Ontario's graduating high school students are facing stiffer competition for high-demand college and university programs as workers who have lost their jobs in the recession vie for coveted post-secondary spots.
Colleges and universities will not give special priority to Grade 12 applicants, administrators say, even though those who are not accepted could be thrown into a tough, recessionary job market with only a high school diploma and little or no work experience.
Julia Aquino, 19, a recent graduate of Central Technical School in Toronto, told the Star's Jennifer Yang this unexpected competition has multiplied her worries as she prepares to apply to Ryerson and the University of Toronto.
"I'm so stressed," she says. "Not only do you have to worry about applying; you have to worry about the money too."
Aquino, who took a year off after high school, doesn't even want to think about all the extra applicants.
"I have other things to worry about without having to worry about how other people might have an effect," she says.
The deadline for Grade 12 students to apply to Ontario's universities for next September is Wednesday. For colleges, it is Feb. 1.
College applications overall have been up 10 per cent in recent years. In areas with high joblessness, that jumps to nearly 50 per cent.
"When the economy is strong, students tend to put off going to school, going to college particularly, in favour of entering the workforce and earning some money," says Fred Gibbons, head of Northern College.
"When the economy turns soft, as it has in 2009, students will then return to school ... ."
Since the economic meltdown began in the fall of 2008, Ontario has lost 195,400 jobs. That left 667,000 Ontarians unemployed in December, most them in the GTA.
The recession has forced unemployed workers to consider further education – and a wildly popular provincial program has provided many with the financial means to do so.
Second Career, which provides laid-off workers with up to $28,000 a year to retrain for high-demand jobs, was announced in 2008 as a $355 million, three-year program.
However, it was so popular that all the funding was scooped up in 18 months. Last October, the province pumped another $78 million into the program.
And that has turned up the heat. Competition for certain plum programs – particularly health care, biotechnology, social work, personal support, veterinary science and engineering – has become so fierce that perfectly qualified students are turned away.
Linda Franklin, president of College Ontario, the provincial colleges association, says mature students have received particular attention, both from colleges and the Ontario government.
For instance, St. Clair College in Windsor added extra paramedic courses for mature students because there was no other way to accommodate these older applicants in the regular academic calendar.
Grade 12 graduates won't get the same kind of attention from the Ontario government. That has some students and parents worried.
"I've been really stressing about getting my grades up and pretty much worrying about getting in," says Windsor student Laura Schoof, 17, who has applied to three colleges for medical radiation studies.
She believes Grade 12 students should be given priority over mature students because laid-off workers could more easily find a job if they were turned away from college.
But Glenn Loney, arts and sciences registrar at the University of Toronto, says high school students will not get special consideration.
"You'd have to think through whether someone who is 18 and coming out of high school has a greater claim on the space than somebody who's older and has done some things already," Loney says.
"It's not obvious that one has a greater claim on a space than someone else."
James Taylor, 17, a Grade 12 student at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, worries about the increased competition from mature students but says he's "not angry that they're getting a second chance.
"If I were in their position, I'd want the same chance too."
A Calgary family concerned about their children's homework load has signed a contract with their school to eliminate the problem altogether.
Tom Milley and his wife have signed a formal "no homework" contract with their children's school.
"With two children in school there was just an inordinate amount of homework coming home and a lot of it was busy work," said Milley.
The family has signed what is called a differentiated homework plan with their children's Catholic school. Their daughter and son now in Grades 5 and 7 won't have to bring work home. Instead they'll be marked only on work they do in the classroom.
The homework load kept his children from improving their weak areas, said Milley. He also questions the value of homework.
"The way they do grades is by marking certain assignments and homework," he said. "If you're going to mark homework, whose work are you actually marking? Because if you send it home, you don't know who's doing it. It could be their older brothers or sisters or their parents."
When Milley's children return home from school, they still study for tests and practice what they have learned in the classroom, but they concentrate on the subjects where they're weak, he said.
More than 40 per cent of Alberta nine-year-olds bring homework home every day, according to Statistics Canada.
The decision to sign a differentiated homework plan is up to each school, which tries to support the needs of the student, said Tania Younker, a spokeswoman for Calgary's Catholic School District.
"It's certainly something we encourage them to discuss with their teacher and their school administrator. Depending on circumstance, we will ensure what is being done is in the best interests of the child."
Vera Goodman, a retired teacher in Calgary, has written a book about too much homework. She expects the idea will catch on with other parents.
"I know there's people who like homework and people who don't want to do it. And this gives people choice to do whatever they want with their own time."
The Calgary Catholic School District has a committee examining the value of homework and will have new regulations next fall.
随着甲型H1N1流感在全球范围内的新一轮大暴发，日本、韩国等国上万所教学机构停学停课，感染人数纷纷刷新纪录。
而韩国《中央日报》28日说，流感疫情已经进入一个月中最紧要的关头，世卫组织相关人士预测，直到全球人口的80%都感染后疫情才会结束。
世卫警告, 入冬后每天将有10万人感染. 韩国《中央日报》报道称，目前韩国每天确诊病例“都超过了4000人”，和夏天相比幅度大幅提升。
报道称，世界卫生组织(WHO)西太平洋本部相关人士预测道:“随着第二次过冬，每天会出现10万名患者，直到全球人口的80%都感染后疫情才会结束。”
经本报记者核实，这一惊人的消息来源于世界卫生组织西太平区相关人士的说法。
世界卫生组织驻华代表处一位官员告诉记者，80%这一数据或出自世界卫生组织总部的一份报告，他们正在核实是哪位官员或专家做出的这一预测。
“随着北半球各国甲型H1N1流感第二波大流行的传播，住院和死亡的可能性将加大。”该官员表示，据早期研究显示，某些人群中，包括少数民族和土著人群，住院和死亡的可能性可能更高。
日本厚生劳动省28日宣布，主要受甲型H1N1流感影响，上周日本约1.4万所中小学校及保育机构因流感采取停学停课措施。
这是1973年日本政府实施流感调查以来，一周内停学停课机构首次过万。
而据韩国《中央日报》报道，韩国因甲流而停课的学校28日超过了200所。比前一天的统计数据(97所学校)增加了一倍以上，达到了8月份开始正式统计甲流停课学校数据以来的最高值。
美国:甲流疫苗需求远超过供应
美国白宫24日宣布，奥巴马总统已于前一天晚上签署宣言，宣布美国进入甲型H1N1流感全国紧急状态。
根据这一宣言，美国各地医疗机构可望打破常规，采取各种积极有效的措施，防止甲型H1N1流感病例的发生和快速蔓延。
据美国媒体报道，目前甲型H1N1流感正在美国各地快速蔓延，已造成1000多名感染者死亡。美国卫生部警告，甲流疫苗需求远超过供应，年底会面临4500万到5500万剂的短缺。
世卫组织将发布应对流感新指南
世卫组织一名发言人证实，由15名来自中、美、英等国和地区的专家组成的战略咨询专家小组正在日内瓦碰面。
专家小组将向世卫组织总干事陈冯富珍提出甲型H1N1流感疫苗相关的建议，包括哪些人群应该接种疫苗、疫苗需求量等。
陈冯富珍将在专家意见基础上，于下周发布应对甲型H1N1流感新指南。
Some flu experts are warning that with long lineups at flu vaccination clinics, those who need the vaccine the most are at risk of not getting it.
Across the country, vaccine clinics have been overwhelmed, with some patients being turned away because supplies have temporarily run out, and others reporting waits of more than two hours.
Many are complaining that those who need the vaccine the most -- pregnant women, children under five years of age and those with chronic illnesses -- are not being given first priority for the shots.
