Dr. Kate Tulenko Touring

Dr. Kate Tulenko is spending the next few weeks discussing ways health care workers can meet the needs of local health care facilities. She has authored the book, Insourced where she discusses the new changing dynamics in health care employment and who is getting the jobs, hint, not US specialist, but those from other countries.  She also explains how this affects the overall employment situation, the cost for medical care and training. 

The following podcast is the first of many interviews and appearances.

Listen to internet radio with TheMasterCommunicator on Blog Talk Radio
 

Rob Brooks speaks at Wits University

reposted

May 28 2012 at 04:44pm
by Noni Mokati

How music, sex help us evolve

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Noni Mokati

Rob Brooks is paid to think about sex for a living. But there’s more to life than what happens in the bedroom, according to the evolutionary biologist.

In his latest book, titled Sex, Genes and Rock n Roll, Brooks – a professor and director of the evolution and ecology research centre at the New South Wales University in Sydney, Australia – seeks to explain how music, evolution, our choice of diet and genetic pool affects who we are.

Picture: Refilwe Modise

“A lot of what we do is constantly aimed at making ourselves attractive for a possible mating partner.

“This is why reproduction is the main theme of evolution,” he said before giving a much-anticipated public lecture at Wits University this week.

Brooks, 41, explained that every person alive today was a success story and that the success emanated from various activities.

 “For instance, people who make the best music have the best partners. Music moves us. It stimulates our romantic senses. Every single person can attest that their first date which had some bit of music… allowed them to grow closer and bond – and sometimes were able to create life,” he said.

Read the rest of the story 
To review/ purchase a copy of Sex, Genes and Rock'n'Roll visit UPNE's website http://www.upne.com/1611682366.html

Debate over youth football; concussion vs percausions

In Yesterday's USA TODAY SPORT section an article was posted regarding whether or not  parents should allow their children to play tackle football, and at what age to play vs. the risk of concussions. 

 Many of the comments found below the article were as enlightening about head concussions in youths as the article. It appears there is a true division over safety in youth football. Some parents and adults, in general, felt that if football gear was going to be regulated and how to 'hit', then all sports, including riding a bike, should be banned completely. Then, there were comments comparing football to rugby, the thought process was to forgo all head gear, padding and the like, then there would be less hitting, because as pointed out, rugby players don't use their heads like battering rams.  Lastly, some discussed at what age to play, the suggestion was simple, take the adults out of the game, and let the kids play, they have a better concept of self preservation and aren't likely to play near as rough and tough as they would with parents and coaches yelling at them to put all they've got into the game. 

Then we had those totally agreeing with the children not playing tackle football till they are more developed physically (14ish), and that the younger age children should play flag football. Of course for all children, regardless of age,  how to tackle, fall and be hit would be taught by coaches that believe kids should be playing for the love of the sport not just to win, i.e.,  that they, the kids, do not need to sacrifice their brains for the lack of the coaches'.   

University Press of New England/ Dartmouth College Press are pleased to announce the release of AHEAD OF THE GAME: The Parents' Guide to Youth Sports Concussion by Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, PhD.  Dr. Moser is a neuropsychologist, hockey mom, and director of the Sports Concussion center of New Jersey. She is the official neuropsychologist for Philadelphia Soul Arena Football, Trenton Steel Arena Football, and Trenton Titans Professional Hockey. 

Dr. Moser doesn't tell parents if they should allow their children to play sports or not. Her book is a Parents' guide designed to help parents decide what precautions to take before an injury occurs and how to identify, manage and treat a concussion. AHEAD OF THE GAME enables parents to make decisions and evaluate their child's welfare during their active years in youth sports.

Moms' Club: The New Happy Hour?

HuffingtonPostRe-Posted: 05/22/2012 3:49 pm

Excerpt by Laura Rossi Totten from "Mom's Club: The New Happy Hour" from MAKE MINE A DOUBLE: Why Women Like Us Like to Drink (Or Not), edited by Gina Barreca. Used with permission from University Press of New England, www.upne.com

When we exchange our Prada bags for Baby Bjorns, we also unwittingly check off the box that says "mothers don't drink." But just because we popped out a baby does not mean we still don't want to pop the Veuve Clicquot!

Why is it that as soon as we become mothers, we are expected to leave our cosmos at the bar and settle for reruns of Sex and the City? Are all mothers who crave a glass or two of wine regarded as closet alcoholics?

When I was single and living in New York City, I regularly went out for a drink with the girls. I loved these evenings (or Saturday afternoons or Sunday brunches) -- they were a fabulous mix of fun, laughter and group therapy with smart, funny, like-minded women. After I married and moved, I continued the tradition with new friends, sharing a glass of wine with a gal pal after work or on the weekends in my new city. My friends and I always referred to these nights as "going out for drinks" or "cocktails with the girls."
 Read the rest of the story at HuffingtonPost online. 
Purchase MAKE MINE A DOUBLE at UPNE.com

The Gates Foundation $100,000 in Grants for Global Health

 Originally published Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 9:02 PM

 SEATTLE TIMES

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP

Associated Press

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to announce more than 100 cutting-edge global health grants to fund projects ranging from unmanned drones to deliver vaccines to using temporary tattoos to monitor pregnant women in remote areas.

In an announcement Wednesday, the foundation will name scientists from around the world, but mostly in the United States, who will be getting $100,000 Grand Challenges Exploration grants to see if their highly speculative ideas have potential to save lives in the future.

