Beans: Fabulous Health Benefits, Weight Management and Nutrition at Very Low Cost

Beans: Fabulous Health Benefits, Weight Management and Nutrition at Very Low Cost

Breaking News for Monday, December 29, 2008

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(NaturalNews) What if there were a delicious, versatile, meatless, high protein food that could almost magically bring you good health, help prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and keep your weight in check? You'd be willing to travel a way to get this food and pay a lot of money for it, wouldn't you? Actually, you probably already have some of this hiding in the back of your pantry, and if not it's available at the nearest grocery story at a very low price. This food is the mighty bean, an overlooked vegetable that is turning out to be a research superstar.

The bean is technically a legume, a class of foods that includes peas and lentils. One-quarter cup of any legume is equivalent in protein to an ounce of meat. A cup of legumes contains about 15 grams of protein with the exception of soybeans which contain a whopping 29 grams of protein in a cup. Beans are a cook's dream. They easily pick up the flavor of seasonings used in almost any recipe and blend right into almost any raw or cooked creation.

Studies show the bean is good for what ails us

Beans are generating a lot of interest in the scientific community because they are showing to provide protection from so many of the fearsome diseases of modern times. University studies have documented that eating beans on a regular basis reduces risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and obesity. In fact, regular bean eaters weigh about 6.6 pounds less than non-bean eaters according to a recent Real Age article.

In a study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, men and women who consumed legumes 4 times a week had a 22% lower risk for heart disease than did people consuming legumes only once per week. In a follow-up study, men who adhered to a prudent diet that included greater consumption of legumes had a 30% lower risk of heart disease. People following the typical Western diet with low consumption rates for beans had a higher risk of heart disease.

A newly released series of studies from Colorado State University, reported in the Journal of Nutrition, found that eating beans and potatoes regularly could help prevent breast cancer. The studies, which will progress into a clinical trial using breast cancer survivors, may produce preventative diet plans for women who want to avoid breast cancer or a recurrence. Researchers introduced a carcinogen into the mammary glands of rats that were then fed a daily diet of different varieties of beans or potatoes in each of the separate studies. The rat control group did not receive beans or potatoes. At the completion of the three studies, the researchers collected data on the occurrence of cancerous mammary tumors, tumor mass and multiplicity of tumors. Results indicated that the more beans or potatoes included in the diet, the less the frequency for malignant tumors. Though some bean or potato varieties proved more effective at prevention, all beans were better at preventing cancer than a no-bean diet.

During another study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed data collected from 90,630 women who participated in the Nurses Health Study II, selecting women between the ages of 26 and 46 when the study began in 1991. After an eight-year follow-up, the researchers found that women who consumed beans or lentils at least twice a week were 24 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than women who consumed them less than once a month.

It has been known for several years that inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) found in beans, legumes and some other vegetables exhibits potent anti-cancer action. Scientists have recently discovered an additional anti-cancer compound in legumes, known as inositol pentakisphosphate. In a study reported in Cancer Research, the newly discovered compound was tested in mouse models and on cancer cells. Not only was it found to inhibit the growth of tumors in mice independently, the phosphate also enhanced the effect of cytotoxic drugs in ovarian and lung cancer cells. This finding suggests that inositol pentakisphosphate could be used to sensitize cancer cells to the action of commonly used anti-cancer drugs.

The researchers concluded that the properties of inositol pentakisphosphate make it a promising therapeutic agent which is non-toxic, unlike conventional chemotherapy agents. And it was found to be non-toxic even at higher concentrations. The study director underscored the importance of a diet rich in foods such as beans, nuts and cereals that would help prevent cancer.

Beans have also been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer due to the presence of flavonols, phytonutrients which are found in many plant-based foods including beans. Another finding based on data review from the Nurse's Study II is women who ate lentils or beans just twice a week reduced their risk of developing breast cancer by 24% compared to women who ate beans and lentils once a month or less.

In a study of nearly 35,000 women, those who ate four of more servings of legumes each week reduced their risk of developing colorectal cancer by approximately one-third. In a related study, people who had previously developed colon cancer were found able to reduce the risk of recurrence up to 45% by increasing their consumption of beans.

Several animal studies have concluded that incorporating beans into the diet can reduce the risk of developing colon cancer. In one study, rats were fed either pinto beans or milk protein as their main source of dietary protein. The bean fed rats had fewer tumors than the milk protein fed rats.

Other recent research conducted at the National Cancer Institute found that people who eat more dried legumes, such as pinto or navy beans, lentils, and bean soups have significantly less risk of developing colon cancer. Data culled from the Polyp Prevention Trial revealed that adding a significant amount of dry beans to one's existing diet has a strong protective effect against recurrence of precancerous polyps. Those participants who added the most dried beans to their diets had the most significantly reduced risk for recurrence of advanced polyps. On average, these people increase their dry bean consumption by four fold.

Beans offer a wealth of nutrition and a very low cost

Beans have significant antioxidant properties which make them a terrific anti-aging food. In a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, three varieties of beans ranked in the top four foods studied for antioxidant benefits. Red beans such as those used to make red beans and rice, red kidney beans, and pinto beans beat many other fruits and vegetables in antioxidant benefits.

Another study at the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences concluded that color is the key when choosing beans. Bean coats get their color and antioxidant capabilities from phenol and anthocyanins, and there is a link between the darker seed coats and higher phenol levels. This study also found red beans to have the highest antioxidant level, with black beans coming in second place.

Beans are a good source of soluble dietary fiber, containing about 4 grams per cup of cooked beans. Soluble fiber has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol in epidemiologic, clinical, and animal studies. Data from several human intervention trials indicate that consumption of canned and dry beans reduces both total and LDL cholesterol. Significant increases in HDL cholesterol and/or reduction in tryglycerides were also seen in many of the studies.

In addition to cholesterol, recent attention has been focuses on high levels of plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for vascular disease. High levels of homocysteine are correlated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease. Beans provide a significant amount of folate, one of the B vitamins found to reduce homocysteine levels.

Eating beans can help in maintaining desired weight levels. They can help reduce blood glucose, insulin, cholesterol concentrations, and reduce the incidence and consequences of diabetes.

Beans also contain energy sustaining complex carbohydrates, essential vitamins and minerals, and are very low in fat and sodium. A pound of almost every variety of organic dried beans can be bought for under one dollar, making beans a central player for anyone watching his or her budget.

Beans are a user friendly food

Some of the studies about the cancer-fighting benefits of beans have indicated that incorporating 3 cups of cooked beans a week into the diet can have significant health benefits. This may sound like a lot of beans, but it is easy to do. Beans make great main dishes, salad, soups, side dishes, and can be mashed or pureed for burritos and dips. They combine easily with other nutritious fare like vegetables, herbs and spices.

The only factor that seems to stand in the way of people eating beans is the intestinal gas they tend to produce. There are two easy ways around this problem. One is by soaking the beans for 12 to 15 hours before they are cooked. Pour off the water used for soaking, rinse and add fresh water for cooking. This soaking process replicates what nature had in mind for the bean.

Beans contain high levels of phytic acid or phytate, nature's way of preserving the bean as it lies on the ground waiting for the spring rains before it can germinate. When the rain comes, the bean soaks in the ground until this natural preservative is exhausted, and at that point the new plant is ready to grow and the nutrients it will need are released from the bean. After you have soaked beans for 12 to 15 hours, the phytate has been reduced and the nutrients in the bean have been made available. It is the preservative quality of phytate that make unsoaked beans so difficult to digest and so apt to produce gas when eaten.

The second way to reduce gas production is by using herbs and spices while cooking beans. Herbs and spices that go particularly well with beans include cumin, garlic, anise, fennel seeds, rosemary, caraway seeds, turmeric, lemongrass and coriander. And if you are really on flatulence patrol, get a bottle of digestive enzymes to make absolutely sure you are safe whether you have chosen to soak the beans or not. One that works particularly well with beans is V Gest from Enzymedica.

Additional Sources:

"Beans Investigated for Cancer-Fighting, Anti-diabetic Benefits", Colorado State University.

Elizabeth A Rondini and Maurice R. Bennink, "Beans and Cardiovascular Health", Michigan State University.

"Cancer and Nutrition", Asbestos.com website for The Mesothelioma Cancer Center.



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About the author
Barbara is a school psychologist, a published author in the area of personal finance, a breast cancer survivor using "alternative" treatments, a born existentialist, and a student of nature and all things natural.


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Beans: Fabulous Health Benefits, Weight Management and Nutrition at Very Low Cost

Thermograms are a Much Safer Alternative to Mammograms

Thermograms are a Much Safer Alternative to Mammograms

After a lifetime of mind indoctrination and brainwashing by the disease establishment, it's often next to impossible to break away. We have been taught throughout our lives that the answer to our physical problems resides in our doctor's office. We've been made to believe that science reveals all answers and our own innate common sense is worth nothing. It is just this type of mind control that compels women to line up for mammograms, even though their common sense tells them that radiation causes cancer. The good news is that now there is a much safer alternative scientifically proven to be effective at early detection. For women who feel they must spend their time looking for lumps, two recent studies have documented the value of thermography

Breast thermography uses heat to detect abnormalities

The thermogram is a test using heat radiating from your own body to detect problems in the breast. It involves no contact with the body, no compression, and is completely painless. A thermogram combines advanced digital technology with ultra-sensitive infrared camera imaging. It does not use radiation, and can be done as frequently as anyone thinks is necessary. Thermograms work by creating infra-red images (heat pictures) that are then analyzed to find asymmetries anywhere in the chest and underarm area. Any abnormality that causes change in heat production is seen on a thermogram, so any source of inflammation such as infection, trauma to the breast, and even sun burn will cause abnormality in the thermal picture.

Breast thermography detects patterns of heat generated by the increased circulation produced by abnormal metabolic activity in cancer cells. This activity occurs long before a cancer starts to invade new tissue. A breast thermogram has the ability to identify a breast abnormality five to ten years before the problem can be found on a mammogram.

There's science behind this process

Normal tissue that is non-cancerous has a blood supply under the control of the autonomic nervous system. This system can either increase or decrease blood flow to cells. However, abnormal tissue indicating cancer or pre-cancer ensures its own survival by secreting chemicals that override the autonomic nervous system regulation, thereby creating its own steady blood supply. Cancers can be thought of as off the power grid of the body.

When a woman's hands are placed in cold water, an autonomic nervous system reflex occurs in the breasts. This reflex causes the blood vessels in non-cancerous tissue to constrict, but does not result in constriction of blood vessels supplying any cancerous growth. The resulting difference in blood flow can result in cancer showing up as 'hot spots' on thermograms.

A study reported in the American Journal of Surgery, October edition, included 92 women who had undergone a breast biopsy based on prior mammogram or ultrasound results. 60 of the biopsies were malignant, and 34 were benign (two of the women had two biopsies). These women were then given thermograms. Results indicted the thermograms identified 58 of the 60 malignancies for a sensitivity rate of 97%.

Another study reported in the May-June edition of the Journal of Medical Engineering and Technology, reported a study of 15 women with palpable breast cancers who were preoperatively thermogrammed with three different infrared cameras – micro bolometer, quantum well, and photo voltaic - to compare the ability of these cameras to differentiate breast cancer from normal tissue. The quantum well and the photo voltaic cameras demonstrated the frequency difference between normal and cancerous breast tissue, with the photo voltaic camera displaying the greater clarity. The researchers reported that with selected image processing operations, more detailed frequency analyses could be applied to any suspicious area.

What goes on during a breast thermogram

Thermograms are taken at thermography centers. The woman disrobes above the waist and acclimates to room temperature for ten minutes after which the first of two series of images of the breasts is taken. Then the woman places her hands in cold water for one minute, after which the second set of images is taken. The images are evaluated by thermologists using signs and criteria established by the American Academy of Thermology to interpret thermogram data.

Breast thermograms do not diagnose breast cancer. They simply detect physiological changes in breast tissue that have been shown to correlate with the presence of cancer or pre-cancerous states as do mammograms. Breast cancer is only diagnosed by pathologist's microscopic examination of breast tissue.

Thermography centers have been around for several years in most major cities. They are definitely the wave of the future for early breast cancer detection. Amazingly, most traditional physicians don't know anything about them and continue to recommend mammograms.

Positive results suggest the need for further evaluation

Althouth a breast thermogram is a much safer form of screening that a mammogram, it too is just a screening. A thermogram evaluation yields a score ranging from 1 to 5. A rating of 1 implies no detectable thermal abnormalities, while a ranking of 5 suggests thermal abnormalities correlating with very significant risk for breast cancer. Positive results on a thermogram suggest the need for further evaluation as do positive results from a mammogram.

Early thermal abnormalities may result in a recommendation to repeat the process in 60-120 days. Depending on the rating score and clinical findings, a referral may be made for targeted ultrasound or to a breast specialist for possible biopsy. At this point, any practitioner so trained may recommend nutritional, metabolic, environmental, or lifestyle interventions to address the thermal abnormalities.

Many providers of thermograms accept self-referrals as well as referrals from healthcare practitioners. However, they are not as readily covered by insurance, in keeping with the trend in the insurance industry to cover toxic treatments but not procedures geared to keeping us healthy.

A recent study suggested that many breast lumps disappear on their own

Scientists who completed a recent study on the effects of mammograms concluded that some of the cancers detected could spontaneously regress if they were not discovered and treated. This conclusion appeals to common sense, because we know one of the basic principals of function in the body is constant striving to heal and restore homeostasis.

The disease establishment wants us to devote time and energy in a continuous search for breast lumps. We are told to examine ourselves every morning, and get as many mammograms as we can. After all, the sooner we can find the tiniest lump, the sooner we can be herded into the great cancer machine, and more money will be available to feed that machine. Yet when we are finally spit out the other end of that machine we are often ruined and unable to ever regain our health. Women have been turned into recruitment agents for this machine. We have been programmed to the point that many women never go a day without worrying about breast cancer.

As a people we tend to have limits to our physical, mental, emotional and psychological resources. How we direct these resources is our choice. We can spend our resources taking tests, examining ourselves for lumps and worrying. Or we can spend our time and resources raising our health status to the level where breast cancer becomes a non-issue.

Source

Merry Christmas

And Happy new year in advance! I'm just going golfing this morning.

Stocks fall on drip-drop of bad news

Stocks fall on drip-drop of bad news

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks fell Monday in a thinly traded session amid concerns about fourth-quarter corporate earnings, falling oil prices and ongoing woes in the auto industry.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 0.7% according to early tallies. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index dipped 2% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) was lost 1.8%.

Stocks languished for most of the morning before falling sharply in the afternoon as oil prices slid below $40 a barrel. That sent shares of oil industry firms Chevron Corp (CVX, Fortune 500) and Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) lower and weighed on the Dow. But the major indexes recovered some ground near the closing bell.

Prices for U.S. Treasury bonds fell as the government auctioned $92 billion in short-term debt. Gold prices rose.

"The general sentiment remains very weak," said David Levy, a portfolio manager at Kenjol Capital Management.

The market could be pressured in the weeks ahead as companies begin reporting fourth-quarter results, which are expected to remain soft, Levy added.

Still, December and January are traditionally some of the best months for stocks, and many investors say January sets the tone for the rest of the year.

"There's no doubt that there are plenty of opportunities in the market," Levy said. "But we can't say if there are other shoes left to drop."

Stocks may find some support early next year as details about President-elect Obama's stimulus plan become apparent, according to Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. in New York. Obama has called for an economic stimulus that would focus on rebuilding infrastructure and creating jobs. It is projected to cost between $500 billion and $700 billion over two years.

"As we get answers and more clarity on the fiscal stimulus plan, I think this market is going to celebrate that news," Hogan told CNNMoney.com.

Trading is expected to be volatile this week, with many market participants out for the holiday. Markets will close early on Wednesday and will remain closed on Thursday for the Christmas holiday.

Stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors responded to the Bush administration's plan to bail out the auto industry, and readjusted portfolios amid a plethora of options expirations.

Market breadth was negative. Declining shares outnumbered advancers by more than 2-to-1 with about 90 million shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange.

Automakers: Shares of Toyota (TM) fell after Japan's leading carmaker warned it will suffer an operating loss next year.

Toyota has been hit by declining U.S. sales and a stronger yen, which hurts profits when overseas sales are converted into the Japanese currency.

Meanwhile, shares of General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) fell more than 20% after analysts at Credit Suisse downgraded the stock and warned that the nation's leading automaker may already be drained of equity.

"In light of the complete overhaul of GM's capital structure that will likely be required to turn the company into a 'viable' entity and to comply with the government's requirements...[for]...the just-agreed-upon $13.4 billion in loans, we think existing equity holders will be largely (if not entirely) wiped out in the process," said Credit Suisse analysts in a research report.

President Bush said Friday the government will lend $13.4 billion to General Motors and Chrylser from the $700 billion financial-rescue plan.

Truck and tractor maker Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500) announced plans to lay off more than 800 employees at one of its engine plants and said it will take other steps to cut costs. The stock fell nearly 3%.

Corporate news: Moody's Investor Services placed Alcoa's (AA, Fortune 500) credit rating under review for a possible downgrade due to weakening demand and falling aluminum prices. Alcoa shares ended down 5%.

Shares of drugstore chain Walgreens fell after the company said its first-quarter net income fell 11% and announced plans to further limit store openings next year.

Walgreens (WAG, Fortune 500) posted net income of $408 million, or 41 cents a share, for the quarter ended Nov. 30, compared with $456 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of 46 cents.

Insurance giant American International Group said it will sell Hartford Steam Boiler, a subsidiary equipment insurer, to Munich Re Group for $742 million in cash and $76 million in stock.

