SOTT
SIGNS
OF THE
TIMES
OF THE
TIMES
Welcome to Sott.net
The World for People who Think
Health & WellnessS
Lower rates of asthma are found in children who live on tree-lined streets, according to an article released on May 1, 2008 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, a BMJ Specialist journal.
Chemicals used to make nonstick cookware and stain-resistant fabrics are spreading around the world and turning up in surprising places, everywhere from wildlife and drinking water supplies to human blood. Now, a team of researchers including Kathleen Arcaro of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has found these suspected carcinogens in samples of human milk from nursing mothers in Massachusetts.
"Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, are found in human blood around the world, including the blood of newborns, but this is the first study in the United States to document their occurrence in human milk," says Arcaro, a professor in the department of veterinary and animal sciences and a member of the environmental sciences program. "While nursing does not expose infants to a dose that exceeds recommended limits, breast milk should be considered as an additional source of PFCs when determining a child's total exposure."
"Perfluorinated compounds, or PFCs, are found in human blood around the world, including the blood of newborns, but this is the first study in the United States to document their occurrence in human milk," says Arcaro, a professor in the department of veterinary and animal sciences and a member of the environmental sciences program. "While nursing does not expose infants to a dose that exceeds recommended limits, breast milk should be considered as an additional source of PFCs when determining a child's total exposure."
Unlike adults, children younger than eight can't integrate different forms of sensory input to improve the accuracy with which they perceive the world around them, according to a pair of studies reported online in Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press, on May 1st.
The findings suggest that the perceptual systems of developing children might require constant recalibration - through the use of one sense to fine-tune another and vice versa, according to the researchers. They might also reflect inherent limitations of the still-developing brain.
" Kids have to stay calibrated while they are growing all the time - their eyes get farther apart and their limbs longer," said David Burr of Università Degli Studi di Firenze, who led one of the studies. Under these conditions, "they may use one sense to calibrate the other."
" It could be adaptive for humans not to integrate sensory information while they are still developing," agreed Marko Nardini of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck College, University of London. "But there might also be constraints on what children can do. It's possible that brain development needs to take place to make integration possible." Nardini led the other of the two studies with colleagues at Oxford University's Visual Development Unit.
The findings suggest that the perceptual systems of developing children might require constant recalibration - through the use of one sense to fine-tune another and vice versa, according to the researchers. They might also reflect inherent limitations of the still-developing brain.
" Kids have to stay calibrated while they are growing all the time - their eyes get farther apart and their limbs longer," said David Burr of Università Degli Studi di Firenze, who led one of the studies. Under these conditions, "they may use one sense to calibrate the other."
" It could be adaptive for humans not to integrate sensory information while they are still developing," agreed Marko Nardini of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck College, University of London. "But there might also be constraints on what children can do. It's possible that brain development needs to take place to make integration possible." Nardini led the other of the two studies with colleagues at Oxford University's Visual Development Unit.
Ontario's youth are experiencing a different kind of high -- approximately seven percent (an estimated 79,000 students in grades 7 to 12) report participating in a thrill-seeking activity called the "choking game", which involves self-asphyxiation or having been choked by someone else on purpose. The 2007 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS) revealed these new data, as well as indicators and trends on the psychological health of Ontario's youth, in the Mental Health and Well-Being Report released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for Children's Mental Health Week.
Other new topics in the 2007 OSDUHS showed that approximately three percent (or 35,000 students) reported a suicide attempt in the past year. About one in ten students rate their mental health as poor, with females more likely to do so than males (16 percent versus 7 percent). About nine percent of students may have a video gaming problem (indicated by symptoms such as loss of control, withdrawal, and disruption to family or school), with males significantly more likely than females to indicate this problem (16 percent versus 3 percent).
