Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World. Show all posts
Obama's Popularity
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© 2009 - Ben Heine
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Old work (small caricature)...
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Obama Popular
Despite Challenges
By David Zussman
The United States is a great sporting nation and, as a result, Americans like keeping score and handicapping most public events. The performance of their presidents is no exception and, since the early days of the Roosevelt presidency, the media have marked the first 100 days by providing a report card based on their performance.
It is generally acknowledged that no other U.S. president has arrived in office with higher expectations than Barack Obama, and more difficult problems. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has been subjected to a steeper learning curve than his predecessors.
By the time Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, the U.S. financial system was in freefall, the credit markets were becoming unglued, house prices were tumbling, and a half-dozen foreign hotspots required presidential attention. It is difficult to imagine how it could have been more challenging.
Since the 100-day mark is an artificial marker, the White House staff was reluctant to join in on the rating game but their efforts proved futile.
Once they realized that it was going to be impossible to blunt the media's interest in rating the administration's performance, some senior staff tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to lower the public's expectations regarding Obama's early accomplishments by assigning themselves a B-plus. And finally, the White House embraced the 100-day anniversary, with the president appearing at last month's 100-day town hall celebration in St. Louis.
At this point, given all of the challenges and difficulties encountered by Obama, he remains a very popular political leader. In fact, according to the Pew Foundation, his personal popularity is higher than the ratings for his individual programs.
>>> Read the full article
.It is generally acknowledged that no other U.S. president has arrived in office with higher expectations than Barack Obama, and more difficult problems. It is, therefore, not surprising that he has been subjected to a steeper learning curve than his predecessors.
By the time Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, the U.S. financial system was in freefall, the credit markets were becoming unglued, house prices were tumbling, and a half-dozen foreign hotspots required presidential attention. It is difficult to imagine how it could have been more challenging.
Since the 100-day mark is an artificial marker, the White House staff was reluctant to join in on the rating game but their efforts proved futile.
Once they realized that it was going to be impossible to blunt the media's interest in rating the administration's performance, some senior staff tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to lower the public's expectations regarding Obama's early accomplishments by assigning themselves a B-plus. And finally, the White House embraced the 100-day anniversary, with the president appearing at last month's 100-day town hall celebration in St. Louis.
At this point, given all of the challenges and difficulties encountered by Obama, he remains a very popular political leader. In fact, according to the Pew Foundation, his personal popularity is higher than the ratings for his individual programs.
>>> Read the full article
Over-Consumption...
Planet Earth in Danger !
Planet Earth in Danger !
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Fast Food
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By Richard Thompson
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By Richard Thompson
Big mac, small mac, burger and fries
Shove 'em in boxes all the same size
Easy on the mustard, heavy on the sauce
Double for the fat boy, eats like a horse.
Fry them patties and send 'em right through
Microwave oven going to fry me too
Can't lose my job by getting in a rage
Got to get my hands on that minimum wage.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
Shake's full of plastic, meat's full of worms
Everything's zapped so you won't get germs
Water down the ketchup, easier to pour on
Pictures on the register in case you're a moron.
Keep your uniform clean, don't talk back
Blood down your shirt going to get you the sack
Sugar, grease, fats and starches
Fine to dine at the golden arches.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
Baby thrown up, booth number 9
Wash it down, hose it down, happens all the time
Cigarettes in the coffee, contact lens in the tea
I'd rather feed pigs than humanity.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
(The poem appeared on compsci.rice.edu)
.Shove 'em in boxes all the same size
Easy on the mustard, heavy on the sauce
Double for the fat boy, eats like a horse.
Fry them patties and send 'em right through
Microwave oven going to fry me too
Can't lose my job by getting in a rage
Got to get my hands on that minimum wage.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
Shake's full of plastic, meat's full of worms
Everything's zapped so you won't get germs
Water down the ketchup, easier to pour on
Pictures on the register in case you're a moron.
Keep your uniform clean, don't talk back
Blood down your shirt going to get you the sack
Sugar, grease, fats and starches
Fine to dine at the golden arches.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
Baby thrown up, booth number 9
Wash it down, hose it down, happens all the time
Cigarettes in the coffee, contact lens in the tea
I'd rather feed pigs than humanity.
Shove it in their faces, give 'em what they want
Got to make it fast, it's a Fast Food Restaurant.
