Archive for February, 2010
Want to be like Steve Jobs – Apple founder ?
The latest product launch is perhaps the most notorious example of new Apple iPad. This event has attracted much controversy due to its characteristics, and probably many reflections between executives and entrepreneurs who are wondering. “One day my company can reach the level of innovation from Apple? Can I be an innovator like Steve Jobs?
Professors at Harvard Business School, Insead and Birgham Young University conducted a study published in December 2009, with 3,000 executives and 500 entrepreneurs, including the likes of Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, co-founder Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, and Niklas Zennstrom co-founder of Skype, Joost, Atomico and Kazaa. In this study we identified 5 characteristics that has an innovative person.
Association. Ability to connect issues, problems and ideas that apparently have no relationship to each other. This method is known as the “Medici Effect” (name given because of the creative explosion that happened in Florence when the Medici family brought together people from different disciplines: philosophers, architects, painters, scientists, poets, and sculptors). Steve Jobs himself has said “Creativity is a matter of connecting the dots.”
Questioning. Knowledge constantly challenged with questions like “why not?” What if …?”. A simple way of carrying solutions. Peter Drucker, author and business consultant, said more than 50 years ago: “The important and difficult not to find the right answers, but the right questions .
Observation. Know how to identify the needs of consumers without awaiting the results of market research. They look at the details of how people speak, they use the products, adapt, or create new ways to solve their problems.
Experience. Proactively create prototypes and pilot launches. Thomas Alva Edison said: “I have not failed, I just found 10.000 ways that do not work”. One advantage of this time is that even more consumers are participating in these tests of product and software developers know this exploit. It is very common on our computers installed beta versions, as the developers recorded how we use it, what fault is and how to improve for future and improved version.
They network. They relate to people who have ideas and perspectives. Attending conferences topics not necessarily related to your business. Visit other countries and talk to people about their daily lives. Great ideas like the BlackBerry arose in such moments. Michael Lazaridis conceived the original product idea when he heard at a conference on a wireless system for the vending machines to send a message that needed filled.
There are other features not mentioned in this study but which are obvious to observe innovative practices:
Being an excellent communicator. From good ideas are useless if they can not be transmitted to decision makers in the organization or the team developing the project, much less if you can persuade and arouse emotions in consumers. The Apple product presentations are memorable, not only by product features but by the well armed and charismatic speech of Steve Jobs.
Do not be afraid to fail. Accept setbacks and negative that arise in the learning process and to improve the outcome.
Passion. Be sure you’re in a space that allows you to start your day with enthusiasm to act, and feel the end of the day they did something great.
Have at least a couple of these characteristics in mind and practice often is a good start to any professional or computer begins to develop ideas to change processes and outcomes.
The author is a master marketer and Management with 10 years experience in multinational advertising agencies in Mexico and Spain. It is part of the steering committee of the APG (Account Planning Group) Mexico. He is currently a founding partner of Leonardo innovation agency.
Obese woman gives birth in Romania
BUCHAREST (AP) – A 25 year old woman who weighs 240 kilos (528 pounds) gave birth to her first child, a girl, Thursday in a hospital specialized in treating obese people.
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“The baby is the fruit of love between my husband and I, who is thinner, and weighs just 70 kilos (154 pounds),” Victoria said Lacatus.
“I wanted this baby with all my heart, whatever the sacrifice,” said the young newspaper Adevarul.
The girl, who was born by caesarean section, weighed 2.9 kilos (6.4 pounds), said Bogdan Popescu, a hospital spokesman at the University of Bucharest.
Lacatus was admitted to the hospital because the center of their village in southern Romania did not have beds that could support their weight, officials said. In Bucharest, three teams of firefighters and emergency personnel transported her to hospital.
Popescu said Lacatus constantly being monitored because he suffers a thyroid problem and doctors said it could suffer post-natal complications due to morbid obesity.
Lacatus said he soon will marry her fiance, 36, Costica Lacatus.
Costandache Florin, who helped conduct the operation, said: “It was a challenge because anesthesia needed four times that need a normal person.”
