Mindfulness can increase wellbeing and reduce stress in school children

June 19, 2013 ? Mindfulness -- a mental training that develops sustained attention that can change the ways people think, act and feel -- could reduce symptoms of stress and depression and promote wellbeing among school children, according to a new study published online by the British Journal of Psychiatry.

With the summer exam season in full swing, school children are currently experiencing higher levels of stress than at any other time of year. The research showed that interventions to reduce stress in children have the biggest impact at this time of year. There is growing evidence that mindfulness-based approaches for adults are effective at enhancing mental health and wellbeing. However, very few controlled trials have evaluated their effectiveness among young people.

A team of researchers led by Professor Willem Kuyken from the University of Exeter, in association with the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and the Mindfulness in Schools Project, recruited 522 pupils, aged between 12 and 16 years, from 12 secondary schools to take part in the study. 256 pupils at six of the schools were taught the Mindfulness in Schools Project's curriculum, a nine week introduction to mindfulness designed for the classroom.

Richard Burnett who co-created the curriculum said: "Our mindfulness curriculum aims to engage even the most cynical of adolescent audience with the basics of mindfulness. We use striking visuals, film clips and activities to bring it to life without losing the expertise and integrity of classic mindfulness teaching."

The other 266 pupils at the other six schools did not receive the mindfulness lessons, and acted as a control group.

All the pupils were followed up after a three month period. The follow-up was timed to coincide with the summer exam period -- which is a potential time of high stress for young people. The researchers found that those children who participated in the mindfulness programme reported fewer depressive symptoms, lower stress and greater wellbeing than the young people in the control group. Encouragingly, around 80% of the young people said they continued using practices taught in MiSP's mindfulness curriculum after completing the nine week programme. Teachers and schools also rated the curriculum as worthwhile and very enjoyable to learn and teach.

Lead researcher Professor Kuyken said: "Our findings provide promising evidence of the effectiveness of MiSP's curriculum. We found that those young people who took part in the programme had fewer low-grade depressive symptoms, both immediately after completing the programme and at three-month follow-up. This is potentially a very important finding, given that low-grade depressive symptoms can impair a child's performance at school, and are also a risk factor for developing adolescent and adult depression."

Professor Katherine Weare, who has been instrumental in promoting the teaching of resilience in schools, said: "These findings are likely to be of great interest to our overstretched schools who are trying to find simple, cost effective and engaging ways to promote the resilience of their students -- and of their staff too -- at times when adolescence is becoming increasingly challenging, staff under considerable stress, and schools under a good deal of pressure to deliver on all fronts. This study demonstrates that mindfulness shows great promise in promoting wellbeing and reducing problems -- which is in line with our knowledge of how helpful well designed and implemented social and emotional learning can be. The next step is to carry out a randomised controlled trial into the MiSP curriculum, involving more schools, pupils and longer follow-ups."

Professor Felicia Huppert of the University of Cambridge said: "The findings also support the argument that mindfulness training can enhance the psychological well-being of all pupils, not just those who have symptoms associated with common mental health problems. Psychological well-being has been linked to better learning, social relationships and academic performance, so the enhancement of well-being is likely to improve a range of outcomes in the school context."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/depression/~3/lwUzNvwnw7I/130619195139.htm

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Shelton: Danielle is 'most important' 'Voice' artist

TV

Brittany Frederick TODAY contributor

9 hours ago

Danielle Bradbery?s ?The Voice? audition was her first big performance. That ninety seconds ended up taking her all the way to the top.

The 16-year-old country singer from Team Blake was named "The Voice? season four champion on Tuesday night, making her the last artist standing from some 40,000 hopefuls who auditioned. She also became the show?s youngest winner, and the first titleholder not to have some form of professional experience before claiming the top spot.

Danielle was visibly shocked when her name was called by host Carson Daly -- but perhaps moreso when he followed that up by telling the audience that she was going to perform Sara Evans? ?Born To Fly,? the song that helped her clinch the title.

