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Thanks for visiting!
ali zaimoğluwrote:
Nov. 29
crystal blogwrote:
Es algo inexplicable, Tal vez son un montón de instantes, Son esos días que transcurren Y así, poco a poco, Se comparte, se sueña, se sonríe... Es sencillamente estar allí. Maduran sin saber muy bien por qué... Amistad es una unión Una simple palabra MIL BESOS!!! CRYSTAL.
May 27
maria luciawrote:
Mar. 3
maria luciawrote:
GRAZIE DELL'INVITO.
BUONA DOMENICA
Feb. 22
山人 san_znwrote:
Feb. 20
__L i s e t h __wrote:
I wish you a Mery Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dec. 19
Lewrote:
i would like to eat a corn and jam cake / wish you a great weekend
Dec. 18
Loredanawrote:
Thanks for the invitation...en embrace, Loredana.
Dec. 2
IS LOVELY TO BE YOUR SPACE FRIEND, ENJOY YOUR WEEK
Dec. 2
MARYwrote:
CIAO E BUONA NOTTE....
Nov. 30
♥ ღ♫ ♥ Lidywrote:
En los más profundos sueños,
corre descalza, huye por miedo, se siente sola y perdida, juzgada por su vida. Y siente una gran derrota, Ya casi no habla, Frío en la húmeda calzada, Amanece en su habitación, Alguien dijo en las noticias, (No dejes morir tus sueños) FeLiNa&LiDy
Nov. 28
David Chisesiwrote:
Thanx for the add.
Greetins from Italy,
David
Nov. 28
Lida Jaramillowrote:
Greetings from Jujuy, Argentina!
Nov. 25
Lewrote:
Human Sir Moan decirte that in Argentinean the nourishing base is the meat - we killed thousands of cows per day to eat - there are vegetarian restaurants but the people are enough very who visit them - I send a bear hug to You and I hope you understand that if worries the extinction to me about animals
Nov. 24
cristina casserawrote:
que tengas una buena semana
Nov. 24
♥ ღ♫ ♥ Lidywrote:
FeLiz fin de semana!
espero q estes bien
muchas gracias por tu comentario!
FeLiNa&LiDy
Un simple abrazo nos enternece el corazón;
FeLiNa&LiDy
Nov. 23
╬✞Nadir spaces ╬✞wrote:
L'amicizia è distanti, raccontarci tutto anche quando non abbiamo nulla da dirci, gioire per
l'altro anche quando per noi ci sarebbero solo lacrime, è utopia? no è,
l'AMICIZIA! nadir
Nov. 23
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Maynard's Veggie and Boston BlogMaking connections for plant-based diets: all kinds of good, legitimate, and sustainable connections - economics, intellectual, historical and sociological, strategic Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) - monthly journal of peer-reviewed research and news
Featured NewsExposure on Tap: Drinking Water as an Overlooked Source of Lead Acknowledging that plumbing components, alternative water treatment methods, and natural water corrosivity can contribute to lead contamination in tap water is a good first step in the effort to protect children from this source of lead exposure, but where do we go from here? In a followup to the December 2009 Focus, this article delves deeper into the issue by examining how public health officials and water utilities react to the problem of potential tap water contamination with lead and discusses the role they can play in helping consumers prevent exposure. Lead in Air: Adjusting to a New Standard Lead in air has been monitored and to some extent controlled over the last three decades with the phaseout of leaded gas. However, point-source emissions remain a concern, and the release of lead from industrial facilities is regularly tracked through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s lead monitoring network. Now, a year after adopting a more stringent new air quality standard for lead, the agency also proposes to lower the threshold at which monitoring is required. This article discusses the implications of the new standard and the proposed threshold. Featured ResearchPolyfluoroalkyl Chemicals and Cholesterol (NHANES 2003–2004) Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs)—including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS)—are synthetic compounds that bind to proteins in the liver and serum, and are consistently detected in human serum samples. Epidemiologic studies have reported positive associations between serum PFCs and serum cholesterol levels in humans, but many have included highly exposed populations, and few have evaluated potential effects of PFNA and PFHxS. Nelson et al. (analyzed serum concentrations of PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, and PFHxS in association with serum cholesterol levels, body mass index, waist circumference, and a proxy measure of insulin resistance among participants in the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The authors report that serum levels of total cholesterol and non–high-density cholesterol (non-HDL or “bad” cholesterol) were increased in association with PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA among 860 adults (20–80 years of age) who were not using cholesterol-lowering medications. In contrast, total cholesterol was inversely associated with serum PFHxS concentrations, and body size and insulin resistance were not consistently associated with PFCs in the study population. The authors conclude that their results suggest effects of environmentally relevant PFC exposures on cholesterol metabolism, but they note that additional studies are needed to confirm associations and clarify biologic mechanisms. Related News Article: PFCs and Cholesterol: A Sticky Connection PPARα-Dependent Effects of DEHP on Energy Metabolism in Mice Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is an industrial plasticizer used in cosmetics, medical devices, food packaging, and other applications. Evidence that DEHP metabolites can activate peroxisome proliferator–activated receptors (PPARs) involved in fatty acid oxidation (PPARα and PPARβ) and adiposite function and insulin resistance (PPARγ) has raised concerns about potential effects of DEHP on metabolic homeostasis. In rodents, PPARα activation also induces hepatic peroxisome proliferation, but this response to PPARα activation is not observed in humans. Feige et al. evaluated systemic and metabolic consequences of high-dose oral DEHP in combination with a high-fat diet in wild-type mice and genetically engineered mouse PPAR models. The authors report that mice exposed to DEHP gained less weight than controls, without modifying their feeding behavior; they also exhibited lower triglyceride levels, smaller adipocytes, and improved glucose tolerance compared with controls. These effects, which were observed in mice fed both high-fat and standard diets, appeared to be mediated by PPARα-dependent activation of hepatic fatty acid catabolism without apparent involvement of PPARβ or PPARγ. However, mouse models that expressed human (versus mouse) PPARα tended to gain more weight on a high-fat diet than their DHEP-unexposed counterparts. The authors conclude that findings support species-specific