Category: News

Meeting our health goals: A 10-year review

Every 10 years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sets a number of health-and-fitness goals for the American public, and every 10 years the department looks back and evaluates how we’ve done as a nation in meeting the previous set of 10-year goals.

Since this is a government agency, there are a lot of goals. A huge amount, in fact. Let’s put it this way: each decade’s list of goals is issued as, and fills, an entire book.

Since the latest 10-year span just ended on the 31st, the data has not yet been finalized, but we’re so close that it’s safe to take some numbers as bankable. Among those:

• 117 goals can be said to have been met, but that is out of 635 targets, for a skimpy 18.5 percent success rate. Even more discouraging, in about 23 percent of the goals, we’re actually worse off than 10 years ago.
• One of those fallbacks has been in weight control, where the goal was to reduce our obesity rate from 25 percent to 15 percent. In fact, that rate has ballooned to 34 percent. Similarly, instead of reducing our rate of high blood pressure from 28 percent to 16 percent, we increased it by a point or two. We also put up worse numbers in the areas of childhood tooth decay and undersized newborns, among others.
• But overall, the experts are encouraged. Along with the 117 met goals, significant progress was made in the case of 332 others, with at least some improvement shown in 70 percent of the goals. Cancer death rates are down, for example, and childhood vaccination rates up.

Maybe this will be the decade in which we actually do lose weight and get in shape. Check back with us in 2020.

“I didn’t fail the sobriety test, Your Honor, I failed the adiposity test.”

To our growing list of crimes and court cases in which a defendant has claimed to be too obese (a) to have committed the crime, or (b) to fit through the courtroom door, or (c) to be confined to a cell, or (d) to execute by any humane means, we can now add (e) to be required to take a field sobriety test.

This comes to light via the case of a clinically obese (five-foot-ten, 230 pounds) driver of a 1997 Honda who refused to take a Breathalyzer test and then failed several routine roadside sobriety tests and was busted for DWI in Portsmouth, Maine. The defendant took the case to court and was initially found guilty, but an appeal by his attorney argued that a number of standard sobriety exercises, such as stepping toe-to-toe and turning, were unduly difficult for obese people in general, sober or otherwise, and should not be applied to them, and that indeed traffic cops were trained to not do so. A judge agreed, and lifted the conviction.

But before you slap your forehead and cry, “What?!”, the judge did find him guilty of reckless driving, which cost him $500 and a license suspension. Our verdict? Anybody who is physically able to fit behind the wheel of a Honda should be able to walk toe-to-toe and swivel without falling over.

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

A ten-year assessment of our national health, and being too fat for roadside sobriety tests

In just two weeks, I’m looking forward to participating in a discussion at ScienceOnline ‘10 with two of my favorite science bloggers: Janet and Isis. Our panel–as the title of this post suggests–is “Online Civility and Its (Muppethugging) Discontents.” As you can imagine, the session outta be good! Over the weekend, we chatted about the plan–and that’s where you come in…

Janet has posted the following terrific questions over at her place, and I encourage readers to read through them while thinking about the meaning of online ‘civility‘. We invite you to contribute with your perspective in comments below or at the ScienceOnline’10 wiki.

– Is there some special problem of online civility (vs. offline civility)?

• Is being civil online essentially the same as being civil in offline engagements (whether dialogues, debates, street fights, more unidirectional communications, or interactions not primarily aimed at communication)?
• Is being civil online fundamentally different than being civil in offline engagements? (If so, why? How?)
• Is being civil online different from being civil online, but only in degree? (Again, if so, why? How?)

– To the extent that online communities and venues for interaction reproduce the norms* off offline communities and venues for interaction in terms of expectations for civility and politeness (including agreed upon definitions of “civility” and “politeness”), is this a good thing or a bad thing? (For whom?)

*Here “norms” means “what people in the community recognize they ought to do, or not to do” rather than “whatever most people actually do”. (This is a distinction we’ve discussed before.)