Other new topics in the 2007 OSDUHS showed that approximately three percent (or 35,000 students) reported a suicide attempt in the past year. About one in ten students rate their mental health as poor, with females more likely to do so than males (16 percent versus 7 percent). About nine percent of students may have a video gaming problem (indicated by symptoms such as loss of control, withdrawal, and disruption to family or school), with males significantly more likely than females to indicate this problem (16 percent versus 3 percent).
New research by Scott Phillips, associate professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Denver, finds that in Harris County, TX the District Attorney (DA) was more likely to pursue the death penalty when the defendant was African American and less likely to pursue the death penalty when the victim was African American. The study, "Racial Disparities in the Capital of Capital Punishment," will be published in the Houston Law Review this fall.
"Conventional wisdom holds that the race of the victim is pivotal," Phillips says. "But, current research suggests that the race of the defendant and victim are both pivotal."
Phillips studied whether race influenced the DA's decision to pursue a death trial or the jury's decision to impose a death sentence against defendants indicted for capital murder in Harris County, located in the Houston area. He spent several years looking at more than 500 capital murder cases that occurred between 1992-1999. Although Texas has a reputation for executing a large number of people, Harris County executed more people than any other state but Texas.
"Conventional wisdom holds that the race of the victim is pivotal," Phillips says. "But, current research suggests that the race of the defendant and victim are both pivotal."
Phillips studied whether race influenced the DA's decision to pursue a death trial or the jury's decision to impose a death sentence against defendants indicted for capital murder in Harris County, located in the Houston area. He spent several years looking at more than 500 capital murder cases that occurred between 1992-1999. Although Texas has a reputation for executing a large number of people, Harris County executed more people than any other state but Texas.
Just as religions dwell upon the eternal battle between good and evil, angels and devils, evolutionary theorists dwell upon the eternal battle between altruistic and selfish behaviors in the Darwinian struggle for existence. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), evolutionary theorists at Binghamton University suggest that selfishness might not be such a villain after all.
Omar Tonsi Eldakar and David Sloan Wilson propose a novel solution to this problem in their article, which is available in the online Early Edition of PNAS. They point out that selfish individuals have their own incentive to get rid of other selfish individuals within their own group.
Omar Tonsi Eldakar and David Sloan Wilson propose a novel solution to this problem in their article, which is available in the online Early Edition of PNAS. They point out that selfish individuals have their own incentive to get rid of other selfish individuals within their own group.
A man triggered panic in a northern Japanese city Thursday when he killed himself by mixing detergents in his house, releasing toxic fumes that drove 350 people from their homes - the latest in a series of such suicides.
The panic in Otaru came just hours after national police urged Internet providers to crack down on Web sites that have spurred a wave of detergent-related suicides. Some 50 people have reportedly killed themselves over the past month in Japan by mixing household chemicals to produce hydrogen sulfide.
The panic in Otaru came just hours after national police urged Internet providers to crack down on Web sites that have spurred a wave of detergent-related suicides. Some 50 people have reportedly killed themselves over the past month in Japan by mixing household chemicals to produce hydrogen sulfide.
|
| ©Kyodo News / AP Photo |
| Police officers in protective gear enter an apartment in Konan, southern Japan Thursday, April 24, 2008. A Japanese girl gassed herself to death by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser, releasing fumes that sickened 90 people in her apartment house, police said Thursday as they grappled with a spate of similar suicides. |
A 14-year-old Japanese girl killed herself by mixing laundry detergent with cleanser, releasing fumes that also sickened 90 people in her apartment house, police said Thursday as they grappled with a spate of similar suicides.
Federal drug regulators believe that a contaminant detected in a crucial blood thinner that has caused 81 deaths was added deliberately, something the Food and Drug Administration has only hinted at previously.
Federal inspectors documented unwanted "fibers" on the stoppers of vaccine vials at Merck & Co. Inc.'s vast vaccine plant in Montgomery County.
They also found instances of contaminated children's vaccines and complaints that were not always investigated at the West Point plant.
They also found instances of contaminated children's vaccines and complaints that were not always investigated at the West Point plant.