metabolic effects of DEHP mediated by PPARα activation. Related News Article: To Each His Own: DEHP Yields Species-Specific Metabolic Phenotypes Predicting Residential Exposure to Phthalates from Vinyl Flooring Biomonitoring data suggest that humans are widely exposed to phthalate plasticizers such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), but major sources and pathways of exposure have not been determined, despite concerns about the potential for adverse health effects in vulnerable or highly exposed populations. Xu et al. developed a three-compartment model to estimate exposure to DEHP emitted from vinyl flooring in a family residence (including exposure via inhalation, dermal absorption, and oral ingestion) and used this model to identify model parameters with the greatest influence on exposure. Predicted exposure levels varied by a factor of 40 depending on model assumptions, with predicted exposures above reference dose guidelines for DEHP under some scenarios; influential model parameters included surface area and initial concentration of DEHP in vinyl flooring, DEHP emission rates, and room air ventilation rates. The authors conclude that the mechanistic modeling approach they have developed for DEHP can be extended to predict phthalate exposures from other sources, as well as exposures to flame retardants and other semivolatile organic compounds found in homes and consumer products. Related News Article: Running Phthalates to Ground: Pinpointing Exposure Sources in a Virtual Home Childhood Asthma and Early-Life Exposure to Air Pollution Air pollution has been consistently associated with asthma symptoms, but relatively few studies have evaluated early life exposures and asthma onset. Clark et al. conducted a nested population-based case–control study of childhood asthma diagnosed up to 3–4 years of age among children born in southwestern British Columbia in 1999 and 2000, including 3,482 eligible cases (with a history of hospitalization or at least two asthma diagnoses) and 17,410 age- and sex-matched controls. Administrative and health care data were used to identify eligible children and obtain information on residential histories and potential confounders. Air pollution exposures during pregnancy and the first year of life [specifically, to carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter ≤ 10 µm (PM10) and ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5) in aerodynamic diameter, ozone, sulfur dioxide, black carbon, woodsmoke, and proximity to major roads and industrial point sources] were estimated using regulatory monitoring data and land use regression models adjusted for temporal variation. Early life exposures to CO, NO, NO2, PM10, SO2, black carbon, and industrial point sources were positively associated with asthma, with the strongest associations noted for traffic-related pollutants. The authors conclude that results support effects of early exposure to air pollutants on the development of childhood asthma. Related News Article: Traffic Marker? Early Exposure to Air Pollution Associated with Childhood Asthma Google search/feed for 'vegan' for February 7, 2010veg*an
Selling Dogs & Cats in Pet Stores Banned in West HollywoodWest Hollywood to Ban Sale of Dogs & Cats in Pet StoresThursday February 4, 2010 On Monday evening, West Hollywood, CA came much closer to being the second city in the US to ban the sale of cats and dogs in pet shops when the city council unanimously approved a proposed ordinance. The first was South Lake Tahoe, CA, in 2009. The West Hollywood proposed ordinance is the work of theCompanion Animal Protection Society, which staged regular protests in front of Elite Animals Pet Store and also conducted an investigation of the puppy mill that the dogs came from. Carole Davis, West Coast Director of CAPS, explained, "Dogs were covered in feces, covered with wounds, and extremely stressed out . . . They try to chew their way out, the poor dogs." Food Facts about MENUs
APRIL SAUL / Staff Photographer
A sign at the Dunkin' Donuts shop in 30th Street Station now lists
calories of menu items. The first phase of Philadelphia's new law covers
chains with at least 15 other locations nationwide.
READER FEEDBACK
RELATED STORIES
(The Philadelphia Inquirer) -- "Philadelphia begins phasing in enforcement of its strictest-in-the-nation menu-labeling law tomorrow. This first part, requiring chain restaurants to list calories on food tags and menu boards, is a relatively simple proposition that research shows can influence ordering habits...and dozens of such bills are pending around the country…What's different in Philadelphia will become apparent on April 1, when restaurants with individual menus must list saturated fats, trans fats, carbohydrates, and sodium, in addition to calories, with every item. No one really knows what will come of this broader experiment in attempted behavioral change…Restaurants initially fought all efforts to mandate labels on menus. As the movement spread, with dozens of variations proposed across the country, the industry switched its goal to uniformity: calories, yes; sodium, no. It has won that fight everywhere except Philadelphia. City Council approved the measure in 2008, after viewing data that showed the impact of chronic diseases related to diet...broken down by district…Both [carbohydrates and sodium] are listed on the familiar nutrition-facts label on all prepackaged goods. 'But it is really hard for people, if they eat out, to know about the sodium content,' city Health Commissioner Donald Schwarz said…'Back in the 1970s, eating out was a special occasion. What people ate didn't matter as much,' said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition-policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Americans now get an estimated one-third of their calories from meals outside the home. And though FDA serving sizes haven't changed, restaurant portions, especially fast food, have doubled or tripled. Skyrocketing obesity rates -- one-third of Americans are obese, about the same as in Philadelphia -- defied every big fix attempted. In 2003, an influential study examined long-term trends and calculated that a difference of 100 calories a day, either ingested or spent, could tip the balance from national weight gain to weight loss. This, the researchers concluded in the journal Science, could be accomplished through small changes that the public would be more likely to embrace. Wootan's Washington center, meanwhile, had been pondering how to get people to eat better…Wootan developed a model menu-labeling law and started calling dozens of policymakers around the country: Maine (the first to introduce a bill), New York City (the first to pass it), Philadelphia (the fourth to implement it)." Free registration required.