Health officials have said that anyone who want the vaccine can receive it, so clinics are not "triaging" patients to allow high-risk groups to get it first. Instead, officials are relying on the honour system, asking healthy, low-risk group to stay away from the clinics until those who need the vaccine the most can get it.
In an editorial in today's Globe and Mail, infectious disease experts Drs. Richard Schabas and Neil Rau say that while the federal government is boasting that there is enough vaccine for everyone, "this is a tad disingenuous."
"The vaccine is arriving in weekly aliquots of two million to three million doses. We don't actually have enough vaccine to immunize everyone right now," they write.
And, they note, timing is of the essence for those most at risk of serious complications of swine flu.
Local flu outbreaks typically peak within four or five weeks and then drop off rapidly. And in some areas of the country, outbreaks might already be beginning to peak.
"The worst of H1N1 will have passed from some areas of Canada -- Southern Ontario and the lower mainland of British Columbia, at least -- before healthy people can even roll up their sleeves," they write.
The fact that the vaccine takes about 10 days to fully protect from infection will extend the lag time even further, says Rau. In comments made to CTV's Canada AM Wednesday, he said the most vulnerable will probably be okay if they can get the vaccine within the next week. But two weeks from now may be too late for them.
"If we start to target the entire population with the vaccination campaign, we will not be able to get to everyone," he said.
The high demand for the vaccine has caught many health officials off-guard, and comes in spite of a recent Strategic Counsel poll that found that only half of Canadians wanted the vaccine. That survey, for CTV and The Globe and Mail, suggested 51 per cent of Canadians did not plan on getting immunized.
But the sudden death this week of an otherwise healthy boy in southern Ontario, along with other deaths in Ontario and Saskatchewan has made many parents worried, with some telling CTV News that their ambivalence to the vaccine was erased when they heard about those deaths.
The deaths have also been followed by a sudden a stampede to children's hospitals, some are reporting.
The emergency room at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children has seen a big surge in patients. While the hospital's Dr. Anne Matlow wouldn't provide an exact figure, she says the volume of cases is similar to what they see during peak flu season -- which usually comes much later in the year.
And the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario says it saw a 49 per cent jump in emergency room visits over the last week, with a 100 per cent rise in visits Monday alone.
Matlow says many of the patients coming to the ER with respiratory illness have H1N1 but most of the cases are mild and most children are being sent home.
Rau noted that while the recent deaths are tragic, they weren't unexpected and are not a reflection of a sudden increase in virulence of H1N1.
"It would seem that this flu is attacking young healthy people. But the truth is this is the medical equivalent of being struck by lightning. This is still an incredibly rare event," Rau insisted.
He says the death should remind people in high-priority groups to get the vaccine as quickly as they can, but it shouldn't worry otherwise healthy people that the virus is going to kill them as well.
As for the sudden interest in the vaccine, he encourages those who are most at risk to get the vaccine but he also reminds that all of the southern hemisphere braved swine flu this past summer, with low rates of death.
"Australia faced their entire outbreak, full-blast, without a vaccine in hand," he noted.
Advice to travellers
Meanwhile. federal health officials are advising that people feeling ill with flu should postpone travel plans.
In a news conference Wednesday, Dr. David Butler-Jones, the chief public officer of health advised that if people are ill and can't avoid travel, they should consider driving to their destination rather than risk the health of others on public transit.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq added the government is encouraging travel companies to make it easier for people to re-book flights and buses if they have to cancel because of sickness.
Her officials are also sending guidelines to travel companies to help them cope with the H1N1 virus. These guidelines suggest regular cleaning of public areas in stations and vehicles and say companies should provide hand-washing facilities for passengers and crews.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First came the jibes about the U.S. government rushing out an untested swine flu vaccine. Now, critics say it is not fast enough.
"The premise that 'you can't win' is part of the equation," said Dr. D.A. Henderson, who advised the administration of former president George W. Bush on pandemic preparedness.
It is a lesson playing out in real time by U.S. government health officials as the H1N1 pandemic turns from a scientific and logistical battle to a political one.
Plans have been in the works for handling a flu pandemic since 2003, when H5N1 avian influenza re-emerged in Asia. Health officials held roundtables and ran tabletop exercises, with journalists, bloggers and activists.
They knew it would take time to make a vaccine against a new flu strain and handle the delicate balance between communicating the need for the vaccine without sparking anxiety if manufacturers were unable to deliver it on time.
Now that the H1N1 flu pandemic has arrived, health officials are facing the inevitable, Henderson, who helped lead the vaccination effort that eliminated smallpox in 1979, said in an e-mail.
"If one anticipates a potential disaster and is successful in having enough done to head it off, there is criticism of the energy and money expended for something that didn't happen. The converse is obvious."
QUESTIONING NEED AND SAFETY
For the most part, public health experts have praised the administration of President Barack Obama for how it has dealt with H1N1. Companies formulated a vaccine in a record five months. Antivirals and other supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile were pushed out.
The National Institutes of Health is conducting research on new antivirals and how best to slow the spread of flu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has briefed the media frequently, and the agency is using new media such as pages on Facebook, updates on Twitter and videos on YouTube.
But now Health and Human Services is under fire for having miscalculated how much vaccine would become available and when. Officials said 40 million doses of vaccine would be available by the end of October, with 20 million a week rolling out after that. As of Tuesday, 22.4 million were ready.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius began making appearances in which she promised that every American who wanted a vaccine would get one and said 250 million doses were on order.
"The one thing they have to stop saying is there is a dose for everybody," said Mike Osterholm, a former Minnesota public health official and expert on pandemic preparedness at the University of Minnesota.
"The virus has been in a race with the vaccine and the virus is winning. It doesn't matter if there is a dose for everybody if it doesn't get to them before they become ill."
MILLIONS INFECTED
CDC has stopped trying to count how many people have caught swine flu, saying only that it is millions. Officially, 1,000 U.S. deaths have been attributed to H1N1 since April.
Members of Congress have begun to question the vaccine numbers. Republican Senator Susan Collins took Sebelius to task on Monday for having released estimates too soon, then herself demanded a new timetable of estimates.
Dr. Bruce Gellin, head of HHS's National Vaccine Program Office, defended the decision to give numbers as they became available and change them as necessary.
"I think that all along was the pledge to be as transparent as we could at the time," Gellin said in a telephone interview.
States would have been overwhelmed if they had been told they would only get a few vaccines and then millions were dumped on them, he said.
The United States has ordered up to 250 million doses of H1N1 swine flu vaccine from five companies -- MedImmune, a unit of AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Australia's CSL, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.
Except for MedImmune, all had problems making vaccine at first and are still struggling to make the virus grow in eggs, the first step to manufacturing influenza vaccine.
MedImmune has prolific production -- officials say the company can make 200 million doses of its nasal spray vaccine -- but only had 40 million sprayers to deliver it. The company is working with the federal government to perfect a device to drip the vaccine into the nose.
"How did we do with this one? From my vantage point, we could have done far better had due attention been paid to history," said Henderson, a veteran of the last two flu pandemics in 1957 and 1968.
