7 Toxic Coworkers You Have to Avoid

Let’s face it: people have somehow managed to develop a remarkably consistent ability to not get along with each other. Why is that? How should I know? I’m not a shrink. But it is true. And nowhere is that more evident than at work.

You see, at home, we only have to get along with one mate and maybe some kids. Even that’s insanely difficult to do, as evidenced by the ridiculously high divorce rate. Ever since we created “no fault” divorce, couples who once declared their undying love for each other are bolting for the exits. Why? Because they can’t stand each other.

It’s nothing personal. They just don’t get along. Getting along is hard. It’s a people thing. And you know what? It’s way worse in the workplace.

That’s because at work we get to act out our childhood issues and insecurities on dozens, sometimes hundreds of innocent, unsuspecting people. And it’s not as if they asked for it. They’re just trying to earn a living. The killer is that some people make it that much worse than it has to be by turning their workplace into a toxic, chaotic mess.

Here are 7 you’re likely to run into in pretty much any workplace. If you’re smart, you’ll steer clear. And if you’ve got to work with them, at least be forewarned:

1. The guy who feels threatened by you. This guy is like a wounded animal: you never know what he’s going to do. That’s because he’s, for whatever reason, concocted a paranoid scenario that makes you his enemy. So what if it’s all in his head? He’ll try to take you down, nevertheless. Maintain a safe distance if you can.
2. The coworker who takes herself too seriously. If they were just annoying, that’d be okay. But in their relentless drive to be taken seriously and get attention, they make life miserable for everyone. Expect to be roped into all kinds of mini-dramas and to be taken down plenty of dumb rat-holes by this one.
3. The know-it-all. The biggest pain in the butt also happens to be one of the most dangerous employees: the know-it-all. Sure, these people are nauseating to those who actually do know what they’re doing. But even worse, because they “always have the answer,” they cut off debate, discussion, and end up pushing high-risk decisions that, all-too-often, end up being dead wrong.
4. People who’ll do just about anything … but work. There are loads of subcategories in this one: the socialite who tries to make the workplace his own personal country club, the gossiper, the event organizer, even the one who walks around all morning asking everyone what they’re doing for lunch. Anything but real work.
5. The employee who wants your job. Maybe you’re his boss and he thinks he can do your job better than you. Or he’s successfully managed to screw up where he is now and needs a new host to invade, like a virus. Who knows? Whatever his motivation, he’s painted a big fat bulls-eye on your forehead. Watch your back.
6. Anyone who says, “I don’t really have to work, I do it because I love what I do.” Get real. Maybe he is independently wealthy and doesn’t have to work. Maybe he does love what he does. But saying that over and over is just plain narcissistic. If you love what you do, you just do it and do it well. There’s something seriously wrong with this person.
7. Passive aggressive guy. Of all the toxic, dysfunctional personalities you’ll find in the average workplace, the one that confounds us the most is the passive aggressive guy. He’ll agree with everyone in a meeting and then go off and do the exact opposite, leaving all kinds of chaos and turmoil in his wake. I think termination is the only cure.

By Steve Tobak

Read more »

Posted in: Experimental Society

Teaming Up on the Passive-Aggressive Employee

Among personality behaviors, the passive-aggressive employee can be the most difficult to work with. The P-A seems to actively endorse an idea or action, then passively resists it. She may tell you how much you deserved a promotion, then work to undermine you. This person is often subdued, obstructionist and negative — always coming up with excuses why things can’t get done. They play the victim like Sir Laurence Olivier played Othello.

This is behavior in which “hostility wears a mask of passivity,” according to Scott Wetzler, author of Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man.

Managers dealing with passive-aggressives can quickly become beaten down in face-to-face encounters, moving from confusion to frustration to resignation.

Look, you can’t change someone’s personality — that’s a matter for therapists to take on. But managers can act in ways that make them more productive.

One potential remedy is to rely on your team to set and reinforce expectations for the person. This advice, offered by executive coaches Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins, suggests that peer pressure and shared expectations can overcome passive resistance.

“For example,” they write on HBR.org, “if you’re in a meeting discussing next steps, make sure everyone articulates what they heard and verbally communicates what they commit to in specific terms (not just head nodding). This will accomplish two things: (1) your peer will have to openly declare his commitment to follow through and (2) the rest of the team will expect follow through. Ensure there are ways to solidify expectation setting and follow through across the team.”

In other words, you are not using a team to team-up on the person, but rather to include them as part of the group, with an established role and expectations.

How do you deal with passive-aggressive employees? Is termination the only cure?

