汕头诊疗白癜风所医生推荐(梅州白癜风公认梅州中医) (今日更新中)

LOS ANGELES, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Mainly due to rampant obesity, Americans' life expectancy is one-and-a-half-year shorter than that of Western Europeans on the average, according to a new study published on Thursday.But 40 years ago, Americans could expect to live slightly longer than Europeans, said the study jointly conducted by researchers from University of Southern California (USC), the Harvard School of Public Health and the RAND Corp., a non-profit think tank.In addition to Western Europeans, Americans also die younger than the residents of most other developed nations, according to the study appearing in the July issue of Social Science & Medicine.The life-expectancy disparity, which begins around the age of 50, stems from higher levels of middle-age obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, said the study.In the first half of the last century, average life expectancy increased by saving more babies, said author Dana Goldman, director of the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics at the USC."But now it is reduction in mortality among the elderly, rather than the young, that propels increases in life expectancy," he said. "The question is whether 'being American' is an independent mortality risk factor."If 50-year-old U.S. adults could be as healthy as Europeans, it could save Medicare and Medicaid 632 billion dollars by 2050, the study said.Though the transition to better health initially raises expenditures, the researchers estimate that by 2050 healthcare savings from health improvements among the middle age could total more than 1.1 trillion dollars."The international life expectancy gap appears much easier to explain than gaps within countries: there is no American-specific effect on longevity beyond differences in disease at age 50," said Darius Lakdawalla, an associate professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development.

GENEVA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Two million people worldwide are estimated to die from air pollution each year, the Geneva based World Health Organization (WHO) said in its air quality report published on Monday.According to data collected by the WHO from nearly 1,100 cities across 91 countries, elevated level of fine particle pollution, which could cause heart diseases, lung cancer, asthma and acute lower reparatory infections, are common across many urban areas, with some cities registering fine particle pollution levels 15 times as much as the WHO guidelines.For both developed and developing countries, the biggest contributors to urban outdoor air pollution include motor transport, small-scale manufacturers and other industries, burning of biomass and coal for cooking and heating, as well as coal-fired power plants.Residential wood and coal burning for space heating is said to be an important contributor to air pollution, especially in rural areas during colder months, the WHO report said.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 (Xinhua) -- As social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter grow worldwide, more Internet retailers are beefing up their efforts to add social twists to their business, trying to define the idea of "social commerce" and capitalize the opportunity.On Wednesday, online auction giant eBay revealed some of the social features it is planning to launch later this year, while Copious, a San Francisco-based startup, launched its online social commerce marketplace with a slogan of "buying from and selling to people, not strangers."Copious asks users to log in through their Facebook accounts and allows buyers and sellers to see if they have friends in common in their social networking sites. Buyers can see more information about a seller and also see whether anyone in their networks has purchased, shared or commented on an item from a specific seller, rather than anonymity or simple profiles on sites like eBay and Craigslist.As for sellers, Copious has a social pricing mechanism that enables a seller to offer buyers discounts for sharing listings on Facebook and for following the seller on Copious.Jonathan Ehrlich, Copious co-founder and former Facebook head of marketing, told technology blog TechCrunch that the site is centralized around using social data as a signal to help users understand and trust other parties.According to Copious, the startup founded in January 2011 has raised two million U.S. dollars in funding from Foundation Capital, Google Ventures, Blackberry Partners Fund and a number of Silicon Valley angel investors.Also on Wednesday, Christopher Payne, vice president and head of eBay North America, delivered a keynote speech at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition 2011 in San Diego, revealing some features eBay is launching during the social trend.One feature will enable users to log in their Facebook account on eBay's homepage to get product recommendations based on one's purchasing history and things they have "liked" on their Facebook page. Another feature will allow users to post multiple products on their Facebook page to get their friends' opinions and ask them to vote for the final purchase.EBay has been stepping up its social efforts, and Payne said on Wednesday that social is a top-level initiative for Internet retailers. Last month, eBay hired former Yahoo executive Don Bradford to lead its social commerce efforts. Last November, it launched Group Gifts service, enabling users to chip in to buy a gift for someone.A research by Adgregate Market in March showed that more brand websites are losing traffic to their Facebook pages. The study revealed that the "Facebook stores" of most Internet retailers are more efficient at acquiring visitors, indicating social commerce is poised to take off.Although the idea of social commerce is still new, more companies are trying to seize the opportunity in their own moves.There are many other companies taking the social commerce model. Oodle, the exclusive provider of classified ads on the Facebook Marketplace, rolled out a series of social features last December to make more money from social classifieds.In February, Payvment Inc. launched a Facebook Mall, where consumers can shop for more than 1.2 million products among 60,000 retailers in a single shopping cart.Yardsellr, which is often called "an eBay for Facebook," allows sellers to list items at fixed prices in different categories called "blocks," such as jewelry and purses. Prospective buyers can "like" the "blocks" they are interested in on the Yardsellr website or its Facebook page, and then they will get Facebook news feed if a seller has something to offer in the category.Yardsellr said 1.5 million people were following its "blocks" by late December 2010 and the number of new followers is growing by 20,000 daily.

WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Short sleep duration may contribute to the development or worsening of hyperactivity and inattention during early childhood, suggests a research abstract that was presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2011, the 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.Results show that less sleep in preschool-age children significantly predicted worse parent-reported hyperactivity and inattention at kindergarten. The sample consisted of approximately 6,860 children, and analyses controlled for gender, ethnicity and family income."Children who were reported to sleep less in preschool were rated by their parents as more hyperactive and less attentive compared to their peers at kindergarten," said lead author Erika Gaylor, senior researcher for SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research institute in Menlo Park, California. "These findings suggest that some children who are not getting adequate sleep may be at risk for developing behavioral problems manifested by hyperactivity, impulsivity, and problems sitting still and paying attention." According to the authors, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not generally diagnosed until the school-age years. However, the onset of developmentally inappropriate inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity is often much younger. Sleep problems, particularly difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, are frequently reported in children and adolescents with ADHD. However, the direction of causation, if any, has been difficult to determine. Longitudinal studies may provide a window into the direction of this complex relationship.Last year at SLEEP 2010, Gaylor reported that having a regular bedtime was the most consistent predictor of positive developmental outcomes at four years of age. Having an earlier bedtime also was predictive of higher scores for most developmental measures.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. space agency NASA unveiled plans on Wednesday for a deep space rocket to carry astronauts to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond the International Space Station.The Space Launch System, or SLS, will be designed to carry the Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, as well as important cargo, equipment and science experiments to Earth's orbit and destinations beyond. Additionally, the SLS will serve as a backup for commercial and international partner transportation services to the International Space Station."This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, kids today can now dream of one day walking on Mars."The SLS rocket will incorporate technological investments from the Space Shuttle program and the Constellation program in order to take advantage of proven hardware and cutting-edge tooling and manufacturing technology that will significantly reduce development and operations costs.The first developmental flight, or mission, is targeted for the end of 2017, according to NASA.

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