it reflects misbehavior by human individuals and institutions, is more a reflection of the behavior of self-reproducing machines and self-replicating codes. We measure our economy in money, not in things. In the age of self-reproducing automata, we can suffer a declining economy, and pandemic unemployment, while still producing as much stuff as people are able to consume. We are facing the first economic downturn to include free cell phones, more automobiles than we have room for (in many locations you can now rent a car for less than it costs to park one) and computers that cost less than a month's health insurance yet run at billions of cycles per second for years.
//////////////////As early as the twelfth century it was realized that money, like information but unlike material objects, can be made to exist in more than one place at a single time. An early embodiment of this principle, preceding the Bank of England by more than five hundred years, were Exchequer tallies — notched wooden sticks issued as receipts for money deposited with the Exchequer for the use of the king. "As a financial instrument and evidence it was at once adaptable, light in weight and small in size, easy to understand and practically incapable of fraud," wrote Hilary Jenkinson in 1911. "By the middle of the twelfth century, there was a well-organized and well-understood system of tally cutting at the Exchequer... and the conventions remained unaltered and in continuous use from that time down to the nineteenth century." 10
///////////////////RAFOD-AOD
//////////////////.......Language even shapes what we see. People have a better memory for colors if different shades have distinct names—not English's light blue and dark blue, for instance, but Russian's goluboy and sinly. Skeptics of the language-shapes-thought claim have argued that that's a trivial finding, showing only that people remember what they saw in both a visual form and a verbal one, but not proving that they actually see the hues differently. In an ingenious experiment, however, Boroditsky and colleagues showed volunteers three color swatches and asked them which of the bottom two was the same as the top one. Native Russian speakers were faster than English speakers when the colors had distinct names, suggesting that having a name for something allows you to perceive it more sharply. Similarly, Korean uses one word for "in" when one object is in another snugly (a letter in an envelope), and a different one when an object is in something loosely (an apple in a bowl). Sure enough, Korean adults are better than English speakers at distinguishing tight fit from loose fit.
///////////////////
//////////
"Give me a mathematics that has, as a theorem, that humming birds feed on nectar from flowers and pollinate the flower field, mutualist conditions of their very joint existence in the universe."
///////////Evolution in the Ulam-von Neumann universe now drives evolution (and economics) in our universe, rather than the other way around. The current misbehavior of our economy, however much it reflects misbehavior by human individuals and institutions, is more a reflection of the behavior of self-reproducing machines and self-replicating codes. We measure our economy in money, not in things. In the age of self-reproducing automata, we can suffer a declining economy, and pandemic unemployment, while still producing as much stuff as people are able to consume. We are facing the first economic downturn to include free cell phones, more automobiles than we have room for (in many locations you can now rent a car for less than it costs to park one) and computers that cost less than a month's health insurance yet run at billions of cycles per second for years.
//////////////////As early as the twelfth century it was realized that money, like information but unlike material objects, can be made to exist in more than one place at a single time. An early embodiment of this principle, preceding the Bank of England by more than five hundred years, were Exchequer tallies — notched wooden sticks issued as receipts for money deposited with the Exchequer for the use of the king. "As a financial instrument and evidence it was at once adaptable, light in weight and small in size, easy to understand and practically incapable of fraud," wrote Hilary Jenkinson in 1911. "By the middle of the twelfth century, there was a well-organized and well-understood system of tally cutting at the Exchequer... and the conventions remained unaltered and in continuous use from that time down to the nineteenth century." 10
///////////////////RAFOD-AOD
//////////////////.......Language even shapes what we see. People have a better memory for colors if different shades have distinct names—not English's light blue and dark blue, for instance, but Russian's goluboy and sinly. Skeptics of the language-shapes-thought claim have argued that that's a trivial finding, showing only that people remember what they saw in both a visual form and a verbal one, but not proving that they actually see the hues differently. In an ingenious experiment, however, Boroditsky and colleagues showed volunteers three color swatches and asked them which of the bottom two was the same as the top one. Native Russian speakers were faster than English speakers when the colors had distinct names, suggesting that having a name for something allows you to perceive it more sharply. Similarly, Korean uses one word for "in" when one object is in another snugly (a letter in an envelope), and a different one when an object is in something loosely (an apple in a bowl). Sure enough, Korean adults are better than English speakers at distinguishing tight fit from loose fit.
///////////////////
Monday, 27 July 2009
BWRDN DWN VIEW-GRKHAS GREET JNA LMLEY
HISTORICAL JSTICE
//////////////NIGHTS OF RAIN AND STARS-RMMBR CAMP IN WST SIKKIM
///////////////HAVING IT AND EATING IT
//////////////Treatment with ganciclover prevents deterioration of hearing in infants with congenital CMV infection
/////////////..........Bitterness, Compulsive Shopping, and Internet Addiction
The diagnostic madness of DSM-V.
By Christopher Lane
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009, at 9:31 AM ET
DSM's fourth edition
There's an awful lot of money to be made from compulsive shopping, judging by the career of Madeleine Wickham. Her Shopaholic series, written under the pen name Sophie Kinsella, is required reading for chick-lit enthusiasts, and the romantic comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic, the first of several planned big-screen adaptations, grossed more than $100 million worldwide. While the film, starring Isla Fisher, isn't terribly funny, it does make the valid point that to enjoy shopping for elegant clothes isn't a pathology. It's a style.
The American Psychiatric Association risks losing sight of that distinction by grimly—and rather inexpertly—debating whether avid shopping should be considered a sign of mental illness. The fifth edition of the association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is expected in 2012. The APA isn't just deciding the fate of shopaholics; it's also debating whether overuse of the Internet, "excessive" sexual activity, apathy, and even prolonged bitterness should be viewed, quite seriously, as brain "disorders." If you spend hours online, have sex more frequently than aging psychiatrists, and moan incessantly that the federal government can't account for all its TARP funds, take heed: You may soon be classed among the 48 million Americans the APA already considers mentally ill.
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RELATED IN SLATE
Emily Yoffe explored the connection between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and economic collapse. David Greenberg discussed the history of presidential character assessment after John McCain released his entire mental-health profile. Daniel Engber wondered whether sex addiction is still a laughable affliction, and Larissa MacFarquhar defended the last DSM against its overdiagnosis-fearing critics.
Quite how the association will decide when normal kvetching becomes a sickness—or reasonable amounts of sex become excessive—is still anyone's guess. Behind the APA's doors in Arlington, Va., the fine points of the debate are creating quite a few headaches. And they're also causing a rather public dust-up.
