.
LONDON, England / The Telegraph / Culture / Film News / November 30, 2009

Sir Ian McKellen, the actor, has described not telling his parents that he was homosexual as the greatest regret of his life.

By Stephen Adams


Company man: Sir Ian McKellen

The Lord of the Rings star, 70, said he lamented the fact that he "did not get around" to telling his mother Margery or his father Denis, a lay preacher, before they died.

He made the admission while speaking to a group of pupils at Severn Vale School, a secondary in Quedgeley, near Gloucester.

He had been invited to take part in a drama workshop about homophobic bullying.

Saying he was impressed that the school was tackling the problem, he told pupils: "Being gay was a topic that was never mentioned when I was your age. We had not really invented the word gay - at school I used to be called Oscar, after Oscar Wilde.

"If you were gay there was nowhere to go and no one to talk to, there was no other gay person as far as I knew.

"So to come back to school for the first time in 50 years and see this is heartening, to see that as a nation we have so rapidly grown up.

"When I was 29 it was illegal for me to make love, I had a boyfriend and we slept together but the law said that we should be in prison.

"It was very hard to walk out in the street and say to him don't touch me or brush your hand against mine, there may be a police man around the corner."

He then said his greatest regret was never telling his parents.

"My mother died when I was 12 and my father died when I was 24, and I didn't get around to telling him," he explained.

Both his parents were religious but he has previously described them as "non-conformist Christians".

It took him decades to 'out' himself, he told the schoolchildren.

"At 49 I told my step-mother Gladys, she said she had known for 40 years."

He grew to be very close to his step-mother, who was a Quaker. In the past he said that she was "just glad for my sake that I wasn't lying any more" when he told her.

Sir Ian is touring schools across the country with Stonewall, the gay rights organisation that he helped found in 1989.

He also attacked Chris Moyles, the Radio 1 disc jockey, as "a careless lout" for using the word 'gay' in a derogatory fashion.

He added that it was "a worry that some Christians, Muslims, Jews and some religious people think that part of their faith is a need to believe that gay people are sinful, and in some sense not God's creatures".

Sir Ian has been a vocal supporter on gay rights ever since he 'came out' in 1988, and campaigned for the Conservative Party to abandon its support of Section 28 of the Local Government Act, which banned local authorities from promoting homosexuality as a family relationship.

Peter Rowland, head of Severn Vale School, said: "Having Sir Ian here is a wonderful opportunity, it also means that the message about tackling homophobic bullying is more powerful with someone of his stature." [rc]

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas / SeniorsJournal.com / November 30, 2009

Aging News & Information
Severe, Chronic Pain in Multiple Areas Found to Increase Risk of Falls in Senior Citizens

‘Controlled trial is needed to determine whether improved pain control could reduce risk for falls among older patients with chronic pain’


Click to Video

Senior citizens who reported chronic musculoskeletal pain in two or more locations, higher levels of severe pain, or pain that interfered with daily activities were more likely to experience a fall than older adults who did not reports these types of pain, according to a study in the November 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"Falls rank among the 10 leading causes of death in older adults in the United States, resulting in more than $19 billion in health care costs annually. Despite a growing body of scientific evidence supporting associations between a number of risk factors and falls, efforts to translate these findings into effective fall prevention strategies have been limited," according to the study report.

Few reports have examined chronic pain as a risk for falls in older adults, the authors note. "Pain contributes to functional decline and muscle weakness and is associated with mobility limitations that could predispose to falls."

Suzanne G. Leveille, Ph.D., R.N., of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to determine whether chronic musculoskeletal pain is associated with an increased occurrence of falls in older adults.

The study included 749 adults, age 70 years and older, who were enrolled in the study from September 2005 through January 2008. Pain was assessed via questionnaires. Participants recorded falls on monthly calendar postcards mailed to the study center during an 18-month period.

At the beginning of the study, 40 percent of participants reported chronic pain in more than one joint area and 24 percent reported chronic pain in only one joint area.

A total of 1,029 falls were reported by the 749 participants during and up to 18 months of follow-up.

Four hundred five participants (55 percent) fell at least once during the follow-up.

Analysis indicated that compared with participants who reported no pain, or those in the lowest groups of pain scores, participants who reported two or more sites of pain had an increased risk for falls. Those reporting the highest levels of pain severity also had an increased rate of falls. Pain interference with activities was also associated with a greater occurrence of falls.

The researchers write that they observed a strong graded relationship in the short term between pain severity ratings each month with risk for falls in the subsequent month.

"For example, among persons who reported severe or very severe pain for any given month on their calendar postcard, there was a 77 percent increased likelihood for a fall in the subsequent month compared with those who reported no pain." Persons reporting even very mild pain also had an elevated odds of falling in any given month.

The authors suggest there may be several possible mechanisms for the pain-falls relationship, including neuromuscular effects of pain, which could lead to leg muscle weakness or slowed neuromuscular responses to an impending fall.

"Another factor may be gait alterations or adaptations to chronic pain that lead to instability and subsequent balance impairments. Chronic pain may serve as a distractor or, in some way, interfere with cognitive activity needed to prevent a fall. Successful avoidance or interruptions of a fall typically requires a cognitively mediated physical maneuver."

"The findings provide evidence suggesting that the common complaint of the aches and pains of old age is related to a greater hazard than previously thought. Daily discomfort may accompany not only difficulties in performing daily activities but equally as important may be a risk for falls and possibly fall-related injuries in the older population.

“The significance of this work is in the identification of chronic pain as an overlooked and potentially important risk factor for falls in older adults. A randomized controlled trial is needed to determine whether improved pain control could reduce risk for falls among older patients with chronic pain," the researchers conclude. [rc]

Source: SeniorsJournal.com
Published by New Tech Media

.
LONDON, England / The Telegraph / Lifestyle / Property / November 30, 2009

A quiet revolution is taking place in retirement housing. In a volte face from the granny stackers of the past, the retirement market is setting trends.

By Saundra Satterlee

Ancient Sands, a retirement village in El Gouna, on the Red sea in Egypt, offers properties starting at £96,000 with vaulted ceilings

Not only is it more consumer orientated, the retirement sector has had very few credit-crunch hiccups by comparison with the mainstream market and has, to a large extent, defied the global economic downturn. Three new retirement villages illustrate the buoyancy of the market in Britain this year.

This autumn was the grand opening of Clevedon, the newest retirement village built by Audley, which is set on a 23-acre estate on the edge of Ilkley Moor, a 10-minute drive from the centre of the attractive Yorkshire market town of Ilkley.

The centrepiece of all Audley retirement villages is the clubhouse. Here it is Clevedon House, a restored Victorian mansion and once a palatial family home.

Nick Sanderson, chief executive of Surrey-based Audley, likens their club houses to upmarket country house hotels. And Clevedon boasts more facilities than any other retirement village in Britain.

The house features a restaurant and bistro bar, treatment rooms, library, fitness suite, Pilates studio, hairdressing salon, swimming pool and a hobbies room with internet access.

The grounds include two tennis courts and a cricket pitch.

"An extensive programme of events and social activities takes place throughout the year, ranging from themed lunches, barbecues, cricket and croquet matches, through to musical events and guest lectures," says Mr Sanderson.

Clevedon's 98 one and two-bedroom properties start at £249,000, rising to £575,000 for a spacious two-bedroom apartment in Clevedon House itself. The development is in an elevated position, so most units have sweeping views across the moors.

Properties are sold on a leasehold basis for 125 years and owners, or at least one person in the case of a couple, must have reached the age of 55.

The service charge of £575 a month or £6,900 yearly, includes a monthly £50 food and beverage credit. With the aim of local integration, the restaurant is open to non-residents and a limited number of club memberships will also be available to them.

As in all retirement villages, "assisted living" is an optional needs-driven extra. It is typically costed separately to service charges and usually covers anything from housekeeping to bathing.

Another recent opening was Mayford Grange, the newest development from Retirement Villages. It borders Sutton Green Golf Club at Mayford, Surrey and preferential membership rates will soon be available.

Situated near Woking, Mayford Grange has 46 one and two-bedroom apartments built around a landscaped square. The clubhouse has a restaurant, coffee bar, lounge and patio area, shop, hairdressing salon, library, computer stations and a function room.