AIG has been allocated more than $150 billion in government financing and was effectively nationalized in September. The company, which nearly collapsed earlier this year, has said it will repay the government loans by selling assets.

Shares of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) were up about 3%.

Retail: The market is also being pressured by concerns about anemic consumer spending.

In the latest sign of consumer distress, online holiday sales registered a declined for the first time in seven years, according to sales tracker ComScore.

Online spending for the first 49 days of the critical November-December gift-buying period fell 1% to $24.03 billion, compared to $24.15 billion over the same period last year, ComScore said.

That is a problem because consumer spending makes up two-thirds of the nation's overall economic activity.

Global economy: Central bankers in China and finance ministers in Ireland announced new steps aimed at limiting the global economic slowdown.

People's Bank of China lowered its benchmark 1-year lending rate to 2.25% from 2.52%, according to published reports. Last month, China cut its key rate by more than a percent as part of Beijing's multibillion-dollar plan to keep its economy afloat.

Meanwhile, finance ministers in Ireland announced a $7.7 billion bailout of three of the country's leading banks.

"The objective of these decisions is to ensure that the financial system in Ireland meets the everyday financial needs of individuals, businesses and the overall economy," said Brian Cowen, Ireland's prime minister in a statement.

Under the terms of the bailout, the government will take a majority stake in Anglo Irish Bank (AGIB.Y) and will inject capital into Allied Irish Banks (AIB) and Bank of Ireland (IRLBF).

Bonds: The benchmark 10-year note fell 9/32 to 114 7/32 and its yield rose to 2.14% from 2.07% on Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction. The 10-year yield dipped below 3% in November for the first time since the note was first issued in 1962.

Lending rates were mixed. The 3-month Libor rate slipped to 1.47% from 1.49% Friday, according to Bloomberg. The overnight Libor was unchanged at 0.11%. Libor is a key bank lending rate.

Other markets: In global trading, Asian markets were mixed, with Japan's Nikkei rising 1.5%. Major indexes in Europe closed lower.

The dollar was mixed versus the euro and gained against the pound and the yen.

U.S. light crude oil for February delivery was down $2.45 to settle at $39.91 a barrel in New York.

COMEX gold for February delivery gained $9.80 to $847.20 an ounce.

Gasoline prices fell overnight to a national average of $1.663 a gallon from $1.668, according to a survey of credit-card swipes released Monday by motorist group AAA.

CNN Business

Snow, snow (and plenty of ice) everywhere

Snow, snow (and plenty of ice) everywhere
Snowstorms and icy conditions on Sunday delayed flights across the northern United States, caused havoc on roads and left thousands without electricity.
A worker shovels snow as the storm hits Chicago, Illinois.

A worker shovels snow as the storm hits Chicago, Illinois.
more photos »

At least one death has been attributed to storms that hit all over the country in the past week. A 44-year-old Massachusetts man died Friday when a tree limb weighed down by snow fell on him, authorities said.

Forecasters say there's more cold weather to come.

Authorities urged motorists in north-central and northeast Iowa to stay off roads because of poor visibility caused by blowing snow. Authorities prohibited tow trucks from operating on U.S. Highway 20, near the border with Minnesota, because of concerns the tow trucks would get stuck.

Forecasters said wind chills of 20 below and 30 below zero were possible in much of the rest of the Midwest, prompting wind chill advisories and warnings for the region into Monday morning.

Blizzard warnings also were expected to be in effect into Monday for parts of Maine and western parts of Michigan's lower peninsula.

In much of Maine, between 10 and 18 inches of snow was expected to fall Sunday and Monday, the weather service said. Whiteout conditions were expected at night, with wind gusts of up to 45 mph, the weather service said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation ordered snowplow drivers off the road until Sunday morning in 13 southwest counties, because of poor visibility, blowing snow and wind gusts up to 40 mph, an agency spokeswoman said Saturday.
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* Drivers warned to stay off snowy roads
* Northeast braces for storm
* FAA.gov: Flight delay information

The western U.S. has also been hit with the cold blast. Parts of Washington saw 2 to 3 feet of snow last week. On Friday, two buses carrying 80 people collided on a road in Seattle and crashed through a metal railing, where they hung over a freeway for several hours before two trucks rescued them.

Many roads in Walla Walla, Washington, had yet to be plowed by Saturday, and the only practical way to drive on them was to have chains on tires, iReporter Aaron Cloward said. Video Watch how driving has been difficult in Walla Walla »

Cloward, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah, said he had "never seen roads this bad or snow this bad." He also said he's been unable to free his car.

"Everything is sold out -- snow shovels, ice melt, salt, chains ... so I don't know how to get out," he said.
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The storm system is expected to move eastward, where people are already dealing with air traffic delays and power outages brought on by snowfall earlier this week.

"This is essentially the reincarnation of the same storm that brought the heavy snow to parts of California, southern Nevada and northern Arizona," Steve Corfidi, lead forecaster with the weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, told CNNRadio

CNN NEWS

Ripples of Madoff scandal spread everywhere

Ripples of Madoff scandal spread everywhere
Wall Street wizard accused of swindling $50 billion in Ponzi scheme
Image: Bernard Madoff
Jason Decrow / AP
Bernard Madoff, chairman of Madoff Investment Securities, is accused of defrauding investors of up to $50 billion. The losses have hammered institutions and individuals around the world.

NEW YORK - In the nonprofit legal center Steven Schwartz runs from a converted furniture store in Northampton, Mass., the e-mail was very good news: By week's end, a check for $243,000 would be on its way.

The money couldn't come soon enough. The sharp downturn in the economy had put Schwartz's group — working to improve treatment of teen offenders with mental illnesses — under very tight budget pressure. At least the check was a promise he could count on.

By that Thursday, though, events were unfolding 160 miles away that would upend those assumptions and assurances. In a federal courtroom in lower Manhattan, a Wall Street wizard stood before a judge, charged with running a $50 billion fraud that targeted scores of wealthy and powerful investors.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

The name of the accused, Bernard L. Madoff, meant nothing to Schwartz and why should it? He'd never heard of the money manager with the beachfront mansion and the 55-foot yacht. They'd certainly never met. There was no reason to think they had anything in common.

Except, it turned out, the money.

In the days since Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest, the tale has repeatedly been told of wealthy victims who, perhaps naively, invested their trust in a man who promised financial miracles.

But the scale of the Madoff scandal can just as well be measured in its still-widening ripples, reaching far-flung people and causes — from a group helping just-released inmates find jobs in Rhode Island to another working to provide fresh food in poor neighborhoods in Detroit and Oakland, Calif.

Their future is now in jeopardy — a painful reminder of the financial web linking very different worlds.

'My father believed in Bernie'
Signing up companies for office space in Manhattan skyscrapers made Norman F. Levy a very rich man.

In the hotly competitive but tight-knit world of New York commercial real estate, Levy worked across more than seven decades brokering leases in midtown's towers. When he died in 2005 at 93, he was hailed as an elder statesman of the trade whose zest for the deal was matched by his generosity with both friendship and money.

"Your spirit and love of life have touched and changed all who knew you," one friend of 40 years wrote in a paid death notice for Levy that ran in The New York Times. "You taught me so much. I'll cherish our relationship forever."

The friend was Bernard Madoff.

The real estate broker and the money manager were separated by 26 years, but they and their families had formed a friendship reinforced by shared interests, social circles — and trust.

Levy and Madoff were active in some of the same organizations, like New York's Yeshiva University. They donated their money to many of the same causes — groups including the Lincoln Center Theater and Gift of Life, a South Florida charity that tries to save Jewish leukemia victims by matching them with bone marrow donors.

In the summer, both families headed to the Hamptons. When Norman F. Levy died, he was staying at his daughter's house fronting the Atlantic in Montauk, just a few sprawling lots away from the mansion owned by the Madoffs.

Click for related content
Foundation to shut down, blames Madoff
Read more from the Madoff case

For more than 30 years, the Levys also entrusted their personal investments to Madoff. When they chartered the Betty and Norman F. Levy Foundation — which reported assets last year of $244.4 million — as the vehicle for their charitable giving, they again put their trust in their longtime friend.

"My father believed in Bernie Madoff," Norman Levy's son, Francis — who declined to comment for this article — said in a recent interview with FOX Business News. "The one thing he said about Bernie (was), If there's one honorable person, it's Bernie'."

Helping the less fortunate
Francis Levy, a novelist, and his sister, Jeanne Levy Church, had no reason to think otherwise.

When Norman Levy died, they took the helm of the family philanthropy, leaving the funds invested with Madoff, whose offices were housed in the same Third Avenue tower as the foundation.

The Levy Foundation continued donations to longtime favorite charities. But its biggest checks went to a new set of organizations created by Norman Levy's children to champion causes they embraced.