瑞典皇家科学院6日宣布，华人科学家高锟(Charles Kao)以及两名美国科学家韦拉德-博伊尔(Willard Boyle)和乔治-史密斯(George Smith)获得2009年诺贝尔物理学奖，以奖励他们在光纤和半导体领域上的开创性研究。
他们将分享1000万瑞典克朗(约合140万美元)的奖金。其中高锟将获得一半的奖金，另外两名获奖者平分另外一半奖金。
高锟个人简历
高 锟 (Char les K.Kao)，光纤通讯、电机工程专家。美国国籍。生于中国上海，原籍上海金山。1957年、1965年先后获英国伦敦大学电机工程学学士、博士学位。 1970年迄今任香港中文大学教授，1987-1996年任该校校长。美国国家工程院院士、英国皇家工程科学院院士、英国皇家艺术学会会员和瑞典皇家工程 科学院外籍院士，台湾“中央研究院”院士。高锟教授1966年在《光频率介质纤维表面波导》论文中开创性地提出光导纤维在通讯上应用的基本原理，描述了长 程及高信息量光通讯所需绝缘性纤维的结构和材料特性。同时开发了实现光通讯所需的辅助性子系统。在单模纤维的构造、纤维的强度和耐久性、纤维连接器和耦合 器以及扩散均衡特性等多个领域都作了大量的研究，而这些研究成果都是使信号在无放大的条件下，以每秒亿兆位元传送至距离以万米为单位的成功关键。
1996年当选为中国科学院外籍院士。
原香港中文大学校长、“光纤之父”高锟刚刚被宣布获得诺贝尔物理学奖。此前他在接受香港媒体采访，被问及“您发明光纤，发现光纤可以做传输介体的这个理论，您觉得这个是不是应该得诺贝尔奖，为甚么到现在没有得”时，高锟表示，“这事你要去问诺贝尔奖金的评判人”。
高锟说，我心里觉得一个人有这样子的好运，能够做一件前所没有的事情，而且做出来的影响是非常非常大的……我感觉很满足。
他 说，我有这个机会，来创一个新的领域，而且这光纤的生成，使得世界又有很大的变化，好象那个时候印刷机开始的时候，大家都不了解将来的影响是甚么样，而你 知道印刷机出来之后，所有老百姓都可以跟读书人一样，可以拿到印刷出来的书，那么他们可以增加知识，这么便把我们的知识时代，能够进一步的作了解跟应用， 所以我觉得光纤的开始，至少把我们所有的信息，所有要传送的资料，都可以很快地送给人家。
高锟说：“所以我很满足，我拿到奖没有拿到奖，完全对我是没有甚么意思”。
我不是一个很固执的人有人说“科学家都应该是很固执的”。高锟说，我不是，假使科学家太固执的话，不能够想象不同的将来，因为脑子里面想的东西是幻想，所以假使一个人很固执的话，他那个人可能是很容易想不通的。
他说，但是假使我能够把事情看清楚了之后，我有一个意见的话，那个时候我可能拿得很紧，抓住这个意见，要求人家相信我。这个好象是推销员，就是说，卖东西给人家的，你一定要说服他，说这个是对的，这是你应该要买的东西。
做不正常的事是小孩子的自由
高锟说，自己的兴趣是很受人家的影响。在小学的时候已经是对化学，对科学方面有很大的兴趣，这也是因为自己的同学中间，有几个朋友都是常玩这种东西的。自己不懂得真正的危险性而去做，但是当然有一个很好的自发性。
高锟说，可以说不听话就是顽皮，但如果做一点不正常的东西，人家没有做过的，那个不应该算是顽皮的，那个是“小孩子的自由”。
婚姻的实验我不需要做
有传闻说高锟和太太结婚之前，也曾经像做科学实验似的，太太提出要做一个试验，说大家分开半年，这个半年不见面，看是不是彼此还挂念对方，如果要是挂念的话，说明是相爱的。
高 锟对此说，这件事曾经发生。但是很快就说不行，这个没有用，时间当然是一个考验的过程，假使每天见面，忽然之间一个星期不见面，这种情形之下，可能会使到 那个人想得清楚一点……婚姻是一件很重要的事情，是一个一生的一件事，所以说大家来分手半年，这种提议是没有甚么意思。
高锟说，实验室应该做实验的，但是这个（婚姻的）实验不能够做，我不需要做。
原香港中文大学校长、“光纤之父”高锟6日被宣布获得诺贝尔物理学奖。此前，英国科学博物馆里摆置了他的照片和科学成就，表扬他对人类科学界所做的贡献。中国科学院紫金山天文台1996年将一颗小行星命名为“高锟星”。
“光纤之父”高锟
物理学家杨振宁教授在“高锟星”的命名典礼上致词时曾说：“今天以后，我知道每次我和小孙女看夜空的时候，将会告诉她，其中一颗是‘高锟星’。我还会对她说，就在那刹那，数不清的光纤，正在传递着数不尽的数位(bits)，把人类世界推进高速资讯的新纪元。”
高锟教授生于上海，1948年举家移居香港，高中毕业后到英国深造。1957年加入国际电话电报公司(ITT)在英国的标准电信研究实验室当研究员。
高锟教授在1965年考获伦敦大学电子工程的博士学位。同一时期，他开始提出用光纤来传送资讯，并且为传送讯息的这个新的媒介进行设计。
高锟教授在1987年到香港中文大学执教，科学家又兼任教育家。但是从自己的经验，他也很难具体说得清怎样的环境可以培养科学家。
他说：“我从小就喜欢科技，是自然有兴趣的。小学时代，我已经在玩很多科学实验，拿它们作玩具，什么都要拆开来，看看里面是什么样子的，好奇心很强。我的父母亲和科学完全没有关系，他们也没有给我任何压力，要我读科学。”
高教授笑说：“不是研究，是看里面好不好玩。我运气很好，没有人罚我。如果当时他们觉得我这么做是不好的习惯，那我的好奇心可能会受到打击。”
高教授还特别提到中学里一位让他印象深刻的科学老师。高教授清楚记得，老师当时讲一个沙特利耶(Chatelier)原理，即任何物体在受到外界压力时将会自然收缩，使自己的构造能够尽量减低所承受的外来压力。
“老师当时说，我站在课室的角落，你们来推我时，我的身体一定会挪动，以设法减少压力。而假使很多人在推挤一个人时，那就可以呈现晶体的形成了。”
高锟教授说，这是一个自然的原理，但是老师生动的讲解让他觉得很有意思。
他说：“有多少学生听过这样的说法，但我不知道其他人听见他这样的说法，是不是同样觉得很有道理。我想，这真是人生的奥妙。”
高 锟教授说：“两个人谈话，我所要说的东西跟你吸收的东西肯定有差别。因为我的年纪比你多了至少一半，你学了比我至少少一半年纪的知识。你是用你的生活经验 作成本基础来了解我讲的东西，而我说话的时候，有自己的背景和意念，这是你不知道的。我自己可能知道，也可能不知道，但我所说的每一个字，每一句话，不一 定是这几个字眼就能够清楚表达的。”
高锟教授说：“我们听到什么，都会按自己当时要的反应来处理，但是实际上我们并没有绝对性的了解。这正是现在信息时代里最大的问题。”
据统计，英国的中文学校有100多家，分布于英国各地，在英格兰的南部有50多家，北部有30多家，苏格兰及北爱尔兰共有20多家。
在英国，大多数中文学校选择周末开课，课时2-4小时不等。由于地域和历史等方面的原因，英国的中文学校基本可以分为学习普通话和粤语两类，来自不同地区和不同生活背景的家长会根据自身需求进行选择。
每个星期日的早晨9点整，家位于英国肯特郡的刘军都会自驾1个半小时的车，送儿子女儿到伦敦的市中心，让他们学3个半小时的中文课程。在中文课程结束后，她12岁的女儿还在中文学校学习一个小时中国舞蹈，而9岁的儿子则选择了武术兴趣班。
连续5年，基本上每个星期天刘女士和她的孩子们都这样度过。她告诉记者，自己家附近没有合适的中文学校，她和丈夫都不希望因为自己住得远而让孩子放弃学中文的机会，因此就这样坚持了下来。想想这些年来，孩子们牺牲了不少休息的时间，但是看着他们现在都能够用中文和父母自如交流，心中备感欣慰，也觉得这些年的心血并没有白费，自己的坚持终于看到了成果。
在英国，类似刘军这样每个周末坚持让自己的孩子上中文学校的例子还有很多。他们无不是牺牲自己的周末休息时间，做着同一件事——学中国语言，学中国文化。
学生：中文课很难学
“中文太难学了。”基本上每一个被采访的孩子都这样说。许多华裔孩子周末比其他族群的孩子多了一天固定的安排——到中文学校学中文。
学习中文的孩子从5岁至十六七岁不等。他们普遍认为汉字笔画繁琐，复杂难记，加上平时没有什么语言环境，因此总提不起学习的兴趣。他们说，自己都是被家长逼着来的，其实周末有很多自己想做的事，但是却被强送到中文学校。
不过也有一些刚从中国大陆到英国的孩子，能够说一口流利的普通话，还能够写一手好汉字。这样的孩子自然喜欢上中文课，因为在中文学校能找到一种优越感，并且兴趣浓厚。
伦敦简体字中文学校的16岁女孩杨丰告诉记者，她家住得离中文学校很远，每个星期天赶来上课，感觉特别劳累。自从她7岁开始到这所中文学校，已经9年了。她的妈妈是这所中文学校的中文老师，因此她9年来的星期天都是在中文学校度过的。由于杨丰每星期六要做义工，星期天再往学校跑就太累了。但她的妈妈还是希望她多学一年中文，因为将来学习中文的机会会越来越少。在妈妈的劝说下，杨丰还是继续了这样的生活节奏。现在她对学习中文越来越感兴趣了。由于北京奥运举办成功，做义工时，不少人要求她教简单汉语，让杨丰感觉到中文没有白学。