?I did not know I was going to have to sing this whole song after crying my eyes out and shaking,? she told TODAY.com afterward, holding her brand-new ?Voice? trophy. ?That was definitely unexpected. But I tried my best to sing.?

Danielle?s best has been good enough all season. America selected her in a decision that didn?t seem to surprise anyone other than her. She was widely considered a frontrunner and her singles charted consistently on iTunes. During Monday night?s performance show, Adam Levine went so far as to declare her the winner.

But on Tuesday, the champion gave all the credit to her coach.

?Blake (Shelton) is an amazing person. I definitely feel the care that he has for me,? she said. ?He's definitely someone that you would want by your side all the time. He has my back and I'm so glad.?

As for her future, Danielle told TODAY.com that she wants to learn songwriting, and of course, hopes to re-team with Shelton. ?I definitely would love to have Blake included in everything,? she said, adding that her immediate plans were to ?just embrace the moment while it?s here.?

For Shelton, it was less about winning the ?Voice? title for the third straight season and more about the young singer that he had a chance to mentor.

?Even to take myself out of the equation, Danielle Bradbery might be the most important artist to ever walk across 'The Voice? stage,? he declared, ?because Danielle Bradbery may be the first person that we've ever actually discovered here on this show. The kid has never sung in front of people before and she just won ?The Voice.? That's a big deal.

?I couldn?t be happier, obviously.?

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/blake-shelton-danielle-might-be-most-important-artist-ever-voice-6C10377571

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Obama's Berlin speech: History raises the stakes

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, is greeted by German President Joachim Gauck, right, during his arrival at Schloss Bellevue, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Obama is on a 24-hour visit to Germany, the culmination of which will be a speech at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, is greeted by German President Joachim Gauck, right, during his arrival at Schloss Bellevue, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Obama is on a 24-hour visit to Germany, the culmination of which will be a speech at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama, second from right, is welcomed by German President Joachim Gauck at Schloss Bellevue on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Berlin. Obama will renew his call to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles, including a proposed one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, a senior administration official said. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, is welcomed by German President Joachim Gauck at Schloss Bellevue on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Berlin. Obama will renew his call to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles, including a proposed one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, a senior administration official said. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha, left, and Malia disembark from Air Force One at the Tegel airport in Berlin Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Obama arrived for a two-day official visit to Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Onlookers take snapshots as the motorcade carrying United States President Barack Obama passes the Brandenburg Gate after arriving in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Obama arrived for a two-day official visit to Germany and will deliver a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate Wednesday June 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)

BERLIN (AP) ? Five years and 50 years. As President Barack Obama revisits Berlin, he can't escape those anniversaries and the inevitable comparisons to history and personal achievement.

With his own 2008 speech at Berlin's Victory Column and former President John F. Kennedy's 1963 historic denunciation of the Soviet bloc as markers, Obama will use an address at the city's Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday to renew his call to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles.

The White House said Obama will draw attention to his plan for a one-third reduction in U.S. and Russian arsenals, rekindling a goal that was a centerpiece of his early first-term national security agenda. Obama will also hold an afternoon news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a meeting between the two leaders.

His 26-hour whirlwind visit to the German capital caps three days of international summitry for the president and marks his return to a place where he once summoned a throng of 200,000 to share his ambitious vision for American leadership.

That was 2008, when Obama was running for president and those who supported him at home and abroad saw the young mixed-race American as a unifying and transformational figure who signified hope and change.

Five years later, Obama comes to deliver a highly anticipated speech to a country that's a bit more sober about his aspirations and the extent of his successes, yet still eager to receive his attention at a time that many here feel that Europe, and Germany in particular, are no longer U.S. priorities. A Pew Research Center poll of Germans found that while their views of the U.S. have slipped since Obama's first year in office, he has managed to retain his popularity, with 88 percent of those surveyed approving of his foreign policies.

Obama also has an arc of history to fulfill.

