Monday, February 18, 2013

Infant sleep positioners cause death: US health officials

Some things we mean for good causes something bad - and it is with best intentions sometimes...!
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Posted: 22 November 2012

A sleeping baby
CHICAGO: Bolsters used to keep sleeping babies on their backs pose a suffocation hazard, health officials warned Wednesday after a recent death raised the 'sleep positioners' toll to at least 13 US infants.

Health officials first warned parents not to use the devices in 2010 and cracked down on manufacturers who claimed they could prevent Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which claims more than 2,000 infants a year in the United States.

But the 'sleep positioners' - which typically feature bolsters attached to each side of a thin mat and sometimes a wedge to elevate the baby's head - remain on the market.

Most of the babies - all four months of age or younger - suffocated after rolling from their side to their stomach. Some were found trapped between the bolster and the side of the crib.

In addition to the 13 reported deaths since 1997, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has received dozens of reports of babies found in "hazardous positions within or next to the product" after they were placed on their back or side in the positioners.

"We urge parents and caregivers to take our warning seriously and stop using these sleep positioners so children can be assured of a safe sleep," Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in a statement.

Parents should also keep the crib free of pillows, comforters, quilts and toys, said Susan Cummins, a paediatric expert at the Food and Drug Administration.

"The safest crib is a bare crib," she said. "Always put your baby on his or her back to sleep. An easy way to remember this is to follow the ABC's of safe sleep - Alone on the Back in a bare Crib."

-AFP/fl



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Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Infant sleep positioners cause death: US health officials


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Vitamin D in pregnancy may prevent multiple sclerosis

This is surely for mothers who are keen to have the best baby, even before it is born...
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Posted: 15 November 2012

A pregnant woman undergoing a routine checkup. (AFP/Claudio Santana)
PARIS: Researchers said Thursday they have found evidence that Vitamin D supplements for pregnant women in the world's colder, darker countries may stave off multiple sclerosis (MS) in their offspring.

The finding adds to a growing body of work showing a link between low Vitamin D levels and the debilitating disease, which sees the immune system attacking the body's own nerve fibres.

Data on more than 150,000 MS patients born in places north of 52 degrees, revealed a heightened risk for those born in April - a month preceded by a long period without sunlight, said a paper in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Of the total, 13,300 were born in April compared to 11,600 in November - a lower-risk month after summer in the northern hemisphere, British researchers wrote.

"Month of birth has a significant effect on subsequent MS risk," they said.

"This is likely to be due to ultraviolet light exposure and maternal Vitamin D levels.

They added, though, it could also be "any factor that varies in a similar seasonal and latitudinal manner".

The data was taken from individuals born between 1930 and 1980, from studies done in Britain, the United States, Italy, Israel, Finland, Scotland, Sweden and Canada - parts of which see little sunlight between the months of October and March.

About 100,000 people in Britain and about 400,000 in the United States are believed to suffer from MS, a disease that affects vision, movement, balance, sensation, bladder control and eventually also memory and thinking. There is no cure.

Study co-author Sreeram Ramagopalan from the Queen Mary University of London told AFP the findings amounted to an added MS risk of five percent for people born in April - about five extra births per million.

"Pregnant mothers need to ensure they are Vitamin D replete at all times," Ramagopalan said in an email exchange.

"Because Vitamin D deficiency is a massive problem at the moment due to living at high latitudes and lifestyle changes (wearing sunscreen etc.), mothers may need to take several thousand international units of Vitamin D3 to become Vitamin D replete."

Humans need Vitamin D, which our bodies produce from exposure to sunlight or extract from food, for healthy bones

Suspected links between a lack of vitamin D and an increased risk of death, including from heart disease and certain types of cancer, have been the subject of medical research for several years.

Researchers have also focused on its possible role in MS.

"It is thought that maternal Vitamin D levels during pregnancy affect the immune status of the developing foetus, and hence modulates subsequent MS risk," wrote the authors.

North of 52 degrees latitude lies the northern parts of England, the Scandinavian countries, and most of Russia and Canada.

No studies from the southern hemisphere were included in the analysis.

