Month: April 2014

‘I will do it tomorrow’ attitude hidden in genes

I-will-do-it-tomorrow-attitude-hidden-in-genes

Is “I will do it tomorrow” is all you hear every time you ask your kid to do homework? The secret of such a trait may well be trapped in his/her genes, a study reveals.

Those who procrastinate are also likely to be more impulsive and both the traits are linked to genes that one inherits, the study has found.

“Everyone procrastinates at least sometimes but we wanted to explore why some people procrastinate more than others and why procrastinators seem more likely to make rash actions and act without thinking,” said psychological scientist Daniel Gustavson of the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.

The researchers found that procrastination is indeed heritable, just like impulsivity.

Not only that, there seems to be a complete genetic overlap between procrastination and impulsivity – that is, there are no genetic influences that are unique to either trait alone, the study found.

For the study, researchers had 181 identical-twin pairs and 166 fraternal-twin pairs complete several surveys intended to probe their tendencies toward impulsivity and procrastination, as well as their ability to set and maintain goals.

The research appeared in the journal Psychological Science.

Source: Business standard

High-tech items giving deaf-blind online access

Tanisha Verdejo loves to surf the Internet for shopping deals. She chats on Facebook, learns about new recipes and enjoys sending emails to friends and family.

Verdejo, who can’t see or hear, could do none of that a year ago.

The 40-year-old New Yorker lives in a group home in Port Washington and is among the thousands of people with combined hearing and vision loss to have benefited from a pilot program called iCanConnect. The initiative provides low-income deaf-blind individuals with the most up-to-date telecommunications devices for free and special training to use them.

“For me, it’s opened up my whole world,” Verdejo said through a sign language interpreter at the Helen Keller National Center in suburban Long Island. The center, along with the Boston-based Perkins School for the Blind, is working with state agencies and others around the country to distribute items like refreshable Braille displays, amplified telephones and computer programs that allow for large print displays for those who may be vision-impaired but not entirely blind.

Much of the equipment is compatible with Apple devices such as the iPhone and iPad and connect via Bluetooth.

“Modern technology has rapidly progressed, and we are available to provide individuals with combined vision and hearing loss the best technology and telecommunications tools for their individual needs,” said Thomas J. Edwards, president of Helen Keller Services for the Blind, which has 11 regional offices around the country.

For Verdejo and others, the changes have been dramatic.

“I’m able now to access anything I want,” Verdejo said. “I mean, I have all these apps here and can see anything now. I see it through my Braille device. I’m just so thrilled and happy that I’m able to communicate with the world.”

Established by the Federal Communications Commission, the pilot program allocates $10 million annually for low-income deaf-blind people to get the equipment. The program, which is in the second year of a three-year study, is open to individuals earning less than $44,680 annually, with income limits slightly higher in Hawaii and Alaska.

An estimated 2,000 people have been served by the program in its first 18 months, said Betsy McGinnity, a Perkins spokeswoman. She said the program has received positive feedback and was confident it could be extended beyond the three-year study period.

Dr. Christian Vogler, director of the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., said because the deaf-blind population is relatively small — about 100,000 in the U.S., according to one estimate — the high-technology devices are very expensive to produce. Some refreshable Braille displays — hand-held electronic devices that employ a network of tiny pins that pop up and down through holes, scrolling letters that a blind person can read — can cost as much as $6,000

Software that enlarges text on computer screens can sometimes cost $800 to $1,000.

“There’s not a lot of profit for these companies; the equipment is very expensive and most can’t afford it,” Vogler said.

Other devices include amplifiers that assist those with limited hearing loss to know when a telephone is ringing or computer programs that accent certain colors that may assist the vision-impaired.

Applicants for the technology go through a rigorous screening process to determine what specific devices could benefit them best, said Ryan Odland, the New York coordinator of the distribution program for the Helen Keller National Center. Once accepted, they are trained in the proper ways to use the equipment; the training is tailored to each individual.

