Advertising and marketing. Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers
A child’s health can be compromised not only by a mother who smokes or drinks during pregnancy, but by the obesity and poor diet of both parents well before the act of procreation, researchers said Tuesday.
What a mother and father eat, and whether they are seriously overweight, in other words, can have “profound implications for the growth, development and long-term health of their children before conception,” they warned in a trio of studies.
The findings, reported in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, should heighten awareness of “preconception risk factors,” the researchers said.
“Evidence for preconceptional effect on lifetime health is now so compelling that it calls for new guidance on parental preparation for pregnancy, beginning before conception,” they concluded.
The studies — combining a review of earlier literature and new research — showed that the lifestyle habits of fathers, not just mothers, can have a direct impact on the wellbeing of offspring.
“The preconception period is a critical time when parental health — including weight, metabolism and diet — can influence the risk of future chronic diseases in children,” said Judith Stephenson, a professor and University College London and lead author of the series. “While the current focus on risk factors such as smoking and excess alcohol intake is important, we also need new drives to prepare nutritionally for pregnancy in both parents.”
Obesity in either or both parents, for example, increases the chances of heart attacks, stroke, immune disease and diabetes in offspring.
Maternal obesity is thought to enhance levels of inflammation and hormones, which can directly alter the development of the egg and embryo. This, in turn, boosts the odds of chronic disease later in life.
In men, being obese leads to deficiencies in sperm associated with many of the same conditions.
Consequences across generations
Malnutrition in mothers can also lead to developmental problems in their children, the review found.
“Consequences can extend across generations, but awareness of these links is not widespread,” the authors noted.
“Poor nutrition and obesity are rife among women of reproductive age, and differences between high-income and low-income countries have become less distinct, with typical diets falling far short of nutritional recommendations, especially among adolescents.”
The conclusions were based in part on two new analyses of women of reproductive age — 18 to 42 — in Britain and Australia.
These studies showed that women are often not “nutritionally prepared” for pregnancy, the researchers said.
Some 96 percent of the women, for example, had iron and folate intakes below the recommended levels, 14.8 milligrams and 400 micrograms per day, respectively.
Adjusting diet after a pregnancy has begun is often not good enough.
“Micronutrient supplementation started in pregnancy can correct important maternal nutrient deficiencies, but it is not sufficient to fundamentally improve child health,” they concluded.
Schools should prepare young adults — boys and girls — for future parenthood, the studies recommended, pointing out that some 40 percent of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned.
“Efforts to improve nutrition and health behavior at a population level are needed to support individual efforts among those planning ahead of the pregnancy,” the authors concluded.
…
From: MeNeedIt
A child’s health can be compromised not only by a mother who smokes or drinks during pregnancy, but by the obesity and poor diet of both parents well before the act of procreation, researchers said Tuesday.
What a mother and father eat, and whether they are seriously overweight, in other words, can have “profound implications for the growth, development and long-term health of their children before conception,” they warned in a trio of studies.
The findings, reported in The Lancet, a leading medical journal, should heighten awareness of “preconception risk factors,” the researchers said.
“Evidence for preconceptional effect on lifetime health is now so compelling that it calls for new guidance on parental preparation for pregnancy, beginning before conception,” they concluded.
The studies — combining a review of earlier literature and new research — showed that the lifestyle habits of fathers, not just mothers, can have a direct impact on the wellbeing of offspring.
“The preconception period is a critical time when parental health — including weight, metabolism and diet — can influence the risk of future chronic diseases in children,” said Judith Stephenson, a professor and University College London and lead author of the series. “While the current focus on risk factors such as smoking and excess alcohol intake is important, we also need new drives to prepare nutritionally for pregnancy in both parents.”
Obesity in either or both parents, for example, increases the chances of heart attacks, stroke, immune disease and diabetes in offspring.
Maternal obesity is thought to enhance levels of inflammation and hormones, which can directly alter the development of the egg and embryo. This, in turn, boosts the odds of chronic disease later in life.
In men, being obese leads to deficiencies in sperm associated with many of the same conditions.
Consequences across generations
Malnutrition in mothers can also lead to developmental problems in their children, the review found.
“Consequences can extend across generations, but awareness of these links is not widespread,” the authors noted.
“Poor nutrition and obesity are rife among women of reproductive age, and differences between high-income and low-income countries have become less distinct, with typical diets falling far short of nutritional recommendations, especially among adolescents.”
The conclusions were based in part on two new analyses of women of reproductive age — 18 to 42 — in Britain and Australia.
These studies showed that women are often not “nutritionally prepared” for pregnancy, the researchers said.
Some 96 percent of the women, for example, had iron and folate intakes below the recommended levels, 14.8 milligrams and 400 micrograms per day, respectively.
Adjusting diet after a pregnancy has begun is often not good enough.
“Micronutrient supplementation started in pregnancy can correct important maternal nutrient deficiencies, but it is not sufficient to fundamentally improve child health,” they concluded.
Schools should prepare young adults — boys and girls — for future parenthood, the studies recommended, pointing out that some 40 percent of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned.
“Efforts to improve nutrition and health behavior at a population level are needed to support individual efforts among those planning ahead of the pregnancy,” the authors concluded.
…
From: MeNeedIt
An 11th-hour technical glitch prompted SpaceX to postpone its planned launch on Monday of a new NASA space telescope designed to detect worlds beyond our solar system, delaying for at least 48 hours a quest to expand astronomers’ known inventory of so-called exoplanets.
SpaceX halted the countdown a little more than two hours before its Falcon 9 rocket had been scheduled to carry the Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, into orbit from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Space Exploration Technologies, as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private launch service is formally known, said on Twitter that the blast-off was scrubbed due to unspecified problems in the rocket’s guidance control system.
The launch was rescheduled for 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT) on Wednesday.
The two-year, $337-million TESS mission is designed to build on the work of its predecessor, the Kepler space telescope, which has discovered the bulk of some 3,700 exoplanets documented during the past 20 years and is running out of fuel.
NASA expects to pinpoint thousands more previously unknown worlds, perhaps hundreds of them Earth-sized or “super-Earth”-sized — no larger than twice as big as our home planet.
Those are believed the most likely to feature rocky surfaces or oceans, and are thus considered the best candidates for life to evolve. Scientists said they hope TESS will ultimately help catalog at least 100 more rocky exoplanets for further study in what has become one of astronomy’s newest fields of exploration.
Roughly the size of a refrigerator with solar-panel wings and equipped with four special cameras, TESS will take about 60 days to reach a highly elliptical, first-of-a-kind orbit looping it between Earth and the moon every two and a half weeks.
Like Kepler, TESS will use a detection method called transit photometry, which looks for periodic, repetitive dips in the visible light from stars caused by planets passing, or transiting, in front of them.
But TESS will scan a broader swath of the heavens to focus on 200,000 pre-selected stars that are relatively nearby — some of them just dozens of light years away — and thus among the brightest as seen from Earth.
That makes them better suited for sensitive follow-up analysis of exoplanet candidates TESS locates.
TESS will concentrate on stars called red dwarfs, smaller, cooler and longer-lived than our sun. Red dwarfs also have a high propensity for Earth-sized, presumably rocky planets, making them potentially fertile ground for further scrutiny.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Doug Fabbioli is concerned about the future of the rural economy, as urban sprawl expands from metropolitan areas into farm fields and pastureland. The Virginia winery owner decided to be part of the solution and founded The New AG School, the school’s mission is raising the next generation of farmers.
Farming, the hardship and joy
Being a farmer is hard work, but Fabbioli says if young people knew the joys and fulfillment of farming, they’d love it. But to succeed – they will need specialized skills.
That’s what Fabbioli is hoping to teach at his new school. The goal is to fill the immediate need for farm workers, but also to prepare future leaders, those who can to be mentors and teach new people how to do this down the road.
The New AG School attracts a wide range of students.
“We have some younger folks that are either right out of high school or even in high school,” Fabbioli says. “We have some folks who are out of college that are saying, ‘Gee, didn’t really study what I wanted and I can’t find that job I was looking for, let’s see what this farming is, and maybe I want to go further on that. ’ We also get folks that are a change life point that maybe in their 40s, or 50’s and say, ‘I have land, I want to be a farmer now, I’m ready to do something else. ”
Farm Experiences
The tuition-free program takes a step-by-step, hands on teaching approach.
Olga Goadalupe Alfoseca says joining the program helps her find the right career path. “I learned a lot of stuff like (planting) hops and raspberries. My dream is maybe I can plant my own plants and start my own business.”
Liam Marshall-Brown who quit college finds farm work interesting and engaging. “It’s fun,” he says. “I mostly did restaurants before. I was a host or inside the kitchen. You feel trapped after a while, doing the same thing over and over and over again. It’s just nice to be outside. Pretty much you’re doing something new every day, not exactly the same. I like being outside more.”
But, not all the work is outdoors. Students go through a curriculum of five different modules, covering everything from cleaning and sanitation, horticulture, hospitality, to leadership and entrepreneurship.
And the training is not complete until they learn about the machines they use every day; how they work and how to fix them.
And as you might expect from a vineyard owner, wine making is also part of the curriculum.