By Sean Silverthorne

Read more »

Posted in: Experimental Society

Oil higher as turmoil in Libya continues

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Oil was higher in Asian trade Wednesday as the turmoil unfolding in the Arab world continued to rock Libya, a major crude exporter, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, rose four cents to $95.46 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April went up 22 cents to $106.

"Sustained protests (in the Middle East) could inject huge amount of uncertainty in the oil market in the medium term," said Chen Xin Yi, a Singapore-based commodities analyst for Barclays Capital.

The unrest in the key oil-producing Middle East and North African region which includes Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Iran has stoked fears of disruption to global crude supplies, analysts said.

Libya, which has Africa's largest oil reserves and is the continent's fourth largest producer, is a member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the cartel that produces about 40 percent of global supplies.

Facts: Libya, Africa's fourth largest oil producer

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's pledge to crush anti-regime protesters raised the stakes in an increasing bloody fight for control of the country, a fight that could halt oil shipments.

©AFP/Graphic

Libya has Africa's largest oil reserves and is the continent's fourth largest producer

Speaking on the sidelines of a producer-consumer meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC was prepared to meet any shortage of supplies.

"There is absolutely no shortage of supply now... OPEC is ready to meet any shortage in supply when it happens," Naimi said.

"There is concern and fear but there is no shortage," the minister reiterated in a bid to assure consumer countries that crude oil supplies are guaranteed despite sweeping unrest.

Source: AFP

Languages

French

More about

Read more »

Posted in: Business

Frantic hunt as NZ quake leaves 400 dead, missing

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) - Hundreds of rescuers swarmed over twisted and smoking buildings Wednesday in a frantic search for survivors after New Zealand's catastrophic earthquake left nearly 400 dead or missing.

Emergency services cordoned off central Christchurch, which was devastated by Tuesday's shallow, 6.3-magnitude tremor, to hunt for anyone still alive along with an unknown number of bodies buried in the rubble.

Prime Minister John Key declared a national emergency as 75 bodies were recovered, punctuated by the rescue of about 30 overnight. About 300 people were still missing in New Zealand's worst natural disaster in 80 years.

Key said the quake had "wreaked death and destruction on a dreadful scale" in the country's second biggest city, six months after a 7.0-magnitude quake shook buildings violently in Christchurch but miraculously caused no deaths.

The latest tremor toppled many buildings and left central Christchurch strewn with debris. The city's landmark cathedral lost its spire. Dozens of aftershocks rocked the city, much of which was without power and water.

Scene: Frantic search for survivors

Rescuers had to amputate limbs to free some survivors, while one resident said he saw a woman die with her baby in her arms when she was hit by falling debris in Cashel St Mall. She was killed instantly, but the baby survived.

"We tried to pull these big bricks off (her)... she was gone," Tom Brittenden told the Christchurch Press.

Focus: Seismologists on New Zealand quake

Some rescue efforts were frustrated by a two-block exclusion zone around the city's tallest hotel, the Grand Chancellor, as the 26-storey building leaned precariously and looked close to collapse.

Elsewhere flickering hope was dashed when reports that 15 people had been pulled alive from the six-storey CTV building, which was razed to the ground, were denied by New Zealand's fire chief.

But there was applause when a woman wrapped in blankets emerged from the Pyne Gould Corporation building, some 24 hours after the quake rocked busy lunchtime streets at about 12:50 pm on Tuesday.

The survivor's sister, Sally Bodkin-Allen, said her sibling had ducked under a desk when the quake struck, an act of quick-thinking that saved her life.

"It just seems like a miracle... it must be a very strong desk and she must have got under it very quickly," Bodkin-Allen told Fairfax media.

Other media reports told of trapped people desperately phoning or texting relatives as they waited for help.

Resident Mark Maynard kept an anxious vigil outside the Pyne Gould building for his wife, who works on the first floor and called 20 minutes before the quake to say she had forgotten her mobile phone.

"It is still no good at the moment. I am hanging around waiting, what do you do?" Maynard told Fairfax.

The clock is ticking for those trapped, with New Zealand's emergency management chief John Hamilton saying rescuers may have just two or three days to pull out anyone still alive.

Police Superintendent Russell Gibson warned that the toll was certain to rise as more than 500 emergency workers combed through shattered buildings, listening out for tapping, shouting and other signs of life.

Facts: New Zealand

"There is incredible carnage right throughout the city," he told Radio New Zealand. "There are bodies littering the streets, they are trapped in cars and crushed under rubble.

"We are getting texts and tapping sounds from some of these buildings and that's where the focus is at the moment," he added.

