Saturday, July 30, 2011
Problem with subscription by email element
I have become aware that the feature that lets people subscribe to my blog by email is not working. After trying with feedburner to resolve this issue (unsuccessfully) I have decided to remove the feature from my blog. I hope those of you will come back and become followers of the blog. I am dreadfully sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Generation gap over NY marriages: poll
Americans are sharply divided over New York’s recent legalization of gay marriage, according to a new poll on Friday that revealed a huge generation gap in how same sex nuptials are viewed.
The Washington Post-ABC News national survey found that voters are divided 50-46 on whether the new law is a positive or negative development.
Among those under 30, supporters outnumber those who view the law unfavorably by a 2-1 margin. But among seniors, 6 in 10 say the law is bad news.
The Washington Post-ABC News national survey found that voters are divided 50-46 on whether the new law is a positive or negative development.
Among those under 30, supporters outnumber those who view the law unfavorably by a 2-1 margin. But among seniors, 6 in 10 say the law is bad news.
When broken down along religious lines, Friday’s poll presents a more complicated picture of Americans’ feelings on same-sex marriage.
Within the white Protestant community there exists a strong divide between the evangelical and non-evangelical branches of the religion. While evangelicals view the law new negatively by a 75-21 margin, non-evangelicals support the measure by a 63-24 margin.
Catholics are broadly supportive of the measure, with nearly 60 percent saying they view the new law favorably, although support drops off among those who attend church less frequently.
Information about Jews’ attitudes wasn’t included in the poll.
According to Friday’s poll, there is also a strong partisan divide regarding the measure. Nearly three quarters of liberal Democrats view the new law positively, while conservative Republicans see gay marriage in New York negatively by a 71-26 margin.
Moderates and independents back the law by a 54-41 margin.
Within the Republican party, opinions on the new law are split between those who identify with the Tea Party and more moderate Republicans. While 7 in 10 Tea Partiers say they oppose New York’s gay marriage law, less than half of non-Tea Party Republicans, 45 percent, say they view it in a negative light.
Support for same-sex marriage has generally been growing over the past decade. According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage in 2001. A decade later, Pew reported that Americans were closely split on the issue, 46-45 percent, between those who oppose and support.
The approval of same-sex marriage in New York was seen by gay rights activists as a historic victory and made the state the sixth and largest to allow gays and lesbians to marry.
Within the white Protestant community there exists a strong divide between the evangelical and non-evangelical branches of the religion. While evangelicals view the law new negatively by a 75-21 margin, non-evangelicals support the measure by a 63-24 margin.
Catholics are broadly supportive of the measure, with nearly 60 percent saying they view the new law favorably, although support drops off among those who attend church less frequently.
Information about Jews’ attitudes wasn’t included in the poll.
According to Friday’s poll, there is also a strong partisan divide regarding the measure. Nearly three quarters of liberal Democrats view the new law positively, while conservative Republicans see gay marriage in New York negatively by a 71-26 margin.
Moderates and independents back the law by a 54-41 margin.
Within the Republican party, opinions on the new law are split between those who identify with the Tea Party and more moderate Republicans. While 7 in 10 Tea Partiers say they oppose New York’s gay marriage law, less than half of non-Tea Party Republicans, 45 percent, say they view it in a negative light.
Support for same-sex marriage has generally been growing over the past decade. According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage in 2001. A decade later, Pew reported that Americans were closely split on the issue, 46-45 percent, between those who oppose and support.
The approval of same-sex marriage in New York was seen by gay rights activists as a historic victory and made the state the sixth and largest to allow gays and lesbians to marry.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60226.html#ixzz1TXXJBVnS
Tea Party holds Republicans hostage to ideology
Well, the Tea Party's influence has caused a major upset in congress, and this is only the beginning of their meddling insanity. I hope the ideologues who voted them into office are happy, because the rest of the country is not. Please let your legislators know that you are unhappy with the way things are going. The U.S. can't operate without the ability to compromise in a fair and balanced way.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Kill the Gays bill on fast-track in Uganda
Uganda’s infamous Kill The Gays bill is back and is being fast-tracked through Parliament. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, or AHB, which prescribes the death penalty for being gay, was far from dead itself, and was never “shelved,” as many in the media werre falsely reporting. Rather, the Uganda Parliament merely ran out of time to debate and vote on it.