In 2000, Jeanne set up the JEHT Foundation, whose name is an acronym for Justice, Equality, Human dignity and Tolerance — originally to work on criminal justice reform, an area where funds are scarce. Last year, the Levy family financed JEHT to the tune of $29.9 million.

Levy Church, and her husband, Kenneth, "felt that they were fortunate in their life to have this remarkable amount of money and they felt they wanted to use it for less fortunate people," said Robert Crane, president of the JEHT Foundation.

Francis Levy co-founded the Philoctetes Center, a group dedicated to fostering discussions of everything from literature to economics. In 2007, the Levy Foundation financed Philoctetes with $950,000. Last year, Francis Levy invited his family's longtime friend, Madoff, to appear on a panel at the center to talk about the workings of Wall Street.

More recently, the Levy Churches formed another group, the Fair Food Foundation, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., which set out to find ways to get fresher, healthy food to residents of poor city neighborhoods starting with Detroit and Oakland, Calif.

None of the Levys' foundations are well-known to the general public. But they got an enthusiastic reception from groups across the country that were hungry for funding.

Continue reading here

Cancer from cell phone use in cars

Cancer from cell phone use in cars

The Belgian Foundation Against Cancer warns that intensive use of a mobile phone can increase the risk of contracting cancer in certain situations.

The Belgian Cancer Foundation has picked up on the concerns of the World Health Organisation regarding mobile phones. “The first results of an international interphone study are quite alarming,” writes the Foundation on its website. Although the results of the study are not yet definitive the Foundation says there is definitely reason for concern.

To limit the risk of exposing yourself to an increased chance of contracting cancer the Belgian Cancer Foundation gives a number of tips including: children younger than 12 should not use a mobile phone; using a mobile phone as an alarm clock is not desirable because the phone is in close proximity to the head the entire night.

The Cancer Foundation also strongly advises people not to use a mobile phone in the car or train because the intensity of the signal from the antenna masts is stronger.

This is the first time the Belgian Foundation Against Cancer has openly advising people of the danger of using mobile telephones.

Source

Ice melting across globe at accelerating rate, NASA says

Ice melting across globe at accelerating rate, NASA says

Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming.
This image shows the changing rate of mass in mountain glaciers on the Gulf of Alaska.

This image shows the changing rate of mass in mountain glaciers on the Gulf of Alaska.

Using new satellite technology that measures changes in mass in mountain glaciers and ice sheets, NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke concluded that the losses amounted to enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay 21 times.

"The ice tells us in a very real way how the climate is changing," said Luthcke, who will present his findings this week at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco, California.

NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, mission uses two orbiting satellites to measure the "mass balance" of a glacier, or the net annual difference between ice accumulation and ice loss.

"A few degrees of change [in temperature] can increase the amount of mass loss, and that contributes to sea level rise and changes in ocean current," Luthcke said.

The data reflects findings from NASA colleague Jay Zwally, who uses different satellite technology to observe changing ice volume in Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctica.

In the past five years, Greenland has lost between 150 gigatons and 160 gigatons each year, (one gigaton equals one billion tons) or enough to raise global sea levels about .5 mm per year, said Zwally, who will also present his findings at the conference this week.
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GRACE measured that mountain glaciers in the Gulf of Alaska lost about 84 gigatons each year, about five times the average annual flow of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, according to NASA.

"Every few extra inches of sea level have very significant economic impacts, because they change the sea level, increase flooding and storm damage," said, Zwally, ICESat Project Scientist. "It's a warning sign."

Melting ice, especially in Greenland and the Arctic, is also thought to contribute to global warming, Zwally said. When the vast ice sheets and glaciers melt, they lose their reflective power, and instead, oceans and land absorb the heat, causing the Arctic waters and the atmosphere to warm faster.

"We're seeing the impacts of global warming in many areas of our own lives, like agriculture," Zwally said.

As an example, he cited the pine beetle infestation of this summer in the forests of Colorado and western Canada.

"They were believed to be spreading because the winter was not cold enough to kill them, and that's destroying forests," he said.

In the 1990s, Greenland took in as much snow and water as it let out, Zwally said. But now, about 15 years later, sea levels are rising about 50 percent faster, making the global climate situation even more unpredictable.

"The best estimates are that sea levels will rise about 18 to 36 inches by the end of the century, but because of what's going on and how fast things are changing, there's a lot of uncertainty," he said.

Source

Karma

Iranian to be blinded with acid for doing same to woman
An Iranian woman, blinded by a jilted stalker who threw acid in her face, has persuaded a court to sentence him to be blinded with acid himself under Islamic law demanding an eye for an eye.

Ameneh Bahrami refused to accept "blood money." She insisted instead that her attacker suffer a fate similar to her own "so people like him would realize they do not have the right to throw acid in girls' faces," she told the Tehran Provincial Court.

Her attacker, a 27-year-old man identified in court papers as Majid, admitted throwing acid in her face in November 2004, blinding and disfiguring her. He said he loved her and insisted she loved him as well.

He has until early this week to appeal the sentence.
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Doctors say there is no chance Bahrami will recover her vision, despite repeated operations, including medical care in Spain partially paid for by Iran's reformist former president, Mohammed Khatami, who was in power when the attack took place.

Majid said he was still willing to marry Bahrami, but she ruled out the possibility and urged that he remain locked up.

"I am not willing to get blood money from the defendant, who is still thinking about destroying me and wants to take my eyes out," she told the court. "How could he pretend to be in love? If they let this guy go free, he will definitely kill me."

Bahrami told the court that Majid's mother had repeatedly tried to arrange a marriage between the two after Majid met Bahrami at university.

She rejected the offer, not even sure at first who the suitor was. Her friends told her he was a man who had once harassed her in class, leading to an argument between them.

But he refused to accept her rejection, she said, going to her workplace and threatening her.

Finally, she lied and told him she had married someone else and that "it would be better all around if he would leave [her] alone."

She told the court that she reported the conversation to police, saying he had threatened her with "burning for the rest of my life" -- but they said they could not act until a crime had been committed.

Two days later, on November 2, 2004, as she was walking home from work, she became aware of a man following her. She slowed, then stopped to let him pass.

"When the person came close, I realized that it was Majid," she said. "Everything happened in a second. He was holding a red container in his hand. He looked into my eyes for a second and threw the contents of the red container into my face."

Bahrami knew exactly what was happening, she said.

"At that moment, I saw in my mind the face of two sisters who years ago had the same thing happen to them. I thought, 'Oh, my God -- acid.' "

Passers-by tried to wash the acid off Bahrami, then took her to Labafinejad Hospital.

"They did everything possible for me," she said of the doctors and nurses there.

Then, one day, they asked her to sign papers allowing them to operate on her.

"I said, 'Do you want to take my eyes out?' The doctor cried and left."

They did want to remove her eyes surgically, she learned, for fear they would become infected, potentially leading to a fatal infection of her brain.

But she refused to allow it, both because she was not sure she could handle it psychologically, and because she thought her death would be easier for her family to bear.

"If I had died, my family would probably be sad for a year and mourn my death, and then they would get used to it," she told the court. "But now every day they look at me and see that I am slowly wasting away."

The three-judge panel ruled unanimously on November 26 that Majid should be blinded with acid and forced to pay compensation for the injuries to Bahrami's face, hands and body caused by the acid.

That was what she had demanded earlier in the trial. But she did not ask for his face to be disfigured, as hers was.

"Of course, only blind him and take his eyes, because I cannot behave the way he did and ask for acid to be thrown in his face," she said. "Because that would be [a] savage, barbaric act. Only take away his sight so that his eyes will become like mine. I am not saying this from a selfish motive. This is what society demands."

Attacking women and girls by throwing acid in their faces is sufficiently common in countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia that groups have been formed to fight it. Human rights organizations have condemned the practice in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is not clear how often such attacks take place in Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are the only countries that consider eye-gouging to be a legitimate judicial punishment, Human Rights Watch has said.

CNN News

Government warns on contaminated baby food

Government warns on contaminated baby food

AUSTRALIA'S food safety regulator has issued a warning about a Norwegian baby food product that may be contaminated with deadly bacteria.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has advised that children should not consume Hipp's baby food after a warning was issued by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA).

The NFSA's website says there are suspicions that Hipp's fruit puree with apricot and banana may contain Clostridium botulinum following an outbreak of illness in Denmark.

"This product is not exported to Australia, but Food Standards Australia New Zealand warns parents, who may have bought this product overseas for personal use, to ensure their child does not consume it," FSANZ said in a statement.

Clostridium botulinum can cause dangerous food poisoning, even in small doses.

Source

Everlasting bodies?

Somehow, no thanks.

Interesting article, nonetheless.

Never Say Die
By the time it reaches the age of 18 days, the average roundworm is old, flabby, sluggish and wrinkled. By 20 days, the creature will likely be dead—unless, that is, it's one of Cynthia Kenyon's worms. Kenyon, director of the Hillblom Center for the Biology of Aging at the University of California, San Francisco, has tinkered with two genes that turn simple worms into mini-Methuselahs, with life spans of up to 144 days. "You can beat them up in ways that would kill a normal worm—exposing them to high heat, radiation and infectious microbes—and still they don't die," she says. "Instead, they're moving and looking like young worms. It's like a miracle—except it's science."

Since the days of Ponce de León, if not before, people have been seeking the elusive Fountain of Youth. Until recently, such pursuits were the realm of quacks and charlatans. And there are still plenty of snake-oil salesmen out there on the Internet and in so-called anti-aging clinics, hawking everything from longevity-bestowing Ecuadoran waters (which are probably harmless) to growth hormones (which could be downright dangerous for adults). But serious scientists are now bringing respectability to the field, unraveling the secrets of aging on a cellular level and looking for ways to slow it down. And while the science is still young (so to speak), legitimate longevity-boosting treatments could be available in 10 to 15 years—although the gains would be more modest than in Kenyon's worms.

The pursuit is not as quixotic as it may seem. Some critics of the scientific quest for longevity say it's God's will that we should die when our time comes. But in the past century, a clean water supply, antibiotics, vaccines and improved medical care have boosted life expectancy at birth by roughly 50 percent in the United States—from 48 for men and 51 for women in 1900 to 75 for men and 80 for women today. No one seems to object to that. "I'm 54," says Felipe Sierra, director of the division of aging biology at the National Institute on Aging. "A hundred years ago, I would have been dead by this age." Others argue that keeping people alive longer will further strain the social safety net. Yet for most scientists, the goal is not to tack years of sickness onto the end of life. "The goal is to extend youth," says Harvard molecular biochemist David Sinclair, who is working with a potential anti-aging compound called resveratrol. "I want to keep people healthier for longer and lessen the burden on the economy."

Studies are already yielding important clues on what produces healthy aging. One obvious answer is a healthy lifestyle, with plenty of exercise and a diet that includes lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Seventh-day Adventists eat a vegetarian diet, don't smoke and spend a lot of time with family and church groups, which helps reduce stress. "They routinely live to 88 or so, which suggests those are ages most of us could attain with a healthy lifestyle," says Dr. Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study.

But to make it to 100, like the 1,500 participants in Perls's study—or 110, like his "supercententarians"—it takes more than virtuous behavior and avoiding a collision with a Mack truck. A person needs genes that slow aging and boost defenses against age-related diseases. About half a dozen such genes have been identified out of perhaps 100 or so that might exist. The exceptional people with these genes seem to spend very little time sick—even when they defy all the rules. "We had one man who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day," says Perls. "He gave up smoking at 90, but he still drank three martinis a day—and he was out repairing his roof the day before I visited him. He died at 103."

Some of these beneficial genes appear to be involved in metabolic pathways related to growth, as well as the processing of fat and cholesterol. Kenyon manipulates a gene in her worms that reduces the action of insulin and a related hormone called IGF-1. "Lowering these hormones activates a gene called Foxo," she says, "which stimulates a whole host of responses that protect cells—boosting the immune system, increasing antioxidants, keeping proteins folded correctly." A study of Ashkenazi Jewish centenarians this year also found variations in genes governing IGF-1. A second study found protective changes in the Foxo genes of healthy 95-year-old men.

'

Newsweek

Study Shows High Fat Meals Cause Memory Decline

Study Shows High Fat Meals Cause Memory Decline

Heating meals high in fat can trigger and worsen the memory decline associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a study on diabetics conducted by researchers from the Kunin-Lunenfeld Applied Research Unit at Baycrest and published in the journal Nutrition Research.

It is well known that high-fat foods can increase concentrations of free radicals in the body. These oxidizing molecules cause cell damage and are associated with various symptoms of aging, including cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Because diabetics are known to be particularly susceptible to chronic oxidative stress, researchers carried out a study on 16 Type 2 diabetes patients over the age of 49.

The participants were fed three different meals, one at each of three different weekly sessions. A control meal consisted of only water, while the high-fat meal consisted of a danish with cheddar cheese, yogurt and whipped cream. The third meal contained the same food as the high-fat meal, plus a 1,000 milligram tablet of vitamin C and an 800 IU tablet of vitamin E.

Vitamin C and E are antioxidants, which remove free radicals from the body.

Starting 15 minutes after the beginning of each meal, participants were tested on their ability to remember words and other information that they had heard or read, for a total of 90 minutes. Those who had eaten the high-fat meal scored significantly worse both immediately and 90 minutes after the meal than those in the water or high-fat-plus-vitamins groups.

No memory decline was observed in the vitamin group.

"Our bottom line is that consuming unhealthy meals for those with diabetes can temporarily ... worsen already underlying memory problems," lead author Michael Herman Chui said. "We've shown that antioxidant vitamins can minimize oxidative stress from the meal and reduce those immediate memory deficits."

But the researchers emphasized that people should not rely on vitamin pills to make up for unhealthy habits.

"While our study looked at the pill form of antioxidants, we would ultimately want individuals to consume healthier foods high in antioxidants, like fruits and vegetables," researcher Carol Greenwood said.

Source

Cancer to be world's top killer by 2010, WHO says

Cancer to be world's top killer by 2010, WHO says

ATLANTA – Cancer will overtake heart disease as the world's top killer by 2010, part of a trend that should more than double global cancer cases and deaths by 2030, international health experts said in a report released Tuesday. Rising tobacco use in developing countries is believed to be a huge reason for the shift, particularly in China and India, where 40 percent of the world's smokers now live.

So is better diagnosing of cancer, along with the downward trend in infectious diseases that used to be the world's leading killers.

Cancer diagnoses around the world have steadily been rising and are expected to hit 12 million this year. Global cancer deaths are expected to reach 7 million, according to the new report by the World Health Organization.

An annual rise of 1 percent in cases and deaths is expected — with even larger increases in China, Russia and India. That means new cancer cases will likely mushroom to 27 million annually by 2030, with deaths hitting 17 million.

Underlying all this is an expected expansion of the world's population — there will be more people around to get cancer.

Source

A wake-up call for a return to nutrition basics

A wake-up call for a return to nutrition basics

More than 800 million people, or about 13 percent of the global population, are classifi ed as undernourished. The defi ciency in essential nutrients is said to be the underlying cause of an estimated 3.5 million deaths each year, mostly in young children and pregnant women. Under-nutrition among pregnant women in developing
countries is reported to lead to one out of six infants born with low birth weight.

In Malaysia, diabetes has reached very alarming proportions. In the first National
Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS)carried out in 1986, the prevalence of diabetes was 6.3 percent. Just ten years later this figure increased to 8.3 percent. Now, based on the latest NHMS III, conducted in 2006, diabetes prevalence has increased to 14.9 percent.

Diabetes Type II is strongly linked to high sugar consumption and obesity.

Nutrition can be defi ned as the process of taking in the substances needed to nourish and support life and growth. Access to nutritious food is a key element in
achieving a well-balanced nutrition. But as the world becomes more dependent on artifi cially processed food, balanced nutrition is compromised, resulting in chronic
health problems. Worsening the problem is the addition of toxic chemicals on essential food products.

Tainted milk
The recent scandal where four children in China died following the consumption of baby formula milk contaminated with the toxic chemical known as melamine should serve as a wake-up call.

Melamine, used as an ingredient in the manufacture of some plastics and fertilizers, has found its way into food products such as infant formula and confectionaries. It
is abhorrent that melamine has been deliberately added to milk to give the false
impression of higher levels of protein than actually exists.

Authorities try to allay the fears of the public by announcing that the levels of melamine in certain foods are within “permissible levels”. This term should be questioned.

Melamine is a synthetic chemical. It does not occur naturally in food. Should permissible levels be set for substances that are not naturally occurring in food?
By law, there should be a zero tolerance for melamine, as well as other synthetic toxic chemicals in food, rather than waiting for all the evidence to come in, which might be too late – when harm has already been done.

There is the danger of the cumulative doses or ingestions that enhance the harm posed by such chemicals. Furthermore, the full effects of chemicals not meant for humans may not have been studied fully, and for over a suffi ciently long period of time. It is not ethical to conduct such tests on people. In cases such as these, the *Precautionary Principle should be applied and the consumption of this chemical should be fully avoided.

In the case of infants, breast milk is the safest and healthiest choice – fully for the fi rst six months, and thereafter as a complement to solid foods right up to at
least two years. Governments and the community as a whole would need to make a commitment to move in this direction and create a supportive environment.

Buyers beware
Overall, the Consumer Association of Penang (CAP) believes that it is timely for people to move away from eating so much artifi cially-processed foods, and instead
move towards natural healthy produce and home-cooked meals. There are countless additives included in many of the highly-processed foods in the market. Foods are altered so far from their original state. We did not require all these artificial additives at one time. If really needed, there are numerous natural substances such as natural colours or flavours that can be used for food. We do not see that it is possible for the public to take any realistic precautions themselves when it comes to
products on the shelves as it is impossible for people to know which foods contain dangerous chemicals. At the very least, food manufacturers should be required
to list the common names of all additives, such as preservatives, coloring, fl avors, flavor enhancers, antioxidants and conditioners, on the food labels and outer
packaging - as opposed to using numerical or alphabet codes or merely using phrases such as “Permitted Coloring” or “Permitted Conditioners” under the ingredients list. Information on the concentrations of these additives should also be provided.