有的孩子对中文课不感兴趣，但对学校课后开设的文化兴趣课程却饶有兴趣，学得津津有味。比如一些男孩子就特别喜欢“功夫”课程。他们在英国长大，对传统的中华武术了解很少，但好动是男孩天性，加之受一些中国功夫电影的影响，学起来干劲十足。而女孩子则大多喜欢参加中国舞蹈的兴趣班。在中文学校排练舞蹈，除了可以参加英国中文学校联会每年举办的艺术节，还有一些新年春节等传统节日的演出。女孩子们说，最高兴的就是可以穿上传统中国服装表演中国舞蹈，那是令人“exciting” 的时刻。
家长：学习都是逼出来的
“床前明月光，疑是地上霜，举头望明月，低头思故乡。”4岁半的李源在中文学校组织的联欢会上用稚声稚气的声音向大家朗诵这首李白著名的“静夜思”，台下观众连连叫好。
李源的父亲告诉记者，他和妻子在孩子2岁的时候就在家不停播放一些古代诗词的光盘给孩子看，由于是动画片，孩子看得津津有味。因此，他能背诵不少古诗。孩子小的时候是学习语言的好时机，父母的引导就显得至关重要。
一些年龄较小的孩子学习中文，并没有太多意识，父母在旁边不停教导和潜移默化地灌输时，他们便自然记住了。因此，学习中文，家长的督促和耐心是特别关键的一环。
另一位家长告诉记者，她的女儿3岁时就到英国，今年已经15岁。女儿几乎所有的中文都是在中文学校学习的。这位家长说，她当时为了女儿学中文，没少下功夫。除了连续9年让孩子在学校里学中文，她和丈夫还规定在家必须说中文，如果女儿用英文说话，他们就不回她的话。就是在这样的环境下，让女儿在学习英文的同时，中文也不知不觉地提高了。
所有的家长都希望孩子能学习好中文，但是一直坚持并不容易。仅仅靠一星期一次的中文课远远不够。孩子们在英国的学校里一连5天都讲英文，已经习惯了用英文交流，用英文思考，中文又是如此难理解，他们多少都有点被逼学习的意思。家长希望孩子学习汉语，除了希望能让孩子多学一种语言外，更多的是希望后代能够延续对中国文化的了解。
英国的学校要求学生学习第二门外语，华人学生选择学习中文，也正好符合了学校的要求。再者，英国学校讲究学生素质全面发展，考大学的时候要看其业余爱好以及学习的广泛性，所以学习中文是非常必要的。
也有的家长告诉记者，他们不希望自己的孩子和爷爷奶奶无法交流，老一辈见到孙儿孙女欢喜得不得了，而孙辈却满嘴洋文，自己却一句也听不懂，多少让老人们有点伤心。为了这一点，家长们更是加紧督促孩子学习中文了。
Researchers have discovered that a chemical released by a mown lawn makes people feel happy and relaxed, and could prevent mental decline in old age.
They claim it works directly on the brain, in particular the emotional and memory parts known as the amygdala and the hippocampus.
Now they have developed a perfume, which “smells like a freshly-cut lawn”, that relieves stress and help boost memory, scientists claim.
The Australian experts produced the “eau de mow” after seven years of research.
Dr Nick Lavidis, a neuroscientist at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, came up with the idea for the perfume, named Serenascent, after going on a forest trek in the US twenty years ago.
“Three days in Yosemite National Park felt like a three-month holiday,” he said.
“I didn’t realise at the time that it was the actual combination of feel-good chemicals released by the pine trees, the lush vegetation and the cut grass that made me feel so relaxed.
“Years later my neighbour commented on the wonderful smell of cut grass after I had mowed the lawn and it all started to click into place,” he added.
Dr Lavidis said the aroma worked directly on the brain, in particular the emotional and memory parts known as the amygdala and the hippocampus.
He explained: “These two areas are responsible for the flight or fight response and the endocrine system, which controls the releasing of stress hormones like corticosteroids.
“The new spray appears to regulate these areas.
“There are two types of stress. The first is when you are about to perform something or you know you are going to have to do something well. That’s acute stress and can be a good form of stress.
“Bad stress is chronic stress and is associated with an increase in blood pressure, forgetfulness and a weakening of the immune system.”
Chronic stress has been shown to damage the hippocampus by reducing the number of connections between communicating cells, leading to memory loss. In old animals the damage is permanent.
Students working on the Australian project found that animals exposed to Serenascent – which combines three chemical released when green leaves are cut – escaped damage to the hippocampus.
The scent is said to have the “pleasant aroma of a freshly-cut lawn or a walk through a lush forest”.
It will go into production next month and sell for around £4 a bottle.
Dr Lavidis, who worked with pharmacologist Professor Rosemary Einstein, said: “It can be used as a room spray or a personal spray on bed linen, a handkerchief or clothing. Down the track we will look at incorporating the feel good chemicals into other products.”
