BELFAST (BelfastTelegraph), December 11, 2007:

By Chris Thornton

Thugs who target the frailest possible victims appear to be getting bolder - sending the number of attacks on elderly people soaring.

Assaults on pensioners in their homes have jumped by more than 60% over the past five years.

The rise in violent home invasions has raised questions about Government foot-dragging over a plan for tackling crime against the elderly.

The household attacks happened last year at the rate of one every other day, leaving 179 pensioners feeling vulnerable in their own homes.

The MP who got the statistics criticised the Government today for inaction over the attacks, because Ministers say they are still weighing up "a draft strategy for the safety of older people" , six months after it was issued.

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds also questioned why police have considered most of the attacks over the past five years cleared - even though charges were brought in less than 11% of the total cases.

According to the statistics there were 111 reported attacks on elderly people in their homes in 2002-03, the first year in which police started recording the ages of victims.

The number of reported attacks has climbed in each of the past five years, reaching 179 in 2006-07. Pensioners make up 14% of the population in Northern Ireland and their numbers are growing every year.

Jack Cassidy will be part of next year's statistics. The 82-year-old was roughed up last month by four youths who broke into his west Belfast home, stole his Christmas savings and urinated all over his house.

Mr Dodds said he has a " significant concern" about how people are made amenable for the attacks. Up until last year, police considered most of the attacks cleared without bringing anyone up on charges. More than half the crimes were considered "non sanction clearances", which means "no further action was taken by police".

Last year, just over a third of the attacks were "non-sanction clearances", while 15.6% were cleared by charges being brought.

"... The police obviously have a difficult job to do but I think the public expect that where people are attacked in their own homes, more of these crimes would be cleared up by people being prosecuted. I want to ask the Chief Constable to look at this closely."

In response to Mr Dodds, Security Minister Paul Goggins said Government is working on "a draft strategy for the safety of older people."

"The Community Safety Unit launched the document 'Proposals for the Safety of Older People' for consultation on 14 June 2007 and responses are currently being evaluated," he added.

Anne Reilly chief executive Age Concern said: "Age Concern has welcomed the recent consultation on the Community Safety Strategy and these figures underline the urgency now required for a full and comprehensive implementation of this strategy that outlines actions..."

© Belfast Telegraph

BEIJING (People's Daily), December 11, 2007:

Abdominal obesity is a strong independent risk factor for heart disease, and using the waist-hip ratio rather than waist measurement alone is a better predictor of heart disease risk, according to a study published Monday in Circulation, the journal of American Heart Association.

"The size of the hips seems to predict a protective effect," said Dexter Canoy, lead author of the study and a research fellow at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. "In other words, a big waist with comparably big hips does not appear to be as worrisome as a big waist with small hips."

The research was based on 24,508 men and women aged 45 to 79 in the United Kingdom who participated in a European health study. Researchers measured participants' weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and other heart disease risk factors from 1993 to 1997. They then followed up with the participants for an average 9.1 years.

During the follow-up, 1,708 men and 892 women developed coronary heart disease. When they divided the men and women into five groups, according to waist-to-hip ratio, researchers found that those with the highest waist-hip ratio had the highest heart disease risk.

Men in the top one-fifth of the distribution (those with the biggest waists in relation to their hips) had a 55 percent higher risk of developing coronary heart disease compared to men in the bottom one-fifth of the distribution (those with the smallest waists in relation to their hips).

Women in the top one-fifth were 91 percent more likely to develop heart disease than women with the smallest waists in relation to their hips.

Waist-only measurements underestimated heart disease risk by 10percent to 18 percent when compared to risk estimates for waist measurements when hip is considered (waist-to-hip ratio), according to the study results.

The study's results are definitive for predicting risk in relatively healthy men and women in the general population, Canoy said. More research is needed on whether abdominal fat distribution is an independent risk factor for heart disease among people who have chronic and other diseases at baseline.

Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily Online,

Politicians and Executives Look for Youth in a Bottle Of Black Dye on the Sly
Reports JASON LEOW

BEIJING, China (Wall Street Journal), December 11, 2007:

Very few of China's political and business leaders these days seem to go gray.

It is possible that could have something to do with genes, but something else is involved, too. For aging men of influence here, the dye job appears to have become as commonplace as the Mao suit once was.

Though they range in age from 52 to 67, the most senior leaders in the Politburo Standing Committee include nine men with nary a white strand of hair.

Chinese President Hu Jintao.

President and party chief Hu Jintao, 64, still has black hair. Even his retired predecessor, 81-year-old Jiang Zemin, still turns up at major political events with a shiny black top.

"Political leaders need to go on television and are seen by the public. They need to show that they are in good health," says Wang Zhengrun, deputy chief executive of a state-owned insecticide-manufacturing plant, who colors his hair with an herbal preparation.

Some men in Japan and India dye their hair, too. But few countries are as averse to gray as China is. Japan's former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, was famous for his salt-and-pepper locks. Current Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sports a gray beard and bushy white eyebrows below his trademark blue turban.

In America, dye jobs suggest vanity. George W. Bush has let his hair gray in the White House, as Bill Clinton had done.

The penchant for black hair also extends beyond politics to China's business world. There is barely a gray hair among the ranks of the richest. He Xiangjian, the owner of home-appliance maker Midea Group, appeared on the cover of July's China Entrepreneur, a local business magazine. Worth $1.7 billion by one estimate, he was photographed in a dark suit and smiling. His dark locks belie his age: He is 65 years old. But he won't comment. Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

Experts say that obsessing about hair color here may be rooted in modern-day social conditions. Nearly three in five Chinese citizens are under 39, making aging workers easy to replace. "In China, age is a very big factor for promotions," says Li Yinhe, a sociologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Desire for Youthfulness

Driven by the desire for youthfulness, the Chinese are powering hair-dye sales. About $148 million in hair colorants were sold in China in 2006, up 75% since 2001, according to Euromonitor International. L'Oréal Paris and Hong Kong's Youngrace Cosmetic Group International Ltd. were among the leading providers. Still, barbers of influential politicians and businessmen say that, for discretion's sake, most men dye their hair at home.

Some in ancient China might have found the practice taboo -- there is a Chinese proverb that exhorts people to leave things alone. Confucius once compared hair and skin to inheritances "from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them."

The Chinese rarely used to mess with their hair, and when they did, it was in exceptional circumstances, says Zhao Feng, an economic historian. When the Manchus conquered the Hans and established the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, the emperor ordered the front of Han men's heads shaved as a reminder of their subjugation. Earlier in Chinese history, Cao Cao, a poet and emperor, wanted to commit suicide to show accountability for breaking a rule he set for his soldiers. He was persuaded instead to settle for hair-cutting as a lesser, but symbolically potent, act of penance. Buddhist converts shave their heads as an act of renouncing worldly affairs.

Taking Control

Today's growing consumer culture -- one that tells people they can have what they want -- ignores much of the wisdom of the ages. Instead, men are taking control, turning to pills and special shampoos on top of dyes. Pharmacists tout shou wu, an herbal formula said to cleanse the liver and kidneys and thereby keep hair healthy. Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong movie star, is seen on television peddling Bawang Shampoo, produced by Guangdong B&W International Group. It claims to keep hair black and intact.

Wang Mingzhang, 65, has been dyeing his hair monthly since he discovered the first wisps of white when he was 40. "I don't want to be an old man in others' eyes," he says. Mr. Wang is close to a good source: He supervises more than 100 workers in a factory that makes hair dyes.

There are a few exceptions to the sea of black. One is Larry Yung, 65, chairman of CITIC Pacific, a Hong Kong conglomerate. In photographs, he is seen with a full head of white hair -- but he is based in Hong Kong, where perhaps there isn't the same pressure in corporate circles to go jet black.

Zhang Deming, a 53-year-old professor of Chinese studies at Zhejiang University in southeastern China, can't recall a day when his hair wasn't black. For the right look, he uses Osmun hair dye, a domestic brand, which he puts on at home once every two months. "I'm not shy being seen buying hair dye or telling relatives that I use it," he says.

Growing Anxiety

The antigray orthodoxy in China mirrors a growing anxiety about other features that accompany aging. Chen Huanran, a cosmetic surgeon, has seen the numbers of male patients pick up considerably in the past two years. Many of them had accompanied their wives for their facelifts and liposuctions, and they were taken with the results. Normally, men prefer tweaks so subtle -- a snip of the droopy eyelids or a mild face-tightening -- that no one would ever find out that they had been operated on.

But there is one thing that men will proudly keep: their beer bellies. "They see them as status symbols," Mr. Chen says.

--Bai Lin in Shanghai and Zhou Yang in Beijing contributed to this article.

Copyright © 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

PETERBOROUGH (Peterborough Evening Telegraph), December 11, 2007: In Peterborough we're lucky enough to have a doctor who can carry out ankle replacements, which is a procedure that can help thousands of us walk into a happy old age. Jemma Walton finds out.

Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Aruind Kumar (right) with his team (from left) physios Emma Cranfield and Leah Warnock, bio-mechanical specialist John Chadwick and RGN Betty Arnold at the Fitzwilliam Hospital

AS Trevor Norbury sailed towards the floor on a parachute jump simulator he looked down, realised he was in trouble and felt sick.

He had jumped once before, when he was a lad, but back then he had landed on a deep pile of grass mats.

Now, he looked down and saw a very sad-looking single mattress. "From 60 feet in the air it looked like a postage stamp," he said.

And it might as well have been a stamp for all the good it did him – he landed with one foot on it, one foot off, and his ankle snapped like a dry twig.

This was back in 1990, and doctors managed to screw his ankle back together, but three years ago he began to get pain and arthritis in it because of the smash all those years ago.

"Walking was really painful," he said. "And as I'm on my feet all day repairing bikes at Robinsons in Cowgate, it meant that work was a struggle."

Twenty years ago, Trevor would have had one option – he could have had the bones in his ankle fused together, which would have stopped the pain but would have left him unable to flex his foot and ankle and walk normally.

But thanks to the help of an orthapedic consultant based at Fitzwilliam Private Hospital in Bretton he was able to have something that few of us have heard of, but many of us could benefit from one day: an ankle replacement.

We have one consultant in Peterborough who can do the operations, but at a recent meeting with the GPs who refer people with ankle complaints for treatment, he was shocked to find that most of them didn't know that there was such a thing as an ankle replacement.

Consultant Arvind Kumar said: "My aims are simple – I want my patients to have a painless, stable walk, and achieve a normal gait cycle. That is difficult with an ankle fusion, but not with a replacement."

Over the past few years Mr Kumar has replaced 55 ankles, with patients coming from both the public and private sectors. He estimates that each year around 2,000 people in the UK will need the procedure, which is still a relatively new one.

Anyone can be referred to him on the NHS, all they have to do is be referred by their GP.

Arthritis – which can be caused by a trauma such as a broken ankle or simply ageing – is the thing that wears an ankle down so that it needs replacing. And as arthritis can appear when you are 30 or 70, Mr Kumar has operated on patients of all ages.

Mr Kumar explains the procedure to patients John Ellis (left) and Trevor Norby.

Trevor Norbury, of Charles Cope Road, Orton Waterville, (now 64) had his operation on June 11 this year and was up and walking two months later.

New ankle transformed Brian's life

BRIAN Holdich has walked 14 marathons in his time. But in 2001, as he was strolling around the New York City marathon to raise cash for a disabled kids' charity, he knew his longhaul days were over.

An X-ray of an ankle replacement.

Because he had a nagging pain in his right anklethat just wouldn't go away.

He had had it ever since he fell over in the street and badly bruised it, and year by year it got more and more painful.

"I ended up walking with a stick, Brian (72), of Elm Close, Market Deeping, said.

"It was an ache that was with me all the time, everywhere I walked. But then my GP referred me to Mr Kumar and I had my operation four years ago in January. I'll never be the same as I was, but I'm not in pain any more, and I can walk – although I don't think I'll be doing any more marathons.

But I can still get around, which would have been much harder if I had had my ankle fused."

He said: “I feel fine now, and would advise anyone told that they need to have their ankle fused to ask their GP about having a replacement.”

The replacement is a sophisticated arrangement of cobalt and chrome, and all patients facing the prospect of having one have one question first and foremost that they like to ask Mr Kumar’s first assistant, John Chadwick.

Not whether they would ever be able to walk properly and painlessly again, not how long it would take them to recover, but whether they would set off metal detectors when they go through airport security.

“It’s funny what people worry about,” laughed Mr Chadwick. “And the answer seems to be yes for some people, no for others.”

©2007 Johnston Press Digital Publishing

PRETORIA (The Pretoria News), December 10, 2007:

Alfred is 106... and still partying

By Xolani Mbanjwa

Senior citizens of Pretoria were treated like royalty at the weekend when the Yvonne Anker Foundation threw a glittering year-end "Old Age" party for them at the Sheraton Hotel.

The eldest of them all - 106-year-old Alfred Congo - could hardly walk, but as soon as the Soweto String Quartet played the famous Mbube (also known as The Lion Sleeps Tonight), he danced like one who was alone in a jungle with the lion.

However, despite many of the elderly showing youthful exuberance as they began to jive and bob, physical reality soon kicked in and none of the senior citizens were on their feet as the song came to an end.

Senior citizens were often neglected during the festive season and the party provided a perfect opportunity to acknowledge the elders, said deputy Speaker of parliament Gwen Mahlangu, who was at the party.

'We want to say that we are prepared to dirty our hands to heal our country'
Mahlangu said senior citizens had been through the difficult times in South Africa's history and needed looking after, as they had also seen how the country had changed for the better.

"At this gathering of the not-so-young people we want to thank you all. We thank you because tomorrow it (old age) comes upon us.

"We want to say that we are prepared to dirty our hands to heal our country.

"We pledge to you that we will help you, and if we don't we will forever have difficult times in our country," said Mahlangu.

She said protection of everyone's rights, including that of senior citizens, was important.

"We can't put a policeman in every house, but we will fight to protect you and every citizen. We want to see women and the elderly going shopping at night without looking behind them.

"If we want to restore humanity we should ask ourselves how much of the rot that is happening in our country is a result of neglect."

She said senior citizens had been a voice of strength to the new dispensation.

"I declare that you've seen it all - a South Africa in flames and a South Africa in peace.

"But we need to bring that peace into our homes."

The organiser of the event, Yvonne Anker, said: "The knowledge senior citizens have gained through life's experiences can be a source of inspiration for others to take part in social development.

"Senior citizens, with the sun in your hair and heaven on your minds, we want to thank you for making us who we are."

The elderly dined before the foundation handed out gifts to them.

© 2007 Pretoria News & Independent Online (Pty) Ltd.

Experts struggle to find ways to spot condition earlier>
Illustrations Courtesy:
mothersover40.com

WASHINGTON (Associated Press), December 10, 2007:

Wake up to find your shoulder killing you but don't recall an injury? It could be the start of frozen shoulder, a curse of middle-aged women and one of the most puzzling joint conditions.

The shoulder's normally smooth lining becomes so inflamed it resembles cherry Jell-O. That leads to scar tissue, making the shoulder too stiff to move.

Known medically as adhesive capsulitis, it's a fairly common ailment — estimated to strike between 2 percent and 3 percent of the population, the vast majority women ages 40 to 60. Yet too few sufferers get diagnosed in time for a simple shot that could cut an astounding year or more off recovery time.

In fact, doctors can easily confuse early symptoms with a rotator cuff injury — and the wrong physical therapy can worsen a frozen shoulder-in-progress by further irritating it.

So Dr. Jo Hannafin of New York's Hospital for Special Surgery is excited when patients show up after only two to three months of shoulder pain. She injects cortisone deep into the joint and 15 minutes later lifts and twists it.

"If the range of motion is now full, I've hit a home run," says Hannafin, a leading expert on the condition. "I've caught a patient in the first stage."

That early treatment means they'll be healed in about a month. "This is going to be gone."

But usually patients show up months later. Wait too long, and recovery can take two years or more.

"You must be a patient patient," says Dr. Gregory Nicholson, a shoulder specialist at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center. "I tell my patients they got roped into the most stubborn and misunderstood condition. Sometimes it just wears you down."

Why the mystery? Nobody knows just what triggers frozen shoulder. It seems to strike out of the blue.

Diabetics are at higher risk; up to 20 percent get it. Having an underactive thyroid also is a risk factor. Trauma sometimes precedes a frozen shoulder.

Add the fact that 70 percent of patients are middle-aged women, and specialists say hormones clearly play some role but they don't know what.

Beyond that, it's hard to predict who will get adhesive capsulitis, or how severe a case. It doesn't strike the same shoulder twice, but at least 15 percent of patients eventually suffer a bout in the opposite shoulder.

Surrounding the ball of the shoulder is a thin stretchy sac, or capsule. Inflammation in that lining is the start of frozen shoulder, and it causes immense pain.

When the pain starts to wane, that's bad news. It means the capsule is thickening with excess collagen, a sort of scar tissue, that further stiffens the shoulder. Eventually, the body can mostly recover on its own. But it takes so long that most late-stage patients find themselves undergoing painful physical therapy or even surgery to break apart the collagen and spur thawing.

Only in recent years have studies proven that a cortisone injection in the earliest stages can prevent collagen buildup and spur dramatically faster recovery, sometimes in mere months.

Now the challenge is to get more sufferers treated early. Key signs: Pain at night and at rest, along with gradually increasing stiffness. Movement problems typically begin with reaching back and up, like into a back pocket or to unfasten a bra. An exam should include the doctor attempting to lift and rotate the arm; problems with this so-called passive movement are another tipoff.

Rush's Nicholson says it's not uncommon for patients to seek him out after initially being told they had another shoulder injury and unknowingly aggravating their frozen shoulder with too-aggressive physical therapy. It takes gentle stretching to supplement the cortisone, he cautions.