The quake was the deadliest to hit New Zealand since 256 people died in a 1931 tremor, and Key's declaration of a state of emergency will free up national resources to focus on Christchurch.

Twenty-four Japanese citizens were among the missing, including 11 foreign-language students whose school had collapsed, Japanese reports said.

Two South Koreans -- a brother and a sister in their early 20s -- were also missing feared trapped in the same language school, the government in Seoul said.

Specialist teams from Australia, Britain, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States were due to join the New Zealand rescuers as an international effort swung into action.

Seismologists said that despite being smaller, the latest tremor was more destructive than the September quake because it was nearer to Christchurch's centre and much closer to the earth's surface.

New Zealand sits on the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a vast zone of seismic and volcanic activity stretching from Chile on one side to Japan and Indonesia on the other.

Source: AFP

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Robot Actress Steals the Show

(Reuters) Critics may call her acting a little stiff, but Japan's new stage star is not inflexible. Geminoid F is a robot, or android, and she's playing herself, or at least the part of a robot. The play is called "Sayonara", or "Good-bye" and the action revolves around an android caretaker who reads poetry to a dying woman.

"Sayonara's" director, Oriza Hirata says Geminoid F is not replacing anyone, but she does take direction well. "For me as a director, there is nothing more substantial than robot actors; all their acting problems can be ultimately solved if I can invest enough time, and the audience always loves to see them acting."

Osaka University's Hiroshi Ishiguro who designed Geminoid F agrees with Hirata, saying the potential of android actors is limitless. "Androids can look very similar to human actors; but more than that, we can technically create a superior actor by featuring all the good techniques of human actors such as acting ability, moving, and talking."

And what does human actor Bryerly Long think of her co-star? "I kind of feel like I'm alone, I think. There's a bit of a distance; the robot has a quite particular position because it's got a voice but it's not the same kind of human presence."

So, the saying about never acting with children and animals because they will upstage you, may have to be extended to include robots.

1. stage /steɪdʒ/ (n) a raised area, usually in a theatre, etc. where actors, dancers, etc. perform: sân khấu

• a revolving stage: sân khấu quay
• A new actress will take centre stage in next month's production of "The Doll's House".
  Một nữ diễn viên mới sẽ đóng vai chính trong bộ phim "The Doll's House"
• There were more than 50 people on stage in one scene.
  Có hơn năm mươi diễn viên trên sân khấu trong một cảnh quay.

Usage notes:

• VERB + STAGE: go on, take (to) She took to the stage when she was at university. Cô ấy đã làm diễn viên từ khi cô học đại học.
• STAGE + NOUN: apprerance, performance, role màn biễu diễn | set The stage set is the most expensive ever built. Dàn dựng phông nền sân khấu là cái tốn kém nhất. | name David Harries adopted the stage name Dixon Hare when he bacame a full-time actor. David Harries đã lấy nghệ danh là Dixon Hare khi anh trở thành một diễn viên thực thụ.
• The whole cast on stage please! Xin mời toàn bộ các diễn viên bước lên sân khấu.

2. robot /ˈroʊbɑːt/(n) a machine that can perform a complicated series of tasks automatically: con rô-bốt, người máy

• an android: rô bốt hình người
• a industrial robot: rô bốt công nghiệp
• an exploration robot: rô bốt thám hiểm hay rô bốt không gian
• a service robot: rô bốt dịch vụ
• a medical robot: rô bốt y khoa

3. director /daɪˈrektər/ (n) a person in charge of a film/movie or play who tells the actors and staff what to do: đạo diễn

• an artistic director: người chỉ đạo nghệ thuật, đạo diễn nghệ thuật
• musical director: đạo diễn âm thanh
• He now felt ready to take on the role of director. Anh ta bây giờ cảm thấy sẵn sàng để đảm nhiệm vai trò đạo diễn.

4. potential /pəˈtenʃl/(n) qualities that exist and can be developed: tiềm năng, khả năng tiềm ẩn

• She has great potential as an artist. Cô ấy thể hiện tiềm năng rất lớn của một nhà nghệ sĩ.
• He has the potential to become a world-class musician. Anh ta có khả năng trở thành một nhạc sĩ đẳng cấp thế giới.

Usage notes:

• ADJ + POTENTIAL: considerable, enormous, great, limitless to lớn, không giới hạn| full You aren't using your computer to its full potential. Bạn chưa tận dụng hết khả năng trong máy tính của bạn.
• VERB + POTENTIAL: develop, exploit, unlock They were among the first companies to exploit the potential of the Internet. Họ là một trong số những công ty đầu tiên khai thác hết tiềm năng của Internet. | fulfil, reach, realize Signing for a top club would enable him to fulfil his true potential. Ký hợp đồng cho một câu lạc bộ hàng đầu có thể giúp anh ta phát huy hết tiềm năng thực sự của mình.