澳大利亚科学家表示，刚刚割下来的草散发的芬芳能够缓解压力。澳洲研究人员发现，修剪过的草坪释放的一种化学物质能够给人带来快感和放松感，同时还可以预防衰老导致的智力减退。这种化学物质能够直接作用于大脑，尤其是与情绪和记忆有关的区域，也就是所说的杏仁核和海马状突起。
澳大利亚科学家表示，他们研制了一种减压香水，闻起来很像刚刚修剪过的草坪散发的味道，能够缓解压力同时提高记忆力。为了研制出这种所谓的“草坪香水”，他们经过了长达7年的不懈研究。草坪香水名为“Serenascent”。
在20年前于美国进行的一次森林之旅之后，布里斯班昆士兰州大学神经学家尼克·拉维蒂斯博士提出了研制这种香水的想法。他说：“我在约塞米蒂国家公园呆了3天，但感觉就像停留了3个月之久。我当时并没有意识到，松树、郁郁葱葱的植被以及新割的青草释放的令人产生快感的化学物质才让我感觉如此轻松。多年之后，邻居曾对我修剪过的草坪散发的味道赞叹不已，邻居的评价让我产生了研制草坪香水的想法。”
拉维蒂斯表示，这种气味能够直接作用于大脑，尤其是对与情绪和记忆有关的被称之为杏仁核和海马状突起的区域。他解释说：“这两个区域负责‘非逃即战’反应以及控制皮质类固醇等应激激素分泌的内分泌系统。割草产生的味道似乎能够影响这些区域。”
他说：“压力分为两种，第一种在你将要完成一些任务或者不得不做一些事情时产生。这是一种急性应激，是一种有益的压力。有害的压力是指慢性应激，伴随血压升高、健忘以及免疫系统减弱出现。”
慢性应激能够减少通讯细胞间的连接，进而破坏海马状突起并引发记忆力减退。在已经步入晚年的动物身上，这种破坏将是永久性的。参加澳大利亚此项研究计划的学生发现，暴露在Serenascent香水环境下的动物能够避免海马状突起受损。这种香水融合了割草时释放的3种化学物质，拥有令人愉悦的刚刚修剪过的草坪散发的芬芳或者在森林漫步时感受到的气味。Serenascent将于9月投产，每瓶售价为4英镑左右。
曾与药理学教授罗斯玛丽·爱因斯坦合作的拉维蒂斯表示：“人们可以将Serenascent喷洒到房间内、被单、枕套、手帕或者衣物上。在Serenascent之后，我们计划将这些令人产生快感的化学物质溶入到其它产品中。”
Something horrible happens. A child is lost. A bomb goes off. A car goes out of control.
And deep in the brain, in the lateral amygdala region, a scattered set of neurons come to life and begin to vibrate with fear.
Through an ingenious set of experiments, a group of researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children have not only located these terror-laden brain cells in mice, but erased them – along with the frightening memories they stored.
While our imaginations have long been captivated by the idea of altering memory – to sinister effect in George Orwell's 1984 and poignantly in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – this research suggests a more therapeutic use.
The study, which appears today in the journal Science, may hold out the hope that terrifying memories one day might be erased before they can fester into such conditions as post-traumatic stress disorder.
While the sights and sounds of a blast or crash would stay intact, the memory of the fear it caused could conceivably be removed, the researchers suggest.
"You wouldn't want to completely get rid of all aspects of a memory," says Dr. Michael Salter, head of the Neurosciences & Mental Health program at the hospital.
"To help people with these kinds of post-traumatic stress disorders ... you might just want to minimize the emotional association between the memory and the highly disruptive and negative emotions that people have in this context."
He says the research may well conjure "Orwellian" notions of thought control, "but that's not really the goal of this. The idea would be (to use it) in a therapeutic way."
Salter was not involved in writing the paper, but was speaking on behalf of senior author Sheena Josselyn, a Sick Kids scientist who politely declined an interview request because she had "just gone into labour." Josselyn and her co-author husband, Paul Frankland, do much of their work in Salter's program.
Salter says the fear-storing neurons found in the mice are almost certainly located in the same amygdala region in human brains and work in much the same way.
The study, he says, suggests that only those amygdala neurons that express high levels of a brain protein known as CREB – about 10 to 20 per cent of the cells in the region – are involved in storing fearful memories.
Known as the universal memory molecule, CREB is essential in allowing brain cells to lay down memories of all kinds.
The researchers were able to selectively stimulate the specific fear-storing neurons by introducing a virus that triggered this CREB and turned the cells on.
After stimulating their CREB-rich cells, the mice were played a tone accompanied by an electrical shock to their feet, establishing a memory of fear to that specific sound in the excited cells.
A second virus was then introduced that migrated specifically to the CREB-expressing neurons and made them susceptible to a diphtheria toxin. When the toxin was injected, it killed the neurons where the fearful memory was stored.
Josselyn stressed in an earlier podcast interview conducted by the journal that the experiment did not destroy the brain's entire capacity to remember fear, only the specific recollection of the shocking tone.
Indeed, when exposed to the same tone and shock combination again, the mice were able to relearn their wariness of the sound.
Injecting diphtheria toxins to kill brain cells in humans would never be an acceptable therapy, Salter says. But there could be medicinal methods to disrupt the natural biochemical pathways that turn on the CREB mechanism and prevent fearful memories from taking root.
The scientist whose work in reconsolidating memory inspired the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind said Josselyn's team has found "one of the Holy Grails" of memory work.
"The elegance in this one, which goes orders of magnitude beyond other studies, is that now they didn't do something that was global to all neurons in the lateral nucleus," said Karim Nader, professor of neuroscience at McGill University. "They can kill only the neurons that they think express the memory."
In the film, ex-lovers played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet elect to have their memories of each other erased after their relationship sours. Despite the treatment, however, they eventually reunite.
February 22, 2009
The peanut processor at the center of the ongoing salmonella outbreak has instructed all its customers to stop any distribution of any of its product in a yet further expansion of one of the nation's biggest food recalls.
The instruction, referenced on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site yesterday, applies to all product from Peanut Corporation of America's Blakely, Ga., and Plainview, Texas, plants. Initially, the firm announced a recall of product from the Georgia plant dating back to last June. That was subsequently expanded to include product from the Georgia plant dating back to January 2007.
"On February 20, PCA informed customers who received products from its Georgia or Texas plants not to distribute or further use those products and to contact the FDA regarding the proper disposition of recalled products and any other matters related to the recall via the recall coordinators listed at www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph/recallcoordlist.html," the agency said on the site.
The FDA and the Texas Department of State Health Services were working to implement the PCA recall, it added.
There was no statement available from the company and the company's bankruptcy attorney, Andy Goldstein, could not be reached for comment.
So far, 654 people in 44 states have been officially recorded as sickened with salmonella traced to the Georgia plant contamination, which is also linked to nine deaths. Separately, Colorado health authorities have linked at least nine cases of salmonella poisoning to the Texas plant.
One food manufacturer affected by the massive recall - Forward Foods - has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, while Kellogg Company chief executive David Mackay said earlier this month the recall had an adverse 6-cent impact on earnings per share and that it had cost Kellogg an estimated $70 million in losses.
A criminal investigation into the contamination is under way after revelations the company received positive salmonella test results for products it shipped.
Meanwhile, PCA president and owner Stewart Parnell, who repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself before a congressional subcommittee hearing this month, has been added as a defendant in one of the lawsuits taken by the family of a 7-year-old child allegedly sickened after eating one of the tainted products.
OTTAWA -- The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to eat a specific brand of frozen leatherjacket fish after two people reported being sick.
In the warning issued early Saturday, the agency says that leatherjacket fish sold under the School of Fish brand may be contaminated with Ciguatera toxin, which can cause Ciguatera poisoning.
The recall affects frozen leatherjacket fish from China sold in packages with the production code of H104 and UPC codes of 8 74718 00074 0 or 8 74718 00073 3.
The fish importer, Frosbisher International Enterprise Ltd., based in Delta, B.C., is also participating in the recall.
The agency says that foods tainted with Ciguatera toxin do not look or smell spoiled. The marine biotoxin can also survive hot temperatures and is not destroyed by cooking.
Those who exhibit signs of Ciguatera poisoning such as vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, itchy skin, and hot and cold inversion where hot things feel cold and vice versa, should contact their doctor immediately.
Children who badly misbehave in school are likelier to end up with a dud job, poor mental health, teen pregnancy or divorce, according to a British study published on Friday.
The paper, published online by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), provides statistical backing for teachers who sound warnings about anti-social behaviour, its authors say.
It draws on an exceptionally long-term investigation, launched among 3,652 Britons who were born in 1946. With their consent, these volunteers have been monitored at occasional intervals since their birth, filling in questionnaires about their health, family and professional life.
At the ages of 13 and 15, this group was assessed by their teachers, who were asked to grade their behaviour as having severe, mild or no conduct problems.
