http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2009 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:14:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196351-Families-Suffer-From-Problem-Gambling Many people perceive gambling to be a harmless recreational activity. However, it is estimated that six to eight million people in the United States personally suffer from a gambling related problem. This problem seems to grow tentacles, extending out to wreak havoc and can profoundly impact the physical, emotional, and financial health of the family (spouses, children, extended). As stated in this month's issue of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the most common treatment models for problem gambling are focused on meeting the needs of gamblers but do not address the needs of couples and families whose lives have been negatively impacted by someone else's gambling. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196351-Families-Suffer-From-Problem-Gambling Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:09:31 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196350-Physical-Education-Key-To-Improving-Health-In-Low-income-Adolescents School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley. The study, which identifies opportunities for adolescents to improve their health based on routine daily activities, finds that regular participation in PE class is significantly associated with greater cardiovascular fitness and lower body mass index. "We took an incredibly comprehensive look at all of the opportunities kids have throughout their day to engage in physical activity and determined which are the most strongly linked to fitness and weight status," said first author Kristine Madsen, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF Children's Hospital. "Obesity continues to be a major public health concern, particularly in low-income communities, so it is imperative that we develop targeted interventions to improve the health of at-risk youth." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196350-Physical-Education-Key-To-Improving-Health-In-Low-income-Adolescents Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:03:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196349-Warmer-Homes-Mean-Better-Health-For-Poor-People-Study-Suggests Being warm enough at home might lead to better health, according to a new review appearing online in theAmerican Journal of Public Health. Hilary Thomson, of the Medical Research Council's Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, Scotland, and her colleagues combined the results of 40 studies from the 1930s through 2007. Improvements in general, mental, and respiratory health followed increases in warmth of a person's housing, studies showed. Positive effects included reductions in breathing-related concerns such as cold and flu symptoms, first diagnosis of nasal allergies and wheezing and dry coughs at night. Better heating also appeared to have on impact on first diagnosis of high blood pressure and heart disease, and there were also indications of less depression or anxiety. "Those who live in poor housing are at a greater risk of developing chronic disease and premature death," Thomson said. "For the public health community there is the potential to use investment to improve housing conditions as a means to improve the health of the worst off." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196349-Warmer-Homes-Mean-Better-Health-For-Poor-People-Study-Suggests Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:59:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196329-Rare-virus-poses-new-threat-to-troops Kandahar, Afghanistan | U.S. military officials sent a medical team to a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan this week to take blood samples from members of an Army unit after a soldier in the unit died from an Ebola-like virus. Dr. Jim Radike, an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Role 3 Trauma Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, told The Washington Times that Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196329-Rare-virus-poses-new-threat-to-troops Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:04:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196296-New-gene-therapy-halts-2-boys-rare-brain-disease French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene. The experiment marks the first time researchers have tried that long-contemplated step in people - and the first effective gene therapy against a severe brain disease, said lead researcher Dr. Patrick Aubourg of the University Paris-Descartes. Although it's a small, first-step study, it has "exciting implications" for other blood and immune disorders that had been feared beyond gene therapy's reach, said Dr. Kenneth Cornetta, president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. "This study shows the power of combining gene therapy and cell therapy," added Cornetta, whose own lab at Indiana University has long researched how to safely develop gene delivery using lentiviruses, HIV's family. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196296-New-gene-therapy-halts-2-boys-rare-brain-disease Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:57:11 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196295-Swine-Flu-One-of-the-Most-Massive-Cover-ups-in-American-History What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments never have learned anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it. - G.W.F. Hegel I have been following the evolving "pandemic" of H1N1 influenza beginning with the original discovery of the infection in Mexico in March of this year. In the course of this study I have tried to utilize as my sources high-quality, peer-reviewed journals, data from the CDC and accepted textbooks of virology. As with all such studies one has to integrate and correlate previous experiences with epidemics and pandemics. As you will see, a great deal of my material comes from official sources, such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the New England Journal of Medicine. Thus my distracters cannot claim that I am using material that is not within the mainstream. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196295-Swine-Flu-One-of-the-Most-Massive-Cover-ups-in-American-History Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:21:54 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196293-Vaccines-for-the-Rich-Wall-Street-Gets-H1N1-Vaccine-Bailout-While-School-Children-Told-to-Wait It seems the financial bailout isn't the only bailout happening on Wall Street these days. News has now leaked that investment firms Goldman Sachs and Citigroup both received preferential H1N1 swine flu vaccines even while local clinics that treat school children had no supply. The uproar is reminding the public just how much special treatment Wall Street banks get -- both financially and medically -- while everyday people are hung out to dry. Not only that, but taxpayers got to foot the bill for those H1N1 vaccines handed to Wall Street insiders. It's yet one more way in which the general public is being screwed over (yet again) by the swine flu vaccine agenda. There's one politically incorrect question in all this that's just begging to be asked, and let's assume for the moment that H1N1 vaccines actually work to save lives even though they don't: If a dangerous viral pandemic sweeps through the nation, killing people left and right, are Wall Street investment bankers really the people we want to save first? Seriously. Doesn't it seem that school children should get the medicine first and Wall Street insiders should get it last? http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196293-Vaccines-for-the-Rich-Wall-Street-Gets-H1N1-Vaccine-Bailout-While-School-Children-Told-to-Wait Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:37:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196291-Indoor-Plants-Could-Save-Your-Life Indoor plants do not only look and smell nice, they could save your life, claim scientists. New research shows that ornamental plants can drastically reduce levels of stress and ill health and boost performance levels at work because they soak up harmful indoor air pollution. Researchers have now identified five "super ornamental plants" which every workplace should have to clean up indoor air. They include English ivy, waxy leaved plants and ferns. According to a World Health Organisation report in 2002, harmful indoor pollutants represent a serious health problem that is responsible for more than 1.6 million deaths each year. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196291-Indoor-Plants-Could-Save-Your-Life Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:41:02 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196285-H1N1-Vaccines-Too-Little-Too-Late-Most-People-Already-Exposed-and-Immune The Big Pharma frenzy over H1N1 vaccines has turned into a circus of hilarious medical quackery thanks to the fact that by the time the vaccines are available, most people will have already been exposed to the virus. Hence, most people will have already built up their own H1N1 antibodies, rendering the vaccine not just useless, but downright laughable. Even with the outlandish rush to get these vaccines approved by the FDA -- a hurry that saw the complete abandonment of the principles of "scientific testing" -- Big Pharma just couldn't get these vaccines produced quickly enough to beat the virus itself. Taking a vaccine shot after you've already been exposed is medically useless. It's equivalent to putting on your seat belt after getting into a car wreck. Even U.S. News & World Report, which is heavily funded by Big Pharma advertising, is now admitting the swine flu outbreak may be over before the vaccines arrive. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196285-H1N1-Vaccines-Too-Little-Too-Late-Most-People-Already-Exposed-and-Immune Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:17:05 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196284-What-s-Really-in-That-Burger-E-coli-and-Chicken-Feces-Both-Allowed-by-USDA There are 14 billion hamburgers consumed each year in the United States alone. The people who eat those burgers, though, have little knowledge of what's actually in them. Current USDA regulations, for example, openly allow beef contaminated with E. coli to be repackaged, cooked and sold as ready-to-eat hamburgers. This simple fact would shock most consumers if they knew about it. People assume that beef found to be contaminated with E. coli must be thrown out or destroyed (or even recalled), but in reality, it's often just pressed into hamburger patties, cooked, and sold to consumers. This practice is openly endorsed by the USDA. But E. coli may not be the worst thing in your burger: USDA regulations also allow chicken feces to be used as feed for cows, meaning your hamburger beef may be made of second-hand chicken poop, recycled through the stomachs of cows. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196284-What-s-Really-in-That-Burger-E-coli-and-Chicken-Feces-Both-Allowed-by-USDA Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:11:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196283-Study-Suggests-Handedness-May-Affect-Body-Perception There are areas in the brain devoted to our arms, legs, and various parts of our bodies. The way these areas are distributed throughout the brain are known as "body maps" and there are some significant differences in these maps between left- and right-handed people. For example, in left-handed people, there is an equal amount of brain area devoted to the left and right arms in both hemispheres. However, for right-handed people, there is more cortical area associated with right arm than the left. Psychologists Sally A. Linkenauger, Jonathan Z. Bakdash, and Dennis R. Proffitt of the University of Virginia, along with Jessica K. Witt from Purdue University, and Jeanine K. Stefanucci from The College of William and Mary wanted to see if this difference in body maps leads to differences in how we perceive the length of our arms. For this study, volunteers were brought to the lab and estimated their perceived arm length and how far they could reach with their arms. To estimate arm length, the volunteers would hold out each arm while a researcher standing in front of them would adjust a tape measure - the volunteers had to indicate when they thought the tape was the same length as their arm. To see how far volunteers could reach with each arm, they sat at a table with a plastic chip on it. The volunteers would instruct the experimenter to move the position of the chip to estimate how far they could reach. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196283-Study-Suggests-Handedness-May-Affect-Body-Perception Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:01:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196281-Bacteria-Expect-The-Unexpected Organisms ensure the survival of their species by genetically adapting to the environment. If environmental conditions change too rapidly, the extinction of a species may be the consequence. A strategy to successfully cope with such a challenge is the generation of variable offspring that can survive in different environments. Even though a portion of the offspring may have a decreased chance to survive, the survival of the species as a whole is guaranteed. For the first time scientists have now observed the evolution of such a strategy under lab conditions in an experiment with the bacterial species Pseudomonas fluorescens: A bacterial strain exposed to rapidly changing environmental conditions developed the ability to generate variable offspring without additional mutations. This new strategy ensured the survival of the bacterial strain. The results were published in Nature. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196281-Bacteria-Expect-The-Unexpected Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:56:08 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196280-How-Saturated-Fatty-Acids-Anger-the-Immune-System-and-How-to-Stop-Them- Researchers have new evidence to explain how saturated fatty acids, which soar in those who are obese, can lead the immune system to respond in ways that add up to chronic, low-grade inflammation. The new results could lead to treatments designed to curb that inflammatory state, and the insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes that come with it. One key, according to the report in the November Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, is an immune receptor (called Toll-like receptor 4 or Tlr4) at the surface of blood cells, including a particularly "angry" class of macrophages known to pump out toxic molecules and spur inflammation. It now appears that fatty acids may in essence "hijack" those immune cells via Tlr4. "Tlr4 is out there to sense bacterial products, but one of those looks a lot like fatty acids," said the study's senior author Jerrold Olefsky of the University of California, San Diego. "They don't know it's not bacteria." That bacterial product is something called lipopolysaccharide (LPS) found in bacterial membranes. Olefsky notes, however, that they have not yet fully demonstrated that fatty acids bind Tlr4 directly. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196280-How-Saturated-Fatty-Acids-Anger-the-Immune-System-and-How-to-Stop-Them- Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:52:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196265-Alcohol-gravest-threat-to-society-claims-sacked-scientist The minimum drinking age should be increased to 21 and the price of alcohol tripled in order to tackle what will soon be the "biggest killer" in modern society, claimed the sacked head of the government's drug advisory body. Professor David Nutt said that he had deliberately provoked a debate in order to force the government to curb the growing "time bomb" that is the abuse of alcohol. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph and a press conference, he said that the government's response to the problem had been "puny" and he needed to act to stop the "tidal wave" that is engulfing the country. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196265-Alcohol-gravest-threat-to-society-claims-sacked-scientist Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:17:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196254-Sights-and-Sounds-of-Emotion-Trigger-Big-Brain-Responses Researchers at the University of York have identified a part of the brain that responds to both facial and vocal expressions of emotion. They used the MagnetoEncephaloGraphic (MEG) scanner at the York Neuroimaging Centre to test responses in a region of the brain known as the posterior superior temporal sulcus. The research team from the University's Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre found that the posterior superior temporal sulcus responds so strongly to a face plus a voice that it clearly has a 'multimodal' rather than an exclusively visual function. The research is published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Test participants were shown photographs of people with fearful and neutral facial expressions, and were played fearful and neutral vocal sounds, separately and together. Responses in the posterior superior temporal sulcus were substantially heightened when subjects could both see and hear the emotional faces and voices, but not when subjects could both see and hear the neutral faces and voices. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196254-Sights-and-Sounds-of-Emotion-Trigger-Big-Brain-Responses Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:43:32 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196236-Hospitals-Make-Small-Changes-for-a-Big-Difference Hospitals around the country have taken a crucial first step toward building a sustainable meat production system by joining the Balanced Menus Challenge. Launched in late September, the Balanced Menus Challenge is a voluntary commitment by healthcare institutions to reduce their meat and poultry offerings in patient meals and hospital cafeterias by 20 percent in 12 months. Balanced Menus is a climate change reduction strategy that also protects the effectiveness of antibiotics and promotes good nutrition. Fourteen hospitals are already participating in the national challenge, which was developed and piloted by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility and nationally launched in partnership with Health Care Without Harm's Healthy Food in Healthcare Initiative. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196236-Hospitals-Make-Small-Changes-for-a-Big-Difference Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:38:33 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196233-Naturopaths-Prescribing-Rights-Expanded-in-Canada After extensive lobbying efforts, naturopaths across Canada are getting governmental green lights for greater prescribing rights. Need an antibiotic for that nasty lung infection? Your naturopath may soon be able to prescribe it. That's because naturopathic doctors are among a group of medical professionals that are pushing for expanded prescribing rights - and they're recently seeing success. Ontario just became the second province in Canada to get the green light for increased prescribing rights for naturopaths. British Columbia granted its naturopaths the right to prescribe a greater number of medications - as well as high-dose vitamins, amino acids, hormones, botanicals and herbs - in April 2009. The announcement follows the granting of more powers to other health professionals, such as midwives and registered nurses. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196233-Naturopaths-Prescribing-Rights-Expanded-in-Canada Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:20:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196232-Dr-Samuel-Epstein-s-20-Year-Fight-Against-Biotech-Cancer-Causing-Milk Twenty years ago, back when Frank Young, M.D. was Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he received a report from Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. entitled Potential Public Health Hazards of Biosynthetic Milk Hormones, warning of the public health dangers of consuming milk from hormone-treated cows. Injection of cows with recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), the genetically engineered, potent variant of the natural growth hormone produced by cows, sharply elevates levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in milk, Dr. Epstein warned the commissioner. IGF-1, which is readily absorbed through the small intestine, increases the risk of cancer in people who drink milk from cows treated with rBGH, he warned. In 1989, Dr. Epstein had found evidence of breast cancer resulting from IGF-1 ingestion; a few years later colon and prostate data began to emerge. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196232-Dr-Samuel-Epstein-s-20-Year-Fight-Against-Biotech-Cancer-Causing-Milk Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:02:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196227-Early-Scents-Really-Do-Get-Etched-in-the-Brain Common experience tells us that particular scents of childhood can leave quite an impression, for better or for worse. Now, researchers reporting the results of a brain imaging study online on November 5th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, show that first scents really do enjoy a "privileged" status in the brain. "We found that the first pairing or association between an object and a smell had a distinct signature in the brain," even in adults, said Yaara Yeshurun of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. "This 'etching' of initial odor memories in the brain was equal for good and bad smells, yet was unique to odor." Sounds did not have the same effect, the research showed. In the study, the researchers presented adults with a visual object together with one, and later with a second, set of pleasant and unpleasant odors and sounds while their brains were imaged by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A week later, the researchers presented the same objects inside the fMRI and tested participants' associations of those images with the scents and smells. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196227-Early-Scents-Really-Do-Get-Etched-in-the-Brain Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:02:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196224-H1N1-Vaccine-Shortage-Fabricated-to-Create-Hysteria-Boost-Demand- There's a fascinating book by author Robert Cialdini called Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion. As someone who frequently writes about Big Pharma's social engineering tactics, I've read and studied many of these tactics, noting carefully how governments and Big Business use them to wage disinformation campaigns against the People. I was recently chatting with friends on my Facebook page when a friend named Jennifer pointed out that she thought the vaccine shortage had been intentionally engineered to create greater demand once the vaccines were available. This immediately got me thinking about a chapter in the Cialdini book that writes about something I call the "disappearing cookies in the cookie jar" experiment. This experiment reveals an extremely powerful strategy for influence. And as it turns out, the pharmaceutical industry is using precisely this strategy for fabricating huge demand for their vaccines in an effort to make sure all the vaccines sell out. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196224-H1N1-Vaccine-Shortage-Fabricated-to-Create-Hysteria-Boost-Demand- Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:41:19 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196221-Newborn-Babies-May-Cry-in-their-Mother-Tongues Days after birth, French and German infants wail to the melodic structure of their languages Only days after birth, babies have a bawl with language. Newborn babies cry in melodic patterns that they have heard in adults' conversations - even while in the womb, say medical anthropologist Kathleen Wermke of the University of Würzburg in Germany, and her colleagues. By 2 to 5 days of age, infants' cries bear the tuneful signature of their parents' native tongue, a sign that language learning has already commenced, the researchers report in a paper published online November 5 in Current Biology. Fluent speakers use melodic patterns and pitch shifts to imbue words and phrases with emotional meaning. Changes in pitch and rhythm, for example, can indicate anger. During the last few months of fetal life, babies can hear what their mothers or other nearby adults are saying, providing exposure to melodies peculiar to a specific language, Wermke says. Newborns then re-create those familiar patterns in at least some of their cries, she proposes. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196221-Newborn-Babies-May-Cry-in-their-Mother-Tongues Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:21:25 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196211-Why-boys-are-turning-into-girls Gender-bending chemicals are largely exempt from new EU regulations, warns Geoffrey Lean. Here's something rather rotten from the State of Denmark. Its government yesterday unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots, bed linen, food, nappies, sunscreen lotion and moisturising cream. The 326-page report, published by the environment protection agency, is the latest piece in an increasingly alarming jigsaw. A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminising male children all over the developed world. And anti-pollution measures and regulations are falling far short of getting to grips with it. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196211-Why-boys-are-turning-into-girls Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:59:29 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196192-A-H1N1-Flu-Confirmed-in-U-S-Cat A cat in Iowa has been infected with A/H1N1 flu, believed to be the first case of the pandemic strain in a feline in the United States, veterinary officials reported Wednesday. The 13-year-old indoor cat was brought to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University last week, where it tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus, the Iowa Department of Public Health said in a statement. The case was then confirmed by both Iowa State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Two of the three members of the family that own the pet had suffered from influenza-like illness before the cat became ill," said Iowa's state health veterinarian Ann Garvey. "This is not completely unexpected, as other strains of influenza have been found in cats in the past." Both the cat and its owners have since recovered. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196192-A-H1N1-Flu-Confirmed-in-U-S-Cat Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:13:04 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196190-Extra-Millions-For-Baby-Units-Denied Ministers last night pulled the plug on funding to bring the care of the sickest babies up to the standard for adults, in a sign of the impact of the credit crunch on the NHS. Ministers had been expected to find the cash to back the recommendations of a task force on neonatal care. Its report, published today, identifies a shortfall of 2,700 nurses and 300 other staff, such as physiotherapists and dietitians, in England's 162 neonatal units. Neonatal care is that delivered to babies in the first 28 days of life. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196190-Extra-Millions-For-Baby-Units-Denied Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:38:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196179-Critics-Blast-Kellogg-s-Claim-That-Cereal-Can-Boost-Immunity Kellogg, the nation's largest cereal maker, is being called to task by critics who object to the swine flu-conscious claim now bannered in bold lettering on the front of Cocoa Krispies cereal boxes: "Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY." Of all claims on cereal boxes, "this one belongs in the hall of fame," says Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. "By their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196179-Critics-Blast-Kellogg-s-Claim-That-Cereal-Can-Boost-Immunity Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:23:03 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196178-Family-doctors-group-loses-members-over-Coke-deal Chicago, Illinois - Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke. The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy's consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org. Academy CEO Dr. Douglas Henley said Wednesday that the deal won't influence the group's public health messages, and that the company will have no control over editorial content. He said the new online information will include research linking soft drinks with obesity and will focus on sugar-free alternatives. But critics say the Coke deal will water down the advice. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196178-Family-doctors-group-loses-members-over-Coke-deal Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:36:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196168-Hormone-that-Affects-Finger-Length-Key-to-Social-Behavior Research at the universities of Liverpool and Oxford into the finger length of primate species has revealed that cooperative behavior is linked to exposure to hormone levels in the womb. The hormones, called androgens, are important in the development of masculine characteristics such as aggression and strength. It is also thought that prenatal androgens affect finger length during development in the womb. High levels of androgens, such as testosterone, increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger. Scientists used finger ratios as an indicator of the levels of exposure to the hormone and compared this data with social behaviour in primate groups. The team found that Old World monkeys, such as baboons and rhesus macaques, have a longer fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, which suggests that they have been exposed to high levels of prenatal androgens. These species tend to be highly competitive and promiscuous, which suggests that exposure to a lot of androgens before birth could be linked to the expression of this behaviour. Other species, such as gibbons and many New World species, have digit ratios that suggest low levels of prenatal androgen exposure. These species were monogamous and less competitive than Old World monkeys. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196168-Hormone-that-Affects-Finger-Length-Key-to-Social-Behavior Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:52:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196165-Folic-Acid-Supplements-Linked-to-Asthma-Study-Suggests A University of Adelaide study may have shed light on the rise in childhood asthma in developed countries like Australia in recent decades. Researchers from the University's Robinson Institute have identified a link between folic acid supplements taken in late pregnancy and allergic asthma in children aged between 3 and 5 years, suggesting that the timing of supplementation in pregnancy is important. Associate Professor Michael Davies says that folic acid supplements -- recommended for pregnant women to prevent birth defects -- appear to have "additional and unexpected" consequences in recent studies in mice and infants. "In our study, supplemental folic acid in late pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of asthma in children, but there was no evidence to suggest any adverse effects if supplements were taken in early pregnancy." The University of Adelaide findings have been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196165-Folic-Acid-Supplements-Linked-to-Asthma-Study-Suggests Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:44:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196164-Dementia-Rare-Brain-Disorder-is-Highly-Hereditary New research shows that a rare brain disorder that causes early dementia is highly hereditary. The study is published in the November 3, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The brain disorder, called frontotemporal dementia, is formerly known as Pick's disease and destroys parts of the brain, leading to dementia, including problems with language or changes in behavior and personality. The disease often affects people under the age of 65. "Knowing your family's health history may be one way for people to better predict their risk of developing dementia," said study author Jonathan Rohrer, MRCP Clinical Research Fellow at the Dementia Research Center at the University College London in the United Kingdom. For the study, blood was drawn from 225 people who were diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. The people were asked about family history of dementia and given a score of one through four. A score of one represents a person who had at least three relatives with dementia and an autosomal dominant inheritance, meaning that an affected person has one mutant gene and one normal gene and has a 50-percent chance of passing the mutant gene and therefore the disorder on to their offspring. A score of four represents a person with no family history of dementia. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196164-Dementia-Rare-Brain-Disorder-is-Highly-Hereditary Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:43:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196163-Brooklyn-Girl-Winds-Up-in-Hospital-After-Being-Injected-with-H1N1-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Without-Parental-Permission A six-year-old Brooklyn girl, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, was hospitalized recently after being injected with the swine flu vaccine. The vaccination was conducted entirely without her parents' permission in an incident school nurses are calling "a mistake." Mother Naomi Troy told the NY Daily News, "I was outraged." After receiving the swine flu injection, her daughter complained she was itching and her stomach was hurting. That's when school officials called an ambulance that rushed Nikiyah to the hospital. Nikiyah is epileptic and takes prescription medication to treat the condition. Her mother was concerned about the possible side effects of combining a swine flu vaccine shot with epilepsy drugs and was waiting to hear back from her doctor before giving the school permission to vaccinate her daughter. That permission was apparently irrelevant, as some schools simply vaccinate any and all children without concern for parental permission. After injecting her daughter without permission, the school nurse then called Naomi Troy and tried to persuade her to sign a consent form after the fact. "I was insulted. I was really angry," said Naomi. So far, 1,800 NY students have been vaccinated against swine flu. Hundreds of thousands more are in line to be vaccinated when a sufficient supply of vaccines is made available. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196163-Brooklyn-Girl-Winds-Up-in-Hospital-After-Being-Injected-with-H1N1-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Without-Parental-Permission Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:40:17 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196161-Chemicals-Found-in-Canned-Foods Here's a good reason why food manufacturers don't want to test for harmful chemicals. If you test, you might find something you don't want to. Consumer Reports did just that. It tested a bunch of canned juices, soups, tuna, and green beans and found bisphenol A (BPA) in almost all of them--even the ones labeled organic or bisphenol A-free. BPA, you may recall, is a chemical in polycarbonate plastics that acts as an endocrine disruptor. How harmful is it? Debate rages. These new data will add to the debate. CR says it found the highest levels of BPA in some samples of canned green beans and canned soups: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196161-Chemicals-Found-in-Canned-Foods Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:26:39 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196120-Poor-Memory-Linked-to-Risky-Behavior-in-Youth Children with weak memories are more likely to engage in risky behaviors like gambling, using alcohol and drugs and fighting, new research shows. Daniel Romer of the University of Pennsylvania led the study that followed a group of 387 boys and girls, ages 10-12, in the Philadelphia area. The implications of the findings, which Romer says are unprecedented, are that kids might be unwilling or even unable to think through the potential consequences of impulsive behavior. "The kids who are impulsive, they might actually have the working memory, they just don't use it as much," Romer told Discovery News. If the findings are accurate, Romer says that children who might potentially engage in risky behavior in the future could be identified and steered into a healthier adulthood before they even start their decline. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196120-Poor-Memory-Linked-to-Risky-Behavior-in-Youth Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:58:47 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196118-Second-Pathway-to-Feeling-Your-Heartbeat-Revealed-by-University-of-Iowa-Study A new study suggests that the inner sense of our cardiovascular state, our "interoceptive awareness" of the heart pounding, relies on two independent pathways, contrary to what had been asserted by prominent researchers. The University of Iowa study was published online this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience by researchers in the department of neurology in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and the graduate programs in neuroscience and psychology. The researchers found that, in addition to a pathway involving the insular cortex of the brain -- the target of most recent research on interoception -- an additional pathway contributing to feeling your own heartbeat exists. The second pathway goes from fibers in the skin to most likely the somatosensory cortex, a part of the brain involved in mapping the outside of the body and the sense of posture. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196118-Second-Pathway-to-Feeling-Your-Heartbeat-Revealed-by-University-of-Iowa-Study Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:53:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196117-Coffee-and-Nighttime-Jobs-Do-Not-Mix-Study-Finds Night-shift workers should avoid drinking coffee if they wish to improve their sleep, according to research published in the journal Sleep Medicine. A new study led by Julie Carrier, a Université de Montréal psychology professor and a researcher at the affiliated Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur Sleep Disorders Centre, has found the main byproduct of coffee, caffeine, interferes with sleep and this side-effect worsens as people age. "Caffeine is the most widely used stimulant to counteract sleepiness, yet it has detrimental effects on the sleep of night-shift workers who must slumber during the day, just as their biological clock sends a strong wake-up signal," says Carrier. "The older you get, the more affected your sleep will be by coffee." Twenty-four men and women participated in the study: one group was aged 20 to 30, while a second group was aged 45 to 60. Everyone spent two sleepless nights in lab rooms before being allowed to sleep. "We all know someone who claims to sleep like a baby after drinking an espresso. Although they may not notice it, their sleep will not be as deep and will likely be more perturbed," says Professor Carrier. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196117-Coffee-and-Nighttime-Jobs-Do-Not-Mix-Study-Finds Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:49:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196111-T-V-Exposure-may-be-Associated-with-Aggressive-Behavior-in-Young-Children Three-year-old children who are exposed to more TV appear to be at an increased risk for exhibiting aggressive behavior, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. "Early childhood aggression can be problematic for parents, teachers and childhood peers and sometimes is predictive of more serious behavior problems to come, such as juvenile delinquency, adulthood violence and criminal behavior," according to background information in the article. Various predictive factors for childhood aggression have been studied. These include parents' discipline style, neighborhood safety and media exposure. "After music, television is the medium children aged 0 to 3 years are exposed to the most." Although the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen media for children younger than age 2, studies have found consistent use of television in that age group. Jennifer A. Manganello, Ph.D., M.P.H., of University at Albany, State University of New York, Rensselaer, and Catherine A. Taylor, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P.H., of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, analyzed data from 3,128 mothers of children born from 1998 to 2000 in 20 large U.S. cities to examine associations of child television exposure and household television use with aggressive behavior in children. Parents were interviewed at the time of the child's birth and at one and three years. At three years, they were asked to report time the child spent watching TV directly as well as household TV use on a typical day. Aggression also was assessed at 3 years of age using a 15-item aggressive subscale for 2- and 3-year-old children. Demographic information and other risk factors for aggression were also noted. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196111-T-V-Exposure-may-be-Associated-with-Aggressive-Behavior-in-Young-Children Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:27:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196107-Bacteria-Launch-A-Shield-To-Resist-Attack Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark along with other collaborators in Denmark and the US found that the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa can 'switch on' production of molecules that kill white blood cells -- preventing the bacteria being eliminated by the body's immune system. P. aeruginosa is responsible for many hospital-acquired infections and also causes chronic infections in those with pre-existing medical conditions such as cystic fibrosis (CF). The bacteria cause persistent lung infections by clumping together to form a biofilm, which spreads over the lungs like a slime. Such biofilms are generally resistant to antibiotics as well as the host immune response. The study showed that P. aeruginosa uses a well-studied communication system called quorum sensing (QS) to detect approaching white blood cells and warn other bacteria in the biofilm. In response to this signal, the bacteria increase their production of molecules called rhamnolipids. These molecules sit on the biofilm surface to form a shield that destroys any white blood cells that encounter it. Interrupting quorum sensing to halt the "launch a shield" response could be a way of treating these bacteria that can resist antibiotics as well as the host immune system. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196107-Bacteria-Launch-A-Shield-To-Resist-Attack Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:24:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196102-Childhood-Physical-Abuse-Linked-to-Arthritis-Study-Finds Adults who had experienced physical abuse as children have 56 per cent higher odds of osteoarthritis compared to those who have not been abused, according to a new study by University of Toronto researchers. University of Toronto researchers investigated the relationship between self-reported childhood physical abuse and a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA). After analyzing representative data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, the researchers determined a significant association between childhood physical abuse and osteoarthritis in adulthood. The study is published in the November issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196102-Childhood-Physical-Abuse-Linked-to-Arthritis-Study-Finds Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:14:34 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196065-Research-Suggests-Eating-a-Diet-High-in-Processed-Food-Increases-the-Risk-of-Depression Eating a diet high in processed food increases the risk of depression, research suggests. What is more, people who ate plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish actually had a lower risk of depression, the University College London team found. Data on diet among 3,500 middle-aged civil servants was compared with depression five years later, the British Journal of Psychiatry reported. The team said the study was the first to look at the UK diet and depression. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196065-Research-Suggests-Eating-a-Diet-High-in-Processed-Food-Increases-the-Risk-of-Depression Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:23:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196033-Girl-Mistakenly-Given-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Went-To-ER Now it turns out that one of the public school students given the swine flu vaccine without parental consent had to go to the emergency room after getting sick. Six-year-old Nikiyah Torres, who suffers from epilepsy (her parents had been waiting to see what their family doctor said about the swine flu vaccine) told WCBS 2, "He just gave me the needle, without asking me what is my name." The little girl told the Daily News, "My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," and was taken to the hospital from her school, PS 335 in Brooklyn. According to the News, "When the nurse called for a student Thursday morning, Nikiyah's teacher misunderstood and sent the wrong student, [NIkyah's mother Naomi] Troy said. The error was compounded when the nurse didn't check Nikiyah's name before sticking her in the shoulder." When the nurse realized what happened, the school called Troy to appear - and the nurse asked her to sign the consent form even though the shot was already given to her daughter. Troy fumed to WCBS 2, "He knew he was in big trouble and he wanted to cover himself." The News also reports that a third child was given the swine flu vaccine without consent, prompting the nurses' union to say "I told you so" because it had warned about problems with making school nurses responsible for this: "We don't like it when we're right, because usually when we're right someone does get hurt somewhere along the way." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196033-Girl-Mistakenly-Given-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-Went-To-ER Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:06:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196032-Chased-by-their-church-When-you-try-to-leave-Scientology-they-try-to-bring-you-back For years, the Church of Scientology chased down and brought back staff members who tried to leave. Ex-staffers describe being pursued by their church and detained, cut off from family and friends and subjected to months of interrogation, humiliation and manual labor. One said he was locked in a room and guarded around the clock. Some who did leave said the church spied on them for years. Others said that, as a condition for leaving, the church cowed them into signing embellished affidavits that could be used to discredit them if they ever spoke out. The St. Petersburg Times has interviewed former high-ranking Scientology officials who coordinated the intelligence gathering and supervised the retrieval of staff who left, or "blew." They say the church, led by David Miscavige, wanted to contain the threat that those who left might reveal secrets of life inside Scientology. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196032-Chased-by-their-church-When-you-try-to-leave-Scientology-they-try-to-bring-you-back Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:52:18 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196031-Genes-Drive-Behaviour-But-Culture-can-Select-Genes Culture, not just genes, can drive evolutionary outcomes, according to a study released Wednesday that compares individualist and group-oriented societies across the globe. Bridging a rarely-crossed border between natural and social sciences, the study looks at the interplay across 29 countries of two sets of data, one genetic and the other cultural. The researchers found that most people in countries widely described as collectivist have a specific mutation within a gene regulating the transport of serotonin, a neurochemical known to profoundly affect mood. In China and other east Asian nations, for example, up to 80 percent of the population carry this so-called "short" allele, or variant, of a stretch of DNA known as 5-HTTLPR. Earlier research has shown the S allele to be strongly linked with a range of negative emotions, including anxiety and depression. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196031-Genes-Drive-Behaviour-But-Culture-can-Select-Genes Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:46:48 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196025-Angry-Faces-Facial-Structure-Linked-to-Aggressive-Tendencies-Study-Suggests Angry words and gestures are not the only way to get a sense of how temperamental a person is. According to new findings in Psychological Science, a quick glance at someone's facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression. Facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) is determined by measuring the distance between the right and left cheeks and the distance from the upper lip to the mid-brow. During childhood, boys and girls have similar facial structures, but during puberty, males develop a greater WHR than females. Previous research has suggested that males with a larger WHR act more aggressively than those with a smaller WHR. For example, studies have shown that hockey players with greater WHR earn more penalty minutes per game than players with lower WHR. Psychologists Justin M. Carré, Cheryl M. McCormick, and Catherine J. Mondloch of Brock University conducted an experiment to see if it is possible to predict another person's propensity for aggressive behavior simply by looking at their photograph. Volunteers viewed photographs of faces of men for whom aggressive behavior was previously assessed in the lab. The volunteers rated how aggressive they thought each person was on a scale of one to seven after viewing each face for either 2000 milliseconds or 39 milliseconds. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196025-Angry-Faces-Facial-Structure-Linked-to-Aggressive-Tendencies-Study-Suggests Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:15:55 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196019-When-Internet-Use-Becomes-a-Problem The trouble signs are all there. They don't sleep enough, they don't eat right, they've lost touch with their friends, and their school performance has dropped off a cliff. Their worried parents bring them to the doctor, fearing drug abuse or depression, but the evaluations come up empty. A doctor at Children's Hospital Boston says something else may be at work. "We see kids who are just gaming, and they appear to their parents to have all of the signs and symptoms of drug use,'' Dr. Michael Rich said about the seductive world of online games. "But in fact they are only hooked on the drug of electrons on their screen.'' Climbing levels in games like World of Warcraft, where unlimited numbers of role-playing competitors play around the clock and around the world, can be habit-forming and disruptive for both adolescents and adults. Other online activities, from visiting porn sites to incessantly checking e-mail, can also interfere with work, school, and relationships. In a world where always being connected seems as vital as breathing, how much is too much? And does excessive Internet use equal addiction? A debate already divides behavioral addictions such as compulsive gambling or shopping from physiological addictions to alcohol or other drugs. People don't die when they unplug from the Internet, Dr. Ronald Pies points out. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196019-When-Internet-Use-Becomes-a-Problem Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:45:48 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196006-Study-Shows-Diets-High-in-Sodium-and-Artificially-Sweetened-Soda-Linked-to-Kidney-Function-Decline Individuals who consume a diet high in sodium or artificially sweetened drinks are more likely to experience a decline in kidney function, according to two papers presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting in San Diego, California. Julie Lin MD, MPH, FASN and Gary Curhan, MD, ScD, FASN of Brigham and Women's Hospital studied more than 3,000 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study to identify the impact of sodium and sweetened drinks on kidney function. "There are currently limited data on the role of diet in kidney disease," said Dr. Lin. "While more study is needed, our research suggests that higher sodium and artificially sweetened soda intake are associated with greater rate of decline in kidney function." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196006-Study-Shows-Diets-High-in-Sodium-and-Artificially-Sweetened-Soda-Linked-to-Kidney-Function-Decline Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:44:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196004-Renal-Cancer-Protein-Triggers-a-Snowball-Effect- If a certain protein is missing in kidney cells, fatal cell division errors arise, which can finally lead to genetically unstable cells and to renal cancer. ETH researchers tracked down the phenomenon. Body cells divide incessantly. This is actually a "standard procedure", which in most cases proceeds without error. Particularly important during cell division, known as mitosis, is the correct distribution of the chromosomes to the new daughter cells. This requires that a spindle of microtubules is formed in the cell during the division, with the aid of which the chromosomes are pulled to the opposite poles. Here, the fidelity-monitoring checkpoint system plays an important role. It supervises whether all chromosomes are correctly bound to the spindle microtubules. This checkpoint is activated, if errors arise during cell division, which would lead to an unequal distribution of the chromosomes on the daughter cells. The spindle checkpoint can halt cell division for as long as necessary, until the chromosomes are correctly attached to the spindle microtubulues. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/196004-Renal-Cancer-Protein-Triggers-a-Snowball-Effect- Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:33:13 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195989-Long-hard-road-to-marketplace-for-Vanda-drug Early next year, if all goes according to plan, doctors will be able to prescribe a new antipsychotic drug for patients with schizophrenia. When that happens, investors in a local pharmaceutical firm will surely breathe a sigh of relief. While it's almost certain that the compound known as Fanapt will reach pharmacy shelves, the drug's future was anything but clear for most of its 13-year existence. Rockville-based Vanda Pharmaceuticals toiled for years on its development, even after larger drugmakers lost interest and the Food and Drug Administration gave the product a thumbs-down. "Last year at this time, nobody believed in the company, and nobody believed in the compound," said Mihael H. Polymeropoulos, Vanda's president and chief executive. Today, the company has a deal for Fanapt worth nearly half a billion dollars. Shareholders fled the company in droves last year after a negative ruling from the FDA, and Polymeropoulos says he doesn't blame them. He founded Vanda after earlier careers, mostly in Washington, in the health-care industry. He'd never heard of a case in which the FDA reversed a decision on a drug, but that's what happened after Vanda told the agency that it had misinterpreted some data. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195989-Long-hard-road-to-marketplace-for-Vanda-drug Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:19:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195983-High-Protein-Diets-may-Lead-to-Brain-Shrinkage For muscle heads, diets high in protein may be just what the doctor ordered, but a growing bicep may come with a cost: a shrinking brain. According to a recent study published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration, when compared to three other diets, high protein diets were the ones that caused the most significant drop-off in brain weight. Alzheimer's disease researchers are well aware of the wealth of studies linking diet to brain health. The Mediterranean diet, for example, is touted as one of the best diets to follow not only for great physical health, but for great mental health as well, according to findings published in a December 2006 issue of the Archives of Neurology. With this in mind, researchers put four specific diets to the test to see how, or if, they contributed to the formation of amyloid proteins in the brain. Amyloid protein formation is one of the precursors to Alzheimer's disease. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195983-High-Protein-Diets-may-Lead-to-Brain-Shrinkage Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:52:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195982-Sleep-Deprivation-Can-Negatively-Affect-Information-Processing A new study in the journal Sleep shows that sleep deprivation causes some people to shift from a more automatic, implicit process of information categorization (information-integration) to a more controlled, explicit process (rule-based). This use of rule-based strategies in a task in which information-integration strategies are optimal can lead to potentially devastating errors when quick and accurate categorization is fundamental to survival. Results show that sleep deprivation led to an overall performance deficit on an information-integration category learning task that was held over the course of two days. Performance improved in the control group by 4.3 percent from the end of day one to the beginning of day two (accuracy increased from 74 percent to 78.3 percent); performance in the sleep-deprived group declined by 2.4 percent (accuracy decreased from 73.1 percent to 70.7 percent) from the end of day one to the beginning of day two. According to co-principal investigators W. Todd Maddox, PhD, professor of psychology, and David M. Schnyer, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Texas in Austin, fast and accurate categorization is critical in situations that could become a matter of life or death. However, categorization may become compromised in people who often experience sleep deprivation in fast-paced, high pressure roles such as doctors, firefighters, soldiers and even parents. Many tasks performed on a daily basis require information-integration processing rather than rule-based categorization. Examples include driving, making a medical diagnosis and performing air-traffic control. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195982-Sleep-Deprivation-Can-Negatively-Affect-Information-Processing Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:48:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195980-The-Epidemic-Of-Medical-Child-Abuse-And-What-Can-Be-Done The primary purpose of this article is to encourage a stronger commitment from doctors and parents to consider using safer medical care for infants and children FIRST before resorting to more dangerous treatments. One would hope and assume that doctors and parents would have a natural inclination to make the safety of these young human souls a significant and sincere priority, but sadly, the power and propaganda of Big Pharma has inappropriately turned this equation around and made it seem that doctors and parents are putting their children at risk if they don't prescribe powerful drugs first. I personally disagree with this assumption and sincerely hope that people consider this health issue to be of primary importance today. I certainly realize that the evidence that I present below on the epidemic proportions of "medical child abuse" is somewhat inflammatory, but due to the fact that this issue is presently being ignored by so many doctors and parents, a little "inflammation" may be a necessary symptom that will lead to great attention to this problem and perhaps to some concrete solutions to it. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195980-The-Epidemic-Of-Medical-Child-Abuse-And-What-Can-Be-Done Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:17:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195949-Women-With-Chronic-Kidney-Disease-More-Likely-Than-Men-To-Go-Undiagnosed Woman are at particular risk of their primary care physicians delaying diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that educating practitioners about CKD could increase the timely diagnosis of CKD, thereby leading to improvements in care to patients and savings in Medicare dollars. Maya Rao, MD, of Columbia University, reviewed records from nearly 900 patients at 18 rural, community-based primary care clinics in Oregon, to investigate whether primary care physicians accurately diagnosed CKD in patients with known kidney dysfunction. Chronic kidney disease is estimated to affect up to 19 million adults in the U.S. and is usually diagnosed and treated in the primary care setting. The analysis showed that 52.4 percent of patients found to have CKD did not have a diagnosis in their charts. Females were more likely to be undiagnosed than males, except at the most advanced stages of CKD. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/195949-Women-With-Chronic-Kidney-Disease-More-Likely-Than-Men-To-Go-Undiagnosed Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:02:13 -0500