"The biggest problem is the patients who ... just didn't know they were supposed to see a doctor," Dr. Beth Shubin Stein of the Hospital for Special Surgery told a recent seminar by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. "Now they're out of that window where they're treatable with that steroid."


A New York drug company is funding research to tell if injecting another substance — a collagen-digesting enzyme called collagenase — might someday help those later-stage patients, but it's too soon to tell.

Debbie Karlitz knows the frustration: She's had the condition in each shoulder.

A cortisone injection and physical therapy brought relief in a few months to the first shoulder. But Karlitz's second bout has lasted over a year. Pain wakes her at night, and hinders such movement as donning a coat. Cortisone this time wasn't enough, so she's scheduled for surgery to clean out the scar tissue.

"I had never heard of it, I didn't know what adhesive capsulitis was," Karlitz, of New City, N.Y., says of that first diagnosis. "I would advise anyone with shoulder pain to not wait, and get it checked out immediately."

© 2007 The Associated Press.

TARANAKI (Taranaki Daily News), December 10, 2007:

It was enough to drop a few seasoned jaws around the newsroom.

Judge John Macdonald retired, they repeated in disbelief.

"He can't be - he's my age," one replied.

The judge, who was in New Plymouth last week filling in for regular Taranaki district court Judge Allan Roberts, was happy to accommodate the request for a quick interview in his chambers to confirm the news.

And yes, it was true. The 57-year-old ex-New Plymouth man, who could easily pass for someone more than a decade younger, has called it a day - well almost.

"In May, I would have done 18 years as a judge after being appointed in 1990," he said.

"I retired in January, but I've still got an active warrant and I'm still on the Parole Board, so my work diet now is the board and relieving now and then around the countryside. So it's semi-retirement. The idea was to play more tennis and play more golf, but it hasn't necessarily come to fruition yet.

"But it has given me more control of my life. If I don't want to work, I don't have to. After 16 years as a judge you can retire on a full pension."

His return last week to Taranaki was his second visit this year, and a return to where he first cut his cloth in the courtroom.

After graduating from Otago University, Judge Macdonald ventured north, practising at high-profile New Plymouth firm Billings before going out on his own in 1988.

Less than two years later he was appointed to the bench at the age of 39 and posted to the busy Henderson District Court in West Auckland. From there it was south to Dunedin, where he still resides with his wife, Sue. The last of his four children is due to head away from home early next year.

But it was not just the courtroom where Judge Macdonald excelled and is remembered in Taranaki.

A dynamic point guard, he was a driving force for New Plymouth basketball before going on to captain his country.

The sport played a huge part in his life until recently when, he says, it was time to give up because the bruises were taking too long to leave his body.

"There was also a fair bit of frustration involved with wanting to do things you used to be able to do," he said.

"There was also the problem of being a judge and playing a contact sport," he joked.

But there is still time for tennis in his life and he keeps his racket swinging at premier level in Dunedin.

Semi-retirement has had its benefits already, with the judge able to go overseas with Sue to visit two of their children, one in South Korea and the other in London.

"But I'll always enjoy coming back to New Plymouth when the opportunity arises," he said.

"I get to catch up with so many people. There are so many, I have to write a list before I leave home to make sure I at least call some of them."

By Glenn McLean
© Fairfax New Zealand Limited 2007.

China's Hip Hop granny
(01:57) Report

BEIJING (Reuters), December 10, 2007:

A 71-year old Chinese granny eschews more traditional tai chi and takes to hip hop dancing.

Wu Ying's dancing raised eyebrows when she first started.

But now she leads a class of over 30 people. She also wants to hip hop for the world at next year's Olympic games.

Kittu Bu reporting

See video story from Reuters

New research has found that legislation intended to tackle discrimination against people with disabilities has actually increased inequalities. Clare Bambra explains

Brian the bull terrier, one of series of creations from Aardman Animations, which tackle subjects around disability, discrimination and prejudice.
Photograph: Aardman Animations/ PA

____________________________________
Clare Bambra
Society
LONDON, England (Guardian), December 10, 2007:

Research on disabled people in the UK, led by the Wolfson Research Institute at Durham University, has found that since the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), the employment of disabled people has decreased and that this has disproportionately affected the least skilled workers, thereby increasing inequalities.

The DDA was introduced by the last Conservative government in 1995 and was extended by the Blair administration in 2001 and 2003. A key component of the act was to make it unlawful to "discriminate against disabled persons in connection with employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services, or the disposal or management of premises".

This gave disabled and chronically ill people a number of employment rights (similar to those obtained by women and ethnic minorities in the 1970s). Until 2003, the employment provisions of the DDA only applied to businesses with more than 15 employees thus exempting the majority of British companies.

The act made discrimination on the grounds of physical or mental disability or limiting long term illness illegal: since its implementation in 1996, it has been unlawful to "discriminate against disabled persons in connection with employment, the provision of goods, facilities and services, or the disposal or management of premises".

Employers are required to make "reasonable adjustments" to work and premises to cater for people with a disability.

Originally, the employment provisions of the DDA only applied to companies with more than 15 employees. However, since the 2003 amendments, it applies to all employers.

More recent amendments such as the 2001 Special Educational Needs and Disability Act have extended the remit of disability anti-discrimination legislation to other areas with employment opportunity implications such as access to education and training.

Similar legislation is in place in other countries such as the USA, Australia, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The DDA was in part introduced to help tackle the long-standing association in the UK between disability, poverty, social exclusion, and low employment rates: only around 50% of working age disabled people are in employment compared to 80% for those without a disability.

However, a recent study which investigated the employment rates of disabled people in the UK before and after the implementation of the DDA found that whilst the employment rates of non-disabled people increased over the period 1990 to 2003, the employment rates for disabled people decreased by an average of 7%. Although there were no differences between the employment rates of disabled men and women, the Durham-led study found that the employment rates of disabled people from the lowest occupational groups decreased by 11% after the DDA whilst the employment rates of disabled people in professional occupations did not change significantly during the study period.

The results suggest two things:
1) that the inequality in employment between disabled and non-disabled people has increased since the DDA, and
2) that there are significant social inequalities in the employment consequences of disability in the UK which the DDA legislation has failed to rectify.

What is less clear is why the DDA has failed to close the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people, and why it has seemingly increased social inequalities between disabled people. The following are possible reasons, although more research is needed:

Firstly, employers may be fearful of the possible enhanced recruitment and retention costs incurred as a result of the legislation. Even standardised costs may well be a disproportionately higher amount of the wage bill for lower occupations than for professional groups. Furthermore, the skills of employees in socio-economic classes I and II may be seen to outweigh the costs incurred.

Secondly, the emphasis in the legislation is very much on the individual person with a disability to assert their DDA employment rights in order to gain or retain employment. They are required to show that they are (i) disabled under the terms of the act and (ii) that they were discriminated against on this basis. It is highly possible that people in classes I and II are more aware and articulate about such rights.

Thirdly, awareness of the DDA is low amongst UK employers: according to the Department for Work and Pensions, only 63% of employers were aware of the DDA. Furthermore as the DDA employment provisions now apply to all companies regardless of size, awareness, implementation (and therefore perhaps employment rates) may increase in the future.

This suggests, that to be more effective in enabling disabled people into employment, anti-discrimination legislation needs to place less emphasis on the individual making the claim and more on the employer to enact best practice. In addition, awareness of the DDA amongst employers needs to be increased and the provisions of the act better enforced.

· Clare Bambra is a lecturer in public health policy at Durham University

CHEVY CHASE, Maryland (ScienceDaily), December 9, 2007:

Every year, in the United States about 1,500 people have surgical objects accidentally left inside them after surgery, according to medical studies.

About two-thirds of the surgical objects left behind are sponges, which can lead to pain, infection, bowel obstructions, problems in healing, longer hospital stays, additional surgeries and in rare cases, death.

“When there is significant bleeding and a sponge is placed in a patient, it can sometimes look indistinguishable from the tissue around it,” said Dr. Steven DeJong, vice chair, department of surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, Ill. “Unintentional retained sponges and instruments is a devastating complication for patients and is a national problem affecting every hospital in the country that performs invasive and surgical procedures.”

To prevent this potentially deadly problem, Loyola University Medical Center is the first center in the Midwest to utilize a new technology that is helping its surgical teams keep track of all sponges used during a surgical procedure. The new system was brought to Loyola through the efforts of the hospital’s operating room nurses.

“This is another safety measure that we’re certain will help us deliver the safest, highest-quality patient care available,” said Dr. Paul K. Whelton, MSc, president & CEO, Loyola University Health System.

This technology is very familiar to anyone who has ever used a grocery checkout system. Each sponge has a unique bar code affixed to it that is scanned by a high-tech device to obtain a count. Before a procedure begins, the identification number of the patient and the badge of the surgical team member maintaining the count are scanned into the counter. As an added safety feature, the bar code is heat sealed into the sponge to eliminate any danger of it becoming detached during a procedure.

The counter has a color screen that keeps a running count of the sponges used. It provides visual and audio cues when a sponge is scanned in, scanned out and if one is missing or is being counted twice. Because each bar code is unique, the system will not allow a sponge to be accidentally counted twice.

