Washington, DC, USA. The US election for president and congress is on, with a hard sprint toward the November finish line. Everything is under tight control, with campaign appearances scheduled for friendly audiences at a considerable distance from the general population. We can expect a flashy — but largely superficial — discussion of the issues. Somewhere in the frenzied activity that is the American political season lay all sorts of US political and cultural factions working on getting what they want out of the parties and their candidates. We have a short and nonpolitical list of our own preferred measures, repeated numerous times here at TS-Si.org; we will discuss them further at a later date. In the meantime, we discuss the high ground of good governance, fundamental to a healthy democracy and the basis for free, fair, and informed decision making. Good Governance By our reckoning, there are at least three fundamental reforms that are a necessary preconditon for rational decision making. Each item below addresses an issue that is currently mired in the political gameplay, but in our view must be a focus of reform. Each of our proposals can be considered a component of good governance. Without them, we sincerely doubt the possibility of an enlightened debate on our different approaches to policies and programs. Promote Voting As A Civic Duty. Drives to get out the vote have become a partisan tactical ploy on Election Day. Each of the major political parties work to mobilize voters favorable to them and suppress the vote of their political competitors. The United States of America entered the world with with truly advanced notions of suffrage and the supreme importance of enabling the expression of popular will. The limited voting rights at the time...

Stirling, SA, AUS. The Who said it all for me: hope I die before I get old. More than 40 years later nothing has changed. Now at a mere 60 years of age I find myself in a world where there is an enormous fascination with the fact that my generation has hit the age of the gopher. Academic reputations are being forged on predicting and defining the social catastrophe we face, simply because my generation remains as loud as ever. Since 1966 we have been in a purple haze of good will generated by the Age of Aquarius. In ’68 we launched a revolution, determined to give peace a chance. Then for a while it seemed as we sold out, joining the ranks of talking suits but in truth most of us stayed the course, albeit at a more sedate pace. Yet it seems that there are those who believe that we have stayed beyond our use-by-date and are expected to shuffle quietly into the sunset. Last year I attended the Greens pre-selection in Adelaide. Sarah Hanson-Young played the age card with the reckless abandon of intemperate youth. She stated that her major achievement at Amnesty International was to change the age profile of the volunteers. Thanks to Sarah’s efforts the older volunteers had gone to serve tea and scones elsewhere - now the Adelaide office was staffed by the dynamism of youth. There was no doubting the message; Senator Hanson-Young is for youth. It seems as if On-Line Opinion (http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/) may share our infant senator’s views. Now, at the start of spring, there is a special feature on the long summer — dealing with “ the baby boomers reaching traditional retirement age but refusing to get old, what effect will this have...

Washington, DC, USA. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty cruises around in a stolen van like a rock star. Half of Florida’s delegates are actually “honored guests.” And Hurricane Gustav knocked Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman out of a primetime speaking spot, but he delivered his speech anyway. In case you missed those stories from the Republican National Convention this week, Worth Noting fills you in. On the eve of the Republican National Convention, while campaigning for Sen. John McCain in Pennsylvania on Sunday (Aug. 31), Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty rode around in a stolen van. And not just any van — a touring van used by the band Everclear, with an LCD video screen, an Xbox and a six-speaker stereo system. The theft was the result of a mix-up by Pawlenty’s driver, who was told to pick up the keys to the governor’s actual ride at a Holiday Inn and then went to the wrong Holiday Inn. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the driver thought it was strange the governor’s van had beer cans in it. They look like delegates, but that’s not what their credentials say. Instead, half of the Florida delegation is actually an “honored guest” — they can’t vote or participate in floor debates, but still can access the convention hall. Though the honored guest designation is to punish Florida for being one of five states that broke the Republican National Committee’s rule not to hold a primary before Feb. 5, the honored guests don’t seem to mind, The Palm Beach Post reports. “Being an honored guest is an honor,” said one Floridian. Hurricane Gustav bumped many a speaker off the schedule Monday night, including Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. But he’s not one to waste a good speech. With the chance to address a...