For abusing painkillers 3% of adults suffer from headache
In an effort to alleviate a condition that seems minor but it affects the quality of life, people who suffer from headaches often worsen their situation. Self-medication and excessive use of drugs can increase the intensity and frequency of episodes. In order to improve treatment of this disease is underway for an international investigation involving FLENI recognized medical institutions and the University as ISALUD, Buenos Aires.
The project objective is to try to prove that treatment for abuse of headache medication can improve the application of information technology and communications, said Maria Osa, Coordinator of the Residency in Hospital Administration from the University ISALUD.
The project is a research Comoestamos evaluated for 30 months, the effectiveness of a computerized system that enables continuous, personalized support for patients being treated for drug abuse headaches. An online program allows fluid communication between the patient and his doctor, so that the patient is deeply committed to the therapy and the specialist can monitor the progress of treatment.
What is the headache medication abuse
According to the World Health Organization, headaches abuse of medication (CAM) affect 3% of adults and 1% of children and adolescents. This condition is diagnosed when a person has had headaches for at least 15 days per month and in the last three months, took simple analgesics for at least 15 days per month or took drugs ergotamine, caffeine, triptans, opioids, or combinations of them for at least 10 days per month.
The CAM is often triggered in people with migraine or tension headache, which are two different types of headaches. Tension headaches are caused by contraction of the muscles of the head and neck against stress, whereas migraine is a syndrome in itself, an entity that changes with age, from patient to patient in the same person and from episode to episode. There are mild and other very severe migraines, some with a defined neurological compromise and others not, said Jorge Leston, specialist in neurology, Member of Comprehensive Pain Center FLENI.
Meanwhile, Maria Osa stressed that people who suffer from CAM have a headache problem so strong it prevents them from carrying out their work and family activities. Patients start to take painkillers to continue with their normal lives but abuse the medication and, therefore, the pain intensifies and becomes more frequent. That is, it has a primary and a secondary headache caused by the misuse of drugs, explained the specialist.
The search for relief
The treatment to cure the headache medication abuse begins with the stage of detoxification, which involves the complete cessation of the drugs that cause the problem. This period is very difficult because symptoms such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, anxiety and tachycardia, among others. For that reason, the physician must make a detailed monitoring of the patient and apply the appropriate therapy for each individual. Once this phase begins the treatment of primary headaches, which often includes the use of preventive medication.
Overcoming this problem is not simple, and in fact 45% of people slip back into drug abuse in only a few months. We must achieve to be in permanent contact with the patient and learn what is happening, as they are at risk of succumbing to addiction again and recover from a relapse costs much more. To accomplish that end we thought we could help the information technology and communication, Bear said.
The project Comoestamos
The program Comoestamos or continuous monitoring of Headache Medication Abuse in Europe and Latin America: development and standardization of an alert system to support decision making with funding from the Seventh Framework Program of the European Community. Participate in over 600 patients total of 6 specialized institutions in Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Spain and Italy.
The project developed an interactive electronic health records, which seeks to improve communication and ongoing monitoring of the patient. During the treatment the doctor has to go with the patient to go see what the outcome of drug therapy. Each individual is different and, moreover, an indication can be good for one person at a particular time but then may require a change. Comply with all this implies a permanent monitoring health systems are not able to give the usual organization they have, which is rather designed for acute episodes, Bear said.
The Interactive Electronic Health Record has several components. Have the information and medical history of each individual, which is enriched over time, and with an electronic diary of headaches, each patient was admitted to important information about your headaches, such as when it started, what I ate or drank that day and that drug use, among many others.
This tool allows doctors to do detailed monitoring of each patient and to identify possible adverse effects, contraindications or risks of a relapse. In turn, facilitates interconsultation when a professional seeking a second opinion.
Lestón said Comoestamos points to a better treatment monitoring system, an effective physician-patient communication, reducing costs and early intervention to prevent relapse in drug abuse.
Scientists create a cow’s milk that prevent disease
Argentina coach milk created a vaccine that helps prevent diabetes and the formation of tumor cells, Clarin newspaper reported Wednesday.
The milk obtained is treated with chemical additives and obtained by feeding cattle that are based on oilseeds, oils and derived from the grinding as soybean hulls, explained experts from the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA).
Thanks to this special diet, the “super” – as it is called – has lower fat and higher levels of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and vaccenic acid (VA), which strengthen the human immune system and prevent the formation of tumors such as breast and prostate cancer, such as diabetes and fat accumulation in the inner walls of the arteries, the newspaper said.
The tests were made in the dairy herds that INTA has in the towns of Rafaela and Balcarce, in the provinces of Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, respectively.
“There are already pre-commercial products that have been evaluated by the INTI (National Institute of Industrial Technology), such as yogurt, butter and cheese,” said the coordinator of the National Milk INTA, Michael Taverna.
Such milk should not be seen as a remedy, but as a preventive measure in a context of healthy lifestyle, said other scientists.
Gerardo Gagliostro, INTA engineer, told Radio 10 that feeding cows with oil, “ie with foods containing unsaturated oils,” the animal “level of mammary gland produces a profound change in the composition of the milk fat fraction, which becomes more healthy “
Toyota President declared before the U.S. Congress
TOKYO (AP) – Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda, criticized by the withdrawal of units, reported at a U.S. congressional hearing next week, at the request of U.S. lawmakers and offended by understanding customers as the company manages their security problems.
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Japanese officials supported the decision of Toyoda, grandson of the founder of the company to accept a formal invitation to explain the returns and make plans by the largest automaker in the world to improve safety and address the concerns of buyers Car worried.
“I am pleased to go.’ll Speak in all sincerity,” Toyoda told reporters Friday in Nagoya, Japan, near the headquarters of the company.
“I hope you understand our commitment to America and our customers,” Toyoda said.
Toyoda said it would cooperate with U.S. regulators in the analysis of returns of more than eight million vehicles worldwide, including best-selling models as the Corolla, Camry and the hybrid Prius.
Earlier this week, Toyoda said he did not attend the hearings referred to unless it was invited. That decision gave rise to heated criticism in the U.S.. On Thursday, he accepted a request to assist from the president of the General Committee and Government Reform U.S. House, Edolphus Towns, a Democrat from New York.
“The decision was not only me,” Toyoda told reporters in televised comments.
The decision earned praise from the Japanese authorities.
The transport minister of Japan, Seiji Maehara, said he welcomed the decision of Toyoda. Toyota Maehara urged to heed the concerns of its customers and said it was important for the company to explain the episodes of security.
It is crucial to prevent vehicles withdrawals exacerbate political friction, said the foreign minister of Japan, Katsuya Okada.
“I hope that Toyota will soon regain the trust of customers around the world,” Okada told reporters on Friday.
Warnings on four medications for asthma in USA
WASHINGTON (AP) – In a measure to control the use of some asthma medications, used by millions of people, the government imposed restrictions on Thursday to reduce mortal danger caused by sudden attacks.
The warnings of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include drugs Advair, Symbicort, Serevent and Foradil. The agency said they should be used only for asthmatics who can not control their condition with other drugs, and even then, only for the shortest time possible.
The FDA also said that any medications with LABAs should never be used without the simultaneous use of different medicine to control asthma, as an inhaled corticosteroid, a measure that specifically addressed two of those, Foradil, and Serevent.
Why? These four medicines contain the ingredient called beta agonist long-acting, or LABA relaxes muscles around airways affected. Although very useful for certain patients, how the drugs work with LABA sometimes not to reveal that intensifies inflammation in the airways. This may mean that patients are not aware of an impending asthma attack until they are barely able to breathe.
Advair and Serevent are marketed by the British firm GlaxoSmithKline, Foradil by Swiss company Novartis AG and AstraZeneca’s Symbicort by Anglo-Swedish.
The FDA cited studies that showed an increased risk of hospitalization and even some deaths, particularly among children. One study found three adverse events most hospitalizaciones_ _en per 1,000 patients taking a medication with LABA compared with other asthma medications, said Dr. Gerald Dal Pan, the FDA.