-AFP/fl

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Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Vitamin D in pregnancy may prevent multiple sclerosis

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Locals and Foreigners Alike

Minneapolis protest against Arizona immigrant ...
Minneapolis protest against Arizona immigrant law SB 1070 (Photo credit: Fibonacci Blue)
Note: This is just my view, but I believe I am right even just to voice out my opinion. No harm intended at all...
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17-Jan-2013

It is almost always notable that anybody can be a migrant, and that is the reason why I title my post as such – one day you are a local, and when you travel out of your country, your native land, you become a foreigner. And with this premise, I hereby present my (hopefully) honest and valid assessment of a nation’s state, where I currently reside, starting from 1999 – and hope that my length of stay gives credence to my truthful revelation, as if what I’m going to say isn’t known at all, because while it is, saying anything or doing anything that doesn’t please those in command will get you into trouble. I should say that that is just the norm anywhere you are, so I hope I will say this in plain text and without any ill will or hidden motives.

I myself, with my whole family, am at the crossroads, mulling whether to stay on, or to move out, and become a foreigner (once again) in a new land. So this article is more for me than for anybody else, and in my posting this article, I am simply thinking out loud.

So here goes.

The state of the nation is rooted deep in history.

History

Back in the 1960s, it was tough for the first leader to bring about a 3rd-world country into its current standing: one of the world’s 1st-world countries, elevated, progressive, rich. It was even harder in that this small city, while slightly smaller than the size of Manila, is home to many and various races of people, having different skin colour and speaking multiple languages. If you would look at Japan, you would learn that to pave the way to progress, that means everybody has to speak the same language – leading to the “killing” of the many other dialects, resulting to the death of its cultures and heritage, the diversity. And look where Japan is now. At any rate, this was not done here, as it would be near to impossible, tantamount to telling the lion to become a tiger, the elephant to become a crow. No, simply, it would not work here.

The other notable factor, not told within the territory, but we openly discuss back at our homeland, is the “compromise deal”, the noteworthy agreement between the leader and the people themselves: I take care of you, and in return, you don’t complain so much. In other words, it could be stated this way: “I provide what you need, but I take some of your rights in return.”

This is now a bold statement I’m making, but I have to say that one of my godfathers, my cousin’s husband, he knows the leader of this country from the time he was shaping and moulding this country – he used to work as a diplomat, moving from one country to the other every two years, leaving that job only when it was time to settle down, and they chose my land of birth - the Philippines. He and my cousin have told me things that is not usually known, or openly told, to the public. But let me caution you again that this is no defamation act I am making, but simply my own view of what could become of my children should we choose to stay here.

Now pay attention to this notable factor, as I’ve said it, coz to me, this is the culprit in many, if not most, of the woes and worries of the locals, up to this day.

A Sense of Entitlement

A local can easily find a job. This is true. If a local needs a job, he can just go in and apply for a job that he likes, and if he is qualified, he gets the job. I should say this is very good, and it makes me think to be a citizen sometimes. Well, I should say that this is true in many other countries. If you would look for a job, migrants would be at the bottom of the list to be entertained, unless a particular job isn’t so suitable for the locals, or it is one that the locals think isn’t fit for the citizens, but one to be done by foreigners alone. Hey, if I could choose a job, I would choose what I like, and what fits me, okay?

Mobility

Again, in most cases, a foreigner would have a hard time looking for a job that would help him stay on, and eventually, to settle down as one of the locals, a citizen of that foreign land he chose to live in. So between a local and a foreigner, the former is more “mobile” when it comes to jobs, while the foreigners is against all odds every time – not sure if during lean times, he can keep his job, and if he likes another job, can he move without losing his employment pass, or can he bring in his wife, or family, to live with him in this foreign land where he works?

The time when I came, it wasn’t yet that very strict. It was already strict, but unlike today, where changes are made every now and then to the rules and regulations, adjusting every minute to suit the ever-changing temperaments of the world scene and economy. I should say that this is one of the things that I admire in this country’s leaders, being able to make a quick assessment, and even quicker to make changes, and implement them – across the country. Ha!