Posted on Sun, Jan. 31, 2010
What's on the menu? Food factsPhila. begins phasing in its strict new labeling law tomorrow.By Don Sapatkin Inquirer Staff Writer Swati Kapoor, 25, was about to order a double chocolate cake doughnut when she noticed something new on the rack at Dunkin' Donuts. A tag said 290 calories. In an instant, she switched to a chocolate frosted doughnut (230 calories). "To prevent obesity," the skinny medical student explained, munching away at a table in 30th Street Station. Philadelphia begins phasing in enforcement of its strictest-in-the-nation menu-labeling law tomorrow. This first part, requiring chain restaurants to list calories on food tags and menu boards, is a relatively simple proposition that research shows can influence ordering habits. A similar law will take effect in New Jersey next year, and dozens of such bills are pending around the country, including in Harrisburg. What's different in Philadelphia will become apparent on April 1, when restaurants with individual menus must list saturated fats, trans fats, carbohydrates, and sodium, in addition to calories, with every item. No one really knows what will come of this broader experiment in attempted behavioral change. "The majority of people, I believe, will see this as cumbersome and an overreaction and not necessary," said George McKerrow Jr., president and chief executive officer of Ted's Montana Grill, who anticipates having to expand the menu at his South Broad Street location from two pages to six. Still, just two months after Ted's added calories alone to its menu here, responding to a New York City requirement, McKerrow has noticed a small but measurable change in Philadelphia: "Some people have chosen to eat the healthier items more often." Restaurants initially fought all efforts to mandate labels on menus. As the movement spread, with dozens of variations proposed across the country, the industry switched its goal to uniformity: calories, yes; sodium, no. It has won that fight everywhere except Philadelphia. City Council approved the measure in 2008, after viewing data that showed the impact of chronic diseases related to diet - diabetes is diagnosed in 13 percent of residents, high blood pressure in 36 percent - broken down by district. Diabetics must manage their intake of carbohydrates (including sugar); too much sodium can raise blood pressure. Both are listed on the familiar nutrition-facts label on all prepackaged goods. "But it is really hard for people, if they eat out, to know about the sodium content," city Health Commissioner Donald Schwarz said. At Olive Garden, for example, nothing on the dinner menu hints at a difference between linguine alla marinara (900 milligrams of sodium, according to its Web site) and pork Milanese (3,100 mg) - or notes that the Food and Drug Administration recommends less than 2,300 mg a day total, a line that must be added by April 1. "It would make a difference," said Nashikai Ianscoli, 57, of Center City, who has had to go on a diet to control her blood pressure. She grew up on a farm in the South where her mother got fresh vegetables by the bushel. Much has changed since she was a child. "Back in the 1970s, eating out was a special occasion. What people ate didn't matter as much," said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition-policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Americans now get an estimated one-third of their calories from meals outside the home. And though FDA serving sizes haven't changed, restaurant portions, especially fast food, have doubled or tripled. Skyrocketing obesity rates - one-third of Americans are obese, about the same as in Philadelphia - defied every big fix attempted. In 2003, an influential study examined long-term trends and calculated that a difference of 100 calories a day, either ingested or spent, could tip the balance from national weight gain to weight loss. This, the researchers concluded in the journal Science, could be accomplished through small changes that the public would be more likely to embrace. Wootan's Washington center, meanwhile, had been pondering how to get people to eat better. At a conference, she recalled, dietitians were presented with hamburgers, onion rings, and other fare from sit-down restaurants and asked to estimate caloric content. Even with nutrition degrees, they were off by hundreds of calories, always on the low side. Wootan developed a model menu-labeling law and started calling dozens of policymakers around the country: Maine (the first to introduce a bill), New York City (the first to pass it), Philadelphia (the fourth to implement it). City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown had been thinking along similar lines, and she was not buying the industry argument that consumers would look up carbs and fats online or ask the restaurant manager. "I wanted it at the point of sale, because when we look at information when we order, we make different choices," Brown said. Research increasingly supports that view. When 99 parents of children ages 3 to 6 in Seattle were randomly shown one of two hypothetical McDonald's menus - with calories listed or without - those given the additional details ordered meals for their children that contained 102 fewer calories, a 20 percent reduction, researchers reported online last week in the journal Pediatrics. There was no difference in meals the parents ordered for themselves. Another study, from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, analyzed every transaction at every New York Starbucks in the three months before the city's menu-labeling law took effect in 2008 and in the 11 months afterward, and compared them with every transaction in Boston and Philadelphia in the same period. It found an average reduction of 14 calories, or 6 percent, as a result of the mandate, and 26 percent among those customers who previously had tended to make high-calorie purchases. The paper, which was presented Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, found no effect on profits. Menu-labeling laws everywhere target chains, which are estimated to account for 50 to 75 percent of meals eaten out and presumably face less of a financial burden than mom-and-pop establishments. Philadelphia's ordinance covers chains with at least 15 other locations nationwide, or about 720 of the city's 5,800 restaurants. With few menus currently listing fats, carbs, and sodium, there is little research about how consumers use the information. But public-health authorities have long sought to reduce consumption of all of them. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine this month estimated that reducing Americans' salt intake by 3 grams (1,200 mg of sodium) a day could prevent 44,000 to 92,000 deaths a year. Restaurants have been responding to consumer preferences, adding some reduced-calorie and gluten-free dishes. They say sodium, which acts as both a flavor enhancer and preservative, is a bigger challenge to remove from food. And on menus, it is a challenge to add. There is just so much real estate available, said Patrick Conway, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association, who said he also worried about legal liability if dishes were slightly different from what was listed, as would be expected from different chefs. In the 14 months since Council approved the bill, the industry has worked with the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other groups on a compromise national version that requires only calories on menus but also covers vending machines. It's in the health bills that passed the House and the Senate and that are now stalled. Wootan is confident that national menu labeling will be approved, with or without a new health bill. If so, it will supersede all local versions. Because federal regulations take time, the expansive Philadelphia listings would likely have a run of several years. And then? "Restaurants might see this as a way to draw in customers," said John Weidman, deputy executive director of the Food Trust, a local nonprofit. Not likely, said Linda J. Lipsky, a restaurant consultant in Broomall: "Given the option, they will drop it."
