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We've suddenly realised how much Georgia May Jagger looks like her mother. Oh to be famous, fabulous, and the daughter of fashion/rock royalty.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Breastfeeding and Losing Weight
Are there any other moms on here who are trying to find the balance between losing weight while still providing nutrition for your baby?
Obama Administration to Challenge Judge's Ruling on 'Morning-After' Pill
Move follows FDA ruling that females aged 15 or older could get Plan B drug without a prescription
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- A federal judge's order to eliminate any age limit on who can buy morning-after birth control pills without a prescription was challenged in court Wednesday by the Obama administration.
The government appeal follows on the heels of a Tuesday decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lower the age that people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 - younger than the current limit of 17.
With the appeal, the government has signaled that it will only ease access to emergency contraception a certain amount, the Associated Press reported Wednesday night.
The emergency contraceptive is made by Teva Women's Health Inc.
"Research has shown that access to emergency contraceptive products has the potential to further decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies in the United States," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg said in an agency news release.
"The data reviewed by the agency demonstrated that women 15 years of age and older were able to understand how Plan B One-Step works, how to use it properly and that it does not prevent the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease," she said.
To prevent girls under the age of 15 from buying Plan B, the FDA said the product will bear a label stating that proof of age will be required, and a special product code will prompt such an inquiry from the cashier. "In addition, Teva has arranged to have a security tag placed on all product cartons to prevent theft," the FDA noted.
On April 5, Judge Edward Korman, from the Eastern District of New York, gave the FDA 30 days to remove age restrictions on the sale of emergency contraception, such as Plan B One-Step. Until now, girls 16 and younger needed a doctor's prescription to get the pill, which typically works if taken within 72 hours after intercourse.
Other brands of emergency contraception include Next Choice and Ella.
The move is the latest chapter in a 10-year, controversial debate about who should have access to the drug and why.
Plan B prevents implantation of a fertilized egg in a woman's uterus through use of levonorgestrel, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone used for decades in birth control pills. Plan B contains 1.5 milligrams of levonorgestrel, more than "the Pill" contains. It is considered a form of birth control, not abortion.
Women's health advocates praised the FDA decision.
"While there are still practical questions to resolve, this is an important step forward to expand access to emergency contraception and for preventing unintended pregnancy," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a news release.
"Emergency contraception is a safe and effective form of birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken within five days of unprotected sex," she added. "This decision will eliminate some of the biggest barriers and hurdles that women face in getting emergency contraception when they need it, which means many more women will be able to prevent unintended pregnancy."
Why I Owe My Life To Slayer
For those among you that haven't cottoned on by now, I'm a bit of a goth. I don't mean that in the traditional, platform boots, residency in Whitby sense, but I am partial to the colour black. And Joy Division. Oh, and red wine. Dark, solitary spaces. And if I'm going to be completely honest, I find graveyards places of serenity and beauty, rather than fearful expanses of land, in which I am continually spanked in the face with tombstone-shaped reminders of my own, lumbering mortality. I am largely unaffected by gore. I love a bloody horror movie. I appreciate any form of music/film/art that challenges the socially acceptable, much of which, as a result, is often considered deeply offensive. I wish black magic was real. I wish unicorns were real (not so goth). And I can't stop reading stories about serial killers.
OK, FINE.
I'm a lot goth.
But it is within the dimly lit world I choose to inhabit that I continually source my own light. And it all started with one record: Slayer's Reign In Blood.
Perhaps it was fate that brought us together. I'd grown up listening to metal bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, AC/DC and Megadeth, thanks to my older brother's stellar taste in music and my excellent tape-stealing skills. Whole childhood holidays were spent buried away in a back room, Walkman in ears, listening to hours of blistering Bay Area thrash while my pals learned the words to Wannabe by the Spice Girls. Hell, my dad used to get us to sleep as babies by playing Black Sabbath's Paranoid on repeat, so it's fair to assume that the aurally intense has always provided me with some form of comfort.
But it was during some particularly difficult years as a young adult that those sounds started to feel as redundant as I did. The primary-coloured melodies of Maiden and Megadeth did little to provide the catharsis I now needed. Plus, it's hard to seek solace in the music of a grown man who refuses to take to the stage dressed in anything other than school uniform.
So it's funny to think that just nine months before I was born, four men - Tom Araya, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo - and one production legend, Rick Rubin, set to work on the album that would not only define the emerging US thrash scene and propel the development of extreme music, but would go on to colour my not-yet-existent life for the better.
I'm almost certain it was no coincidence that 7 October 1986 was the date Def Jam chose to release Reign In Blood into the world. I was born just one week later, a true child of Slayer from the offing by sheer association. It was clearly meant to be.
Yet it wasn't until some 16 years later, when vinyl had all but been replaced by the shiny, iridescent wonders we now know as the Compact Disc, that I switched on, whacked up the volume and was finally able to connect with something that - through its aural assault of blistering blast beats, off-key devil scales and hellish vocals - was just as angry and dark and desperate as I felt.
And my connection didn't stop there. After becoming a fully-fledged fan from the moment I pressed play, they became the first real band I ever saw live. As a teenage girl, you can imagine my terror as grown, hulking men began hurling themselves off the balcony at the Brixton Academy into the whirling mosh pits below, as the guitars boomed, heavy and low, the drums pounded like a pneumatic drill and cries of 'Angel Of Death!' filled the sweat-drenched air. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't particularly clever, either. But I loved every minute of it. And I couldn't wait to relive it all over again.
A few years after that show, I decided I wanted to become a music journalist. Slayer had acted as a real gateway, opening up the possibilities of strange new genres and giving me an insatiable appetite for discovering new music.
I started by writing for my student paper. Then for online music blogs. I ran a rock club, put on my own shows, got involved in the local DIY scene, and eventually landed an internship at Terrorizer. After doing A CRACKING job (own trumpet = blown), I wound up writing for the metal music mag. My dreams came true when they asked me to interview Kerry King, Slayer's enigmatic, tattoo-headed guitarist.
I can't remember much from our meeting, other than him asking "who the f*ck" these kids Trivium were (they were main support for Slayer that day) and telling me just how many friends he had in the business. All I wanted to do, quite unprofessionally, was reach over, knuckle that famous noggin of his, and tell him just how much that record meant to me. How much it had defined my life thus far. I didn't, of course.
Since then, I've gone on to write for a bunch of people - including Revolver, Rock Sound, the Record Collector, a load of local and national papers, GQ.com, CNTraveller.com and Iron Fist, to name a few. I'm now the Entertainment Editor for GLAMOUR.com. I've travelled quite a way away from the alternative world I started out in, but I've never discriminated against a genre and stand by the belief that doing something out of the ordinary enriches your knowledge and experience in other things, rather than takes away from them.
Even so, I've never given up Slayer, and no matter where I've worked, I've continued to write about the band over the years.
The last time I had the pleasure of harping on about Reign In Blood was for a piece I wrote for TheQuietus.com, in which I quizzed frontman Tom Araya about guitarist Jeff Hanneman's ill health. In true, horror movie style, he'd managed to contract a flesh-eating disease caused by a spider bite he'd picked up, but was starting to play guitar again and they were hoping he'd recover enough to make it back on tour.
Tragically, last night, the band confirmed the news that Jeff Hanneman had died. He'd suffered a liver failure, leaving his wife and siblings behind him. He was just 49.
"It's hard to envision a world in which thrash pioneers Slayer do not exist," I wrote in the opening line.
That envisioning is now very much a reality. Never again will any of us see the original line-up of Slayer play live. Never will they make another record. Never will they hilariously call out Metallica's clangers or take a pop at Mr Mustaine (he just makes it too easy). None of this will ever happen again.
Yes, I am a massive cliché, I fully realise. But I genuinely owe my life to this band. So if you see a slightly gothy-looking girl in skinny jeans and a Slayer jacket this weekend, stop and give her a hug. She's going to need it.
« Back to more Life, Love & SexKelly the Robot Helps Kids Tackle Autism
By Amy NortonHealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Using a kid-friendly robot during behavioral therapy sessions may help some children with autism gain better social skills, a preliminary study suggests.
The study, of 19 children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), found that kids tended to do better when their visit with a therapist included a robot "co-therapist." On average, they made bigger gains in social skills such as asking "appropriate" questions, answering questions and making conversational comments.