Abusive employers

As an aside, let me just mention that there are scheming employers, business owners who, knowing the predicament of the foreigner, needing a job but not permitted to work, in most situations, as when a foreigner first steps on this new land, to hire him – tacitly. And these abuse employers break the law knowingly, and even tell the foreign worker to be quiet about it, telling that if he is found, he, the foreigner who works without a valid work permit, will be the one to go to jail, and not the employer. How about that, eh? Scheming, abusive, these are the wolves in sheep’s clothing – and they locals, I tell you. Would a foreigner even think about it?

Employer’s headache

And so, one of the side effects of being entitled for an easy employability is the lack of patience and perseverance to hold on to a job, or sometimes to the level of not giving all to do your job, coz if you don’t like it anymore, you can quit and find a new one. If a boss gives you a scolding – quit! If you don’t like the new work schedule – quit! If you don’t like a colleague – quit! Anything that doesn’t suit you – quit! Why this country is full of quitters! And no job is done by quitters. (Now that’s a joke, so lighten up...)

Incompetence

Now what would you learn in your job, if for the slightest reason, you quit? I would remember my Ethics teacher telling us, “Don’t just take a job for the money. Pick a job that would give you continuous education.” Now that is in all facets true. It was true then. It is true even now. It will be even more true in the future, when information is not simply just flooding, like now, but it will be submerging everything that we once knew. So if you learn nothing, what would your job experience be after 5 years? 10 years? Quitting expert, I suppose. And while that may not be the case for all, this is a very prevalent trend, even now.

Education System: at fault?

At the very core of the issue is the education system. This is the very thing that I fear: that my children are engulfed in this very limiting education system that they have here. So I beg that you hear me out first, and keep your peace for now. Again, it is not that I berate their education system, but in my view, this is my view, take note, it is the very reason why all things boil down to citizens are always at war with the foreigners, at least for those who are.

Primary schooling is fine; all things are equal to all schoolchildren. Let’s leave it as that.

Starting from secondary school, students are now to choose, or are made to choose, their ‘specialty’, or their ‘course’ of study, based on their academic standing, the outcome of their grades, as early as 3rd year high school. At year 4 or 5, the selection becomes even more stringent, more limiting, lesser choices, shorter list. And even so because what your son or daughter will take is dependent on what will be decided on by a committee, a group of decision-makers set aside for this special function. I keep thinking to myself, what is that about? Why can’t I let my child decide what he wants to take? Why should somebody decide that for me? And so, the local now thinks of ‘freeing’ himself from this tie that binds, this tie that gags, and leaves the country, to study abroad, and be free to choose and study what he likes. I’m asking this, because where I come from, such is the case, you take the course that you like, nobody decides that for you (okay, could be your mom or dad, but nobody else). And as in a lot of cases, there are late bloomers, who do very well in college and universities, but not while in high school. So they weren’t bound or ‘forced’ to take up something in college because of their wretched performance in high school.

You see, in many cases, what the board decides, the child doesn’t like. How would you expect a good result in return? Unfortunately, I have no factual data to show whether this is the exception, or the norm. I once remember my boss telling of how he interviewed an applicant, and he saw the education, asked about Ohm’s Law, and the applicant replied, “Uhmm, ahh, ...” What, no recollection of the simplest electrical equation?

There is one time in my company where there was a need for some quality assurance on incoming materials, chemicals at that, and while many are available, they don’t qualify. Why? They don’t even know that an acid eats the skin up. Remember that once they choose their ‘course’ in secondary 3, a lot of the general knowledge subjects they no longer take – and that is carried on up to college/university.

And so in my view, the way they run the education system here is the very reason why we have:

  • Graduates having papers but no learning
  • Workers who can show credentials without substance (isn’t that an irony?)
  • Jack of one trade, master of only one (if a master at all)

I stop here, lest I go too far, and break the bounds of my limitation.

To sum it up, I would now make a comparison, or rather, raise questions, and let you answer them. Quietly or aloud, that’s entirely up to you now.

  1. If there would be a job opening, what would you hire, one who can do the job or somebody who can’t? (I don’t even ask who at this point).
  2. If you have a critical job, who would you hire, one who would stay no matter what, or one who can easily bolt out the door at the slightest agitation or difficulty?
  3. On lean times, who has the better survivability, the one who knows a little of everything, or the one who knows only one, if he knows that one thing at all?
  4. Who could take up a job opening, the one who can shift job, or the one who cannot?