Menu Labeling at a GlancePhiladelphia basics
By tomorrow
By April 1
What else is included?
What is excluded?
Enforcement
New Jersey basics
Details of both new laws, plus video of a researcher discussing menu
labeling and ordering tips for parents: Contact staff writer Don Sapatkin at 215-854-2617 or dsapatkin@phillynews.com. Individualization in habilitation of people with disabilitiesThe one word that describes best the modern approach to habilitation of people with disabilities is individualization Ludwik Szymanski UK DECC - Dept of Energy & Climate Change: Copenhagen Accord deadlin 2 February 2010 - Press release - Ed Miliband responds to Copenhagen Accord deadlineCommenting on the publication by the UNFCCC of pledges by 55 countries to cut and limit greenhouse gas emissions, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Just one month after Copenhagen, countries accounting for nearly 80% of global emissions have shown they’re pushing ahead with domestic action on climate change. With countries including the USA, China and India setting out what they will do, this is a significant change compared with just twelve months ago. There is now a world-wide recognition that cutting emissions and moving to a low carbon economy is the right thing to do. The change is irreversible. “The figures published today are significant and if countries, including the EU, implement their commitments to the maximum levels we will be in striking distance of ensuring that global emissions peak by 2020. This is a crucial first step to keeping temperature rises to no more than two degrees. “But there’s still more to do and we’ll continue to push for bold cuts in emissions as well as a comprehensive, legally binding climate change framework under the UN. A global climate deal is vital to Britain – helping us protect the environment, boost green jobs and enhance our energy security.” What's new for 'vegan' in PubMed - February 1, 2010
What's new for 'vegetarian' in PubMed - February 1, 2010Items 1 -12 of 12
Not being sidetracked by particularsThe recent (Wednesday, January 27, 2010) death of 26-year-old Kansan Daniel Shaull in Portland, Oregon, who set himself afire downtown outside a fur store to protest the wanton and callous cruelty of the fur industry and of those who buy from fur stores and who engage in supporting the fur industry, has promoted much discussion on the Internet. Man Sets Himself on Fire at Portland Fur Store
Nuancing this sacrifice correctly is going to be a challenge to the AR movement, particularly activists in Portland because, even though Daniel may have wanted to the horrible things being done to animals (albeit rodents, we're often reminded), the attention has been on the burning of oneself. Ethicists always focus; we focus on the (statistically-frequent) cruel interface between humans and nonhumans for whom some uses, often trivial and indefensible uses, have been invented. We abolitionists don't separate defensible and indefensible human uses of others against their willful consent; many consequentialists do such a conceptual distinction. Daniel, who may have said to others that he was going to 'do something' that day and had previously expressed that the (social) world is not as it should be (he has the world's religions and ethical philosophies backing him up there), still seems to have decided and acted on his own (and even his father commented in one interview that his son had never presented himself to his family as being an animal rights activist, though he had presented himself as being troubled about the state of the (social) "world" around us that was filled with so much wanton cruelty. Whatever solutions we offer need to be adopted as sustainable solutions (such as abandoning ALL animal wearing - I suggest for items other than shoes, though we know quite easily that we can do without leather shoes) and recognizing the personhood of nonhumans - rather, acknowledging that what makes each of us humans persons is something that is not unique to us - individual corporeality, complex nervous systems that coordinate as individual self-aware selves capable of complex outlooks on the world and complex emotions regarding other persons, including persons of other species (demonstrated, WE think and many others think, too) in nonhumans widely. However, the attention has been reassigned to Daniel's mental status, a mental status that IMHO remains fully capable of recognizing when something is dreadfully wrong with how one class of humans (from whom we expect moral accountability) treats another class of beings (who are structurally marginalized by the society of the dominant species). This needs the kind of attention that will NOT marginalize or dismiss the atrocity of their even BEING industries of animal exploitation and abuse and will NOT let the definition of the situation drawn tightly around one individual's presumed mental status (a designation made by a relative, not a mental health professional). "I'm not a big fan of self-sacrifice" in any way, and I've commented often in public spaces to that effect, but some desperation is triggered when society's moral condition reaches such overt depths of depravity that we wear bodies of tortured animals as symbols of status and glamor and pride. The longstanding issue is NOT the mental status of Daniel Shaull; it's (a) the grave injustice of animal exploitation and abuse AND (b) the moral depravity of a species who, beyond all consequentialist calculations, continues to abuse where there IS no defensible rationale. This is the year 2010. Are YOU still eating and wearing dead animals? [If so, grunt !] It's time for a profound change in our understanding of our moral relationships with self-aware persons of all kinds, not merely symbolic readjustments or the same-old same-old dismissive marginalizations. World Day for the Abolition of MeatIt's global.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=254021199199&ref=mf
It is important today to question society as a
whole about the murder of animals for food so that it can no longer avoid a
public debate on the legitimacy of this practice. You CREATE an event. Have you created an event where you are? I suggest a do-it-yourself event like a barrage of any set of media sources with carefully-crafted e-mail messages about how meat is needless, tastes for meet can be satisfied TODAY with other foods (and in vitro meat is in the offing, which means that even carnivorous animals can have food without killing other animals - in the foreseeable future; no ETA is yet available), and a world without animal agriculture is the kinder, gentler world that the survival and development of human life requires. That simple rationale can be endorsed by all dietary vegans without violating any humans 'rights' or claims or preferences or socially-conditioned tastes, which I think is ALL that most resistance to the abolition of animal agriculture is about. Google search/feed for 'vegan' for January 29, 2010veg*an