To linger anxiously, even bitterly, over job loss is all too human. To sigh with despair over precipitous declines in one's retirement account is also perfectly understandable. But if the APA includes post-traumatic embitterment disorder in the next edition of its diagnostic bible, it will be because a small group of mental-health professionals believes the public shouldn't dwell on such matters for too long.
That's a sobering thought—enough, perhaps, to make you doubt the wisdom of those updating the new manual. The association has no clear definition of the cutoff between normal and pathological responses to life's letdowns. To those of us following the debates as closely as the association will allow, it's apparent that the DSM revisions have become a train wreck. The problem is, everyone involved has signed a contract promising not to share publicly what's going on.
//////////////TSOC-TROUBLING SET OF CRCMSTNCES
////////////NYT-ARTS,BRIEFLY
/////////////The historian Herodotus (484 BC–ca. 425 BC), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of Seven wonders but their writings have not survived, except as references. The seven wonders included:
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria
////////////////Typically representative of the seven greatest wonders of the Medieval world are:[2][3][4][5]
Stonehenge
Colosseum
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Leaning Tower of Pisa
////////////////////////New 7 Wonders Foundation's seven wonders of the world
Main article: New Seven Wonders of the World
In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments for profit.[11] Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006.[12] Egypt was not happy with the fact that the only original wonder would have to compete with the likes of the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and other landmarks; and called the project absurd. To solve this, Giza was named an honorary Candidate.[13] The results were announced on July 7, 2007 in Benfica's stadium in a big ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal,[14] and are listed here:
Wonder Date of construction Location
Great Wall of China 5th century BCE – 16th century CE China
Petra Unknown Jordan
Christ the Redeemer Opened 12 October 1931 Brazil
Machu Picchu c.1450 Peru
Chichen Itza c.600 Mexico
Roman Colosseum Completed 80 CE Italy
Taj Mahal Completed c.1648 India
Great Pyramid (Honorary Candidat
////////////////
//////////////NIGHTS OF RAIN AND STARS-RMMBR CAMP IN WST SIKKIM
///////////////HAVING IT AND EATING IT
//////////////Treatment with ganciclover prevents deterioration of hearing in infants with congenital CMV infection
/////////////..........Bitterness, Compulsive Shopping, and Internet Addiction
The diagnostic madness of DSM-V.
By Christopher Lane
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009, at 9:31 AM ET
DSM's fourth edition
There's an awful lot of money to be made from compulsive shopping, judging by the career of Madeleine Wickham. Her Shopaholic series, written under the pen name Sophie Kinsella, is required reading for chick-lit enthusiasts, and the romantic comedy Confessions of a Shopaholic, the first of several planned big-screen adaptations, grossed more than $100 million worldwide. While the film, starring Isla Fisher, isn't terribly funny, it does make the valid point that to enjoy shopping for elegant clothes isn't a pathology. It's a style.
The American Psychiatric Association risks losing sight of that distinction by grimly—and rather inexpertly—debating whether avid shopping should be considered a sign of mental illness. The fifth edition of the association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is expected in 2012. The APA isn't just deciding the fate of shopaholics; it's also debating whether overuse of the Internet, "excessive" sexual activity, apathy, and even prolonged bitterness should be viewed, quite seriously, as brain "disorders." If you spend hours online, have sex more frequently than aging psychiatrists, and moan incessantly that the federal government can't account for all its TARP funds, take heed: You may soon be classed among the 48 million Americans the APA already considers mentally ill.
DISCUSS
RSS
RECOMMEND...
SINGLE PAGE
RELATED IN SLATE
Emily Yoffe explored the connection between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and economic collapse. David Greenberg discussed the history of presidential character assessment after John McCain released his entire mental-health profile. Daniel Engber wondered whether sex addiction is still a laughable affliction, and Larissa MacFarquhar defended the last DSM against its overdiagnosis-fearing critics.
Quite how the association will decide when normal kvetching becomes a sickness—or reasonable amounts of sex become excessive—is still anyone's guess. Behind the APA's doors in Arlington, Va., the fine points of the debate are creating quite a few headaches. And they're also causing a rather public dust-up.
To linger anxiously, even bitterly, over job loss is all too human. To sigh with despair over precipitous declines in one's retirement account is also perfectly understandable. But if the APA includes post-traumatic embitterment disorder in the next edition of its diagnostic bible, it will be because a small group of mental-health professionals believes the public shouldn't dwell on such matters for too long.
That's a sobering thought—enough, perhaps, to make you doubt the wisdom of those updating the new manual. The association has no clear definition of the cutoff between normal and pathological responses to life's letdowns. To those of us following the debates as closely as the association will allow, it's apparent that the DSM revisions have become a train wreck. The problem is, everyone involved has signed a contract promising not to share publicly what's going on.
//////////////TSOC-TROUBLING SET OF CRCMSTNCES
////////////NYT-ARTS,BRIEFLY
/////////////The historian Herodotus (484 BC–ca. 425 BC), and the scholar Callimachus of Cyrene (ca 305–240 BC) at the Museum of Alexandria, made early lists of Seven wonders but their writings have not survived, except as references. The seven wonders included:
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria
////////////////Typically representative of the seven greatest wonders of the Medieval world are:[2][3][4][5]
Stonehenge
Colosseum
Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Leaning Tower of Pisa
////////////////////////New 7 Wonders Foundation's seven wonders of the world
Main article: New Seven Wonders of the World
In 2001 an initiative was started by the Swiss corporation New7Wonders Foundation to choose the New Seven Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments for profit.[11] Twenty-one finalists were announced January 1, 2006.[12] Egypt was not happy with the fact that the only original wonder would have to compete with the likes of the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, and other landmarks; and called the project absurd. To solve this, Giza was named an honorary Candidate.[13] The results were announced on July 7, 2007 in Benfica's stadium in a big ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal,[14] and are listed here:
Wonder Date of construction Location
Great Wall of China 5th century BCE – 16th century CE China
Petra Unknown Jordan
Christ the Redeemer Opened 12 October 1931 Brazil
Machu Picchu c.1450 Peru
Chichen Itza c.600 Mexico
Roman Colosseum Completed 80 CE Italy
Taj Mahal Completed c.1648 India
Great Pyramid (Honorary Candidat
////////////////
MST WGH QEDS PPL R NGHTY
///////////////The Four Ages of Man - The 4 Stages of Life in Hinduism
By Subhamoy Das, About.com
See More About:hindu beliefshindu rites & ritualshindu scriptures & epicshinduism basics
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Sridhara Swami
Shakespeare divided life into "seven ages". In Hinduism, human life is believed to comprise four stages. These are called "ashramas" and every man should ideally go through each of these stages:
The First Ashrama - "Brahmacharya" or the Student Stage
The Second Ashrama - "Grihastha" or the Householder Stage
The Third Ashrama - "Vanaprastha" or the Hermit Stage
The Fourth Ashrama - "Sannyasa" or the Wandering Ascetic Stage
Brahmacharya - The Celibate Student:
This is a period of formal education. It lasts until the age of 25, during which, the young male leaves home to stay with a guru and attain both spiritual and practical knowledge. During this period, he is called a brahmachari, and is prepared for his future profession, as well as for his family, and social and religious life ahead.