Paisley, Scotland, UK. A study found that sexologists could infer a woman's history of vaginal orgasm by the way she walks. The findings link muscle blocks and sexual function. Although it was a small study it highlights the potential for multiple therapies (e.g., expressive arts therapy incorporating movement and physical therapy focusing on the pelvic floor). The study was conducted by Stuart Brody of the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) (http://www.paisley.ac.uk/index.asp) in collaboration with colleagues in the United States and Belgium, including lead author Aurelie Nicholas, Université Catholique de Louvain (http://www.uclouvain.be/), Institut d'études de la famille et de la sexualité, Louvain-la-Neuve. [N1] A Woman's History of Vaginal Orgasm is Discernible from Her Walk. Aurelie Nicholas, Stuart Brody, Pascal de Sutter, François de Carufe. The Journal of Sexual Medicine 5(9) 2119-2124. doi: 10.1111 / j.1743-6109.2008.00942.x The findings appear in International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) (http://www.issm.info/) and the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH) (http://www.isswsh.org/). The study involved 16 female Belgian university students. Subjects completed a questionnaire on their sexual behavior and were then videotaped from a distance while walking in a public place. The videotapes were rated by two professors of sexology and two research assistants trained in the functional-sexological approach to sexology, who were not aware of the women's orgasmic history. The results showed that the appropriately trained sexologists were able to correctly infer vaginal orgasm through watching the way the women walked over 80 percent of the time. Further analysis revealed that the sum of stride length and vertebral rotation was greater for the vaginally orgasmic women. This could reflect the free, unblocked energetic flow from the legs through the pelvis to the spine, the authors note. There are several plausible explanations for the results...

Bethesda, MD, USA. Scientists have demonstrated that quercetin, a naturally occurring substance found in fruits and vegetables, can render subjects less likely to contract the flu. According to a new study using the mouse model orgnism, the findings also indicate that stressful exercise corresponded to increased susceptibility to the flu, but quercetin canceled out negative effects. Quercetin is present in a variety of fruits and vegetables, including red onions, grapes, blueberries, tea, broccoli and red wine. It has been shown to have anti-viral properties in cell culture experiments and some animal studies, but none of these studies has looked specifically at the flu. The substance is a close chemical relative of resveratrol, a phytochemical produced by plants that exhibits a number of beneficial health effects. Quercetin reduces susceptibility to influenza infection following stressful exercise. J. M. Davis, E. A. Murphy, J. L. McClellan, M. D. Carmichael, and J. D. Gangemi. AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology 295(2) R505. doi: 10.1152 / ajpregu.90319.2008 J. Mark Davis and his colleagues at the University of South Carolina (http://www.sc.edu/) and Clemson University (http://www.clemson.edu/) carried out the study. [N1-2] The findings appear in the American Journal of Physiology (AJP) Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. [C1, N3] The new study was conducted using mice, but if quercetin provides a similar benefit for humans, it could help endurance athletes, soldiers and others undergoing difficult training regimens, as well as people under psychological stress, according to Davis. Quercetin was used because of its documented widespread health benefits, which include antiviral activity, abundance in the diet and reported lack of side effects when used as a dietary supplement or food additive, Davis said. Earlier mouse studies have found that stressful exercise can increase susceptibility to upper respiratory infections, although it...

