Thank You | Animal Poison Control

There's no way to describe the feeling of returning home to find that your 9-pound dog has chewed up an ant-bait ... the one with a warning to keep it away from pets and children.

Bisou's vet referred panic-y me to the ASPCA-sponsored Animal Poison Control which quickly and efficiently researched the type of poison, consulted a vet, and assured me that the worst-case scenario involved only vomiting and diarrhea. They explained that ant baits are fat- or peanut-butter-flavored to be especially appealing to ants. Fortunately, the poison is targeted to insects, not mammals, and the vet was actually more concerned with how much of the plastic casing she had ingested.

Bisou is fine. She had to work pretty hard to get to the bait and I think she regarded it as another puzzle she had to solve to get to a tasty treat. The reason there is no dog-shaming pic here is that she wasn't in the least concerned or ashamed.

From the website:

We are your best resource for any animal poison-related emergency, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think that your pet may have ingested a potentially poisonous substance, call (888) 426-4435. A $65 consultation fee may be applied to your credit card.

The $65 charge includes any follow-up phone calls and was worth every penny considering the circumstances.

And, just because ...

Beacoup thanks to Ms. and Mr. tomB for being such great step-parents.

New Rules Could Improve Mental Health Coverage

Source

On Wednesday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued its final rule defining what the government calls essential health benefits—the ten broad categories of health services that must be offered by most health insurance plans starting next year (states will decide what specific benefits will be covered within those categories). Under the new regulation, insurers will be required to cover the treatment of mental illnesses, behavioral disorders, drug addiction and alcohol abuse. The rule will allow 32 million people to gain access to mental health coverage, and will increase benefits for another 30 million. 

The New York Times reports:

White House officials described the rule as a major expansion of coverage. In the past, they said, nearly 20 percent of people buying insurance on their own did not have coverage for mental health services, and nearly one-third had no coverage for treatment of substance abuse. The rule requires insurers to cover benefits in 10 broad categories, including hospital services, prescription drugs and maternity and newborn care. [HHS secretary Kathleen] Sebelius said the partial standardization of benefits would make it easier for consumers to compare health plans.

The new regulations make mental health coverage cheaper for patients by limiting deductibles and out of pocket costs and requiring that new health insurance policies pay for between 60 and 90 percent of the cost of the services they cover.But since states decide which specific mental health benefits insurance companies will have to offer, access to different treatments will vary from state to state. This has left many mental health advocates disappointed. Newtown killer Adam Lanza reportedly suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, a type of autism. As the Times reports, only 32 states have laws requiring coverage of autism treatments.

Mother Jones

Time to start writing to state senators and representatives.

January 22-28, 2013 | Trust Women Week

Forty years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v Wade and legalized abortion in the U.S. The fight for reproductive rights and to allow women to make decisions concerning their own bodies continues.

Women won historic numbers of seats in Congress in the November election. Voters across the political spectrum supported women's reproductive health, rights, and justice, and defeated candidates who trivialized women's safety. Florida rejected a ballot measure that would outlaw public funding for abortions.

But many state legislatures and members of Congress continue to attack access to birth control and abortion care, and cut funds for health care providers like Planned Parenthood. In Mississippi, state regulators are working to force the last clinic that provided abortions to close. These restrictions most severely affect low-income women and women of color, and women in certain geographic areas.

Threats continue to women's long-term economic and social security and safety.

Trust Women Week partner organizations are joining together to express the powerful voices of the majority of women, men, children, families and communities who uphold traditional American values of democracy, independence, fairness, progress, innovation and pragmatism.

Sign the Trust Women Week petition.

The Truth About The Five-Second Rule

YouTube

The science of dropping your food on the ground reveals surprising lessons in this video from ... Vsauce ... The show's founder and host, Michael Stevens, set out to verify the five-second rule, citing research in The Journal of Applied Microbiology and investigations by others, including Mythbusters, to break the bad news (spoiler alert) that it's no good. "Five seconds is way too long to wait," he warns; "bacteria adhere to dropped food almost immediately."

The Atlantic

CR Recommends Limiting Rice Consumption Due To 'Concerning' Levels Of Arsenic

...Consumer Reports decided to test rice and rice products (everything from Rice Krispies to rice milk) for arsenic. Why rice? Prior research has shown that rice generally contains more arsenic than other grains, probably because rice is grown in water-flooded conditions and absorbs arsenic from the soil and water. And arsenic is present on a lot of soil. Residues from decades of lead-arsenate insecticide use linger, even though their use was banned in the 1980s. Arsenic-containing drugs are also permitted for use on food animals to prevent disease and promote growth. As a result, fertilizer made from poultry waste can contain arsenic. 

The news about rice products is not good. Consumer Reports indicated today that it found arsenic in virtually all of the more than 60 different rice products it tested, and recommends that people limit rice and rice product consumption in various ways. Consumer Reports suggests that infants be given a serving of rice cereal no more than once a day, and that children under five not consume rice milk (rice drinks) on a regular basis. Kids should eat no more than one and a half cups of ready-to-eat rice cereal, like Rice Checks or Rice Krispies in a week. Adults should limit themselves to two standard servings of rice per week. And once you have your quota of one product, that's it for all rice products for the week. Are some rice products better than others? Maybe. Consumer Reports test represent a snapshot of the market from which they cannot draw any conclusions about any particular brands, but they did observe some trends. White rice grown in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas generally had higher levels of total and inorganic arsenic (the most worrisome kind) than rice samples from elsewhere (India, Thailand and California as a group). 

In addition, within any given brand, brown rice had more arsenic than white, although some individual brown rice samples were lower in arsenic compared to some white rice samples, possibly due to agricultural practices or where they were grown. Regardless of rice type and origin, Consumer Reports suggests adults adhere to the two-servings-a-week consumption limit. You can find suggested limits for consumption of all the rice products tested at consumerreports.org.

Consumer Reports suggests rinsing rice before cooking, use lots of water for rinsing and cooking, and discard all cooking water. CR also found elevated levels of arsenic in apple and grape juice. Going now to check to see where my supply of brown rice was grown.

Huffington Post

How Soft Drinks Affect Your Health

Source [ginormous graphic]

Woman Grows Nipple On Foot

Absract: A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.

Yikes.

Dermatology Online Journal | Jezebel

Eat Bacon Whenever You Can

Criggo

NEJM | All Calories Are Not Created Equal | Food Type Matters More

Mmmmmmm ... needs bacon and melted cheese.

In the game of life and long-term weight maintenance, calories count, but the types of foods might matter more, according to a study by Harvard researchers published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Diets that include potatoes, white bread, sugar-sweetened beverages and meats — well, all that defines modern America — were associated with the greatest weight gain over the 20-year study period. Surprisingly, eating French fries led to more weight gain than eating sugary desserts. And eating whole grains was associated with weight loss, diametrically opposite to the significant weight gain associated with refined grains despite equal caloric content. These results prompted the Harvard researchers to claim that the mantra to "eat less, exercise more" might be overly simplistic.

The Harvard study was one of the first to examine factors linked to long-term weight gain. Most other research has focused on dieting after the subjects have gained extra weight. American adults gain at least a pound per year, on average, so the impact on health after a few decades can be significant. The researchers tapped into three large, ongoing studies — the Nurses' Health Study, the Nurses' Health Study II, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study — following over 120,000 adults who were free of obesity and chronic diseases at the beginning of the study. "Of course, in the end, 'calories in' versus 'calories out' is what causes weight gain," said lead author Dariush Mozaffarian of the Harvard School of Public Health. "The key question is how to achieve that balance, since everyone is trying to do it and nearly everyone is failing."

SimplyNoise

SimplyNoise is a free, online white-, pink-, and brown-noise generator that you can use to block disractions and enhance sleep. Noise intensity and speed are adjustable.

The Presurfer

Toby Ng | The World Of 100

Click images to enlarge

These posters are part of a 20-set project created by graphic designer Toby Ng.

Via Nag on the Lake

Prison Food vs School Cafeteria Food

Click image to enlarge

GOOD | Column Five Media

What Are These Kids Looking At?

Chuck Berman | Chicago Tribune

Chicago grade school students react as they watch a PowerPoint presentation showing photos of a developing fetus inside the uterus.

Source via Coudal Partners

XKCD | Radiation Dose Chart

Click image to enlarge

There has been much talk of radiation exposure levels in the news, and here on Boing Boing, this past week. But it can be hard to wrap your head around what those measurements mean, and how they compare to things you may have already experienced in life. Well, it was, until XKCD created this exceptionally helpful chart showing exactly how much radiation exposure you might encounter by doing something like flying from LA to NYC, getting a chest x-ray, hanging out at Chernobyl, living near the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, or sleeping next to another human being.

xkcd | Boing Boing

Global Alcohol Consumption

Click here for larger image

W.H.O. Report via Sociological Images | Gawker

Professor Funk | The Strange Powers Of The Placebo Effect

You Tube | Mind Hacks

World Cancer Day | Sign The Declaration

On the 4th of February, 2011 the Union for International Cancer Control [UICC] and its partner organisations will run campaigns all over the world to raise awareness for a disease that causes millions of deaths every year, many of which could have been prevented.