Grihastha - The Married Family Man:
This period begins when a man gets married, and undertakes the responsibility for earning a living and supporting his family. At this stage, Hinduism supports the pursuit of wealth (artha) as a necessity, and indulgence in sexual pleasure (kama), under certain defined social and cosmic norms. This ashrama lasts until around the age of 50. According to the Laws of Manu, when a person's skin wrinkles and his hair greys, he should go out into the forest. However, in real life, most Hindus are so much in love with this second ashrama that the Grihastha stage lasts a lifetime!
Vanaprastha - The Hermit in Retreat:
This stage of a man begins when his duty as a householder comes to an end: He has become a grandfather, his children are grown up, and have established lives of their own. At this age, he should renounce all physical, material and sexual pleasures, retire from his social and professional life, leave his home, and go to live in a forest hut, spending his time in prayers. He is allowed to take his wife along, but is supposed to maintain little contact with the family. This kind of life is indeed very harsh and cruel for an aged person. No wonder, this third ashrama is now nearly obsolete.
Sannyasa - The Wandering Recluse:
At this stage, a man is supposed to be totally devoted to God. He is a sannyasi, he has no home, no other attachment; he has renounced all desires, fears and hopes, duties and responsibilities. He is virtually merged with God, all his worldly ties are broken, and his sole concern becomes attaining moksha, or release from the circle of birth and death. (Suffice it to say, very few Hindu men can go up to this stage of becoming a complete ascetic.) When he dies, the funeral ceremonies (Pretakarma) are performed by his son and heir.
What About Women?:
Although these ashramas are predominantly designed for the male, females too have a vital role to play in each one of them. So women are not actually excluded because they are always supposed to have an active social and religious life at home. However, a woman's role is of a dependent nature since, traditionally, they need the protection of a responsible male at every stage of life.
History of Ashramas:
This system of ashramas is believed to be prevalent since the 5th century BCE in Hindu society. However, historians say that these stages of life were always viewed more as 'ideals' than as common practice. According to one scholar, even in its very beginnings, after the first ashrama, a young adult could choose which of the other ashramas he would wish to pursue for the rest of his life. Today, it is not expected that a Hindu male should go through the four stages, but it still stands as an important "pillar" of Hindu socio-religious tradition.
/////////////////JCELAND AND ITS GCKING WHALERS-BOYCOTT JCELAND IF DONT STOP WHALING
///////////////The Good Life: Where Psychology Stands On Living Well
ScienceDaily (July 25, 2009) — Unfortunately for us, there is no formula for fulfillment or guide to life satisfaction; however, humans have turned to philosophy, religion and science time and again for answers to our existential questions. We may have come a long way since Confucius and Plato, and science continues to piece together some of the answers, but what have we learned so far?
Psychologists Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson from the University of Michigan turned to their own field to ask, "What is a good life and how can we achieve and sustain it?" In their article recently published in Perspectives in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the authors explored the many ways psychology has contributed to, and continues to research, the science of living well.
So far we have learned from psychology that a good life includes experiencing more positive than negative feelings, feeling like your life has been lived well, continually using your talents and strengths, having close interpersonal relationships, being engaged at work and other activities, being a part of a social community, perceiving that life has a meaning, and feeling healthy and safe. And while these conclusions may seem like common sense, we as humans fall short on knowing just how to obtain and maintain these qualities.
Psychology still has a ways to go until the perfect formula for a good life is found. As Park and Peterson put it, "At present, psychology knows more about people's problems and how to solve them than it does about what it means to live well and how to encourage and maintain such a life." They suggest researchers across all disciplines of psychology come together and collaborate on their findings, perhaps pulling together a more complete picture of the human experience.
"In speaking about the psychological good life, we are fond of saying that other people matter," the authors concluded, "It appears that other people matter in science as well."
/////////////////
No man would listen to you talk if he did not know that it was his turn next.
~Edgar Watson Howe~
//////////////.......Ants more rational than humans
Published: Friday, July 24, 2009 - 13:44 in Psychology & Sociology
Related images
(click to enlarge)
Stephen Pratt/Arizona State University
In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, researchers at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task more rationally than our – multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed – selves. This is not the case of humans being "stupider" than ants. Humans and animals simply often make irrational choices when faced with very challenging decisions, note the study's architects Stephen Pratt and Susan Edwards.
"This paradoxical outcome is based on apparent constraint: most individual ants know of only a single option, and the colony's collective choice self-organizes from interactions among many poorly-informed ants," says Pratt, an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
///////////////////Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
In the new study, Akio Nakamura and colleagues note that people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today. And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress. Until now, however, linalool's exact effects on the body have been a deep mystery.
The scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while inhaling and not inhaling linalool. Linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes — key parts of the immune system — to near-normal levels. Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations. The findings could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can soothe stress, the researchers say.
/////////////////////SNACK ATTACK-AVOID COOKIES
/////////////BLOCK COOKIES ,BOTH TYPES
///////////////Compared with seasonal flu, a flu pandemic is likely to affect 25-50% of the population. In past pandemics those under the age of five and those over the age of 50 experienced the greatest severity in illness. There is likely to be increased morbidity and mortality in very young children particularly those with underlying health conditions. To date, case fatality of swine flu is between 0.1 and 0.4%.
It is also important to recognise that flu in young children may present differently to adults, with symptoms similar to those of other serious treatable illnesses such as meningitis. Care should be taken not to confuse the presentation of this and other conditions with the symptoms of flu.
It is anticipated that the number of cases is likely to increase into August 2009, with a likely a further increase in the frequency of cases and severity of presentation during the winter of 2009/10. Clearly there are implications for services beyond the need to manage and treat cases, such as staff shortages and implications for patients with long term conditions or those requiring specialty services.
//////////////////............
We Are All Africans
All non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, and males have Y chromosome M-168
Nayan Chanda
Businessworld, 21 July 2009
Sweden’s well-known author Lasse Berg often begins his book talk with an attention-getter: “I am glad to see so many Africans in the room”. it invariably makes his (largely blond and Nordic) audience turn around to see where all the Africans are. Of course, Berg means everyone present. The author of Dawn over Kalahari: How Man Became Man proceeds to tell the story of how all humanity emerged out of the so-called dark continent and populated the earth.