Springfield, VA, USA. From its beginnings, traditional genetics had attributed human characteristics to a simple arithmetical combination of inheritable traits from unchanging genes. As a result, genetic mutations and recombinations have driven most descriptions of how traits are handed down from one generation to another, with misleading effects on a confused public. The discovery and understanding of DNA, and the role of non-coding (junk) DNA, reveals a more complex — and subtle — situation. Today, scientists know that heritable changes in gene function can occur without a change in the DNA sequence. Called epigenetics, this insight has further changed the way researchers think about heredity. Epigenetics bridges the gap between nature and nurture. Both epigenetics and epigenomics — the genomewide distribution of epigenetic changes — are related to many other topics requiring a thorough understanding of all aspects of genetics. The latter includes aging, agriculture, cloning, evolution, sexual differentiation, species conservation, stem cells, and synthetic biology. Proteins Proteins perform many of the essential functions in the human body. When a protein, or a group of proteins, fail to act in their normal way, we get sick. Most medicines exploit this by binding to proteins and influencing their activity. Researchers can design drugs with molecules that fit if they know the shape of a protein target . So, when DNA is copied from cell to cell, it is essential that the epigenetic code is also copied accurately. If not, a liver cell may divide into another type of cell, such as a nerve or eye cell. A breakdown in this system might also mean that a gene for cell growth is accidentally switched on, for example, leading to unregulated cell growth and the development of tumors. Research into protein structure has accelerated with improved...

Toronto, ON, CAN. Scientists have described the 3D structure of a key protein component involved in enabling the copying of epigenetic code from cell to cell. The code is a series of chemical switches that is added onto our DNA in order to ensure our cells form various tissue types (e.g., liver and skin, despite identical DNA genetic code. Proteins perform many of the essential functions in the human body. When a protein, or a group of proteins, fail to act in their normal way, we are prone to sickness. Most medicines exploit this by binding to proteins and influencing their activity. Researchers can design drugs with molecules that fit if they know the shape of a protein target . So, when DNA is copied from cell to cell, it is essential that the epigenetic code is also copied accurately. If not, a liver cell may divide into another type of cell, such as a nerve or eye cell. A breakdown in this system might also mean that a gene for cell growth is accidentally switched on, for example, leading to unregulated cell growth and the development of tumors. The field of structural genomics is focused on the three-dimensional structures of proteins. Ordinarily. it is very expensive to determine a new protein structure (as much as US$1 million. However, more systematic approaches have become possble with the arrival of methodological improvements, computers, and access to the complete sequence of our DNA (the human genome). The information on structure provides a powerful means to develop a diagram of a protein suitable for further research and implementation in new treatment methds. Research published in 2007 showed the importance of the nuclear protein UHRF1 in ensuring that the epigenetic code is accurately copied. Epigenetic switches are...

St. Paul, MN, USA. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) narrowly missed getting a spot on the Republican presidential ticket. If Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was the ultimate outside-the-box vice presidential pick for John McCain’s GOP ticket, the governor of this state — Republican Tim Pawlenty — would have been the quintessential inside-the-box choice. Pawlenty, long considered a leading candidate for the VP slot, is a conservative who has managed to win solid approval ratings in a state that tends toward the center, if not the left. Minnesota has elected nine Republican governors since 1938, but most of them came out of an ideological tradition that today would be called moderate, even progressive. At various times, these governors pushed for higher spending on social services, strong civil rights laws, robust urban planning and aggressive environmental protection efforts. By contrast, Pawlenty comes from a Republican Party that puts tax-cutting, limited government and conservative social policy atop the agenda. (Pawlenty is anti-abortion.) Republicans and even some Democrats here were surprised and somewhat disappointed to see their governor passed over for the GOP ticket as the party convened here for its convention, particularly when they compared his record and the time he spent boosting McCain on the campaign trail this year to what Palin brings to the table. Reportedly, Pawlenty was the final runner-up to Palin. But while the second-term Pawlenty still appears to be in ascendance, he has actually become popular here less for what he has accomplished than for putting the brakes on agenda items pursued by the Democrats, who control both chambers of the Legislature. A Democratic takeover of the state House two years ago has played a major role in defining his policy impact on the state. “He definitely takes pride in some of the...

