A study by Kansas State University researchers is looking at how children perceive and interact with peers who have various undesirable characteristics, such as being overweight or aggressive.
The researchers' study explored children's perceptions of the ability of the peer to control or change such traits.
The K-State research team included Mark Barnett, professor of psychology; Rachel Witham, graduate student in counseling and student development, Hutchinson; and Jennifer Livengood, Wamego, Natalie (Brown) Barlett, Ames, Iowa, and Tammy Sonnentag, Edgar, Wis., all graduate students in psychology. Their research was presented in May at the Association for Psychological Science annual convention in San Francisco, Calif.
Health & Wellness
One of the 10 inkblot images patients are asked to describe by psychologists who endorse the Rorschach test.
The Rorschach test is designed to give psychologists a window into the unconscious mind, but many now fear their patients will try to outwit them by memorising the "right" answers.
The test, developed in 1921 by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach, comprises 10 inkblot images, which patients must look at and describe what they see. In some cases, focusing on tiny details around the edges of the images is seen as evidence of obsessive behaviour.
In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Georgia. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy. The agency had issued no public announcement of the session - only private invitations to fifty-two attendees. There were high-level officials from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, the top vaccine specialist from the World Health Organization in Geneva and representatives of every major vaccine manufacturer, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Wyeth and Aventis Pasteur. All of the scientific data under discussion, CDC officials repeatedly reminded the participants, was strictly "embargoed." There would be no making photocopies of documents, no taking papers with them when they left.
Organic Foods Provide More Vitamin C and Cancer-Fighting Antioxidants Than Conventional, Plus Essential Protections Against Pesticides and Chemical Additives;
WASHINGTON, July 30 -- A report from a group of English researchers who claim to have conducted "the most extensive systematic review of the available published literature on nutrient content of organic food ever conducted," downplayed their own results that favored organic food, and failed to consider the use of toxic pesticides or chemical additives when forming their conclusions.
The study, "Nutritional quality of organic foods: a systematic review," prepared by individuals at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined thirteen different nutrients. The authors found a significant difference in three of thirteen that favored organic, none that favored conventionally grown produce, yet they reported that there were no differences between the two types of food.
The London team also included studies from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's that analyzed crop varieties that are no longer grown, and failed to include 15 studies published since 2008 that all found important nutritional advantages for organic food. The study also failed to examine differences in total anti-oxidant content.
WASHINGTON, July 30 -- A report from a group of English researchers who claim to have conducted "the most extensive systematic review of the available published literature on nutrient content of organic food ever conducted," downplayed their own results that favored organic food, and failed to consider the use of toxic pesticides or chemical additives when forming their conclusions.
The study, "Nutritional quality of organic foods: a systematic review," prepared by individuals at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined thirteen different nutrients. The authors found a significant difference in three of thirteen that favored organic, none that favored conventionally grown produce, yet they reported that there were no differences between the two types of food.
The London team also included studies from the 1950's, 60's, and 70's that analyzed crop varieties that are no longer grown, and failed to include 15 studies published since 2008 that all found important nutritional advantages for organic food. The study also failed to examine differences in total anti-oxidant content.
A report issued yesterday [PDF] by Dr. Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK, claims that there is no substantial difference in nutritional content between organic and conventional food. The report was based on the review of fifty years worth of research papers on the subject. But reading it makes one wonder if influence caused a misreading of the findings, and in addition, if the agency has addressed the wrong questions entirely.
Even with very few studies comparing organic to conventional out there, evidence has proven that certain nutrients, such as Vitamin C and antioxidants, are on average higher in organic food. For example, a US study released in 2008 by The Organic Center focused on the nutrient quality of plant-based organic versus conventional foods, using matched pairs, "crops grown on nearby farms, on the same type of soil, with the same irrigation systems and harvest timing, and grown from the same plant variety." According to their report,
Even with very few studies comparing organic to conventional out there, evidence has proven that certain nutrients, such as Vitamin C and antioxidants, are on average higher in organic food. For example, a US study released in 2008 by The Organic Center focused on the nutrient quality of plant-based organic versus conventional foods, using matched pairs, "crops grown on nearby farms, on the same type of soil, with the same irrigation systems and harvest timing, and grown from the same plant variety." According to their report,
Moreover, outbreaks of E. coli and MRSA are really ecological markers - feedback that our way of producing meat is deeply unsustainable and really quite dangerous. We ignore these news flashes from our ecosystem at our peril. So I scribble on.
Here's the latest: In Colorado, 14 people have fallen ill from hamburger meat tainted with antibiotic-resistant salmonella, the Boulder newspaper Daily Camera reports. (Note that antibiotic-resistant salmonella is distinct from MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, increasingly associated with industrial meat production, that kills 20,000 Americans each year - more than AIDS.)
Consumers have long been exposed to antibiotics in meat and milk. Now, new research shows that they also may be ingesting them from vegetables, even ones grown on organic farms.
For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places.
Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota.
For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. Now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places.
Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the University of Minnesota.
© Times
Children report a range of side-effects, but the official advice is that Tamiflu is safe
Children report a range of side-effects, but the official advice is that Tamiflu is safe
An estimated 150,000 people with flu symptoms were prescribed the drug through a new hotline and website last week, according to figures revealed yesterday.
Studies of children attending three schools in London and one in the South West showed that 51-53 per cent had one or more side-effects from the medication, which is offered to everyone in England with swine flu symptoms.
The research by the Health Protection Agency emerged as Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, said that swine flu infections "may have reached a plateau".
It's fairly known that depression can occur after a heart attack and can increase the likelihood of a second heart attack. But did you know that the flip side is also true? That depression itself can increase a person's risk for cardiovascular disease. A recent Johns Hopkins Health Alert reports:
Prospective studies show that people who had no CHD [coronary heart disease] but were depressed when the studies began were more likely to develop or die of heart disease. Depression also aggravates chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, back problems, and asthma, leading to more work absences, disability, and doctor visits.
Now results from a large Norwegian study suggests that depression increases the risk of death from most other major diseases, including stroke, respiratory illnesses, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. It is also associated with accidental deaths.
Researchers gathered baseline information on physical and mental health for 61,349 Norwegian men and women, average age 48, and then noted the number of deaths and their causes during an average follow-up of nearly 4.5 years. Participants who had significant depression (2,866) had a higher risk of dying of most major causes of death, even after adjusting for age, medical conditions, and physical complaints at the study's outset.
The researchers theorize that depression may increase the risk of death by directly affecting the cardiovascular and nervous systems. In addition, depression may lead to poor health habits, such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and a sedentary lifestyle, and may affect people's ability to follow treatment regimens. Results reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (volume 69, page 323).
This is part two of an investigative series on The Mothers Act by Evelyn Pringle. Read part one here.
The Mothers Act legislation specifically defines the term "postpartum conditions" as "postpartum depression" or "postpartum psychosis." Use of the Act as an 8-year disease mongering campaign to further promote the new cottage industry of "reproductive psychiatry," or "reproductive mental health," comes from websites often run by people who will financially benefit from passage of the Act.
The Mothers Act legislation specifically defines the term "postpartum conditions" as "postpartum depression" or "postpartum psychosis." Use of the Act as an 8-year disease mongering campaign to further promote the new cottage industry of "reproductive psychiatry," or "reproductive mental health," comes from websites often run by people who will financially benefit from passage of the Act.
Comment: See here for the government-sponsored propaganda article and several reader comments and links.