Các nhà phê bình nhận xét diễn xuất của cô ấy có chút gì đó cứng nhắc, nhưng ngôi sao mới của sân khấu Nhật Bản thì không hẳn là không uyển chuyển. Geminoid F là một con rô bốt, nói đúng hơn là con rô bốt hình người, và nó tự diễn vai diễn hay tối thiểu là đóng vai một con rô bốt. Vở kịch mang tên "Sayonara", hay "Giã biệt" và các sự kiện diễn ra xung quanh một rô bốt y tá đọc thơ cho một phụ nữ đang hấp hối.

Đạo diễn vở kịch Sayonara, ông Oriza Hirata cho biết Geminoid F không thay thế được diễn viên thật nhưng nó thực hiện rất tốt những chỉ dẫn của đạo diễn. "Theo tôi với tư cách là một đạo diễn, không có cái gì có giá trị hơn những diễn viên rô bốt. Tất cả những vấn đề trong diễn xuất của chúng có thể được giải quyết triệt để nếu tôi đầu tư đủ thời gian. Còn khán giả thì luôn luôn thích xem chúng diễn.”

Giáo sư Hiroshi Ishiguro của Đại học Osaka, người đã thiết kế ra Geminoid F đồng ý với quan điểm của đạo diễn Hirata. Ông cho hay tiềm năng của những người máy diễn viên này là không giới hạn. “Những con rô bốt hình người này trông giống như những người diễn viên thực sự, nhưng hơn thế nữa với khoa học kỹ thuật chúng tôi có thể tạo ra một diễn viên có khả năng vượt trội bẳng cách thêm vào tất cả những kỹ thuật của người diễn viên như là khả năng diễn xuất, di chuyển và nói chuyện."

Còn nữ tài tử Bryerly Long nghĩ gì về người cộng sự nổi tiếng này của mình? "Tôi cảm giác như là tôi đang độc diễn. Có một sự cách biệt nào đó. Người máy hoàn toàn đóng một vai trò cụ thể bởi vì nó có giọng nói nhưng nó không giống như cách con người thể hiện."

Vì thế, câu nói rằng đừng bao giờ diễn chung với trẻ nhỏ hay thú vật vì chúng có thể toả sáng hơn bạn có lẽ phải được mở rộng ra thêm cho những diễn viên rô bốt nữa.

Source: Englishtime.us

Read more »

Posted in: Learning English

Xoa bụng khi mang thai

Trong thời kỳ mang thai các bà bầu thường hay xoa bụng, đó là do sự hiếu kỳ và cũng là sự thể hiện tình cảm với bé yêu. Vậy xoa bụng trong thời kỳ “bầu bí” có ảnh hưởng đến thai nhi không? > Có phải phụ nữ mang thai sẽ bị nứt da? / 10 mẹo xoa dịu cơn nghén / Thai nhi đạp không đều

Xoa bụng không gây nên hiện tượng nhau thai quấn cổ thai nhi

Theo các bác sỹ chuyên khoa, hiện tượng nhau thai quấn cổ thường xảy ra ở giai đoạn đầu và giữa thai kỳ. Ở giai đoạn này nhau thai dài, không gian rộng, hoạt động của thai nhi có thể là quay 1 vòng hoặc 2 vòng quanh nhau thai. Có khi thai nhi có thể tự quay trả lại được như vị trí ban đầu, cho dù là bạn có xoa bụng hay không và có xoa thế nào đi nữa thì cũng không ảnh hưởng trực tiếp đến thai nhi.

Mặc dù vậy, các bác sỹ cũng không khuyến khích bạn quá thường xuyên xoa bụng, đặc biệt là giai đoạn cuối thai kỳ vì sẽ kích thích sự co bóp tử cung dẫn đến sinh sớm. Đặc biệt là những bà bầu trong trường hợp có nhau thai bám mặt trước, từng có biểu hiện sinh sớm hoặc động thai càng không nên xoa bụng vì dễ gây kích thích hơn.

Tuy nhiên, nếu bạn biết massage đúng cách thì lại có rất nhiều ích lợi cho sự phát triển của thai nhi.

Massage dưỡng thai giúp thai nhi phát triển hoàn thiện

Massage dưỡng thai là sự giao lưu tiếp xúc cảm giác sớm nhất giữa ba mẹ và bé. Thông qua sự massage phần bụng của mẹ, thai nhi cảm nhận được sự tồn tại của ba mẹ và đồng thời hình thành các phản ứng.

