The Web 4 People Of World

 If you’re looking to catch an eyeful, just try your own search based on your preferred dates for travel and departure city.Consider America’s diverse landscapes— from the cypress-strewn swamps of Florida to the groaning glaciers of Alaska, and from the lobster-riddled nooks of Maine’s rocky coast to the alien lava fields of Hawaii. Few countries can boast the range of landscapes that define the United States. From sea to shining sea, jaw-meets-floor vistas departure city.

An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, according to a report released Tuesday in Shanghai by the WHO and UNAIDS that shows “more people are living longer due to the availability of drugs,” Reuters/Washington Post reports (Rujun/Chan, 11/24).

The 2009 AIDS epidemic update “shows there has been a significant drop in the number of new HIV infections,” suggesting that “HIV prevention programmes have had a significant impact,” the BBC reports. “Anti-retroviral therapy has also made a significant impact in preventing new infections in children as more HIV-positive mothers gain access to treatment preventing them from transmitting the virus to their children,” the BBC writes (11/24).

“The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention,” said Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS said in a UNAIDS press release. “However, the findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved,” he said. According the release, 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2008 – down 17% over the last eight years – and two million people died of AIDS-related illnesses (11/24).

“Officials say the global epidemic probably peaked in 1996 and that the disease looks stable in most regions, except for Africa,” the Associated Press/Wall Street Journal reports (Cheng, 11/24). According to the report, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 71 percent of all new HIV infections in 2008.

“International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up have yielded concrete and measurable results,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in the UNAIDS release. “We cannot let this momentum wane. Now is the time to redouble our efforts, and save many more lives” (11/24).

Reuters also features a factbox on the UNAIDS report (Cutler, 11/24).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ is breaking barriers. See how thousands of fans have made movie history!

According to the studio behind the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s ‘Twilight,’ the movie made more than $26 million on the first day, breaking all records for a first-day release.

Technique used in mice may offer hope to burn patients awaiting grafts

Embryonic stem cells, which can turn into a variety of cells in the body, can produce temporary skin that could help burn victims while they’re waiting for skin grafts, new research from France suggests.

The findings, reported in the Nov. 20 issue of The Lancet, could lead to treatments that build on the existing use of cell therapy to help burn patients recover from injuries.

In existing cell therapy, a person’s own skin cells are grown in the laboratory to provide replacement skin. But it takes weeks for the process to occur, and burn patients can suffer from a variety of complications while they wait for skin grafts.

In a new study on mice, stem cells produced skin cells, and the skin grafts appeared to be similar to human skin, the researchers reported.

They wrote that the new skin cells “could have clinical relevance as an unlimited resource for temporary skin replacement in patients with large burns awaiting autologous grafts.”

The easiest way to balance a bottom-heavy figure is to choose a little black dress that skims over the lower half of the body. Fuller skirts, like this Eliza J dress,  disguise heavy hips, while showing off the waist. A fitted halter or strapless silhouette — which accents a trim upper body — is very flattering for bottom-heavy figures.

Clothing is like a second skin. Everywhere you go, you have to wear clothes. It’s the law. After all, how many times have you seen the sign “No shirt. No shoes. No service” while you were out shopping? Granted it’s usually a convenience store sign, but the same basic principle applies everywhere. And even though you can shop online in your underwear, you’ll eventually have to leave the house. Trust us, your neighbors are hoping you’ll be wearing, at the very least, some Tommy Bahama® shorts and a Diesel® tank top.

And since they make stuff for just about any lifestyle, you’ll be hard pressed to find a reason why you don’t have to wear clothes. Some women keep their wardrobe as simple as a pair of 7 for All Mankind Jeans® and a Lucky Brand® t-shirt while other women glam it up with a fancy Calvin Klein® dress. Then, there are the men who love nothing more than an awesome suit or blazer by HUGO BOSS® while other dudes would rather wear Columbia® and Reef® cargo shorts and a …Lost® or O’Neill® hoodie.