Physician guidelines recommend using a LABA together with an inhaled corticosteroid to relieve swelling. Advair and Symbicort combines both types of medicines in an inhaler. More than a year ago, the FDA’s scientific advisers had urged that more be used to treat heart medications only with LABA, Foradil, Serevent, and that none of the four drugs were used in children.
Medical Television series show wrong answers
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Medical equipment for television series like “ER” or “House” are often picked to act quickly before a seizure, but nearly half of the time the actors portraying doctors and nurses are wrong, according to a Canadian study.
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Researchers from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, analyzed the medical and the popular series “Gray’s Anatomy,” “House,” “Private Practice” and “ER” to see whether such programs help educate the public about how to provide first aid in emergencies.
The team found that in 327 episodes aired, there were 59 attacks. Of this total, 51 occurred in a hospital. Almost all emergency services were conducted by nurses and doctors.
But the study found improper practices such as holding the person upside down, try to stop involuntary movements or put something in the mouth of the patient in 25 cases, representing nearly 46 percent of the incidents.
The management of first aid was shown properly in 17 cases, ie 29 per cent of the total, while in 15 incidents, or 25 percent, we could not determine that the attention has been inadequate, according to study released Sunday.
The researcher Andrew Moeller said television programs are a potentially powerful method for educating the public, so it is a concern that the series are found inadequate treatment of attacks half the time.
“People with epilepsy should pressure the television industry to instill the guidelines for administering first aid in cases of attacks,” Moeller said in a statement.
The studies will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto in April.
The pilot of the plane crashed in Texas left a suicide note
Washington, .- Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot of a plane that crashed into a building of federal government offices in Austin (Texas), apparently left a suicide note in which he proclaims his anger against the Board (IRS, for its acronym in English).
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The website “EmbeddedArt.com” has a note signed by Joseph Stack, which reads: “I once read that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting that the result is, of Suddenly different. ”
“I’m finally ready to end this madness,” the note added. “Okay, Big Brother, IRS, let’s try something different: take my half kilo of meat and sleep well.”
Stack Authorities believe that today was the pilot crashed a small plane into a building of offices in Austin, which employs some 190 employees of the IRS.
Before taking the plane, which some media said was stolen, but later confirmed that it belonged to the alleged suicide Stack-home fire.
CNN television said the plane was a Cirrus SR22 single-engine plane.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security ruled out, told media that the incident is connected with a terrorist attack.
In Washington, national security adviser in the White House, John Brennan, informed President Barack Obama on the incident shortly after noon.
Shortly after the incident, two F-16 flying over the area of the Pentagon.
In parallel, mid-morning a bomb threat forced the diversion of a United Airlines plane traveling from Denver to San Francisco and landed in Salt Lake City.
In Austin, local television images of the building were he crashed, and where a fire broke out.
Witnesses say the plane was flying at an extremely low altitude, and at no time the pilot alerted the authorities that he had flight problems.
A fire department spokesman, Harry Evans, told the television that there are two injured who have been taken to hospital. One of the employees of the building is missing.
cell phone headset that detect where the user is looking and use that information to a portable drive
There are looks that kill … and others turn up the volume to music
BARCELONA (AP) – The current wireless headsets for cell phones often have a striking sight: people seem to talk herself out loud, but really is in the midst of a telephone conversation.
A technological innovation introduced this week by NTT DoCoMo could offer even more bizarre scenes: people who, for no apparent reason, his eyes move quickly to raise one side or until their eyes away.
The Japanese firm has developed .
For example, you can look from right to left to give pause to a song, look to the right twice in a row to advance to the next track or rolled his eyes in the sense of clockwise to increase volume.
However, the company said it still no plans to release this technology to market
Sarah Palin reads cheat notes on her hand – video
The fact that was criticized by many politicians and analysts today, Palin notes shows how his left hand several times, the time to answer some questions.
Palin was answering questions ultraconservative militants during a meeting Saturday in Nashville, a city located south of the country.
The former vice presidential candidate of the United States, Sarah Palin, used his hand as a makeshift aid memory, as can be seen in a new video released today.