Springfield, VA, USA. I am a male to female post-op woman. Given the current state of the science and medicine, I am unable to become pregnant. A generation from now that may all change and I would have a choice that women have been making since Adam: keep any unwanted fetus that grows within me or get rid of it. The opposing societal factions have developed fancy politico-religious labels (pro-choice/pro-life) that conceal the reality of what happens: a woman either aborts the developing fetus or she is impressed into service as a baby machine to bear a child she does not want. Neither alternative is attractive. Proponents on both sides use women to make political points without concern to what is best for both woman and fetus. One side pretends that a human life exists from the moment of conception, the other that our lives do not begin until the physical mother says that we do. Both sides are consumed with false piety, faulty logic, and erroneous assumptions. Unbridled hubris governs all. Let’s be upfront about one inescapable fact: abortion, at its least intrusive levels, terminates living cells that have the potential to become a human infant. Let’s also be upfront about another unavoidable reality: a handful of cells does not a human life make. Human existence does not begin at the moment of conception. From a theological perspective, consensus expert opinion on exactly when a human soul is infused in a fetus has varied through out the Christian Church’s history. Aristotle and The Church, from Saint Augustine to sometime in the Nineteenth Century, taught that ensoulment occurred in the fourth or fifth month after quickening, the moment when a baby starts kicking. [N1] Before quickening, the fetus was no more than a...

Phoenix, AZ, USA. A population study is important to medical research because it can systematically compare a large group of individuals who share common characteristics (such as age, health condition, or sex). This group can then be studied in greater depth for such things as the incidence of birth conditions and/or disease, responses to medicine, surgical risks, and so on. The introduction of DNA identification has enlivened population studies with new data and deeper information on the individuals within a group. However, existing technology has imposed limits on analysis. For meaningful results, the samples used (e.g., comprised of skin, hair) must be of relatively large size; moreover, trying to extract the DNA of one person from a group (a mixed sample) becomes more difficult as group size increases. Resolving Individuals Contributing Trace Amounts of DNA to Highly Complex Mixtures Using High-Density SNP Genotyping Microarrays. Nils Homer, Szabolcs Szelinger, Margot Redman, David Duggan, Waibhav Tembe, Jill Muehling, John V. Pearson, Dietrich A. Stephan, Stanley F. Nelson, David W. Craig. PLoS Genetics 4(8): e1000167 doi: 10.1371 / journal.pgen.1000167. [ Download PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/journal.pgen.1000167.pdf) ] Scientists have now taken an important step in solving this problem by improving the extraction and analysis of DNA in a practical environment with stringent standards for evidence: crime scene forensics. A team of investigators led by scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) (http://www.tgen.org/) [N1] found a way to identify possible suspects at crime scenes using only a small amount of DNA, even if it is mixed with hundreds of other genetic fingerprints. The results appear in PLoS Genetics (http://www.plosgenetics.org/home.action). It opens up ideas never considered before.The scientists used genotyping microarrays to identify an individual's DNA from within a mix of DNA samples, even if that individual represented less than 0.1 percent of...

Los Angeles, CA, USA. The pain of downsizing extends far beyond laid off workers and the people who depend on their paychecks, according to a new study. Even a single involuntary displacement has a lasting impact on a worker's inclination to volunteer and participate in a whole range of social and community groups and organizations. Investigators from UCLA (http://www.ucla.edu/) and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (http://www.umich.edu/) conducted the study. What we find is that even just one disruption in employment makes workers significantly less likely to participate in a whole range of social activities — from joining book clubs to participating in the PTA and supporting charities, said Jennie E. Brand, a UCLA (http://www.ucla.edu/) sociologist and the study's lead author. Effects of Job Displacement on Social Participation: Findings over the Life Course of a Cohort of Joiners. Brand, Jennie E. and Sarah A. Burgard. Forthcoming: Social Forces (2008). After being laid off or downsized, workers are less likely to give back to their community. The findings will appear in an upcoming edition of the print journal Social Forces (http://socialforces.unc.edu/). The first study to look at the long-term impact of job displacement on social participation, the research found that workers who had experienced just one involuntary disruption in their employment status were 35% less likely to be involved in their communities than their counterparts who had never experienced a job loss due to layoff, downsizing or restructuring, or a business closing or relocating. Moreover, the exodus from community involvement continued not just through the spate of involuntary unemployment, but for the rest of the workers' lives. Social engagement often involves an element of social trust and a sense that things are reciprocal — that you give some support if you...

Minneapolis, MN, USA. The beefy bouncers and roped lines outside the swanky Italian restaurant Bellanotte here weren't ushering in Hollywood starlets, but instead, Republican governors and the people who paid thousands of dollars to hobnob with them. Hurricane Gustav may have crashed the opening day of the Republican National Convention in nearby St. Paul, but the Bellanotte gala was just one of several big-ticket fundraisers that the Republican Governors Association (RGA) (http://www.rga.org/) plans to host during the convention, with packages for donors running as high as $250,000. Because of the storm, the Republican National Committee (RNC) (http://www.rnc.org/) canceled all of Monday’s program activities beyond “official business” required by party rules, but announced the next day (Sept. 2) that the convention would resume with a full schedule. RGA scaled back its activities Monday at its “hospitality suites” at the Xcel Energy Center, where the convention is being held — but the fundraising went forward. “Basically we just had a couple of our suites open, with no refreshments … just straight business,” RGA spokesman Chris Schrimpf said. “We asked our donors to heed the RNC call and do what they can for the victims of the hurricane,” he said. As far as the rest of the week’s fundraising activities, “We’re planning it day by day, event to event,” Schrimpf said outside Bellanotte, which means beautiful night in Italian. Democrats, likewise, did their share of fundraising at their convention last week in Denver. The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) (http://www.democraticgovernors.org/) also offered packages to donors costing up to $250,000. One event, “A Rocky Mountain Salute to Democratic Governors” at the Elitch Gardens amusement park included entertainment from Big Head Todd The Monsters, a 1980s band from nearby Boulder, and a late-night party at Wynkoop Brewing Co.,...

Springfield, VA, USA. Here at TS-Si.org, we have unusually good discussions with our readers. Some people comment in public (see the comment block at the bottom of this column), while others choose to send us private mail via our Contact Form (http://ts-si.org/component/option,com_contact/task,view/contact_id,11/Itemid,785/). The questions we get are numerous and sometimes the comments argue conflicting views of just where our judgment is defective. We are charged with all sorts of mutually contradictory crimes against humanity depending upon the viewpoint of our readers. [N1] We figure that comes with our embrace of the enterprise. But, the misperceptions do stimulate a response. What follows is a general summary of our take on some of the most common questions and comments. Lesbians and the Gay Community. Why does a website that supposedly supports men and women born with a misalignment of their innate neurobiological wiring and external genitalia have content about lesbians and the gay community? [cf. sidebar] If we appear to be a lesbian oriented site, that is not our intention, but on some issues (e.g., marriage laws) HBS men and women will remain intrinsically linked to same sex marriage as some states and many religions see our birth condition and full surgical correction as irrelevant to whether an F or and M is annotated on your birth certificate. In the eyes of many, thanks to male cross-dresses as much as fundamentalist religions, we are thought to be just a slightly odd flavor of homosexuality. Until we can break that link (and it must be broken within both the straight community and the gay and lesbian community), our futures are inexorably linked to the gay rights movement. Even more so, the science involved with confirming the underlying physical basis for homosexuality and HBS overlaps,...

Washington, DC, USA. Democrats charge that a John McCain presidency would mean “four more years” of President Bush’s policies. A close look at both men’s records shows, on issues important to states, the Republicans are not far apart. It’s tough to predict how anyone will perform as president, and, many of the states’ frustrations with the Bush administration concern how it has made decisions, as well as the substance of those decisions. But on issue after issue that affect state governments, the GOP’s presumptive nominee and the current president hold similar views. They worked together in a thwarted attempt to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. They agree on abortion, school choice, secure driver’s licenses and off-shore drilling. The two men both opposed efforts to stimulate the economy by spending more on improving infrastructure, and McCain backed Bush’s veto of a measure to expand children’s health insurance because of its cost. During the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., this week, McCain is expected to share his vision of how he would run the country. But comparisons to the current GOP administration are inevitable, with Democrats trying to link the two. Michael Bird, federal affairs counsel for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) (http://www.ncsl.org/), was optimistic that a McCain administration would be easier to work with than the current Bush administration. “It’s been so bad, it couldn’t possibly get worse,” Bird said of states' relationships with the Bush administration. In his 26-year congressional career, McCain has focused on foreign affairs and commerce issues, which don’t intersect heavily with state programs. That means state officials don’t have a lot of experience to predict how McCain would deal with states, Bird said. But Bird said state-federal relations are at their lowest point since at...