I think of Berg’s message when I read about an African student in Delhi being harassed by catcalls referring to his dark skin — kalia, kaala, habshi — or for that matter Indians from the North-east being derided as ‘chinki’ for their Chinese look. This is not different from the discrimination faced by Indian students in Australia who have recently been victims of “curry bashing”. Such racist insults seem to be increasing, or perhaps becoming more visible as the world becomes more integrated than ever. The gap between our knowledge of who we are and how we treat each other is as vast as it is stark.
Often these racial incidents are dismissed by the elite as acts of hoodlums or narrow-minded individuals. Surely, we all know humanity is one. Even leaving philosophical magnanimity or liberalism to one side, there is the simple biological fact that in every cell of our body we carry evidence of our common African origins. The startling 1987 discovery of our common origin by Allan Wilson and Rebecca Cann by studying mtDNA (the maternal DNA) from samples dispersed all over the world led Newsweek to run a cover story with an image of an African Adam and Eve. In the ensuing years, massive amounts of genetic research has laid to rest any doubt about our African origin. While all non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, our earliest common father was one with a Y chromosome marker, M-168.
Curious about my own forebears, I sent my DNA anonymously for testing. The results were startling. The report told me I was an Indian because I had M-52 marker, which is predominantly Indian. But the report also confirmed the earliest Y-chromosome in my DNA was the same M-168 — that every male on the planet carries in his cells. My ancestors reached India some 2,000 generations ago.
The scientific evidence that we share the same African ancestry has been around for over two decades. Yet, in speaking about this to audiences across four continents, while presenting my book Bound Together I have encountered great surprise, and some scepticism. For whatever reason, this dramatic scientific confirmation of our common origin appears not to have penetrated the consciousness of even the most well-educated. Will wider dissemination of the scientific facts make any difference to the racist sentiment? Perhaps not in the short term. But that should be more the reason to start with our children, and make our genetic history an essential part of school curriculum.
Wide diffusion of the fact that 99.9 per cent of all human DNA is the same and pigmentation and other physical attributes are literally skin-deep may, over time, make us more accepting of others who look different. The understanding that our multi-hued skin, shape of our eyes and forms of our body were sculpted by a millennia of climatic conditions and natural selection might also make us less tolerant of the hoodlums and ignoramuses who indulge in racial discrimination. Teachers might start by downloading an accessible article from the July 2008 issue of Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com), so that they can share with students the story of our African journey. They might even encourage volunteers to send their DNA for testing deep ancestry through National Genographic project (genographic.nationalgeographic.com), and share the results with the whole school.
Knowledge has not prevented racism and other malignancies that infect us, but we cannot hope to eliminate the scourge without it. Just five years ago, most people had no knowledge, let alone concern about global warming. But accumulated scientific evidence and its diffusion on a wider scale has produced greater awareness. The fact is that globalisation has increased our interdependence and exposure to others. To reduce the friction that results from the close encounter with other members of human tribe, we need to internalise what Berg tells his audience: We are all blacks.
Nayan Chanda is director of publications at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation and Editor of YaleGlobal Online.
////////////////////New “Great Wall” of Sand Could Protect Two Billion People
The "desertification" of the Sahara plains has the potential to displace more than two billion people in the years to come. But one architect has a plan to stop it: building a giant wall of sand.
By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on July 26 2009 Filed under General Interest | Green |
Sahara Desert. Image: iStockphoto
The Sahara Desert stretches on for 3.5 million square miles, almost as large as the entire continental United States—but, thanks to shifting sand dunes, scientists say that the desert wasteland has the potential to grow far, far bigger.
That would spell bad news for an entire third of the world’s population in adjacent areas including sub-Saharan Africa, China, and central Asian countries, which would eventually be displaced by the sand’s migration into their land, destroying farmland and other habitats.
The threat of global warming’s on everyone’s radar these days, but the sand migration, known as “desertification,” has the problem to become an even more monumental problem. According to a 2007 UN report, the issue is “the greatest environmental challenge of our times.”
“It affects about 140 countries,” architect Magnus Larsson told BBC News. If desertification causes all of these inhabitants to evacuate, it could spell disaster for the planet.
But Larsson has a plan: at this year’s TED Conference, he spoke of his vision of creating a “Great Wall” built out of sand, which would prevent the desert from spreading. To keep the wall from blowing down, it would be sealed with Bacilius pasteuri, a type of bacteria found naturally in wetlands.
“It is a microorganism which chemically produces calcite - a kind of natural cement,” said Larsson.
Such a wall would take many years to plan and build, but Larsson is hopeful that his life-saving idea will have legs.
“It’s a beginning, it’s a vision; if nothing else I would like this scheme to initiate a discussion,” he said.
///////////////////Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul;90(1):56-63. Epub 2009 May 20. (Review) PMID: 19458020
Read Abstract Read Comments
Clinical Evidence Topic: Primary prevention: dyslipidaemia
DISCIPLINE RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE IS THIS NEWS?
Cardiology
Endocrine
General Internal Medicine-Primary Care(US)
General Practice(GP)/Family Practice(FP)
Save Article Email this article to a colleague Printer Friendly Version
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Consumption of nuts has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease events and death. Walnuts in particular have a unique profile: they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which may improve blood lipids and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to conduct a literature review and a meta-analysis to combine the results from several trials and to estimate the effect of walnuts on blood lipids. DESIGN: Literature databases were searched for published trials that compared a specifically walnut-enhanced diet with a control diet. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of weighted mean differences (WMDs) of lipid outcomes.
RESULTS: Thirteen studies representing 365 participants were included in the analysis. Diets lasted 4-24 wk with walnuts providing 10-24% of total calories. When compared with control diets, diets supplemented with walnuts resulted in a significantly greater decrease in total cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol concentrations (total cholesterol: WMD = -10.3 mg/dL, P < 0.001; LDL cholesterol: WMD = -9.2 mg/dL, P < 0.001). HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly affected by walnut diets more than with control diets (HDL cholesterol: WMD = -0.2, P = 0.8; triglycerides: WMD = -3.9, P = 0.3). Other results reported in the trials indicated that walnuts provided significant benefits for certain antioxidant capacity and inflammatory markers and had no adverse effects on body weight [body mass index (kg/m(2)): WMD = -0.4, P = 0.5; weight (kg): WMD = -0.05, P = 0.97].
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, high-walnut-enriched diets significantly decreased total and LDL cholesterol for the duration of the short-term trials. Larger and longer-term trials are needed to address the effects of walnut consumption on cardiovascular risk and body weight.
