fredag, mars 30, 2018
torsdag, mars 29, 2018
Fitness in Midlife May Help Fend Off Dementia
By NICHOLAS BAKALARMARCH 28, 2018
Being physically fit in midlife may reduce a woman’s risk for dementia.
In 1968, Swedish researchers evaluated the cardiovascular fitness of 191 women ages 38 to 60, testing their endurance with an ergometer cycling test. Then they examined them periodically through 2012. Over the years, 44 women developed dementia.
They categorized the women into three fitness groups based on peak workload in their cycling tests: low, medium and high. The incidence of all-cause dementia was 32 percent in the low fitness group, 25 percent for the medium, and 5 percent among those with a high fitness level.
The average age at dementia was 11 years older in the high-fitness group than in the medium fitness group. Compared with medium fitness, high fitness decreased the risk of dementia by 88 percent.
The study, in Neurology, controlled for many variables, including smoking, drinking, blood pressure and cholesterol, and the follow-up was very long. But the sample was small and the study is observational, and the authors draw no conclusions about cause and effect.
COMMENTS
Still, the senior author, Dr. Ingmar Skoog, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Gothenburg, said that women should get moving for many reasons.
“If you start exercising,” he said, “you reduce your risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. And you get immediate gratification by feeling better.”
USA
SACRAMENTO — Two police officers, 10 minutes, 20 bullets. Another young black man dead, this time in his grandmother’s backyard in California’s capital.
USA
A Dying Southern Town Needed a Miracle. Marijuana Came Calling.
Cotton Plant, Ark., a small city hollowed out by racism and economic change, may get a boost from the state’s recent legalization of medical marijuana.
onsdag, mars 28, 2018
World’s largest ore carrier
World’s largest ore carrier delivered in Qingdao
(People's Daily Online) 15:00, March 27, 2018
Made-in-China Ore Tianjin, the world’s largest bulk carrier, was delivered in east China’s coastal city of Qingdao on Mar. 22, announced China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) one day after through its official social network.
At 362 meters long, 65 meters wide and 30.4 meters deep, the giant ore ship can carry 400,000 tons deadweight, equal to the capacity of about 6,666 rail wagons, quoting the CSIC News, the official WeChat account of the corporation.
It will handle the transportation of iron ores between China and Brazil, and take only 16.7 hours to fill up the whole vessel at an upgraded loading speed which is 1.5 times faster than that of the last-generation ore ships.
Another highlight of Ore Tianjin lies in a reserved liquefied natural gas bunker, which will help reduce carbon dioxide emission and remove nitrogen oxides from the waste gas.
Launched in September 2017, the ship then finished a sea trial last January and won recognition from the ship owners American Bureau of Shipping and China Classification Society for its sound overall performance.
The mammoth ore ship is not only a cooperative fruit of Wuhan subordinate of CSIC and ICBC Leasing, but also another pillar of China’s manufacturing.
"Ljudböcker"
Klassiker upplästa på engelska (upphovsrätten slutat gälla). Finns även ungefär 20 svenska uppläsningar.
--> www.librivox.org
--> www.librivox.org
Kewinfallet (tortyrfallet)
Det krävs förändringar för att förhindra nya rättsskandaler, skriver Rickard L Sjöberg, som tipsade medierna om Kevinutredningen, på SvD Debatt med anledning av att två bröder i dag friades från mordet.
Det är uppenbart att de anklagade pojkarna utsattes för ett grovt rättsövergrepp när de genom psykologisk vetenskap anklagades för mordet, skriver Sjöberg. Uppenbart i fallet, menar han, är att rättsvårdande samhällsinstitutioner förlitade sig på universitetsvärldens kompetens utan att den kunde leva upp till det.
Därför krävs ett nationellt system för att säkerställa kvaliteten på universitetsforskning, en enhet för beteendevetenskaplig forskning inom polisen och man bör utbilda juridiskt skolade personer i att föra ett kritiskt resonemang om expertvittnens påståenden.
Det är uppenbart att de anklagade pojkarna utsattes för ett grovt rättsövergrepp när de genom psykologisk vetenskap anklagades för mordet, skriver Sjöberg. Uppenbart i fallet, menar han, är att rättsvårdande samhällsinstitutioner förlitade sig på universitetsvärldens kompetens utan att den kunde leva upp till det.
Därför krävs ett nationellt system för att säkerställa kvaliteten på universitetsforskning, en enhet för beteendevetenskaplig forskning inom polisen och man bör utbilda juridiskt skolade personer i att föra ett kritiskt resonemang om expertvittnens påståenden.