Fifty years ago next week, President Kennedy addressed a crowd of 450,000 in that then-divided city to repudiate communism and famously declare "Ich bin ein Berliner," German for "I am a Berliner." Since then, presidents from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton have used Berlin speeches to articulate broad themes about freedom and international alliances.

Obama, fresh from a two-day summit of the Group of Eight industrial economies, placed his hand over his heart outside the sunny presidential palace as a German military band played "The Star-Spangled Banner," the American national anthem. He and German President Joachim Gauck inspected a lineup of German military troops before entering the palace, stopping to greet children who waved American and German flags.

The high point for Obama on Wednesday will be a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Germany's division and later reunification. It is a venue that Merkel denied him in 2008, saying only sitting presidents were granted such an honor. Obama's speech will also mark the first time a U.S. president will speak from the east side of the former Wall, a symbolic crossing into territory formerly under Soviet control.

The past context ? and the weight of it ? are not lost on the White House.

"This is a place where U.S. presidents have gone to talk about the role of the free world essentially," said Obama's deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes. "He is seeking to summon the energy and legacy of what's been done in the past and apply it to the issues that we face today."

Rhodes said Obama will make the case that even though the Berlin Wall came down 23 years ago and the threat of nuclear war has dissipated, the type of activism apparent during the Cold War needs to be applied to such current challenges as nuclear arms control and non-proliferation, climate change, and the push for democratic values beyond the United States and Europe.

The president has previously called for reductions to the stockpiles and is not expected to outline a timeline for this renewed push. Also in Wednesday's speech, Obama will press Congress to pass a nuclear test ban treaty, seeking to revive an effort that has stalled in recent years.

The visit was attracting widespread attention in Germany. People waved and snapped photos as Obama sped by after his arrival and a thick cluster awaited the motorcade as it passed the Brandenburg Gate. An evening news show in Berlin devoted itself to the president's visit, highlighting "Das Biest," or "The Beast," as the president's armored limousine is called.

There have been a few small protests, including one directed against the National Security Agency's surveillance of foreign communications, where about 50 people waved placards taunting, "Yes, we scan."

Merkel has said she was surprised at the scope of the spying that was revealed and said the U.S. must clarify what information is monitored. But she also said U.S. intelligence was key to foiling a large-scale terror plot and acknowledged her country is "dependent" on cooperating with American spy services.

For Merkel, the visit presents an opportunity to bolster her domestic standing ahead of a general election in September.

The U.S. and the Germans have clashed on economic issues, with Obama pressing for Europe to prime the economy with government stimulus measures, while Merkel has insisted on pressing debt-ridden countries to stabilize their fiscal situations first.

But the two sides have found common ground on a trans-Atlantic trade pact between the European Union and the U.S. At the just-completed G-8 summit, the leaders agreed to hold the first talks next month in the U.S.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Robert Reid and Frank Jordans contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-19-Obama/id-63df40c6459542d7919ce77d588c0a87

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New details about H7N9 influenza infections that suddenly appeared in China

June 19, 2013 ? Researchers with the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute have revealed new information about the latest strain of type A influenza, known as H7N9, in a report in the journal PLOS Currents: Outbreaks.

Since June 7, 132 confirmed cases of human infection with H7N9 have been reported in China and 37 people have died, according to the World Health Organization. It is the first time human infection with the avian influenza H7N9 subtype has been detected, and researchers fear that this strain may have pandemic potential.

The possibility of an animal source of the infection is being investigated, as is the possibility of person-to-person transmission.

However, most people who contracted the disease reported having contact with live birds in a bird market prior to infection. Researchers at the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory found that younger women generally have the most contact with poultry, but it is older men who are experiencing the most infections.

The findings suggest that there is something unique about older men that makes them particularly susceptible to H7N9. Their greater risk of infection is not just because they tend to spend more time exposed to an avian source.

Researchers quickly compiled the data using a variety of available sources to discover risk factors, which could aid in containing the spread of H7N9.

