Asia Unites Against Poaching

Representatives from 13 Asian countries committed to immediate action to stamp out poaching at the conclusion of a four-day symposium hosted by the Nepal government in Kathmandu from February 2-6, 2015.

The Symposium: Towards Zero Poaching in Asia adopted five recommendations:

• Swift and decisive action to elevate the importance and effectiveness of antipoaching initiatives and cooperation among all relevant ministries, departments and agencies within their borders, while at the same time strengthening international cooperation in the face of this serious criminal activity.
• Adoption of the Zero Poaching Tool Kit and assessment of current antipoaching responses to determine improvements and close serious gaps.
• Increase and improve collaboration as a successful antipoaching response is critically dependant on effectively engaging a diverse number of shareholders
• Improve standards, training and support for rangers, other frontline staff and prosecutors.
• Commit to identifying a Zero Poaching national contact point to effectively coordinate transboundary efforts to stop poaching.

Tika Ram Adhikari, Director General of Nepal’s Department of Wildlife Conservation and Soil Conservation, said: “Nepal was proud to host this vital conversation in Asia because we recognize that poaching is robbing us of our wildlife wealth, which includes tigers, rhinos and elephants. We cannot allow wildlife crime to continue to wrap its tentacles deeper into the region. Our individual efforts may win us a few battles, but we can only win the war if Asia presents a united front to stop the poaching, end the trafficking and wipe out demand.”

Mike Baltzer, Leader, WWF Tigers Alive Initiative, said: “This is the beginning of the end for poaching across Asia. WWF is proud to have supported this landmark meeting and is committed to be part of the new determined movement for Zero Poaching in Asia.”

Nepal was the natural host for the symposium having achieved zero poaching for two years in the past four years. At the symposium, representatives from local communities, protected areas as well as enforcement agencies shared their lessons lea

At the closing ceremony, Nepal’s legendary Chitwan National Park (CNP) also became the first global site to be accredited as Conservation Assured Tiger Standard (CA|TS).Despite the threats that CNP faces, the protected area has seen an increasingly effective management and protection regime. This further demonstrates the commitment of Nepal towards zero poaching.

Thirteen Asian countries participated in the symposium: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Viet Nam, Malaysia, Russia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Lao PDR. Partner NGOs and other organisations included IUCN, TRAFFIC, CITES, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, US Department of Justice, SMART Partnership and Southern African Wildlife College.

WWF co-hosted the symposium with Global Tiger Forum, National Trust for Nature Conservation and the South Asian Wildlife Enforcement Network.

The symposium provides valuable direction on tackling poaching in advance of the Kasane Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade to be hosted by the Botswana government on 25th March 2015. This meeting follows the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade hosted by the UK government in February 2014, where 41 governments committed to taking “decisive and urgent action….” through the agreed declaration.

Home Environment Packs Big Impact on Kids’ IQ

A new study suggests a nurturing environment plays a strong role in enhancing a child’s intelligence.

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), the University of Virginia, and Lund University in Sweden discovered that young adults who were raised in educated households develop higher cognitive ability than those who were brought up in less ideal environments.

While the study does not contest previous findings that DNA impacts intelligence, it does prove that environmental influences play a significant role in cognitive ability as measured in early adulthood.

Researchers compared the cognitive ability — as measured by IQ — of 436 Swedish male siblings in which one member was reared by biological parents and the other by adoptive parents.

The IQ of the adopted males, which was measured at ages 18-20, was 4.4 points higher than their nonadopted siblings.

The findings have been published online in the Early Edition of the .

“In Sweden, as in most Western countries, there is a substantial excess of individuals who wish to adopt compared to adoptive children available,” said joint first author Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics, VCU School of Medicine.

“Therefore, adoption agencies see it as their goal of selecting relatively ideal environments within which to place adoptive children.”

The adoptive parents tended to be more educated and in better socioeconomic circumstances than the biological parents.

In the study, parental education level was rated on a five-point scale and each additional unit of rearing parental education was associated with 1.71 more units of IQ.

In the rare circumstances when the biological parents were more educated than the adoptive parents, the cognitive ability of the adopted away offspring was lower than the one who was reared by the genetic parents.