Apartments, sold on a 125-year leasehold basis for the over-65s, range from £225,000 to £470,000. Most units have views over the surrounding countryside or the golf course.

Service charges are based on occupancy. A single person pays £136 a week, or £7,072 a year, and for double occupancy the weekly charge is £166, an annual bill of £8,632. These charges cover the usual communal maintenance, along with a catering package. This includes a choice of hot or cold meals as well as light snacks and refreshments up to a value of 600 "Mayford Crowns" a week to cover, say, a full meal service for two or three days. Unused crowns are carried over to the following week, but settled at the end of each month.

Jon Gooding, who is chief executive of the Surrey-based company, says: "An on site care team is available to assist with anything from shopping to personal, social and nutritional guidance."

Owners buy bespoke care packages, which is usual in retirement villages, and which are separate from service charges.

There are no nursing home facilities at Mayford Grange, though they are available elsewhere in the company's properties, for example Roseland Parc, near Truro in Cornwall.

External building features include handmade bricks and tiles complimented by oak cladding. Windows have timber frames from sustainable sources with weather-proof aluminium exteriors.

Mr Gooding highlights efficient energy usage thanks to extremely high levels of insulation, sealing and a heat recovery ventilation system. Solar panels in a screened-off area of the gardens collect electricity for the clubhouse and corridors.

Another retirement village opened this year, which also illustrates the robust quality of the sector and appears to defy the credit crunch, is Renaissance LifeCare's Grove Place. It is a stone's throw from picturesque Romsey in Hampshire.

Set in the hamlet of Nursling and abutting Lord Louis Mountbattan's Palladian home, Broadlands, Grove Place features a handsomely restored 16th-century Grade I-listed manor house which is set in 27 acres of landscaped grounds.

The manor house, with its oak panelling and stone fireplaces, incorporates a full range of facilities, such as a restaurant, bar, billiards room, library and computer suite.

There is also a swimming pool, Jacuzzi and gymnasium as well as a treatment room, hairdressing salon and residents' shop.

The service charge of £485 a month – £5,820 annually – covers full use of communal facilities.

Peter Cotterill, general manager of operations at the London-based Renaissance LifeCare, says: "Grove Place is more like a country club with all the back-up and care you could wish for."

There is provision for assisted living through a wellbeing programme, costed separately from the service charge, but there is no nursing facility, unlike for instance, Renaissance LifeCare's Somerleigh Court retirement village in Dorchester, Dorset.

At Grove Place there are 115 properties available for the over-60s on leases of 150 years. One to three-bedroom apartments cost upwards of £175,000, £240,000 and £310,000 respectively. Bungalows start at £175,000.

A retirement village will not suit all tastes and proclivities. Independent retirement developments tend to be much smaller than retirement villages and do not specialise in lifestyle amenities. Indeed, they are more akin to mainstream housing, apart from an age restriction, the provision of age-friendly fittings and, typically, an in-house manager or perhaps a communal lounge. As with retirement villages, no two are alike in style, size or design.

Some are innovative, such as the latest offering from Pegasus, which overlooks a cricket ground in Somerset. At blue-chip Beechcroft developments, a manager functions more like an upmarket concierge.

At the other end of the scale, McCarthy & Stone, Britain's largest independent developer of purpose-built retirement homes, has added assisted living as integral to a selection of its new properties.

The latest is in Alnwick, Northumberland, known for a low crime rate, high quality of living and its 700-year-old castle, which is featured in many films and television series, from Harry Potter to Blackadder.

Under construction are 55 new-build McCarthy & Stone retirement flats located on Bondgate Without in the town centre that will be ready for sale next spring.

Be it a retirement village or an independent development, the "lock up and leave" option makes it easier than ever to live in two countries, an option with great appeal for the adventurous baby boomer generation and with the further possibility of generating rental income during absences from your property.

Norman and Lorraine Jones have opted for a trial year in Annecy – with its lake and nearby skiing – where they are renting the same property they've stayed in for the past 20 summers, before deciding whether to buy into the French property market. "Everyone is so welcoming," says Mrs Jones.

Should they decide to buy, there is plenty of choice on the market, such as MGM's new development of 18 apartments under construction at Parmelan, which is a one-minute walk to Lake Annecy or five minutes from the medieval town centre. One to four-bedroom properties start at €388,000 (£346,000).

If something green – and a sustainable development award winner at that – takes your fancy and you are inclined toward Portugal, Alma Verde in the hills of the western Algarve is one to consider, where sun-dried adobe bricks and air-cooling technology reduce carbon emissions by 94 per cent. Low density and set among mature carob, oak and pine trees, 130 villas are priced from €460,000 (£411,000), including a swimming pool and an upmarket furniture package.

A new phase of apartments and town houses with a large eco-friendly spa is soon to be released, with garden studios priced from around €150,000 (£134,000).

Slightly further afield is El Gouna on the "Egyptian Riviera", with its mountainous backdrop and everything on offer from golf, horse riding and tennis to snorkelling, diving and a rich choice of restaurants.

Ancient Sands is this vast resort's latest offering where its Hilltop Village features expansive views of the Red sea, lagoons, mountains and an 18-hole Karl Litten-designed championship golf course.

Apartments, town houses and villas start at £96,000 for a studio of 58 sq m, with vaulted ceilings and a private terrace.

Retirement villages function to keep you independent and active as long as possible, but when it comes to buying your home, do not forget to calculate the service charge as part of your outgoings. A monthly charge of, say, £500 over 10 years, works out at a hefty £60,000, not taking into account inflation or other increases.

Also remember that assisted living fees are typically charged on a separate basis from services charges. Make sure you are clear about these and how they are calculated.

Apart from taking legal advice prior to your purchase, it may be worth looking at useful websites run by the Elderly Accommodation Counsel (a free advisory service for the elderly); Care Directions (guide to care and the rights of older people); and Age Concern & Help the Aged. [rc]

© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

.
LOS ANGELES, California / Los Angeles Times / Living / November 30, 2009

One physician says their years of training make them 'walking encyclopedias' on drug effectiveness, side effects and interactions.

By Karen Ravn

There's an old Jerry Seinfeld joke many pharmacists know all too well. It's the one in which he describes their "whole job" as taking pills from a big bottle and putting them in a little bottle.

"I think that's how a lot of people see us," says Jeff Goad, an associate professor at the USC School of Pharmacy, with both frustration and good humor.

Expert advice: Especially if you take more than one medication, a pharmacist can help sort out any potential risks, even if questions crop up after you've left the drugstore.
Alex Gallardo / Los Angeles Times

But pharmacists' long years of training -- at least six and as many as eight -- prepare them for much more than repackaging pills. "In terms of the number of hours spent studying drug effectiveness, pharmacists are better trained than physicians," says Julie Donohue, an associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh.

Gone are the days in which pharmacists wouldn't even tell patients what was in their medications, Goad says. Pharmacists now can help patients get the most good from their medications, manage side effects, avoid interactions, even save money.

Today, most, if not all, states have laws requiring pharmacists to give patients specific information. Pharmacists in California are required by state law to offer counseling to patients about every new or changed prescription they fill. Pharmacists and other public health experts call this an offer no one should refuse. "It's the last critical safety check," Goad says.

Too often, this safety check doesn't happen.

Many customers sign away their right to the service. In 2004 and 2005, the Center for Health Improvement, an independent nonprofit health policy organization based in Sacramento, examined the prescription counseling process in California for patients 65 and older. The statewide survey of pharmacists found that 50% of patients waived counseling either "sometimes," "often" or "always."

Some patients are in a hurry. Or they're embarrassed. Or they don't want to bother the pharmacist. Or they'd rather just read the written information that pharmacists are required to give (though it's not clear how often -- or how well -- they really do read it).

Some turn down counseling without even knowing it, simply by signing a form that their pharmacists (or maybe the pharmacists' assistants or clerks) hand them with no explanation.

"Good pharmacists should almost force themselves on patients," says Steven Chen, associate professor at the USC School of Pharmacy. "They should definitely never say, 'If you don't want counseling, just sign this line.' But that happens with too many pharmacists."