Berkeley, CA, USA. In the event of a nuclear standoff between the United States and another natiion, wil the new president know enough about the physics of nuclear weapons to assess the threat? A new book distills essential physics for the next president and serves as a potential for future efforts in other fields, such as biology, genetics, and health policy. In leading the nation toward reduced greenhouse gas emissions, would the president understand which technologies would best decrease America's carbon footprint? If not, he might want to read a new primer by physicist Richard A. Muller (University of California, Berkeley (http://berkeley.edu/)). Physics for Future Presidents. Richard Muller. New York: W. W. Norton. July 2008. ISBN-10: 0393066274; ISBN-13: 978-0393066272. The book is intended for would-be leaders, providing them with the scientific literacy needed to challenge ill-informed, partisan advice on science-based issues (such as terrorist threats, global warming, the value of manned exploration of space, and the dangers of nuclear weapons). The idea is to minimize deference to advisors and provide candidates and presidents with support when they publicly explain and defend their decisions. It's hard to think of an issue these days that doesn't have a science or high tech angle to it, said Muller, a professor in UC Berkeley's physics department for 30 years and an experimental physicist and astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. My real goal is to make the dialogue more based in knowledge and fact, because I think that will cool down the rhetoric and help bring opposite sides of the political spectrum together to reach agreement. A big reason such a book is needed is the current lack of scientists at the highest level of government to advise the president, said Muller, a former MacArthur...

Bloomington, IN, USA. Men interviewed in a large international study have recorded views that run contrary to common stereotypes about sexual performance and masculinity. They report that being seen as honorable, self-reliant and respected was more important to their idea of masculinity than being seen as attractive, sexually active or successful with women. The study is part of the Men's Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) project, aimed to determine characteristics of masculinity and quality of life in men. he study subjects include men with and without self-reported erectile dysfunction, and how ideas of masculinity might affect seeking help and treatment. Dysfunction and Constructs of Masculinity and Quality of Life in the Multinational Men's Attitudes to Life Events and Sexuality (MALES) Study. Michael S. Sand, William Fisher, Raymond Rosen, Julia Heiman, Ian Eardley. Journal of Sexual Medicine 5(3) 583-594. doi: 10.1111 / j.1743-6109.2007.00720.x [ Download PDF (http://ts-si.org/files/SandErectileDys.pdf) ] There current study included interviews with more than 27,000 randomly selected men from eight countries (Brazil, France, Germany, Italy Mexico, Spain, U.K., and the U.S.), with about 16 percent of the men reporting erectile problems. The findings were published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine (http://jsm.issir.org/). Regardless of age or nationality, the men more frequently placed he highest rank on good health, harmonious family life, and good relationships with their wife or partner. All of these factors were more important to their quality of life than material, self-fulfilling or purely sexual concerns. There was no significant difference in rankings of masculinity and quality of life characteristics between men who experienced erectile dysfunction and those who did not. Many meanings, positive and negative, are attached to the term, 'masculinity,' said Julia Heiman, director of The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University (http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey/) and an author of...