Từ khi được hai tháng tuổi, thai nhi đã bắt đầu có những hoạt động trong bụng mẹ. Nhưng do lúc đó thai nhi còn quá nhỏ, nên mẹ khó cảm nhận được các hoạt động đó. Khi thai nhi lớn hơn các hoạt động ngày càng rõ ràng như : uống nước ối, nheo mắt, mút tay, nắm tay và dễ nhận ra nhất là hoạt động từ tay chân bé, sự chuyển mình , v.v...

Ba mẹ có thể nhẹ nhàng massage vùng bụng mẹ để cảm nhận những hoạt động của bé. Cách tốt nhất là vừa massage vừa nói chuyện với bé, đồng thời nói cho bé biết là “ba mẹ rất yêu bé”.

Massage có thể giúp bé có những bài tập về cảm giác tiếp xúc, thông qua cảm giác này giúp kích thích hệ thần kinh của bé bắt đầu cảm nhận được thế giới bên ngoài cơ thể, từ đó giúp thúc đẩy tế bào não của bé phát dục, đẩy nhanh quá trình phát triển trí lực; Massage còn có thể kích thích các hoạt động tích cực của thai nhi, thúc đẩy sự phát dục của thai nhi.

Những bé thường xuyên được massage, sau khi sinh sẽ sớm phát triển các hoạt động như lẫy, nắm tay, bò, ngồi, tập đi v.v...

Lời khuyên từ các chuyên gia: Trước khi tiến hành massage cho thai nhi, mẹ bé cần giữ trạng thái vui vẻ, ổn định, thư giãn tránh sự căng thẳng, đồng thời cũng phải đi hết nước tiểu. Tốt nhất khi massage nên kết hợp với nói chuyện cùng bé hoặc cho bé nghe nhạc.

Theo Afamily

Read more »

Posted in: Health

Mass hysteria strikes students in central Vietnam

A father taking his daughter home after she suffered an inexplicable bout of fainting. Many students at Son Thanh Secondary and High School in the south-central province of Phu Yen have fainted during the past two months.

Students from a school in the south-central province of Phu Yen have been struck by inexplicable bouts of fainting spells during the past two months.

Doctors suspect they suffer from a psychological disorder.

Chau Lot, principal of the Son Thanh Secondary and High School in Tay Hoa District, said the phenomenon first appeared in a handful of students and eventually spread.

All of the cases occurred among the seventh-grade, eighth-grade, and eleventh-grade classes, which ran in the afternoon, he said.

Since January 17, between 12 and 40 students faint every day at school, mainly between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., local news website VnExpress reported.

The school management has moved their classes to the morning and even allowed the students to remain at home. Despite their efforts, the problem continued.

The students’ parents say their children are healthy and do not suffer from fainting spells while at home.

According to the school, the students all suffered from respiratory difficulties, fatigue, and convulsions. They are given to fits of screaming before they collapse.

Dr. Nguyen Hung, director of Phu Yen’s Preventive Health Center, told the news website that the students recovered after massages, adding that the students were suffering from symptoms of mass hysteria.

Mass hysteria is caused by either a physical culprit, or psychological stress and anxiety, according to an article by Professor Gary Small from the University of California. It often afflicts children and teenagers, especially girls.

Hung said that mass hysteria has struck a number of Vietnamese schools, like those in the central cities of Hue and Da Nang. The outbreaks tended to last for a shorter amount of time and manifested on a smaller scale than they have been in Phu Yen.

Hung suggested that the school provide a more relaxing study environment as well as frequent exercise. He also recommended the school provide them with consultations from professional psychologists.

According to Prof. Small, the illness usually manifests for a few days and tends to disappear when the afflicted crowd disperses.

Reported by Duc Huy

Read more »

Posted in: Society

Starting solid foods earlier linked to obesity risk

A two-week-old is held by his mother at The Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado August 23, 2010 during a research study on obesity in infants.

Babies raised on formula who start eating solid foods before they are 4 months old may be more likely to become obese than those who start later, suggests a new study.

The findings support US guidelines that say parents should wait until babies are between 4 and 6 months old to start feeding them solid foods, said Dr. Susanna Huh, one of the study’s lead authors from Children’s Hospital Boston.

“Adhering to those guidelines could reduce the risk of obesity in childhood,” she told Reuters Health.

Previous studies have shown conflicting results on whether the age at which babies start eating solid foods is related to their chance of being obese a few years down the line. Especially among babies who are raised on formula, the transition to solid foods might mean a jump in the amount of calories they are consuming - before parents have learned how much energy their baby really needs.