When you look through the clothing stores, you’ll find a litany of men’s clothing, women’s clothing, kids’ clothing, boys’ clothing, and girls’ clothing. You’ll probably even find clothes for a dog. It is truly a dizzying assortment of shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, graphic t-shirts, jackets, coats, skinny jeans, regular jeans, maxi dresses, and oodles of kids clothes. Fortunately, you know your own style and can zone in on the perfect pair of cargos, khakis, or polos for whatever you have planned.

Clothes offer you the unique opportunity to say a little something about yourself. A summer dress could say you’re flirty, and a pant suit could say you’re serious about your job. Whatever you wear, make sure it says something about you and the lifestyle you lead. It’s a chance to let others in on who you are!

MONDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) — Pediatric food allergies, which can sometimes be life-threatening, are increasing at a dramatic rate in the United States, new research shows.

But the study authors aren’t sure if the rise in reports of food allergies reflects an increase in actual prevalence or if better awareness has led more people to seek treatment for their symptoms.

Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the number of children with food allergies has gone up 18 percent and the number seeking treatment for food allergy at emergency departments or hospitals has tripled since 1993.

“People are more aware of food allergies today, and that could have something to do with it,” said study author, Amy Branum, a health statistician for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But, when we looked at health-care surveys filled out by parents and those from the health-care sector, we saw the increase across the surveys so this may be more than just increased awareness.”

Results of the study were published online Nov. 16 and will appear in the December print issue of Pediatrics.

Although many people think of allergies as more of a nuisance than a serious health issue, food allergy in particular can be very serious, even life-threatening. The most common foods that people are allergic to include peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, soy, shellfish, fish and wheat, according to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

Symptoms often appear minutes after people eat a food that they’re allergic to, but it can sometimes take several hours before a reaction begins, according to the network. Typical symptoms of a food allergy include a tingling sensation in the mouth, swelling of the tongue or throat, trouble breathing, hives, stomach cramping, vomiting or diarrhea.

In the current study, the researchers used information from four different national data sources to assess the current rate of food allergies in the United States. The surveys included information from parents and from health-care providers, according to Branum.

The researchers found that between 1997 and 2007, the incidence of food allergy went up by 18 percent. Parents of almost 4 percent of U.S. children reported a food or digestive allergy in their child, the study authors noted.

There was also an increase in the rates of parent-reported skin allergy (eczema) during the same time period. Approximately 8.9 percent of U.S. children had experienced skin allergy in 2007, compared with 7.9 percent in 1997.

Health-care providers, on the other hand, reported that the number of children being treated for food allergies had tripled, the study found. Data from health-care providers was from 1993 to 2006.

Data included testing for immunoglobulin E, or IgE, antibodies in the blood for various foodstuffs, which can indicate an allergy. The percentage of children who tested positive for IgE antibodies for peanut allergy was 9 percent; for egg allergy, 7 percent; milk, 12 percent; and shrimp, 5 percent, the study found.

Though IgE antibodies can indicate a potential food allergy, the test is often better at ruling out who does not have an allergy, Branum said. A positive test doesn’t mean that someone definitely has a food allergy, but suggests that the potential is there.

The researchers also noted that Hispanic children had the lowest overall prevalence of food allergy but the greatest increases over time of parent-reported incidences of food allergy.

“People should be aware that food allergy may really be increasing,” Branum said. “If small children have symptoms when they eat a particular food, have that child checked out, particularly if they have co-occurring conditions like asthma and eczema.”

“Food allergies are real,” said Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit. “And it appears that the prevalence is rising.”

This will present various challenges, she noted. One is that there’s already a shortage of allergy specialists in many areas, Appleyard said. Another is that schools will have to gear up to take care of additional children with food allergy to ensure their safety during the school day and on field trips, she said.

Parents who suspect their child has a food allergy should first talk with the child’s primary care physician about symptoms. The problem could be a food intolerance rather than an allergy, she said, but the child might need to be tested by an allergy specialist to get a definitive diagnosis.

Public health is “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.” (Winslow, 1920)^{[citation needed]} It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided into the categories of epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social and behavioral health, and occupational health, are also important fields in public health.

The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease can be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures.