89% A Place at the Table

All Critics (53) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (6)

Hunger in America is not about a shortage of food but an abundance of poverty. This is where the spiral spins downward.

A shocking indictment of how people are starving in the land of plenty ...

You don't have to be a fan of info-graphics in social-justice docs to be troubled by one showing that the price of processed food has decreased in almost exact proportion to the rise in cost of fresh fruits and vegetables.

"A Place at the Table" presents a shameful truth that should leave viewers dismayed and angry: This nation has more than enough food for all its people, yet millions of them are hungry.

One thing is clear from "A Place at the Table": You cannot answer the question "Why are people hungry?," without also asking "Why are people poor?"

It specifically addresses our country's hunger crisis. But it also speaks to larger hungers. Hungers for independence, a dignified life, a better chance for ones children-in short, the American dream. See it and weep.

Filmmakers Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush chip away at the topic until their message becomes unassailable.

It doesn't offer much in terms of optimism, but provides an eye-opening glimpse into a frequently overlooked social issue.

Jacboson and Silverbush know how to make this potentially unpleasant news palatable and inspiring.

A documentary about the shocking extent of hunger in America, affecting 1 in 4 children.

Provides plenty of moving case studies...[but] it's most useful for its prismatic look at the problem of American hunger, examining the problem's recent history, its root causes...and its inextricability from other national crises...

Hunger in America, seen through the eyes of its victims, with an emphasis on children. Sobering documentary addresses a shameful problem.

As moving as the real lives are, for a film clearly intending to be a call for action, hunger cries out for more journalism and not just depressing stories and statistics.

A Place at the Table makes a strong case that hunger for one is a problem for all.

Directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush explore the surprisingly difficult obstacles to ending a situation where about 1 child out of 4 faces insecurity over where to get a meal.

A Place at the Table may bring to light a hunger epidemic the entire United States faces, but it also casts an even darker shadow on an already tainted world.

Powerful docu explores the problem of hunger in America.

An explosive investigative documentary about the injustices emanating from agricultural capitalism, how it's more about who gets to define what food is, and exactly who hugely profits from it.

...joined by an eclectic array of advocates and advisors to hit home the fact that, daily, millions of Americans go hungry.

Fine but conventional documentary on the problem of hunger in contemporary America.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_place_at_the_table_2013/

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Venezuela's PDVSA to keep funding socialist programs under Maduro

By Daniel Wallis

CARACAS (Reuters) - Nicolas Maduro's win in Venezuela's presidential election means state oil company PDVSA will continue funding the government's socialist policies while increasingly relying on deals with China and Russia.

The late Hugo Chavez picked Maduro, a 50-year-old former bus driver, to continue his self-declared revolution in the OPEC country where he nationalized most of the oil industry during his polarizing 14-year rule.

That put Venezuela's crude reserves, the world's biggest, at the service of Chavez's power base among the poor majority. Maduro, who narrowly won the presidential election on Sunday with 50.7 percent of votes, now takes office on a pledge to push forward his late boss's plan.

His opposition rival, Henrique Capriles, refused to recognize the result and demanded a recount, although the National Electoral Council said Maduro's victory was "irreversible".

Maduro can be expected to increase oil sales to political allies, especially China, at the expense of the United States, the traditional top buyer of Venezuelan crude, while taking on more debt from those partners.

Chavez turned PDVSA into the financial motor of his self-styled revolution, funding everything from sports and cultural events to free health clinics and home-building programs.

Critics say that stopped the company from focusing on its main priorities, leading to the neglect of older oil fields and new projects alike, and fomenting a culture in which technocrats were replaced by political appointees.

Chavez sharply increased fuel sales to China amid years of ideological tensions with the United States, turning Beijing into his government's biggest single source of foreign funding.

Venezuela now sends China about 430,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and products, up from just a few thousand bpd in 2005, in repayment for loans totaling $36 billion.

And the biggest Chinese energy company, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), is a key part of Venezuela's ambitious efforts to tap its vast Orinoco extra heavy crude belt, one of the planet's largest mostly-untapped hydrocarbon reserves.

Maduro's victory ensures the continuity of a string of projects in the Orinoco region with foreign partners that include U.S. major Chevron and Spain's Repsol - all drawn to the South American country in spite of Chavez's record of nationalizing oilfield operations in the past.

Early production began last month at one joint venture in the Orinoco between PDVSA and Italy's ENI, and the Venezuelan government expects output to begin within weeks at other projects with Chevron and CNPC.

Another key Orinoco project began pumping last September, Petromiranda, where PDVSA is partnered with a consortium of Russian companies led by state energy giant Rosneft.

FOCUS ON ORINOCO PROJECTS

Russia has given high-level support to its energy companies' efforts in Venezuela. During a visit in 2010, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin handed Chavez a $600 million check as part of a signing fee for their participation in the Orinoco.

