of teens, videogames and cancer

Counselling, chemotherapies and support groups, just a few of the many ways on how a person could cope when they have the disease. But videogames?

Developed by a cancer researcher herself, Pam Omidyar believes that by educating young cancer patients about their disease, telling them how the treatments work and encouraging them to take an active role in fighting cancer, it gives them more hope and understanding about what’s going on.

Although some believe that it is more than just educating the patients, it is making them feel alive again rather than just waiting…

In a preliminary study by HopeLab, researchers gave 375 male cancer patients, ages 13 to 29, computers that were installed with Re-Mission and another popular video game. Besides being played by more than 80 percent of the patients, three months after receiving the computers, the patients that played Re-Mission were found to have high levels of self-esteem and increased knowledge about their disease. Even better, those who played Re-Mission had higher blood levels of chemotherapy and higher rates of antibiotic use, suggesting that they were better adhering to their cancer treatment.

In addition to the video game, HopeLab has also set up an internet-based community, where young cancer patients can talk to each other about their treatments, complain about side effects, post artwork and suggest tips to help make treatment a little more bearable. Combined with the video game, this site ensures that teens do not feel alone with their disease.

Read more about this medical videogame

Gay Rights Parade is a First in Russia

Although it became a violent affair, the leader of the march considered it a “great victory.” Nikolai Alexeyev, 26, organized a march of about 40 activists planning to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Saturday. The Tomb is one of Russia’s sacred places for its association with the end of fascism.

Instead of laying flowers, however, police barred the activits from the park where the Tomb of the Unknown Solder resides.

The parade, a first in Russia’s history, ended in violence as a group of nearly 100 people arrived to stop the activists by force. However, police quickly controlled the situation. The fairness of their actions is under question as more gay and lesbian activists were seemingly arrested than those who came to incite the violence.

About the demonstration:

Other gay activists had disapproved of the demonstration, claiming it was a risky move given Russia’s widespread intolerance of homosexuality. The parade was meant to mark the culmination of several days of festivities planned as part of Russia’s first Gay Pride festival.Homosexuality was illegal in Russia until 1993, and public displays of affection between same-sex couples are almost unheard of.

Read the entire article: “First Russian Gay Rights Parade Ends in Violence.”

Internet is undermining marriage

Last year I wrote about the threat of virtual adultery and today another article from Australia suggests that the increased use of the Internet for forming relationships and dating is undermining the Australian marriage.

Marriage counsellors have received updated training to deal with this new threat: bottom-line, it’s still adultery, but very much 21st century, technology based, often even more covert and secretive than traditional affairs.

New university research shows as many as 50 per cent of people dabbling in online romances are already in relationships and many are having multiple affairs.

“It’s happening more and more often, particularly over the past three years,” said Eric Hudson, the western Sydney manager for counselling network Relationships Australia.

“A client will come in to talk about their partner having a relationship on the internet. The internet gives people anonymity. It allows them to create a slightly different persona and a life that’s a little different from their own.”

The Australian trend echoes the experience in countries such as Britain and the US.

Read the full article: Internet undermining marriage

Monogamy Gene and voles

Scientists believe they have found a ‘monogamy gene’ in certain animals including voles.

Voles are pre-programmed to mate for life, and apparently humans have the same gene, though it works slightly differently (after all, we’re not rodents…)

Of the two kinds of vole, prairie voles display monogamous behaviour - in other words they form a life-long bond with their first mate. Male meadow voles, however, have nothing to do with the female meadow vole after mating and having young. He goes off and looks for another female.

Sound familiar?

Anyway, a gene present in the prairie vole’s brain was not present in the meadow vole’s brain. Adding that gene to the meadow vole’s brain made it monogamous.

The point behind the research is not to come up with a love potion or a monogamy pill, it is to understand how people form relationships. The research is also designed to help scientists understand autism, depression and schizophrenia.

Why doesn’t the monogamy gene work in all people?