So-called humanoid robots are already being marketed for this purpose, but there has been little research to back it up.
"Going into this study, we were skeptical," said lead researcher Joshua Diehl, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, who said he has no financial interest in the technology.
"We found that, to our surprise, the kids did better when the robot was added," he said.
There are still plenty of caveats, however, said Diehl, who is presenting his team's findings Saturday at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in San Sebastian, Spain.
For one, the study was small. And it's not clear that the results seen in a controlled research setting would be the same in the real world of therapists' offices, according to Diehl.
"I'd say this is not yet ready for prime time," he said.
ASDs are a group of developmental disorders that affect a person's ability to communicate and interact socially. The severity of those effects range widely: Some people have mild problems socializing, but have normal to above-normal intelligence; some people have profound difficulties relating to others, and may have intellectual impairment as well.
Experts have become interested in using technology -- from robots to iPads -- along with standard ASD therapies because it may help bridge some of the communication issues kids have.
Human communication is complex and unpredictable, with body language, facial expressions and other subtle cues coming into the mix, explained Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks.
A robot or a computer game, on the other hand, can be programmed to be simple and predictable, and that may help kids with ASDs better process the information they are being given, Dawson said.
"Broadly speaking," she said, "we are very excited about the potential role for technology in diagnosing and treating ASDs." But she also agreed with Diehl that the findings are "very preliminary," and that researchers have a lot more to learn about how technology -- robots or otherwise -- fits into ASD therapies.
For the study, Diehl's team used a humanoid robot manufactured by Aldebaran Robotics, which markets the NAO robot for use in education, including special education for kids with ASDs. The robot, which stands at about 2 feet tall, looks like a toy but it's priced more like a small car, Diehl noted.
The NAO H25 "Academic Edition" rings up at about $16,000. (Diehl said the study was funded by government and private grants, not the manufacturer.)
The researchers had 19 kids aged 6 to 13 complete 12 behavioral therapy sessions, where a therapist worked with the child on social skills. Half of the sessions involved the robot, named Kelly, which was wheeled out so the child could practice conversing with her, while the therapist stood by.
"So the child might say, 'Hi Kelly, how are you?'" Diehl explained. "Then Kelly would say, 'Fine. What did you do today?'" During the non-Kelly sessions, another person entered the room and carried on the same conversation with the child that the robot would have.
On average, Diehl's team found, kids made bigger gains from the sessions that included Kelly -- based on both their interactions with their therapists, and their parents' reports.
"There was one child who, when his dad came home from work, asked him how his day was," Diehl said. "He'd never done that before."
Still, he stressed that while the robot sessions seemed more successful on average, the children varied widely in their responses to Kelly. Going forward, Diehl said, it will be important to figure out whether there are certain kids with ASDs more likely to benefit from a robot co-therapist.
Dawson agreed that there is no one-size-fits-all ASD therapy. "Any therapy for a person with an ASD has to be individualized," she said. The idea with any technology, she added, is to give therapists and doctors extra "tools" to work with.
A separate study presented at the same meeting looked at another type of tool. Researchers had 60 "minimally verbal" children with ASDs attend two "play-based" sessions per week, aimed at boosting their ability to speak and gesture. Half of the kids were also given a "speech-generating device," like an iPad.
Three and six months later, children who worked with the devices were able to say more words and were quicker to take up conversational skills.
Dawson said the robot and iPad studies are just part of the growing body of research into how technology can not only aid in ASD therapies, but also help doctors diagnose the disorders or help parents manage at home.
But both Diehl and Dawson stressed that no robot or iPad is intended to stand in for human connection. The idea, after all, is to enhance kids' ability to communicate and have relationships, Dawson noted. "Technology will never take the place of people," she said.
The data and conclusions of research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Joshua Diehl, Ph.D., assistant professor, psychology, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind.; Geraldine Dawson, Ph.D., chief science officer, Autism Speaks; May 4, 2013, presentation, International Meeting for Autism Research, San Sebastian, Spain
Weight gain after metabolic crash
stomach pain, bloating & meal plan help please! qwertylolokellz 4 Jun 09 2013
22:32 (UTC) Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.
22:32 (UTC) Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.
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