/////////////////// Effectiveness of amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium in the treatment of acute bacterial sinusitis in children. Pediatrics. 2009 Jul;124(1):9-15. (Original) PMID: 19564277
Read Abstract Read Comments
Clinical Evidence Topic: Sinusitis (acute)
DISCIPLINE RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE IS THIS NEWS?
General Practice(GP)/Family Practice(FP)
Pediatrics (General)
Respirology/Pulmonology
Save Article Email this article to a colleague Printer Friendly Version
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The role of antibiotic therapy in managing acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) in children is controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of high-dose amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate in the treatment of children diagnosed with ABS.
METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Children 1 to 10 years of age with a clinical presentation compatible with ABS were eligible for participation. Patients were stratified according to age (<6 or >or=6 years) and clinical severity and randomly assigned to receive either amoxicillin (90 mg/kg) with potassium clavulanate (6.4 mg/kg) or placebo. A symptom survey was performed on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30. Patients were examined on day 14. Children`s conditions were rated as cured, improved, or failed according to scoring rules.
RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred thirty-five children with respiratory complaints were screened for enrollment; 139 (6.5%) had ABS. Fifty-eight patients were enrolled, and 56 were randomly assigned. The mean age was 66 +/- 30 months. Fifty (89%) patients presented with persistent symptoms, and 6 (11%) presented with nonpersistent symptoms. In 24 (43%) children, the illness was classified as mild, whereas in the remaining 32 (57%) children it was severe. Of the 28 children who received the antibiotic, 14 (50%) were cured, 4 (14%) were improved, 4 (14%) experienced treatment failure, and 6 (21%) withdrew. Of the 28 children who received placebo, 4 (14%) were cured, 5 (18%) improved, and 19 (68%) experienced treatment failure. Children receiving the antibiotic were more likely to be cured (50% vs 14%) and less likely to have treatment failure (14% vs 68%) than children receiving the placebo.
CONCLUSIONS: ABS is a common complication of viral upper respiratory infections. Amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate results in significantly more cure
/////////////////////FLT SRRY ABT KTHYS DG WITH ENTEROCOLITIS
//////////////////..........Should we be promoting safer cigarettes?
Posted by Northern Doctor at 19/7/2009 9:09 PM BST
Take a moment to take a deep drag on a few breathtaking statistics. Across the world approximately 1.3 billion people use tobacco products and by 2030 it is estimated that 10 million people will die annually from smoking-related diseases and 70% of these deaths will be in developing countries. We’ve known about the harmful effects of smoking for over 50 years and yet over that same period 6 million Britons have died of tobacco-related disease. Is there anything else we can do to reduce this burden?
New Scientist ran an article in June: Can smoking ever be made safe? Big Tobacco is working hard to come up with safer cigarettes. They are modifying filters, manipulating tobacco blends and measuring biomarkers in a bid to produce minimise harm. But is there really a place for a harm-reduction approach to cigarettes? As a doctor all I really promote is an abstinence model. I invest little effort in encouraging smokers to smoke less in those that can’t or won’t stop.
This is in stark contrast to my approach with heroin users. I prescribe methadone but even if abstinence isn’t reached I remain confident that it is likely to be helping them. I’ll even give advice on how to inject safely or other measures to reduce harm.
It’s no secret that it’s hard to stop smoking. Bandolier did an interesting little analysis of trials which included smokers and heroin addicts. They asked: which is the most addictive? In a rather elegant twist they looked at the cessation rates in the placebo arms of all the relevant trials. Cessation rates for smokers were around 8-9% yet for opiates users were around 43%. No surprises there - smoking is extraordinarily difficult to stop. Even in those that are highly motivated 12 month cessation rates are often around 10%. Opposing a harm reduction approach might be doing a grave disservice to those that just find it too tough.
The accompanying New Scientist editorial suggests:
Abstinence cannot be the only policy, however. Pragmatists will see the sense of safer cigarettes. There is a hard core of people who cannot or will not give up, and safer cigarettes could also help in poorer parts of the world, where more and more people are taking up smoking
My first reaction is not to trust Big Tobacco. It would clearly be an understatement to say they have a self-interest. Any evidence from the tobacco industry suggesting safer cigarettes will have to be filtered with great care but perhaps we shouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
///////////////“We seem to gain wisdom more readily
through our failures than through our
successes. We always think of failure
as the antithesis of success, but it
isn't. Success often lies just the other
side of failure.”
/////////////////.........The dynamics of police-citizen encounters are fraught power exchanges,
whether it is a brutal Indian police encounter with a suspect or an
American cop being frostily polite while violating the rights of
citizens; the institution of police overwhelmingly depends on
intimidation and dominance for its authority, and the police anywhere
routinely lie on their reports. Race or "right-wingness" plays a
marginal role in this conduct.
//////////////SASIALIT=have no doubt that unspeakble cruelty is visited upon the poor and the dalits in india. we have bonded labor in many parts of the country. i don't deny any of this. and yes, racism can be compared to this but not still not to the same extent.
>
/////////////////Nursing Schools Should Warn Students About Grueling Hours, Article Says
Many newly licensed registered nurses said the reality they found on their first few years on the job was far from what they expected.
/////////////////COLLECTIVE DECISN MAKING REDUCES ERRORS
////////////////She also revives the old argument that Stephen Jay Gould had with Mr Dawkins, about how smoothly evolution progresses. Gould, a palaeontologist, observed that there are long periods of stasis in the fossil record, which is true, and inferred from this that selfish genery is therefore wrong because it predicts continual change, which is questionable. It is just as plausible that selfish genery arrives rapidly at optimal designs, and that these shift only when what is optimal alters because, say, the environment has changed.
/////////////////////Even the recently observed phenomenon of intergenerational epigenetics, which at first sight looks like the inheritance of acquired characteristics (a real Darwinian no-no), probably has less to it than meets the eye. Epigenetic changes are heritable changes to the regulation of a cell’s genes, caused by extra molecules being attached to those genes. They happen when cells specialise so as to become parts of particular body tissues. Recently, it has been shown that germ-cells, too, are subject to epigenetic change, sometimes in response to environmental stimuli. To this extent, acquired characteristics are, indeed, being transmitted across the generations. But those changes are not passed on indefinitely, like a successful genetic mutation would be. Instead, they are wiped out over a generation or two. And, in any case, gene regulation happens under the control of genes that are as selfish as any others.
FRM SLFISH GENIUS
////////////////////
By Subhamoy Das, About.com
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Shakespeare divided life into "seven ages". In Hinduism, human life is believed to comprise four stages. These are called "ashramas" and every man should ideally go through each of these stages:
The First Ashrama - "Brahmacharya" or the Student Stage
The Second Ashrama - "Grihastha" or the Householder Stage
The Third Ashrama - "Vanaprastha" or the Hermit Stage
The Fourth Ashrama - "Sannyasa" or the Wandering Ascetic Stage
Brahmacharya - The Celibate Student:
This is a period of formal education. It lasts until the age of 25, during which, the young male leaves home to stay with a guru and attain both spiritual and practical knowledge. During this period, he is called a brahmachari, and is prepared for his future profession, as well as for his family, and social and religious life ahead.
Grihastha - The Married Family Man:
This period begins when a man gets married, and undertakes the responsibility for earning a living and supporting his family. At this stage, Hinduism supports the pursuit of wealth (artha) as a necessity, and indulgence in sexual pleasure (kama), under certain defined social and cosmic norms. This ashrama lasts until around the age of 50. According to the Laws of Manu, when a person's skin wrinkles and his hair greys, he should go out into the forest. However, in real life, most Hindus are so much in love with this second ashrama that the Grihastha stage lasts a lifetime!
Vanaprastha - The Hermit in Retreat:
This stage of a man begins when his duty as a householder comes to an end: He has become a grandfather, his children are grown up, and have established lives of their own. At this age, he should renounce all physical, material and sexual pleasures, retire from his social and professional life, leave his home, and go to live in a forest hut, spending his time in prayers. He is allowed to take his wife along, but is supposed to maintain little contact with the family. This kind of life is indeed very harsh and cruel for an aged person. No wonder, this third ashrama is now nearly obsolete.
Sannyasa - The Wandering Recluse:
At this stage, a man is supposed to be totally devoted to God. He is a sannyasi, he has no home, no other attachment; he has renounced all desires, fears and hopes, duties and responsibilities. He is virtually merged with God, all his worldly ties are broken, and his sole concern becomes attaining moksha, or release from the circle of birth and death. (Suffice it to say, very few Hindu men can go up to this stage of becoming a complete ascetic.) When he dies, the funeral ceremonies (Pretakarma) are performed by his son and heir.
What About Women?:
Although these ashramas are predominantly designed for the male, females too have a vital role to play in each one of them. So women are not actually excluded because they are always supposed to have an active social and religious life at home. However, a woman's role is of a dependent nature since, traditionally, they need the protection of a responsible male at every stage of life.
History of Ashramas:
This system of ashramas is believed to be prevalent since the 5th century BCE in Hindu society. However, historians say that these stages of life were always viewed more as 'ideals' than as common practice. According to one scholar, even in its very beginnings, after the first ashrama, a young adult could choose which of the other ashramas he would wish to pursue for the rest of his life. Today, it is not expected that a Hindu male should go through the four stages, but it still stands as an important "pillar" of Hindu socio-religious tradition.
/////////////////JCELAND AND ITS GCKING WHALERS-BOYCOTT JCELAND IF DONT STOP WHALING
///////////////The Good Life: Where Psychology Stands On Living Well
ScienceDaily (July 25, 2009) — Unfortunately for us, there is no formula for fulfillment or guide to life satisfaction; however, humans have turned to philosophy, religion and science time and again for answers to our existential questions. We may have come a long way since Confucius and Plato, and science continues to piece together some of the answers, but what have we learned so far?
Psychologists Nansook Park and Christopher Peterson from the University of Michigan turned to their own field to ask, "What is a good life and how can we achieve and sustain it?" In their article recently published in Perspectives in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the authors explored the many ways psychology has contributed to, and continues to research, the science of living well.
So far we have learned from psychology that a good life includes experiencing more positive than negative feelings, feeling like your life has been lived well, continually using your talents and strengths, having close interpersonal relationships, being engaged at work and other activities, being a part of a social community, perceiving that life has a meaning, and feeling healthy and safe. And while these conclusions may seem like common sense, we as humans fall short on knowing just how to obtain and maintain these qualities.
Psychology still has a ways to go until the perfect formula for a good life is found. As Park and Peterson put it, "At present, psychology knows more about people's problems and how to solve them than it does about what it means to live well and how to encourage and maintain such a life." They suggest researchers across all disciplines of psychology come together and collaborate on their findings, perhaps pulling together a more complete picture of the human experience.
"In speaking about the psychological good life, we are fond of saying that other people matter," the authors concluded, "It appears that other people matter in science as well."
/////////////////
No man would listen to you talk if he did not know that it was his turn next.
~Edgar Watson Howe~
//////////////.......Ants more rational than humans
Published: Friday, July 24, 2009 - 13:44 in Psychology & Sociology
Related images
(click to enlarge)
Stephen Pratt/Arizona State University
In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, researchers at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task more rationally than our – multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed – selves. This is not the case of humans being "stupider" than ants. Humans and animals simply often make irrational choices when faced with very challenging decisions, note the study's architects Stephen Pratt and Susan Edwards.
"This paradoxical outcome is based on apparent constraint: most individual ants know of only a single option, and the colony's collective choice self-organizes from interactions among many poorly-informed ants," says Pratt, an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
///////////////////Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
In the new study, Akio Nakamura and colleagues note that people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today. And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress. Until now, however, linalool's exact effects on the body have been a deep mystery.
The scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while inhaling and not inhaling linalool. Linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes — key parts of the immune system — to near-normal levels. Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations. The findings could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can soothe stress, the researchers say.
/////////////////////SNACK ATTACK-AVOID COOKIES
/////////////BLOCK COOKIES ,BOTH TYPES
///////////////Compared with seasonal flu, a flu pandemic is likely to affect 25-50% of the population. In past pandemics those under the age of five and those over the age of 50 experienced the greatest severity in illness. There is likely to be increased morbidity and mortality in very young children particularly those with underlying health conditions. To date, case fatality of swine flu is between 0.1 and 0.4%.
It is also important to recognise that flu in young children may present differently to adults, with symptoms similar to those of other serious treatable illnesses such as meningitis. Care should be taken not to confuse the presentation of this and other conditions with the symptoms of flu.
It is anticipated that the number of cases is likely to increase into August 2009, with a likely a further increase in the frequency of cases and severity of presentation during the winter of 2009/10. Clearly there are implications for services beyond the need to manage and treat cases, such as staff shortages and implications for patients with long term conditions or those requiring specialty services.
//////////////////............
We Are All Africans
All non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, and males have Y chromosome M-168
Nayan Chanda
Businessworld, 21 July 2009
Sweden’s well-known author Lasse Berg often begins his book talk with an attention-getter: “I am glad to see so many Africans in the room”. it invariably makes his (largely blond and Nordic) audience turn around to see where all the Africans are. Of course, Berg means everyone present. The author of Dawn over Kalahari: How Man Became Man proceeds to tell the story of how all humanity emerged out of the so-called dark continent and populated the earth.