What We Know (and Don’t Know) About How to Lose Weight
One conclusion from a much-discussed study: The best diet is the one you can stick to.
The endless array of diets that claim to help you shed pounds tend to fall into two camps: low fat or low carbohydrate. Some companies even claim that genetics can tell us which diet is better for which people.
A rigorous recent study sought to settle the debate, and it had results to disappoint both camps. On the hopeful side, as The New York Times noted, people managed to lose weight no matter which of the two diets they followed.
The study is worth a closer look to see what it did and did not prove.
Researchers at Stanford University took more than 600 people (which is huge for a nutrition study) aged 18 to 50 who had a body mass index of 28 to 40 (25-30 is overweight, and 30 and over is obese). The study subjects had to be otherwise healthy. They couldn’t even be on statins, or drugs for Type 2 diabetes or hypertension, which might affect weight or energy expenditure. They were all randomly assigned to a healthful low-fat or a healthful low-carbohydrate diet, and they were clearly not blinded to which group they were in.
All participants attended 22 instructional sessions over one year in groups of about 17 people. The sessions were held weekly at first and were then spaced out so that they were monthly in the last six months. Everyone was encouraged to reduce intake of the avoided nutrient to 20 grams per day over the first eight weeks, then participants slowly added fats or carbohydrates back to their diets until they reached the lowest level of intake they believed could be sustained for the long haul.
Everyone was followed for a year (which is an eternity for a nutrition study). Everyone was encouraged to maximize vegetable intake; to minimize added sugar, refined flour and trans fat intake; and to focus on whole foods that were minimally processed. The subjects were also encouraged to cook at home as much as possible.
All the participants took a glucose tolerance test as a measurement of insulin sensitivity. Some believe that insulin resistance or sensitivity may affect not only how people respond to diets, but also how well they adhere to them. The participants were also genotyped, because some believe that certain genes will make people more sensitive to carbohydrates or fat with respect to weight gain. About 40 percent of participants had a low-fat genotype, and 30 percent had a low-carbohydrate genotype.
Data were gathered at the beginning of the study, at six months and at one year. At three unannounced times, researchers checked on patients to see how closely they were sticking to the instructions.
This was a phenomenally well-designed trial.
People did change their diets according to their group assignment. Those in the low-fat group consumed, on average, 29 percent of their calories from fats, versus 45 percent in the low-carbohydrate group. Those in the low-carbohydrate group consumed 30 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, versus 48 percent in the low-fat group.
They did not, however, lose meaningfully different amounts of weight. At 12 months, the low-carbohydrate group had lost, on average, just over 13 pounds, compared with more than 11.5 pounds in the low-fat group. The difference was not statistically significant.
Insulin sensitivity didn’t make a difference. People who secreted more or less insulin lost no more or less weight in general on either a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet. Genetics didn’t make a difference either. People who had genes that might indicate that they would do better on one diet or the other didn’t.
In fact, when you look at how every single participant in this study fared on the diet to which he or she was assigned, it’s remarkable how both diets yielded an almost identical, curving range of responses — from lots of weight lost to a little gained. It wasn’t just the averages.
Some have taken this study to prove that avoiding processed foods, eating more whole foods, and cooking at home leads to weight loss. While I’d like that to be true — I have advocated this healthful approach in my Upshot article on food recommendations and in a recent book — that’s not what this study showed. Although that advice was given to all participants, there was no control group in which that advice was omitted, and so no conclusions can be made as to the efficacy of these instructions.
Others have taken this study as evidence debunking the idea that counting calories is the key to weight loss. While that wasn’t the main thrust of this study, nor the instructions given, participants did reduce their intake by an average of 500-600 calories a day (even if they didn’t count them). This study didn’t prove the unimportance of calories.
The researchers also asked everyone, not just those in the low-carb group, to avoid “added sugars.” Therefore, we can’t really say anything new about added sugars and weight loss.
What this study does show is that people who have staked a claim on one diet’s superiority over another don’t have as strong a case as they think. It’s hard to overstate how similarly these two diets performed, even at an individual level.
It shows us that the many people, and the many studies, suggesting that we can tell which diets are best for you based on genetics or based on insulin levels might not be right either. Almost all of the studies that backed up such ideas were smaller, of shorter duration or less robust in design than this one. Granted, it’s still possible that there might be some gene discovered in the future that makes a difference, but those who think they’ve found it already might want to check their enthusiasm.
his study was focused mostly on people who were obese, so people looking to lose just a few pounds might benefit more from one diet or the other; we don’t know. It’s also worth noting that the people in this study received significant support on both diets, so the results seen here might not apply to those attempting to lose weight on their own.