Winemaker Meaghan Tardif is a mentor at the school… she teaches students winemaking – and leadership skills.
“My favorite part about being a mentor is I always give the student a chance to teach someone else.” Tardif explains. “Leadership is everywhere. It’s not just in the work. It’s not just your employees, but it helps you throughout your life.”
Cultivating dreams, saving land
The experience has inspired Marshall-Brown to find a future in agriculture.
“I would like to be that, but I still have a lot to learn to be able to do that. Hopefully I’ll get there and I’ll run my own farm one day and have people work under me.”
That pleases Fabbioli, who says it’s good for the community to have more farmers.
“This is a wealthy community,” he notes. “We are actually one of the richest counties in the nations. The goal for folks in Loudoun, on a state level or on a community level is to save the land, is to save the green space in western Loudoun County. We can do that by farming, but we need more farmers very much. So giving people the opportunity to learn, put more people to work. It may also keep the cars off the highways because they’re living locally and they’re working locally.”
That’s what the New AG School hopes to do — grow the next generation of dedicated, skillful farmers.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Doug Fabbioli is concerned about the future of the rural economy, as urban sprawl expands from metropolitan areas into farm fields and pastureland. The Virginia winery owner decided to be part of the solution and founded The New AG School, the school’s mission is raising the next generation of farmers.
Farming, the hardship and joy
Being a farmer is hard work, but Fabbioli says if young people knew the joys and fulfillment of farming, they’d love it. But to succeed – they will need specialized skills.
That’s what Fabbioli is hoping to teach at his new school. The goal is to fill the immediate need for farm workers, but also to prepare future leaders, those who can to be mentors and teach new people how to do this down the road.
The New AG School attracts a wide range of students.
“We have some younger folks that are either right out of high school or even in high school,” Fabbioli says. “We have some folks who are out of college that are saying, ‘Gee, didn’t really study what I wanted and I can’t find that job I was looking for, let’s see what this farming is, and maybe I want to go further on that. ’ We also get folks that are a change life point that maybe in their 40s, or 50’s and say, ‘I have land, I want to be a farmer now, I’m ready to do something else. ”
Farm Experiences
The tuition-free program takes a step-by-step, hands on teaching approach.
Olga Goadalupe Alfoseca says joining the program helps her find the right career path. “I learned a lot of stuff like (planting) hops and raspberries. My dream is maybe I can plant my own plants and start my own business.”
Liam Marshall-Brown who quit college finds farm work interesting and engaging. “It’s fun,” he says. “I mostly did restaurants before. I was a host or inside the kitchen. You feel trapped after a while, doing the same thing over and over and over again. It’s just nice to be outside. Pretty much you’re doing something new every day, not exactly the same. I like being outside more.”
But, not all the work is outdoors. Students go through a curriculum of five different modules, covering everything from cleaning and sanitation, horticulture, hospitality, to leadership and entrepreneurship.
And the training is not complete until they learn about the machines they use every day; how they work and how to fix them.
And as you might expect from a vineyard owner, wine making is also part of the curriculum.
Winemaker Meaghan Tardif is a mentor at the school… she teaches students winemaking – and leadership skills.
“My favorite part about being a mentor is I always give the student a chance to teach someone else.” Tardif explains. “Leadership is everywhere. It’s not just in the work. It’s not just your employees, but it helps you throughout your life.”
Cultivating dreams, saving land
The experience has inspired Marshall-Brown to find a future in agriculture.
“I would like to be that, but I still have a lot to learn to be able to do that. Hopefully I’ll get there and I’ll run my own farm one day and have people work under me.”
That pleases Fabbioli, who says it’s good for the community to have more farmers.
“This is a wealthy community,” he notes. “We are actually one of the richest counties in the nations. The goal for folks in Loudoun, on a state level or on a community level is to save the land, is to save the green space in western Loudoun County. We can do that by farming, but we need more farmers very much. So giving people the opportunity to learn, put more people to work. It may also keep the cars off the highways because they’re living locally and they’re working locally.”
That’s what the New AG School hopes to do — grow the next generation of dedicated, skillful farmers.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Doug Fabbioli is concerned about the future of the rural economy, as urban sprawl expands from metropolitan areas into farm fields and pastureland. The Virginia winery owner decided to be part of the solution and founded The New AG School. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, the school’s mission is raising the next generation of farmers. Faith Lapidus narrates.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Doug Fabbioli is concerned about the future of the rural economy, as urban sprawl expands from metropolitan areas into farm fields and pastureland. The Virginia winery owner decided to be part of the solution and founded The New AG School. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, the school’s mission is raising the next generation of farmers. Faith Lapidus narrates.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Technology is being developed in Austin, Texas, to make cancer detection faster and tumor removal more precise. A device called the MasSpec Pen can detect cancer with just one touch, researchers said.