“We do not order equipment for anything other than to gain equal access to telecommunications,” Odland said. “We tend to be very thorough with our assessment to be certain what equipment our consumer wants is ideal for them.”

He said there is no financial cap on what any individual may receive. “It’s based on their specific needs,” Odland said.

Although many of those eligible for the devices are known to officials at the Keller and Perkins facilities, the organizations are reaching out to others who may not be clients of either.

“We want to get the word out to seniors who are experiencing age-related vision and hearing issues,” said Sue Ruzenski, acting executive director at the Helen Keller center. “And there are other groups of people that we may not always interact with that may be eligible for services.”

Ruzenski said a $10 million annual allocation may not seem like much, but insisted: “We looked at it as a huge breakthrough for the deaf-blind community.”

Source: Yahoo news

 

 

Yale student claims university threatened to suspend her if she didn’t gain weight

Chan Final

A student at Yale University said she was faced with an unusual college dilemma for the past few months: gain weight or leave school.

According to a report in the New Haven Register, Frances Chan said she has been stuffing herself with ice cream and Cheetos, after doctors at Yale’s health center allegedly said she was too thin and needed to gain weight. At 5’2”, Chan weighs just 92 lbs, but she argued that she’s always been very skinny – just like her parents and grandparents were at her age.

Chan, a 20-year-old history major, said she has been fighting with the university for months over her weight, claiming Yale threatened to put her on a medical leave of absence if she didn’t put on enough pounds.

“It felt really bad to be this powerless,” Chan told the New Haven Register. “I ate ice cream twice a day. I ate cookies. I used elevators instead of walking up stairs. But I don’t really gain any weight.”

The entire ordeal reportedly began in September, when Chan went to Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven to have a breast lump checked. While the lump was benign, the visit ultimately led to a follow-up appointment, in which she said doctors told her she was dangerously underweight.

Since then, Chan said she has undergone weekly mandatory weigh-ins and has met with a nutritionist and a mental health professional to determine if she had an eating disorder. Chan claims one nurse even told her that her low weight would eventually kill her.

When asked by the New Haven Register about Chan’s case, Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said the university could not discuss the individual medical treatment of its students. However, he noted that, “Yale has a strong system of mental health care for students.”

After trying desperately to bulk up, Chan said she only managed to gain two pounds between September to April. Fed up with the whole process

She detailed her entire struggle with the Yale health center and vowed to stop her weight-gain diet. She argued the university places too much emphasis on body mass index (BMI), which she says is not always a proper indicator of overall health.

Chan said she and her parents have since met with a new doctor at Yale, who allegedly told the family the university made a mistake.

“She apologized repeatedly for the ‘months of anguish’ I went through and admitted that BMI is not the end all be all,” Chan wrote on her Facebook page.

Chan said she no longer has to undergo weekly weigh-ins, but since she has gone public with her story, other students have come to her with similar weight-gain struggles at their own universities. Chan said she has written to Yale President Peter Salovey to notify him of the issue.

“At Yale, you’re taught to be the change that you want to see in the world,” Chan said. “Well, this seems like an easy thing to change.”

Source: Fox news

Measles risk for passengers on Abu Dhabi-Toronto flight

Public health officials in suburban Toronto are warning that passengers on a flight from Abu Dhabi to Toronto’s Pearson airport may be at risk of being infected with measles.

Officials with Peel Public Health says they’re sounding the warning about the Etihad Airways flight 141 on March 25 after they discovered a baby who has tested positive for the disease was aboard.

That infant has already sparked public notices about possible exposure sites at a Brampton multicultural community centre (at 150 Central Parkway), three health clinics and the Brampton Civic Hospital emergency ward.

Health officials say they’re working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to identify passengers on the flight who may need a direct follow-up.

They say anyone aboard who have not had two doses of the measles vaccine or had the disease previously should watch for symptoms up until April 15.