(The poem appeared on compsci.rice.edu)
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"Planet Health" for Obesity Reduction
in School Children—Readily Accepted
and Cost-Effective
.in School Children—Readily Accepted
and Cost-Effective
"Planet Health"
- Physical activity and nutrition lessons woven into existing middle school curriculum
- Effective in reducing TV viewing time in both boys and girls and decreasing obesity in girls
- Readily adopted by teachers; Boston Public Schools expand its use
- Cost-effective and projected to save money in later life
"Background"
Between 1980 and 1999 the prevalence of overweight in the United States nearly tripled (from 5% to 14%) among adolescents and nearly doubled (from 7% to 13%) among children 6 to 11 years of age. This trend forecasts an increase in chronic disease as the younger generation ages. Little is known about effective ways to reverse this alarming trend, although its root cause of insufficient physical activity in relation to excess calories consumed is well known. Because most children spend a substantial portion of their day in school, the school environment is a promising venue for educational and experiential lifestyle interventions.
Context
Focusing on how to increase physical activity and improve dietary habits, researchers at Harvard University’s CDC-supported Prevention Research Center (PRC) developed* an interdisciplinary curriculum (called Planet Health) for public middle schools, in explicit collaboration with teachers and school principals. The curriculum was designed to fit easily into existing language, math, science, social studies, and physical education classes; to foster basic educational competencies required by the state of Massachusetts; and to provide materials easy for teachers to use. The content emphasizes increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, decreasing consumption of high-fat foods, decreasing television viewing, and increasing physical activity.
Methods and Results
Phase I
A 2-year randomized controlled trial* of the curriculum in 10 public middle schools in Boston yielded a significant reduction in television watching for both girls and boys, and a significant decrease in the prevalence of obesity among girls.
Phase II
After the Boston Public Schools (BPS) expressed interest in disseminating Planet Health, a partnership was formed to pilot test how feasible and sustainable the curriculum could be in public school settings where resources are constrained. Using the model of community-based participatory research, a project advisory board representing the key stakeholders within the BPS and the Harvard PRC guided the partnership from its inception. The BPS selected a sample of six inner-city middle schools to participate, while the PRC provided the Planet Health curriculum, training workshops for more than 100 teachers, small stipends for teacher coordinators within each of the participating schools, and research expertise to assess diffusion of the program.
The diffusion study demonstrated that 76% to 100% of teachers found the curriculum highly acceptable and 78% to 100% planned to continue using it. More than 90% found the curriculum effective and believed that it made a positive contribution to their classes.
Consequences
Satisfied that its criteria for success were met, BPS endeavored to sustain and expand use of the Planet Health curriculum through independent funding. It first secured funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Physical Education for Progress for pilot expansion to 12 schools in 2002–2003. Subsequently, BPS received financial support for further expansion from the Boston Public Health Commission under the auspices of the new STEPS to a Healthier U.S. project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Impact and Potential Impact
Planet Health is being implemented in more than 120 schools in Massachusetts, and in the past two years, more than 1,000 teachers have been trained to use it. In addition, 2,000 copies of the curriculum have been purchased by interested parties in 48 states and 20 countries, potentially benefiting many thousands of children.
An independent economic analysis of Planet Health was conducted based on an estimated program cost of $14 per student per year and an obesity reduction of 1.9% persisting into adulthood among girls. Based on these assumptions, the program was found to be highly cost-effective—in fact, more cost-effective than commonly accepted preventive interventions such as screening and treatment for hypertension. Furthermore, the program was projected to save money via avoided medical costs and productivity losses later in life. For every dollar spent on the program in middle school, $1.20 in medical costs and lost wages would be saved when the children reach middle age.
Planet Health has demonstrated effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and sustainability in a public school environment. The curriculum has been found to be cost-effective and, dollar for dollar, to save society money in the long run.
*The original efficacy study was conducted under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health.
References
Gortmaker SL, Peterson K, Wiecha J, Sobol AM, Dixit S, Fox MK, Laird N. Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: Planet Health. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 1999;153:409–18.
Wang LY, Yang Q, Lowry R, Wechsler H. Economic analysis of a school-based obesity prevention program. Obesity Research 2003;11:1313–24.
Wiecha JL, El Ayadi AM, Fuemmeler BF, Carter JE, Handler S, Johnson S, Strunk N, Korzec-Ramirez D, Gortmaker SL. Diffusion of an integrated health education program in an urban school system: Planet Health. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2004;29:467–74.