"Normally we have to wait for epidemiologists to collect new data in the early days if an outbreak. We were able to combine data from existing sources in an innovative way to rapidly learn about H7N9 risk factors," said Caitlin Rivers of Plainfield, N.H., a graduate student majoring in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology and research assistant at the Network Dynamics and Simulation Science Laboratory.

To contain the spread of this strain of influenza, some Chinese live bird markets have been closed. It may help, but still does not explain the high infection rate of older men. Further studies are required to understand what other factors may be involved in transmission to help contain H7N9's spread.

"In keeping with a commitment to open science, the raw data and calculations are available publicly. We invite others to use and expand upon this work," said Bryan Lewis, a public health policy analyst with the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

This work has been partially supported by NIH MIDAS Grant 2U01GM070694-09 and NIH MIDAS Grant 3U01FM070694-09S1.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Ey3CqK6WrJI/130619164847.htm

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Senator: IRS to pay $70M in employee bonuses

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator.

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an agreement with the employees' union on Wednesday to pay the bonuses. Grassley says the bonuses should be canceled under an April directive from the White House budget office.

The directive was written by Danny Werfel, a former budget official who has since been appointed acting IRS commissioner.

"The IRS always claims to be short on resources," Grassley said. "But it appears to have $70 million for union bonuses. And it appears to be making an extra effort to give the bonuses despite opportunities to renegotiate with the union and federal instruction to cease discretionary bonuses during sequestration."

The IRS said it is negotiating with the union over the matter but did not dispute Grassley's claim that the bonuses are imminent.

Office of Management and Budget "guidance directs that agencies should not pay discretionary monetary awards at this time, unless legally required," IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said in a statement. "IRS is under a legal obligation to comply with its collective bargaining agreement, which specifies the terms by which awards are paid to bargaining-unit employees."

Eldridge, however, would not say whether the IRS believes it is contractually obligated to pay the bonuses.

"In accordance with OMB guidance, the IRS is actively engaged with NTEU on these matters in recognition of our current budgetary constraints," Eldridge said.

The National Treasury Employees Union did not respond to requests for comment.

The IRS has been under fire since last month, when IRS officials acknowledged that agents had improperly targeted conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections. A few weeks later, the agency's inspector general issued a report documenting lavish employee conferences during the same time period.

Three congressional committees and the Justice Department are investigating the targeting of conservative groups. And key Republicans in Congress are promising more scrutiny of the agency's budget, especially as it ramps up to play a major role in implementing the new health care law.

Much of the agency's top leadership has been replaced since the scandals broke. President Barack Obama forced the acting commissioner to resign and replaced him with Werfel, who used to work in the White House budget office.

In a letter to Werfel on Tuesday, Grassley said the IRS notified the employee union March 25 that it intended to reclaim about $75 million that had been set aside for discretionary employee bonuses. However, Grassley said, his office has learned that the IRS never followed up on the notice. Instead, Grassley said, the IRS negotiated a new agreement with the bargaining unit to pay about $70 million in employee bonuses.

Grassley's office said the information came from a "person with knowledge of IRS budgetary procedures."

"While the IRS may claim that these bonuses are legally required under the original bargaining unit agreement, that claim would allegedly be inaccurate," Grassley wrote. "In fact, the original agreement allows for the re-appropriation of such award funding in the event of budgetary shortfall."

Werfel wrote the directive on discretionary employee bonuses while he was still working in the White House budget office. The directive was part of the Obama administration's efforts to impose across-the-board spending cuts enacted by Congress.

The spending cuts, known as "sequestration," are resulting in at least five unpaid furlough days this year for the IRS' 90,000 employees. On these days, the agency is closed and taxpayers cannot access many of the agency's assistance programs.

Werfel's April 4 memorandum "directs that discretionary monetary awards should not be issued while sequestration is in place, unless issuance of such awards is legally required. Discretionary monetary awards include annual performance awards, group awards, and special act cash awards, which comprise a sizeable majority of awards and incentives provided by the federal government to employees."