The excuse sometimes given is that there is not enough space on the food label. We ask - should there be so many additives in a product that the information cannot even fit on a label, and should this be permitted by the authorities?

In view of the rise of critical chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure, the information on salt, sugar, saturated fats and trans fats should be listed on current food labels. These particular components should be separated out from the general “Nutrition facts” or “Nutritional Labelling” so that the public is not lulled into a false sense of security. Rather, the attention of consumers can be immediately drawn towards taking special note of these ingredients that are linked to adverse health outcomes.

In view of our country’s alarming diabetic rates, which are only expected to worsen over the coming years, CAP believes that much more needs to be done, and with greater sense of urgency. Firm action needs to be taken against the numerous sweets and confectionaries that have fl ooded the market. These products that are being marketed to children are not conducive to health. They contain basically nothing more than sugar, coloring and other additives, which are not even labeled on the
packaging. Children received no nutritional benefit from consuming these products.
Sugary soft drinks, either carbonated or non-carbonated, used to be more of a luxury in the past and they were consumed as a treat. Nowadays, these drinks are sold in abundance everywhere. Vending machines proffering these drinks are also found at many locations, including airports, hospitals and schools. It is also becoming
increasingly common to see these drinks being offered in “jumbo” portions at various restaurants and food joints.

Source

2009: Year of the thaw

2009: Year of the thaw
Why the great credit freeze of 2008 won't turn into the Great Depression of 2009.
(Money Magazine) -- Well, we were partly right. At this time last year, we said that the stock market would be increasingly volatile in 2008, that home prices would fall further and that a subprime blowup could propel the economy downward.

But not in our wildest dreams did we foresee anything like the kind of jaw-dropping, stomach-churning ride that lay ahead. The economy in recession (as most experts now believe)? The Dow off 40%? Credit markets frozen worse than Sarah Palin's hometown? Precious few saw all that coming.

Peering into the future is tricky in the best of times. But even though predictions always turn out to be flawed - it's impossible for even the smartest experts to nail this stuff perfectly - you cannot build a future without first guessing what challenges you'll face on the way there.

Source

Bush in Philadelphia: 'Welcome to my hanging'

Bush in Philadelphia: 'Welcome to my hanging'

President Bush has often said he doesn’t dwell on how others view him – but he spent plenty of time Saturday taking in one conception, attending the unveiling of a presidential portrait in at a private club in Philadelphia.

"Welcome to my hanging," said Bush, to laughter from the crowd.

Watch Bush at his portrait's unveiling

Artist Mark Carder painted the portrait after taking hundreds of photos of Bush this spring. In it, Bush is standing in the White House Treaty Room, looking straight ahead.

“I was taken aback by how much gray paint you had to use,” Bush told Carder in his Saturday comments at the Union League in Philadelphia. “It speaks more about my job than yours.”

The president also compared himself to another commander-in-chief. “I found it interesting that the League was founded in 1862, to support President Lincoln in a time when his leadership was deeply controversial,” he said. “I know how he felt.”

Source

Have degree - and pink slip

Have degree - and pink slip
The number of college grads seeking work is at an all time high, which means more bad news for the broader economy.
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By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: December 5, 2008: 2:57 PM ET

1.9 million jobs lost in 2008video
1.9 million jobs lost in 2008
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- There are currently a record number of unemployed college graduates seeking work. So many, in fact, that they outnumber high school dropouts on the job hunt.

In November the number of people with a higher degree who were out of work rose to 1.413 million from 1.411 million in the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Comparatively, there were 1.282 million unemployed high school dropouts, up slightly from 1.273 million in October.

"College graduates are not going to get away unscathed," said Dean Baker, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, "everyone is being hit by this."

While the manufacturing and construction industries were hardest hit by layoffs last month - 85,000 and 82,000 jobs lost, respectively, according to the Labor Department - it is the professional and business services category that many economists view as a barometer for overall economic activity.

In its November jobs report, the Labor Department said that firms in the business and professional services category cut 136,000 jobs, the largest one-month drop on record. Additionally, financial services jobs fell by 32,000, another record decline.

Those job cuts are hitting college educated workers the hardest, according to Dr. Reena Aggarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

"A lot of the job losses are the more higher paying jobs and it's just going to mean far fewer dollars flowing into the economy," she said.
A glass half full

But even though business and professional services saw significant layoffs, the unemployment rate among those with a higher degree held steady at 3.1% in November. The overall unemployment rate rose to 6.7% from 6.5% in October.

"You're still less than half as likely to be unemployed if you have a college degree," Baker said.

"The numbers say, despite these conditions, we still have a strong job market within the professional skills category, nearly 97% of college-educated workers are employed," said Janette Marx, senior vice president of Ajilon Global, professional staffing firm.

Going forward, "you may see an increase but it will probably remain at half or less than half of the overall unemployment rate," Marx said.

Experts agree that overall unemployment is likely to rise substantially in the months ahead. The Labor Department announced that the economy shed 533,000 jobs in November, the largest monthly job loss total since December 1974. The year's total job losses is now 1.9 million, not including the slew of large-scale job-cut announcements on Thursday.

But Baker said college graduates shouldn't panic, yet. "In a way, there's been a little bit of a lead time," she explained. "Students understand this is not going to be a market where they will have three or four offers." To top of page

Source

Latest GMO Research: Decreased Fertility, Immunological Alterations and Allergies

Latest GMO Research: Decreased Fertility, Immunological Alterations and Allergies

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are created through an inexact science of shooting genes spliced from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or humans with a .22 caliber pistol into the DNA of plants or animals laced with a metal such as tungsten. This unsafe science ostensibly supplants millions of years of evolution with little or no scientific justification. In fact, recent research on GMO crops have reported yields to be between 4 to 20 percent less than conventional crops [1-6].

In the 1970's when genetic engineered was pioneered, scientists believed the genome was static and genes could be altered in a uniform manner with the organism only expressing the one intended modification. As research progressed in the 1980's, scientists scrapped the idea of the static genome and moved towards a dynamic genomic belief model. This came about from the realization that by inserting a new gene into a plant, a cascade of unintended consequences arose. Scientists found that there was no possible way to introduce a new gene into an organism and only get one intended result. The genes quickly changed based on a myriad of unknown circumstances that sometimes could not be repeated in the lab even though the exact same procedures were used. The levels of instability from these newly created organisms were overwhelming, but many scientists were silenced.

Safety has always been the number one priority of consumers when it comes to GMOs; antithetically, the seed companies' only priority has been to increase profits at any expense. Therefore, it is no surprise that objective and unbiased researchers have recently added to the growing knowledge of the realities of the increased instability and unintended consequences regarding the long-term safety of GMOs. These researchers recently found clear links among the consumption of GM-corn and decreased fertility, immunological alterations in the gut and the exacerbation and creation of allergies.

Fertility in GM-Fed Mice
Scientists in Austria recently conducted the first ever long-term multi-generational feeding study of Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) corn (NK 603 x MON 810) in mice [7]. The study consisted of two groups: an experimental group, which was fed a 33% GM corn (maize) feed, and a control group, which was fed an equivalent non-GM corn feed. The mice were allowed to live a natural life and were monitored for four generations. Scientists recorded organ weight, gene expression, body mass, metabolism, life span and number of offspring of both groups of mice. The scientists found that mice fed GM corn had significantly less pups per litter than the control group on the third and fourth generation. Furthermore, pups whose parents were fed GM-feed weighed less at birth and at weaning and experienced significantly higher mortality rates than those fed non-GM corn. Lead author of the study Professor Zentek reported that there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet and mice fed non-GM corn reproduced more efficiently.

Gene Expression in GM-Fed Mice
Using a microarray analysis, the scientists reported that 1016 genes had been differentially expressed in the mice fed GM corn with most being up-regulated. Essentially, the GM-fed mice had hundreds of their proteins, which are encoded by genes, expressed in an increased or decreased quantity, which as a corollary altered certain biological processes in their bodies. For example, sensory perception, ion transport and the ability to breakdown proteins (proteolysis) were down-regulated or under-expressed, while the ability of the mice to regulate T-cells (a primary immunological response especially in fighting cancer), circadian rhythm regulation and the FAS signalling pathway (which is a major pathway for cell apoptosis and is important in the elimination of cancers) were over-expressed. This study elucidates the fact that biologic damage from GMOs may not manifest until the third generation and details strong evidence for the mandatory labelling, and even more so for the mass extinction, of these highly dangerous and unnecessary foods.

