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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Health care in Brazil

Referido pelo AMICOR Geniberto Paiva Campos
An injection of reality

Brazil’s pioneering state-run health system needs reform if it is to achieve its constitutional mandate of guaranteeing high-quality care for all


“THE best public hospital in São Paulo,” boast signs in the state’s Instituto do Câncer (ICESP). Last year the state government asked more than 200,000 public-hospital patients to rate their treatment, and the 500-bed institute, which opened in 2008, came top. Equipped with the latest technology, it offers all the most up-to-date treatments—as well as lessons in healthy cooking and stress-relieving origami. Patients who are recovering get intensive physiotherapy. For those who never will, there is a hospice in the countryside./.../

2512 - AMICOR 14

Dear AMICOR,
Thanks by your friendshipin the venture of gaze the world from the cloud, through this wonderful small window of the IT science. Starting today I will post in the e-mail alert just a link to this Blog posting to be more concise.
Good luck!

Caríssimos AMICOR,
Agradeço pela contínua companhia nesta aventura de contemplar o mundo a partir a nuvem, através desta maravilhosa janelinha que a ciência da tecnologia da informação nos proporciona. A partir de hoje vou tentar enviar o alerta apenas através de um link que leva ao alerta no próprio blog. Assim podemos diminuir o tamanho das mensagens.

Nas últimas postagens pareceram-me mais interessantes algumas notícias colhidas através do site do Kurzweil, especialmente sobre envelhecimento (do que na melhor das hipóteses nenhum de nos se escapa), sobre o aniversário da Declaração de Ottawa.
Bom proveito!

▼  2011 (479)

Future Science: Essays from the Cutting Edge

Future Science book cover
author Max Brockman


 Amazon | Editor Max Brockman introduces the work of some of today’s brightest and most innovative young scientists in this fascinating and exciting collection of writings that describe the very boundaries of our knowledge.
 Future Science features nineteen young scientists, most of whom are presenting their innovative work and ideas to a general audience for the first time. Featured in this collection are William McEwan, a virologist, discussing his research into the biology of antiviral immunity; Naomi Eisenberger, a neuroscientist, wondering how social rejection affects us physically; Jon Kleinberg, a computer scientist, showing what massive datasets can teach us about society and ourselves; and Anthony Aguirre, a physicist, who gives readers a tantalizing glimpse of infinity.



Researchers identify seventh and eighth bases of DNA

July 25, 2011 by Editor
New 5fC and 5caC bases (credit: Shinsuke Ito et al.)
Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine have identified the seventh and eighth bases of DNA.
For decades, scientists have known that DNA consists of four basic units — adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. In recent history, scientists have expanded that list from four to six.
Much is known about the “fifth base,” 5-methylcytosine, which arises when a chemical tag or methyl group is tacked onto a cytosine. This methylation is associated with gene silencing, since it causes the DNA’s double helix to fold even tighter upon itself. Last year, the researchers found that Tet proteins can convert 5 methylC (the fifth base) to 5 hydroxymethylC (the sixth base) in the first of a four-step reaction leading back to cytosine./.../

Using glucose meters to measure other target molecules in blood, serum, water, or food

Coupling functional DNA sensors and glucose meters for fast, easy, portable detection of drugs, toxins, disease markers, and other molecules in blood, water, or food (credit: Li Huey Tan, Yu Xiang, and Yi Lu)
July 25, 2011
Glucose meters can be used as simple, portable, inexpensive meters for a number of target molecules in blood, serum, water or food, researchers at the University of Illinois have found. To use glucose meters to detect a target other than glucose, the researchers coupled them with a class of molecular sensors called functional DNA sensors. Functional DNA … more…

Touchscreen keyboard morphs to fit your typing style



July 26, 2011 Source Link: New Scientist One Per Cent

IBM Keyboard IBM recently filed a U.S. patent application for a morphing touchscreen keyboard interface that would automatically resize, reshape, and reposition keys based on a user’s typing style. IBM proposes a system that would alter the size, shape, and location of keys to suit an individual’s physical anatomy, such as finger size, length, and range of … more…

Minority rules: scientists discover tipping point for the spread of ideas

July 26, 2011 by Editor
Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have found that when just 10 percent of the population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society.
The scientists developed computer models of various types of social networks. One of the networks had each person connect to every other person in the network. The second model included certain individuals who were connected to a large number of people, making them opinion hubs or leaders.
The final model gave every person in the model roughly the same number of connections. The initial state of each of the models was a sea of traditional-view holders. Each of these individuals held a view, but were also, importantly, open minded to other views.
Once the networks were built, the scientists then “sprinkled” in some true believers throughout each of the networks./.../

Can we live forever? Kaku, Fahey, de Grey, Tipler on Science Channel

July 27, 2011 by Editor
“Can We Live Forever?” — Through the Worm Hole Season 2, narrated by Morgan Freeman — will air on Science Channel starting Wednesday, July 27, 10 p.m./.../

The world’s deadliest distinction: why aren’t the oldest living people getting any older?