Anthropologists say people have the ability to think and feel and that can overcome our genetic predisposition to monogamy.

It’s an interesting article: Scientists find monogamy gene

Parents encouraging their young children to watch TV, study shows

A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation suggests that many parents push their young children to watch TV in order to manage busy schedules, keep the peace and keep the family on schedule.

Its main findings include:

• Computer and TV use increases with age.
• 19% of children under the age of one have a TV in their bedroom: 29% aged 2-3; 43% aged 4-6.
• 66% of parents said their children imitated good behaviour they saw on TV.
• 42% of children have access to high-speed Internet access.

This is a really interesting study. The use of TV and Internet in the home with young children can be quite a controversial one.

On the plus side, TV and Internet can be used for education and learning, entertainment, and to ease stress on the family.

On the downside, overuse can lead to isolation and independence, viewing of inappropriate content, and even obesity due to inactivity.

“Everything in moderation” is a good maxim here. It’s important for children to understand and engage with modern technology, but the family should not use this media as an excuse to shirk their parental responsibilities.

The whole family should still engage with one another, through shared mealtimes, exercise, shared activities and reading, to name but a few.

Read the whole fascinating article: Many parents encourage tots to watch TV: study

Tearing Up Credit Card Applications Is NOT Good Enough

No matter how many times we hear it, tearing unsolicited credit card applications is not good enough to protect yourself from scam artists.

A story in the Modesto Bee yesterday suggested that to protect ourselves, we should:

Rip up or, better yet, shred all mail and other documents with personal financial information before throwing them away.

Except you should read this Cockeyed.com experiment before you feel safe in tearing up important documents:

I almost always tear them in half and throw them away. Sometimes, if I am feeling particularly paranoid, I’ll tear them into little bitty pieces. Is that good enough? Could a determined and dexterous criminal gather all the bits, tape them together and apply for a card in my name? Would a credit card company balk when confronted with an obviously resurrected application? A test was in order, and when the latest application arrived from Chase Mastercard, I was equal to the task.

Let me reveal to you the outcome of this experiment. He got the card.  He sent in a credit card application that was torn in tiny pieces, glued back together, on which he changed the address, and subsequently activated the card on his cell phone. He got the card without question.

In the meantime, the Modesto Bee also had some practical suggestions for dealing with your financial identity.

Monitor your bank accounts and credit accounts carefully for any unexplained charges. To cut down on potentially troublesome paper records, consumers also might consider switching to online banking.

People also should check their free annual credit report — dispensed by three companies — to detect any possible problems. The Web site for a report is annualcreditreport.com. You also can call 877-322-8228 to get one by phone.

Maybe the only way to protect our finances is to buy a shredder that also torches the paper and shoots the ashes to the moon.

Read the Modesto Bee article: “Scam Alert: Shred Papers to Protect Finances.”
Read the Cockeyed.com experiment: Torn-Up Credit Card Application.

Welsh children old-fashioned in sex and relationships?

New research by Cardiff University suggests that Welsh children are ’surprisingly old fashioned’ when it comes to getting advice and information about sex and relationships.

Instead of scouring the Internet and chat rooms, they prefer to get information from their friends and family.

Doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me.

However, experts fear that children are missing out on the latest facts through a lack of contact with health professionals.

Dr Neil Selwyn, a senior lecturer at Cardiff University’s school of social sciences, said, “It is clear that when it comes to personal and often embarrassing issues such as sex and relationships, today’s generation of young people turn to sources that they trust, feel comfortable and have a genuine connection with.

“Although nearly all the young people in our study were using the internet and mobile phones, they were quite clear about what purposes these technologies were appropriate and useful for.”

Read the full story: Welsh kids ask parents about birds & bees

Struggling to communicate? Have a family meeting

It may seem a little formal, but if your family is findiing it difficult to communicate with one another, or some family members feel that they’re not being listened to, a regular family meeting may be the solution.

Ohio mum Sarah tried it after family mealtimes couldn’t resolve important issues.