More proof exercise leads to healthier agingBusinessWeek as reported by HealthDay News, January 25, 2010 – By Amanda Gardner Exercise to protect aging bodies — and brains Time, January 26, 2010 – By Alice Park A series of independently conducted studies on the effects of exercise in healthy older adults, published on Monday in theArchives of Internal Medicine, confirms that logging time at the gym not only helps maintain good health but may even prevent the onset of chronic diseases. One study was led by Dr. Qi Sun, a researcher at Harvard School of Public Health. http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/635287.html http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1956619,00.html?xid=rss-topstories Structured value-based insurance design (VBID) programsNew paper published in health affairs supports effectiveness of ActiveHealth Management’s VBID programs. Forbes January 27, 2010 - as reported by BusinessWire A recently published paper by Harvard Medical School professor of Health Care Policy Michael Chernew demonstrates that properly structured value-based insurance design (VBID) programs can be effective at increasing adherence to drug regimens for specific chronic medical conditions without increasing overall costs. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/businesswire/2010/01/27/businesswire134571406.html Vegan Dr. John Halamka says "HITSP Still in Business"Halamka: HITSP Still in BusinessHDM Breaking News, January 26, 2010 The Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel will not disband at the end of this week when its current federal government contract expires, contrary to at least two published reports on Jan. 26. That's the word from John Halamka, M.D., chair of HITSP and CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. Funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology ends on Jan. 31, "but a no-cost contract extension has been approved by ONC to ensure all the members of HITSP stay engaged during the hiatus between the HITSP contract and the next phase of standards harmonization to be funded by ONC," Halamka told Health Data Management in an e-mail. "HITSP is not disbanding and will continue to operate the website, hold monthly informational update calls, participate in HIMSS and work with CMS on a Quality Data demonstration project." ONC originally funded creation of HITSP in the fall of 2005 to harmonize relevant data standards to enable and advance interoperability. More than 500 public and private organizations have worked to harmonize standards through HITSP. This work results in various standards being used in concert to support certain functionalities, such as the exchange of laboratory orders between electronic health records, laboratory and other systems, and to link orders with results.Funding from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology ends on Jan. 31, "but a no-cost contract extension has been approved by ONC to ensure all the members of HITSP stay engaged during the hiatus between the HITSP contract and the next phase of standards harmonization to be funded by ONC," Halamka told Health Data Management in an e-mail. "HITSP is not disbanding and will continue to operate the website, hold monthly informational update calls, participate in HIMSS and work with CMS on a Quality Data demonstration project." More information is available at hitsp.org. For more information on related topics, visit the following channels: IBPS - International Buddhist Progress Society (humanistic Buddhism)
Words from the Venerable | Sign and View Our Guestbook Greener, Cleaner Battery01-25-10
Steve Martin of Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory loads ion-conducting glass, a solid electrolyte used in batteries, into an impedance spectrometer that measures ion conductivity. High conductivity is required for the electrolytes in batteries. Photo by Patrick Herteen/Engineering Communications. Contacts: Steve Martin, Materials Science and Engineering, U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, (515) 294-0745,swmartin@iastate.edu Mike Krapfl, News Service, (515) 294-4917, mkrapfl@iastate.edu Iowa State, Ames Lab engineer works to develop better batteries for energy alternativesAMES, Iowa - Get Steve Martin going on the science and technology of batteries and he'll reach for a sheet of graph paper. Martin, an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering in Iowa State University's department of materials science and engineering and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy'sAmes Laboratory, will fill that sheet with the chemical formulas of various lithium compounds and materials. He'll add a few sketches of carbon atoms forming layers of hexagons. He'll even jot down some lithium-silicon formulas. It's his way of explaining the electrochemical reactions that make batteries work and how new materials could be used to make better, safer batteries. And that's something that could make a big difference for all of us as the world pursues alternatives to fossil fuels. Just consider the 2,140 wind turbines spinning across Iowa. They're generating 3,053 megawatts of electricity, making Iowa the second-ranked state in wind power output. Their energy production, of course, varies with the wind. And as long as production of wind energy is relatively small, the existing electricity grid can accommodate the ups and the downs. But, if wind energy climbs above 25 percent of electricity production, Martin said the grid won't be able to handle the power swings. "We need to store that extra energy when it's generated and we're not using it, like at night," Martin said. "And so we're working on electrochemical energy storage mechanisms." Martin has several battery projects in the works: ● As part of a Materials World Network, Martin is working to develop better and safer lithium batteries. Network researchers are looking at replacing the liquid electrolyte that separates a battery's electron-producing anode from its electron-accepting cathode. The liquid electrolyte sometimes fails and catches fire. It also reduces battery power at cold temperatures. Martin and his collaborators are looking at a solid electrolyte made of glass. Martin's role in the project is to prepare various glasses and study their structures and conductivity. The network's project is supported by a $1 million grant from theNational Science Foundation. ● Martin