I think of Berg’s message when I read about an African student in Delhi being harassed by catcalls referring to his dark skin — kalia, kaala, habshi — or for that matter Indians from the North-east being derided as ‘chinki’ for their Chinese look. This is not different from the discrimination faced by Indian students in Australia who have recently been victims of “curry bashing”. Such racist insults seem to be increasing, or perhaps becoming more visible as the world becomes more integrated than ever. The gap between our knowledge of who we are and how we treat each other is as vast as it is stark.
Often these racial incidents are dismissed by the elite as acts of hoodlums or narrow-minded individuals. Surely, we all know humanity is one. Even leaving philosophical magnanimity or liberalism to one side, there is the simple biological fact that in every cell of our body we carry evidence of our common African origins. The startling 1987 discovery of our common origin by Allan Wilson and Rebecca Cann by studying mtDNA (the maternal DNA) from samples dispersed all over the world led Newsweek to run a cover story with an image of an African Adam and Eve. In the ensuing years, massive amounts of genetic research has laid to rest any doubt about our African origin. While all non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, our earliest common father was one with a Y chromosome marker, M-168.
Curious about my own forebears, I sent my DNA anonymously for testing. The results were startling. The report told me I was an Indian because I had M-52 marker, which is predominantly Indian. But the report also confirmed the earliest Y-chromosome in my DNA was the same M-168 — that every male on the planet carries in his cells. My ancestors reached India some 2,000 generations ago.
The scientific evidence that we share the same African ancestry has been around for over two decades. Yet, in speaking about this to audiences across four continents, while presenting my book Bound Together I have encountered great surprise, and some scepticism. For whatever reason, this dramatic scientific confirmation of our common origin appears not to have penetrated the consciousness of even the most well-educated. Will wider dissemination of the scientific facts make any difference to the racist sentiment? Perhaps not in the short term. But that should be more the reason to start with our children, and make our genetic history an essential part of school curriculum.
Wide diffusion of the fact that 99.9 per cent of all human DNA is the same and pigmentation and other physical attributes are literally skin-deep may, over time, make us more accepting of others who look different. The understanding that our multi-hued skin, shape of our eyes and forms of our body were sculpted by a millennia of climatic conditions and natural selection might also make us less tolerant of the hoodlums and ignoramuses who indulge in racial discrimination. Teachers might start by downloading an accessible article from the July 2008 issue of Scientific American (www.scientificamerican.com), so that they can share with students the story of our African journey. They might even encourage volunteers to send their DNA for testing deep ancestry through National Genographic project (genographic.nationalgeographic.com), and share the results with the whole school.
Knowledge has not prevented racism and other malignancies that infect us, but we cannot hope to eliminate the scourge without it. Just five years ago, most people had no knowledge, let alone concern about global warming. But accumulated scientific evidence and its diffusion on a wider scale has produced greater awareness. The fact is that globalisation has increased our interdependence and exposure to others. To reduce the friction that results from the close encounter with other members of human tribe, we need to internalise what Berg tells his audience: We are all blacks.
Nayan Chanda is director of publications at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalisation and Editor of YaleGlobal Online.
////////////////////New “Great Wall” of Sand Could Protect Two Billion People
The "desertification" of the Sahara plains has the potential to displace more than two billion people in the years to come. But one architect has a plan to stop it: building a giant wall of sand.
By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on July 26 2009 Filed under General Interest | Green |
Sahara Desert. Image: iStockphoto
The Sahara Desert stretches on for 3.5 million square miles, almost as large as the entire continental United States—but, thanks to shifting sand dunes, scientists say that the desert wasteland has the potential to grow far, far bigger.
That would spell bad news for an entire third of the world’s population in adjacent areas including sub-Saharan Africa, China, and central Asian countries, which would eventually be displaced by the sand’s migration into their land, destroying farmland and other habitats.
The threat of global warming’s on everyone’s radar these days, but the sand migration, known as “desertification,” has the problem to become an even more monumental problem. According to a 2007 UN report, the issue is “the greatest environmental challenge of our times.”
“It affects about 140 countries,” architect Magnus Larsson told BBC News. If desertification causes all of these inhabitants to evacuate, it could spell disaster for the planet.
But Larsson has a plan: at this year’s TED Conference, he spoke of his vision of creating a “Great Wall” built out of sand, which would prevent the desert from spreading. To keep the wall from blowing down, it would be sealed with Bacilius pasteuri, a type of bacteria found naturally in wetlands.
“It is a microorganism which chemically produces calcite - a kind of natural cement,” said Larsson.
Such a wall would take many years to plan and build, but Larsson is hopeful that his life-saving idea will have legs.
“It’s a beginning, it’s a vision; if nothing else I would like this scheme to initiate a discussion,” he said.
///////////////////Effects of walnut consumption on blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis and systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Jul;90(1):56-63. Epub 2009 May 20. (Review) PMID: 19458020
Read Abstract Read Comments
Clinical Evidence Topic: Primary prevention: dyslipidaemia
DISCIPLINE RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE IS THIS NEWS?
Cardiology
Endocrine
General Internal Medicine-Primary Care(US)
General Practice(GP)/Family Practice(FP)
Save Article Email this article to a colleague Printer Friendly Version
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Consumption of nuts has been associated with a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease events and death. Walnuts in particular have a unique profile: they are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which may improve blood lipids and other cardiovascular disease risk factors. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to conduct a literature review and a meta-analysis to combine the results from several trials and to estimate the effect of walnuts on blood lipids. DESIGN: Literature databases were searched for published trials that compared a specifically walnut-enhanced diet with a control diet. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of weighted mean differences (WMDs) of lipid outcomes.
RESULTS: Thirteen studies representing 365 participants were included in the analysis. Diets lasted 4-24 wk with walnuts providing 10-24% of total calories. When compared with control diets, diets supplemented with walnuts resulted in a significantly greater decrease in total cholesterol and in LDL-cholesterol concentrations (total cholesterol: WMD = -10.3 mg/dL, P < 0.001; LDL cholesterol: WMD = -9.2 mg/dL, P < 0.001). HDL cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly affected by walnut diets more than with control diets (HDL cholesterol: WMD = -0.2, P = 0.8; triglycerides: WMD = -3.9, P = 0.3). Other results reported in the trials indicated that walnuts provided significant benefits for certain antioxidant capacity and inflammatory markers and had no adverse effects on body weight [body mass index (kg/m(2)): WMD = -0.4, P = 0.5; weight (kg): WMD = -0.05, P = 0.97].