“We perform complex cases that we do on a frequent basis that require hundreds of sponges. Sometimes things move very fast, especially when you’re doing an operation for trauma. It’s not too hard to imagine that something might be missed,” said Jo Quetsch, RN, clinical director, surgical services at Loyola.

Quetsch is a member of the surgical nursing leadership team that played a key role in bringing the new system to Loyola.

“This device will help us eliminate the human factor in our standard counting procedure,” Quetsch added. “We are definitely able to keep track of all sponges.”

When a sponge is removed from a patient, it is scanned back into the system. A surgical procedure cannot end until all sponges are accounted for. If a sponge is missing, the device will alert the surgical team what kind of sponge it is and the time it was scanned in. When the count is completed and approved at the end of a procedure, the system can print, archive or download a report as backup documentation and the count.

“This isn’t replacing our standard counting procedures,” Quetsch said. “We will continue to do three hand counts as always – one count when a patient is receiving a sponge, another count when closing begins and a last count at the end of closing.”

The system, which is FDA approved, is being used in all of Loyola’s operating rooms, its labor and delivery rooms, interventional cardiology laboratories in which surgical procedures are performed and its ambulatory surgery sites. As the technology grows, Loyola plans to use it to keep track of all medical equipment used during a procedure.

Adapted from materials provided by Loyola University Health System.

Copyright © 1995-2007 ScienceDaily LLC

TOKYO (The Japan Times - Kyodo News), December 9, 2007:

A welfare ministry panel has compiled a proposal urging nursing-care companies to raise wages to help address the industry's labor shortage, sources close to the panel said Saturday.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will take measures to improve the nursing-care system in accordance with the proposal next fiscal year, the sources said.

Acknowledging that the labor shortage is being caused mainly by low wages, the panel asks nursing-care companies to make sure regional differences in wage standards are reflected when paying employees.

The labor scarcity in the care industry is more serious in urban areas, where wage levels in other industries are higher than in rural districts

Copyright: The Japan Times Ltd.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (China Post - CNA), December 9, 2007:

The occupancy rate of long-term elderly care institutions around Taiwan has reached 75 percent as demand continues to increase with the graying of the country's population, according to tallies released Saturday by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

As of the end of October, people aged 65 and older totalled 2.33 million in Taiwan, MOI officials, adding that the number has been increasing every year.

While there are a total of 1,015 long-term elderly care institutions around the country with the capacity to accommodate a total of 62,000 residents, 46,546 seniors, or 2 percent of the elderly population, are residing in these institutions, the officials said.

Taipei County is home to the largest number of long-term elderly care institutions at 194, followed by Taipei City at 171 and Kaohsiung City at 68, they said.

In terms of occupancy rate, Hsinchu City records the highest level at 91 percent, and Liangchiang County has the lowest level at 25 percent, they added.

Copyright © 1999 – 2007 The China Post

The key to ‘Forward Living’ is the creation of an environment with adaptive technologies that help seniors comfortably, independently and safely age - within their own home

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (SeniorJournal), December 8, 2007:

Almost 80 million Boomers are heading into retirement, and they’re not taking it sitting down. And why would they? They’re too busy traveling, enjoying sports, socializing and culture to take time to sit. It’s a good thing too, because Boomers are one of the largest demographic phenomena to hit the U.S., and they have both the demonstrated will power and numbers to change the nation’s preconceptions about senior living.

The first wave of Boomers hit retirement age (60) in 2006, and an estimated 330 of them are hitting retirement age every hour 2 – producing an additional 34-35 million retirees over the next couple of years.

The sheer numbers of these retirees is producing a Gray Wave that is washing across America, triggering profound changes in consumer and lifestyle patterns in its wake.

Boomers seeking retirement alternatives to stay in familiar surroundings

One of the most important changes happening now deals with where and how Boomers plan to spend their retirement years. Who wants to give up their secure surroundings and move – precisely when they’re reaching an age in which moving is particularly undesirable? Certainly not the Boomers. Many of them are looking for alternatives that allow them to remain in familiar surroundings while avoiding the stress of a move to a retirement facility.

To See more of the SeniorJournal report click here

Related Story:
A home bright and open after remodeling.
Home of the Month, a remodeling featured August 2007,
by North Carolina State University
College of Design
click for story

A 1964 family photo of Evelyn Fetterman with her daughters, Phyllis, left, and Mindy. Photo: John Fetterman

Becoming
'parent of your parent'
an emotionally
wrenching process

By Mindy Fetterman, USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO, California (USA TODAY), December 8, 2007:

First you get phone calls that seem kind of strange. Mom is quitting her bridge club because "they think I'm stealing from them."

A week later, she mentions an old boyfriend from the war who's coming to take her to dinner. You think, OK, it could be true.

Then the police call from her house. "Your mom thinks there's someone hiding under her bed."

Now you know. The forgetfulness, the fantasies, are dementia, Alzheimer's, something like that. Your sister suspects the worst.

This isn't just the story of one petite brunette wtih terrific legs who was called "Shorty" by her husband, granddaughters and daughters, including me.

This is the story of millions of Americans caring for elderly parents and maneuvering in the murky worlds of medicine, law, hospitals, nursing homes, guilt, fear and family ties.

A USA TODAY/ABC News/Gallup Poll of baby boomers finds that 41% who have a living parent are providing care for them — either financial help, personal care or both — and 8% of boomers say their parents have moved in with them.

Of those who are not caring for an aging parent, 37% say they expect to do so in the future. About half say they're concerned about being able to provide such care.

It's estimated that 34 million Americans serve as unpaid caregivers for other adults, usually elderly relatives, and that they spend an average 21 hours a week helping out, according to a study being released today by AARP. Millions more grown children are calling regularly, flying into town every few weeks or months or just stopping by to take Mom or Dad to the doctor.

Among boomers who are helping their parents, 89% say the responsibility is only a "minor sacrifice" or "no sacrifice at all," according to the USA TODAY poll. But as their elderly parents get older, some boomers are beginning to worry they won't be able to care for them in the future.

AARP estimates that the economic impact of this "free" care was about $350 billion in 2006. That's more than the U.S. government spent on Medicare in 2005. It exceeded the size of the federal budget deficit in 2006.

AARP estimates that unpaid caregivers who contribute financially spend an average of $2,400 a year on care. Those who put in more than 40 hours a week spend much more: an average of $3,888 of their own money each year, AARP says. But when a parent actually moves into the children's home, the total cost isn't really added up. Families pay and pay and pay, emotionally and financially.

The typical unpaid caregiver is a 46-year-old woman who works outside the home while taking care of a relative, according to AARP. That burden forces her to cut the hours she works at her regular job by about 41%, causing her salary and benefits to fall sharply.

The National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) estimates that $659,000 per person is lost in pensions, Social Security benefits and wages as adult children — mainly women — take time off from work to care for their parents.

The physical toll can be severe, too. Caregivers report having one or more chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure, at nearly twice the rate of all Americans. Of those who say their health has worsened because of caregiving, 91% report depression.

Caring for elderly parents also can threaten the emotional health of caregivers and their families. Being the "parent of your parent" can unlock your family's hidden dysfunctions — "You were always Mom's favorite!" — and reopen old sibling rivalries and conflicts: "You're trying to kill our father!"

If you never really got along with your parents or your siblings, it can be even more stressful. Elder care can exhaust and sometimes demoralize the caregiver who's on the front line. And it can frighten and confuse elderly parents.

"My dad was never a gentle soul when we were growing up; he was a military guy," says Nia Wilson, a lawyer with the state of Pennsylvania. "His kids were additional troops he had to keep in check."

Now she spends most weekends driving about five hours from Harrisburg, Pa., to Washington, D.C., where her 84-year-old mother is caring for her 90-year-old father, who has Alzheimer's. Her two brothers live nearby but don't help much, Wilson says.

"They think they help, but not as much as I would like," she says with a sigh.

In most families, women — daughters or daughters-in-law, aunts or nieces — typically assume the burden of care, according to the NAC. Wilson says her parents want to stay in their home, even though they probably belong in an assisted-living facility, she thinks.

"We keep raising the idea with Mom," Wilson says. "But she says, 'Don't worry about me. I'm OK.' "

Starting to take over

After a second midnight call from the police, the sergeant tells my sister: "You all need to do something about your mom." But what?

A plane trip back home to Louisville, and we face her: "Shorty, you have to see the doctor. We've made an appointment. Let's go."

She smiles and nods.

The next thing we know, the skittish 75-year-old woman has sneaked out of the front door and scampered across the street to a neighbor's house. We find her hiding — literally hiding from her daughters — behind a tree in Mr. Trinkle's backyard.

She's frightened by what she senses is happening to her. On some level, she realizes she's losing her ability to think and reason. But right now, she's afraid of what might happen to her. She's afraid she'll be taken from her home and placed in a nursing home.

So she runs. What now?

A friend suggests calling in a man. "Women of that era will do what a man tells them," she says.

