Kids as young as 6 months judge others based on skin color. What's a parent to do?
At the Children's Research Lab at the University of Texas, a database is kept on thousands of families in the Austin area who have volunteered to be available for scholarly research. In 2006 Birgitte Vittrup recruited from the database about a hundred families, all of whom were Caucasian with a child 5 to 7 years old.
The goal of Vittrup's study was to learn if typical children's videos with multicultural storylines have any beneficial effect on children's racial attitudes. Her first step was to give the children a Racial Attitude Measure, which asked such questions as:
How many White people are nice?
(Almost all) (A lot) (Some) (Not many) (None)
How many Black people are nice?
(Almost all) (A lot) (Some) (Not many) (None)
During the test, the descriptive adjective "nice" was replaced with more than 20 other adjectives, like "dishonest," "pretty," "curious," and "snobby."
Health & Wellness
Previous research has shown that low self-esteem and emotional problems are found in people who are overweight or obese - but not which influences which. Research published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine, sheds light on this issue showing that children with emotional difficulties are at higher risk for obesity in adult life.
Andrew Ternouth, David Collier and Barbara Maughan from the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, studied data from around 6,500 members of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study who, as 10 year-olds, had been assessed for emotional problems, self-perceptions and BMI, and who reported on their BMI again at age 30. The researchers found that children with a lower self-esteem, those who felt less in control of their lives and those who worried often were more likely to gain weight over the next 20 years. They also found that girls were slightly more affected by these factors than boys.
Andrew Ternouth, David Collier and Barbara Maughan from the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, studied data from around 6,500 members of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study who, as 10 year-olds, had been assessed for emotional problems, self-perceptions and BMI, and who reported on their BMI again at age 30. The researchers found that children with a lower self-esteem, those who felt less in control of their lives and those who worried often were more likely to gain weight over the next 20 years. They also found that girls were slightly more affected by these factors than boys.
© Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado
A new study indicates that biofilms clinging to the inside of bathroom showerheads can harbor up to 100 times the levels of pathogens found in background municipal water.
A new study indicates that biofilms clinging to the inside of bathroom showerheads can harbor up to 100 times the levels of pathogens found in background municipal water.
The researchers used high-tech instruments and lab methods to analyze roughly 50 showerheads from nine cities in seven states that included New York City, Chicago and Denver. They concluded about 30 percent of the devices harbored significant levels of Mycobacterium avium, a pathogen linked to pulmonary disease that most often infects people with compromised immune systems but which can occasionally infect healthy people, said CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Norman Pace, lead study author.
It's not surprising to find pathogens in municipal waters, said Pace. But the CU-Boulder researchers found that some M. avium and related pathogens were clumped together in slimy "biofilms" that clung to the inside of showerheads at more than 100 times the "background" levels of municipal water. "If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy," he said.
Defects of the immune system lead to increased susceptibility to infection, autoimmune diseases (e.g. inflammatory rheumatism), allergies and sometimes even cancer. An intact immune system, on the other hand, ensures physical health and well-being.
The many different causes leading to defects of the immune system describes Congress President Professor Reinhold E. Schmidt, Clinic for Immunology and Rheumatology at Hanover Medical School, at the 2nd European Congress of Immunology in Berlin.
The most common causes worldwide include malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions and human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection. Other causes of temporary or permanent damage to the immune system include old age, medications (e.g. cortisone, cytostatic drugs), radiotherapy, stress after surgery and malignant tumors of the bone marrow and the lymph nodes. Innate deficiencies of the immune system are comparatively rare. However, as experiments of nature, they allow insights into the structure and functioning of the human immune system. Innate immune deficiencies are estimated to occur in one out of 500 individuals.
The many different causes leading to defects of the immune system describes Congress President Professor Reinhold E. Schmidt, Clinic for Immunology and Rheumatology at Hanover Medical School, at the 2nd European Congress of Immunology in Berlin.
The most common causes worldwide include malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions and human immune deficiency virus (HIV) infection. Other causes of temporary or permanent damage to the immune system include old age, medications (e.g. cortisone, cytostatic drugs), radiotherapy, stress after surgery and malignant tumors of the bone marrow and the lymph nodes. Innate deficiencies of the immune system are comparatively rare. However, as experiments of nature, they allow insights into the structure and functioning of the human immune system. Innate immune deficiencies are estimated to occur in one out of 500 individuals.
Excessive physical strain in dementia care is not so much related to equipment or the resident's body weight as it is due to communication problems and misunderstandings. This is shown in a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy.
Dementia not only affects the memory and other cognitive functions, but also motor skills such as the ability to walk.
'The symptoms of dementia are very individual and can vary from one day to the next, and sometimes even from one moment to the next. This makes person transfers in dementia care very demanding for the personnel', says physiotherapist Cristina Wångblad, one of the researchers behind the study recently published in the scientific journal Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences.
The study investigates how nurses' aides at three dementia care facilities in western Sweden feel about person transfers in the workplace and what they do to reduce the physical strain. While the residents' body weight seems to be less relevant for how straining the personnel perceive their work to be, Wångblad found misunderstandings and communication problems to be much more important.
Dementia not only affects the memory and other cognitive functions, but also motor skills such as the ability to walk.
'The symptoms of dementia are very individual and can vary from one day to the next, and sometimes even from one moment to the next. This makes person transfers in dementia care very demanding for the personnel', says physiotherapist Cristina Wångblad, one of the researchers behind the study recently published in the scientific journal Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences.