I end here, but I don’t expect that with this simple post of perhaps subjective assessment and biased view, there will be changes nationwide. Overnight. I think the whole system will simply collapse if that happens. It just can’t.

The state of the nation is rooted deep in history.

Let’s leave it at that.
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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Public feedback sought on brain research issues

Animal,Porkey Pig, Lobund-Wistar
Animal,Porkey Pig, Lobund-Wistar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I would not allow my kids to be lab rats, but that is my decision as a father. What would yours be?
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Advances in study, powerful tools have led to questions about impact on humans, society

By Neo Chai Chin
Jan 10, 2013

SINGAPORE - Should children be included in research on "smart drugs", or drugs that could improve their cognitive abilities?

Should people lacking mental capacity be allowed to take part in genomic research?

Does neuroscience research require more ethical safeguards than other types of biomedical research?

These are questions that the public is invited to mull over and provide feedback on, with the launch of a public consultation on Ethical, Legal and Social Issues in Neuroscience Research yesterday by the Bioethics Advisory Committee.

Rapid advances in the study of the brain and the rest of the nervous system, as well as development of more powerful tools to explore and modify the brain, have led to questions about their potential impact on humans as well as society.

The committee felt it was "time for us in Singapore to come up with some positions or guidance to guide researchers who research in this area", in order for the ethics to keep pace with the science, said Associate Professor Chin Jing Jih, chairman of the committee's neuroethics working group.

Research on the brain could be seen as different from that on other organs like the liver or kidney, he added.

The consultation paper, available on www.bioethics-singapore.org, covers five types of neuro-technologies - neuroimaging, brain stimulation, brain-computer interfaces, stem-cell therapy and neuropharmaceuticals - and highlights the ethical, legal and social issues related to such research.

In Singapore, neuroscience research is pursued in universities, pharmaceutical companies, and research and healthcare institutions.

The consultation paper will be distributed to parties like research and religious organisations, and the public may provide feedback by March 31. The committee could issue its guidelines by the end of this year.

The committee has also invited an international expert, Professor Steven Hyman, Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, to speak at a public forum this Saturday at 2pm at the Science Centre.

How to read a man?

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Taken from TODAYOnline.com; source article is below:
Public feedback sought on brain research issues
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Sunday, January 06, 2013

In Search of a better Water Heater

English: Two Rannai brand, tankless water heat...
English: Two Rannai brand, tankless water heaters in a commercial setting. Each unit is rated 199,000 BTU and the two work in parallel, heating water to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Located on a dairy farm and provide hot water for cleaning milking equipment. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 
For decades, tankless water heaters have been used in Europe and other parts of the world where energy prices are steep. Most consumers in North America, however, were not aware of tankless water heaters until recently.
 
The happy surprise is that, compared with conventional water heaters, these on-demand water heaters can save energy and money and deliver an endless flow of hot water. In fact, installing a qualifying tankless water heater can save you money on your taxes through a $300 credit.
 
The familiar tank-style water heater is basically a large container with a heater. It stores a lot of water (typically 40 to 80 gallons), heats the water, and keeps it hot until it’s needed.

When hot water leaves the tank to serve a faucet or appliance, it is replaced by cold water, and the cycle repeats. The obvious downside of a conventional water heater is that it wastes considerable energy keeping water hot 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether or not hot water is wanted.

A tankless water heater, as its name implies, doesn’t have a tank. Instead of storing hot water, it circulates incoming water through a series of electric coils or gas burners that heat up automatically when you turn on a hot water tap or appliance. When you turn off the faucet, the elements or burners turn off.

Tankless water heaters are sold in several varieties, from small electric point-of-use models to larger gas appliances that supply the whole house. If you want to replace a conventional water heater, you’ll need a whole-house tankless water heater.

If you just want to provide hot water quickly and efficiently at a single fixture, such as a bathroom sink, a point-of-use water heater may be the better choice. If you simply want instant hot water at the kitchen sink, a hot water dispenser is the appliance for you.

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