Now, with a new Parliament in session, the bill, which calls for the death penalty for the “crime” of being gay or HIV-positive, and prison sentences for friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances who believe someone is homosexual but does not immediately report them to authorities, may be voted on “by the end of August,” according to Uganda expert Warren Throckmorton.
“I spoke yesterday with Ugandan MP Hon. Otto Odonga who told me that the Parliament will bring back the Anti-Homosexuality Bill soon, perhaps ‘by the end of August’,” writes Throckmorton today. “Although the re-introduction of the antigay bill had been expected, Odonga said the bill is ‘back from the perspective of the new parliament starting from where the last parliament ended’.”
Uganda, a staunchly conservative and Christian East African country, ranks number 143 of 169 countries in the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index, which examines a combination of health, education, and living standards. Uganda is also considered to have a high number of people who are illiterate, especially women. All these factors lead to a population easily indoctrinated into religious extremism.
Just months ago, it was hoped that worldwide outcry from nearly two million individuals who signed online petitions and contacted Ugandan embassies, as well as from governments around the world, including the U.K., and United States — which contributes a large portion of Uganda’s annual operating budget through various foreign aid entities — may have had the desired effect of convincing Uganda to permanently end its pursuit of a Kill The Gays bill. Sadly, it appears not.
Now, with a new Parliament in session, the bill, which calls for the death penalty for the “crime” of being gay or HIV-positive, and prison sentences for friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances who believe someone is homosexual but does not immediately report them to authorities, may be voted on “by the end of August,” according to Uganda expert Warren Throckmorton.
“I spoke yesterday with Ugandan MP Hon. Otto Odonga who told me that the Parliament will bring back the Anti-Homosexuality Bill soon, perhaps ‘by the end of August’,” writes Throckmorton today. “Although the re-introduction of the antigay bill had been expected, Odonga said the bill is ‘back from the perspective of the new parliament starting from where the last parliament ended’.”
Uganda, a staunchly conservative and Christian East African country, ranks number 143 of 169 countries in the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index, which examines a combination of health, education, and living standards. Uganda is also considered to have a high number of people who are illiterate, especially women. All these factors lead to a population easily indoctrinated into religious extremism.
Just months ago, it was hoped that worldwide outcry from nearly two million individuals who signed online petitions and contacted Ugandan embassies, as well as from governments around the world, including the U.K., and United States — which contributes a large portion of Uganda’s annual operating budget through various foreign aid entities — may have had the desired effect of convincing Uganda to permanently end its pursuit of a Kill The Gays bill. Sadly, it appears not.
Mayo Clinic's migraine page
Lots of good information, an online community feature, and a weekly newsletter.
Migraine - MayoClinic.com
Migraine - MayoClinic.com
Romney, Obama, Religion & 2012
Only 4-in-10 Americans correctly identify Republican presidential candidate Governor Mitt Romney as Mormon, the July PRRI/RNS Religion News Survey finds. The survey, which was conducted in partnership with Religion News Service, also finds that President Obama has his own religious identifications problems: only 38% correctly identify Obama as Christian, and 18% continue to wrongly say he is Muslim.
While it's too early to gauge the full impact Romney's religious identity will have on the election, there are suggestive patterns. Among all Americans, Romney currently trails President Barack Obama in a head-to-head matchup by eight points (44% vs. 36%). However, among the nearly half of Americans (46%) who say Mormons hold religious beliefs that are different from their own, Romney trails Obama by 21 points (49% vs. 28%).