July 27, 2011
Jeanne Calment, the longest-living person ever, died at age 122
Source: Slate — July 19, 2011
Raising the upper bounds of the human lifespan is turning out to be trickier than increasing the average person’s life expectancy. In the past few years, the global count of supercentenarians — people 110 and older — has leveled off at about 80.
And the maximum age hasn’t budged. Just seven people whose ages could be fully verified by the Gerontology Research Group have ever made it past 115.
The inventor Ray Kurzweil estimated in 2005 that, within 20 years, advances in medical technology would enable humans to extend their lifespans indefinitely. With six years gone and 14 to go, his prophecy doesn’t seem that much closer to coming true./.../

Guanfacine: How aging affects working-memory neuron firing rate and how to improve it



July 28, 2011

prefrontal_cortex The neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones, Yale University researchers have found. “With normal aging, there are impairments in the working memory functions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC),” says Amy F. T. Arnsten, professor or neurobiology at Yale University Medical … more…

Fórum Estadual de Reforma Urbana do Rio Grande do Sul - FERU/RS


QUINTA-FEIRA, 28 DE JULHO DE 2011

Coletiva: Copa e Olimpíadas - Impactos e ilegalidades das obras no Rio de Janeiro

Press conference / Coletiva de Imprensa / Conferencia de Prensa


World Cup and Olympic Games : impact and illegality in the process of constructions in Rio de Janeiro

Copa e Olimpíadas: Impactos e ilegalidades das obras no Rio de Janeiro

Conferencia de prensa – COPA/OLIMPÍADAS: Impactos e ilegalidades de las obras en Rio de Janeiro

Friday / Sexta-Feira / Viernes - 29.07.2011 - 11 am/.../

Raquel Rolnik: Removidos pelos megaeventos são os últimos a saber


28 de julho de 2011 às 20:44

Raquel Rolnik: Removidos pelos megaeventos são os últimos a saber

por Manuela Azenha
A urbanista e professora Raquel Rolnik diz que os moradores são os últimos a saber, depois que o poder público decide que precisam ser removidos para dar lugar às obras relativas à Copa do Mundo ou, no caso do Rio de Janeiro, às Olimpíadas.
Ela faz a denúncia na condição de relatora especial da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) para a Moradia Adequada.
Raquel diz que os megaeventos com certeza produzem lucros, mas “não necessariamente para a população como um todo”.
Revela que comitês populares estão sendo formados em várias cidades brasileiras para lidar com os despejos./.../

Friday, July 29, 2011

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion - 25th anniversary commemoration


rom: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia 


Public Health Forum: http://bit.ly/nCyVGv
WHO\Europe July 2011

With the birth of the Ottawa Charter 25 years ago, a milestone was reached in the history of public health which provided a breakthrough for the way we deal with health issues today.
The upcoming Regional Committee in Baku will commemorate the 25th birthday of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion.
 In connection with this, WHO EURO is collecting documentation, photos, and memories of the event itself as well as its impact further on.
This Public Health forum is set up for you to share any materials you may have (list of participants, photos, papers, etc.).  

Policy documents : First International Conference on Health Promotion, Ottawa,Canada, 17–21 November 1986

Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, 1986

Available in:

       English (PDF), 38.9 KB *       Français (PDF), 39.7 KB *       Pусский (PDF), 141.2 KB *       Deutsch (PDF), 43.9 KB 
First International Conference on Health Promotion, OttawaCanada, 17–21 November 1986

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Third of world's people infected with hepatitis-WHO

A laboratory assistant examines a blood sample inside a laboratory in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri, November 2, 2006. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
Source: Reuters // Reuters
* Killing around a million people annually
* "Staggering health toll" not widely recognised
GENEVA, July 26 (Reuters) - Around one third of the global population, or 2 billion people, have been infected with the liver disease hepatitis which kills about a million victims annually, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
And although most of those carrying hepatitis do not know they have it, they can unknowingly transmit it to others and at any time in their lives it can develop to kill or disable them, the United Nations agency warned/.../

Monday, July 25, 2011

Index Mundi

IndexMundi

About this Site

Welcome to Index Mundi, home of the Internet's most complete country profiles.
This site contains detailed country statistics, charts, and maps compiled from multiple sources.

Research with Human Subjects


Reforming the Regulations Governing Research with Human Subjects

NEJM | July 25, 2011 | Topics: Comparative Effectiveness, Quality of Care
Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D., and Jerry Menikoff, M.D., J.D.
In the wake of the scandal surrounding the Tuskegee syphilis study, Congress established the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The commission investigated and made recommendations regarding basic ethical principles guiding research with human beings and the special principles relating to research with fetuses, prisoners, and children. In 1981, on the basis of the National Commission’s recommendations, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) revised and expanded its regulations regarding the protection of human subjects, which were entered into the Code of Federal Regulations (title 45, part 46). In 1991, subpart A of those regulations, delineating the general rules for informed consent and for the operation of institutional review boards (IRBs), was extended to 14 other federal departments, thus creating what came to be called the Common Rule. (Similar, but not identical regulations, title 21, parts 50 and 56, govern research with human beings regulated by the Food and Drug Administration [FDA].)/.../

Sunday, July 24, 2011

How Human Beings Are Downgrading Life on Planet Earth

Posted by  Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 2:24 pm



Matt Hansen / Getty Images


We live in the Anthropocene, as some scientists have come to call our new geologic era. The term acknowledges the fact that human beings—nearly 7 billion strong and growing—have so much influence over the life, geography and even chemistry of planet Earth that we're now essentially responsible for the whole show. For good and for ill, the planet from now on will be what we make of it./.../