Warning signs

California law specifies the basic format for prescription counseling: One, pharmacists should give patients directions for how to use and store their medications, making clear that it's important to follow those directions. And two, they should warn patients about possible side effects or interactions that occur frequently and may be severe. Other issues to be discussed are optional, left to the pharmacist's discretion.

The Center for Health Improvement study found that even the required elements are sometimes given short shrift. When asked about an average counseling session with senior patients, 93% of pharmacists said they "often" or "always" gave directions for medication usage (though only 81% said they "often" or "always" discussed how important it was to follow the directions), and 87% said they "often" or "always" gave appropriate warnings.

Pharmacists were much less likely to cover optional issues. For example, only 39% said they "often" or "always" discussed what patients should do if they miss a dose of their medication.

More than 50% of the pharmacists in the survey blamed time pressure, at least in part, for any deficiencies in prescription counseling. When 10 patients are waiting (impatiently) in line, a pharmacist may secretly hope none of them will accept counseling -- and may feel compelled to rush through counseling with any who do.

"There's such a high demand for drugs," Chen says, "and not always enough staff."

Pharmacists are generally paid simply on the basis of how many prescriptions they fill, so they get paid the same regardless of whether they counsel patients about their prescriptions.

And patients themselves are often most concerned about whether the medication is covered by their insurance, says Kathy Besinque, an associate professor at the USC School of Pharmacy who also works part time at Patton's Pharmacy in Santa Monica. "If it's not, sometimes they just won't get it at all."

Time to talk

As pressed as they may be for time, pharmacists generally have more of it to spend with patients than physicians do.

"These days physicians have to see three patients an hour," says Dr. Paul Gregerson, chief medical officer for the JWCH Institute in Los Angeles, a clinic that serves uninsured homeless people. "It relieves so much stress for them to know pharmacists are there to talk with patients, to educate and explain."

If and when pharmacists don't fill this role well, it may be because their customers don't give them a chance. Still, some pharmacists are bound to be more skilled than others.

"You should choose your pharmacist as carefully as you choose your physician," says Anne Burns, vice president for professional affairs for the American Pharmacists Assn.

That means checking out someone's training, experience and ability to communicate, says Ken Thai, owner of El Monte Pharmacy. "Ask, 'Hey, how did you get here? What do you know?' . . . Find someone you'd like to trust your life to."

Physicians wholeheartedly agree about the importance of the pharmacist's role. "Pharmacists know more about medications than anybody else in the healthcare system," Gregerson says. "That's what they went to school for. . . . They're like walking encyclopedias."

At the institute where Gregerson works, physicians and pharmacists collaborate closely on patient care. So he has seen firsthand what pharmacists can do and has found that their unique skills can save time, money, even lives. But, he believes, "pharmacists are totally under-utilized by society in general." [rc]

health@latimes.com

Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

.
CHICAGO, Illinois / Amednews / November 30, 2009

A plan to make a system developed at the Cleveland Clinic available to other health entities has raised questions about the adequacy of privacy protections.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, amednews staff

The Cleveland Clinic is backing a startup company that has built a search engine for electronic databases that would allow research using de-identified patient data.

A newly formed company called Explorys is commercializing the patient database search system Cleveland Clinic developed.

According to Stephen McHale, chief executive officer and co-founder of Explorys, health care organizations that sign on as partners will pay an annual subscription fee and have the option of sharing their data with the rest of the network, and making use of data others choose to share.

Steve McHale and Charlie Lougheed of Explorys

They can also use the search capabilities to sort through their own data to identify cohorts for clinical trials.

The idea is to provide a place for researchers to access more data in a much quicker fashion. McHale's co-founder Charlie Lougheed, who will serve as president and chief technology officer, said what has been lacking for researchers is the ability to access data in real time. Because there is no lag between the input of electronic data and access to it, he said, a dialogue can be created between researchers and clinicians that could result in more immediate improvements to quality of care.

As of now, pharmaceutical companies are the only entities outside of health care organizations the company is considering bringing in as paid partners. McHale said bringing them in would help facilitate collaboration between pharmaceutical researchers and clinicians.

The company might eventually allow insurers to sign on as partners for purposes of comparative effectiveness research, if there is enough of a demand, he said. "We want to improve health care, for sure, and the overall economics of it. So, of course, this tool is extremely powerful for understanding the aspects of comparative effectiveness and overall improving the delivery of health care."

The Cleveland Clinic has provided some financial backing for the company and will earn royalties under a licensing agreement. Explorys expects to be up and running with partners outside of Cleveland Clinic sometime in 2010.

Both McHale and Lougheed say their extensive experience in data privacy and intrusion protection is one of their strongest assets. But at least one group wants proof of how data will be protected before it lends its support to Explorys.

"There's just so little detail about this that I think it's hard for those of us who care about the privacy issue to be universally excited based on someone's reassurances that everything's OK," said Deven McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

She said she wasn't aware of any details about the company or the project outside of news releases and media reports. "I think the public is owed some detail."

Whatever nonproprietary information they can release that explains how they will protect patient data will be an important aspect of their business model, McGraw said.

She is also concerned with the standards of de-identifying data, which were developed five years ago and need to be strengthened, she said. "It's a little outdated given just how much progress has been made in making data more publicly available so that it can then be linked up so that a database that was once de-identified is now not so de-identified anymore," McGraw said.

"If they are right and they have privacy locked down and they've got it tied up neatly with a bow, no one's getting through, it's all appropriate uses of the data only, then I would be the first one standing up to applaud them and applaud their use of technology to advance health care." rc]

Copyright 2009 American Medical Association.

.
ADELAIDE / South Australia / Adelaide Now / November 30, 2009






FUNDAMENTAL reforms are needed to put the interests of the elderly at the heart of Australia's aged care system, says an alliance of support groups meeting in Adelaide.

The National Aged Care Alliance says if older Australians are to live independently with dignity, changes are essential to give them the same freedoms and choices as other Australians.

"The current system has evolved over the years into a model where older people requiring services are effectively placed into pre-determined menus," alliance spokesman Ian Yates said on Monday in Adelaide.

"This often does not reflect the preferences, aspirations or personal circumstances of the person receiving the care.

"We need to move to a system where individuals can have access in their own homes to the support or care they need and the right to make decisions for themselves in conjunction with chosen family and friends where appropriate.

"This will require funding for care and support to be linked to each recipient rather than the service providers and separated from accommodation funding."

Under the alliance model, care assessment would be immediately available to older people when they suffered physical or mental challenges to determine the appropriate level of funding required to restore their participation in the community.

The funding could then be used to obtain support and care through approved providers or through their own networks and arrangements.

Support would vary from person to person according to their circumstances and aspirations.

It would also link into the broader health system and include easily accessible primary health care services, transitional care after acute health episodes as well as restorative and rehabilitation services.

"The Alliance believes that users should contribute to the costs of support and care services and these costs should be nationally consistent, transparent, equitable and affordable," Mr Yates said.

"But no-one should be denied access to support and care because of financial incapacity."

The National Aged Care Alliance is made up of 28 consumer and professional organisations, including the Council on the Ageing, Anglicare Australia, Aged and Community Services Australia, the Australian Nursing Federation and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. [rc]

Copyright 2009 News Limited.

.
AUCKLAND, North Island / New Zealand Herald

Elderly and disabled people will have better access to banking services thanks to a new set of guidelines, the Bankers' Association says.

The voluntary guidelines recommend initiatives such as low teller counters, user-friendly ATMs, better wheelchair access, user-friendly layouts, and training staff to identify financial abuse.

The guidelines also recommend providing information in a range of formats, including large print, Braille, audio and DVD.

The guidelines were developed by the Bankers' Association in consultation with the Human Rights Commission, bank staff, and organisations representing older and disabled people.

They will be reviewed in three years. [rc]

- NZPA

Copyright 2009, APN Holdings NZ Limited

Seniors World Chronicle adds:
The voluntary guidelines are available at the NZBA website http://www.nzba.org.nz

.
NEW YORK, NY / TIME Magazine / Health & Science / November 30, 2009

By Adi Narayan


Antony Nagelmann / Corbis

Can't remember where you put your keys? Here's a tip for you: record the sound of your jingling keys and put it into your iPod. Then get someone to play it to you at night, while you are deep asleep. Chances are it'll help you remember.