I call my ex-husband, a man Shorty has known since he was 8 years old. "Put on a suit and tie and bring the Mercedes over," I tell him. "Shorty will go to the doctor with you."

He does. He talks her out from behind the tree and into the front seat of the big car. "Can I go, too, Mom?" I ask, tentatively.

Shorty talks only to John: "Tell her she can come, but she has to sit in the back seat."

Starting to take over for your parents can be one of the most distressing experiences of a lifetime. "It's so much more difficult, because they are our parents; we are the children," says Julie Lucero of Vacaville, Calif.

For the past two years, Lucero's 79-year-old father, Edward, has been living in her home with her three children.

"Right now," she says, "we're fighting about his driving. Not out of malice, but because I know it's better for everyone if he doesn't drive anymore. Heaven forbid if he injures himself or someone else."

Her father, who has had some fender benders and mistakenly parked in the wrong driveway, disagrees. "They can take away my driver's license, but I'm still driving," he declares.

After Shorty had been driving fairly cluelessly for two years or so, we hid her keys. Her dementia had progressed to the point that she didn't remember that she couldn't find the keys. She had been a widow for 25 years; driving was vital to her.

A battle over keys can be the first struggle between elderly parent and child. "It's my responsibility now," Lucero says. "I have to decide."

Obtaining legal rights

One trip to a gerontologist with Shorty confirms what we suspected.

"Your mother is very charming," the young doctor says. "She even flirted with me. But she really doesn't know what's going on." She couldn't tell time or count change. She didn't know who the president was. She didn't know what day it was.

The doctor prescribes an anti-psychotic drug to help with the voices in her head. He checks her into a psychiatric ward for four days, primarily to give my sister and me time to figure out what to do.

"She can't live alone," he says. "She needs 24-hour care."

So we begin the trek across town to assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. Both of us are single working women, so taking Shorty into either home isn't an option.

Some facilities we see are elegant replicas of colonial homes with oriental rugs and cherry wood furniture. Lovely, but we realize she likely needs more medical care than those retirement homes could provide. (We suspect they were decorated more to please the adult children than the residents.)

Other facilities are starker, more medicinal. In one, a man was screaming. Shaken, we go home.

We try in-home care. But Shorty keeps firing people. We try her former house maid of 30 years, a woman who was 78 herself. She stays about five days, until Shorty throws her clothes out an upstairs window, yelling, "Get your —- out of here!"

We try an apartment at an assisted-living condo. Shorty calls a taxi three days later and has herself taken home. She lives at home alone for another year, with my sister stopping by each day after work to check on her. Very stressful.

Finally, we have her committed. We get a lawyer, take her to court and have her declared incompetent.

We sit across from a jury and testify against our own mother. My sister is named her guardian. We check her into a nursing home with an Alzheimer's wing. That means the doors are locked.

"You're doing the right thing," the lawyer says.

Maybe, but we feel terrible.

Ray Payton knows the feeling.

She had to go to court to have her grandmother declared incompetent. Now she must file forms with the court every six months to prove she's not wasting or stealing her grandmother's money.

"I'm the legal guardian of my grandmother, who has dementia," says Payton, 35, whose parents are deceased. "I thought, 'How could me, a grandchild, take her to court so I could pay her bills?'

"I felt like I was being a bad granddaughter."

Straining a family

Every rivalry you had with your brothers and sisters, every argument you had with your parents, every effort you ever made to become independent can be put to the test once your parents become old and sick.

You find yourself arguing with your siblings, arguing with your spouse, arguing with your parents, arguing with yourself.

"The No. 1 thing you'll fight about is money," says David Horgan, a producer of TV commercials from Ludlow, Mass. His 69-year-old mother-in-law moved in with him and his wife, Julie, and three kids about three years ago.

"We fight about Grandma a lot. My wife will say: 'What do you want me to do? It's my mother!' And it goes back and forth, and then it escalates. As a good daughter, she always feels guilty, and I always come out the bad guy."

They've spent thousands of dollars on a new air-conditioning system for their home because of his mother-in-law's lung problems. He loves and admires her but feels crowded in his own home.

"The toughest thing is that she is a beautiful woman, the kindest and nicest person," he says. "She'd do anything for you. But as soon as you live on top of each other, it's hard."

Lucero has nine half-siblings. Her father, who divorced her mother when Lucero was young, lived with one son for two years. He has only Social Security and some veteran's benefits, about $600 a month. No savings. He can't afford a nursing home or an assisted-living facility.

She wishes his other children would help more. "It was my choice to take him on, but now that he lives with me, they say, 'Oh, Julie's got it covered.' "

In my mom's case, one daughter lives near Shorty, the other — me — lives hundreds of miles away. So the nearest sister gets the burden of visiting every week, often twice. She's saddled with the emergency runs to the hospital and trips to the doctor's office.

The faraway sister spends thousands of dollars on plane tickets and rental cars and buys most of her mother's clothes and necessities. She spends money to keep up her mother's house, so we can sell it. She spends money because she's not there to help, and she feels guilty about everything.

Shorty's money starts draining away, faster and faster. Nursing home care is $60,000 a year. After a few years, her savings are nearly gone. So we sell the house and most of her stuff. We divide the valuable and sentimental things. I ship home my new antiques.

We realize we've done exactly what Shorty feared that day she ran across the street and hid behind the tree: We've sold her belongings, taken her rights and put her in a nursing home.

In our minds, we know we did the right thing. But we feel terrible.

Epilogue: Evelyn Fetterman died in February at age 84. She had been living in assisted living or a nursing home for 10 years. Her daughters are sad and tired. They miss their mom the way she used to be. They're relieved that it's all over. And for that, they feel terrible.

Read the report in USA TODAY

By Mindy Fetterman
Copyright 2007 USA TODAY

· Cash deal gives choice over services · Move aimed at baby boom generation

By Jo Revill, Whitehall editor

LONDON, England (The Observer), December 9 2007:

Elderly people are to be given money to pay for their own care in a move being hailed as one of the most radical welfare reforms in a generation. They will have the right to decide how and where they spend the cash, instead of social workers dictating what help they need to live in their own homes. Personal budgets will also be set up for younger disabled people frustrated by their lack of choice.

Under the system, being rolled out from next April, older people or their chosen relatives will set up bank accounts into which councils will pay a monthly sum. Beneficiaries will receive the cash after means tests taking account of their health and personal needs. They will then be able to shop around for the best packages of care, and, for instance, may decide to spend more on cleaners, or help with food.

The move follows the six-month Dignity at Home campaign by The Observer, which has called for far more responsive services for the elderly. One key aim, backed by several charities, was to give people the right to choose their own home helps and personal carers.

After a series of pilot projects, ministers have become convinced that individual budgets are essential as the 'baby-boomer' generation, moving towards retirement, will demand far more control of their daily lives as well as a higher standard of service.

Around 900,000 people over 65 are currently unable to live independently without help, a number due to rise to more than 1.3 million by 2025, putting enormous pressure on services.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson, who will announce the new measure tomorrow, said it 'represents a radical transfer of power from the state to the public. Everyone, irrespective of their illness or disability, has the right to self-determination and maximum control over their own lives.'

The shift of funding from local authorities to individuals is worth around £8bn a year and is likely to create a far more aggressive market as agencies compete to offer the best packages of care.

There will be concerns that some older people will feel frightened by the prospect of making choices over their care, and worries about unscrupulous relatives who may steal money. But ministers believe the risks have to be faced as they move to a model of care that puts recipients in the driving seat.

The move could also see an even greater change - the transfer of money from the NHS into the bank accounts of those with chronic, long-term conditions such as diabetes, who would like to buy their own care.

Social care minister Ivan Lewis said: 'This is the end of a paternalistic and controlling culture and the beginning of a new way for older people and those with disabilities to be in charge of their lives.' He acknowledged there were inherent risks: 'Some may decide to spend money in unconventional ways; others may find making these choices very hard. We'll have to face these challenges as they arise, but we know this is the right thing to do. The more power you put into the hands of people, the more you end up with the package of care they want. We can't simply maintain a status quo where people have to receive the care handed out to them.'

For five years, ministers have recognised that demands for social care - and a more consumer-led approach - are outstripping councils' ability to provide it. They are preparing a green paper on long-term reform of social care funds amid concern that in many parts of England only people with severe or complex needs become eligible for care.

A report by Sir Derek Wanless for the health body the King's Fund found that almost 60 per cent of the social services budget for the elderly went on providing residential home placements, though many felt that if more care were available before people became very infirm it would lower the bill hugely.

One of those who has benefited enormously from having a personal budget is Chris Moon-Williams, whose parents, Beryl and Cyril Moon, are both at home and in their eighties. Moon-Williams, who lives in Worthing, West Sussex and works in social services, controls the £7,000-a-year budget they both receive for their personal care.

'It is no exaggeration to say that this has transformed their lives,' she said. 'My mother is physically frail and has some memory problems. In the past, someone would come to get her up in the morning, at any time between 9am and noon. That really upset my father, who was her main carer.