A total of 9.5 percent of the teenagers were identified as having severe problems; 28.8 percent had mild problems; and 61.7 percent no problems.
Forty years later, the followup inquiry found a clear link between misbehaviour at school and difficulties in adult life.
"Adolescent misconduct might adversely affect developing social behaviours and result in pervasive social and mental health difficulties throughout adult life," the paper suggests.
Compared with those with no conduct problems at school, those who severely misbehaved were twice as likely to become a parent before the age of 20; likelier to get divorced or have relationship problems with spouses, children or friends; four times likelier to leave school with no qualifications, and twice as likely to be in a manual job or unemployed.
Problems in life also extended, but to a lesser degree, to those with milder forms of misbehaviour.
Males accounted for 62.6 percent of those with severe behavioural problems at school and 54.8 percent of those with mild problems. If the father had a manual job, this too was a major factor among teenagers in these categories.
The study is led by Ian Colman, an assistant professor of public health at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Colman says the study provides a useful guide for focussing resources to help teenagers whose behaviour could prove costly both to themselves in adulthood, and to society.
He admits that the study has some limitations -- there are no data to explain why children misbehaved, for instance.
On the other hand, the teachers' assessment was a good indicator of a child's risk of delinquency, and a better guide than the parents' own assessment, he argues.
Parents across the country are being warned not to give cough and cold medicines to children under six because of "limited evidence" they work and rare but real risks of potentially serious reactions.
Health Canada is ordering manufacturers to relabel over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to state "do not use in children under six," a move that will affect 722 products now authorized for sale in Canada.
Health Canada says that parents should avoid giving children under the age of six over-the-counter cold medication. The decision, which goes further than any country, follows a Health Canada review of the medicines and consultation with a panel of outside experts. The agency says reports of misuse, overdose and rare side effects "have raised concerns about the use of these medicines in children under six."
Between January 1995 and May 2008, Health Canada received 164 reports of adverse reactions in children under 12 related to cough and cold products; 105 were considered serious, including five deaths in children under the age of two. The youngest was four weeks old; the oldest, 20 months.
The reports are based on suspicion only and most of the children who died had serious underlying medical illnesses. But it's believed only about one per cent of adverse drug reactions are ever reported under Canada's voluntary reporting system.
Reported side effects in children using over-the-counter cough and cold products include convulsions, increased heart rate, decreased consciousness, abnormal heart rhythms and hallucinations.
The active ingredients affected by the decision include antihistamines in cough and cold medicines, dextromethorphan and other "antitussives" used to treat coughs, expectorants used to loosen mucus, and decongestants.
Drug makers last year pulled over-the-counter children's cough and cold products off Canadian store shelves amid fears the medicines could lead to an overdose and other potentially fatal reactions. At that time, Health Canada issued a warning to parents not to give cough and cold medicines to children under two, unless otherwise instructed to do so by a doctor.
According to Health Canada, the decision to expand that to kids under six is based on several factors: no evidence they benefit children; a higher number of reactions reported in the under six-year-olds (there are three times more reports of "serious adverse events" in younger children); younger children generally have more colds, and so are likely to get the medicines more often; they're less able to communicate when they experience potential side effects; and the products are used for symptoms that usually get better on their own.
There will be additional wording on the labels as well, such as not to use antihistamines to make a child sleepy. Child-resistant containers will become universal, and the products will come with accurate dosing devices.
The new decision does not apply to single-ingredient children's pain relievers and fever reducers.
"Cough and cold medicines have a long history of use in children, and reports of health problems related to the use of these products are very rare compared to their overall use," Health Canada spokesman Dr. Marc Berthiaume, director of the marketed pharmaceuticals and medical devices bureau, told reporters during a conference call Thursday.
"Parents can be reassured that there is no evidence that children who have used these medicines in the past are at risk of adverse events."
"We're not talking here about drugs that are dangerous, except in specific circumstances," Berthiaume added in an interview. "These drugs have been used for millions of doses for a number of years" and most of the rare side effects are related to accidental ingestion or misdosing, he says. Some parents may misread labels and give too much medicine to their children.
The labelling update will be completed by next fall, in time for the 2009 cough and cold season. Products with the old labels will remain on the market. Health Canada says they can still be used in children aged six and older.
Industry spokesman Gerry Harrington says that, when used as directed, children's cough and cold medicines have an excellent safety record, and that effectiveness studies in children are underway.
Dr. Michael Rieder, a spokesman for the Canadian Paediatric Society, called the move to restrict cough and cold medicines in younger children "a sensible decision."
"Deaths are rare, but they occur, so any death is a problem," says Rieder, researcher with the Children's Health Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario in London.
"Our message to parents is that we don't believe these products work in children under six, there may be potential safety issues, so you should use a fallback. A little bit of fever control, a lot of fluids and a bit of time will make you better just as quickly as anything else."
"Basically it's kind of waiting it out," Rieder says. "I know people don't want to hear that, because we live in an age in which immediate gratification is kind of a cultural thing."
Effective advertising also makes parents think the products work in younger children, he says. "There's the idea that they work. And many adults take a cough and cold medicine and it actually makes them feel better, so they think, if it makes me feel better, it should make my child feel better. But children aren't small adults."
Health Canada says children should not be given any medications labelled only for adults. If cough or cold symptoms worsen, last for more than a week or are accompanied by a fever higher than 38 C, or children are producing thick phlegm, parents should consult a health care practitioner.