While it's too early to gauge the full impact Romney's religious identity will have on the election, there are suggestive patterns. Among all Americans, Romney currently trails President Barack Obama in a head-to-head matchup by eight points (44% vs. 36%). However, among the nearly half of Americans (46%) who say Mormons hold religious beliefs that are different from their own, Romney trails Obama by 21 points (49% vs. 28%).
Because views about religious differences are tied to political support, Romney will need to continue to address these perceptions as Americans learn more about him during the campaign.
To read more about the July PRRI/RNS Religion News Survey, including the topline results, questionnaire and methodology, click here: http://bit.ly/JulyRNS
To read the Religion News Service story about the poll, click here.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
My Pain Life: Another Study Showing Decreased Gray Matter in the...
My Pain Life: Another Study Showing Decreased Gray Matter in the...: "In their study findings, titled Decreased Gray Matter Volumes in the Cingulo-Frontal Cortex and the Amygdala in Patients With Fibromyalgia ..."
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
People in Affluent Nations More Depression Prone
(Health.com) -- Affluent countries, including the U.S., tend to have higher rates of depression than lower-income nations such as Mexico, a new study from World Health Organization researchers suggests.
In face-to-face interviews, teams of researchers surveyed nationally representative samples of people in 18 countries on five continents -- nearly 90,000 people in all -- and assessed their history of depression using a standardized list of nine criteria.
In addition to looking at personal characteristics such as age and relationship status, the researchers divided the countries into high- and middle-to-low income groups according to average household earnings.
Health.com: The 10 most depressing states in the U.S.
The proportion of people who have ever had an episode of clinical depression in their lifetime is 15% in the high-income nations and 11% in lower-income countries, the study estimates.
France (21%) and the United States (19%) had the highest rates, while China (6.5%) and Mexico (8%) had the lowest.
It's not clear what accounts for this pattern, says Evelyn Bromet, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stony Brook University, in Stony Brook, New York. But she stresses that wealth -- and happiness -- are relative concepts.
"Wherever you are, there's always people doing better than you," Bromet says. "You'd think that countries that are better off should have lower rates [of depression], but just because they have a high income doesn't mean there isn't a lot of stress in the environment."
Health.com: 10 careers with high rates of depression
Moreover, she adds, the richest countries in the world also tend to have the greatest levels of income inequality, which has been linked to higher rates of depression as well as many other chronic diseases.
The income-related trends did not hold for all measures of depression, however. When Bromet and her colleagues looked only at episodes of depression that occurred in the previous year, the rate was nearly identical in higher- and lower-income countries, about 6%. (Here again, though, the U.S. came out close to the top: Its 8% rate was second only to Brazil's 10%.)
This may reflect actual differences in depression rates, but it could also be that people in poorer countries are for some reason less likely to recall or relate episodes of depression from their past, the authors say.
Health.com: How to avoid depression relapse
Comparing depression rates across different countries is inherently challenging, because survey participants may be influenced by cultural norms or their interactions with the interviewer, says Timothy Classen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of economics at Loyola University Chicago who has studied the link between economics and suicide.
"There are significant disparities across countries in terms of the availability and social acceptance of mental health care for depression," says Classen, noting that there tends to be more stigma surrounding depression in a country like Japan than in the U.S. (Classen says this may explain why Japan has a higher suicide rate, even though its depression rates in the study were three to four times lower than those in the U.S.)
Health.com: European suicides spiked during economic crisis
Different age groups appeared to fare better than others depending on a country's level of affluence. For instance, older adults in high-income countries generally had lower rates of depression than their younger counterparts, while the trend was reversed in several poorer countries.
In a country like the Ukraine, Bromet says, older people "have enormous pressure on them and they don't have enough money to live and take care of grandchildren and health problems. Their lives are extremely difficult relative to older people in this country."
Bromet says the study findings can help countries identify their own high-risk populations, whether it's older adults in Ukraine or young divorced women in Japan.