'When I was able to control their budget, I shopped around for their care, and interviewed different carers until I found the right person. Her carer now comes at 9am on the dot, but is also happy to take her to the GP, take them shopping and do other jobs that the previous person wasn't allowed to do.

'As I control the budget quite tightly, I can save a bit of money, which has meant they have both enjoyed the last week at a hotel in Bournemouth for the first time in ages. I've also used some of the money to buy a care alarm so I know if she's fallen down. My father now has a carer who can take him for a walk, and once a week they go to the pub for a pint.'

Sir Simon Milton, chair of the Local Government Association, described it as a 'landmark agreement' between councils and the government: 'It should provide the foundation to give people independence, choice and dignity over their lives.

'By working together, we can begin to plan for and provide a modern, efficient service that should give people with the best possible care at the right time and in the right place.'

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2007

Capital's oldest barber dispenses his secrets for happiness, prosperity

From The TORONTO STAR, Canada, December 8, 2007:

By Bill Schiller, ASIA BUREAU

BEIJING – The Chinese ideograms above the door reads: "Luck and longevity: Having both means great wealth." Behind the door, by that definition, lives one of the richest men in China. His name is Jing Kui, "Uncle Jing" to locals, and he's the oldest working barber in Beijing.

The first time I came to Uncle Jing's apartment in the Gaowo Hutong, just north of the Forbidden City, it was summer and he welcomed me like family. "We should all treat each other like family," he smiled. "In that way, we can all be happy. Happiness brings long life."

Uncle Jing knows – he'll be 94 this month.

Jing's philosophy on life: You reap what you sow June 2007 Photo of Jing Kui by courtesy of AlJazeera

He knows about family, too. In the tiny courtyard where he lives, tucked away in one of the city's warren-like hutong neighbourhoods, his eldest son lives in the apartment on one side of him, his daughter on the other. They act like caring parentheses to Jing's daily existence.

"I've never cut a Westerner's hair before," Jing told me on that first visit.

I was sitting on the edge of his bed in the apartment where he has lived for more than 30 years, a small room measuring 4-by-6 metres, sparsely furnished, but filled with sunlight.

"How old are you Uncle Jing?" I asked politely.

"I'm 93."

"Well, there's a first time for everything," I smiled.

He smiled back, then walked over to a wooden cupboard and pulled out a small leather bag. Inside were a plastic bib, a towel, and a cotton organizer with panels for scissors, an old-fashioned pair of clippers, a comb, and five straight razors.

He draped the bib around me, tied it behind my neck, studied my dishevelled hair, then went to work.

The sound of steel sliding on steel filled the room as he snipped.

Everyone once in a while Jing would take two steps back, crouch to study my head as though it were a canvas, then swoop back in and start again.

In 30 minutes he was done and I was a changed man. He charged me 10 yuan (about $1.35), I paid him double and he poured tea.

"I've been cutting hair for almost 80 years," he says, "ever since I was 15."

He arrived in Beijing in 1929 from Shunyi, just north of the city, hoping to become an accountant. But accounting opportunities were few, he says, and a local barber liked the fact that Jing could read and write and hired him as an apprentice.

"There was hardly anyone in Beijing at the time," Jing recalls, lighting up a Double Happiness cigarette and exhaling. "Maybe just a million."

Beijing's current population, announced this week, is 17.4 million.

"There were no cars then and very few bikes. It was mainly just rickshaws."

His boss's shop was lit by kerosene lamps and in the height of summer, without any electricity, the apprentices would scurry about fanning clients to keep them cool.

Jing married, started a family and soon had his own business with two shops and a dozen people working for him – until 1949.

Soon after the founding of "the new China" under Mao Zedong, his shop was "nationalized."

"They gave me 600 yuan (about $80 at today's rate) and kicked me out," he says, matter-of-factly.

For the next six decades, he used his bicycle to go door-to-door, as well as welcoming clients to his home. He still does.

And he always cuts hair for the elderly and infirm free of charge.

"Money doesn't really matter," he shrugs. "When you die, the only question people will ask is, `Was he a good person or a bad person?' Better to do good deeds all your life."

What does he think of Beijing today?

"Aiyou!" ("Wow!"), says Jing, laughing. "I can hardly recognize it."

Where he remembers vegetable gardens in what is today the city's centre, there are now forests of skyscrapers.

"Skyscrapers everywhere," he says. "But what can you do about it? Nothing."

It's that kind of equanimity, knowing what you can change and what you cannot change, that helps keep Uncle Jing in good health; that, and the comfort and discipline of daily routine.

"I usually rise every morning a little after 6," he says. "I have regular times to eat, sleep and exercise."

A good breakfast and some morning stretches start the day, and a good lunch followed by a walk to the local kiosk for the Beijing Evening News occupies the afternoon.

But the true secret to longevity isn't really physical, Jing explains.

It's the way you treat others.

"We should be more sympathetic with each other," he says. "Treat a person well – he'll treat you well!"

A haircut at Uncle Jing's is worth it, even at twice the price.

Come for a haircut – receive the canon of common sense.

© Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2007

CHEVY CHASE, Maryland (ScienceDaily), December 8, 2007:

Excess drinking of sugary beverages like soda may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, suggests new research in mice. Although the exact mechanisms aren’t known, obesity and diabetes are both associated with higher incidences of Alzheimer’s. Ling Li and her colleagues tested whether high sugar consumption in an otherwise normal diet would affect Alzheimer’s progression.

They used a genetic mouse model that develops Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in adulthood, and over a 25 week period supplemented the regular, balanced diet of half the animals with 10% sugar water. Afterwards, they compared the metabolism, memory skills (by means of various mazes) and brain composition of the regular and sugar-fed mice.

The sugar-fed mice gained about 17% more weight than controls, had higher cholesterol levels, and developed insulin resistance. These mice also had worse learning and memory retention and their brains contained over twice as many amyloid plaque deposits, an anatomical hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

Although the researchers cannot be certain if the increased mental impairment resulted specifically from the higher sugar intake or higher calories in general, these results to highlight the potential risk of sugary beverages. They note that the human equivalent of the mouse diet would be roughly 5 cans of soda per day, although since mice have a higher metabolism, it may actually take less sugar intake in humans.

Adapted from materials provided by
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Copyright © 1995-2007 ScienceDaily LLC

MELBOURNE (The Age), December 7, 2007:

Elderly Australians are less anxious and depressed than those in middle-age, according to a new study which paints a refreshingly bright picture of growing old.

A major survey of 5,000 people over 45 has found that baby boomers have significantly higher rates of psychiatric and anxiety disorders than those in their twilight years.

One in seven people in middle-age (45 to 65) have a mental health problem, dropping back to one in 16 among those aged over 65, the study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry concludes.

Elderly participants also were less likely to report having seen a doctor for a mental health problem in the past 12 months.

"This is a new and very positive view of ageing," said psychiatrist and co-investigator Dr Julian Trollor, from the University of NSW.

"The general perception out there is that disease and burden is what you've got to look forward to as you age, but we can be much more positive than that."

Dr Trollor and colleague Dr Tracy Anderson analysed national mental health statistics collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, comparing 3,111 middle-aged people with 1,792 over 65.

It is the first ever population-based comparison of mental disorder rates between the two generations.

"The overall impression from the survey is that elderly people are more psychologically healthy than their younger counterparts and quite significantly so," Dr Trollor said.

He said it appeared people become psychologically "immunised" to hardship through their lifetime, making them more resilient with age.

"With tough times repeated through life you learn to cope with adversity, which may explain why this is a mentally healthier and more robust group."

Census data shows this age group also is generally more transient, "which suggests there are a lot of grey nomads out and about living a happy and healthy retirement".

The survey showed that the strongest predictors of anxiety or depression in middle-age were being female, separated or divorced, being made redundant or in poor physical health.

Physical health was the only predictor among elderly, but this rate was no higher than through middle-age.

Dr Troller said more work needed to be done to determine exactly what the determinants of mental disorder in later life actually were.

A new Australian National Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey now underway will provide more data to be released to researchers in 2008.

AAP
Copyright © 2007 Fairfax Digital

NEW DELHI (Hindustan Times), December 8, 2007:

In a pre-budget bonanza for senior citizens and the common man, the government has decided to extend the benefit of Section 80C of the Income Tax Act to the Senior Citizens Saving Scheme and five-year Post Office Time Deposit account. This will be applicable from April 1, 2007.

In addition, the government has announced that a bonus at the rate of 5 per cent will be paid on the Post Office Monthly Income Account at the time of repayment on maturity. Together with the bonus, the effective yield will be 8.9 per cent.

Exemption under this section of the Act is already applicable to life insurance schemes, provident funds, national savings certificates and equity-linked mutual funds.

The post-office deposit account is for those who want to invest a lumpsum. It offers an interest rate of 7.5 per cent. The minimum investment in such a scheme is Rs 200 while there is no prescribed upper limit. One can take a loan against a time deposit with the balance in the account pledged as security.

The Senior Citizens Savings Scheme was started in 2004 and carries an interest rate of 9 per cent per annum. The scheme has a five-year maturity period, extendable by another three. The minimum investment is Rs 1,000 or in multiples of Rs 1,000 subject to a maximum of Rs 15 lakh. People above 60 years of age as well as those who have taken voluntary retirement and attained the age of 55 are eligible.

By Arun Kumar
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times

CANCER RESEARCH IN BOXERS By Annette Langer

HAMBURG (Der Spiegel), December 7, 2007:

Chest hair, biceps and boxer shorts: Doctors at a cancer research institute in Naples have posed half-naked for a pin-up calendar. Research in Italy is burdened by bureaucracy and funding shortages. It is hoped that this private initiative will re-animate patrons.

Through his glasses, Professor Mozzillo gives the camera a penetrating, slightly skeptical look. His hands are passing lightly over the abdomen of a patient, lying on an operating table. The surgeon is wearing gloves, a face mask and plastic cap, as though the operation were about to begin. But there's a small problem: The woman on the table is fully clothed, the doctor practically naked.

Mozillo is one of 20 doctors and researchers at the Pascale Foundation, a cancer research institute in Naples, who are going to unusual lengths to raise awareness and money for their work.

Just in time for Christmas, the Fondazione Pascale is bringing out a pin-up calendar in which oncologists, surgeons, nurses, caretakers and even the institute's director are posing in their underwear.

The slogan: "Without you, research is bare."

"We want to bring research closer to the average citizen, to allow them to participate," institute director Mario Santangelo told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Research, he says, has to cease hiding in the ivory tower. "It takes a little bit of irony and humor to reach the people," says Santangelo.

And there's apparently no lack of that among the Neopolitan researchers. Sporting beer bellies, chest hair and droopy biceps, the "Pascale" doctors took a courageous plunge into their underwear drawers and presented themselves to the camera with admirable aplomb.

The pictures are touching in their naturalness. Doctor Ionna stands in black knee socks in the prep room, slightly bow-legged, pulling on his gloves. The stethoscope hangs around his neck, his striped boxers are a little tight. His colleague Vecchione leans his generous stomach against a lectern in the auditorium, and launches into his lecture.

"All participants went about this with professionalism and a high degree of concentration," says photographer Simone Florena of the shooting. The doctors worked on the shots until midnight -- after a long day in the operating room or lab. "They were perfect. Despite their normal seriousness, they were able to relax," Florena told SPIEGEL ONLINE. The only one who was allowed to smile was Institute director Santangelo. "We wanted the calendar to end with an image of hope.

"The black and white calendar is available for €10 at kiosks and books stores across the country. Half of the initial print run of 10,000 has already been sold and €20,000 was raised at the initial presentation of the calendar at the end of November. All profits are going to the association to fight cancer "Lega per la lotta ai tumori."

And it, like many other organisations of its kind, is fighting an uphill battle; Italian researchers are faced with run-down institutes, poorly-equipped labs, over-burdened professors and a fat bureaucracy.

The Italian National Research Council (CNR) researched what countries invested the most funding in research in 2004. Of the 22 countries investigated, Italy scored second worst. Only 1.1 percent of Italy's GDP ended up in universities and labs. Germany, with 2.5 percent, took eighth place, while Israel topped the list with 4.4 percent.

It was only thanks to the public spending on research that Italy was able to score a few points. However, the supply of scientific personnel is as meager as the research spending; here too the Italians landed second to last.

That Italy still produces Nobel Prize winners at all has a lot to do with the fact that they take off to the United States early in their careers. Mario Capecchi, for example -- one of this year's Nobel Prize winners for medicine -- was born in Italy but grew up in the US.

Institute director Santagelo says that although the research institutions in Naples are supported by both the state and the region, the funding is never enough. "Research is always in development and costs ever more -- it's no different here from elsewhere in Europe."

The Pascale Foundation has distinguished itself in Europe for its research in the area of bowel cancer. Santangelo says that they are reporting "survival rates that once would have been considered unthinkable."

The culture of making donations is "stronger in northern Italy, where there's industry and more production." It's easier to come up with funding there than in the poorer south. But there are still business people, private individuals and entrepreneurs in Naples who donate. And that's who the calendar is aimed at. "Everyone should be interested in science. In a modern state, there can be no development without research."

Photo Gallery: Doctors Strip for Cancer
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,27152,00.html

© 2007 SPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG

Reta Walsh hugs Vinod K. Shah, 66, who formed Shah Associates, after an appointment at the Bean Medical Center in Southern Maryland.
Photo: Nikki Kahn/ The Washington Post

Born in India, Transforming Rural Maryland: Extended Family of Medical Specialists Helps St. Mary's Thrive

St. Mary's, Southern Maryland (Washington Post), December 7, 2007: St. Mary's County was once a place where no doctor wanted to settle. In the 1970s, the county hospital used decades-old equipment, struggled to make payroll and had no full-time specialists -- not even an obstetrician, although more than 600 babies were born there each year.

Then came Vinod K. and Ila Shah, Bombay-educated and D.C.-trained husband-and-wife doctors who were eager to open a practice in the rural area. They had heard about St. Mary's from Vinod's younger brother and were enticed by the potential impact that even a small practice could have there.

"It was just like miracle workers walked in," said Richard Martin, 92, who was then head of the hospital. "I told them, 'You are the answer to my prayers.' "

The couple was soon joined by Vinod's younger brother, Umed K. Shah, a gastroenterologist. Next came two family friends. A few years later, another brother arrived, cardiologist Anil K. Shah, with his wife, Beena Shah, a neurologist.

In time, Vinod and Ila Shah recruited more friends and family, including the rest of Vinod's eight siblings, each of whom is a doctor or is married to one. They built the largest private specialty practice in Southern Maryland, Shah Associates, which has treated about 90,000 of St. Mary's 110,000 residents.

For many years, foreign-born doctors have been the unlikely medical backbone of rural America. In the 1970s, the United States actively recruited them, promoting the opportunities available in remote areas avoided by many U.S.-born physicians. Then, starting in the 1990s, a visa waiver program promised to fast-track doctors to a green card if they worked in a rural area for at least three years.

Today, at least 23 percent of practicing doctors in the United States attended a foreign medical school, and almost all of those practitioners were born overseas. But recent changes in visa policy have had the unintended consequence of slowing the flow of foreign-born doctors to rural areas, a trend that Shah is, in small ways, resisting.

Two generations of Shah doctors see patients who span several generations of Southern Maryland families. "We come here for everything," Navy retiree Paul Hailor said at their main office in Hollywood, Md. "My fiancee is down the hall waiting for a pulmonary appointment. Kids come here for MRIs, CAT scans."

Nurses and patients have a system for keeping all of the Shahs straight. They use initials for the four Shah brothers: Dr. V.K. the cardiologist; Dr. U.K. the gastroenterologist; Dr. D.K. the child psychiatrist; and Dr. A.K., another cardiologist. The other Shahs, especially the four with names beginning with 'A,' often go by their first name: Dr. Amish the cardiologist, also V.K.'s son; his wife, Dr. Arpana the dermatologist; Dr. Beena the neurologist; Dr. Jyoti the sleep specialist.

"Every once in a while, we get someone calling in wanting to talk to 'Dr. Shah,' " said Betsy Warren, a registered nurse who has worked for Shah Associates for 16 years. "You ask them, 'Which Dr. Shah?' And they say, 'The one with dark hair.' "

To Southern Maryland, the Shah family has imported distinctive aspects of Indian culture: colorful saris, lavish parties for hundreds stocked with huge trays of vegetarian Indian food and recitals featuring classical Indian dances.

Family members say it took years to earn the trust of the community, but once they did, the practice quickly grew. Some local doctors who once viewed the Shahs as competition eventually joined the practice.

Each time the nearby Patuxent River Naval Base added employees, the practice received a wave of patients. The practice's offices, where employees had once been asked to park in front so business would appear brisk, were soon overflowing.

In 1995, V.K. Shah found an empty lot on Route 235 in Hollywood. Two years later, he opened the Philip J. Bean Medical Center, dedicating it to a late local physician who he said "delivered half the county."

"We said, 'Let's name it after someone who means something to this community,' " Shah said. "I think people should feel good about this place -- it should mean something to them."

But the facility that felt like a palace then is already too small, and the practice, with 65 physicians in 10 locations, is scrambling to recruit more doctors. "Demand is so high across the board," said Shah, 66. "I can't retire."

Plans were announced last week for a 32,000-square-foot addition to the medical center. The extra space will allow specialists from Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center to practice there as part of a new partnership.

Because Shah Associates provides so much of the medical care in the region, the partnership will allow the universities to study health patterns over generations, said Leslie Miller, head of the cardiac program at both hospitals.

Shah Associates has compiled its patients' medical records into a database that allows it to track the medical histories of families and look for early warning signs in younger generations. Such locally comprehensive databases might one day help researchers better understand such hereditary conditions as heart problems, he said.

"They are a model of the health care of the future," Miller said. "These guys, on their own, using their own money, have put together this extraordinary system. . . . We want to extend what they have done."

But in many areas that are more rural than Southern Maryland, as in many inner cities, the gap between medical needs and resources remains great, despite government efforts.