In the current study, Huh and her colleagues tracked about 850 babies and their mothers over 3 years. When babies were 6 months old, researchers asked the moms whether they had breastfed - and if so, for how long - and when they started feeding their babies solid foods, such as cereal, fruit, and dairy products.

When kids were 3 years old, the researchers measured their height and weight to determine which kids were obese, defined as being in the highest 5 percent of their age and gender for body mass index (BMI), a measure of the relationship between weight and height.

For babies who were breastfed for at least four months, the age that they first received solid food - before 4 months, at 4 or 5 months, or 6 months or later - had no effect on whether they were obese at 3 years. Regardless of when they started eating solid foods, breastfed babies in the study had a one in 14 chance of being obese as preschoolers.

But the findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, were different among babies who were formula-fed from the beginning, or who stopped breastfeeding before they were 4 months old.

Those babies had a one in four chance of being obese at age 3 if they started eating solid foods before they were 4 months old. If parents waited until between 4 and 5 months, the kids’ chances of being obese were one in 20.

The chance of being obese increased again if babies didn’t start eating solid foods until they were at least 6 months old, but there were too few of those babies for the authors to make a firm conclusion about the risk of waiting longer to feed a baby solid foods.

Both in the US and around the world, doctors have been promoting the importance of breastfeeding in the first 4 to 6 months of life. However, in the US about half of babies are breastfed for less than 4 months, or not breastfed at all, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Breastfeeding itself cuts down on a baby’s risk of being obese. For those babies who are raised on formula, it seems to be especially important that parents wait until babies are at least four months old to feed them solid foods, researchers say.

While parents may have more difficulty determining the right amount to feed a baby who isn’t breastfeeding, it could also be that “the way that infants feed and learn to feed influences their obesity risk,” Huh said.

Dr. David McCormick, a pediatrician at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said that the most common problem he sees is parents adding cereal to formula without thinking about the extra calories they are feeding their baby.

“I think that’s what a lot of people are doing unknowingly, thinking that the baby will be healthier or grow faster,” McCormick, who was not involved in the current study, told Reuters Health.

“That’s exactly how (adults) get overweight,” he said. “They eat a little bit more than they should every day.”

The study shows that talking to parents about when to add solid foods to a baby’s diet is something that pediatricians should be doing on a regular basis, McCormick said. Giving solid foods too early, whether together with formula or separately, “is going to set your child up for obesity.”

And, he said, “We know from other (studies) that if you’re overweight or obese at 3, you’re very likely to stay overweight.”

Source: Reuters

Read more »

Posted in: Health

Careful Cleaning of Children's Skin Wounds Key to Healing, Regardless of Antibiotic Choice

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2011) — When it comes to curing skin infected with the antibiotic-resistant bacterium MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), timely and proper wound cleaning and draining may be more important than the choice of antibiotic, according to a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study.

---

The work is published in the March issue of Pediatrics.

Researchers originally set out to compare the efficacy of two antibiotics commonly used to treat staph skin infections, randomly giving 191 children either cephalexin, a classic anti-staph antibiotic known to work against the most common strains of the bacterium but not MRSA, or clindamycin, known to work better against the resistant strains. Much to the researchers' surprise, they said, drug choice didn't matter: 95 percent of the children in the study recovered completely within a week, regardless of which antibiotic they got.

The finding led the research team to conclude that proper wound care, not antibiotics, may have been the key to healing.

"The good news is that no matter which antibiotic we gave, nearly all skin infections cleared up fully within a week," says study lead investigator Aaron Chen, M.D., an emergency physician at Hopkins Children's. "The better news might be that good low-tech wound care, cleaning, draining and keeping the infected area clean, is what truly makes the difference between rapid healing and persistent infection."

Chen says that proper wound care has always been the cornerstone of skin infection treatment but, the researchers say, in recent years more physicians have started prescribing antibiotics preemptively.

Although the Johns Hopkins investigators stop short of advocating against prescribing antibiotics for uncomplicated MRSA skin infections, they call for studies that directly measure the benefit -- if any -- of drug therapy versus proper wound care. The best study, they say, would compare patients receiving placebo with those on antibiotics, along with proper wound cleaning, draining and dressing.

Antibiotics can have serious side effects, fuel drug resistance and raise the cost of care significantly, the researchers say.

"Many physicians understandably assume that antibiotics are always necessary for bacterial infections, but there is evidence to suggest this may not be the case," says senior investigator George Siberry, M.D., M.P.H., a Hopkins Children's pediatrician and medical officer at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health & Human Development. "We need studies that precisely measure the benefit of antibiotics to help us determine which cases warrant them and which ones would fare well without them."