Anyone showing symptoms are advised to call their doctor before visiting a clinic or hospital.

Source: CBC news

Do coffee and tea really dehydrate us?

Every day people around the globe drink 1.6 billion cups of coffee and around twice as many cups of tea.

They enjoy the taste and the fact that the caffeine wakes them up. But when we’re exhorted to drink six or eight glasses of water a day (a disputed figure that I’ve discussed previously), it’s usually emphasised that drinks like coffee and tea don’t count towards your daily liquid total because they’re dehydrating. Or so we’re told. What’s the evidence?

Although tea and coffee contain many different substances the one on which most research focuses is caffeine. Even then there is so little research on the topic, that one of the most frequently mentioned studies was conducted way back in 1928 with a sample of just three people. The three men were studied over the course of two winters. Sometimes they were required to drink four cups of coffee a day; sometimes they drank mainly tea and at other times they abstained or drank water laced with pure caffeine. Meanwhile the volume of their urine was measured regularly. The authors concluded that if the men consumed caffeine-laced water after a two month period of abstinence from both coffee and tea, the volume of their urine increased by 50%, but when they drank coffee regularly again they became inured to its diuretic effects.

Very large doses of caffeine are known to increase the blood flow to the kidneys and to inhibit the absorption of sodium which explains why it could act as a diuretic, dealing with the sodium which hasn’t been absorbed. But the exact mechanism is still a matter of debate.

But when you look at the studies of more realistic quantities of caffeine, the diuretic effect is not nearly so clear. A review of 10 studies by Lawrence Armstrong from the University of Connecticut concluded that caffeine is a mild diuretic at most, with 12 out of 15 comparisons showing that people urinated the same amount, regardless of whether the water they drank contained added caffeine or not.

So why do so many people think they need the loo more often when they’ve been drinking tea or coffee? As the review indicates, most studies give people pure caffeine added to water, rather than cups of actual tea or coffee as you might drink at home. Is there something about the combination of substances contained in coffee and tea that make the difference?

In a rare study where people drank nothing but tea for the 12 hour duration of the trial, there was no difference in hydration levels between them and the people who drank the same quantity of boiled water. When it comes to the consumption of coffee, one study did find a 41% increase in urine, along with a rise in the excretion of sodium and potassium. But these participants had abstained from caffeine before the study, so this doesn’t tell us what would happen in people who are accustomed to drinking coffee.

Source: BBC news

Spring Cleaning: 6 Ways To Detox Your Mind And Body

While it might not feel like spring as yet in some parts of the country, the season of warmer weather and chirping birds is finally here. So what can you do to prepare for the impending months of warm weather? Well, besides spring cleaning, doing a mind and body detox is always helpful, especially at the start of a new season.

It’s especially important to clear your mind if you’re a person who is constantly on the go. “Outside a good night’s sleep, we don’t get many breaks from this mind chatter,” Dr. Robert Puff, a licensed clinical psychologist. “Even if we’re not thinking, we’re surrounded by external stimuli such as television, music, and conversations around us.” This prevents us from relaxing, and most of the time we end up feeling stressed and overworked. Here are a few helpful tips to get your body and mind detox started:

Mind:
1. Emphasize Positive Emotions: By emphasizing thing such as love, trust, compassion, forgiveness, and joy, you’re essentially increasing the importance of these emotions in your life. By doing so, you are affirming the good things in your life and focusing on the positive. This leaves little to no room for negative thoughts. However, there is no clear-cut scientific answer as to happy thoughts equaling a cure for any type of disease or ailment. But there’s evidence that mood can predict whether someone who has had one heart attack will have another

2. Morning Meditation: Taking 20 minutes in the morning to just focus on yourself is a good way to calm your mind and collect your thoughts before you start your sometimes hectic day. “Mind strength is one of the most empowering tools we can employ to impact and improve all aspects of life,” according to psychotherapist Dr. Ron Alexander.