is also collaborating with Iver Anderson, a senior metallurgist for the Ames Laboratory and an adjunct professor of materials science and engineering, and Emma White, a graduate student in materials science and engineering, to develop new materials for a battery's electron-producing anode. Rather than using lithium and carbon, they're studying how lithium-silicon compounds could be used. A lithium-silicon battery could hold a lot more charge, but so far the silicon anode material expands to sizes that are impractical. "I get excited about this," Martin said. "The problem isn't the chemistry. It's can we create new structures or types of lithium-silicon phases so when the lithium comes in, the volume of the anode doesn't change?" The project is supported by a seed grant of $50,000 from the Ames Laboratory. Martin's interest in the world's energy problems goes back to the 1979 oil crisis. He was just graduating from college at the time and took note of the long lines at gas stations and the calls for energy efficiency and conservation. That got him thinking about alternatives to imported oil. And that led him to study the electrochemistry of glass and begin his own research program at Iowa State in 1986. He's been working with researchers around the world ever since. And Martin is confident that engineers and scientists doing fundamental research to characterize and understand materials will find ways to make better batteries for a cleaner energy future. "We will solve these problems - we have to," he said. "Probably in my lifetime, we'll have major discoveries that will start to steer us away from burning fossil fuels." Don't forget to eat your greens: eating greens could save your lifePublic Release: 22-Jan-2010  Cancer Prevention ResearchDon't forget to eat your greens Not only are the vitamins and minerals good for you, but eating greens could also save your life, according to a recent study led by the National Nuclear Security Administration's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientists. Contact: Anne Stark Paul Farmer's Interview - NOTE: Claire Pierre is a vegan SDAISSUES & IDEASTales from the frontAmazing rescues, heroic Haitians and hard lessons from the pastBY DRS. PAUL FARMER, LOUISE IVERS, AND CLAIRE PIERREPORT-AU-PRINCE -- The vocabulary of clinical medicine is large and arcane, but a couple of concepts are useful in diagnosing what is happening in Haiti and in setting a path. In the coming weeks, there will be scores of prescriptions for Haiti, but there must also be diagnoses, too. What is going on right now would be described in clinical terms as an ``acute-on-chronic'' picture: Haiti's majority has long been dealing with serious problems and to this has been added the acute injury of a massive earthquake affecting much of the country, most notably its most heavily populated areas. If any kind of chronology can be imposed on a disaster of this magnitude, we are moving into the next phase, where rescue and relief operations continue -- miraculous rescues of those trapped are still occurring, with one young girl and her brother pulled from rubble the other day and now recovering at the largest urban hospital -- and are complemented by slowly coordinated efforts to bring food, drink, shelter, and basic medical services to the millions affected by the quake. Some of the aid is starting to move, as repeat visits to Port-au-Prince's general hospital reveal: In the space of less than a week, the hospital, run by local staff, has been assisted by scores of surgical and medical volunteers and has moved from no functioning operating rooms to a dozen that are busy all day, every day and throughout the night, too. This disaster has brought together goodwill and interest in Haiti such that for the first time in the country's history, there may soon be enough surgeons and trauma specialists. There are, of course, many kinds of trauma, and even those who escaped unscathed physically have lost friends and loved ones, to say nothing of material possessions. Across the country, as people continue to search for missing family members and friends, a kind of numbness is giving way to grief. Rescue workers and medical personnel and ad hoc logisticians, most of them Haitians, will need a break, as some of them have been working nonstop for over a week. One of our collaborators is still in the clothes in which she escaped with her life from her home. SENSE OF CALM Everywhere here you see Haitians helping each other. Despite reports of violence, what strikes many of us is the overall sense of calm: Former President Clinton, after bringing surgical supplies to the general hospital, noted that no other people in the world would be so patient and calm in the face of so much suffering. A young Haitian colleague, already on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, is organizing scores of volunteers from every class. People have opened their homes and yards, which are covered with makeshift shelters: The chronic problem of housing in Haiti is now worsened by the acute problem of half a million newly homeless. In addition to cross-class cooperation, it is clear that the Haitian diaspora, which scattered across North America and Europe (and even Rwanda, where a small group of Haitians is busy raising funds) has a lot to offer beyond material assistance. One post-surgical ICU doctor, Dr. Ernest Benjamin, wrote to his home institution in New York to say that ``at last this is starting to look like a functioning hospital.'' He and other Haitian professionals living in the United States -- Haitian physicians and nurses are a powerful force there -- have much to offer a large-scale rebuilding effort if it is coordinated with efforts to rebuild national institutions. Another helpful notion from medicine is the pledge to ``do no harm.'' Knowing what not to do is not the same thing as knowing what to do -- who can be sure of what to do when nothing of this scale has been registered before? -- but it is important nonetheless to learn from years of international aid to Haiti. First, long-term lack of coordination of relief and reconstruction efforts will be costly. Competition between self-described donor nations is worse than unhelpful. Even now, there is bedlam as medical teams arrive with excellent skills and intention, but insufficient coordination. The many clinicians now in the country need to work together as a team. One potential model of recovery for Haiti is the nation of Rwanda. After the 1994 genocide, Rwanda was overwhelmed by the international helping class, which included, in addition to many people of good will, a flock of trauma vultures, consultants and carpetbaggers. Under the strong leadership