“Many studies of environmental effects on cognitive ability are based on special programs like Head Start that children are placed in for a limited amount of time,” said joint-first author Eric Turkheimer, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.

“These programs often have positive results while the program is in place, but they fade quickly when it is over. Adoption into a more educated household is the most permanent kind of environmental change, and it has the most lasting effects.”

Investigators share that previous studies have found that educated parents are more likely to talk at the dinner table, take their children to museums, and read stories to their children at night.

“We’re not denying that cognitive ability has important genetic components, but it is a naïve idea to say that it is only genes,” Kendler said.

“This is strong evidence that educated parents do something with their kid that makes them smarter and this is not a result of genetic factors.”

Social status and the social environment also play a factor in IQ development — a concept proved in a landmark 2003 study by Turkheimer. In that study, he demonstrated that the effect of genes on IQ depends on socioeconomic status.

The most recent study further affirms that finding.

“Differences among people in their cognitive ability are influenced by both their genes and environments, but genetic effects have often been easier to demonstrate because identical twins are essentially clones and have highly similar IQs,” Turkheimer said.

“Environmental effects have to be inferred, as in the rare event when pairs of siblings are raised by different parents in different socioeconomic circumstances. The Swedish population data allowed us to find that homes led by better educated parents produce real gains in the cognitive abilities of the children they raise.”

Source:

Nauert, R. (2015). Home Environment Packs Big Impact on Kids’ IQ. . Retrieved on March 25, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/25/home-environment-packs-big-impact-on-kids-iq/82756.html

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Best Foods to Eat While Pregnant

 

Even if you are already packing the value of an alphabet of vitamins and minerals in your daily meals length, may still worry that you are not taking enough questions right nutrition - especially if your appetite is not very close to Additionally speed through queasies early pregnancy. Enter, Stage Left, "nutritional superstars" - some familiar faces and some rising stars that reduce home with his performance in the sand on the diet

At 11 weeks of pregnancy, pregnancy these power foods twelve pack an amazing amount of nutrients in just a few bites, which makes them particularly effective when efficiency is a priority (like when you are too sick to eat a lot when you are gain weight too quickly, or when you win enough not fast). Place all the suite "" foods in your wish list:

1. Avocados: Loaded with folic acid (vital to forming your baby's brain and nervous system), potassium, vitamin C, and vitamin B6 (which not only helps baby's tissue and brain growth, but may also help with your morning sickness), avocados are a delicious way to get your vitamins. Spread some ripe avocado on your whole grain roll as a healthy substitute for mayo. Keep in mind that avocados are high in fat (though the very good kind) and calories, so heap them on your plate only if you're having trouble gaining weight.

2. Broccoli:Cruciferous favorite, packed with lots of vitamins A and C, calcium bonus (better build these baby bone) America, as well as children folate friends. Stir in pasta or stews, stir-fried with seafood or chicken, served with steam (with or without dressing), or buried in diving.

3. Carrots: What's up, Doc? Here's what: Carrots are tops when it comes to vitamin A, so important for the development of bones, teeth and baby eyes. They are perfect for chewing on the road, but also perfectly destroy almost anything (meatloaf cake salad). Carrots are also a good source of vitamins B6 and C and fiber to keep things movin '.

4. DHA eggs: The old egg is always a good egg, with a low calorie high protein punch in a tasty package. But here's the news: science now allows us to stir, fry, boil eggs or better, of course responsible for DHA, a type of omega-3 (the "good fat") fatty acids, which is an important component of the brain and of the retina, and is essential for brain development and training of the eye in the fetus. Also note that always loved eggs.

5. Edamame: Green pods are really ready soybeans - and they taste much better than they sound. Packed with protein, calcium, folic acid, vitamins A and B, edamame can be emptied by a handful as a snack (pepper, and you will never lose chips), or thrown in almost all of the soup is cooking, pasta cooked by frying succotash. They are also free replacement gas beads. So no edamame forget mom.

6. Lentils: Branch grain protein and folic acid, vitamin B6 and iron. The lenses are the gut (and spouse) and friendly plant easily absorb a variety of flavors from other foods and condiments.

7. Lentils: Branch grain protein and folic acid, vitamin B6 and iron. The lenses are the gut (and spouse) and friendly plant easily absorb a variety of flavors from other foods and condiments.