You should be wary of those who tell you that they know what diet is best for you, or that there’s a test out there to tell you the same. Successful diets over the long haul are most likely ones that involve slow and steady changes. The simplest approach — and many have espoused it, including Jane Brody recently here at The Times — is to cut out processed foods, think about the calories you’re drinking, and try not to eat more than you intend to.
The bottom line is that the best diet for you is still the one you will stick to. No one knows better than you what that diet might be. You’ll most likely have to figure it out for yourself.
T
tisdag, mars 27, 2018
Kewin-fallet - rättsskandalen - tortyren
Förhördes i månader
Det fanns inga bevis, ändå förhördes pojkarna i månader. De vallades på brottsplatsen och utsattes för över 30 förhör innan förundersökningsledaren fick vad han kallade ett "medgivande". Robin och Christian fick aldrig någon rättegång. På en presskonferens slog polisen bara fast att de dödat sin kompis.
Sedan dess har Robin och Christian levt i en skuggvärld. Dömda utan rättegång. Det är först i dag, nästan 20 år efter Kevins död, de frikänns från alla misstankar. Hur kunde Sven Åke Christianson (bilden) tillåtas ta över utredningen på samma sätt som han kunde klampa in i utredningarna kring den påstådde seriemördaren Thomas Quick? Det var ju samme Christianson som vallade Quick på olika misstänkta mordplatser där han erkände åtta mord han aldrig hade begått.
Inga fler konsultuppdrag
Psykologiprofessorn har varit expert, konsult och domstolssakkunnig. Han har lagt sig i utredningar och en osäker polis har tagit hans råd på största allvar. Nu är Thomas Quick en fri man som tagit sig namnet Sture Bergwall.
I dag är också bröderna Robin och Christian friade från alla misstankar och Sven Åke Christianson lär aldrig mer får några konsultuppdrag.
Rättvisan har segrat, men bara delvis. För alla de familjer som aldrig får veta hur deras anhöriga dog kommer aldrig rättvisa skipats./Ur ledare i Aftonbladet
Tortyr
Thomas Quick, som numera heter Sture Bergwall, är precis som Robin och Christian frikända, skriver hon och tillägger att psykologiprofessorn aldrig lär få några fler konsultuppdrag.
”Rättvisan har segrat, men bara delvis. För alla de familjer som aldrig får veta hur deras anhöriga dog kommer aldrig rättvisa skipats.”
DN:s Lisa Magnusson skriver i en ledare att det Robin och Christian – då fem och sju år gamla – utsattes för var ren tortyr. Tortyr för att de slets mellan förhör, för att de mutades med godis och läsk samtidigt som de skrek efter sin mamma, menar hon.
I dag hoppas Magnusson att staten ersätter männen rejält, även om det inte går att ersätta det trauma de utsatts för.
American Adults Just Keep Getting Fatter
American adults continue to put on the pounds. New data shows that nearly 40 percent of them were obese in 2015 and 2016, a sharp increase from a decade earlier, federal health officials reported Friday.
måndag, mars 26, 2018
China’s building a rain-making network three times the size of Spain
| China is testing cutting-edge defence technology to develop a powerful yet relatively low-cost weather modification system to bring substantially more rain to the Tibetan plateau, Asia’s biggest freshwater reserve. |
Den tidigare porrfilmsstjärnan Stormy Daniels hävdar i en intervju att hon blev hotad efter att ha försökt sälja sin historia om en affär med USA:s president Donald Trump. – En man kom fram till mig och sa ”Låt Trump vara. Glöm det du skulle berätta”, säger Daniels, som egentligen heter Stephanie Clifford. Intervjun i det ansedda programmet 60 Minutes visades på bästa sändningstid på söndagskvällen i USA.
The pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford told “60 Minutes” that she struck a $130,000 deal for her silence about an alleged affair with Donald J. Trump in the final days of the 2016 campaign because she was worried about her safety and that of her young daughter.
Omega-6s in Nuts, Seeds and Vegetable Oils May Aid the Heart
By NICHOLAS BAKALARMARCH 22, 2018
Are omega-6 fatty acids, the fats found in nuts, seeds and many vegetable oils, including those used in many processed and junk foods, helpful or harmful?
It has been believed that omega-6s generally increase inflammation, while omega-3s, the fats in fish oil, lower it, and some studies suggest that a high omega-6 intake increases the risk for heart disease. But a new long-term study suggests omega-6s can be good for the heart.
Finnish researchers studied 2,480 men aged 42 to 60, following them for an average of 22 years.
The study, in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that compared with men in the lowest one-fifth for blood levels of omega-6, those in the highest fifth had a 43 percent lower risk of death from any cause and a 46 percent lower risk of cardiovascular death. The study controlled for smoking, hypertension, family history of heart disease and many other factors.
“This is not a license to eat junk or processed food,” said the lead author, Jyrki K. Virtanen, an adjunct professor of nutritional epidemiology at the University of Eastern Finland. “Even though they contain omega-6, they are full of sugar and other things that are not good for you. But there is no need to fear omega-6 in vegetables, nuts and seeds. It clearly has benefits for heart disease prevention.”
fredag, mars 23, 2018
Experter: Livet på jorden starkt hotat
Den biologiska mångfalden på jorden är starkt hotad, enligt nya expertrapporter.
Experterna varnar för att fiskbestånden i östra Indiska oceanen och västra Stilla havet kommer att vara utfiskade inom 30 år, och att hälften av alla arter av fåglar och däggdjur i Afrika kan gå förlorade till 2100.
Rapporterna, som presenterades på fredagen, har tagits fram av IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services), en mellanstatlig organisation som inrättades år 2012. I dag är 129 länder medlemmar i organisationen.
Enligt experterna, som har gått igenom cirka 10.000 vetenskapliga studier, riskerar mänskligheten sin egen framtid om artutrotningen fortsätter som hittills.
Utarmningen kommer att leda till ett massutdöende av samma slag som när dinosaurierna utplånades för 66 miljoner år sedan. I genomsnitt har två arter av ryggradsdjur dött ut varje år det senaste århundradet.
Färre vilda djur och växter
En av rapporterna tar upp situationen i Nord- och Sydamerika. Där beräknas värdet på de tjänster som naturen ger människorna till 24,3 biljoner dollar per år – likvärdigt med de två världsdelarnas samlade BNP. Men mycket av detta befinner sig på rask tillbakagång – populationerna av de vilda djuren och växterna har krympt med 31 procent sedan européerna kom till västra halvklotet.
I Afrika, som behandlas i en annan rapport, är 500.000 kvadratkilometer redan skövlade, och när befolkningen fördubblas till beräknade 2,5 miljarder människor år 2050 lär läget försämras ytterligare.
Vädjar till regeringarna
I framtiden kommer dessutom arterna, som nu hotas av skogsskövling, överexploatering, tjuvjakt och utfiskning, att utsättas för de förändringar som klimatuppvärmningen medför.
Forskarnas slutsats är att läget är allvarligt, men utrotningen skulle kunna hejdas om regeringarna och andra organ tar hänsyn till konsekvenserna för floran och faunan när de fattar beslut. Fler skyddade områden, återställande av skövlad natur, och en utfasning av skadliga ekonomiska bidrag skulle rädda många hotade arter.
Ex-Playboy Model Karen McDougal Details 10-Month Affair With Donald Trump (säga vad man vill om Donald, men god smak har han)
The former Playboy model Karen McDougal gave her first television interview about the affair she alleges she had with Donald J. Trump more than a decade ago, saying that he offered her money after their first sexual encounter.
“After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually did not take that,” she told Anderson Cooper of CNN in an interview broadcast on Thursday night. “I looked at him and said, ‘That’s not me, I’m not that kind of girl.’”
As a security aide of Mr. Trump’s drove her home, she said, “I started crying, I was really sad — it really hurt me.”
But, she said, in spite of that encounter in 2006, “I went back,” conducting what she described as a 10-month, serious relationship that she finally ended when she could no longer bear the guilt of betraying Mr. Trump’s then-new wife, Melania.
Pressed by Mr. Cooper on what she would say to Mrs. Trump now, Ms. McDougal looked directly into the camera, tearing up, and said, “What can you say except, ‘I’m sorry — I’m sorry.’”
Trumps säkerhetspolitiske rådgivare. En hök av värsta slag
Krigshetsare
The good thing about John Bolton, President Trump’s new national security adviser, is that he says what he thinks.
The bad thing is what he thinks.
There are few people more likely than Mr. Bolton is to lead the country into war. His selection is a decision that is as alarming as any Mr. Trump has made so far.
