Fat People Cheaper to Treat, Study Says

(AP) -- Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn't
save money, researchers reported Monday. It costs more to care for
healthy people who live years longer, according to a Dutch study that
counters the common perception that preventing obesity would save
governments millions of dollars.

"It was a small surprise," said Pieter van Baal, an economist at the
Netherlands' National Institute for Public Health and the Environment,
who led the study. "But it also makes sense. If you live longer, then
you cost the health system more."

In a paper published online Monday in the Public Library of Science
Medicine journal, Dutch researchers found that the health costs of
thin and healthy people in adulthood are more expensive than those of
either fat people or smokers.

Van Baal and colleagues created a model to simulate lifetime health
costs for three groups of 1,000 people: the "healthy-living" group
(thin and non-smoking), obese people, and smokers. The model relied on
"cost of illness" data and disease prevalence in the Netherlands in
2003.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 6, 2008) — People with unrelenting pain don't only
suffer from the non-stop sensation of throbbing pain. They also have
trouble sleeping, are often depressed, anxious and even have
difficulty making simple decisions.

In a new study, investigators at Northwestern University's Feinberg
School of Medicine have identified a clue that may explain how
suffering long-term pain could trigger these other pain-related
symptoms.

Researchers found that in a healthy brain all the regions exist in a
state of equilibrium. When one region is active, the others quiet
down. But in people with chronic pain, a front region of the cortex
mostly associated with emotion "never shuts up," said Dante Chialvo,
lead author and associate research professor of physiology at the
Feinberg School. "The areas that are affected fail to deactivate when
they should."

They are stuck on full throttle, wearing out neurons and altering
their connections to each other.

This is the first demonstration of brain disturbances in chronic pain
patients not directly related to the sensation of pain.

The Evolutionary and Developmental Foundations of Mathematics
Michael J. Beran

Understanding the evolutionary precursors of human mathematical
ability is a
highly active area of research in psychology and biology with a rich
and
interesting history. At one time, numerical abilities...

On Feb 6, 4:13 am, "Peter H.M.Brooks" news.co.za> wrote:

On Feb 6, 3:59 am, "Peter H.M.Brooks" news.co.za> wrote: