Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame #DiscoLives

Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame 

Smoking Pot May Alter Genetic Material In Sperm, Study Finds

"The team looked at the genetic material in the sperm of 24 men who self-reported smoking pot at least weekly in the past six months, but who did not use tobacco products. From urine samples, they correlated the men’s THC levels with epigenetic changes in their sperm—that is, changes to the ways in which genes are expressed. The higher the THC level, the more changes were evident in their sperm. Additionally, the men who smoked pot also had lower sperm concentration in general, compared to men who rarely or never used it."

R Soc Open Sci. 2018 Nov 21;5(11):181038. doi: 10.1098/rsos.181038. eCollection 2018 Nov.

Value of species and the evolution of conservation ethics.

Hare D1, Blossey B1, Reeve HK2.

Author information

1

Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Fernow Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

2

Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Mudd Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Abstract

The theory of evolution by natural selection can help explain why people care about other species. Building upon recent insights that morality evolves to secure fitness advantages of cooperation, we propose that conservation ethics (moral beliefs, attitudes, intuitions and norms regarding other species) could be adaptations that support cooperation between humans and non-humans. We present eco-evolutionary cost-benefit models of conservation behaviours as interspecific cooperation (altruism towards members of other species). We find that an evolutionary rule identical in structure to Hamilton's rule (which explains altruistic behaviour towards related conspecifics) can explain altruistic behaviour towards members of other species. Natural selection will favour traits for selectively altering the success of members of other species (e.g. conserving them) in ways that maximize inclusive fitness return benefits. Conservation behaviours and the ethics that evolve to reinforce them will be sensitive to local ecological and socio-cultural conditions, so will assume different contours in different places. Difficulties accurately assessing costs and benefits provided by other species, time required to adapt to ecological and socio-cultural change and barriers to collective action could explain the apparent contradiction between the widespread existence of conservation ethics and patterns of biodiversity decline globally.

A SHORTAGE OF SLEEP IN ADOLESCENTS AND STUDENTS CAN LEAD TO OBESITY

"Due to the lack of sleep increases production of the hormone ghrelin, which signals hunger, and decreases the amount of leptin, suppressing appetite. Loss of sleep also increases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which stimulates fat production. In addition, impaired secretion of the growth hormone. Normally it is allocated in the beginning of sleep. This hormone is very important for child growth and for digestion of fat in the body."

Front Nutr. 2018 Nov 13;5:105. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2018.00105. eCollection 2018.

The Failure to Measure Dietary Intake Engendered a Fictional Discourse on Diet-Disease Relations.

Archer E1, Lavie CJ2, Hill JO3.

Author information

1

EvolvingFX, Jupiter, FL, United States.

2

John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Ochsner Clinical School, The University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA, United States.

3

Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado, Aurora, CO, United States.

Abstract

Controversies regarding the putative health effects of dietary sugar, salt, fat, and cholesterol are not driven by legitimate differences in scientific inference from valid evidence, but by a fictional discourse on diet-disease relations driven by decades of deeply flawed and demonstrably misleading epidemiologic research. Over the past 60 years, epidemiologists published tens of thousands of reports asserting that dietary intake was a major contributing factor to chronic non-communicable diseases despite the fact that epidemiologic methods do not measure dietary intake. In lieu of measuring actual dietary intake, epidemiologists collected millions of unverified verbal and textual reports of memories of perceptions of dietary intake. Given that actual dietary intake and reported memories of perceptions of intake are not in the same ontological category, epidemiologists committed the logical fallacy of "Misplaced Concreteness." This error was exacerbated when the anecdotal (self-reported) data were impermissibly transformed (i.e., pseudo-quantified) into proxy-estimates of nutrient and caloric consumption via the assignment of "reference" values from databases of questionable validity and comprehensiveness. These errors were further compounded when statistical analyses of diet-disease relations were performed using the pseudo-quantified anecdotal data. These fatal measurement, analytic, and inferential flaws were obscured when epidemiologists failed to cite decades of research demonstrating that the proxy-estimates they created were often physiologically implausible (i.e., meaningless) and had no verifiable quantitative relation to the actual nutrient or caloric consumption of participants. In this critical analysis, we present substantial evidence to support our contention that current controversies and public confusion regarding diet-disease relations were generated by tens of thousands of deeply flawed, demonstrably misleading, and pseudoscientific epidemiologic reports. We challenge the field of nutrition to regain lost credibility by acknowledging the empirical and theoretical refutations of their memory-based methods and ensure that rigorous (objective) scientific methods are used to study the role of diet in chronic disease.