Her two daughters, aged 9 and 14, were unsure at first, but now everyone gets involved and takes the weekly meetings seriously. They prepare an agenda, all TVs and phones are turned off, everyoone gets to have a say, and action points are made that everyone can agree on and see during the week.

Issues can range from chores and bedtimes, to vacation plans. Embarrassing issues are left out - there are other times those can be addressed.

They establish ground rules so that the meetings go smoothly: courtesy, respectful, no interrupting, offer a solution to any problem brought up.

These meetings also allow parents to model good behaviour and life skills to their children.

Read the whole article: Family meetings help resolve issues and build skills

Scottish schools to teach ’safe’ homosexual sex

Since the Scottish law preventing homosexuality being included in school’s sex education was overturned in 2000, health officials have been pushing for its inclusion in the Sexual Health and Relationships Education (SHARE) programme.

Existing teaching guidelines were ‘heterosexist’ it argued, not reflecting the current social climate.

Despite this, six years ago there was strong opposition from the public and from church officials. 85% of the one-million public questioned in a referendum opposed the change.

Of course, a lot changes in six years, but many are still saying that the guidelines are too graphic.

Read more

Helping your children to sleep; book offers advice

MSNBC has published Chapter 1 of Dr Richard Ferber’s revised book “Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems“, first published 20 years ago, which offers parents advice on helping their children to fall and stay asleep.

His revised book offers the latest research on sleep problems, and offers practical solutions to issues such as sleepwalking, nightmares, and bedwetting.

Read “Bedtime a nightmare? Help your kids sleep“

Pop the Champagne: Small Amounts of Alcohol Okay in Pregnancy

Never being one for scare tactics, I’m happy to see that finally some research is being done on the warnings given to pregnant women.  The pregnancy books are full of things not to be done during the nine months of gestation, but have you ever wondered why we received those recommendations?  Yeah, me too.

Thankfully, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists are making headway with unlocking the secrets of women’s health and pregnancy.  Recently, they have rejected the long-held belief that mild alcohol consumption during pregnancy, meaning a couple of glasses of wine once or twice a week, causes babies to develop learning difficulties and behavioral problems.

Furthermore, they state that:

“There is no evidence of harm from low levels of alcohol consumption, defined as no more than one or two units of alcohol once or twice a week.”

This is a good note in women’s health.  Giving research-based recommendations to women is not only a good idea, it’s necessary for healthy babies.  Subjecting women to scare tactics and empty ideas promotes the idea that we have a clue about how to make and deliver healthy babies when so much more science-based work needs to be done.   Bravo.

Read the full article: “Odd Drink in Pregnancy OK” by Sarah-Jane Templeton

Kids Get Physical Injuries from Video Games and Computers

“The word ‘arthritis’ comes to mind,” concerned mom Mitali Perkins wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com.

Her children, thirteen-year-old twins, are already showing odd physical traits that she thinks is the result from too much gaming. Both kids can bend their thumbs all the way back to their forearms, stretch and crack their knuckles with ease, and use their thumbs only for tasks like ringing a doorbell or dialing a phone number. Perkins’ children have three computers, two Sony PlayStations, a Nintendo GameCube, and a Microsoft Xbox for playing video games.

A study from Australia in 2000 focused on the effects of computers in schools. They found that 60 percent of students aged 10 to 17 complained of neck and back discomfort.

Kids nowadays can spend hours cradling a cell phone with a crooked neck, slumping over a computer game, slouching in front of a PC while text messaging friends and listening to music. And that’s on top of time they might spend in school on a PC surfing the Web to research topics and do homework.

The article focuses on the high occurance of Repetitive Stress Injuries in children and the importance of ergonomics in computer use. Methinks perhaps time management, a few less gaming options in the home, and more exposure to physical activity, along with better ergonomics, could help counteract these startling findings.

Read the full article: “Is Tech Injuring Children” by Stefanie Olsen.

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