A couple glasses a day could protect the brain, mouse studies suggest...
"Red wine might work to protect the brain from damage after a stroke and drinking a couple of glasses a day might provide that protection ahead of time, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
In an effort to better understand how red wine works, the scientists from Johns Hopkins University fed mice a moderate dose of a compound found in red grape skins and seeds before inducing stroke-like damage.
They discovered that the animals suffered less brain damage than similarly damaged mice who were not treated with the compound, which is called resveratrol."
Read on...
Sunday, October 15, 2006
California Time Bomb - Newsweek
This place (Santa Susana Pass) is in between San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley. I lived in San Fernando Valley for almost 5 years...
A new study says a 1959 meltdown at a rocket-testing facility may have caused as many as 1,800 cancer cases.
"Now, results of a new independent study released last week on the impact of the Rocketdyne event lend credence to Johnson’s suspicions and underscore the potentially dramatic effects that a single environmental mishap can have even decades later.
Among the findings of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel Study, which was funded by both the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Environmental Protection Agency: that from 260 to as many as 1,800 cancers in the area—many more than had previously been thought—could potentially be attributed to the radioactive material. What’s more, the study found, chemical and radioactive waste from the plant have polluted soil and groundwater in the vicinity. I
n a statement, Boeing, which now owns Rocketdyne but didn’t at the time of the 1959 accident, said an initial review of the five-year, federally funded research effort found it to have “significant flaws” and called the claims about the impact of the radioactive material “baseless, without scientific merit, and a great disservice to our employees and the community.” Johnson says that with the latest study in hand, she and other neighbors are now meeting with lawyers and may file suit against Boeing."
Read on...
A new study says a 1959 meltdown at a rocket-testing facility may have caused as many as 1,800 cancer cases.
"Now, results of a new independent study released last week on the impact of the Rocketdyne event lend credence to Johnson’s suspicions and underscore the potentially dramatic effects that a single environmental mishap can have even decades later.
Among the findings of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory Advisory Panel Study, which was funded by both the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Environmental Protection Agency: that from 260 to as many as 1,800 cancers in the area—many more than had previously been thought—could potentially be attributed to the radioactive material. What’s more, the study found, chemical and radioactive waste from the plant have polluted soil and groundwater in the vicinity. I
n a statement, Boeing, which now owns Rocketdyne but didn’t at the time of the 1959 accident, said an initial review of the five-year, federally funded research effort found it to have “significant flaws” and called the claims about the impact of the radioactive material “baseless, without scientific merit, and a great disservice to our employees and the community.” Johnson says that with the latest study in hand, she and other neighbors are now meeting with lawyers and may file suit against Boeing."
Read on...
Ethics in Business
Buffett warns his top executives to avoid temptation...
Don't be a lemming.
That, in short, is Warren Buffett's warning to top executives at his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In a Sept. 27 memo, Buffett cautioned managers that many corporate scandals arise because questionable activity is accepted as normal behavior. He said the rationale that ''everyone else is doing it'' is not acceptable. Rather, it should raise a red flag.
Read on...
Don't be a lemming.
That, in short, is Warren Buffett's warning to top executives at his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In a Sept. 27 memo, Buffett cautioned managers that many corporate scandals arise because questionable activity is accepted as normal behavior. He said the rationale that ''everyone else is doing it'' is not acceptable. Rather, it should raise a red flag.
Read on...
Let 'em play...
Harried parents urged to let their kids just play - Pediatricians offer prescription for old-fashioned fun...
"Here’s some soothing medicine for stressed-out parents and overscheduled kids: The American Academy of Pediatrics says what children really need for healthy development is more good, old-fashioned playtime.
Many parents load their children’s schedules with get-smart videos, enrichment activities and lots of classes in a drive to help them excel. The efforts often begin as early as infancy.
Spontaneous, free play — whether it’s chasing butterflies, playing with “true toys” like blocks and dolls, or just romping on the floor with mom and dad — often is sacrificed in the shuffle, a new academy report says."
Read on...
"Here’s some soothing medicine for stressed-out parents and overscheduled kids: The American Academy of Pediatrics says what children really need for healthy development is more good, old-fashioned playtime.
Many parents load their children’s schedules with get-smart videos, enrichment activities and lots of classes in a drive to help them excel. The efforts often begin as early as infancy.
Spontaneous, free play — whether it’s chasing butterflies, playing with “true toys” like blocks and dolls, or just romping on the floor with mom and dad — often is sacrificed in the shuffle, a new academy report says."