That's the conclusion of a recent report in the journal Science by neuroscientists at Northwestern University, who carried out a small study, with 12 volunteers, to figure out whether specific sounds played during sleep would boost the memory of information learned while awake.
(See the year in health 2009.)

First, the participants were asked to memorize the correct location of 50 images on a computer monitor. The images were shown one at a time, arranged in a random place on the screen — a cat appeared on the bottom left, a gong on the top right and so forth. Each object was shown with a related sound — so subjects heard a meow with the picture of a cat, and a crashing noise coupled with the image of a gong. After studying the 50 images and locations, the participants were asked to take a short nap in a recliner in an adjacent room.

Volunteers for the study weren't hard to find, notes Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern University and lead author of the paper: "People are happy when they are paid to have a nap."

The volunteers were outfitted with electrode caps — akin to a white shower cap with a jungle of wires sticking out of it — that tracked their brain waves in order to determine their stage of slumber. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG), investigators monitored the sleepers' brain activity, and just when the squiggly lines on the screen showed that participants had entered deep sleep, researchers began playing a series of 25 of the sounds that the individual had heard earlier in the memory game. "[The volume] was a little over a whisper, probably much [quieter] than ... your iPod," says John Rudoy, one of the study's authors and a graduate student at Northwestern.
(See the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2008.)

When the participants woke up about an hour later, they said they hadn't heard a thing. But the test results suggested otherwise. On average, each person did slightly better at remembering the correct locations of the 25 objects whose related sounds had been cued during sleep than those of the other objects. The sounds appeared to have entered the sleeping brain and helped consolidate associated memories.

Many researchers who study sleep and memory were excited by this new study (not to mention purveyors of nighttime subliminal-message CDs that purport to make you quit smoking or love yourself) — but experts acknowledge that more work needs to be done. "I would consider this a very, very small effect," says Paller, so don't expect to be able to boost your SAT score while sleeping just yet.

For nearly two centuries, researchers have suspected that sleep plays an important role in learning and memory. But it's only in the last decade that neuroscientists have discovered the most convincing evidence that memory is indeed dependent on sleep. The prevailing theory is that during deep sleep, the brain replays certain experiences from the day, which, in turn, strengthens the memory of what happened. It is thought that when it comes to factual memories, like names, faces, numbers or locations, memory consolidation happens only during deep sleep — a phase of non–rapid eye movement sleep. (The other broad type of sleep, called rapid eye movement or REM sleep, which is when dreaming occurs, is believed to play a role in consolidating memories involving emotions and motor skills, such as dancing or playing an instrument.)

A minority of neuroscientists disagree that sleep actively aids memory, suggesting instead that consolidation of memories is merely a side effect of snoozing. They argue that the true purpose of sleep is to "cool down" the brain by resting the neurons that have been firing all day long. Paller's study lends support for the majority view: when sounds were played to the sleeping brain, the EEG patterns indicated activity — signaling that perhaps certain memories were being revisited — and this processing appeared to strengthen memories. "The meow somehow stimulated the association of the cat with a certain position on the screen," suggests Jan Born, a memory and sleep researcher at the University of Lübeck in Germany, who was not involved in the new study.

Born and his team have also been able to influence memory recall during sleep — not with sounds, but with odors. In that study, published in March 2007 in Science, researchers asked people to play a memory card game while the smell of roses wafted through a special face mask. Later that night, when the participants were fast asleep, the same odor was delivered to some of them. The following morning, each person played the same game, and the results were clear: the players who got the nighttime rose odor were significantly better at remembering the card pairs than the group who smelled nothing.

Commenting on the new paper, Born suggests that using sounds is more effective than smells because it lets you choose the memories you want to promote. "Auditory stimuli have the advantage that they can be very specifically linked to visual stimuli," says Born. "With odors, this kind of thing is not possible."

Beyond sensory stimulation during sleep, the timing of sleep may also be important to memory. Recent research suggests that deep sleep can strengthen factual memories, but only if the person naps within 12 hours of learning. In other words, if you have to memorize an SAT word list, you might be better off doing it at night rather than in the morning.

Although researchers are still a long way from understanding exactly how sleep affects memory, they are certain that getting too little sleep is a detriment. A 2007 paper in Nature Neuroscience reported that in addition to consolidating recently learned memories, "sleep before learning is equally important in preparing the brain for next-day memory formation." The study found that people who had skipped a night's sleep fared worse at making new memories the next day, compared with those who had gotten a good night's sleep. Turns out, Mom's advice may have been right all along. [rc]

Read "Can a Sleep Disorder Predict Parkinson's?"

© 2009 Time Inc.

.
SYDNEY, NSW / Sydney Morning Herald / Life & Style / Home / Chew On This / November 30, 2009

By Paula Goodyear



It's one thing to read a food label and be warned off by too high levels of salt or saturated fat, but how can you tell if a plastic food container, a drink bottle - or a can of beans - contains a chemical you'd rather avoid?

In recent years studies in animals have linked bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical found in some plastics, to health problems and even to increased obesity. BPA is what's called an endocrine disruptor, meaning it's a chemical that can mimic the effects of hormones - and therefore disrupt the actions of hormones in humans and animals.

But it's not just animal studies that have rung alarm bells - UK research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association last year reported that tests in 1,455 adults found that the more BPA in their urine, the higher their rates of heart disease and diabetes.

Should we be worried?

That depends on who you ask. The fact sheet on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand website is reassuring - the levels of BPA that we're exposed too are unlikely to cause problems, even to babies drinking from bottles containing BPA, it says.

The fact that Canadian authorities have phased out use of BPA in babies' bottles is because 'there are some risk managers who prefer to take a more cautious approach', according to Dr Paul Brent, the Chief Scientist for FSANZ.

Dr Brent also points out that the levels of BPAs used in rat studies were much higher than the levels that humans are exposed to - and that the same problems that occurred in rats didn't happen in similar research with primates. [rc]

Copyright © 2009. Fairfax Digital.

.
BALTIMORE, Maryland / The Baltimore Sun / November 29, 2009


Ethel Legrand, left, Helen Paysour and Lucille Ellis, residents at Summit Park Health & Rehabilitation Center, hold dolls that were given to them by volunteers.
Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor

By Arthur Hirsch

Ethel Legrand had put on her silky black beret for the occasion, and sat in her wheelchair cradling a blue-eyed baby doll in both her arms, pressing her chin into its head, rubbing one of its feet with her left hand. She had already named the doll "Betty Jean" and meant to keep it close to her, "right on my bed," she said.

She'd had a few dolls in her day - "Ooh, brother, I had a whole lot of dolls" - but now she is 88 years old and was tuning in and out of the morning's proceedings in the chapel at Summit Park Health & Rehabilitation Center in Catonsville. She would join in a song and take up a chat, then fold into her silence, her head down on the doll's head.

The little gathering last week revolved around this pairing of elderly women and dolls. Two women from Catonsville have taken up the cause of collecting used dolls and giving them a second life in the hands of elderly people with dementia, some of whom seem in anecdotal and research reports to benefit from having a child's toy.

For many patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, the doll becomes a companion, an object of affection, a connection to another time when a child needed them.

"They don't have anyone to hug or hold," said Wendy Geist, who has been working on the project with Amy Nelson. "No one's hugging them anymore."

Geist got the idea from her grandmother's experience about 10 years ago, but her interest in elderly people started when she was a girl and her mother would take her to visit nursing homes.

Geist and Nelson have been at this about a year, having put out the word through friends, and via e-mail asking for slightly used but presentable dolls - baby dolls, many dressed in frocks and all with lifelike facial features. They've been collecting the dolls in their homes and then handing them out, or giving them to elementary school children to offer at local long-term care, rehabilitation and assisted living centers. Sometimes they just drop off a box of dolls, sometimes they stay to make a presentation, as in Summit Park.

Eight women were wheeled into the chapel, with its carpeting and light floral wallpaper. Geist, Nelson and Geist's mother, Nancy Park, took the floor to begin the presentation. They had brought two baskets containing 14 baby dolls.

Park opened by leading the group in two songs, "Baby Face" and "You Beautiful Doll," and was joined by some women and not others. In minutes, a group of second-graders from Hillcrest Elementary School took up the baskets and began stepping from one woman to the next, offering a doll.