CONCLUSIONS: Overall, high-walnut-enriched diets significantly decreased total and LDL cholesterol for the duration of the short-term trials. Larger and longer-term trials are needed to address the effects of walnut consumption on cardiovascular risk and body weight.
/////////////////// Effectiveness of amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium in the treatment of acute bacterial sinusitis in children. Pediatrics. 2009 Jul;124(1):9-15. (Original) PMID: 19564277
Read Abstract Read Comments
Clinical Evidence Topic: Sinusitis (acute)
DISCIPLINE RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE IS THIS NEWS?
General Practice(GP)/Family Practice(FP)
Pediatrics (General)
Respirology/Pulmonology
Save Article Email this article to a colleague Printer Friendly Version
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The role of antibiotic therapy in managing acute bacterial sinusitis (ABS) in children is controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of high-dose amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate in the treatment of children diagnosed with ABS.
METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Children 1 to 10 years of age with a clinical presentation compatible with ABS were eligible for participation. Patients were stratified according to age (<6 or >or=6 years) and clinical severity and randomly assigned to receive either amoxicillin (90 mg/kg) with potassium clavulanate (6.4 mg/kg) or placebo. A symptom survey was performed on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30. Patients were examined on day 14. Children`s conditions were rated as cured, improved, or failed according to scoring rules.
RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred thirty-five children with respiratory complaints were screened for enrollment; 139 (6.5%) had ABS. Fifty-eight patients were enrolled, and 56 were randomly assigned. The mean age was 66 +/- 30 months. Fifty (89%) patients presented with persistent symptoms, and 6 (11%) presented with nonpersistent symptoms. In 24 (43%) children, the illness was classified as mild, whereas in the remaining 32 (57%) children it was severe. Of the 28 children who received the antibiotic, 14 (50%) were cured, 4 (14%) were improved, 4 (14%) experienced treatment failure, and 6 (21%) withdrew. Of the 28 children who received placebo, 4 (14%) were cured, 5 (18%) improved, and 19 (68%) experienced treatment failure. Children receiving the antibiotic were more likely to be cured (50% vs 14%) and less likely to have treatment failure (14% vs 68%) than children receiving the placebo.
CONCLUSIONS: ABS is a common complication of viral upper respiratory infections. Amoxicillin/potassium clavulanate results in significantly more cure
/////////////////////FLT SRRY ABT KTHYS DG WITH ENTEROCOLITIS
//////////////////..........Should we be promoting safer cigarettes?
Posted by Northern Doctor at 19/7/2009 9:09 PM BST
Take a moment to take a deep drag on a few breathtaking statistics. Across the world approximately 1.3 billion people use tobacco products and by 2030 it is estimated that 10 million people will die annually from smoking-related diseases and 70% of these deaths will be in developing countries. We’ve known about the harmful effects of smoking for over 50 years and yet over that same period 6 million Britons have died of tobacco-related disease. Is there anything else we can do to reduce this burden?
New Scientist ran an article in June: Can smoking ever be made safe? Big Tobacco is working hard to come up with safer cigarettes. They are modifying filters, manipulating tobacco blends and measuring biomarkers in a bid to produce minimise harm. But is there really a place for a harm-reduction approach to cigarettes? As a doctor all I really promote is an abstinence model. I invest little effort in encouraging smokers to smoke less in those that can’t or won’t stop.
This is in stark contrast to my approach with heroin users. I prescribe methadone but even if abstinence isn’t reached I remain confident that it is likely to be helping them. I’ll even give advice on how to inject safely or other measures to reduce harm.
It’s no secret that it’s hard to stop smoking. Bandolier did an interesting little analysis of trials which included smokers and heroin addicts. They asked: which is the most addictive? In a rather elegant twist they looked at the cessation rates in the placebo arms of all the relevant trials. Cessation rates for smokers were around 8-9% yet for opiates users were around 43%. No surprises there - smoking is extraordinarily difficult to stop. Even in those that are highly motivated 12 month cessation rates are often around 10%. Opposing a harm reduction approach might be doing a grave disservice to those that just find it too tough.
The accompanying New Scientist editorial suggests:
Abstinence cannot be the only policy, however. Pragmatists will see the sense of safer cigarettes. There is a hard core of people who cannot or will not give up, and safer cigarettes could also help in poorer parts of the world, where more and more people are taking up smoking
My first reaction is not to trust Big Tobacco. It would clearly be an understatement to say they have a self-interest. Any evidence from the tobacco industry suggesting safer cigarettes will have to be filtered with great care but perhaps we shouldn't dismiss it out of hand.
///////////////“We seem to gain wisdom more readily
through our failures than through our
successes. We always think of failure
as the antithesis of success, but it
isn't. Success often lies just the other
side of failure.”
/////////////////.........The dynamics of police-citizen encounters are fraught power exchanges,
whether it is a brutal Indian police encounter with a suspect or an
American cop being frostily polite while violating the rights of
citizens; the institution of police overwhelmingly depends on
intimidation and dominance for its authority, and the police anywhere
routinely lie on their reports. Race or "right-wingness" plays a
marginal role in this conduct.
//////////////SASIALIT=have no doubt that unspeakble cruelty is visited upon the poor and the dalits in india. we have bonded labor in many parts of the country. i don't deny any of this. and yes, racism can be compared to this but not still not to the same extent.
>
/////////////////Nursing Schools Should Warn Students About Grueling Hours, Article Says
Many newly licensed registered nurses said the reality they found on their first few years on the job was far from what they expected.
/////////////////COLLECTIVE DECISN MAKING REDUCES ERRORS
////////////////She also revives the old argument that Stephen Jay Gould had with Mr Dawkins, about how smoothly evolution progresses. Gould, a palaeontologist, observed that there are long periods of stasis in the fossil record, which is true, and inferred from this that selfish genery is therefore wrong because it predicts continual change, which is questionable. It is just as plausible that selfish genery arrives rapidly at optimal designs, and that these shift only when what is optimal alters because, say, the environment has changed.
/////////////////////Even the recently observed phenomenon of intergenerational epigenetics, which at first sight looks like the inheritance of acquired characteristics (a real Darwinian no-no), probably has less to it than meets the eye. Epigenetic changes are heritable changes to the regulation of a cell’s genes, caused by extra molecules being attached to those genes. They happen when cells specialise so as to become parts of particular body tissues. Recently, it has been shown that germ-cells, too, are subject to epigenetic change, sometimes in response to environmental stimuli. To this extent, acquired characteristics are, indeed, being transmitted across the generations. But those changes are not passed on indefinitely, like a successful genetic mutation would be. Instead, they are wiped out over a generation or two. And, in any case, gene regulation happens under the control of genes that are as selfish as any others.
FRM SLFISH GENIUS
////////////////////
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