More than ever before there is a need for a concerted and coordinated fight against cancer, and we believe that World Cancer Day can play its part by providing an even bigger platform for your cancer messages ... If you would like to support our efforts, you will find all the information you need on [our] website: get informed, learn how to eliminate your own personal risk factors, sign our declaration and help spread the word. It might save a life.

Through the targets outlined in the World Cancer Declaration, our aim by 2020 is to have:

• effective cancer control programmes
• reduced risk factors such as tobacco use, alcohol consumption and obesity
• universal vaccination programmes
• a better informed public
• improved diagnosis methods
• universally available pain control
• improved training for medical staff
• better survival rates for cancer patients

To reach these targets we will take action to:

• place cancer on the political agenda
• improve cancer prevention and early detection
• enhance access to and treatment for cancer patients

Sign the Declaration now for a cancer free world!

Medical Students Performing Unauthorized, Intrusive Examinations On Anaesthetised Patients

Australian medical students are carrying out intrusive procedures on unconscious and anaesthetised patients without gaining the patient's consent. The unauthorised examinations include genital, rectal and breast exams, and raise serious questions about the ethics of up-and-coming doctors. The research, soon to be published in international medical journal, Medical Education, describes - among others - a student with "no qualms" about performing an anal examination on a female patient because she didn't think the woman's consent was relevant.

Another case outlined in the research describes a man who was subjected to rectal examinations from a "queue" of medical students after he was anaesthetised for surgery. “I was in theatre, the patient was under a spinal (anaesthetic) as well and there was a screen up and they just had a queue of medical students doing a rectal examination,” a student confessed. “[H]e wasn’t consented but because ... you’re in that situation, you don’t have the confidence to say 'no' you just do it.”

The author of the study, Professor Charlotte Rees, voiced concerns about senior medical staff ordering students to perform unauthorised procedures, leaving the students torn between the strong ethics of consent in society and the weak ethics of medical staff. Of students who were put in this position during the research, 82 per cent obeyed orders. “We think that it is weakness in the ethical climate of the clinical workplace that ultimately serves to legitimise and reinforce unethical practices in the context of students learning intimate examinations,” writes Prof Rees. The study consists of 200 students across three unnamed medical schools in Britain and Australia. Not all participants agreed to carry out the intimate examinations without permission from the patient.

Link | Arbroath

If It Were My Home

The lottery of birth is responsible for much of who we are. If you were not born in the country you were, what would your life be like? Would you be the same person?

If It Were My Home is your gateway to understanding life outside your home. Use our country comparison tool to compare living conditions in your own country to those of another. Start by selecting a region to compare on the map to the right, and begin your exploration.

You can also use our visualization tool to help understand the impact of a disaster. The Pakistan Flood and BP Oil Spill are currently featured. Check out the individual pages to gain some perspective on these awful tragedies.

Try drilling down for more information in each category. The site also automatically uses Google maps to compare the sizes of the two countries.

Presurfer

Seasonal Biology | Birth Month Can Affect Biological Clocks, Personality

The season in which babies are born can have a dramatic and persistent effect on how their biological clocks function. That is the conclusion of a new study published online on Dec. 5 by the journal Nature Neuroscience. The experiment provides the first evidence for seasonal imprinting of biological clocks in mammals and was conducted by Professor of Biological Sciences Douglas McMahon, graduate student Chris Ciarleglio, post-doctoral fellow Karen Gamble and two undergraduate students at Vanderbilt University.

The imprinting effect, which was found in baby mice, may help explain the fact that people born in winter months have a higher risk of a number of neurological disorders including seasonal affective disorder (winter depression), bipolar depression and schizophrenia.

... The new study raises an intriguing but highly speculative possibility: seasonal variations in the day/night cycle that individuals experience as their brains are developing may affect their personality. "We know that the biological clock regulates mood in humans. If an imprinting mechanism similar to the one that we found in mice operates in humans, then it could not only have an effect on a number of behavioral disorders but also have a more general effect on personality," said McMahon.

"It's important to emphasize that, even though this sounds a bit like astrology, it is not: it's seasonal biology!" McMahon added.

Press Release | Full Text