Read on...
Homework outsourced!!
US homework outsourced to India
Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour -- in India.
"It's made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before," said Robison, a single mother from Modesto.
Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 "e-tutors" mostly in India with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.
Read on...
Private tutors are a luxury many American families cannot afford, costing anywhere between $25 to $100 an hour. But California mother Denise Robison found one online for $2.50 an hour -- in India.
"It's made the biggest difference. My daughter is literally at the top of every single one of her classes and she has never done that before," said Robison, a single mother from Modesto.
Her 13-year-old daughter, Taylor, is one of 1,100 Americans enrolled in Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched U.S. services last November with a staff of 150 "e-tutors" mostly in India with a fee of $100 a month for unlimited hours.
Read on...
India's infrastructure woes...
India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that the country needs to spend $320 Billion in the next 5 years to maintain the current economic growth rate.
"The quality and capacity of our infrastructure is certainly a matter of concern to one and all," the prime minister said. Singh added substantial private sector investment would be needed to deal with India's infrastructure "deficit".
Here is a Financial Times column about "Engaging India: Infrastruture and Dengue"...
"While manufacturers are attracted to India’s low-cost environment and burgeoning domestic market, they are worried about moving their goods – be it cars, mobile phones or textiles – through the country’s poor network of roads, overburdened airports and clogged ports. Power cuts can force business to a grinding halt. Notably, software, outsourcing services and telecommunications, India’s leading industries, have flourished partly because they are unfettered by the constraints of transportation."
"The quality and capacity of our infrastructure is certainly a matter of concern to one and all," the prime minister said. Singh added substantial private sector investment would be needed to deal with India's infrastructure "deficit".
He said road, rail, air and water transport, electric power, telecommunications, water supply and irrigation needed investment of about 320 billion dollars between 2007-12."
"Singh singled out the country's power sector as one of the biggest economic trouble spots and asked India's states to take immediate steps to make the sector financially viable.
He said high transmission and distribution losses accounted for almost 40 per cent of the electricity produced. No civilised society, nor a functional commercial entity, can sustain losses on such a scale," he said."
Here is a Financial Times column about "Engaging India: Infrastruture and Dengue"...
"While manufacturers are attracted to India’s low-cost environment and burgeoning domestic market, they are worried about moving their goods – be it cars, mobile phones or textiles – through the country’s poor network of roads, overburdened airports and clogged ports. Power cuts can force business to a grinding halt. Notably, software, outsourcing services and telecommunications, India’s leading industries, have flourished partly because they are unfettered by the constraints of transportation."
Gandhigiri - Revival of Gandhism
It took a comedy to revive Gandhi's ideals in India...
Here is a story about a Bollywood mega hit "Lage Raho Munnabhai" (a hindi movie) in Christian Science Monitor...
"On Oct 2nd, India paused to remember the life of Mohandas Gandhi. Like every year on this national holiday commemorating the birth of the Father of India, there were grand words, garlands, and one nagging question: Is this little man, swaddled in homespun cloth and armed only with his own reason, still relevant in an India of Internet millionaires and nuclear weapons?"
"This year, an answer and a revival of sorts has come from a most unexpected source - a Bollywood comedy about a witless Mumbai gangster.
Here is a story about a Bollywood mega hit "Lage Raho Munnabhai" (a hindi movie) in Christian Science Monitor...
"On Oct 2nd, India paused to remember the life of Mohandas Gandhi. Like every year on this national holiday commemorating the birth of the Father of India, there were grand words, garlands, and one nagging question: Is this little man, swaddled in homespun cloth and armed only with his own reason, still relevant in an India of Internet millionaires and nuclear weapons?"
"This year, an answer and a revival of sorts has come from a most unexpected source - a Bollywood comedy about a witless Mumbai gangster.
Puneet Sood, a smartly dressed software analyst fresh out of college, says he "could never relate to Gandhi before this movie." Yet "Lage Raho Munnabhai," with its light-hearted take on a gangster's conversion to Gandhian nonviolence, is providing the perfect antidote to decades of solemn ceremonies and austere textbooks, which have increasingly cast Gandhi as a museum piece of impractical ideals.
For some young Indians, it has been a call to action. For example, college students in Lucknow recently abandoned a history of violent protests in favor of handing out flowers - a tactic taken directly from the film. Far more, however, echo the feelings of Mr. Sood when he says that this Oct. 2, he looked at Gandhi with new eyes - perhaps not converted, but certainly understanding better why a nation in crisis came to call him "Bapu," father."
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