of the nascent government, including now-President Paul Kagame, leaders insisted that recovery and reconstruction aid be coordinated by the central and district governments. A number of nongovernmental organizations left Rwanda, but most would argue the decisions made then have helped to create a new model of collaboration between public and private actors, and contributed to Rwanda's remarkable post-genocide stability and growth. The government of Rwanda has made a generous financial gift to the people of Haiti. Second, neglecting the immediate-term needs in favor of the long view is a mistake. People need food, water, shelter and sanitation in the days and months to come, to complement the emergency medical care that has been dispatched. Third, those who wish to help in the next few days would be wise to hold off on most in-kind donations. Some of these will surely be needed soon, but the best thing to do right now is to send cash to organizations that have deep connections to Haiti and can draw on local knowledge and local hands to respond to the immediate needs of the injured, homeless, and sick. RESETTLEMENT EFFORTS Fourth, we must do no harm in resettlement efforts. Housing will be an enormous challenge, and will require the best minds on the planet. We need to avoid creating intermediate-term camps that become slums. Fifth, we must make sure that deportation of Haitians from the United States and elsewhere stops. Prescriptions for Haiti will be bountiful from outside, but we must ensure that the prescriptions are correct. Haiti needs a different kind of assistance, one built on solidarity and respect and rooted in what the Haitian people want for themselves. Assistance offered now must develop food sovereignty for Haiti and investment in the rural area, now seeing an influx of those displaced from the capital. The next few weeks will reveal some sense of the long-term prognosis for the reconstruction of Haiti. There is already talk of a $12 billion rebuilding tab. Haiti needs and deserves a Marshall Plan. We need a reconstruction fund that is large, managed transparently, and creates jobs for Haitians, grows the Haitian economy and uses a rights-based approach that is pro-poor and based on something far different from the charity and failed development approaches that have marred interactions between Haiti and much of the rest of the world for the better part of two centuries. As physicians working in Haiti, we know first-hand that Haiti itself will be the casualty soon if we do not help build back better in the way envisioned by Haitians themselves. The authors are all physicians working with Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante in Haiti and teach at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Farmer serves as United Nations deputy special envoy for Haiti under Bill Clinton. www.haitispecialenvoy.org. National Undergraduate Bioethics Consortium Presentation Proposals Due todayPresentation proposals for the NUBC - National Undergraduate Bioethics Consortium - are due by the end of the day today, Monday, January 25th! See www.nubc2010.org/submissions.html for more information. Regards, 2010 NUBC Organizing Committee University of Puget Sound nubc@pugetsound.edu | http://www.nubc2010.org Explaining abolitionism to vegans (and protovegans)I am SHOCKED that explaining
abolitionism to vegans and protovegans is SO challenging - but NOT really
surprised and having a great time doing it. I moderate and administer a discussion and networking group on LinkedIn called “Ethical Vegans” at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=48225&trk=anet_ug_hm, an overtly abolitionist professional networking group. I don't know why any of these not-yet-abolitionist candidates would truly want to join a professional network of abolitionist vegans – simply because abolitionism is about abolishing ALL animal agriculture of all kinds, and ALL exploitation because VEGANISM is (or is part of) the moral baseline for our behaviors and our advocacy, and our group conversations and our networking are about advancing that matter in our professional lives. Unlike many statements about being dietary vegans all or most of the time, and unlike the mindset of most vegetarians and vegans whose baseline is about personal practices alone (usually with the default rationale of being MERELY a ‘personal choice’, the baseline for abolitionists is not a prudential judgment about personal health practices, which is a shifting baseline at best based entirely upon private judgments extrinsic to public good and social and ecological justice. There are several OTHER groups in LinkedIn which I suggest to them, including the groups called "Vegetarians and Vegans" and also one called "Vegan Professionals". From our entire abolitionist group, we wish nonabolitionists very well in their lives, health, personal practices and personal ‘process’, and professional networking efforts. We thank them also for
sharing and welcome each of them to invite me (http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?trk=hb_tab_pro) or anyone else in our group to network with them
professionally in LinkedIn (and we wish you would; we think we can be helpful
to you in that one-to-one professional networking). Also, we never want
to downplay the contributions of risk-taking entrepreneurs in making available
'clean' non-hinsic products that However, the integrity of the grouping is
about abolitionism - with its moral claims upon the general public,
as we've tried to express it. In other words, we hold that
there IS moral obligation, general and public moral obligation, to
not harm persons gratuitously. We believe that the general public
needs to realize this general and public moral obligation because they do not
currently understand and acknowledge that obligation. We also recognize
that the duty of learning to communicate that sense in some sense falls upon us
who already have begun to understand the ethical obligation to not live in ways
that harm others. We also hold that this group is one means of our
networking around the issues in learning to express that sense of moral
obligation publicly and professionally, not merely personally. Parallels
have already been accepted, as in our emerging public sense of the obligation
to not smoke, to not fart in public (particularly at work, which probably means
adjusting our vegan diets so that we digest our foods in ways that are not
publicly offensive), to not wear scents in public spaces, and to not conduct
ourselves offensively in the public space; those implied social duties are not
ours alone but are shared by all persons and must be taught as part of a normal
and prudential education process.