Another six ideas have passed the initial stage and will be given $1 million each to advance their projects, the foundation said.

Over the past four years, the foundation has funded more than 600 projects from more than 20,000 proposals submitted by researchers in 44 countries. Foundation officers consider the money a kind of startup fund for the future of global health and development research. They do not expect all the ideas to pan out but are hoping one or two eventually will change millions of lives.

The projects that get $1 million to continue work remain highly speculative. Among the six getting larger grants are a breathalyzer test for tuberculosis and various efforts toward developing AIDS and cholera vaccines.

Read the rest of the story at SEATTLE TIMES

Taking the leap into a green energy future

 

Repost from: TroyMedia
May 14, 2012

Fossil fuels will be with us for quite some time

The leap Turner is referring to is the next industrial revolution, that is, replacing non-renewable energy with renewable energy in the next 50 years. “We need to move to wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, some small scale hydro, maybe some large scale hydro and maybe some nuclear.”

Galvanized by the attention that wasn’t being paid to climate change, Turner started writing about solutions instead of problems.

Turner inspired many people with his first book, The Geography of Hope. Like his latest book The Leap, it’s focused on telling the stories of the people who are not simply dabbling in green energy solutions, but taking the leap and “going all the way in their thinking.”

“The grand narrative of the industrial revolution is in some ways about people seizing opportunity,” said Turner. Today that opportunity is in renewable energy where not only can we seize a sizable economic opportunity but avoid catastrophe at the same time. 

David Dodge is the host and producer of Green Energy Futures, a multi-media series presented at www.greenenergyfutures.ca. The series is supported by TD, Suncor Energy and the Pembina Institute.

Concussions are NOT Limited to Just Football and Boys

NBC's Rock Center recently aired an interview with Allison Kasacavage, a young, athletic 15 year old who is now sitting on the sidelines of her favorite sport--soccer--recovering from a concussion.  Below are excerpts of the interview/article. To read the entire piece and view the interview at Rockcenter.msnbc.  

The Facts
"She is one of hundreds of girls across America each year who suffer concussions while playing soccer. With the steady popularity of youth soccer, more girls are playing the game than ever before.  Girls make up 48 percent of the more than 3 million kids registered in US Youth Soccer leagues. The number of girls suffering concussions in soccer accounts for the second largest amount of all concussions reported by young athletes, according to the American Journal of Sports Medicine.  (Football tops the list.)"

Allison's Concussions
"Allison still remembers when she suffered her first serious concussion in October 2008.  It came when she collided with another player on the field. “When I like got up, my head was like pounding,” Allison said. “There was, like, a pulse in my head. It was like the strangest thing.  There was a heartbeat in my head and I had no idea what it was and why it was there.  I have never felt that before and I was just so confused,” she said."

"After Allison had apparently healed from the concussion, she returned to soccer.  She’d been a star player since she was six years old, working her way up to one of the top teams in Pennsylvania.  She said that her identity had been wrapped up in the game and she felt pressure to please her coaches.
Allison said that she was nervous about heading the ball, but continued to do it.
“If you didn’t head the ball, you were like the weakest link,” Allison said."

"When heading, players attempt to use their foreheads to direct the ball, often jumping with opposing players, a move that can lead to collisions between players, bumped heads and strained necks. "

"Her parents said that they knew about the danger of concussions in sports like football, but it wasn’t until Allison had her first serious head injury that they realized what a big problem concussions can be in soccer. “I think that we were blind to what was going on around us because, yes, it was about the team.  It was about the winning. It was about all the, it was almost like a routine of, like I said, an awful lot of practices and you just went through it and really your lives rolled by with soccer being the most important thing,” said Lex Kasacavage, Allison’s father."

Help for Parents
Many medical professionals and schools are discussing what preventative measures can be taken for injuries like Allison's. Dr. Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, a hockey mom, neuropsychologist, and Director of the Sports Concussion Center in New Jersey, has recently released a book to help parents.  Ahead of The Game: The Parents' Guide to Youth Sports Concussion provides parents with plain facts on how to identify, manage, and treat concussions. Parents will learn the steps THEY can make to protect their children.

New Book Examines the Age of Porches and Porches Through the Ages

Repost from University Communications  (The University of Vermont)
by Amanda Kenyon Waite   04-25-2012

Before the days of automobiles, air conditioning, television and radio, there was the front porch. No dust kicked up by traffic, a cool breeze on a hot day, and the entertainment of neighbors and strangers passing by made the porch a haven for neighborhood dwellers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

"The porch was this kind of extended threshold," says Thomas Visser, associate professor of history and director of the Historic Preservation Program. "It was neither inside nor outside, but it was a place to meet and greet strangers. It was a place to socialize informally." That time period is what Visser calls the "golden age" of the porch, a structure, he says, that serves as a virtual stage for human interaction. "It's a prop, if you will. Without the porch, it often would be very difficult for that social engagement to happen."

Visser traces the story of the porch -- and verandas, colonnades, porticoes and piazzas -- their styles, attributes, and functions in his latest book, Porches of North America. He's spent the past 10 years researching the topic and writing more than a few lines of the book, it's worth noting, on the porch of his Burlington home.

Visser's fondness for porches stems from childhood memories of summers spent eating and even sleeping on the screened-in, southeastern-facing, corner porch of his parents' New Hampshire home. "It was just one of the most enjoyable parts of the house and one of the most enjoyable aspects of summer life."
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