Philadelphia, PA, USA. A new study shows that, while more Americans believe in the genetic causes of mental illness, the USA is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than 10 years ago. The study uses a 2006 replication of the 1996 General Social Survey Mental Health Module to explore trends in public beliefs about mental illness, focusing in particular on public support for genetic arguments. Prior medical-sociology studies reveal that public beliefs about mental illness reflect the dominant mental-illness treatment, the changing nature of media portrayals of the mentally ill, and the prevailing wisdom of science and medicine. The new article, by sociology professor Jason Schnittker at the University of Pennsylvania (http://www.upenn.edu/) addresses why tolerance of the mentally ill hasn’t increased along with the rising popularity of a biomedical view of its causes. An uncertain revolution: Why the rise of a genetic model of mental illness has not increased tolerance. Jason Schnittker. Social Science and Medicine 2008 Aug 12. PubMed ID 18703264 According to Schnittker’s research, genetic arguments have, in fact, increased public support for medical treatment but at the same time aren’t clearly associated with improvements in overall tolerance levels. The study explores tolerance in terms of social distancing: unwillingness to live next door to a mentally ill person, have a group home for the mentally ill in the neighborhood, spend an evening socializing with a mentally ill person, work closely with such a person on the job, make friends with someone with a mental illness, or have a mentally ill person marry into the family. Schnittker's study finds that different genetic arguments have, in fact, become more popular but have very different associations depending on the mental illness being considered. His findings appear in the journal Social Science and Medicine. “In the case of schizophrenia, genetic arguments are...

Los Angeles, CA, USA. Many theories have sought to explain what causes the baggy lower eyelids that come with aging, but UCLA (http://www.ucla.edu/) researchers have now found that fat expansion in the eye socket is the primary culprit. As a result, researchers say, fat excision should be a component of treatment for patients seeking to address this common complaint. The study, published in the September issue of the peer-reviewed David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (http://dgsom.healthsciences.ucla.edu/) and a plastic surgery resident at the University of California, Irvine (http://www.uci.edu/). This orbital septum weakening or herniation-of-fat theory is what most plastic surgeons have been taught. However, our study showed there is actually an increase in fat with age, and it is more likely that the fat increase causes the baggy eyelids rather than a weakened ligament, Darcy said. There have been no studies to show that the orbital septum weakens. The study looked at MRIs of 40 subjects (17 males and 23 females) between the ages of 12 and 80. The findings showed that the lower eyelid tissue increased with age and that the largest contributor to this size increase was fat increase. According to a recent report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) (http://www.plasticsurgery.org/), nearly 241,000 Americans underwent eyelid surgery in 2007, making it one of the top four surgical cosmetic procedures performed. Currently, many plastic surgeons performing procedures to treat baggy eyelids do not remove any fat at all. They reposition the fat or conduct more invasive tightening of the muscle that surrounds the eye, or they tighten the actual ligament that holds the eyeball in place. These procedures are performed despite there being no data indicating that these structures change with age. Our findings...

Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Women with depression may be much more likely than men to get relief from a commonly used, inexpensive antidepressant drug, a new national study finds. But many members of both sexes may find that it helps ease their depression symptoms. The persistence of a gender difference in response to the drug — even after the researchers accounted for many complicating factors — suggests that there's a real biological difference in the way the medication affects women compared with men. The reasons for that difference are still unclear, but further studies are now examining hormonal variations that may play a role. Sex differences in response to citalopram: A STAR*D report. Elizabeth A. Young, Susan G. Kornstein, Sheila M. Marcus, Anne T. Harvey, Diane Warden, Stephen R. Wisniewski, G.K. Balasubramani, Maurizio Fava, Madhukar H. Trivedi, A. John Rush. Journal of Psychiatric Research 42(In press). doi: 10.1016 / j.jpsychires.2008.07.002 The study involved citalopram hydrobromide, a commonly used antidepressant that is available both as a generic drug and under the brand name Celexa®. Researchers from the University of Michigan Depression Center (http://www.depressioncenter.org/) and their colleagues from around the country tested the drug's ability to help depression patients achieve remission, or total relief from their symptoms, in a multi-year study called STAR*D. The gender differences emerged from a detailed analysis of data from 2,876 men and women who had a clear diagnosis of major depression, and took citalopram over a number of weeks, with the doses increasing over time. In the end, women were 33 percent more likely to achieve a full remission of their depression, despite the fact that women in the study were more severely depressed than the men when the study began. The study showed no differences between men and women in side effects, the...