"Until further notice, agencies should not issue such monetary awards from sequestered accounts unless agency counsel determines the awards are legally required. Legal requirements include compliance with provisions in collective bargaining agreements governing awards."

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senator-irs-pay-70m-employee-bonuses-081255026.html

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In Cambodia's jungles, a lost world is found (+ video)

A team of archaeologists from Australia has found an ancient city buried for more than 1,000 years beneath Cambodia's soupy jungles.

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 17, 2013

Hidden in the depths of the Cambodian jungle lays an ancient city, undiscovered until now (News2242).

If at seems at times that our globe is already thoroughly mapped and explored, all its corridors charted and its mysteries explained, then the latest news out of Southeast Asia is solacing ? there are, it seems, still lost worlds to be discovered, combed out from beneath a millennium of accumulated jungle in remote Cambodia.

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A team of archaeologists from Australia has found an ancient city that has for more than 1,000 years escaped detection ? not even looters had found the mysterious place, buried in Cambodia?s otherwise heavily trafficked Siem Reap province, which sees about a million tourists each year, Australia's The Age reported.

Known as Mahendraparvata, the lost world is some 1,200-years old, about 350 years older than the Angkor Wat temple complex, also in Siem Reap. Like Angkor, it was part of the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer Empire that from about 800 A.D. to 1400 A.D. ruled?Southeast Asia, using slave labor to construct opulent, arrestingly beautiful stone temples.

Damian Evans, director of the University of Sydney's archaeological research center in Cambodia, and a small group of colleagues working in Cambodia?s northwestern corridor first mapped the area, Cambodia?s Phnom Kulen mountain, using airborne Lidar, a remote-sensing technology that uses lasers. The Lidar data revealed structures hidden beneath Technicolor green of rural Cambodia?s thick jungles, giving scientists the basic outline of the almost mythical place ??as well as the wish to know more.

Weeks later, guided by an ex-Khmer Rogue soldier familiar with the terrain, the team hacked their way to the remnants of this once-booming cosmopolis:?abandoned, overgrown temples, as well as evidence of roads and canals.

Scientists are unsure why Mahendraparyata was abandoned ??possibly, the area had suffered too much?environmental degradation to support the empire?s burgeoning population. Turned over to time, the royal city was worked to rubble as a millennium of industrious vegetation and monsoon rains did their worst. The mountain itself, once home to the peak of Cambodian culture, would go on to witness one of its worst moments, becoming a Khmer Rouge stronghold in the 1970s.

Throughout all that, the mountain has remained a spiritual place, host to tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/B3ccJe-9oA4/In-Cambodia-s-jungles-a-lost-world-is-found-video

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NNPC to tackle environmental degradation - Vanguard News

By KUNLE KALEJAYE

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has tasked its staff to imbibe the consciousness and spirit of preservation and friendliness toward the environment as part of measure to prevent the environment from total degradation.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Manager, NNPC Lagos Zonal office, Mr. James Adebola said the corporation on a yearly basis observes the World Environment Day in order to educate its members to be aware on the need to protect and save the environment.

?As you are aware, every June 5 is World Environmental Day and NNPC year in year out has always been observing it in order to sensitize our members on the need for them to be aware to protect, save the environment and ensure that it is not abused.

It is part of NNPC?s contribution towards saving the environment that is why we are observing it here in Lagos office. The public need to be sensitized, but we are using our staff as a means to spread the message to the larger society so that the larger society will see their sterling example in protecting the environment and follow suit. We are also hoping that some of us that are NNPC staff, who are involve in policies formation should be able to interact with political leaders and to influence decision on what NNPC is doing.

We should be cautious of environment and ensure that it is not abuse, it is our responsibility to keep a very safe environment for our future generation.?

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/nnpc-to-tackle-environmental-degradation/

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