Social Justice Libertarianism with Elizabeth Tate
Most liberty-lovers will agree that not every evil is caused by the State. "Social justice" has long been a rallying-cry for the left, and is summarily dismi...
By: Liberty.me
More:
Letter: Please Dana Point, Dont Become Ordinary
By David M. Sanders, Dana Point
After reading Andrea Swaynes piece, Building Character in the Jan. 9-15 issue of the Dana Point Times, I couldnt help but sit down and consider the opportunity it laid on the table.
As an architect who has been a Dana Point resident for over three decades, the one thing I always relished about Dana Point was the remarkable degree of freedom it gave to designers. This freedom is incredibly unique in a coastal community. Dana Point has been an island of artistic libertarianism in a vipers den of architectural totalitarianism for as long as I can remember, and personally, Id be sad to see that change.
Obviously, in historical terms, Dana Point has positioned its style as a sort of quasi-Cape Cod groove, which is fine, as far as it applies to certain sites and areas of the city. However, once you leave the specific planned areas, you see Dana Points real charactera huge variety of styles and individual visions of architecture. Take a look at it! You have the recently completed pedestrian overpass at the south end of town in the Spanish Colonial style only a short walk away from the Organic Modernist landmark that is the Chart House Restaurant.
Our two closest neighbors, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, are perfect examples of what I call architectural despotism. While San Juan Capistrano has a bit more credibility for its attitude in light of its long history (dating back to Spanish colonization in the 18th century), San Clementes is laughable in my view, dating back to the vision of a property developer in the early 20th century.
To paraphrase Henry Ford, in vast swathes of San Clemente, You can build anything you like, as long as it has a red tile roof, white plaster and wood windows. Since childhood, I always felt that attitude was utterly antithetical to the American ideal. Id sure be disappointed to see that happen to Dana Point. As a property owner, I find it positively offensive.
If you want to dictate aesthetic values on a piece of property Ive bought and paid for, that brings us right down to the level of statist organs like the old Soviet Union and China. I dont think that was Franklin or Jeffersons vision of the United States. Rather, their vision was to create a society of individuals free to pursue their own desires as long as they didnt infringe on their neighbors rights or property. The argument that putting, for instance, a Modernist building next to someone elses Spanish Colonial Revival villa will detract from its value is a threadbare, tenuous argument. Any realtor will tell you that good location, practical zoning standards and quality schools take the lead in property valuation; architectural style of the neighboring buildings is of almost zero relevance.
If I were made king for a day, Id like to see something unique happen with Dana Point. Id like to see it embrace an attitude of encouraging good architecture, period; no matter the textbook style being expressed. As such, any future planning documents would need to contain standards embracing several architectural styles, and even hybrids of those styles.
As a professional in the field, I enjoy experiencing a wide range of styles from the classical to the modern; my only requirements to declare them good is that they be well-designed, well-constructed and compliant with the zoning standards. Dana Point already has mechanisms in place to insure those qualities, and has maintained a knowledgeable, competent staff of community development personnel to uphold the standards.
If a planning document had to be created, it should provide examples and guidelines for all of Californias imported styles, such as Spanish Colonial, Cape Cod and Mediterranean (to name just a few) as well as its indigenous, vernacular styles such as the 1930s through 1960s wood-clad, heavily-glazed beach cottage, Rudolph Schindlers California modernism, and the Arts and Crafts-era bungalow style (a.k.a. Craftsman style); again, naming just a few.
Follow this link:
DCDC14 | The Human Genetics Historical Library: collecting for the future – Video
DCDC14 | The Human Genetics Historical Library: collecting for the future
Karen Pierce, Cardiff University Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities 2014 was a collaborative conference hosted by The National Archives and Research Libraries UK, in partnership...
By: ResearchLibrariesUK
The rest is here:
DCDC14 | The Human Genetics Historical Library: collecting for the future - Video
Nvidia GPUs could help combat cancer in human genome research
NVIDIA GPUshave been used to uncover the inner workings of the human genome, finding that it works in folds in the same way as origami.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University, MIT and Harvard University said they used the graphics processors to map in unprecedented detail how the human genome folds.
This new information might provide new clues for cell function as well as new approaches to combat cancer and other complex diseases, Nvidia said.
Led by Erez Aiden, assistant professor of genetics at Baylor and assistant professor of computer science and computational and applied mathematics at Rice, the project found that the human genome is folded into around 10,000 loops.
These loops form when two widely separated bits of DNA come into contact in the folded version of the genome in a cell's nucleus.
The researchers learned that these loops and other genome folding patterns are an essential part of genetic regulation.
Genes can be switched on or off just by folding the genome into different shapes, allowing cells to take on a wide range of functions.