“Well, it’s a game changer because I was doing a case the other day with a surgeon, and we had to wait an additional two hours because the current method takes that long,” said Aydin Zahedivash, medical student and co-creator of the MasSpec Pen.
He says the pen can deliver results within 20 seconds and is much less invasive for the patient than the traditional method of diagnosis.
No biopsy needed
“That process usually will involve taking out some of the tissue, which means cutting it from a patient. Our technology can detect cancer inside of a tissue without cutting it or altering it,” Zahedivash said.
During surgery, a drop of water on the pen pulls molecules from the tissue in question. An instrument called the mass spectrometer then analyzes the water with the molecules to determine whether cancer is present in the tissue. It adds precision to detecting the disease. In seconds, surgeons will know what part of the tissue to extract, how much to cut, and what not to touch so healthy tissue is not damaged.
“We’ve done testing on human tissues that have been taken out of patients and those have shown 96 percent accuracy detecting cancer from non-cancer,” Zahedivash said.
Rapid development
New available technologies have allowed an interdisciplinary team to develop the MasSpec Pen in 2½ years. The team 3-D printed the prototype, allowing the creators to rapidly develop a design that worked.
Zahedivash said within the year, the MasSpec Pen will be tested in surgery at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin. There are also plans to test the technology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
The device would require approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before becoming widely available.
…
From: MeNeedIt
Dozens of passengers line up in single file along the platform in the dead of night, ready to gather their luggage and pile into the ageing railway carriages.
At the small railway station in Nampula, in northeastern Mozambique, the 4:00 a.m. train to Cuamba in the north west is more than full, as it is every day, to the detriment of those slow to board and forced to stand.
In recent years, the government in Maputo has made developing the train network a priority as part of its economic plan.
But mounting public debt has meant that authorities had no choice but to cede control of the project to the private sector.
Seconds before the train — six passenger coaches coupled between two elderly US-made locomotives — leaves Nampula station, the platforms are already entirely empty.
No one can afford to be late.
Inside, the carriages remain pitch dark until the sun rises as the operator has not installed any lighting.
A blast of the horn and the sound of grinding metal marks the train’s stately progress along the 350-kilometre (220-mile) line to Cuamba — more than 10 hours away.
Five or six passengers cram onto benches intended for four without a murmur of complaint.
“The train is always full,” said Argentina Armendo, his son kneeling down nearby.
“Lots of people stay standing. Even those who have a ticket can’t be sure of getting on. They should add some coaches!”
‘Enormous growth potential’
“Yes, but it’s not expensive,” insists the conductor Edson Fortes, cooly. “It’s the most competitive means of transport for the poor. With the train, they are able to travel.”
Sitting in a vast, ferociously air-conditioned office Mario Moura da Silva, the rail operations manager for CDN, the company operating the line, appears more concerned about passenger numbers as a measure of success than perhaps their comfort.
In 2017, its trains carried almost 500,000 — a 265-percent increase on a year earlier.
“Passenger traffic isn’t profitable but it’s a requirement of the contract with the government,” said Moura da Silva.
“It’s not that which earns us money, it’s more the retail,” he added, referring to the company’s commercial operation, which has grown by 65 percent in a year.
Brazilian mining giant Vale, which owns CDN along with Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, began its Mozambican rail venture in 2005.
Having won a contract to run the concession from the government, it restored the former colonial line, which linked its inland coal mines with the port at Nacala.
It now operates a network of 1,350 kilometres (840 miles) following an investment of nearly $5 billion (around 4 billion euros).
“The growth potential is enormous,” said Moura da Silva.
Rail corridors
Mozambique’s government is eyeing the project as a bellwether for the industry.
“We have made infrastructure one of our four investment priorities,” said Transport Minister Carlos Fortes Mesquita.
“Thanks to this investment, the country recorded a strong growth in the railway sector.”
Eight new “rail corridor” projects are now under way in Mozambique, all funded with private capital, as the state grapples with a long-standing cash shortage.
The government has been engulfed in a scandal linked to secret borrowing by the treasury, which is juggling debt amounting to 112 percent of GDP.
As a result, a handful of large companies, attracted by Mozambique’s vast mineral wealth, have taken the lead in developing the country’s rail infrastructure.
But it is unclear if their interest in the sector will continue in the long-term.
Until the coal runs out?