According to some photos taken at the hand of Palin, who publishes the blog huffingtonpost.com, you can see the words “Energy”, “Tax and exacerbate the spirits,” while the phrase “budget cuts” appears with the word “budget” crossed out.
Whiskey bottles are 100 years in Antarctica
WELLINGTON (AP) – A group of restorers found a whiskey that happened 100 years in the rocks.
Five cases of whiskey and two of brandy were recovered by the team that restored a cottage Antarctic that was used over 100 years ago by the famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.
The ice made that will break some of the bottles that had been abandoned there in 1909 when the expedition had to leave, but the restaurant said Friday they are confident that the boxes contain some intact bottles “can be heard as a liquid when moved .
The group thought there were only two boxes and were surprised to find five, said the team leader of the Heritage Fund of New Zealand Antarctica Al Fasti.
The current owners of the distillery that made the bottles of whiskey, Whyte & Mackay group began a campaign to try to retrieve the bottles of drink to test them to decide whether to release this mix again especially since the recipe is lost .
Fasti said that restorers found the boxes with the bottles under the wooden floor of the cabin in 2006, but were too buried in the ice to recover.
New Zealanders accepted through the ice to retrieve a few bottles while the rest must remain under the rules of conservation of Antarctic treaty.
Richard Paterson, specialist in Whyte and Mackay mixtures, whose company supplied the whiskey Mackinlay for Shackleton’s expedition, described the discovery as “a godsend for whiskey lovers.
“If the contents can be extracted and analyzed to confirm and secure the original mixture could be replicated. Since the original recipe does not exist this is a way to open a door to history,” he said in a statement.
Explosion at power plant in the U.S. may have left 50 dead
NEW YORK (AFP) – A huge explosion occurred Sunday at a power plant under construction in the state of Connecticut (the U.S.) and could have left 50 dead, authorities said.
The explosion at the plant to gas action in the town of Middletown, where 40,000 people live on the Connecticut River, fired flares and clouds of black smoke into the sky and shook homes several miles around, witnesses said.
As helicopters, ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene and began rescue operations, authorities were reluctant to say how many people have died in the incident, but was feared by a large number of victims.
“Reports vary from a few, several, possibly even 50 people,” he told AFP Brian Albert, Middlesex Hospital, who took care to address some of the injured in the blast.
“It is in the process of search and rescue,” said Albert, adding that the Middlesex Hospital was treating six patients while the other wounded had been transferred to nearby Hartford Hospital.
The explosion occurred at 11h25 (16h25 GMT) was heard about 15-km radius and at first the witnesses thought it was an earthquake, said the Hartford Courant newspaper. Television footage showed thick black smoke coming out of the facility.
“There was a loud explosion, there are many wounded and possibly dead,” police officer Gerge Yepes, of Middletown. The American press spoke of “mass casualty” in the power plant.
Under fire, explosion occurred in Kleen Energy, a gas power plant due to come into service in a few weeks.
Local police told AFP stated that people who were there at the time of the explosion “tests performed” for the launch of this service.
One witness told the Hartford Courant that “there are bodies everywhere,” while others suggested that many victims might still be buried in the rubble. The newspaper also reported that 20 ambulances were on the scene and helicopters were transporting victims to the nearest hopital.
Another Middelesex Hospital spokesman told AFP that he was establishing an emergency command for the incident. “So far we know what we have,” he said, referring to the condition of the wounded.
Kleen Energy plant, 620 megawatts, was recently acquired by 80% by a firm called Energy Investors Fund.
Toyota will recall 437,000 hybrids worldwide
TOKYO (AP) – Toyota on Tuesday called on the owners than 437,000 Prius cars and other models of hybrid engine being returned to the agencies to fix problems with the brakes, the latest in a series of security breaches that have embarrassed the largest automaker in the world.
“I do not consider Toyota a company that never makes mistakes foolproof,” President Akio Toyoda said in a press conference in Tokyo. “We face the facts and correct the problem, putting safety first and comfort of customers,” he added.
The announcement of failures brings total Prius Toyota vehicles with potential security flaws at 8.5 million, including those mats that can jam the gas pedal and other pedals that are slow to return to the neutral position. The Prius 2010 model had not been included in previous workshop called for revision.