The research team relied on high-performance computer clusters and custom algorithms via the Nvidia GPUs to analyse large quantities of genome data.
"We faced a real challenge because we were asking how each of the millions of pieces of DNA in the database interact with each of the other millions of pieces," said Miriam Huntley, a doctoral student at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
See the original post here:
Nvidia GPUs could help combat cancer in human genome research
Rare mutations do not explain 'missing heritability' in asthma
Largest study to date of rare genetic variants and asthma risk finds few associations
Despite a strong suspected link between genetics and asthma, commonly found genetic mutations account for only a small part of the risk for developing the disease - a problem known as missing heritability.
Rare and low frequency genetic mutations have been thought to explain missing heritability, but it appears they are unlikely to play a major role, according to a new study led by scientists from the University of Chicago. Analyzing the coding regions of genomes of more than 11,000 individuals, they identified mutations in just three genes that were associated with asthma risk. Each was associated with risk in specific ethnicities. Their findings, published in Nature Communications on Jan. 16, suggest gaps in the current understanding of asthma genetics.
"Previous studies have likely overestimated the heritability of asthma," said study senior author Carole Ober, PhD, Blum-Riese Professor and chair of the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. "This could be because those estimates are based on correlations between family members that share environment as well as genes, which could inflate the heritability. Gene-environment interactions are not considered in these large scale association studies, and we know that these are particularly important in establishing individual risks for asthma."
Asthma affects more than 25 million adults and children of all ages and ethnicities in the US. Due to the widespread nature of the disease, most studies of its genetic underpinnings have focused on commonly occurring mutations, referred to as genetic variants. However, while numerous such variants have been identified, they are able to account for only a small proportion of the risk for inheriting or developing asthma. Rare mutations, found in less than five percent of the population, have been hypothesized to explain this disparity.
Graduate student Catherine Igartua led the analysis under the supervision of co-senior author Dan Nicolae, PhD, Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Statistics and Human Genetics. She evaluated nearly 33,000 rare or low frequency mutations in more than 11,000 individuals of a variety of ethnicities representing European, African and Latino backgrounds. She analyzed mutations jointly across subjects, using a technique that allowed them to study mutations common in one ethnicity, but rare in others.
Only mutations in the genes GRASP, GSDMB and MTHFR showed a statistical link to asthma risk. Mutations in the first two genes were found primarily in Latino individuals, and mutations in the last gene in those with African ancestry. These genes, involved in protein scaffolding, apoptosis regulation and vitamin B9 metabolism respectively, have as yet unknown roles in asthma. The rarity and ethnic-specificity of these genes is insufficient to account for the widespread prevalence of asthma.
Although rare mutations might not contribute much to population asthma risk, these genes still have the potential to serve as targets for therapeutic development. Ober points to the discovery of rare mutations in the LDL receptor that eventually led to the development of statins to treat high cholesterol. She also notes that it is possible, but unlikely, that there are mutations with large effects on asthma risk outside of their screen as it looked at approximate 60 percent of mutations in coding regions of the genome.
"It was assumed that there would be rare mutations with larger effect sizes than the common variants we have been studying," Ober said. "Surprisingly, we found that low frequency mutations explain only a very small amount of asthma risk."
###
See more here:
Rare mutations do not explain 'missing heritability' in asthma
About Vaccine on Children,Children Health care,BayonTV Knowledge Line,15 01 2015,part1/2 – Video
About Vaccine on Children,Children Health care,BayonTV Knowledge Line,15 01 2015,part1/2
About Vaccine on Children,Children Health care,BayonTV Knowledge Line,15 01 2015,part1/2 About Vaccine on Children,Children Health care,BayonTV Knowledge Line,15 01 2015: part1: ...
By: KhmerHot99
View original post here:
About Vaccine on Children,Children Health care,BayonTV Knowledge Line,15 01 2015,part1/2 - Video
3 Tips for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions – BEXLIFE – Video
3 Tips for Keeping Your New Year #39;s Resolutions - BEXLIFE
21 DAYS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE: http://bexlife.com/21mantras SIGN UP FOR FREE GOODIES: http://bit.ly/BlissNotes ------- GET MORE GOOD STUFF BELOW ------- 3 Tips for Keeping Your ...
By: Rebekah Borucki
See original here:
3 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions - BEXLIFE - Video
Big Data: What It Means To You with Lucila Ohno-Machado MD – Video
Big Data: What It Means To You with Lucila Ohno-Machado MD
Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Dr. Lucila Ohno-Machado of UC San Diego shows how electronic health records from billions of doctor #39;s visits could help scientists learn what therapies work best...
By: University of California Television (UCTV)
See more here:
Big Data: What It Means To You with Lucila Ohno-Machado MD - Video
Dr. Ali of AlignLife Dundee talks about Spinal Decay – Video
Dr. Ali of AlignLife Dundee talks about Spinal Decay
Do you know what happens when the bones decay in your spine? Let Dr. Ali tell you about it and for more information contact Dr. Ali at http://alignlife.com/dundee dundee@alignlife.com 863-438-2772...
By: AlignLife - Chiropractic Natural Health Center
Continue reading here:
Dr. Ali of AlignLife Dundee talks about Spinal Decay - Video
Stephanie Harman, MD, on How Palliative Care at Stanford is Unique – Video
Stephanie Harman, MD, on How Palliative Care at Stanford is Unique
Learn more about palliative care at Stanford: https://stanfordhealthcare.org/palliativecare.
By: Stanford Health Care
Here is the original post:
Stephanie Harman, MD, on How Palliative Care at Stanford is Unique - Video
Ibn Sina Foundation North Shepherd on Univision 45 – Video
Ibn Sina Foundation North Shepherd on Univision 45
Coverage of the opening of Ibn Sina Foundation #39;s sixth Community Clinic. This one is located in Houston on North Shepherd. The Ibn Sina Foundation was established in 2001 by a group of local...
By: Barbara Magana Robertson
Read the original post:
Health care costs and quality, pharmaceutical effectiveness, and a new health strategy. – Video
Health care costs and quality, pharmaceutical effectiveness, and a new health strategy.
By: Michael Prytula
More:
Health care costs and quality, pharmaceutical effectiveness, and a new health strategy. - Video
Austin TX Chiropractic Health Care – Austin Preferred – Video
Austin TX Chiropractic Health Care - Austin Preferred
http://austinpreferred.com/ Austin TX Chiropractic Health Care - Austin Preferred Austin Preferred Spine Sports Rehab Dr. Jeff W. Fluitt, D.C. 4316 James Casey Street Building B, Suite...
By: Austin Preferred Spine Sports Rehab
Continued here:
Austin TX Chiropractic Health Care - Austin Preferred - Video
All About That PACE, featuring OKC’s Lucky – Video
All About That PACE, featuring OKC #39;s Lucky
The creative Valir PACE team put together a fun music video to a familiar tune, in an effort to spread the word of the wonderful benefits the Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE)...
By: Valir Health
Visit link:
Ukraine: Donetsk health care system collapsing, WHO says – Video
Ukraine: Donetsk health care system collapsing, WHO says
The World Health Organization reports that the health system in the conflict-ridden eastern Ukrainian region around Donetsk is collapsing. The WHO says five million people living in the pro-Russian...
By: teleSUR English
Go here to see the original:
Ukraine: Donetsk health care system collapsing, WHO says - Video
Maryland Health Care Commission – January 2015 Commission Meeting – Video
Maryland Health Care Commission - January 2015 Commission Meeting
January 2015 Commission Meeting of the Maryland Health Care Commission.
By: MDHealthCareComm
Excerpt from:
Maryland Health Care Commission - January 2015 Commission Meeting - Video
gestational diabetes treatment – Video
gestational diabetes treatment
gestational diabetes treatment The goals of treatment are to keep blood sugar (glucose) levels within normal limits during the pregnancy, and to make sure that the growing baby is healthy....
By: Childbirth Classes Online
Here is the original post:
More Americans Getting Needed Health Care, Survey Shows
By Karen Pallarito HealthDay Reporter Latest Prevention & Wellness News
THURSDAY, Jan. 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Although problems persist, more Americans had significantly less trouble getting and paying for needed medical care in 2014, as the health insurance expansions of the Affordable Care Act kicked in, a new survey suggests.
The number of working-age adults who said they didn't get the care they needed because of the cost dropped to 66 million in 2014 from 80 million in 2012 -- the first decline since 2003, according to The Commonwealth Fund's latest Biennial Health Insurance Survey.
At the same time, fewer adults -- 64 million in 2014 versus 75 million in 2012 -- reported medical bill problems, and that's the first decrease since 2005.
"This new report provides evidence that the Affordable Care Act's new subsidized options for people who lack insurance from employers are helping to reverse national trends in health care coverage and affordability," Commonwealth Fund President Dr. David Blumenthal said in a news conference with reporters Wednesday afternoon.
Uninsured rates tumbled to their lowest levels in more than a decade, the survey found. A total of 29 million working-age adults (16 percent of the population) were uninsured in 2014, down from 37 million (20 percent of the population) in 2010.
It is "the first statistically significant decline measured by the survey since it began in 2001," noted Sara Collins, vice president for health care coverage and access at The Commonwealth Fund, which publishes the nation's longest-running nonfederal survey of health insurance coverage.
The Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," broadened access to health coverage through Medicaid and private health insurance subsidies. Just 26 states and the District of Columbia expanded Medicaid in 2014, after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to opt out of that requirement.
Beginning in September 2010, the health reform law made it possible for young adults under the age of 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance plans.
The survey shows young adults realized the greatest gains in coverage of any age group. Among 19- to 34-year-olds, 19 percent were uninsured in 2014, down from 27 percent in 2010.
View original post here:
Evergreen Health Co-op aims to compete with the health care giants
Dr. Peter Beilenson thought fighting the intractable rates of drug use and sexually transmitted diseases in Baltimore was tough. Then the former city health commissioner took on health insurance.
"It's the hardest job I've had," said Beilenson, founder and CEO of Evergreen Health Cooperative, a nonprofit insurer created under the federal Affordable Care Act to offer "patient-centered" care and bring cost-curbing competition to the market.
"We're first new commercial insurer in 20 years in Maryland as far as we know," he said. "It's not easy to have a successful startup in a state that basically has a monopoly."
Beilenson is referring to CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the state's dominant insurer. Evergreen is one of 24 such co-ops, officially called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, established nationwide, and many of them face similar behemoths.
That fierce competition is the biggest hurdle to the co-ops' success, executives and observers say, as the nascent operations enter their second year of business. But there are a host of other potential stumbling blocks, including name recognition and funding, and the co-ops are responding by boosting their industry knowledge, aggressively marketing their services and cutting premium prices to lure customers.
"They're coming on as strong as they can," said Jonathan Weiner, professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "No startup organization can be expected to grow more rapidly than they are. But I think it would be tough to judge any organization before three to five years."
Weiner said federal officials gave the co-ops a leg up with billions in federal loans and grants, which competing insurers derided as unfair. But the co-ops only enrolled about 450,000 in the inaugural year, missing government projections by 125,000, largely because of dysfunction on many new health exchange websites such as Maryland's, where the co-ops expected to get their customers.
Evergreen set up a traditional network of doctors in preparation for the business but also opened its own health centers to directly employ health care providers. But it struggled, only getting about 400 customers last year from the troubled exchange.
That near-death experience pushed Evergreen to look to small businesses that it could attract on its own and enroll in groups. So far, about 1,000 small businesses employing about 12,000 people have switched to the co-op.
Studies suggest these customers pose less risk because they previously had health care unlike most of those from the exchanges. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that about 60 percent of individuals buying policies on exchanges were previously uninsured for two years or more and in worse health than those who already had insurance.
Read more from the original source:
Evergreen Health Co-op aims to compete with the health care giants
Health care experts address oil, gas concerns at Greeley meeting of Colorado task force
Answers to the tough questions of how oil and gas drilling is affecting Coloradans health havent come easy in recent years, and there wasnt much more clarity offered for members of the Colorado Oil and Gas task force on Thursday.
It was as simple as the goods on the table that sat before the 21-member task force assembled at the 4H Building at Island Grove Regional Park.
Members giggled a little as Dr. Larry Wolk, director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, presented them with products hed picked up at local stores: a bottle of Coke, a bottle of beer, a pack of cigarettes, a bag of Skittles, a quart of motor oil, some marijuana and a cup of caffeinated coffee.
Which is really the worst for your health? he asked. Which would be worse if you ate it? Or would it be worse if we aerosoled it and breathed it? Which would be worse if you were pregnant, a child, or elderly, or just had one Skittle versus 12 (bottles of Coke)? Is it better to smoke the marijuana or eat it?
Its about exposure we want it to be simple, and we want a simple answer to the question. This is a complicated question.
Wolk was one of four health care experts presenting before the task force in the groups fifth meeting to determine recommendations to solve resident concerns of increased urban drilling. About 200 people attended Thursdays meetings in Greeley.
Residents have fears that close proximity to oil and gas drilling and storage is dangerous to their health. Studies in recent years suggest increased risk in closer proximity to facilities, but nothing definitive. Its dependent on topography, temperature, wind direction, genetics, and length of exposure, among others.
While the four collectively seemed to agree that more study is needed to discover solid health effects, none said they had enough information to recommend to the task force a setback, or a minimum distance drilling should be from residential structures or schools.
I dont think we know quite enough for me to recommend a number, said Gabrielle Petron, a researcher at the University of Colorado, and a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who has been part of team conducting air studies along the Front Range for about seven years.
Oil and gas opponents throughout the state last year sought to increase the distance from oil and gas operations and residential structures to 2,000 feet up from the current 500 feet in law today. The task force was formed as a compromise by Gov. John Hickenlooper to avoid a public vote on the matter. The task force will take up that discussion in more detail today.
Visit link:
Health care experts address oil, gas concerns at Greeley meeting of Colorado task force