For more information about Health Canada's decision on the use of cough and cold medicines in children, people can call toll free at 1-866-558-2946 or consult Health Canada's website at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
一份刚公布的最新调查结果表明，英国一些儿童盗用父母信用卡上网购物现象严重，家长为此一年需埋单１．９１亿英镑（约合２．８６亿美元）。
据英国ＣＰＰ公司的调查数据显示，两成８岁到１６岁的儿童曾盗用父母信用卡上网购买电子产品、电脑游戏软件和流行饰品，人数已超过１００万。
调查显示，１５岁孩子的购买力最旺盛，他们中１０％每月背着父母上网购物一次，每件商品平均花费２５英镑（３７美元）；５％的孩子每次购物花费７５英镑（１１２美元）至１００英镑（１４９美元）。
ＣＰＰ公司另外选取成年人和青少年各５００名调查后发现，４４％的父母会在电脑上保存最喜欢的购物网址，三分之一会在网上保存他们的银行卡信息。这使得子女容易获取他们的账户信息。
调查报告说，大多数父母对子女的行为浑然不知。有６％的父母说，子女知道他们信用卡信息。２％的父母认为，子女可能在未经允许的情况下上网购物。
不过，ＣＰＰ公司的米歇尔·林奇另有担忧，“对私人信息疏忽大意，不仅诱使子女私自上网购物，而且容易使这些父母面临网络诈骗的危险”。
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v456/n7218/full/nature07484.html
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081105/full/456012a.html
国际著名学术刊物《自然》在11月6日最新一期的杂志上以封面文章形式，发表了由深圳华大基因研究院完成的首个中国人基因组序列研究成果（定名“炎黄一号”）。
深圳华大基因研究院院长汪建介绍说，这一长达7页的长篇论文描绘了第一个亚洲人的全基因组图谱，测序数据总量达到1177亿碱基对，基因组平均测序深度达到36倍，有效覆盖率高达99．97％，变异检测精度达99．9％以上。
汪建说，科学家在这一研究中详细比较了中国人与已有数据的白种人基因组在序列和结构上的差异性，新发现了41．7万例独有的遗传多态性位点，并对相应的基因功能进行了探讨，较全面地阐述了中国人基因组结构的特征。
汪建说，“炎黄一号”作为中国人参照基因组序列，从基因组学上对中国人与其他族群在疾病易感性和药物反应方面的显著差异作出了解释，揭示了中国人自主的基因组研究与中国人的医学健康事业发展的重要关联性和必要性，对中国的基因科学研究和产业发展具有重要的指导意义。
汪建说，“炎黄一号”计划在进行过程中采用了国际领先的ＤＮＡ测序技术，科学家们进行了大量的探索和生物信息软件开发，并在自主构建的高性能计算集群上完成了序列分析和基因组注释的工作。这些创新性突破在技术上引领了中国乃至世界基因组科学和产业的发展，革命性地推动了生物医学的进步。
《自然》杂志代表Ｆｅｌｉｘ Ｃｈｅｕｎｇ表示，人类基因组就像是一部百科全书，对于回答有关人类发育和生理、医疗健康和进化等一切问题必不可少。
据悉，《自然》杂志创刊于1869年，是世界上引用率最高、最著名的科学期刊之一。
深圳华大基因研究院是致力于公益性研究的事业单位，拥有世界水平的技术平台和人才队伍。去年10月，完成了首个中国人基因组序列图谱“炎黄一号”的绘制。目前，正在进行“炎黄计划”“国际千人基因组计划”及“国际大熊猫基因组计划”等重大项目。
学生：跑这么远太累了 学校：场地有限 教育部：可一天内分段完成
10月26日，长沙市将在贺龙体育广场举行学生冬季长跑启动仪式，一个声势浩大、普及我省几乎所有大中小学的长跑运动从这天开始，学生们将进行长达半年的“每天坚持长跑”。
【部署】 下周开跑，可累计完成
这一长跑活动，由省教育厅、省体育局、团省委根据教育部、国家体育总局、共青团中央部署的“全国亿万学生阳光体育冬季长跑活动”精神联合开展。在10月26日至明年4月30日的半年时间里，全省学生将坚持每天长跑。我省小学五六年级的学生每天跑1000米，初中生每天1500米，高中生及大学生每天2000米。
教育部在细则中明确态度：长跑距离只是一个参考数据。可根据学生的身体条件在一天中分段、分次累计完成，学生可进行不限时间的跑步甚至快走。
省教育厅要求，各级各类学校要把冬季长跑活动纳入日常教育教学计划之中，将冬季长跑活动与体育课、早操、大课间体育活动和课外体育活动有机结合，制订操作性强的实施方案。
省教育厅强调，节假日和寒假期间学校应要求学生自觉坚持长跑并做好记录。学校各单位、班级要做好每日长跑活动情况记录，在冬季长跑活动结束时，统计每个学生冬季长跑的总里程。冬季长跑总里程以60公里为基数，象征新中国成立60周年。小学生累计为120公里，初中生为180公里，高中生、高校学生为240公里。
【学生】 多数表示跑不了这么长
“这个冬季长跑活动，我觉得蛮好。每天跑2000米，没问题！”长沙市一中高一10班的刘卓林充满信心地说。
小周是麓山国际实验学校篮球队员，“正好啊，我可以每天坚持跑步了，以前就是没有毅力坚持。”
像小刘和小周这样期待每天跑上2000米的同学，在记者采访的学生中只是少数。大多数人是像长沙市一中高一11班丁璐瑶这样，一听说要每天跑2000米，就直吐舌头。“跑个800米还差不多，2000米太长了！”女生小丁举了自己体育中考的例子：“体育中考是800米，我跑完的时候都快虚脱了！现在要每天跑2000米，好紧张哦！”“打打羽毛球、篮球还可以接受，长跑这么远，太累了！”她说出自己的想法。
向远芳是老师都公认的爱好体育、经常运动的学生。这个长沙市一中高一20班学生、年级学生会主席说：“我经常运动，在家还和父母一起打打羽毛球。可就目前的情况来看，体育运动的时间还是太少。”她说，现在同学们也都乐意运动，可是学习任务重，占了一天的绝大部分时间。
记者了解到，现在的学生很盼望多运动，增强体质，但不能局限于长跑，应该丰富多彩。“像跆拳道、艺术操、跳绳，都是很好的锻炼方法，如果长跑跑得精疲力尽，其它运动想搞也搞不成了。”
【老师】 学生基本上无法完成
“这么大的运动量，学生基本上无法完成。”长沙市一中体育组组长吴军说：“拿高中生来说，男生跑1500米还差不多，每天跑2000米就困难了，而且不能是每天都跑，至少休息一天，大约每周9000米比较恰当。而女生肯定还要少一点，每天1200米，每周约7000米。”
长沙市一中教务处副主任，曾担任过长沙市中小学体育专业委员会理事长的周新生也赞同吴军的意见。他甚至认为，以小学生为例，每天1000米肯定太多，可以跑个五六百米，再做点别的活动。“小孩子跑太多太久也不一定对其骨骼生长有帮助。”
长沙市天心区仰天湖小学校长张诚说，由于学校学生太多而校园面积有限，容纳不了那么多学生进行长跑。
【提醒】 长跑跑不累有九法则
长沙市一中体育高级教师、田径中长跑教练员罗立，曾带队拿到2005年全国中学生田径越野金牌、世界泛太平洋中学生长跑银牌，指导如何进行长跑很在行。他说，长跑对人体耗氧能力要求高，需要采用循序渐进的锻炼方式，逐步增加跑步的运动量和运动强度。因此他首先建议开始训练不要跑得太快，保持较慢的速度、较适宜的运动量，要根据个人身体状况和自身基础来决定活动量的大小。
此外，他还提出了9点建议：
一、在跑步前应先做准备活动，比如做10分钟慢跑，做10分钟柔韧练习；
二、长跑后，要做整理活动。即拉长肌肉韧带和调整呼吸状态；
三、长跑的节奏建议为二步一呼二步一吸或三步一呼，三步一吸；
四、应采用口鼻同时呼吸的方式，跑的过程中切忌讲话，以免影响呼吸；
五、应注意补充水、盐、糖，一般采用练前喝200毫升糖盐水，大量排汗后再根据需要补充200毫升；
六、长跑练习者的饮食应注意分平衡，要多吃含铁丰富的食物和维生素丰富的食物。如：牛肉、鸡、西红柿、水果、蔬菜等；
七、应穿轻便、弹性好、缓冲性强的跑鞋及运动服，以便保护足弓；
八、气温过低不宜迎风跑步，大雾天也不宜长时间长跑；
九、长跑适宜时间为早上6：30-7：20(早餐前)下午5：00-6：00晚上9：00-10：00。注意两点：1、不宜在饥饿状态下跑；2、最好在饭后45分钟后跑。
科学家10日在靠近法国和瑞士边境的地下实验室开启大型强子对撞机，由此开始高速粒子对撞系列实验。如果成功，这一系列实验将模拟宇宙大爆炸发生时的状态，有助于人类进一步探索宇宙起源之谜。
质子束流细如发丝
当地时间10日上午9时38分(北京时间10日下午15时38分)，第一束质子束流被注入安装在地下100米深处27公里长环形隧道内的大型强子对撞机。随后，欧洲核子研究中心主任罗贝尔·艾马和大型强子对撞机项目主任林恩·埃万斯宣布，大型强子对撞机正式启动。负责实验的欧洲核子研究中心发言人葆拉·凯特帕诺说：“质子束流粗细如同一根头发。”
第一束质子束流注入对撞机后，须逐段调整并走通对撞机的全部8段。当地时间10时25分左右，科研人员宣布第一束质子束流贯穿了整个大型强子对撞机，现场随即一片欢呼。
在第一束质子束流实现贯穿后，经过数小时至数十小时调试，第二束质子束流将被反方向注入对撞机。
模拟宇宙大爆炸
一切就绪之后，科学家才会着手准备粒子高速对撞实验，继而再现宇宙大爆炸发生后万亿分之一秒内的情形。
据估计，粒子高速对撞实验最早有望在今年年底进行，最晚则可能在一年以后。届时，运行方向相反的两束高速质子束流将在隧道内对撞，碰撞点将释放巨大热量和能量，与宇宙大爆炸发生时的情况相仿，只是规模较小。
当前盛行的宇宙学观点认为，宇宙起源于大约150亿年前一次大爆炸。当时所有物质高度密集于硬币大小的一点，因为温度极高发生大爆炸。爆炸发生后，物质向外膨胀形成宇宙，先后诞生星系团、星系、银河系、恒星和太阳系，以及包括地球和人类在内的一切。
探寻“上帝粒子”
如果最后实验成功，科学家将分析撞击中产生的数百万粒子，求证希格斯玻色子的存在。
一旦粒子高速对撞成功，科学家将借助粒子检测器，在电脑显示器上观察撞击后的粒子如何聚拢在一起、各自散开或就此消融。上述条件下，科学家们有望发现希格斯玻色子是否存在。在粒子物理学标准模型预言的62种基本粒子中，只有希格斯玻色子迄今仍未“显形”，因此有“上帝粒子”之称。
专家观点
毁灭地球说属无稽之谈
昨天，欧洲核研究组织的大型强子对撞器启动了模拟宇宙大爆炸实验，一时间有人担心撞击实验可能造成灾难性后果，甚至有人说这可能毁灭地球。昨天，中科院高能物理所所长陈和生院士在接受记者采访时说，这些担心纯属无稽之谈，杞人忧天。
陈和生说，欧洲强子对撞机计划讨论了有20年，启动时间也超过15年。“提出那种奇怪争议问题的人都是好事之徒，不懂得粒子物理。过去20多年里，每一次有新的对撞机投入使用时，都有人说会造成地球的毁灭、造成黑洞。”
“但这是不可能的，粒子对撞要以太阳的质量为单位，才有可能产生黑洞，而包括欧洲使用的都差远了。可以说，这次产生的射线的强度还远远比不上宇宙过来的随机的射线呢。毁灭地球说是无稽之谈。”
就在今年7月，北京正负电子对撞机二期工程也已圆满完成了建设任务，即将进入试运行阶段。而北京的对撞机和欧洲对撞机在原理上是一回事，只是用的是不同的粒子，欧洲用的是质子和质子相撞，北京则是正电子和负电子相撞。
陈和生说，其实从1981年起，中欧双方在这方面的合作非常广泛，中科院高能所早在十多年前就参与了欧洲强子对撞器探测器的设计、安装和调试，现在也参加了数据分析和物理研究。