Somewhere, Planet Earth. I compared the early life narratives of my six to those of the rest of the group I had classified genuine transsexual. The patterns were markedly similar and differed only in that they had succumbed to parental pressure and then society had forced a life on them that they did not want and had difficulty dealing with. In another case, six parents had been a lot more understanding of their child’s needs. In essence what I had seen as four groups became only three. Group One: Transvestites/Cross Dressers Transvestites, or cross dressers are the same thing. There is no difference even though there are some who protest that there is a difference there is not. It’s just that cross dressers don’t like the word transvestite; it’s as simple as that. Essentially it is not a problem for the person if they find release and it does not interfere with their daily life. It is even less of a problem if a partner can participate or even tolerate the behaviour. With a tiny exception, all make excellent Fathers husbands and lovers and find a happy life and enjoy a harmless practice. From a counseling standpoint I found this group by far the simplest to help, unless they became distracted or were led into believing there was something more to their dressing than there actually was. However, I could usually straighten that issue quite quickly with some carefully constructed questions. It is worth mentioning that I did some research into the kind of fantasy material a lot of transvestites enjoy and it threw up some interesting results. The stories and fantasy scenarios almost always involved a forced, accidental or some kind of magical transformation or situation where cross dressing was “not their responsibility”. Once...

Washington, DC, USA. State assistance programs for the uninsured paid off last year in the United States, but little progress was made reducing overall poverty, the U.S. Census Bureau reported on August 26th. The new numbers show a small increase in poverty, bringing the total to 37.3 million people, while median family income rose slightly. But that was before the current economic downturn took hold. “These 2007 results are as good as they get,” said Jared Bernstein, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) (http://www.epi.org/). “It’s a virtual certainty that poverty is increasing in 2008, and median incomes are falling.” Even after six years of economic growth, the 2007 census report shows median income lower and poverty rates higher than they were when the nation recovered from the last slowdown in 2001, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) (http://www.cbpp.org/). But the nation’s health-care crisis appeared to improve. About 1.3 million previously uninsured Americans obtained insurance in 2007, marking the first time in seven years, and the first time under the Bush administration, that the rate — 15.3 percent in 2007, down from 15.8 percent in 2006 — and number of uninsured people have fallen. For most of 2007, inflation was below 3 percent, real wages were rising and unemployment was below 4 percent. Today, unemployment is 5.7 percent and rising, inflation is 5.6 percent and skyrocketing enrollment in Food Stamps and other assistance programs indicate the ranks of the poor are expanding, CBPP said. “The main thing driving the poverty numbers is real estate, the oil shock, the war (in Iraq) and globalization. We can only hope for economic improvement. Otherwise, next year’s numbers are going to be very bad,” Douglas Besharov, poverty expert at the American Enterprise Institute...

Somewhere, Planet Earth. At this stage in my work at the call centre it was my policy to refer the individual on to one of the city’s two gender clinics. The group had a good relationship with both and we made it a policy to support their work and not get involved with psychiatric issues for which we had not been trained or qualified. Although, we did assist with helping the client or member to identify what their issues were and become at peace with themselves and with those around them. Issues Behind The Patterns The pattern became clearer as time went by: virtually all of the men had additional issues to the presented conflict of what sex they felt themselves to be. There were a few members of the group who called themselves transsexual and were undergoing Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), etc. under medical supervision whom I never counseled as such but with whom I talked at length. These people had additional issues to the presented sex conflict. The issues fit into a narrow range and are quite difficult as a counselor to have to deal with. A large percentage of them were solitary single men who found relationships with anyone difficult and hard to come by. Relationships with women were almost nonexistent except for their mothers or siblings. Dyslexia seemed quite common and there appeared to be a statistical link, though from a psychological standpoint I am not convinced that sex conflict and dyslexia have any relationship. The members of this group were difficult to handle and many continued to ask for counseling even after I had referred them through to the gender clinic. In all the time I was counseling I never once refused to introduce anyone to more specialist practitioner if that...