"I hope people in these countries will start thinking about social and medical support for these groups in particular, and what they can do to prevent depression in the future," she says.
The study, which was published today in the journal BMC Medicine, is part of the WHO's Mental Health Survey Initiative.
In face-to-face interviews, teams of researchers surveyed nationally representative samples of people in 18 countries on five continents -- nearly 90,000 people in all -- and assessed their history of depression using a standardized list of nine criteria.
In addition to looking at personal characteristics such as age and relationship status, the researchers divided the countries into high- and middle-to-low income groups according to average household earnings.
Health.com: The 10 most depressing states in the U.S.
The proportion of people who have ever had an episode of clinical depression in their lifetime is 15% in the high-income nations and 11% in lower-income countries, the study estimates.
France (21%) and the United States (19%) had the highest rates, while China (6.5%) and Mexico (8%) had the lowest.
It's not clear what accounts for this pattern, says Evelyn Bromet, Ph.D., the lead author of the study and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stony Brook University, in Stony Brook, New York. But she stresses that wealth -- and happiness -- are relative concepts.
"Wherever you are, there's always people doing better than you," Bromet says. "You'd think that countries that are better off should have lower rates [of depression], but just because they have a high income doesn't mean there isn't a lot of stress in the environment."
Health.com: 10 careers with high rates of depression
Moreover, she adds, the richest countries in the world also tend to have the greatest levels of income inequality, which has been linked to higher rates of depression as well as many other chronic diseases.
The income-related trends did not hold for all measures of depression, however. When Bromet and her colleagues looked only at episodes of depression that occurred in the previous year, the rate was nearly identical in higher- and lower-income countries, about 6%. (Here again, though, the U.S. came out close to the top: Its 8% rate was second only to Brazil's 10%.)
This may reflect actual differences in depression rates, but it could also be that people in poorer countries are for some reason less likely to recall or relate episodes of depression from their past, the authors say.
Health.com: How to avoid depression relapse
Comparing depression rates across different countries is inherently challenging, because survey participants may be influenced by cultural norms or their interactions with the interviewer, says Timothy Classen, Ph.D., an assistant professor of economics at Loyola University Chicago who has studied the link between economics and suicide.
"There are significant disparities across countries in terms of the availability and social acceptance of mental health care for depression," says Classen, noting that there tends to be more stigma surrounding depression in a country like Japan than in the U.S. (Classen says this may explain why Japan has a higher suicide rate, even though its depression rates in the study were three to four times lower than those in the U.S.)
Health.com: European suicides spiked during economic crisis
Different age groups appeared to fare better than others depending on a country's level of affluence. For instance, older adults in high-income countries generally had lower rates of depression than their younger counterparts, while the trend was reversed in several poorer countries.
In a country like the Ukraine, Bromet says, older people "have enormous pressure on them and they don't have enough money to live and take care of grandchildren and health problems. Their lives are extremely difficult relative to older people in this country."
Bromet says the study findings can help countries identify their own high-risk populations, whether it's older adults in Ukraine or young divorced women in Japan.
"I hope people in these countries will start thinking about social and medical support for these groups in particular, and what they can do to prevent depression in the future," she says.
The study, which was published today in the journal BMC Medicine, is part of the WHO's Mental Health Survey Initiative.
Government organizations (including the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health), charitable foundations, and pharmaceutical companies across the world have all helped finance the initiative, but the funders played no role in the data collection, analysis, or publication.
LGBT Employees Still Facing Discrimination at Work
Posted by Bianca Phillips on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 3:33 PM
Data for the study has been collected since 2005 and includes new data from the 2008 General Social Survey (GSS), a national probability survey representative of the U.S. population. Among the lesbian, gay, and bisexual respondents (transgender respondents were not mentioned), 42 percent said they'd experienced employment discrimination at some point in their lives. Twenty-seven percent experienced employment discrimination in the five years before the survey.
Not surprisingly, the survey also found that employees who were out at work were more likely to experience discrimination at the office.
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