Technical Accomplishments and Compassionate CareIt is important to articulate both aspects of care. Leon Eisenberg, MD, DSc
9th Annual Conference for Critical Animal Studies
9th Annual Conference for Critical Animal Studies Theme: Abolition, Liberation, and Intersections within Social Justice Movements Saturday April 10, 2010 SUNY, Cortland, New York Call for Presentations We welcome proposals from everyone especially scholars in the field of critical animal studies and other critical theory disciplines. We are especially interested in topics such history of social movements, nonviolence, alliance politics, spirituality and social movements, freedom, democracy, and notions of total inclusion. We are also interested in reaching across the disciplines and movements of environmentalism, education, poverty, feminism, LGBTQA, animal advocacy, globalization, prison abolition, prisoner support, labor rights, disability rights, anti-war activism, youth rights, indigenous rights/sovereignty, and other peace and social justice issues. Presentations should be fifteen to twenty minutes in length. Areas of inquiry include:
Please send proposals OR abstracts for panels, roundtables, workshops, or paper presentations no more than 500 words. Please send with each facilitator or presenter a 100 maximum word biography. The Deadline for Submissions is February 15, 2010 Accepted presenters will be notified by e-mail by Feb 20, 2010 Please send proposals, abstracts, and biographies electronically to: Sarat Colling Co-Conference Director Editor@PoliticalMediaReview.org Global Health Supercourse supports Nina Fedoroff as CANDIDATE for AAAS Presidency Supercourse Newsletter Jan. 22, 2010 www.pitt.edu/~super1/ Dear Friends: Haiti We are very pleased with the response that we have had with the Haiti Earthquake. We distributed the lecture to you, and you distributed it to many. What a terrible disaster. We are glad that we have been able to help by educating, and have received many kind letters of thanks from you. WHO and Non-Communicable Diseases: Recently WHO had a training program for 21 Country directors. Dr. Ala Al’wan, a good friend, has a vision that we start to build a global network to combat NCDs. This was the first course to give MOH people an overview of NCDs. Pascal Bovet from Lausanne held the course, and it was most fun as I was the only American at the course, and there were only two people from Academia, Pascal and I. The major concern was that 70% of the deaths in the world are from NCDs, Mental Illness and Injury, however less than 10% of the public health money is targeted towards NCDs. In one country 80% of the deaths were from NCD, there were over 2000 people in the Ministry involved in communicable diseases and only 2 involved with NCD. This is the beginning of a global NCD network. You can the approach that WHO has planned for NCDs at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCfyylZdmG0 “The main problem is the epidemic of NCDs and the fact that while most important causes are known, key people --- do not act.” (Hong Kyu Lee) A major difficulty is the lack of resources targeted towards prevention of NCDs. It is likely that more money was spent on H1N1 where there were only a small number of deaths, than the millions of deaths from Diabetes, CHD, and Cancer last year. It is not clear as to the reason for this. One component is that we fear AIDs, H1N1, and Ebola much more than a “little sugar”. We need to become broad NCD Advocates. With the Supercourse we hope to double the amount of training in Global Health and prevention especially related to NCDs. “Death is a series of preventable diseases” (Hazeltime) Dean Searching: We have finished the search for Deans in Medical Schools, and will complete Public Health, and agriculture schools. In addition we will be searching for Ministers of Health, and nursing deans. The Deans and the MOH are the gatekeepers, and we want to find the key to reach the students, faculty and staff (about 1 million people in health). Partnering with WHO is a p key to open the gates. If these gatekeepers receive a letter from high level officials from WHO they likely will forward this to their faculty. It will be a nice relationship with WHO and other groups as we have the network in place as well as our catch of “dean search”. The second key is that found with the Haiti Disaster. Many, many people were interested in our lecture. Most certainly they will forward to the faculty, students and staff information about our JIT disaster lectures. We plan to approach all the schools and MOH when the next major disaster occurs. All diseases run into one, old age. (Emerson) The third key is you. We will use a bottom up approach as we have you and 59,999 others in about 60% of the medical schools, and we have collaboration with the heads of chronic diseases in the Ministries. Our goal is to inform, and entertain, at the same time be like a computer “worm” to bring NCD and the Supercourse into higher education and the ministries. By the end of the year we could reach a million faculty students and staff with NCD knowledge, Global Health and the Supercourse. We would very much appreciate your thoughts at ronaldlaporte@gmail.com. Death is the cure for all diseases. (Browne) America Association for the Advancement of Science. The Supercourse is apolitical as you all know. We however must recommend several Supercourse members for the President of the American Association for the Advancement of science as they have done so much for us. Nina Fedoroff is running for the Presidency. She currently is in the special advisor to the State department, and a blue chip scientist: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/89337.htm She has been wonderful for the Supercourse by providing several outstanding lectures, most of which are the highest rated in the area. The second person is Vint Cerf, who is running for the Section Chair for Information Computing and Communication. Vint is the Father of the Internet, and has been one of the chief architects of the Supercourse. I owe him very much, and consider him a wonderful friend. I think Nina and Vint would be very important advocates for health and the Internet through AAAS. This is an apolitical statement…sort of, but it would be great if you could vote for them. You can vote on line at https://www.directvote.net/aaas/. We can have an effect, a few years ago Dr. Gil Omenn was running for president, and I think the Supercourse team was able to help him. Ron, Faina, Eugene, Mita, Ismail, Vint, Gil, Francois, Eric, Kawkab, Nicholas, Jesse, Ali, Kuntoro, Mazen, Anne, Rupali, Sara, Meredith 20% of America's Children Suffers High Cholesterol1 in 5 U.S. Kids Has High
Cholesterol By Steven Reinberg
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Philadelphia's mandate applies to restaurants,
delis, bakeries, ice cream shops, and convenience stores with at least
15 other locations nationwide.
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