8. Mangoes: sweet revenge to avoid any plant, mangoes contain more vitamins A and C delicious bite bitten by a salad. This tropical favorite, also full of potassium, is particularly versatile, a perfect complement to sweet and savory dishes. Mix it in smoothies or soups, sauces or cut into pleasures, just a spoon and enjoy.

9. Nuts: Nuts are full of important minerals (copper, manganese, magnesium, selenium, zinc, potassium, calcium and even) and vitamin E. And even if they are high in fat, is particularly good for you to type. So, in short, go nuts with nuts (in moderation, if the rapid rise freely if you are winning slowly) and throw them in salads, pasta, meat and fish, baked goods.

10. Oatmeal: Here's a good reason to feel his oats (and eat often). They are full of fiber, B vitamins, iron and a number of other minerals. Fill in your breakfast bowl with them, but do not stop there. You can add oats - and all its nutritional superpowers - for pancakes, muffins, cakes, cookies, even cake.

Perceptions Harm Anorexic Men

Recent findings suggest that the perception of eating disorders as a female problem may be preventing boys and men from seeking help.

About one in eight people with anorexia nervosa is male. This equates to one in 2,000 men, compared with one in 250 women.

Anorexia is one of the four recognized types of eating disorders, with the others being bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). It has the highest mortality rate of all adolescent psychiatric conditions.

Rates among men are rising, but there is often poor recognition of the signs and symptoms of eating disorders in men, said Dr. Ulla Raisanen of Oxford University, U.K., and her team. As such, true rates may be higher than the official estimates. Some studies suggest that men with anorexia are more likely to engage in obsessive exercise and have more severe psychiatric problems as a result of the condition.

The team interviewed 39 young people aged 16 to 25 with an eating disorder. Of the interviewees, 10 were men. The male respondents had all been slow to realize that they had the potential signs and symptoms of an eating disorder. Crucially, behaviors such as going days without eating, purging, obsessive calorie-counting, exercise, and weighing became entrenched during this time.

Some cited the perception that eating disorders are a women’s problem as one of the main reasons why it took them so long to realize. One said he thought eating disorders only affected “fragile teenage girls”, and another said he thought these disorders were “something girls got”.

The eating disorder often went unrecognized by friends, family, and teachers, and was often only diagnosed at a crisis point such as being admitted to hospital for self-harming.

The study is published in the journal . The authors write, “Our findings suggest that men may experience particular problems in recognizing that they may have an eating disorder as a result of the continuing cultural construction of eating disorders as uniquely or predominantly a female problem.”

The team also reports that men’s experiences of the health care system were mixed. “They said they often had to wait a long time for specialist referral and had sometimes been misdiagnosed, or, as in one case, told by the doctor ‘to man up.’ They complained of insufficient information about eating disorders targeted specifically at men,” they write.

One participant was given information and advice, but still felt that “I don’t think there’s any real information out there particular for men or any even awareness that it exists.”

The men expressed a strong desire for balanced, gender-tailored information. They felt that gender-blind information reflected wider societal constructions of anorexia as predominantly or only affecting women.

A lack of understanding and training among health professionals may also contribute to delays in diagnosing and treating anorexia among men, in part because men with anorexia might account for symptoms regarding weight and dieting behaviors differently from female sufferers. For example, “unusual behaviors could be misinterpreted as personal choices,” they explain.

But they point out that the study is limited to young people, so does not contribute to an understanding of older people with eating disorders.

“Men with eating disorders are under-diagnosed, under-treated, and under-researched. In order to improve the outlook for men with eating disorders, early detection is imperative,” they state.

Early diagnosis and intervention for anorexia has been shown to prevent the development of long-term, potentially life-threatening, psychiatric issues. Treatment can include psychological and drug interventions as well as dietary advice, but early diagnosis and intervention is important for long-term outcomes.

Another recent study indicated that treatment outcomes in all eating disorders are better for men than women, when remission was measured by a return to healthy weight and relapsing.

“In order to improve prognosis for men with eating disorders, early detection is imperative,” the team writes.

“Primary care clinicians have a key role in recognizing early symptoms. Until information resources are made more appropriate for men with eating disorders, health care providers need to be particularly sensitive to men’s needs in relation to an illness so strongly associated with women.