That last question, of course, opens up the tempting and possibly-related subject of online spaces as an opportunity to remake the offline world. In such a project of making a new world, different people are bound to have different desiderata, at least some of them related to their different experiences of the offline world.

Which is to say, asking a question about what we think counts as civil or uncivil online is bound to prompt a response along the lines of “What do you mean we, Kemosabe?” (I first heard this question on a Bill Cosby comedy LP, but at the moment the Google-fu required to nail down which one to give a proper attribution is failing me.)

– What do we mean by “we” in these discussion of online civility?

– What does it mean to be “on the same team,” or members of the same “community,” at least from the point of view of feeling like we’re entitled to expect a certain level of regard or kind of treatment from each other?

– What are the prospects for successful coalition building across fairly significant differences (which might include differences in preferred level of “politeness” or “civility”)?

– What are the prospects for successful coalition building when the differences include not respecting other people’s feelings and/or prioritizing one’s own insulation against feeling bad above everything else?

– Are calls to be civil, discussions of tone, etc., primarily about hurt feelings? Is casting them this way dismissive, marginalizing, and/or factually incorrect?

– Are there particular issues for which you have no realistic expectation that it’s possible to discuss them civilly (either online, offline, or both)? What are they, and why do you think discussing them civilly is so frackin’ hard?

If you’ve ever cooked Indian or other Southeast Asian recipes, you’ve probably seen “curry leaves” listed in the ingredients. These unique leaves have a distinctive fragrance and add that special something to a dish that one can’t get from any other ingredient, so don’t omit it just because you feel it’s unfamiliar or impossible to find. I’ll explain what they are and where to find them.

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An enormous $24 billion lawsuit was filed yesterday against Credit Suisse accusing the bank of defrauding investors in a giant real estate scam. The loans involved were for properties in resort communities in Montana, Nevada, Idaho and the Bahamas. Although I can’t seem to get my hands on all of the details, from the articles I’ve read on the suit this morning, I’m a little skeptical.

I’ll be very interested to see the full allegations, and the facts of the case. But for now, here’s what Reuters reports:

In a lawsuit filed Sunday in federal court in Idaho, the plaintiffs said Credit Suisse colluded with real estate firm and co-defendant Cushman & Wakefield in a “loan to own” scheme to artificially inflate the value of resort projects.

It said this scheme was designed to burden resorts and purchasers of property in resorts with too much debt, while winning Credit Suisse “enormous fees” and letting the bank foreclose on or take control of resorts at well below market value.

Saddling property owners with too much debt so that the bank can foreclose on the real estate in question? Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it? Oh yeah! That’s what pretty much every bank in the U.S. was accused of doing with the subprime mortgage bubble. I have to wonder if this case is really any different than the complaints of millions of homeowners who say that banks purposely gave them loans that they knew wouldn’t perform just to get fees from the borrowers and eventually force them into foreclosure.

And what’s more suspicious is that most of these purchasers should have been a lot savvier than your typical subprime borrower. These were luxury properties sold to millionaires and billionaires, according to Reuters. Ever hear of a little thing called “buyer beware”? Did these guys happen to do any third-party due diligence to verify the value of these properties? Did they manage to do any of their own budgetary analysis to see if they could afford the debt they were taking on, given the terms of the loans given?

Again, we’re not talking about some poor guy working two minimum wage jobs who doesn’t understand what an adjustable-rate is, but was coaxed into taking a subprime mortgage. These are very rich people who should know a thing or two about managing their finances — or at least have people working for them who do that kind of thing for them in a professional capacity.

I don’t mean to pass an early judgment without all of the facts: Credit Suisse may very well have broken some laws — I don’t know. But unless there was widespread fraud and conspiracy involving Credit Suisse, appraisers, third-party auditors, financial consultants, etc., then I can’t help but be cynical about these claims. Besides, it’s hardly smart business for Credit Suisse to knowingly take advantage of rich people for a one-time gain. They could make a lot more money off these individuals if they cultivated relationships with them through legitimate loans over the course of many years.