In 1994, Congress made foreign doctors who train in the United States while holding a so-called J-1 visa eligible to apply for a green card if they practiced for at least three years in underserved areas. The program, which exempts J-1 holders from a required return home for two years after their training is complete, has placed thousands of doctors in inner-city and rural communities, as well as in prisons.

They continue to flood the United States with residency applications, but each year the program receives fewer applications and fills fewer spots. Last year, only 900 of the 1,620 available waivers were issued.

Rural health experts attribute much of that drop to the popularity of another visa, the H-1B, which allows U.S. companies to temporarily sponsor highly skilled foreign workers in such fields as medicine, architecture and science.

In 2000, to make more H-1B visas available for technology companies, Congress exempted research institutions and universities, including their hospitals, from a cap on the hard-to-get visas. The popularity of the J-1 waiver program plummeted, and the pipeline that once channeled doctors to underserved areas narrowed.

Today, no medical facilities in Southern Maryland are eligible to sponsor physicians under the J-1 waiver program. A majority of the nearly 30 Maryland primary medical care centers designated as having a specialist shortage are in Baltimore. The District has 13 sites, including the D.C. jail. Virginia has nearly 120, two of which are in the Washington area.

With baby boomers beginning to retire, the American Medical Association says, the country could be short as many as 200,000 doctors before 2020 -- a shortage that is expected to hurt already-underserved areas the most.

V.K. Shah, who is also vice president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, said a shortage could be prevented by drastically increasing the number of medical schools in the United States, relying more on nurses and nurse practitioners or by allowing more qualified international medical graduates to practice in the United States.

But to practice, foreign doctors must first complete training in a U.S. residency program, for which spots are scarce. Last year, 46 percent of foreign applicants received residencies, compared with 93 percent of American graduates, according to the National Resident Match Program, which facilitates the application process for more than 1,000 U.S. institutions.

Each year, Shah Associates hosts a handful of graduates from foreign medical schools, encouraging them to seek opportunities beyond big cities. This summer, four recent graduates of Mumbai medical schools traveled to Southern Maryland on tourist visas for an unpaid crash course in American medicine.

The graduates watched as the Shahs cracked jokes with their patients, reassured them about upcoming operations and gently recommended diet changes. Mitesh Lotia, 24, one of the graduates, said that the one-on-one interaction held great appeal.

"In India, we would see 100, 150 patients a day," he said. "There was no time to get to know patients. I want to practice here. I'll go anywhere."

By Jenna Johnson
© 2007 The Washington Post Company

SYDNEY (Sydney Morning Herald), December 7, 2007:

Elderly Australians are less anxious and depressed than those in middle-age, according to a new study which paints a refreshingly bright picture of growing old. A major survey of 5,000 people over 45 has found that baby boomers have significantly higher rates of psychiatric and anxiety disorders than those in their twilight years.

One in seven people in middle-age (45 to 65) have a mental health problem, dropping back to one in 16 among those aged over 65, the study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry concludes.

Elderly participants also were less likely to report having seen a doctor for a mental health problem in the past 12 months.

"This is a new and very positive view of ageing," said psychiatrist and co-investigator Dr Julian Trollor, from the University of NSW.

"The general perception out there is that disease and burden is what you've got to look forward to as you age, but we can be much more positive than that."

Dr Trollor and colleague Dr Tracy Anderson analysed national mental health statistics collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, comparing 3,111 middle-aged people with 1,792 over 65.

It is the first ever population-based comparison of mental disorder rates between the two generations.

"The overall impression from the survey is that elderly people are more psychologically healthy than their younger counterparts and quite significantly so," Dr Trollor said.

He said it appeared people become psychologically "immunised" to hardship through their lifetime, making them more resilient with age. "With tough times repeated through life you learn to cope with adversity, which may explain why this is a mentally healthier and more robust group."

Census data shows this age group also is generally more transient, "which suggests there are a lot of grey nomads out and about living a happy and healthy retirement".

The survey showed that the strongest predictors of anxiety or depression in middle-age were being female, separated or divorced, being made redundant or in poor physical health. Physical health was the only predictor among elderly, but this rate was no higher than through middle-age.

Dr Troller said more work needed to be done to determine exactly what the determinants of mental disorder in later life actually were.

A new Australian National Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey now underway will provide more data to be released to researchers in 2008.

© 2007 AAP

INTERVIEW
MOON LIGHTING
Shoma A Chatterji
Tarun Majumdar, the maker of wonderful films in Bengali like Dadar Keerti, Balika Bodhu, Sansar Seemante, Phuleshwari, Nimantran, Bhalobasha Bhalobasha spoke to SCREEN in Kolkata (December 7, 2007), about the condition of Bengali mainstream cinema and about his latest release Chander Bari

What is Chander Bari all about?

It is my spontaneous response to the breakdown of the joint family system in urban India, which is also true of the world today.

The story revolves around a joint family based in Bhawanipur in Kolkata that stands out as an epitome of unity and harmony against the backdrop of decaying joint families and mushrooming nuclear families that break away from the extended family to strike it out on their own. I have great respect for the joint family system, despite the drawbacks espoused for its downfall.

And what is your response?

I feel strongly about the effect of this breakdown on the children. They are the ones who suffer when the family breaks up. The aunts and grandparents, who shared in their upbringing moulding their ideology positively, have been replaced by the mother and father and in case of single-parent families, only one parent.

Parents of nuclear families are so busy making ends meet that children do not remain their priority in terms of quality and quantity time.

Senior members such as grandparents also suffer.

You can plainly see how old-age homes are increasing in numbers each day a joint family breaks up.

The values children imbibe in a joint family system are strongly tinged with sharing everything - the joys, the sorrows, food, clothes, gifts and goodies. These values take a tumble in a nuclear family where each one learns to fend for himself or herself.

So a joint family forms the focus of the film?

Yes. My film portrays a very happy joint family where the seniormost member, a gentleman in his ‘eighties, is so loved and cared for by every other member, that they make him the centre of all their festivities and fun.

There is no neglect of senior citizens in this family. Each one feels for the other members. Of course, there are obstacles to be crossed, battles to be won, and fights to be resolved. But they go through it all and come out victorious, heralding the triumph of the joint family.

When other neighbourhood families have put out their lights, maybe metaphorically, the lights in this house are brightly lit, and passers-by point out to it to describe the home as “The Home of the Moon” meaning Chander Bari.

Which actors have you chosen to play the numerous characters in the film?

Gautam Kundu is the producer and his banner is called Rose Valley Telefilms Limited, a very upcoming media production house in Tollygunge today. Kundu has produced films like Jara Bristitey Bhijechhilo and Pitribhoomi recently. Chander Bari features 80 actors of Bengali cinema ranging from Haradhan Bandopadhyay who is in his nineties now, followed by Soumitra Chatterjee and Ranjit Mullick among the veterans, and Rituparna Sengupta in the female lead. Playback singer Babul Supriyo makes his screen debut as the hero of this film. Koel Mullick and Rishi Kaushik make the other romantic pair.

Weren’t you skeptical about casting Babul Supriyo in an important role in his first ever screen role?

Why should I? I map my characters while I am writing the screenplay. I can visualise which actors will suit which role and do my casting accordingly. I am not rigid about casting a given actor definitely without whom I feel I may not make the film at all. I am flexible about my casting but I do have a certain conception and framework about the characters. This helped me in the past to choose actors who have debuted in my film and gone on to make a name for themselves. Why should Babul Supriyo be an exception? If an actor performs poorly in my film, I take complete responsibility because I think it is my fault for not having been able to communicate with him.

What about talent then?

Talent is there in every form of art. But no other art demands as much of investment in terms of human and money capital as cinema does. This huge amount places tremendous pressure on the director much before he begins to shoot his film. The biggest pressure is the constant uncertainty and anxiety about whether the film will be a commercial success or not. Ritwik Ghatak and Rajen Tarafdar are two classic examples of filmmakers whose audience has been deprived of the experience of watching their films because almost all their films were commercial failures. If talent in an actor was everything, how did Satyajit Ray create an actor like Soumitra Chatterjee, tell me? I am not berating Soumitra Chatterjee’s acting talents. I am only pointing out that he may never have become what he has had not Ray given him that first break in Apur Sansar. The same goes for actors like Sharmila Tagore and Aparna Sen.

Has filmmaking enriched you as a human being?

Yes, of course it has in many ways. I will give you an example. Alo was shot extensively on location in three or four villages in Birbhum district of West Bengal.

This is around 25 kms away from Bolepur where Tagore’s Shantiniketan is located. The villages are - Nabagram, Benachithi, Kooltode and Palashi.

Palashi is a Muslim-dominated area. But the warmth and the hospitality they extended to our unit were unbelievable. They looked after us as if we were part of the family. They took special care of the ladies in our unit and even lent us an intricately embroidered nokshi kantha - a rare work of handcrafted quilt, for the shooting in full faith that it will be returned after its use for the shoot is over.

Where would you get warmth like this in any other profession?

© 2007: Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.