Park said later that she made such an offer to her own mother in the years before she died, when she was in her mid-80s, suffering with dementia and recovering from hip surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore in the late 1990s.

"She loved baby dolls when she was little," Park said. At the end of her life, she seemed to find the doll comforting.

Extensive research on "doll therapy" has not been done, but small-scale studies conducted in the United States, Canada and Great Britain since the 1990s suggest the approach can help some elderly patients with dementia. Studies show that dolls can help diminish aggressive, agitated or disruptive behavior that might otherwise have to be managed with medication. In some cases, the dolls can draw more expression and conversation from patients who seem extremely withdrawn.

An elderly care home in England this year reported in Nursing Times that after giving dolls to its patients, much less medication was needed to manage behavior.

No formal guide to using "doll therapy" yet exists, and researchers point out a number of ethical and practical problems with it. A 2006 article in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry reported that relatives of some patients "saw the use of the dolls as demeaning." The same article noted that the practice can cause fights among patients over whose doll is whose, and raise the complicated question of whether the therapist is "colluding with the patient's misunderstanding that the doll is a baby."

Geist and Nelson so far receive good reviews for their efforts.

Medina Lundy, the activities director at Manor Care in Chevy Chase, where Nelson dropped dolls off in the spring, said some patients are treating their dolls as if they were infants. One patient who often seemed upset to the point of crying has improved.

"I can't tell if she thinks it's a real baby or not," Lundy said. "I think it's just a piece of security."

Lori Manalansan, activity director at Frederick Villa in Catonsville, said that since dolls were donated there in September, some patients seem happier.

"It calms a lot of them down," Manalansan said. Some patients "believe it's actually their child."

At Summit Park, the women were showing the range of responses that Geist and Nelson have come to expect.

Lucille Ellis held her doll in her lap, but looked off in the distance in silence. Her daughter, Mildred Ellis, said her mother had suffered a stroke and could not speak. She thought the doll could give her mother "something to do with her hands."

Helen Paysour said she would introduce the doll to her grandchildren, then "I'll put it on my bed."

Ethel Legrand seemed the most enthusiastic - about the doll, the songs, the day in general. She said she would "treasure this baby doll." Then she put the doll to her face and kissed its forehead. [rc]

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun

.
BUFFALO, New York / THE BUFFALO NEWS / Opinion / November 29, 2009

MY VIEW
Heidi Welsby: Music teachers bring great joy to our family

Heidi Welsby, who lives in Buffalo, has great appreciation for music and those who teach it.

As a mother of six children, the things in life that are consistent are the ones I count on the most. My husband is consistently kind. Our kids are consistently even tempered. Our families are consistently there for us and supportive.

Then outside factors come into play, and that is where lack of consistency can really throw us a curve ball. If I lose consistency with people we count on, whether it is a supermarket, bank or any other people-service entity, it goofs up the day, which trickles down into the family.

There is one factor in our lives that is always consistent, always on time, courteous, compassionate, caring and professional — our music teachers.

Music is a very large part of our family life. I took piano lessons as a child. My husband is a gifted pianist. All of the kids play an instrument, except our youngest, who consistently does a dance on her mother’s last nerve, in a sort of musical manner I suppose.

The school they attend has an amazing music teacher, Lynn Rezabek, who gives countless hours before, during and after school to bring music into our children’s’ life, bringing them all summer to Roswell Park to perform for the patients, to nursing homes, to convents. The consistency not only brings compassion to the kids, but it makes them aware that life does not revolve around an individual, but all individuals.

We also have instrumental music teachers who teach our children.

A drum teacher can relate to our son in such a way that I never have to ask him to practice. He loves it, and practices to the point where my body is drumming at least a half-hour after the drums stop. A violin teacher is gentle and kind, just as the child she teaches.

Then there is the piano teacher. Marilyn Kielbasa comes into our home at 8:15 a. m. on Saturdays. One would think that a 14-year-old boy would complain about this ungodly hour of the morning being devoted to a piano lesson. This is not the case. He is up, early in fact, waiting for her. She has introduced classical music to him, and it is now such a part of his life that he posts “The Classical Piece of the Day” on his Facebook page.

Thanks to her, I now recognize Mozart as well as I recognize the Rolling Stones. She has a recital twice a year for all of her students to give them the courage to get up in front of a group of people and play. This is a gift that they will carry throughout their lives. It is hard for many adults to do; yet she gives these kids such strong self esteem and encouragement, that they get up there with ease and play beautifully.

At the last recital, she brought tears to my eyes. The true joy she feels with each student’s triumphs radiates in her kind face. She is always on time, pleasant and professional. Even when life is sometimes inconsistent for her, Marilyn never ceases to amaze me in the way teaching music takes all the troubles away. She always has a smile. She truly cares about her students’ success. The gift she has brought our family in teaching our children to play will follow them throughout their lives.

Music is something you can play at any age. Every time I hear a song, see my parents dance, watch my mother-in-law get excited to share a new CD she is listening to or hear the music my husband and children play, I try to remember that without the music teachers, there would not be the abundance of beautiful music that fills our hearts and lives with emotion. The teachers who bring music into our lives are truly gifts to us all. [rc]

© 2008 The Buffalo News.

.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa / TimesLIVE.com / November 29, 2009

Where Are They Now?

By Neale Emslie

Thirty years ago, when Roland Watson ruled the squash courts of South Africa, his passion for the game burnt brightly.

That passion is still in evidence except Watson, 63, now directs his energy towards his family, his ministry in the Methodist church, his woodwork and his plants.

TRANQUILITY: Roland Watson with plants he grows and sells. South Africa's former top squash player focuses on home improvements - when he is not making rocking chairs
Picture: Mark West

Living in a quiet cul-de-sac in Port Elizabeth, Watson happily calls the Eastern Cape - he moved there with his wife of 40 years, Ruth, 11 years ago - home, despite spending most of his life in Gauteng.

He has a son who lives in Pretoria but his two daughters, who were studying when they moved to Port Elizabeth, also live in the Eastern Cape.

"We love it here, it's quiet and peaceful," says Watson. "We kept a place in Pretoria for a while, but every time we went back we noticed changes and decided this was the place, so we sold and bought here."

Watson was South Africa's highest-yet ranked squash player in the 1970s and early '80s. He retired in 1984, aged 38, and turned full time to the ministry, gaining a theology degree from Unisa.

He spent seven years in Bela Bela (formerly Warmbaths) in Limpopo and seven years at the Lorraine Methodist in Port Elizabeth before retiring in 2006.

But despite his retirement, he's not slowing down.

"I'm into home improvement," he says, showing off his house with pride.

He built a small swimming pool and two inter-linked fish ponds he fills with rainwater from 5000-litre tanks he installed. He also sells plants, but his main love is making rocking chairs.

"Only two of us in the country make this type of rocking chair - mothers go mad over them," Watson says. "I have made 110 and I sell them from home through word of mouth."

Watson is no longer active on the court, although he still plays squash occasionally with relatives.

But he may also be about to call time on that. "I did my Achilles a while back and when I tried again, I was hit by a racket and my wrist swelled up, so I thought maybe it was time to end this," he says.

Nonetheless, he has fond memories of his time at the top of South African squash.

"My best year was 1977," Watson recalls. "I got to the final of the Aussie Open, the New Zealand Open and the SA Open and (Australian Geoff) Hunt beat me in them all."

Watson earned his SA colours in 1972 before, still an amateur, registering the best win of his career by beating world No2 Ken Hiscoe. In 1973, he turned professional, forced his way into the top 10 and stayed there for the next 10 years, attaining a world ranking of six, a feat that has not been matched by any other SA player.

What elevated Watson above the rest during his reign?

"Like any top sportsman, you have to love the game, that's No1," Watson says. "And being No1 in squash you've really got to work.

"Players such as (Pakistani) Hiddy Jahan and Hunt were gifted, but once (British player Jonah) Barrington made it an endurance sport, Hunt had to concentrate on his fitness as much as his strokes."

Like Hunt, Watson was also disciplined about his conditioning.

"I did a 12km run Monday to Saturday, went to gym five days a week and was on court for two to three hours a day.

"That was before going on the circuit because once you're playing tournaments you've got to look after your body. But that's how I used to train."

Comparing eras, Watson believes players are more willing to go for their shots in the modern game.

"Our game was more endurance. Today, they go a bit more for their shots, but I don't keep up with it that much because it's late at night on TV and I don't feel like taping it." [rc]

© 2009 AVUSA, Inc.

.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates / 7DAYS / Letters to the Editor / November 29, 2009

Shoppers still standing up over missing seats

From: Ken Hampton, Dubai

Re: Your ongoing letters about no seats in malls. I’ve written to Mall of the Emirates to ask about the seating situation:

I am long since retired and began living here in Arabian Ranches before the Mall was opened so have seen its development since day one.

In the early days we enjoyed a quiet few minutes on one of the seats after the rush and hurry of getting together our food stocks from the local hypermarket.

Think not just of the elderly but also those a lot younger with their small children needing a break after tiring shopping. The infirm are not always old either!

In the interests of furthering the Dubai image you should take note that visiting tourists enjoy a break to watch the world go by.

Many of them will not want to sit in one of the numerous Coffee Shops being expected to gorge themselves just to have a sit down.

Diabetics (of which I am one) also need to take a rest from time to time and what a hypocritical situation to find them having to take that little time out sitting somewhere surrounded by loads and loads of sugary things.

It does make a mockery of the present Dubai drive to pull down the incidence of this debilitating disease.

You would do well to bear in mind that there are those people who will choose to go to another Mall to do their shopping where the manage-ment has thoughtfully provided ample seating for a comfortable break - we could well join them!

To repeat my opening remark, I do wonder what has brought about such a retrograde step in this very progressive shopping complex - would you like to enlighten me? [rc]

© 2007 Al Sidra Media LLC

.
MUMBAI, Maharashtra / Business Standard / Banking & Finance / November 29, 2009

Banks and unions yesterday agreed to make 332,000 serving and retired employees eligible for pension, besides settling on a 17.5 per cent hike in the salary of 702,000 public sector employees. State Bank of India employees association representatives, however, walked out of the wage settlement.

The pension scheme would result in an outgo of Rs 6,000 crore (One crore = 10 million). This is the second pension option for public sector banks and would cover 272,000 serving employees and 60,000 employees who did not opt for the scheme in 1993 and have since retired.

Those who join public sector banks from April 2010 would be covered by the New Pension Scheme with 10 per cent of their basic salary and dearness allowance deducted as their contribution. Banks would make a matching contribution.

With public sector bank employees eligible to receive a defined benefit pension equivalent to 50 per cent of their last salary drawn, State Bank of India unions said they were at a disadvantage since they only received 40 per cent of the last salary drawn in the form of pension. Other banks, however, pointed out that apart from the pension benefit SBI employees were eligible for provident fund and gratuity, which was not available to the employees of the six State Bank associates.[rc]

To read the full news report, click here

Copyright: Business Standard Ltd.

.
TOKYO, Japan / The Japan Times / Life Style / November 29, 2009

WORDS TO LIVE BY

By Judit Kawaguchi

Yoneko, 65, and Isao, 72, Sawa are the owners of Sawanoya, a ryokan (Japanese-style inn) in Tokyo's scenic Yanaka area. It was in 1949 that Yoneko's mother, Yoshi, and her sister, Nami, first opened eight small rooms to traveling salesmen and to groups of children on school trips. Although very successful for decades, by the early 1980s, due to the construction of inexpensive Western-style business hotels, Sawanoya's tatami-mat rooms were empty on most nights. Isao and Yoneko saved their ryokan by welcoming foreign travelers and offering them a truly Japanese hotel experience. Since 1982, they have laid out futons for more than 140,000 tourists from around 100 countries. They have helped make the dream of every traveler come true: a comfy, clean and friendly place to stay — at rock-bottom prices. There is no place like home, but Sawanoya comes pretty close.

It's easy to fall in love with someone your whole family despises. Yoneko: Why did we fall in love? Because our families didn't want us to!

Isao: We met through an omiai (arranged marriage) date. She was 16 and I was 22. The carpenter who worked on her mother's ryokan was my acquaintance and he introduced us. I immediately felt that we were connected by a red ribbon and that we would be together for sure and forever.

Yoneko: He had great credentials and worked as a banker but that left me cold. I only became interested in him when my mom said: "He drinks too much! He's no good!" Suddenly I had to see him again! For five years we lied to everyone and met in secret. When our three children were dating, we stayed silent.

Yoneko and Isao Sawa Judit Kawaguchi Photo

A mom-and-pop business should always stay in the family. Isao: Our guests love our inn because it's small and family-run. They all ask us not to change a thing. For more than 25 years we have been blessed with over 90 percent occupancy every month, which makes some people wonder why we don't add more rooms. But if we did, our guests would be sad to lose the cozy atmosphere. Also, I know many families who tried to turn their small successes into major businesses and failed. It is hard to grow without overextending.

Every business has a perfect size: find it and stick with it. Yoneko: It's like knowing just how much food is good for your health. We want to keep things as they are because they are perfect. We don't need to make a lot of money: just a little is more than enough.

Be brave: What you are most afraid of does not always turn out to be a handicap. Isao: For years our biggest fear was that our poor English skills would prevent us from providing good service. That's why we were reluctant to open our inn to non-Japanese speakers. Every month hundreds of ryokan go bankrupt rather than advertise to foreigners. The elderly owners are scared because they don't speak fluent English. They also worry that non-Japanese can't sleep on a futon. I reassure them that there is no need to renovate their places, they just need to change their way of thinking. As for language skills, it's a no-brainer: When the phone rings, I smile and say, "Hello. Yes, we have a room," and then "OK. Your name, please?" That's pretty much all there is to it. If you give a warm welcome, all is understood.

When traveling, you don't need to speak the local language — just copy the locals. Yoneko: Most of our guests don't speak Japanese, yet they travel all over Japan without problems. We have been abroad 19 times and, so far, not only has no one spoken to us in Japanese but we also didn't use the local language. Yet we could still get around and have fun.

If you want to be a great communicator, copy small children and anyone over 70. Isao: They communicate with smiles, gestures and an open heart. They don't need to speak the language. They are like dogs: If you love dogs, dogs will love you.

The average person is great, everywhere you go. Yoneko: One might hate politicians and greedy businesspeople, but no matter where you are on earth, the average person is kind.

Elderly people speak the truth but it often hurts to hear it. Isao: When Yoneko's mom and aunt ran the ryokan, they bossed me around. I loved Yoneko so I just listened. And they were often right. I would come home drunk at 3 a.m. and her mom would scold me. Strangely enough, the day that Yoneko's mom died was the day my heavy partying ended. I had to fill her shoes and be the owner. My workload increased and so did my sense of responsibility. I hope she can see us and feels relaxed.

If you live in a fun neighborhood, your success is almost guaranteed. Yoneko: Yanaka is the type of place that tourists in Japan like to visit: lots of old houses, narrow alleys and small family businesses where locals shop, eat and live. It is not a tourist trap and that is why it is so perfect for travelers.

You are either born with business sense or you will die without it. Isao: When our ryokan fell on hard times in the '70s, I started a donburi (rice-bowl-dish) restaurant. I didn't make any money. I tried other ventures but I always failed. I realized that I was just bad at business.

If you are honest, you sleep well. Yoneko: We don't have any stress. Once we hit the pillows, we're out in minutes.

The secret to a happy marriage is to think of your partner as the only one for you. Yoneko: From day one we thought that we'd be together till death do us apart. It feels nice. Isao: Dec. 17 will be our 45th wedding anniversary. We have made it so far because we are together day and night. I feel so sad that one day one of us will die. I hope we die together somehow. [rc]

Judit Kawaguchi loves to listen. She is a volunteer counselor and a TV reporter on NHK's "Out & About." Learn more at: http://juditfan.blog58.fc2.com/

This feature was published in The Japan Times on November 12, 2009

(C) The Japan Times

.
TORONTO, Ontario, Canada / Globe and Mail / GlobeInvestor.com / Report on Business / November 28, 2009

Breaking News

A world awash in debt

The financial crisis provoked a global front to stimulate economies through massive spending. But this was fuelled by a staggering amount of borrowing. Now governments are realizing that a new calamity looms - higher taxes and slashed social programs

By Kevin Carmichael
Located in Ottawa, Kevin Carmichael writes about economics and economic policy for the Globe and Mail.