3. Start Working On Your Goals: By taking control and getting hard at work on your goals, you’ll begin to feel more accomplished. Even small tasks can have great rewards because they eliminate overthinking.

Body:
1. Eliminate Alcohol: By eliminating alcohol, you’re essentially ridding your body of one form of toxin. And a 2013 study also noted that those who didn’t drink alcohol lived longer.

2. Eat Plenty of Fiber: Eating fiber is a key component in mainlining healthy bowels and ridding the body of physical toxins.

3. Dry Brushing: This entails using a bristle brush in a circular motion all over your body. This helps to eliminate the dead skin cells, decrease the look of cellulite due to an increased blood flow, and improve skin tone.

Source: medical daily

7 healthy reasons to eat raisins!

Raisins are also considered to be nature’s healthy alternative to candies as they are extremely sweet and convenient to eat. In terms of cost too, they are cheaper as compared to other dry fruits like pistachios and cashew nuts.

1. Keeps you energetic

If you are feeling fatigued and low on energy, try eating raisins. They contain sugars like fructose and glucose and promote the efficient absorption of nutrients in your body.

2. Good for your oral health

Unlike candies which are notorious for causing cavities, raisins contain oleanolic acid which prevents the growth of harmful bacteria in your mouth. This in turn helps in keeping oral health problems like tooth decay and cavities at bay.

3. Strengthens your bones

Calcium, a nutrient present in raisins helps strengthen your bones and keeps debilitating diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis at bay. Additionally, they have a micronutrient called boron which aids in the absorption of calcium.

4. Acts as an aphrodisiac

Eating raisins is a great way to rev up your love life as it contains an amino acid called arginine that raises your libido. Along with raisins, you could also eat foods like walnuts and pomegranate to boost your sex life.

5. Treats infections

Raisins can be an effective home remedy to treat infections as they have polyphenols with anti bacterial and anti inflammatory properties.

6. Keeps cancer at bay

Raisins are rich in antioxidants which prevent your cells from suffering from free radical damage which helps in preventing cancer. In particular, a polyphenolic antioxidant called catechin present in raisins has been found to protect against cancer.

7. Helps cure constipation

Constipation can be an extremely unpleasant condition to have. Raisins are rich in fibre which helps clear the food stuck in your bowel. You could also try eating papaya and guavas to help relieve the symptoms.

All of these properties ensure that you stock up on raisins the next time you go to the supermarket.

Source: The health

8 ways to help your baby talk soon

Many of you have been interested in how to stimulate more speech from your toddlers . Most often children just need a little more incentive to get them talking  use what is known to speech therapists as “Communicative Temptations.”

There are many ways of “tempting” your child to speak. Here are 8 Communicative Temptations I have found helpful in therapy. After getting the idea of how this works, you will be able to come up with some of your own “temptations”. If you do and they seem to work for you

1. Eat something your child loves in their presence with out offering them any. When your child indicates that they would like some, model a more advanced way for them to make the request, whether it is using a sign, a word or a simple phrase. For example, if your child points and grunts to the candy, model the sign for candy then wait and see if your child will imitate the sign candy. If your child simply keeps pointing and grunting take his/her hand and help him make the sign for candy then reward him/her with the candy.

2. Play with something your child loves but don’t offer to share.
For instance if your child loves playing with playdough and wants to participate in the fun, you could model the /p/ sound for “please” or “play,” or you could model the signs for please or play. If your child can already say one word model a two word phrase for him/her to imitate like, “play please.”

3. At meal time and snack time give your child bite size portions, rather than dishing up a whole serving for them, then wait for them to request more. If no attempt is made model the sign “more,” help them make the sign, or model the /m/ sound for them to imitate.

4. Limit your child’s access to things like the t.v., toys, food, or going outside. Set it up so they have to make a request or ask for help to access these things. You may accomplish this by putting favorite things up high or locked up.