“Raising awareness of eating disorders more widely in society is also crucial to help men (and women) to recognize and seek help before their symptoms and behaviors become intractable.

“It is important to decouple the experience and self-management of eating disorders from feminized cultural imagery, resources, and clinical practice if we wish to prevent men from dismissing signs and symptoms themselves, and prevent health and other professionals (e.g. teachers) from overlooking signs and symptoms in boys and young men that they may readily recognize as indicative of eating disorders in young women.”

Raisanen, U., & Hunt, K. The role of gendered constructions of eating disorders in delayed help-seeking men: a qualitative interview study. , 9 April 2014 doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004342

Collingwood, J. (2015). Perceptions Harm Anorexic Men. . Retrieved on March 24, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/23/perceptions-harm-anorexic-men/82671.html

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Autism Tied to Multiple Births After Fertility Treatments

A new paper reports the incidence of diagnosed autism was twice as high for assisted reproductive technology (ART) as non-ART births in a California study.

ART includes a group of complex procedures that are often utilized if a woman does not become pregnant after treatment with medical and surgical techniques. Techniques include intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization and third party assisted ART.

The new study reviewed nearly six million children born in California from 1997 through 2007.

Researchers report, however, that much of the association between ART and autism can be explained by age and education of the mother as well as adverse perinatal outcomes, especially multiple births. After accounting for these factors, the study showed an elevated risk only for mothers ages 20-34.

Notably, the study reported no significant increased risk of autism for women who gave birth to singleton children.

“These results indicate that the higher autism risk may be due mainly to the large numbers of multiple births and complications of pregnancy and delivery among children conceived with ART,” said Dr. Christine Fountain, assistant professor of sociology at Fordham University and affiliated researcher at Columbia University.

Autism impairs social interaction and predisposes children to restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Over the past three decades, California has witnessed a very large spike in autism cases, as have many other areas of the United States.

The study, a large collaboration between researchers at Columbia University, Fordham University, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was published by the .

The study was based on a massive linkage of different kinds of records from the California Birth Master Files for 1997 through 2007, the California Department of Developmental Services autism caseload for 1997 through 2011, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National ART Surveillance System for live births in 1997 through 2007.

In sum, information about all of the 5,926,251 live births, including 48,865 infants conceived with ART and 32,922 cases of autism diagnosed by the Department of Developmental Services were involved in the study which compared births originated using ART with births originated without ART for incidence of autism diagnosis.

“This study of the relationship between ART and autism is the largest to date,” said Dmitry Kissin, M.D., M.P.H., health scientist in CDC’s Division of Reproductive Health.

“The results indicate that reducing multiple births during ART may be beneficial for decreasing the risk of autism.”

Dr. Peter Bearman, Cole Professor of the Social Sciences and the lead investigator at Columbia University said, “While the risk of ART with respect to autism appears to be largely modifiable by restricting the procedure to single-embryo transfer, more research is needed to understand the precise mechanisms by which ART and autism are linked.”

Source:

Nauert, R. (2015). Autism Tied to Multiple Births After Fertility Treatments. . Retrieved on March 23, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/23/autism-associated-with-multiple-births-after-aggressive-fertility-efforts/82663.html

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Study Finds Boys More Affected by Sexual Music Videos

A new study has found unexpected gender differences among teenagers who watch music videos on television.

The study, conducted at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, found that sexually active youth of both genders think their peers are also sexually active after watching music TV.

But the study also found that when girls and boys perceive males in music videos as being sexually active, it makes boys watch more music TV, and girls watch less.

The study, published in Springer’s journal , notes that watching music videos is a popular pastime of European and American teenagers. The videos, however, are often criticized for having too much sexual content, for objectifying women and for promoting a recreational view of sexual activities. They also have been linked to teenagers becoming sexually active earlier in life, according to the researchers.

For their study, researchers gathered information three times over the course of a year from 515 Belgian teenagers between the ages of 12 and 15. The kids were asked how much music television they watched, how sexually active they were, and how sexually active they thought their peers were.

The researchers found that watching sexual music videos only had an effect on the sexual behavior of teenage boys, but not girls. They said they believe this behavior is influenced by the sexual scripts of music videos, which tend to show men taking a more active role in any sexual interaction.