So could Credit Suisse be culpable here? Sure. But from what we know so far, I have my doubts. I also have trouble feeling much sympathy for those filing the suit. It sounds to me like a bunch of wealthy real estate investors who are annoyed that the housing market collapsed after they bought a piece of some very expensive property with loan terms that weren’t particularly generous.

How the U.S. economy will fare over the next few years will depend on the outcome of a likely power struggle between politics and finance, an outspoken economist said Monday.

The U.S. economy could face a similar financial crisis to the one it’s emerging from unless the government tackles the problem that some banks remain too big to fail, Simon Johnson, economist at the MIT, told a panel at the American Economic Association.

The U.S. Congress has proposed legislation to drastically overhaul financial sector regulation, including measures to seize control of troubled big banks and to cut the powers of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank.

The crisis that ended in 2009 has only exacerbated the problem because of the resulting financial sector consolidation, Johnson said. There are now six big banks that could soon engage in the sort of excessive risk-taking that led to the recent crisis because of a belief that the government would bail them out if they’re in trouble.

“Goldman Sachs has become the world’s largest hedge fund underwritten by the U.S. government,” the MIT economist said. The other five banks he mentioned as posing system risks to the economy are Bank of America, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

It will be harder to deal with any new crisis because the U.S. Federal Reserve has likely exhausted its ammunition to counter a financial meltdown after it cut rates close to zero and took other emergency lending steps, Johnson warned.

“A crisis strengthens the oligarchs who survive,” Johnson said.

Scrutiny of financial ties between drug companies and doctors, all the rage in the U.S. these days, has spread to India.

The Medical Council of India, the group that sets the standards for the nation’s doctors, recently updated its ethics rules to bar doctors from accepting “any gift from any pharmaceutical or allied health care industry and their sales people or representatives.” That includes payment for transportation or accommodation, the rules say. (The updated rules are described at the bottom of this page.)

But a story from India’s Business Standard says the rules may not have much of an effect because they’re not accompanied by penalties. “We need to develop mechanisms so that a variety of transgressions are regulated and penalised,” the president of the Public Health Foundation of India told the paper.

Still, the new rules suggest a shift in norms, the vice president of the Indian Medical Association told the Times of India. “The amendments will pave the way to have a control over such unethical practices,” he said. “Even as the immediate impact of the amendment cannot be judged, inclusion of the issue in ethics regulation will help control such activities.”

Hat Tip: Pharmalot; Image: iStockphoto

General Motors are about to announce their decision regarding their plans for the Swedish car manufacturer Saab of January 7. As the brand’s future is uncertain, Used Car Expert Magazine says that prices will not get lower than at this moment.

The Saab brand has long been under-supported by GM in the UK and dealers have been discounting stock to get rid of it – most notably Stratstone who have been advertising a half million pound Saab stock clearance, says editor Matt Tumbridge, … (read more)

iPhone app developers never cease to amaze me, re-inventing not only the software, but also the hardware itself, like the iPhone air blower app. Or Pocket Heat, which can turn your iPhone into a hand heater. Here’s how it works:

Easy: The app puts your iPhone on overdrive, using 100% of its processing power. That, as you probably have noticed with some applications, makes the components to overheat, which in turn can warm up your hands. There’s another application like this, called iHandWarmer, but Pocket Heater wins because of its really beautiful retro design.

Both apps will kill your battery pretty quickly, though, but I’d choose having a dead iPhone over having my finger fall of because of frostbite. [iTunes Apple Store via Krapps]

The iPhone does not need a mouse. Having said that, the BTstack developers have gotten the iPhone working with a Magic Mouse and laser keyboard (drivers not yet public), and it’s worth checking out for novelty alone. [BTStack via Engadget]

Last week, while the world gearing up to ring in a new year, China was quietly reeling from a new pollution scare. A pipeline operated by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)—the country’s number one oil producer—ruptured and spilled 40,000 gallons of diesel in the northern part of the country.

The spill occurred in the Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River–which is the source of fresh water for millions of Chinese. Over the weekend, workers threw 17 floating dams across the Wei to block the toxic diesel and save the Yellow River. But scientists discovered diesel traces in a reservoir behind a dam in Sanmenxia, a city about 100 kilometers (62 miles) downstream from the point where the Wei meets the Yellow River, an official in the Henan provincial environmental protection bureau said on Monday [Wall Street Journal].

CNPC claimed the spill wasn’t its fault. The company blamed the spill on a construction company building a project near the underground pipeline that transported diesel from northwestern China’s Gansu to central Hunan province [AFP]. Chinese government officials have been typically tight-lipped with details, but BBC News reports that officials have warned the people of three counties in the Shaanxi province not to drink river water.

While workers scramble to protect the Yellow River, the 3,400-mile-long waterway already is in bad shape. Chinese research last year found that at least one-third of the Yellow River was unfit for even industrial use. The accident mirrors a 2005 explosion that released 100 tons of toxic benzene into the Songhua river in northeastern China, tainting the water supply for several million residents of the city of Harbin [TIME]. That incident also sparked tensions with Russia, where the Songhua eventually flows.

Related Content:
80beats: 1/3 of China’s Yellow River Not Even Fit for Industrial Use
80beats: Dams May Degrade One of China’s Remaining Healthy Rivers
80beats: A Year After the Olympics, Beijing’s Air Quality Back at Square One
80beats: Isn’t it Ironic: Green Tech Relies on Dirty Mining in China
DISCOVER: Empire of Uniformity: What happened to China’s hundreds of dialects and cultures?

Image: Wikimedia Commons / André Holdrinet

Superrevenge.com has fresh take on relationship advice

Victims of cheaters have a new tool to help them move on from their damaged relationships.

A new Web site, Superrevenge.com (superrevenge.com), offers unique, affordable counseling opportunities for scorned women and men who were the casualties of cheating partners.

Superrevenge.com was founded by George Lemieux, author of the soon-to-be-released book Why Men Cheat.

By divulging relationship secrets on how to teach cheaters a lesson, Superrevenge.com helps clients stop hurting and start being normal again.

Lemieux’s idea for this service came about when a friend went through a crushing divorce and was having a hard time getting back on her feet.

“I was shocked to see how hard my friend took the event, and I wanted to help other women overcome this difficult time in their lives,” says Lemieux.

Superrevenge.com offers telephone counseling services to women and men who have been cheated on by boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, and domestic partners, giving them the tools they need to get the “ultimate revenge.”

The initial fee for Superrevenge.com is much cheaper than most marriage counseling services or psychologist’s therapy sessions.

After the 30-minute phone call session, clients will feel healthier, more beautiful, have a clearer mind, and start feeling normal again, says Lemieux.

By helping customers feel less worried, Superrevenge.com information services may also help alleviate health and well-being issues that can be brought on by severe emotional trauma and stress.

While Superrevenge.com does offer a discounted rate for repeat phone calls, many customers do not return after their initial session because they received such useful information on how to get the ultimate revenge and move on with their lives.

The company prides itself on speedy services: Clients will be contacted within 24 hours of paying the fee for a 30-minute session. If the phone call goes longer than 30 minutes, the client will not be charged more than the initial fee.

Privacy is very important to Superrevenge.com, so Lemieux does not share clients’ personal success stories of how they got revenge on the Web site.

About Superrevenge.com

The innovative advice information company Superrevenge.com (superrevenge.com) was founded by George Lemieux, author of Why Men Cheat. The book will be available Jan. 22, 2010 on Amazon.com.

Superrevenge.com helps victims of infidelity get stronger, smarter, and move on from their heartache by finding out how to get the “ultimate revenge.”

    MEDIA CONTACT:

    George Lemieux, 630-812-8889
    [email protected]

Some foods such as mushrooms have a lot of water in them, so sometimes the best method of cooking them is to dry sautée them. This keeps them from turning, well, mushy, and brings out their flavors and textures much more beautifully.

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