OTTAWA — For 220 years, through civil upheaval, global conflict and a depression, the United States largely kept its public debt under control.

But the world's largest economy may finally have met its match. In its bid to prevent the Great Recession from spiralling into a global depression, the U.S. government spent tens of billions rescuing financial institutions and automotive companies. In the process, the federal budget deficit swelled 220 per cent from 2008 to a record $1.6-trillion (U.S.).

The world's biggest economy has plenty of company: Seven of the members of the Group of 20 nations are on a trajectory that will leave them with debts bigger than 75 per cent of their economies by 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund.

It's hard to understate the fiscal cost of the financial crisis, which continues to send shock waves around the world. This week's move by Dubai World, a state-owned conglomerate that fuelled the United Arab Emirates' rapid growth, to withhold debt payments shows the financial crisis continues to put government finances at risk.

Even in Canada, a relative paragon of fiscal prudence, the combined gross debt of the federal and provincial governments is on pace to reach 79 per cent of gross domestic product next year, compared with 64 per cent in 2007.

The numbers are staggering. But as the dust settles from the financial meltdown, policy makers are slowly coming to grips with the fact that a long battle with deficits and debt is only beginning.

The immediate threat posed by economic calamity allowed them to forget about a reality that's been staring them in the face for years: The baby boomers are about to blow the budget. [rc]

To continue reading, click here

© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc

.
SURAT, Gujarat / The Indian Express / November 28, 2009

By Kamaal Saiyed

The wedding season is on, with scores of marriages taking place across the country almost every day. But Surat may soon witness weddings of different kind, wherein both brides and grooms will be senior citizens.

An NGO — Vina Mulya Amulya Sewa — working for senior citizens, has come up with this concept, based on which it organised a swayamwar at Modh Wanik Wadi in Surat on Thursday evening.

The organisers expect that at least 25 couples will tie the knot through their initiative.

Over 30 women and 150 men from different parts of Gujarat and even from Maharashtra participated in the swayamwar.

Senior citizens climbed the stage with a batch number on their shoulders, and introduced themselves, giving details like name and profession among others.

While they spoke, others noted down their details.

Bharti Rawal, coordinator of this fair, said, “We have come across many people showing interest in each other. We have taken assurance from the children of all the candidates. We have selected the male candidates considering their sound financial background.”

Among the candidates is Kanu Joshi (62), a retired officer from the Indian Institute of Seismology and a resident of Vapi.

After taking divorce 33 years ago, he had been living with his three children, including two sons and a daughter. All his children are now grown ups and married, and stay separately.

“Now life has become a little tougher as I have nobody to talk to. I have to do work on my own. I need a partner so that the rest of my life goes smoothly. My children are happy with my decision,” he said.

Another candidate, Pramodi Paranjpai (60), has come from Mumbai, accompanied by her nephew Jayant Parayanjpay.

“I never got married. For the last 30 years, I have been taking care of my nephew after his parents died in an accident. Now, he is married and has two children. I have done my job and I also need somebody for support at this age.” [rc]

© 2009 The Indian Express Limited.

.
ATLANTA, Georgia / CNN Health / November 27, 2009

By Caleb Hellerman, CNN Medical News senior producer

The number of Americans with diabetes will nearly double in the next 25 years, and the costs of treating them will triple, according to a new report.

The figures, in a University of Chicago report released Friday, add fuel to the congressional debate regarding reining in the cost of health care.


Cases of diabetes will soar and the cost of treating the disease will triple, according to a new report.

By 2034, 44.1 million Americans will be living with diabetes -- nearly twice the current number of 23.7 million, according to the report, published in the December issue of the journal Diabetes Care. About 90 percent of those with diabetes have type 2, a version of the condition that develops over time.

Accounting for inflation, the direct medical cost of treating them will rise from $113 billion annually to $336 billion, the report says.

Current health care proposals in Congress attempt to slow the growth of spending on chronic diseases such as diabetes by funding programs to prevent disease in the first place, and by offering incentives for insurers and medical providers to encourage early treatment through so-called "accountable care organizations."

In those organizations, doctors might be paid a flat fee to treat a diabetes patient for a year, with bonuses if they meet certain benchmarks of patient health.

The staggering numbers in the new paper dwarf potential savings that have lately been discussed. For example, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earlier this month released a report urging improvements in diabetes care. If the most successful statewide programs for controlling diabetes could be duplicated nationwide, it estimates, annual savings from reducing hospitalizations and treatment for various complications would total $216 million.

Video: Diabetes cases, costs to rise

The numbers are disturbing, said Dr. Elbert Huang, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and lead author of the report. But he said he considers the predictions "very conservative" because they don't account for the growing proportion of overweight children and teenagers, who are at higher risk for developing diabetes.

The estimates also don't factor in immigration, or the rising population of ethnic minorities. Latinos and African-Americans suffer diabetes at higher rates than the U.S. population as a whole.

Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which a person loses the ability to break down glucose in the blood and turn food into energy. The condition often develops when people are young.

In type 2 diabetes, the condition develops over time. The process is complex, but aside from ethnic background, risk factors include having a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease. The most common risk factor is simply being overweight.

Even modest weight loss will reduce the chance of developing type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More ambitious lifestyle changes, such as diet, regular exercise and assistance through counseling lowered the risk of diabetes by 58 percent, even without medication, in a major federally funded study.

The model used by Huang and his colleagues assumes that the prevalence of diabetes in each age group will stay constant, but that the number of cases will grow as the population gets older. For the Medicare-eligible population alone, the paper predicts the diabetes caseload will rise from 8.2 million people to 14.6 million, and that the total annual cost of treatment will go from $45 billion to $171 billion.

To estimate cost, the researchers assumed that the standard progression of the disease, and mix of therapies used to treat it, will remain constant. According to a 2005 federal report, nearly three in four adults with diabetes uses oral medication to control the disease. About one in four takes insulin.

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, according to the American Diabetes Association, and nerve damage and damaged blood vessels are also common. About 15 percent of diabetics require amputation of a lower extremity at some point in their life, according to a 1998 paper in Diabetes Care.

It's certainly possible that medical breakthroughs will improve care, but it's unlikely to lead to lower costs, Huang said. "In the past, in general, medical discoveries have driven costs up, not down."

The study was funded by the company Novo Nordisk, which makes insulin delivery systems to treat diabetics. Novo Nordisk approved the final manuscript, but the authors say the company did not play a role in designing the study or collecting data.

"Without significant changes in public or private strategies, this population and cost growth are expected to add a significant strain to an overburdened health care system," the report concludes.

The new report is concerning, but doesn't change the big picture of health care spending, said Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economist who has schooled many politicians about the intricacies of health care.

"Even without this change, over the next 75 years we've made promises that exceed the revenues we have to pay for them," he said.

There's no compelling evidence that better preventive care can significantly reduce the cost of treating diabetes, Gruber said, but he believes accountable care organizations could make a big impact. He also likes the idea of allowing insurers to charge higher premiums to people who don't meet certain health benchmarks, such as losing weight if they're obese.

"The thing about diabetes, it's among the most preventable of major illnesses," Gruber said. "We need to put patient financial incentives at stake."

Huang said he won't be surprised if the surge in diabetes turns out to be even worse than he projects.

"Prior estimates have all said there would be a dramatic rise in the diabetes type 2 population," he said, but in every case "the actual [diabetic] population has ended up being larger than the estimates." [rc]

© 2009 Cable News Network.

.
LONDON, England / The Guardian / Society / November 27, 2009

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

As a child, the actor regularly saw his father hit his mother. Here he describes how the horrors of his childhood remained with him in his adult life.

By Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart as a baby with his mother Gladys. Photograph: Collect

My father was, in many ways, a man of discipline, organisation and charisma - a regimental sergeant major no less. One of the very last men to be evacuated from Dunkirk, his third stripe was chalked on to his uniform by an officer when no more senior NCOs were left alive. Parachuted into Crete and Italy, both times under fire, he fought at Monte Casino and was twice mentioned in dispatches. A fellow soldier once told me, "When your father marches on to the parade ground, the birds in the trees stop singing."