Watching music videos definitely had an influence on how sexually active boys and girls thought peers of the same sex were, the researchers reported. It made them believe that many of their friends were also sexually active — even though this might not be true.

This, in turn, made the boys watch even more of this kind of television, according to the study’s findings. Girls, on the other hand, stopped watching this kind of television.

The researchers speculate that this might be a type of defense reaction on the part of girls who believe that many male peers are sexually active. The girls also may be rejecting media content that tends to portray girls as sexual objects, the researchers hypothesized.

“Regarding the influence of music television exposure on sexual behavior, our findings suggest that increased sexual activities may be triggered by media use among boys, but not among girls,” said co-author Eline Frison.

“As the portrayal of women as objects of lust reflects patriarchal values, media images that support this type of male dominance may provoke resistance in female viewers. This is especially valid among those who view such activity as a threat because of the high sexual activity rates of male peers.”

Source:

Wood, J. (2015). Study Finds Boys More Affected by Sexual Music Videos. . Retrieved on March 22, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/22/study-finds-boys-more-affected-by-sexual-music-videos/82589.html

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Age in Kindergarten Tied to Later Dropping Out, Crime

A new study has found that students who are older when they start kindergarten are more likely to drop out of school and commit serious crimes as teenagers.

Additionally, this negative outcome is significantly more likely for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to a researcher from Duke University.

“This research provides the first compelling evidence of a causal link between dropout and crime. It supports the view that crime outcomes should be considered in evaluating school reforms,” said lead author Dr. Philip J. Cook, a professor in Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

“Dropouts are greatly over-represented in prison, so we know there is a strong association between dropping out and crime,” he continued.

“But to establish causation requires an experiment. My analysis takes advantage of nature’s experiment associated with birth date.”

The study compared North Carolina public school students born 60 days before and 60 days after the school cutoff date. At the time of the study, North Carolina children had to turn five by Oct. 16 to be eligible to enter kindergarten that year, according to the researchers.

Previous studies have established that children born just after the school-entry cutoff date, who enter school “old for grade,” perform better academically than their younger classmates.

As a result, a growing number of parents have delayed enrolling their children whose birthdays fall shortly before the cutoff date, seeking to gain academic and social advantages, the researcher notes. Known as “academic redshirting,” this delay is more common for boys than girls and for whites than African-Americans.

In addition to performing better academically, Cook’s study found old-for-grade students were one-third less likely to engage in delinquent behavior while still in school.

“Up until the 16th birthday, it is all positive,” Cook said. “They are doing better, relative to their classmates, by every measure. It makes sense, because they are more mature.”

But after age 16, the picture shifts, according to Cook’s research. The old-for-grade students are more likely to drop out and be convicted of a felony before age 20.

The explanation for the seeming contradiction lies in the age at which students may legally withdraw from school, which is 16 in North Carolina, he noted.

“If they were born before the cutoff date, they have just 19 months between their 16th birthday and graduation to be tempted to drop out,” Cook said. “If they were born just after and enter school later, they have 31 months, and for some of them, it is an irresistible temptation.”

“It’s human nature,” he added. “For a lot of adolescents, high school is a drag.”

Among the old-for-grade students, the likelihood of dropping out and being convicted of a serious crime is 3.4 times greater for those born to an unwed mother and 2.7 times greater for those whose mothers were high school dropouts, according to the study’s findings.

Policymakers should take notice, Cook said.

“Even something as crude as a regulation that requires a kid stay in school to a fixed age, whether he wants to or not, has a considerable effect on criminal activity,” he said.

Rather than tie when kids can drop out to an age, states might consider requiring completion of a certain grade or a specified number of years in school, he said.

“People say there is no point keeping a kid in school who doesn’t want to be there because he won’t learn anything and he’ll be disruptive,” Cook said. “My findings suggest that intuitive argument is not entirely correct.”

“Even students who would rather drop out can benefit from staying in school when they are required to do so,” he concluded. “Otherwise they are prime candidates for recruitment into a life of crime.”

The study was published in the .

Source:

Wood, J. (2015). Age in Kindergarten Tied to Later Dropping Out, Crime. . Retrieved on March 22, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/03/21/age-in-kindergarten-tied-to-later-dropping-out-crime/82593.html

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