The study investigates how nurses' aides at three dementia care facilities in western Sweden feel about person transfers in the workplace and what they do to reduce the physical strain. While the residents' body weight seems to be less relevant for how straining the personnel perceive their work to be, Wångblad found misunderstandings and communication problems to be much more important.
Blame your brain for sabotaging your efforts to get back on track after splurging on an extra scoop of ice cream or that second burger during Friday night's football game.
Findings from a new UT Southwestern Medical Center study suggest that fat from certain foods we eat makes its way to the brain. Once there, the fat molecules cause the brain to send messages to the body's cells, warning them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin, hormones involved in weight regulation.
The researchers also found that one particular type of fat - palmitic acid - is particularly effective at instigating this mechanism.
Findings from a new UT Southwestern Medical Center study suggest that fat from certain foods we eat makes its way to the brain. Once there, the fat molecules cause the brain to send messages to the body's cells, warning them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin, hormones involved in weight regulation.
The researchers also found that one particular type of fat - palmitic acid - is particularly effective at instigating this mechanism.
One of the primary reasons why the mercury from amalgam controversy has lasted so long is the volumes of misinformation that are pumped from both dental academia and the American Dental Association that gets quoted in the press as fact. The motto of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT) is "show me the evidence".
They don't have any evidence of safety so they obfuscate what we do know and pontificate about relative risks. The IAOMT has enumerated numerous clear and cogent reasons to avoid using mercury fillings. Link
For a brief video of mercury being released from set mercury/silver filling and a summary of the research funded by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (www.IAOMT.org) over the last 20 years, watch the YouTube video
See with your own eyes how mercury vapor escapes from dental amalgam. It's odorless, colorless, and tasteless, but it casts a shadow in black light!
They don't have any evidence of safety so they obfuscate what we do know and pontificate about relative risks. The IAOMT has enumerated numerous clear and cogent reasons to avoid using mercury fillings. Link
For a brief video of mercury being released from set mercury/silver filling and a summary of the research funded by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (www.IAOMT.org) over the last 20 years, watch the YouTube video
See with your own eyes how mercury vapor escapes from dental amalgam. It's odorless, colorless, and tasteless, but it casts a shadow in black light!
Comment: "Black light" is another word for "Ultraviolet Light". Mercury vapor intensively emits/absorbs light at wavelength 346 nanometers (among other wavelengths). This is slightly beyond the color range that a human eye can see, but lies in the peak wavelength range of a common UV fluorescent tube.
The invisible UV light can be turned visible by using fluorescent materials, which are used for example for optical effects. In the video, such a fluorescent screen (green, directly behind the tooth) is used to make the shadow, that mercury casts in UV light, visible.
The invisible UV light can be turned visible by using fluorescent materials, which are used for example for optical effects. In the video, such a fluorescent screen (green, directly behind the tooth) is used to make the shadow, that mercury casts in UV light, visible.
© Al Bello / Getty
Does a healthy body lead to a healthy brain?
Does a healthy body lead to a healthy brain?
"What we've found is absolutely fascinating, and will change the course of research into Alzheimer's," says Julie Williams of Cardiff University, UK, who led one of two genetics studies. She says the findings "show us the prime pathways into the disease".
For the past 20 years, researchers have been trying to treat Alzheimer's by blocking the accumulation of waxy plaques in the brain, with little success. While the exact role of these plaques is still unclear, the new studies suggest that disruptions of the immune system, the way cells metabolise fat, and wear and tear on the circulatory system may be as much to blame for Alzheimer's, or perhaps even the root cause.
© Charles Duhigg
Ryan Massey, 7, shows his caps. Dentists near Charleston, W.Va., say pollutants in drinking water have damaged residents’ teeth. Nationwide, polluters have violated the Clean Water Act more than 500,000 times.
Ryan Massey, 7, shows his caps. Dentists near Charleston, W.Va., say pollutants in drinking water have damaged residents’ teeth. Nationwide, polluters have violated the Clean Water Act more than 500,000 times.
Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va.
In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater - polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals - caused painful rashes. Many of his brother's teeth were capped to replace enamel that was eaten away.
Neighbors apply special lotions after showering because their skin burns. Tests show that their tap water contains arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.
"How can we get digital cable and Internet in our homes, but not clean water?" said Mrs. Hall-Massey, a senior accountant at one of the state's largest banks.
She and her husband, Charles, do not live in some remote corner of Appalachia. Charleston, the state capital, is less than 17 miles from her home.
"How is this still happening today?" she asked.
The incidence of autoimmune disease has tripled in the last few decades. 24 million Americans are now affected. In fact, it affects more women than heart disease and breast cancer combined.
But autoimmune disease isn't just one condition ...
You're probably familiar with the most common autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, type-1 diabetes, hypothyroidism, and psoriasis. But there are many more autoimmune diseases that affect the nervous system, joints and muscles, skin, endocrine gland, and heart.
But autoimmune disease isn't just one condition ...
You're probably familiar with the most common autoimmune diseases, like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, type-1 diabetes, hypothyroidism, and psoriasis. But there are many more autoimmune diseases that affect the nervous system, joints and muscles, skin, endocrine gland, and heart.
Comment: Wikipedia says: "Currently, dental amalgams are composed of 43% to 54% mercury". Now watch this Video to see how mercury effects Brain Neuron Degeneration. With this evidence, it almost seems that amalgam/silver fillings could be used to dumb the masses down, while making big profits!