In civilian life it was a different story. He was an angry, unhappy and frustrated man who was not able to control his emotions or his hands. As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down. For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven. My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.

From Monday morning to Friday tea time he worked as a semi-skilled labourer, and was diligent and sober. Often funny and charming, he was always rich in the personal stories of warfare and adventure that thrilled me. But come Friday night, after the pubs closed, we awaited his return with trepidation. I would be in bed but not asleep. I could never sleep until he did; while he was awake we were all at risk. Instead, I would listen for his voice, singing, as he walked home. Certain songs were reassuring: I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen; I'll Walk Beside You . . . But army songs were not a good sign. And worst of all was silence. When I could only hear footsteps it was the signal to be super-alert.

Our house was small, and when you grow up with domestic violence in a confined space you learn to gauge, very precisely, the temperature of situations. I knew exactly when the shouting was done and a hand was about to be raised – I also knew exactly when to insert a small body between the fist and her face, a skill no child should ever have to learn. Curiously, I never felt fear for myself and he never struck me, an odd moral imposition that would not allow him to strike a child. The situation was barely tolerable: I witnessed terrible things, which I knew were wrong, but there was nowhere to go for help. Worse, there were those who condoned the abuse. I heard police or ambulancemen, standing in our house, say, "She must have provoked him," or, "Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight." They had no idea. The truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict.

Patrick Stewart, born 13th July 1940,
is a British actor best known for playing
Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek
The Next Generation and Professor X
in the X Men movies

Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.

No one came to help. No adult stepped in and took charge. I needed someone else to take over and tell me everything was going to be all right and that it wasn't my fault. I wanted the anger to go away and, while it stayed, I felt responsible. The sense of guilt and loneliness provoked by domestic violence is tainting – and lasting. No one came, but everyone knew. Our small houses were close together. Every Monday morning I walked to school with my head down, praying that I would not encounter a neighbour or school friend who had heard the weekend's rows. I felt ashamed.

Very occasionally one person would come to our aid – Mrs Dixon, our next-door neighbour, the only person who would stand up to my father. She would throw open the door and stand before him, bosom bursting and her mighty weaver's forearm raised in his face. "Come on, Alf Stewart," she would say, "have a go at me." He never did. He calmed down and went to bed. Now I wish I could take Lizzie Dixon's big hand in mine and thank her.

Such experiences are destructive. In my adult life I have struggled to overcome the bad lessons of my father's behaviour, this corrosive example of male irresponsibility. But the most oppressive aspect of these experiences was the loneliness. Very recently, during a falling-out with my girlfriend, I felt again as though I were shut out and alone, not heard or understood. I was neither, but it was such a familiar isolation that it was almost a comfort and consolation.

I managed to find my own refuge in acting. The stage was a far safer place for me than anything I had to live through at home – it offered escape. I could be someone else, in another place, in another time. However, whenever the role called for anger, fury, or the expression of murderous impulses, I was always afraid of what I might unleash if I surrendered myself to those feelings. It was not until 1981, when the director Ronald Eyre asked me to play the psychotic Leontes in The Winter's Tale, that the breakthrough came.

He quietly told me that the play would only work if I gave myself over, completely and totally, to the delusions, madness and murderousness of this man. "If you do that," Ron said, "I will be at your side. I will be available to you 24 hours a day." From that time forward I was never again afraid of my feelings on stage.

The truth is that domestic violence touches many of us. It is very possible that someone you know – a friend, sister, daughter or colleague – is experiencing abuse. One in four women will experience domestic violence at some point in her lifetime. And every week two women are killed by a current or former partner in England and Wales, and 10 women take their own lives as the only way they know how to escape a violent partner. You are almost certainly paying for it. Domestic violence costs around £26bn a year in medical, legal and housing costs.

This violence is not a private matter. Behind closed doors it is shielded and hidden and it only intensifies. It is protected by silence – everyone's silence. Which is why, in 2007, I became patron of Refuge, the national domestic violence charity. Every day the organisation supports more than 1,000 women and children through its national network of refuges and services. At Refuge, women and children are given psychological support to help them overcome the trauma of abuse. A team of independent legal advocates are on hand to protect women at high risk of violence through the legal process.

Thanks to Refuge's tireless campaigning, attitudes have changed. Police tactics have improved and most men are no longer able to get away with beating women. Yet the statistics still make for grim reading. More than two thirds of the residents in Refuge's network of refuges are children. I cannot express how sad – and angry – it makes me to think that we still cannot ensure the safety of women and children in their own homes.

Most people find the idea of violence against women – and sometimes, though rarely, against men - abhorrent, but do nothing to challenge it. More women and children, just like my mother and me, will continue to experience domestic violence unless we all speak out against it. You can do this by supporting Refuge's latest campaign, Four Ways To Speak Out. [rc]

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

.
BANGALORE, Karnataka / Deccan Herald / November 27, 2009

“Government should implement the provisions of ‘The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act of 2007,’ so that elders get their share of protection in their twilight years,” said Governor H R Bhardwaj.

Speaking at the 19th anniversary of Senior Citizens Club on Wednesday he said that our society should encourage the joint family system, so that the coming generation would know the values and traditions our elders nourished.

Dr D Nagaraj Director of Nimhans said that geriatric population is the most challenging and demanding group in India, as they suffer from both communicable as well as non-communicable diseases.

“Elderly people are prone to mental morbidities due to ageing of the brain leading to disorders like dementia and mood disorders,” he said. The 1991 Census indicated that 6.58 per cent of the total population belonged to the 60-plus age group and the proportion is expected to go up to 9.87 by 2021.

The ‘Padma Bhushan Dr M C Modi Service award’ was presented to Asha Jeevan Home for the Aged. [rc]

Copyright 2009, The Printers (Mysore) Private Ltd.

.
LONDON, England / Reuters / November 27, 2009

* Dementia threat growing in low and middle income nations
* Study says costs "enormous", will grow as populations age

By Kate Kelland

Dementia is the biggest cause of disability in old people in poorer countries and the problem and its costs for society will grow rapidly as populations age, doctors said on Friday.

British researchers studied 15,000 elderly people in seven low- and middle-income countries and found that, contrary to previous expert opinion, dementia, not blindness, is by far the biggest cause of poor health in old age.

Renata Sousa of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, who led the study, said this was contrary to World Health Organisation estimates that visual impairment and blindness were the biggest problems.

"Chronic diseases of the brain and mind deserve increased prioritisation," she wrote in the study published in The Lancet.

"Besides disability, they lead to dependency and present stressful, complex, long-term challenges to carers. Societal costs are enormous."

Despite decades of research, doctors still have few effective weapons against dementia, a brain-wasting disease which effects some 35 million people around the world.

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's and Alzheimer's Disease International predicts the number of sufferers will almost double every 20 years -- to 66 million in 2030 and more than 115 million in 2050 -- with much of the increase coming in poorer nations. [ID:nN20262573]

Sousa and colleagues looked at 15,000 people aged 65 or older in China, India, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru and worked out the proportion of disability that was due to certain illnesses.

They found that in regions other than rural India and Venezuela, dementia made the largest contribution to disability with 25 percent prevalence.

Other causes of disability were stroke, limb impairment, arthritis, and depression, with eyesight problems accounting for around 7 percent.

The study also found that factors linked to chronic diseases -- like heart disease, diabetes and lung conditions -- accounted for around two-thirds of disability.

There are few studies of disability among older people in poorer countries but the researchers said such work would be increasingly important as populations age.

Numbers of older people are increasing particularly rapidly in low- and middle- income countries, they said, and are expected to rise from 490 million to 1.6 billion between 2010 and 2050. [rc]

About Kate Kelland: I cover health and science news for the region of Europe, Middle East and Africa -- from flu pandemics to the newest planetary discovery to the latest drug and research developments. I joined Reuters in 1993 and worked in London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt before moving to BBC television to work on European politics for Newsnight for 2 years. Since returning to Reuters, I have also worked as a parliamentary correspondent in Westminster and on the main news desk of the London bureau.

Editing by Janet Lawrence
E-Mail: kate.kelland@thomsonreuters.com

© Thomson Reuters 2009.