Immunological Reactions in GM Fed Mice
Italian researchers at the National Institute of Nutrition in Rome, Italy, recently published a study examining the effects of a 50 percent GM-corn (maize) diet on the intestinal immune response of mice [8]. The GM-corn was known as Monsanto's transgenic MON810 and was created using an inserted foreign DNA sequence from the bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) designed to protect against a fungus known as the Fusarium species. The study was conducted over 30 and 90-day periods respectively, with mice from two groups, weaning age (mean of 21 days) and old age (mean of 15 months). The study evaluated the peripheral and intestinal immune response to long-term GM-corn and non-GM corn consumption of each group across the two periods. The young and old mice were used because of the lack of research on these subsets as well as their potential susceptibility to immunological changes, more so than non-aged adult animals.

The results of the long-term study revealed significant changes in the immunophenotype of the gut, spleen, circulating lymphocytes and the level of serum cytokines of the mice fed GM-corn. Immunophenotyping essentially determines the expression of proteins by the cells. Any differences in the expression of proteins between the control and the experimental groups would be attributable to the GM diet. Specifically, the researchers found an increased presence of several cytokines in the GM fed mice, which are specifically involved in inflammatory and allergic responses by the body. The researchers also found an increase in the protein expression of lymphocytes (TCRγδ+ population). Within this population, the γδT cells reside in the gut and are associated with regulatory elements of the immune response, specific to infectious agents [9-11]. Elevated amounts γδT cells have been found in asthmatics, children suffering from food allergies, gastrointestinal symptoms and juvenile arthritis [12]. The GM-fed mice also exhibited significant alterations in the number of T and B cells, indicating a significantly abnormal immune response to the genetically altered feed. Furthermore, other researchers have found a newly expressed protein from the consumption of GM corn (50 kDa γ-zein), which is a widely known allergenic protein [13]. In conclusion, from the newly presented research it is apparent that ingesting genetically engineered BT corn not only invokes an anaphylaxis (allergenic) response within the body, it also deregulates several proteins, inhibits fertility and alters the overall immunological response by the body. Clearly, Monsanto whose sole goal is to control the world through food, has a lot of explaining to do.

Source

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children

FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children
For the first time, the FDA has issued a warning that the mercury contained in silver dental fillings may pose neurological risks to children and pregnant women.

"Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetuses," reads a statement that has been added to the agency's Web site. "Pregnant women and persons who may have a health condition that makes them more sensitive to mercury exposure, including individuals with existing high levels of mercury bioburden, should not avoid seeking dental care, but should discuss options with their health practitioner."

The warning was one of the conditions that the FDA agreed to in settling a lawsuit filed by several consumer health groups.

"Gone, gone, gone are all of FDA's claims that no science exists that amalgam is unsafe," said Charles Brown, a lawyer for Consumers for Dental Choice, one of the plaintiffs.

"It's a watershed moment," said Michael Bender of the Mercury Policy Project, another plaintiff.

Mercury is a well-known neurotoxin that can cause cognitive and developmental problems, especially in fetuses and children. It can also cause brain and kidney damage in adults.

So-called dental amalgams, or fillings made with a mix of mercury and other metals, have been used since the 1800s. Although it is known that small amounts of mercury are vaporized (and can be inhaled) when the fillings are used to chew food, and though Canada, France and Sweden have all placed restrictions on the use of mercury fillings, the FDA has always insisted that amalgams are safe.

Dental amalgams are considered medical devices, regulated by the FDA.

Even the FDA's new warning stops short of admitting that dental amalgams are dangerous for the general population. Instead, it focuses on the same population that has already been warned to limit mercury exposure by consuming less seafood: children and pregnant women. The FDA says it does not recommend that those who already have mercury fillings get them removed.

Millions of people have received amalgam fillings, although their popularity has dropped off in recent years. Currently, only 30 percent of dental fillings contain mercury - the rest are tooth-colored resin composites made from glass, cement and porcelain. These alternative fillings are more expensive and less durable than amalgam, however.

In 2002, the FDA began a regulatory review of amalgam that was expected to be complete within a few years. In 2006, with the review still incomplete, an independent FDA advisory panel of doctors and dentists rejected the agency's position that there is no reason for concern about the use of amalgam. While the panel agreed that the majority of people receiving such fillings would not be harmed, panel members expressed concern for the health of certain sensitive populations, including children under the age of six.

The panel recommended that the FDA conduct further studies on the risks to children from dental amalgam, and that it consider a policy of informed consent for children and pregnant: that is, warning those groups of the risks associated with the fillings before installing them.

Part of the lawsuit centered on the FDA's failure to respond to these recommendations in a timely fashion.

"This is your classic failure to act," federal judge Ellen Segal Huvelle told the agency.

As part of the lawsuit settlement, the FDA must reach a final decision on the regulation of amalgam by July 28, 2009.

"This court settlement signals the death knell for mercury fillings," Brown predicted.
But J.P. Morgan Securities analyst Ipsita Smolinski disagreed, saying that the FDA is unlikely to ban amalgam entirely

"We do believe that the agency will ask for the label to indicate that mercury is an ingredient in the filling, and that special populations should be exempt from such fillings, such as: nursing women, pregnant women, young children, and immunocompromised individuals," Smolinski said.

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Important info about cell phone use

Important info about cell phone use

Important Precautionary Advice Regarding Cell Phone Use...here are 2 articles:

University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, 8/12/2008

An international expert panel of pathologists, oncologists and public health specialists recently declared that electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones should be considered a potential human health risk (see The Case for Precaution in Cell Phone Use, attached). To date, a number of countries including France, Germany and India have issued recommendations that exposure to electromagnetic fields should be limited. In addition, Toronto's Department of Public Health is advising teenagers and young children to limit their use of cell phones, to avoid potential health risks.

More definitive data that cover the health effects from prolonged cell phone use have been compiled by the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer. However, publication has been delayed for two years. In anticipation of release of the WHO report, the attached prudent and simple precautions, intended to promote precautionary efforts to reduce exposures to cell phone electromagnetic radiation, have been reviewed by UPCI experts in neuro-oncology, epidemiology, neurosurgery and the Center for Environmental Oncology.

Practical Advice to Limit Exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation Emitted from Cell Phones

1. Do not allow children to use a cell phone, except for emergencies. The developing organs of a fetus or child are the most likely to be sensitive to any possible effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields.

2. While communicating using your cell phone, try to keep the cell phone away from the body as much as possible. The amplitude of the electromagnetic field is one fourth the strength at a distance of two inches and fifty times lower at three feet. Whenever possible, use the speaker-phone mode or a wireless Bluetooth headset, which has less than 1/100th of the electromagnetic emission of a normal cell phone. Use of a hands-free ear piece attachment may also reduce exposures.

3. Avoid using your cell phone in places, like a bus, where you can passively expose others to your phone's electromagnetic fields.

4. Avoid carrying your cell phone on your body at all times. Do not keep it near your body at night such as under the pillow or on a bedside table, particularly if pregnant. You can also put it on "flight" or "off-line" mode, which stops electromagnetic emissions.

5. If you must carry your cell phone on you, make sure that the keypad is positioned toward your body and the back is positioned toward the outside so that the transmitted electromagnetic fields move away from your rather than through you.

6. Only use your cell phone to establish contact or for conversations lasting a few minutes, as the biological effects are directly related to the duration of exposure. For longer conversations, use a land line with a corded phone, not a cordless phone, which uses electromagnetic emitting technology similar to that of cell phones.

7. Switch sides regularly while communicating on your cell phone to spread out your exposure. Before putting your cell phone to the ear, wait until your correspondent has picked up. This limits the power of the electromagnetic field emitted near your ear and the duration of your exposure.

8. Avoid using your cell phone when the signal is weak or when moving at high speed, such as in a car or train, as this automatically increases power to a maximum as the phone repeatedly attempts to connect to a new relay antenna.

9. When possible, communicate via text messaging rather than making a call, limiting the duration of exposure and the proximity to the body.

10. Choose a device with the lowest SAR possible (SAR = Specific Absorption Rate, which is a measure of the strength of the magnetic field absorbed by the body). SAR ratings of contemporary phones by different manufacturers are available by searching for "sar ratings cell phones" on the internet.

Scientists revive debate on cellphones and cancer
(Following is an article published in the International Herald Tribune which is the global edition of the New York Times)

Scientists revive the debate on cellphones and cancer
By Tara Parker-Pope
Published: June 3, 2008

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don't?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. "I think the safe practice," said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, "is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain."

Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said: "I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear."

And CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Black he used an earpiece.

Along with Senator Edward Kennedy's recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cellphone use, the doctors' remarks have helped reignite a long-simmering debate about cellphones and cancer. That supposed link has been largely dismissed by many experts, including the American Cancer Society. The theory that cellphones cause brain tumors "defies credulity," said Dr. Eugene Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. CTIA (the Wireless Association), the leading industry trade group, said in a statement, "The overwhelming majority of studies that have been published in scientific journals around the globe show that wireless phones do not pose a health risk."The FDA notes, however, that the average period of phone use in the studies it cites was about three years, so the research doesn't answer questions about long-term exposures.