The 191 children in the study, ages 6 months to 18 years, were treated for skin infections at Hopkins Children's from 2006 to 2009. Of these, 133 were infected with community-acquired MRSA, and the remainder had simple staph infections with non-resistant strains of the bacterium. Community-acquired (CA-MRSA) is a virulent subset of the bacterium that's not susceptible to most commonly used antibiotics. Most CA-MRSA causes skin and soft-tissue infections, but in those who are sick or have weakened immune systems, it can lead to invasive, sometimes fatal, infections.

At 48-hour to 72-hour follow-ups, children treated with both antibiotics showed similar rates of improvement -- 94 percent in the cephalexin group improved and 97 percent in the clindamycin group improved. By one week, the infections were gone in 97 percent of patients receiving cephalexin and in 94 percent of those on clindamycin. Those younger than 1 year of age and those whose infections were accompanied by fever were more prone to complications and more likely to be hospitalized.

Co-authors on the study included Karen Carroll, M.D., Marie Diener-West, Ph.D., Tracy Ross, M.S., Joyce Ordun, M.S., C.R.N.P., Mitchell Goldstein, M.D., Gaurav Kulkarni, M.D., and J.B. Cantey, M.D., all of Hopkins.

The research was funded by a grant from the Thrasher Research Foundation and the General Clinical Research Center at Johns Hopkins.

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Aaron E. Chen, Karen C. Carroll, Marie Diener-West, Tracy Ross, Joyce Ordun, Mitchell A. Goldstein, Gaurav Kulkarni, J. B. Cantey, and George K. Siberry. Randomized Controlled Trial of Cephalexin Versus Clindamycin for Uncomplicated Pediatric Skin Infections. Pediatrics, 2011; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2010-2053

Source: sciencedaily

Read more »

Posted in: Health

Nỗi khổ nuôi con thời hiện đại

Phụ nữ thời hiện đại thường hay đau đầu với quỹ thời gian ít ỏi của mình. Vừa phải đảm đương việc công ty, vừa phải chu toàn việc nhà và đặc biệt vẫn phải chăm sóc con. Con phải được nuôi dưỡng tốt cả về thể chất lẫn tinh thần.

Đây là một thách thức cho các bà mẹ. Tuy nhiên, nếu khéo tận dụng những phương tiện hiện đại, các bà mẹ sẽ tiết kiệm được rất nhiều thời gian trong việc nấu nướng, chế biến thức ăn và nhờ đó có thêm những phút giây thư giãn, chơi cùng con hay dạy con học.

Đông lạnh, tại sao không?

Nếu thực hiện đúng cách, bạn sẽ vẫn đảm bảo được dinh dưỡng cho bữa ăn của con bạn trong khoảng thời gian tối thiểu bằng cách đông lạnh thức ăn. Các nhà khoa học đã khẳng định rằng, thực phẩm bảo quản theo cách đông lạnh không bị mất chất đáng kể so với việc bảo quản thường hoặc để tủ lạnh ở ngăn mát, không đông lạnh.

Ưu điểm của phương pháp này quả thực vượt trội so với nhược điểm của nó. Trước hết, khi bảo quản đông, vi khuẩn sẽ ít có cơ hội phát triển, thức ăn của bạn tránh được rất nhiều nguy cơ nhiễm độc. Nếu để ở ngăn lạnh thường, các vi khuẩn yếm khí và nấm mốc vẫn sinh sôi nảy nở và thức ăn của bạn sẽ bị biến chất, gây nhiễm độc.

Và đây mới là lý do chủ yếu để các bà mẹ chọn phương pháp làm đông thức ăn, đó là bạn có thể tiết kiệm thời gian tối đa, phân bổ hợp lý thời gian chuẩn bị và chế biến mà vẫn thay đổi được thực đơn cho bé liên tục. Bạn chỉ cần một buổi sáng thứ bảy hoặc chủ nhật, đi chợ và chế biến toàn bộ thức ăn, đem đông lạnh. Sau đó mỗi bữa, bạn chỉ mất từ 1 đến 5 phút để nấu ăn cho bé. Bé sẽ có một thực đơn riêng, phong phú và phù hợp, thay vì phải ăn chung cùng với gia đình hay chờ đợi mẹ nấu ăn lích kích lâu lắc.

Chuẩn bị thế nào?

Khẩu phần của bé thường không nhiều. Thế nên nếu bạn nấu cho bé vừa ăn một bữa thì chỉ bõ… dính nồi! Còn nếu nấu nhiều rồi cho bé ăn cả ngày thì bé có thể chán, hơn nữa thức ăn luôn được khuyến cáo không để quá 1 - 3 tiếng ở nhiệt độ phòng và cũng chỉ từ 3 - 6 tiếng khi để trong tủ lạnh. Vậy sao bạn không đi chợ cho cả 1 tuần rồi về chế biến, chia nhỏ thức ăn ra để mỗi lần nấu cho bé chỉ cần rã đông 1 phần là bé có một bữa ăn nóng sốt?

Sau khi đi chợ về, bạn phân loại thức ăn và có thể sơ chế theo phương thức sau:
- Thịt lợn/bò/gà: Rửa sạch, băm nhỏ, cho vào từng ô của khay đá.
- Tôm: Bóc vỏ, bỏ chỉ đen, băm nhỏ, cho vào khay đá.
- Cá/lươn: Lóc lấy phi-lê, băm nhỏ, cho vào khay đá.
- Cua: Luộc chín, rỉa thịt, cho vào khay đá.
- Rau: Nhặt rửa sạch, băm nhỏ, cho vào khay đá.
- Củ quả: Rửa sạch, gọt vỏ, thái hạt lựu, cho vào khay đá. Có thể thêm ít nước để dễ tạo liên kết.
- Bột hoặc cháo: Nấu chín nhừ, cho vào lọ thủy tinh miệng rộng có nắp đậy, vừa với khẩu phần mỗi bữa một lọ.

Khi làm xong, bạn dùng nilon bọc kín khay đá lại rồi cho vào tủ đông. Nếu làm nhiều, bạn có thể để đông xong gỡ từng viên ra, cho mỗi loại vào một túi ziploc (túi nilon có khóa kéo) để tiết kiệm chỗ trong tủ lạnh.

Khi đến bữa cần nấu cho bé, bạn lấy ra 1 viên rau củ, 1 viên thịt cá, 1 lọ bột cháo… và rã đông. Nấu sôi bột/cháo, khuấy từng viên rau thịt vào. Tất cả chỉ mất chừng 5 phút, bé đã có món ăn khoái khẩu.

Bạn có thể tùy ý kết hợp các loại rau củ thịt cá để cho ra những thực đơn phong phú. Như vậy mỗi tuần, bạn chỉ cần khoảng 3 - 5 loại thịt cá, từng ấy loại rau củ là bạn có thể cho bé mỗi bữa mỗi món khác nhau trong suốt cả tuần rồi!

Nguyên tắc vệ sinh và an toàn thực phẩm

Cách làm cơ bản là như thế. Nhưng thực hiện thế nào cho đúng cách để thực phẩm vẫn giữ được chất dinh dưỡng và lại an toàn cho bé? Bạn có thể nấu chín trước hoặc giữ nguyên trạng thái tươi sống rồi đem cấp đông, tùy ý bạn. Nhưng cần tuân theo các nguyên tắc sau: - Rửa tay sạch trước khi chế biến món ăn. Rửa sạch dao, thớt mỗi khi chế biến xong một món, tránh lây nhiễm vi khuẩn từ món này sang món kia.

-Chế biến thức ăn chín trước, thức ăn sống sau. Dùng riêng dao thớt. Nếu đang làm món chín mà phải quay qua chế biến món sống thì rửa sạch tay bằng xà phòng trước khi làm.

- Khay đá chỉ dành riêng để đựng thức ăn. Không dùng lẫn vào việc khác như làm đá, đổ rau câu…

- Canh kích thước mỗi ô trên khay đá vừa với lượng thức ăn bé cần dùng trong một bữa. Thức ăn khi đã lấy ra rã đông phải dùng cho hết hoặc thải bỏ, không cấp đông lại.

- Trên mỗi túi ziploc hoặc khay đá, cần ghi chú tên món ăn, ngày chế biến để tránh nhầm lẫn về sau.

- Không để thức ăn chuyển độ đột ngột. Cần rã đông trước, không bỏ cả viên đông lạnh vào nồi nước đang sôi. Ngược lại, thức ăn nếu đã sơ chế qua bếp lửa thì phải ngâm nước lạnh để làm nguội nhanh và phải nguội hoàn toàn mới cho vào tủ đông.

- Không rã đông tự nhiên ở nhiệt độ phòng. Có thể rã đông bằng lò vi ba, hoặc lấy xuống để ở ngăn mát trước rồi lấy ra, hoặc ngâm cách ly trong nước ấm.

Việt Báo(Theo Món Ngon Việt Nam)

Read more »

Posted in: Health