“Today the Nacala line only exists because of coal. But once the mine closes, who will be able to justify continuing operations?” asked Benjamin Pequenino, an economist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“The private sector won’t continue to invest if it knows it will lose money,” he said.
But in the absence of any alternative, former parliament speaker Abdul Carimo accepts that public-private partnerships are the least worst option.
Carimo, who remains close to the ruling party, now heads up the “Zambezi Development Corridor”.
The scheme is managed by Thai group, ITD, and plans to build 480 kilometres of track between Macuse port and the coal mines at Moatize for a price tag of $2.3 billion.
Carimo, who closely follows developments on the project, has vowed that “his” line will not only be used to carry minerals but will stimulate activity across the region it serves.
“I hate coal but I want this infrastructure to relaunch agriculture in Zambezi province,” he said, adding that the region was “one of the richest in the country in the 1970s.”
From: MeNeedIt
Dozens of passengers line up in single file along the platform in the dead of night, ready to gather their luggage and pile into the ageing railway carriages.
At the small railway station in Nampula, in northeastern Mozambique, the 4:00 a.m. train to Cuamba in the north west is more than full, as it is every day, to the detriment of those slow to board and forced to stand.
In recent years, the government in Maputo has made developing the train network a priority as part of its economic plan.
But mounting public debt has meant that authorities had no choice but to cede control of the project to the private sector.
Seconds before the train — six passenger coaches coupled between two elderly US-made locomotives — leaves Nampula station, the platforms are already entirely empty.
No one can afford to be late.
Inside, the carriages remain pitch dark until the sun rises as the operator has not installed any lighting.
A blast of the horn and the sound of grinding metal marks the train’s stately progress along the 350-kilometre (220-mile) line to Cuamba — more than 10 hours away.
Five or six passengers cram onto benches intended for four without a murmur of complaint.
“The train is always full,” said Argentina Armendo, his son kneeling down nearby.
“Lots of people stay standing. Even those who have a ticket can’t be sure of getting on. They should add some coaches!”
‘Enormous growth potential’
“Yes, but it’s not expensive,” insists the conductor Edson Fortes, cooly. “It’s the most competitive means of transport for the poor. With the train, they are able to travel.”
Sitting in a vast, ferociously air-conditioned office Mario Moura da Silva, the rail operations manager for CDN, the company operating the line, appears more concerned about passenger numbers as a measure of success than perhaps their comfort.
In 2017, its trains carried almost 500,000 — a 265-percent increase on a year earlier.
“Passenger traffic isn’t profitable but it’s a requirement of the contract with the government,” said Moura da Silva.
“It’s not that which earns us money, it’s more the retail,” he added, referring to the company’s commercial operation, which has grown by 65 percent in a year.
Brazilian mining giant Vale, which owns CDN along with Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, began its Mozambican rail venture in 2005.
Having won a contract to run the concession from the government, it restored the former colonial line, which linked its inland coal mines with the port at Nacala.
It now operates a network of 1,350 kilometres (840 miles) following an investment of nearly $5 billion (around 4 billion euros).
“The growth potential is enormous,” said Moura da Silva.
Rail corridors
Mozambique’s government is eyeing the project as a bellwether for the industry.
“We have made infrastructure one of our four investment priorities,” said Transport Minister Carlos Fortes Mesquita.
“Thanks to this investment, the country recorded a strong growth in the railway sector.”
Eight new “rail corridor” projects are now under way in Mozambique, all funded with private capital, as the state grapples with a long-standing cash shortage.
The government has been engulfed in a scandal linked to secret borrowing by the treasury, which is juggling debt amounting to 112 percent of GDP.
As a result, a handful of large companies, attracted by Mozambique’s vast mineral wealth, have taken the lead in developing the country’s rail infrastructure.
But it is unclear if their interest in the sector will continue in the long-term.
Until the coal runs out?
“Today the Nacala line only exists because of coal. But once the mine closes, who will be able to justify continuing operations?” asked Benjamin Pequenino, an economist at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
“The private sector won’t continue to invest if it knows it will lose money,” he said.
But in the absence of any alternative, former parliament speaker Abdul Carimo accepts that public-private partnerships are the least worst option.
Carimo, who remains close to the ruling party, now heads up the “Zambezi Development Corridor”.
The scheme is managed by Thai group, ITD, and plans to build 480 kilometres of track between Macuse port and the coal mines at Moatize for a price tag of $2.3 billion.
Carimo, who closely follows developments on the project, has vowed that “his” line will not only be used to carry minerals but will stimulate activity across the region it serves.
“I hate coal but I want this infrastructure to relaunch agriculture in Zambezi province,” he said, adding that the region was “one of the richest in the country in the 1970s.”
From: MeNeedIt