No. It's the #Nannystate

It’s not the nanny state that should alarm us, it’s the gluttonous food industry giants

Sonia Sodha"That won’t stop the libertarians crying foul. Perhaps what motivates some of them is a belief that this is all about individual willpower, a disdain for people just too greedy to leave some of their dinner on their plate. But it’s not Christmas levels of gluttony primarily driving our obesity crisis. An irresponsible food industry has got a lot of lives to answer for."

"In education and science communication settings popular culture is often presented as a source of inaccurate information about science."

Eur J Med Genet. 2018 Dec 24. pii: S1769-7212(18)30402-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmg.2018.12.005. [Epub ahead of print]

Popular culture and genetics; friend, foe or something more complex?

Roberts J, Archer L, DeWitt J, Middleton A.

Abstract

While many people enjoy popular culture, these transactional experiences may not translate into formal or academic learning about a subject. In education and science communication settings popular culture is often presented as a source of inaccurate information about science. Different publics are often positioned as, at best, undiscriminating consumers and at worst victims of distorted scientific information. We explore how people use their own knowledge and interests to engage with genetics. Here, data from family interviews are used to illustrate how participants draw on popular culture as a resource to engage with and articulate their beliefs about genetics. Using qualitative data from family interviews we describe two perspectives: first, popular culture represents a source of narratives and metaphors used for rhetorical purposes. Second participants used fictional narratives in more depth - as sense-making devices - allowing people to explore the moral and ethical implications of genetics. We argue that by utilising patients' interests - such as popular culture - we can potentially enrich communication in a genetic counselling context.

A HANDY GUIDE TO THE TOXIC LANGUAGE OF DIET CULTURE ("Concern-trolling" FTW)

A HANDY GUIDE TO THE TOXIC LANGUAGE OF DIET CULTURE

By Rosie Spinks, Annaliese Griffin & Indrani SenDecember 29, 2018

"Perhaps the way that fascism comes about is first, by us failing to provide equitable economic conditions, and by us failing to fight corruption, and by us failing to safeguard and protect democratic institutions."

Fascism Doesn’t Work Like That: A Review of Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works

By Peter Ludlow · On December 20, 2018

"But there was a crucial point that Oliver, like Stanley, failed to emphasize. The appeal of despotism (of any valence) typically arises in times of crisis – typically a financial crisis or a governmental corruption crisis – when people come to realize that traditional institutions have failed them. People become desperate, and they seek answers outside of democratic institutions.

This naturally raises a question: What leads to this particular moment of global desperation? Stanley seems to think the crisis is manufactured by fascism itself (“corruption” is nothing but a slogan, it seems) rather than decades of neoliberal economics and foreign policy – policy driven not just by conservatives but by Democrats like Hillary Clinton in her role as Secretary of State. When we witness a rapacious foreign policy that bankrupts and destabilizes nations around the world, we set off a chain reaction of debt, and poverty, and migration, and more debt and more despair, and soon the problem is not contained in the subjects of the neoliberal empire, but within the empire’s homeland itself. And when corruption is institutionalized (for example in the aftermath of the Citizens United US Supreme Court decision), people rightly turn on those corrupt institutions.

Perhaps the way that fascism comes about is first, by us failing to provide equitable economic conditions, and by us failing to fight corruption, and by us failing to safeguard and protect democratic institutions.

This isn’t the sort of thing one is supposed to say in the age of neoliberal identity politics. Money is no longer considered the root of all evil. The new view is that the economic order is fine, and the real problem is white privilege or patriarchy, or cisgender privilege. No doubt those are problems, but they are wrong in and of themselves, and not because they lead to fascism. They should be addressed because they are wrong. However, it is not enough to focus on those ills while ignoring economic inequity, corporate imperialism, and widespread institutional corruption. Those are the problems that open the doors to fascism and provide opportunities for despots to play on our fears and hidden prejudices. For fundamentally, that is how fascism works."

Federal judge says HHS Secretary Alex Azar exceeded legal authority in setting 340B drug payment rates

There is no current remedy to the proposed 30 percent payment cut.

"While the judge granted the plaintiff's motion entitling them to equitable relief, implementing that relief requires supplemental briefings from both parties, Contreras said.

The judge said that paying 340B hospitals at the 2017 rate, including giving retroactive payments, would likely be highly disruptive for HHS, as an important component of the Medicare Part B scheme is its budget neutrality requirement.

Increasing 340B reimbursement rates for 2018 would likely require HHS to reduce reimbursements elsewhere in the program, he said."

Scotland faces worsening obesity and diabetes crisis as shocking stats reveal ten patients ever week have limbs amputated

Scotland faces worsening obesity and diabetes crisis as shocking stats reveal ten patients ever week have limbs amputated

Figures show NHS medics have removed 2,578 legs, arms, fingers or toes in the last five years

By Christine Lavelle

It’s thought one in 17 people have diabetes — many of them without realising it — while obesity is the biggest risk factor for the Type 2 form of the disease.

Tory public health spokeswoman Annie Wells said: “It’s now well established that obesity is among the biggest challenges that our NHS faces.

“People develop diabetes for a number of reasons but rising obesity levels increase rates of the illness.

“The fact hundreds of people each year are having to go through the trauma of amputation shows just how serious a problem this is.”

Michelle Mello and colleagues: "Communication-and-resolution program implementation was associated with improved trends in the rate of new claims and legal defense costs at some hospitals, but it did not significantly alter trends in other outcomes."

Health Aff (Millwood). 2018 Nov;37(11):1836-1844. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2018.0720.

Effects Of A Communication-And-Resolution Program On Hospitals' Malpractice Claims And Costs.

Kachalia A1, Sands K2, Niel MV3, Dodson S4, Roche S5, Novack V6, Yitshak-Sade M7, Folcarelli P8, Benjamin EM9, Woodward AC10, Mello MM11.

Author information

1

Allen Kachalia ( akachalia@bwh.harvard.edu ) is chief quality officer at Brigham Health, in Boston, Massachusetts.

2

Kenneth Sands is chief epidemiologist and chief patient safety officer at HCA Healthcare, in Nashville, Tennessee.

3

Melinda Van Niel is a project manager at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for the Massachusetts Alliance for Communication and Resolution following Medical Injury, in Boston.

4

Suzanne Dodson, now retired, was project manager at Baystate Health, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

5

Stephanie Roche is a health care quality research analyst at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

6

Victor Novack is head of the Clinical Research Center at Soroka University Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beer Sheva, Israel.

7

Maayan Yitshak-Sade is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston.

8

Patricia Folcarelli is vice president of health care quality at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

9

Evan M. Benjamin is chief medical officer of Ariadne Labs, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital.

10

Alan C. Woodward, an emergency medicine physician in Concord, Massachusetts, is past president and former chair of the Committee on Professional Liability of the Massachusetts Medical Society.

11

Michelle M. Mello is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and a professor of health research and policy at Stanford University School of Medicine, in California.

Abstract

To promote communication with patients after medical injuries and improve patient safety, numerous hospitals have implemented communication-and-resolution programs (CRPs). Through these programs, hospitals communicate transparently with patients after adverse events; investigate what happened and offer an explanation; and, when warranted, apologize, take responsibility, and proactively offer compensation. Despite growing consensus that CRPs are the right thing to do, concerns over liability risks remain. We evaluated the liability effects of CRP implementation at four Massachusetts hospitals by examining before-and-after trends in claims volume, cost, and time to resolution and comparing them to trends among nonimplementing peer institutions. CRP implementation was associated with improved trends in the rate of new claims and legal defense costs at some hospitals, but it did not significantly alter trends in other outcomes. None of the hospitals experienced worsening liability trends after CRP implementation, which suggests that transparency, apology, and proactive compensation can be pursued without adverse financial consequences.

Kansas hospital to close, affecting 327 jobs

"Mercy, a St. Louis-based health system with more than 40 acute care and specialty hospitals, will close its hospital in Fort Scott, Kan., by Dec. 31.

Mercy announced plans in October to shut down the facility, citing declining patient volume and shrinking reimbursement as the reasons for the closure of the 46-bed hospital."

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J Sex Marital Ther. 2018 Dec 22:1-12. doi: 10.1080/0092623X.2018.1518885. [Epub ahead of print]

Informed Consent for Transgendered Patients.

Levine SB1.

Author information

1

a Department of Psychiatry , Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine , Cleveland , Ohio , USA.

Abstract

The request of a transgendered-identified patient for psychiatric, medical, or surgical services creates ethical tensions in mental health professionals, primary care physicians, endocrinologists, and surgeons. These may be summarized as follows: Does the patient have a clear idea of the risks of the services that are being requested? Is the consent truly informed? While this question is starkly evident among cross-gender identified children contemplating puberty suppression and social gender transition and young adolescents with rapid-onset gender dysphoria, it is also relevant to young, middle-aged, and older adults requesting assistance. Many patients cannot tolerate detailed discussion of the risks. This article reviews the history of informed consent, presents the conflicts of ethical principles, and presents three categories of risk that must be appreciated before informed consent is accomplished. The risks involve biological, social, and psychological consequences. Four specific risks exist in each category. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards of Care recommend an informed consent process, which is at odds with its recommendation of providing hormones on demand. With the knowledge of these 12 risks and benefits of treatment, it is possible to organize the informed consent process by specialty, and for the specific services requested. As it now stands, in many settings informed consent is a perfunctory process creating the risk of uninformed consent.

Nearly 1 in 4 People Around the World will Suffer A Stroke, Starting at the Age of 25

"Those most at risk were men in China (whose risk increased more than 41 percent) and women in Latvia (whose risk increased 41.7 percent). China also showed an interesting disparity between men and women, with a stroke risk differential of 36.7 percent."

"...while Nietzsche has been defamed as the father of modern-day relativism, he would have dismissed it out of hand as itself a faith system without foundation."

Nietzsche: an explosion in thought

Sue Prideaux has written a fine biography of this most misunderstood of thinkers.

"As Prideaux reminds us, while Nietzsche has been defamed as the father of modern-day relativism, he would have dismissed it out of hand as itself a faith system without foundation. ‘Having called into question the nature of self and declared objective truth to be an impossible fiction, he mischievously goes on to point out that to assert that objective truth is a fiction is to make a statement of objective truth which must itself be a fiction.’"

Is the falling popularity of smoking contributing to increasing obesity prevalence?

"Of course, the major caveat here is that this is a study of association not causation, so interpret these findings with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, it does cast doubt on the notion that smoking cessation is a major driver of the obesity epidemic.

In conclusion, the inverse association between smoking and obesity rates has been well documented (the number of variables that could confound this observation are countless). Although nationwide smoking cessation may have contributed to the North American obesity epidemic, the effect appears to be rather minor."

Nat King Cole - Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

"While weight is going up, height is going down."

CDC study shows obesity increasing in the U.S.

"According to the study, the average adult is overweight and just a few pounds away from being obese. The average weight for an American man is about 195 pounds, while the average weight for a woman is about 170 pounds.

...

While weight is going up, height is going down. According to the report, the overall average height for women and men has decreased slightly."

"The difference between ethical principles and human rights is clearly determined by the non-enforceability of ethical norms and the legally binding nature of human rights obligations."

Health Hum Rights. 2018 Dec;20(2):137-148.

Human Subject Research: International and Regional Human Rights Standards.

Constantin A1.

Author information

1

Institute associate at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, USA.

Abstract

This article will place the discussion of human subject research within the larger context of human rights law, both at the international and regional level, and examine existing normative human rights frameworks that can be used to protect research subjects. The traditional approach has commonly focused on the ethical aspects of human subject research and little has been said about the implications of human experimentation on the enjoyment of basic rights. The difference between ethical principles and human rights is clearly determined by the non-enforceability of ethical norms and the legally binding nature of human rights obligations. A human rights approach to bioethics, and particularly to human subject research, can bring about a defined system and universally accepted set of rules in a field where sociocultural and religious diversity come into play.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Live)

Communication is everything

The minefield of mime: ‘halt’ to an American signifies ‘hi’ to an Arab

Dictionary of Gestures: Expressive Comportments and Movements in Use Around the World by François Caradec reviewed

David Crystal

"Sometimes the meaning of a gesture is obvious, but mostly we have to know the culture before we can interpret it. Many are so unconscious that there’s a pleasure of recognition when we encounter them in Caradec’s list — as when, in a pub, we draw a circle with our index finger above some glasses: ‘another round, please’. We forget we might have to explain it to someone from a different culture."

65% of Iranian population overweight, obese

65% of Iranian population overweight, obese

"Over 55 percent of the population are physically inactive, which means not having at least 150 minutes of physical activity during the week, ISNA quoted Afshin Ostovar as saying on Sunday.

Compered to men, women are more likely to be physically inactive, with 45 percent of men and 65 percent of women not having enough physical activity in the country, he added.

He went on highlight that insufficient physical activity starts since childhood and adolescence, and unfortunately, 20 percent of children in the country have inadequate physical activity."

Nelson Riddle / Route 66

Lack of sleep exacerbating obesity rates among children, study reveals

While most countries struggle with obesity, rates in the UAE are twice the global average

"The recommended amount of sleep for children between the ages of six and 13 is usually between nine to 11 hours per night."

Curr Opin Psychol. 2018 Nov 14;28:71-75. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.10.016. [Epub ahead of print]

The question of mindfulness' connection with ethics and compassion.

Thupten J1.

Author information

1

McGill University, School of Religious, Montreal, Canada. Electronic address: tjlangri@sympatico.ca.

Abstract

This opinion paper examines the fundamental question of contemporary mindfulness' connection with ethics and compassion, while adding the voice of the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on the current debate on mindfulness and its relation to the Buddhist concept of sati and satipaṭṭhāna meditation. Drawing attention to the threefold training of morality, concentration, and wisdom constituting an important context in Buddhism, the paper argues that in today's secular context, mindfulness practice seemed to have become divorced from its larger ethical framework and soteriological context of a method for attaining liberation, and turned into a technique for quieting the mind and enhancing focus and awareness. Recognizing contemporary mindfulness' difference from Buddhist sati and satipaṭṭhāna meditation, the paper proposes that the question of how mindfulness practice is or should be connected to ethics be considered independently on the basis of recognizing their essential independence.

David Rose & His Orchestra - Holiday For Strings (1955 Version)

Acad Pathol. 2018 Nov 14;5:2374289518811142. doi: 10.1177/2374289518811142. eCollection 2018 Jan-Dec.

The Legal Aspects of Diversity in Academic Pathology.

Allen TC1.

Author information

1

Department of Pathology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA.

Abstract

Diversity and inclusion in academic pathology center on building a diverse, inclusive pathology faculty. Understanding the basics of federal law, and the US Supreme Court cases that interpret those laws, allows one to consider good practices in diversity hire recruitment and retention that protects the pathology chair, the pathology department, and the institution. Consideration of inclusion and unconscious bias are helpful in building and sustaining robust, valuable academic pathology faculty diversity.