So far about 200 complaints were filed in Japan and the U.S. on a delay of the Prius to stop when it’s cold or irregular paths. The delay does not mean that there is a brake failure.
The company says the problem can be fixed in 40 minutes with a new computer program that handles the controls of the ABS.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement Tuesday that the automaker’s executives assured him that are taken for safety concerns “very seriously”. He promised to keep in constant communication with the company to fulfill its promise to resolve the faults.
In addition, State Farm, the largest auto insurer in the U.S., said he had informed the authorities in late 2007 of an increase in complaints about Toyota vehicles unexpectedly accelerated. Congressional investigators find out whether the government missed warning signs about the failures.
On Tuesday, executives from the company were the Ministry of Transportation to notify the government formally they would seek the return of gas-electric Prius in 2010, the world’s best selling hybrid.
The automaker also extended the call for two hybrids: HS250h Lexus sedan, which sells in Japan and the United States and the Sai, sold exclusively in China.
The 223,000 cars in Japan called Tuesday include 200,000 Prius sold since April last year until Monday, according to documents filed with the ministry. The Prius is the best-selling car in Japan.
Cars with return request are 133,000 Lexus Prius and 14,500 in the U.S. and nearly 53,000 Prius cars in Europe. The company suspended production and Sai HS250h in Japan until I have the update for these models.
Toyota and the Japanese ministry said that if drivers feel a late stop, should continue stepping on the pedal.
Prius repairs start on Wednesday in Japan. The American owners will receive letters about it next week.
Toyoda President has been criticized for not being in public during the first two weeks of the crisis, since the company announced on January 21 call for problems with accelerators in the U.S., Europe and China.
After a press conference that he had trouble speaking English last week, on Tuesday read a statement in Japanese and English.
“Let me assure you that we will redouble our commitment to quality as the main priority of our company,” he said.
Studies reveal why children are bullied and rejected
Children who are bullied and rejected by their peers may be more likely to have problems in other areas of their lives, as previous studies have shown. And now, researchers have found at least three factors in a child’s behavior that can lead to social rejection.
The factors involve the lack of a child’s ability to detect and respond to nonverbal cues from their peers.
In the U.S., between 10 and 13 percent of those aged children go to school experience some form of rejection by their peers. In addition to causing mental health problems, bullying and social isolation can increase the chances that a child has poor grades, he dropped out, or develop substance abuse problems, researchers say.
“It’s really a public health issue recently addressed,” said lead investigator, Clark McKown, Rush Neurobehavioral Center in Chicago.
And social skills that get children in playgrounds or in other locations may appear later, according to Richard Lavoie, an expert on child social behavior that was not part of the study. Unstructured recreational activities, ie when children interact without guidance from an authority figure, are the time that children experience with interpersonal relationship styles of adults have said.
What underlies all this: “the primary need of any other human being is to please humans,” Lavoie told LiveScience. “But our children are like strangers who inhabit their own country.” They do not understand the basic rules to function in society and their errors usually are not intentional.
Social rejection
In two studies, McKown and his colleagues made a total of 284 children, aged between 4 and 16 years old, watched videos of films and photographs observed before judging the emotions of the players based on their facial expressions, voice tones and body positions. Also described various social situations and asked the children about appropriate responses.
The results were then compared with the stories of parents and teachers about friendships and social behavior of participants.
Children who had social problems also had problems in at least one of three different areas of nonverbal communication: reading nonverbal cues, understand its social significance, and develop options for resolving social conflict.
A child, for example, simply may not notice the frown of a person because of impatience, or understand what it means tapping the floor with his foot. Or you might have trouble reconciling the desires of a friend with their own. “It’s important to try define the area or areas in the deficits of a child and then strengthen them,” said McKown.
Ways to help
When children struggle to socialize over a long period of time, “a vicious circle,” said Lavoie. Rejected children have few opportunities to practice social skills, while the popular kids are busy perfecting their own. However, having only one or two friends may be enough to give a child practice socialization he needs, he said.
Parents, teachers and other adults in a child’s life can also help. Instead of reacting with anger or shame a child, for example, the aunt tells Mindy that’s strange hairstyle, parents should teach social skills in the same tone they use to teach long division or proper hygiene. If filed as a learning opportunity, rather than punishment, children generally appreciate the lesson.
“Most children are desperate for friends, so enthusiastically accept tips,” said Lavoie.
To teach social skills, Lavoie suggest a five-step approach in his book “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success”. (Touchstone, 2006). The process works in children with and without learning problems and is best if done immediately after having committed a transgression.
1) Ask your child what happened and listen without judging.
2) Ask the child to identify his mistake. (Often, children only know who hurt someone, but do not understand their own role in the consequences).
3) Help children to identify the signal detected or not the mistake, asking for example: “How would you feel if Emma hoard the swing?”. Instead of giving a sermon using the word “should”, offers options that the child is “able” to take at that point, such as: “You could have asked Emma to play with you or tell you he was headed after you turn .
4) Create an imaginary scenario, but similar in that the child can make the right decision. For example, you might say, “you’re playing with a shovel in the sand and Aiden wanted to use it, what would you do?”.
5) Finally, give the child “social work” by asking practicing his new skill, saying: “Now you know the importance of sharing, I want tomorrow to tell me something that you shared.
The studies are detailed in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. They were funded by the Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock Foundation and the William T. Grant.
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Why is the rebound effect after a diet?
The war against obesity, now, is not limited to small daily battles that are trying to balance calories consumed against energy expenditure. A group of scientists from the Netherlands is considering new ways to fight fat, but at the cellular level and discusses how calorie-restricted diets affect gene expression in fat cells (adipocytes). They say they have received results that could help avoid the rebound effect, ie rapid weight gain (often) occurs at the end of a regime.
Professionals School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism Nutrimed, University of Maastricht, are applying the proteomic approach (proteomics). This technique is based on the analysis of all proteins synthesized in a cell at a given time (the Protema). When analyzing the presence of these compounds can measure the activity of genes, as these are expressed when the cell produces proteins from them.
In research published in the Journal of Proteome Research (Journal of Proteomics Research), the Netherlands team noted that a very low calorie diet, resulting in weight reduction, modifies the proteome of fat cells, a factor that indicates changes in the expression of genes.
In an interview with Neomundo.com.ar, the chief investigator of the group, Edwin Mariman, explained that generally considered to be the cause of the rebound effect is physiological or has to do with people’s behavior. However, our results indicate that there could be a cellular-level mechanism for this phenomenon. When people lose weight, fat cells into a state of stress that causes fat to refill as soon as possible. We suspect that they might even send signals to the brain to increase food intake, he said.
For that reason, Mariman believes that knowing more about this mechanism of cellular stress and find ways to modify it could become a very innovative approach to help in the future, to enable people to maintain their weight.
The fat cells under the microscope
To reach these conclusions, the researchers worked with men and women volunteers between 30 and 60, who were overweight or obese. For five weeks, volunteers held a very low calorie diet (only ate 500 calories a day), and the following three weeks followed by a maintenance regimen. During this period lost an average of 9.5 kilograms.
The scientists then took two adipose tissue biopsies taken from the abdomen, one to start the diet and the other to finish, and extracted proteins. We measured the concentration of the largest possible amount of protein in adipose tissue. Biopsies include different types of cells, but we adjust our working methods to analyze proteins specifically from adipocytes, Mariman said.
In his article, Mariman and his team to return to a normal diet, there were differences in proteins, a fact that reflected changes in the level of gene expression. In that sense, Mariman said that the changes recorded give information on changes in the vital processes of the cell. In this way we find out what processes were relevant in that period of time for the adipose discharging their responsibilities, he added.
Mariman cautioned that more studies are still needed for the current treatments for obesity can incorporate new knowledge about gene expression and the proteome of adipocytes. The good news is we now have a pattern that guides our research. Furthermore, the identified proteins led us to genes that produce them. In the future, look for genetic variations in those genes that explain individual differences regarding the chances of success or failure in maintaining weight after having lost several kilos, he said.