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--> The above study appeared on www.cdc.gov (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
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Context
Focusing on how to increase physical activity and improve dietary habits, researchers at Harvard University’s CDC-supported Prevention Research Center (PRC) developed* an interdisciplinary curriculum (called Planet Health) for public middle schools, in explicit collaboration with teachers and school principals. The curriculum was designed to fit easily into existing language, math, science, social studies, and physical education classes; to foster basic educational competencies required by the state of Massachusetts; and to provide materials easy for teachers to use. The content emphasizes increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables, decreasing consumption of high-fat foods, decreasing television viewing, and increasing physical activity.
Methods and Results
Phase I
A 2-year randomized controlled trial* of the curriculum in 10 public middle schools in Boston yielded a significant reduction in television watching for both girls and boys, and a significant decrease in the prevalence of obesity among girls.
Phase II
After the Boston Public Schools (BPS) expressed interest in disseminating Planet Health, a partnership was formed to pilot test how feasible and sustainable the curriculum could be in public school settings where resources are constrained. Using the model of community-based participatory research, a project advisory board representing the key stakeholders within the BPS and the Harvard PRC guided the partnership from its inception. The BPS selected a sample of six inner-city middle schools to participate, while the PRC provided the Planet Health curriculum, training workshops for more than 100 teachers, small stipends for teacher coordinators within each of the participating schools, and research expertise to assess diffusion of the program.
The diffusion study demonstrated that 76% to 100% of teachers found the curriculum highly acceptable and 78% to 100% planned to continue using it. More than 90% found the curriculum effective and believed that it made a positive contribution to their classes.
Consequences
Satisfied that its criteria for success were met, BPS endeavored to sustain and expand use of the Planet Health curriculum through independent funding. It first secured funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Physical Education for Progress for pilot expansion to 12 schools in 2002–2003. Subsequently, BPS received financial support for further expansion from the Boston Public Health Commission under the auspices of the new STEPS to a Healthier U.S. project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Impact and Potential Impact
Planet Health is being implemented in more than 120 schools in Massachusetts, and in the past two years, more than 1,000 teachers have been trained to use it. In addition, 2,000 copies of the curriculum have been purchased by interested parties in 48 states and 20 countries, potentially benefiting many thousands of children.
An independent economic analysis of Planet Health was conducted based on an estimated program cost of $14 per student per year and an obesity reduction of 1.9% persisting into adulthood among girls. Based on these assumptions, the program was found to be highly cost-effective—in fact, more cost-effective than commonly accepted preventive interventions such as screening and treatment for hypertension. Furthermore, the program was projected to save money via avoided medical costs and productivity losses later in life. For every dollar spent on the program in middle school, $1.20 in medical costs and lost wages would be saved when the children reach middle age.
Planet Health has demonstrated effectiveness, feasibility, acceptability, and sustainability in a public school environment. The curriculum has been found to be cost-effective and, dollar for dollar, to save society money in the long run.
*The original efficacy study was conducted under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health.
References
Gortmaker SL, Peterson K, Wiecha J, Sobol AM, Dixit S, Fox MK, Laird N. Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: Planet Health. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 1999;153:409–18.
Wang LY, Yang Q, Lowry R, Wechsler H. Economic analysis of a school-based obesity prevention program. Obesity Research 2003;11:1313–24.
Wiecha JL, El Ayadi AM, Fuemmeler BF, Carter JE, Handler S, Johnson S, Strunk N, Korzec-Ramirez D, Gortmaker SL. Diffusion of an integrated health education program in an urban school system: Planet Health. Journal of Pediatric Psychology 2004;29:467–74.
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--> The above study appeared on www.cdc.gov (Center for Disease Control and Prevention)
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Suicide exists in all countries of the world and there are records of suicides dating back to the earliest historical records of humankind. In 2000 the World Health Organization estimated that approximately 1 million people commit suicide annually. Suicide is among the top ten causes of death and one of the three leading causes in the fifteen-to-thirty-five-years age group worldwide. In the United States, where suicide is the ninth leading cause of death (and where the number of victims is 50% higher than the number of homicides), the Surgeon General in 1999 issued a Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, labeling suicide "a significant public health problem."
Suicide is a tragic phenomenon that has preoccupied professionals from a variety of disciplines. Deaths by suicide have broad psychological and social impacts on families and societies throughout the world. On average, each suicide intimately affects at least six other people, and if the suicide occurs in the school or workplace it can significantly impact hundreds. Suicide's toll on the living has been estimated by the World Health Organization in terms of disability-adjusted life years, which indicates the number of healthy years of life lost to an illness or event. According to their calculations, the burden of suicide is equal to the burden of all wars and homicides throughout the world. Despite progress in controlling many other causes of death, suicide has been on the rise— becoming one of the leading causes of death.