Cellphones emit non-ionizing radiation, waves of energy that are too weak to break chemical bonds or to set off the DNA damage known to cause cancer. There is no known biological mechanism to explain how non-ionizing radiation might lead to cancer. But researchers who have raised concerns say that just because science can't explain the mechanism doesn't mean one does not exist. Concerns have focused on the heat generated by cellphones and the fact that the radio frequencies are absorbed mostly by the head and neck. In recent studies that suggest a risk, the tumors tend to occur on the same side of the head where the patient typically holds the phone. Like most research on the subject, the studies are observational, showing only an association between cellphone use and cancer, not a causal relationship.

The most important of these studies is called Interphone, a vast research effort in 13 countries, including Canada, Israel and several in Europe. Some of the research suggests a link between cellphone use and three types of tumors: glioma; cancer of the parotid, a salivary gland near the ear; and acoustic neuroma, a tumor that essentially occurs where the ear meets the brain. All these cancers are rare.

Last year, The American Journal of Epidemiology published data from Israel finding a 58 percent higher risk of parotid gland tumors among heavy cellphone users. Also last year, a Swedish analysis of 16 studies in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed a doubling of risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma after 10 years of heavy cellphone use. Some doctors say the real concern is not older cellphone users, who began using phones as adults, but children who are beginning to use phones today and face a lifetime of exposure. The fear is that even if the individual risk of using a cellphone is low, with three billion users worldwide, even a minuscule risk would translate into a major public health concern.

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Thai protesters threaten to increase airport blockade

Unrest everywhere

Thai protesters threaten to increase airport blockade

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Protesters blockading international flights to Bangkok threatened to draft in more demonstrators Monday as the tense standoff with authorities looked set to enter a second week.
Pro-government demonstrators gather outside Bangkok city hall on Sunday.

Pro-government demonstrators gather outside Bangkok city hall on Sunday.
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Parnthep Puapongpan, a spokesman for the People's Alliance for Democracy -- which is leading the protests -- said it planned to end an occupation at the Thai prime minister's main offices, where demonstrators have camped out since August 26, and divert demonstrators to the two airports.

He did not say how soon the protesters will end their sit-in at Government House, where they have fortified a site with sandbags, tires and shells of burnt-out buses.

Anti-government protesters still seem to be in control after the six-day standoff at the main Suvarnabhumi international airport, with PAD supporters blocking the highway leading to the facility and setting up numerous checkpoints using razor wire, abandoned cars and baseball bats. Police are seemingly unwilling or unable to move in.

A police helicopter flew over the airport Monday afternoon, twice dropping hundreds of leaflets telling protesters that the government wants to resolve the crisis peacefully. The leaflets also urged residents to avoid the airport and surrounding area if possible.

The anti-government alliance has vowed not to withdraw until the government resigns. It accuses the current administration -- led by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's People Power Party (PPP) -- of being a proxy government for one-time Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, but returned to Thailand after the PPP swept to power in December 2007. He fled again in August just as he was to appear in a corruption case against him.

Anti-government protesters want Thaksin extradited and tried on those charges, and accuses the PPP government of wanting to amend the constitution, so Thaksin does not have to face charges.

Protesters at Suvarnabhumi Monday granted two small concessions to help alleviate the misery of thousands of travelers.

By Monday afternoon, 37 aircraft had left Suvarnabhumi. All but one airplane, which flew empty to Shanghai, landed at the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, about 140 km (90 miles) southeast of Bangkok, airport spokeswoman Monrudee Gettuphan said. From there, travelers can try to catch a flight home.
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And a convoy of buses, carrying Muslim pilgrims stranded at Suvarnabhumi since last Tuesday, was allowed to leave for the naval base. From there they can make their trip to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, a pilgrimage that Islam requires all able-bodied Muslims to make at least once in their lifetime.

Authorities have estimated 100,000 passengers have been stranded at Suvarnabhumi since protesters began the siege, which has had a devastating impact on Thailand's tourism industry.

About 60,000 tourists arrive at the airport every day. Each day it remains shut, airport authorities lose about 50 million baht ($1.4 million) in income, according to the Thai News Agency.

"We wish we hadn't come here at all," said Keri Gannam, a visitor from the United States, who was honeymooning in Thailand. "It's just stressful. It's taken away everything... I'm supposed to have job interviews. I missed them."

"Money isn't flowing in for us," said her husband, Andy. "And we came here to take a couple of relaxing weeks -- something both of us had earned. And it's turned out being a disaster, basically."

The anti-government alliance has also taken over Don Muang, another smaller airport, which the government had been using as its temporary office after being shut out of its headquarters.

At times, the protests have turned violent. A pair of explosions injured 49 people -- three of them seriously -- when what was believed to be a grenade was launched at protesters at Government House early Sunday. Later, police said there was another blast in a road in front of Don Muang.

Police say they do not know who carried out the attacks. But the PAD blamed pro-government supporters.

At the arrivals area of Suvarnabhumi Monday, a CNN cameraman recorded a group of protesters leading a man outside. The man, his clothes in tatters and too weak to walk on his own, appeared to have been beaten.
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Somchai declared a state of emergency at the two airports last week, but it is not certain what powers the declaration gives the government. Somchai himself has been avoiding the capital, choosing instead to stay in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where he landed after returning from an economic summit in Peru last week.

Thailand's powerful army chief Gen. Anupong Paochinda has urged Somchai to dissolve parliament, call fresh elections -- and also asked the protesters to disperse. But both sides have ignored his comments.

CNN News

Five ways to avoid germs while traveling

Five ways to avoid germs while traveling

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- This week while you're traveling, if you happen to spot a man applying hand sanitizer as he gets off an escalator, there's a good chance it's Dr. Mark Gendreau, a senior staff physician at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Gendreau studies germiness while traveling, and he knows just how infectious travel can be.

"The risk of contracting a contagious illness is heightened when we travel within any enclosed space, especially during the winter months, when most of the respiratory viruses thrive," Gendreau said.

Studies show that germs can travel easily on an airplane, where people are packed together like sardines.

For example, a woman on a 1994 flight from Chicago to Honolulu transmitted drug-resistant tuberculosis to at least six of her fellow passengers, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.

In 2003, 22 people came down with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, from a single fellow passenger who had SARS but didn't have any symptoms, according to another New England journal study.

But the airplane isn't the only place along your travel route where germs thrive. Here are five ways to avoid germs while traveling.

1. Sit toward the front of the airplane

"Pick a seat near the front, since ventilation systems on most commercial aircraft provide better air flow in the front of the aircraft," Gendreau advised. If you can afford it, sit in first class, where people aren't so squished together.
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2. Don't drink coffee or tea on an airplane

Monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that water in airplanes' water tanks isn't always clean -- and coffee and tea are usually made from that water, not from bottled water, according to Victoria Day, a spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association.

The EPA advises anyone with a suppressed immune system or anyone who's "concerned" about bacteria to refrain from drinking coffee or tea on an airplane.

"While boiling water for one minute will remove pathogens from drinking water, the water used to prepare coffee and tea aboard a plane is not generally brought to a sufficiently high temperature to guarantee that pathogens are killed," according to the EPA's Web site.

According to the EPA, out of 7,812 water samples taken from 2,316 aircraft, 2.8 percent were positive for coliform bacteria. Although that sounds like a small number, this means 222 samples contained coliform bacteria.

3. Sanitize your hands after leaving an airplane bathroom

A toilet on an airplane "is among the germiest that you will encounter almost anywhere," said Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona who's also known as "Dr. Germ."

"You have 50 people per toilet, unless you are flying a discount airline; then it is 75," Gerba said. "We always find E. coli on surfaces in airplane restrooms."

You should wash your hands after using the restroom, but because the water itself might have harmful bacteria (see No. 2 above) and because the door handle on your way out has been touched by all those who went before you, Gendreau also advises sanitizing your hands when you return to your seat.

4. Wash or sanitize your hands after getting off an escalator

Gendreau says tests show that escalators in airports are full of germs.
Health Library

* MayoClinic.com: Health Library

To confirm these tests, here's a fun activity while you wait for your flight this Thanksgiving: Look at your watch, and count how many people get an escalator in a five-minute time period. Multiply that by 12, and you have how many people are on that escalator every hour.

High-volume handrails are why Gendreau sanitizes his hands as soon as he can after he exits an escalator.

5. Wash or sanitize your hands after using an ATM

Gendreau says ATMs, especially in busy places like airports, are full of germs. As with escalators, he sanitizes ASAP after using one.

Gendreau says that keeping healthy while traveling can be summed up in six words: "hand hygiene, hand hygiene, hand hygiene."

Keeping your hands clean is crucial, he says, when you're spending the day touching surfaces that have been touched by hundreds or thousands of people before you.

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