And Igor Sechin, powerful deputy prime minister and chief executive at Rosneft, Russia's top crude producer, has been a regular visitor to discuss oil deals and arms sales.

Just weeks before the late Venezuelan president won re-election last October, Sechin donned a Chavez T-shirt to pose with workers as Petromiranda produced its first barrels.

Venezuelan officials hope the Orinoco projects will eventually add 2 million bpd of new output via investments of more than $80 billion. But that will take years, with executives at some joint ventures saying work has often been delayed by lack of infrastructure and delays in payments from PDVSA.

Venezuela has consistently taken a "hawkish" stance on global oil prices and Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who is also the president of PDVSA, says the government will continue to push for a minimum $100 per barrel at the next OPEC meeting, which is due to be held on May 31 in Vienna.

Venezuela is likely to import more processed fuels because of recurrent problems in its refinery network. They were starkly illustrated by an explosion that killed more than 40 people at the Amuay refinery last August. It was one of the global industry's most deadly accidents in decades.

As he faces a raft of economic challenges from day one, Maduro could be tempted to look at cutting local fuel subsidies that have made Venezuela's gasoline the cheapest in the world.

Venezuelans who see cheap petrol as a birth-right enjoy gasoline prices of around $0.06 per gallon - meaning it costs less than $2 to fill up an average SUV. Chavez was loathe to increase it since it could have revived memories of deadly riots in 1989 that were partly triggered by a fuel price hike.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast last month that whoever won the election would face a "Catch 22" situation.

Current policies of diverting oil revenue to costly social programs could not continue, it warned, without putting the industry and the whole economy at considerable risk.

"But neither can they be reversed without the risk of social unrest and political chaos," it said in a report.

PDVSA contributed almost $44 billion to social welfare programs last year. But despite high global oil prices, its profits slipped 6.1 percent to $4.2 billion - in part because it sold more fuel on the heavily subsidized domestic market.

Ramirez has told Reuters that Venezuela will maintain its oil industry tax and legal framework under Maduro, including an easing of the windfall tax system that was unveiled in January. That alone is unlikely to attract much new funding.

"More far-reaching changes will be needed to increase Venezuela's attractiveness as an investment destination," the IHS Energy consultancy said in a research note.

(Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Kieran Murray and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-pdvsa-keep-funding-socialist-programs-under-maduro-085314998--finance.html

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Key pathway to stop dangerous, out-of-control inflammation discovered

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A potential new strategy to developing new drugs to control inflammation without serious side effects has been found by Georgia State University researchers and international colleagues.

Jian-Dong Li, director of Georgia State's Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection, and his team discovered that blocking a certain pathway involved in the biological process of inflammation will suppress it.

Inhibiting a molecule called phosphodiesterase 4B, or PDE4B, suppresses inflammation by affecting a key gene called CLYD, a gene that serves as a brake on inflammation.

The research was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Li explained the process of overactive inflammation using a "police" analogy.

When a pathogen ? such as bacteria or viruses -- infects a patient, he said, it triggers an "alarm" to which the "police" of immune system respond. In turn, it triggers neutrophil attractant called cytokines to respond, leading to inflammation that serves to help rid the body of the pathogen. But if inflammation isn't stopped, tissue damage can result.

The pathways during the response are termed "positive," like a gas pedal on a car, and "negative," like a brake, with the process in the positive pathway going down the line from the pathogen to inflammation, and negative going the other direction. PDE4B is involved in controlling the negative pathway.

Many researchers have been focusing on developing anti-inflammatory agents by stopping the positive pathway, but the discovery by Li and his colleagues gives scientists a new route to stop inflammation using safer or even existing drugs proven to be non-toxic as they have found that accelerating the negative pathway will reduce inflammation.

"This is the key negative regulator that we have been searching after for years, " Li said.

There is a need for better drugs to control inflammation, because current treatments come with serious side effects, Li said. Steroids are commonly used, but cannot be used over the long-term. Steroids suppress the immune system.

###

Georgia State University: http://www.gsu.edu

Thanks to Georgia State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127677/Key_pathway_to_stop_dangerous__out_of_control_inflammation_discovered

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SCOTTEVEST + ThinkGeek = Tropiformer Jacket

Tech clothing mega designer SCOTTEVEST has teamed up with uber geek shop ThinkGeek to create an exclusive jacket. The Tropiformer Jacket is made of super lightweight, soft breathable fabric that will be great for that trip to the tropics or warm summer months in Southern Indiana. It features 22 pockets, 5 colors and the ability [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/04/10/scottevest-thinkgeek-tropiformer-jacket/

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ObamaCare Clusterfuck: Individual expatriate health insurance ...

Submitted by lambert on Sat, 04/06/2013 - 1:19pm

This article (registration required) appears to suggest yes:

Earlier this month, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Treasury (collectively, the "Departments") issued a new Frequently Asked Question ("FAQ") providing transitional relief from the Affordable Care Act's ("ACA") group health mandates for certain insured expatriate group health plans. ...

The FAQ also notes that expatriate health plans are a form of minimum essential health coverage under the ACA. This means that an individual covered by an expatriate health plan will not be subject to the individual mandate. In addition, employers will not be subject to the employer mandate penalty if they offer coverage under an expatriate health plan, provided the coverage is "affordable" and meets the minimum value requirement under the ACA.

For purposes of this transitional relief, an expatriate health plan is an insured group health plan with respect to which enrollment is limited to employees who reside outside of their home country for at least six months of the plan year and any covered dependents. Therefore, no transitional relief is available for self-funded health plans providing expatriate coverage and these plans must operate in compliance with the ACA's requirements.

But I would like to know a lot more about what "compliance with the ACA's requirements" means outside the United States, particularly with regard to exchange rate calculations.

Readers?

Source: http://www.correntewire.com/obamacare_clusterfuck_individual_expatriate_health_insurance_plans_count_toward_the_mandate

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In the UK, a DIY approach to mental health help

LONDON (AP) ? After crocheting a colorful blanket, Joan Ferguson snuggled up under it one night and proudly thought: "This is one groovy blanket. I'm brilliant."

Ferguson, 53, who struggles with low self-esteem, said it was the first time she had ever praised herself. She attributed the breakthrough in part to free self-help classes on mental health run by Britain's government-funded medical system.

With a long wait to see a psychologist, the British government is turning to the classroom to treat people with mild-to-moderate mental health problems with a mix of PowerPoint presentations and group exercises.

Ferguson's class of about 10 people, which meets once a week in east London, is led by two "psychological wellbeing practitioners." The instructors are trained for a year on how to help people change their behavior or thinking but they aren't fully fledged psychologists.

While some dismiss the approach as do-it-yourself therapy, experts say there is convincing evidence that people with conditions like depression and anxiety can be successfully treated without ever seeing a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

The strategy was adopted after Britain's independent health watchdog ruled that classes and self-help books are cost-effective. Treating people with mental health problems this way could get them back to work quicker and save the U.K. an estimated 700 million pounds in lost tax revenue over four years, a previous study found.

The government is aiming to use the classes to treat least 15 percent of the more than 6 million who need treatment for anxiety or depression. In 2011, only about 5 percent got some kind of therapy; about half were treated in classes or settings such as telephone sessions or computer therapy.

Those with more serious problems, like schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress disorder, are usually offered traditional psychotherapy.

The self-help classes have a recovery rate of about 46 percent, slightly lower than the 50 to 60 percent recovery rates for those who get personal psychological counseling, according to statistics from the department of health.

The British Psychological Society, a professional group, helped design the training received by the class instructors. The society's David Murphy, however, said the classes might not be a fit for everyone.

"Some people are wary about going to a class instead of seeing a psychologist," said Murphy, who isn't involved with the program.

The classes often require more effort by the individual than working with a psychologist, he said.

"For the (self-help) classes to be effective, the onus is on the patient to change what they're doing in between sessions," Murphy said.

Some American experts weren't sure the approach would work in the United States.

"The expectations of treatment are very different in the U.S.," said Michael Otto, a professor of psychology at Boston University who has studied self-help approaches. "People think, 'if I'm going to be paying for care, I want to get the treatment I want and that's often personal therapy."

Otto said the downside to such self-help programs is that people who don't get better might just give up.

Instructor Nabila El-Zanaty said the classes aren't meant to be like group therapy.

"It's more like psychological education," she said, after leading a session that taught participants how to spot negative thoughts about themselves.

She said patients must be monitored closely in case they need more intensive help. At the start of every class, they fill in a survey about their recent behavior, including whether they have hurt themselves or had suicidal thoughts.

El-Zanaty said she's been surprised by how much the participants are willing to share in class. She said one woman who cried during every session and talked about suicide attempts was referred to personalized therapy.

Most courses run about eight to 12 weeks. El-Zanaty said they check in with participants a month after the classes end. After three months, they can apply to do another course if they still need help.

Ferguson and her classmates in El-Zanaty's course realize it's up to them to make sure the classes work.

"They only give us the tools," she said. "I know if I don't practice the techniques, it will be back to square one."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-diy-approach-mental-health-help-111149485.html

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Campgrounds Near Shenandoah Caverns, Virginia | Fitness Tips

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Source: http://amazingfitness9.blogspot.com/2013/04/campgrounds-near-shenandoah-caverns.html

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