The taking of one's own life is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, sociological, environmental, genetic, and biological risk factors. Suicide is neither a disease nor the result of a disease or illness, but rather a desperate act by people who feel that ending their life is the only way to stop their interminable and intolerable suffering.
Despite the magnitude of social damage caused by suicide, it is a fairly rare event. Suicide rates of between 15 to 25 deaths per 100,000 population each year may be considered high. Most people who are seriously suicidal, even those who attempt suicide, rarely have a fatal outcome (although, in the United States, 500,000 people annually require emergency room treatment because of their attempts). For each completed suicide (a suicide that results in death) there are at least six or seven suicide attempts that result in hospitalizations and, according to community surveys, for each completed suicide at least 100 people report that they attempted suicide without being hospitalized as a suicide attempter. Furthermore, if one asks in a community survey if people seriously considered suicide, about one person in twenty-five says that they have done so.
Research shows that the vast majority, at least 80 percent, of persons who died by suicide had been or could be diagnosed as suffering from a mental disorder, usually mood disorders and depression. People who suffer from the mental disorders of depression and manic depression, alcoholism, or schizophrenia have between a 4 percent and 15 percent lifetime risk of suicide. These mental disorders do not "cause" suicide, but people with mental disorders are at much greater risk of committing suicide. For this reason, the diagnosis and treatment of mood disorders, alcoholism, and schizophrenia may prevent suicides.
Besides mental disorders, there are numerous other risk factors that help identify who is at greater risk of suicide. The most important risk factor is gender, with men in Europe and the Americas committing suicide about five times more than women even though women are more likely to attempt suicide. People with some physical illnesses have greater suicide risks. In most countries, men over the age of seventy-five have the greatest risk of suicide of all age groups. Those who live alone or are separated are more vulnerable to suicide, including divorced, widowed, and single people. Also at higher risk are individuals who have lost a job.
Various situational factors also increase the risk of suicide. Individuals who are exposed to suicide in real life or through the media have a higher like-lihood of suicidal behavior. Research on firearms and the availability of other means of suicide has shown that if a method is readily available a death by suicide is more likely to occur. For this reason control of firearms and reducing access to other preferred means of suicide, such as putting up barriers on bridges and getting rid of medications in the home of a suicidal adolescent, may help prevent suicides.
The crisis situation in which a person attempts or commits suicide is often precipitated by a stressful life event. Suicides are more likely to occur after an argument with family members or lovers following rejection or separation, financial loss and bereavement, job loss, retirement, or failure at school. Usually these events are "the last straw" for a suicidal person. They are generally not what caused the suicide but what resulted in an increased likelihood that the suicide would occur then.
People who consider suicide generally feel ambivalent about ending their own life. It is this ambivalence that leads desperately suicidal people to talk about their plans as they "cry for help." Telephone help lines, therapists, and friends strengthen the will to live of ambivalent people by helping them explore other options for changing their situation.
The psychoanalyst Edwin Shneidman described the mental state of suicidal individuals experiencing unendurable psychological pain and feelings of frustration. According to Shneidman, suicide is seen as the only solution to their problems, one that results in stopping intolerable feelings. Besides feeling ambivalent, suicide-prone individuals tend to have what he calls "constriction"—rigid and persistent preoccupations with suicide as the solution to their problems. These individuals believe that the drastic option of ending their own life by suicide is the only way out unless others help break this pattern of constricted thought.
Many countries, including the United States, have created national suicide prevention programs that utilize a variety of strategies. These programs involve a variety of actions. Some prevention methods begin very early, teaching young children ages five to seven how to better cope with everyday problems. Other programs focus on teaching high school students how to better recognize signs of suicide in friends and how to obtain help. Actions also focus upon educating "gatekeepers," such as physicians, counselors, and teachers, who may come into contact with suicidal persons. The World Health Organization publishes resources on preventing suicide in its web site (www.who.org), and Befrienders International has extensive information on suicide and its prevention available in several languages at www.befrienders.org.
Bibliography
-Hawton, Keith, and Kees van Heeringen, eds. The International Handbook of Suicide and Attempted Suicide. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2000.
-Phillips, David P. "The Werther Effect: Suicide and Other Forms of Violence are Contagious." Sciences 25 (1985):32–39.
-Shneidman, Edwin. Suicide As Psychache: A Clinical Approach to Self-Destructive Behavior. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1993.
-World Health Organization. World Health Statistics Annual, 1995. Geneva: Author, 1996.
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--> This article originally appeared on deathreference.com
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