5. Play turn-taking games such as rolling the ball back and forth, or pushing a car back and forth. Once your child expects another turn hold the car or ball and wait. Look at him/her expectantly if no sign or verbal request is made, model an appropriate request such as the sign for “ball,” the /b/ sound, the word “ball” or “ball please”…

6. Use tight containers to store things in. When your child indicates he/she wants a cookie you might hand him/her the cookie jar (tightly sealed of course), when he/she can’t open it and hands it back to you make him/her sign open or help.

7. Use wind up toys or other toys that are difficult for kids to operate on their own. Wind up a wind-up toy your child gets a kick out of then hand it to them when they want a turn, wait for them to request help by using the sign or the word to operate the toy.

8. Blow bubbles then screw the lid on tightly and hand it back to your child for their turn. Wait for them to request help with a a sign or a word. Model the sign or word if necessary.

Using these little tricks that require your child to communicate will teach your child the power of communication. They will learn very quickly that when they sign or say “out” they can go outside but if they simply cry by the door nothing happens. It is important to be quick with your reinforcement so your child will make the connection easily, for example if you are teaching your child to request “more cookie” be sure to have that cookie ready to put in their darling little hands right away. When your child points and grunts, or tantrums pay no attention at all, or be sure to explain that you don’t understand what they want even when you do. Then model an appropriate way to make the request. Little tricks like these have helped me get most non-verbal children to start communicating. And of course these things need to be done in patience and love. When your child sees that he/she can communicate their wants/needs effectively, it will give them added confidence that will help them in the continuing process of language development.
Source: Mommy seech theraphy

Too much computer time hits bone health in adolescents

Researchers have found that in boys, higher screen time was adversely associated to bone mineral density (BMD) at all sites even when adjusted for specific lifestyle factors.

Results of a study showed that the skeleton grows continually from birth to the end of the teenage years, reaching peak bone mass – maximum strength and size- in early adulthood. Along with nutritional factors, physical activity can also greatly impact on this process.

The Norwegian study explored the hypothesis that greater computer use at weekends is associated with lower BMD. The data was obtained from 463 girls and 484 boys aged 15-18 years in the Tromso region of Norway. The students participated in the Fit Futures study from 2010-2011 which assessed more than 90 per cent of all first year high school students in the region.

BMD at total hip, femoral neck and total body was measured by DXA (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). Lifestyle variables were collected by self-administered questionnaires and interviews, including questions on time per day during weekends spent in front of the television or computer, and time spent on leisure time physical activities. The associations between BMD and screen time were analyzed in a multiple regression model that included adjustment for age, sexual maturation, BMI, leisure time physical activity, smoking, alcohol, cod liver oil and carbonated drink consumption.

Source: Business standard

 

Jogging craze in middle age may hurt your ankles

Has ever-growing paunch and sedentary lifestyle led you to begin jogging as you approach 40? Read this as a research reveals that those who suddenly take up exercise in their middle years are at the risk of developing ankle arthritis.

The boom in middle-aged joggers, tennis players and footballers is likely to fuel demand for ankle replacements in later life, as exercise craze puts strain on our bodies, British surgeons have cautioned.

People should not fool themselves into thinking their bodies were as resilient as they once were, even if they are in good shape for their age.

As we grow older, our tissue tends not to heal so quickly. “The guy who is at highest risk is the one who has never played football as an adult and decides to take it up when he reaches 40,” orthopaedic surgeon and professor Tony Kochhar of London Bridge Hospital was quoted as saying in a Daily Mail report.

“Repeated activity can cause a lot of stretch of the ankle ligaments, so the stability of the ankle is reduced over time,” said Kochhar.

Ankle arthritis is a clinical condition, in which the joint that connects the foot to the leg known as ankle joint, has damaged or worn out cartilage. The result is pain, stiffness and misery.

The operation involves removing the worn-out ends of bones, replacing them with metal caps and inserting a sliding plastic disc in between to act as artificial cartilage.

Source: Khaleek Times