"Sceptics would be well advised to admit defeat on the issue of whether or not [Agatha Christie] sold more books than any other novelist ever has, and instead pivot to a more interesting question: why?"

The Case of Agatha Christie

John Lanchester

"Agatha Christie is, according to her website, ‘the world’s bestselling novelist’. That is a difficult claim to prove, and the official site makes no attempt to do so, but when you think that she wrote 66 novels and 14 short story collections, all of them still in print in multiple formats in dozens of languages, you can begin to see how she got to a total of one billion copies sold in English and another billion-odd in translation. Oh, and the longest-running play in the history of the world. Sceptics would be well advised to admit defeat on the issue of whether or not she sold more books than any other novelist ever has, and instead pivot to a more interesting question: why? I’m not claiming that this is an original inquiry, but I started to take an interest in it during a period when I was writing mainly about economically inflected subjects, and found that almost the only non-worky thing I could bear to read was Agatha Christie. She is the only writer by whom I’ve read more than fifty books. So – why?"

J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2018;11(4):411-420. doi: 10.1007/s40653-018-0218-8. Epub 2018 Jun 2.

Community Violence and Associated Psychological Problems Among Adolescents in the General Population.

Dubé C1,2, Gagné MH1, Clément MÈ3, Chamberland C4.

Author information

1

1School of Psychology, Université Laval, 2325 rue des Bibliothèques, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard 11ème étage, Québec, Québec G1V 0A6 Canada.

2

2Present Address: Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval, Québec City, Canada.

3

3Psychology and Psychoeducation Department, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jérôme, Canada.

4

4School of Social Work, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.

Abstract

Based on a populational survey conducted among 1400 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years old, the aim of this study is to assess the relationships between their community violence experiences and their psychological health (anger, depressive symptoms, and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms). One MANOVA confirms that both boys and girls who report at least one incident of physical community violence present more psychological difficulties, especially anger. Subsequent MANOVAs show that anger intensity varies depending on whether the youth was a direct victim or a witness only, as well as on the diversity of the types of violent manifestations and on acquaintance with the perpetrator, whereas the presence of injuries has no significant effect. This study highlights the importance of considering the context of the community violence incident, to clearly understand its relationships with the youth's psychological difficulties.

"So the controversial question remains. How do we practice body positivity while also promoting health and well-being?"

Maintaining Body Positivity in Light of the Obesity Crisis

Are plus-size fashions ignoring a major health epidemic?

"So the controversial question remains.  How do we practice body positivity while also promoting health and well-being?  While in eras long past, a little healthy fat was a sign of wealth which distinguished them from the starving poor, it is now often those in the lowest socioeconomic brackets with the least access to healthy foods that struggle with obesity; meanwhile the Hollywood elite juice, fast, and if needed liposuction their way into teeny tiny apparel.  While no one denies fat-shaming as unacceptable, how do we simultaneously consider it ok to keep grocery shelves stocked with hybridized dwarf wheat-products, trans fats, high fructose corn syrups, and GMO foods and then just expand our clothing sizes exponentially to accommodate the toxic waste we are being encouraged to put into the temples that are our bodies?" 

Michelle Mello and colleague: Disclosing Prescription-Drug Prices in Advertisements - Legal and Public Health Issues

N Engl J Med. 2018 Nov 14. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp1814065. [Epub ahead of print]

Disclosing Prescription-Drug Prices in Advertisements - Legal and Public Health Issues.

Dusetzina SB1, Mello MM1.

Author information

1

From the Department of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville (S.B.D.); and Stanford Law School and the Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine - both in Stanford, CA (M.M.M.).

Compelled disclosures in advertising impinge on commercial speech rights protected by the First Amendment. However, courts apply a deferential standard of review known as the Zauderer standard in challenges to disclosures of “purely factual and uncontroversial” information relating to an advertiser’s products or services. Although CMS characterizes its requirement as falling squarely within Zauderer, there is a strong argument to the contrary.