Olympic poll says Canadians happy with athletes, China and TV
79 per cent satisfied with athletes; 72 per cent liked how CBC covered Games
When rower Krista Guloien led a contingent of 100 Canadian Olympians returning from Beijing down the escalator at Vancouver International Airport Monday she found a country more than satisfied with how the Summer Games turned out.
A new Canadian Press/Harris Decima poll shows Canadians happy with everything from the athletes' efforts at the Games, the organization of events by the host country, China, and the Olympic coverage shown on CBC television.
Canada won 18 medals in Beijing (three gold, nine silver and six bronze), the country's second-best performance ever at a non-boycotted Games. (The Atlanta Games in 1996 produced 22 medals.) And that left everyone in a good mood.
"In the run-up to these Games, it wasn't clear whether broad attention was going to be captured, and obviously it wasn't clear whether people were going to come away pleased with the outcomes," said Bruce Anderson, president of Harris Decima.
"As it turned out, the general sentiment is that the Games were a success, Canada's athletes performed admirably and the coverage provided by the CBC was well regarded, too."
Among the highlights of the survey of more than 1,000 people across the country:
Canadians were satisfied with the performance of the national team in Beijing. Fully 79 per cent of those surveyed were either very satisfied (26 per cent) or satisfied (53 per cent). Only nine per cent were dissatisfied.
China's efforts at organizing and running the Olympics met with a solid majority of support as 66 per cent of those surveyed said they were either very impressed (31 per cent) or somewhat impressed (37 per cent). A total of 21 per cent were either not too impressed or not impressed at all.
Television coverage by CBC Sports, English and French, also received high marks. Seventy-two per cent of Canadians who answered the survey thought the coverage was either excellent (35 per cent) or good (37 per cent). Just one in 10 believed the coverage to be fair (eight per cent) or poor (two per cent).
Across the country, 77 per cent said they watched some portion of the Games on television, with the average person taking in 13.76 hours (the survey was taken between last Thursday and the closing of the Games on Sunday).
Those who watched the Games had the highest number of positive reactions toward the athletes, organizers and the CBC.
A sample of this size has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent 19 times out of 20.
With
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Twelve people have now died out of 26 confirmed cases of food poisoning linked to deli meats produced at a plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods Inc (MFI.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Canadian health officials said Monday.
There are another 29 suspected cases of listeriosis, officials told reporters, and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the government expected more cases in coming days.
Maple Leaf Foods, one of Canada's biggest meat processors, had said it hoped to reopen the Toronto plant associated with the outbreak on Tuesday, but health officials said they will test and hold all meat produced there until they are satisfied it is not contaminated.
"The timeframe really isn't theirs. It belongs more to the (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)," Ritz said.
Maple Leaf has voluntarily pulled about 220 products made at the plant in one of the biggest food recalls ever in Canada, with direct costs to the company of about C$20 million ($19 million).
Listeria bacteria with the same genetic fingerprint as that found in the ill people was found in two beef products made at the plant. Those products and about 20 others made on the same lines were recalled last week.
Listeriosis, an illness that is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, the elderly, infants and people with weak immune systems, was a contributing factor in seven of the deaths, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.
Five others had the bacteria in their system, but the causes of their deaths are still under investigation, said the agency's Mark Raizenne.
两个月的暑期即将结束，学生马上就要入学，家长如何帮助孩子迎接新学期？
学生在学校的时间是以学习为主，其它活动为辅，假期是以学习为辅，休息、娱乐、放松、旅游等休闲活动为主，据调查，有30%学生盼望开学，觉着在家无聊，而70%的学生不同程度的害怕开学，觉着在家自由，一想到开学后的学习压力，就头痛、失眠、焦虑，甚至呕吐、恶心。面对此种情况，家长可以帮助孩子做好以下工作：
一、停止长途旅行计划。开学前十天左右家长不要再安排孩子外出旅行等其它休闲娱乐活动，帮助孩子收回一心玩耍的心思，调节好心态，做好入学前的准备工作。
二、调整作息时间。假期孩子往往不按正常时间做息，睡懒觉比较普遍，临近开学前一周，家长同孩子来个“君子协定”，原来假期由父母喊孩子起床、上学，变成以孩子为主、父母监督完成，最后由孩子自己独立（或借助闹钟）安排正常的作息时间，把做息时间调整到与学校做息时间同步，以便于开学后迅速适应学校生活。
三、制定学习计划。有意识地减少孩子的娱乐活动，增强学习时间，有计划地转移兴奋点，争取帮助孩子在最短的时间内进入学习角色，督促孩子一方面要完成假期作业；另一方面要预习新学期的功课，如: 语文通读课文，英语预习单词，数理化预习前几章，划出难点等，有的放矢的为新学期做好准备。
四、确定新学期目标。开学前是帮助孩子确定新目标的最佳时期，家长要不失时机的和孩子一起制定新学期“跳一跳够得着的目标”,孩子的潜力是不可估量的，有了目标，才会有动力，相信和鼓励孩子朝着自己制定的目标努力，信任的力量是巨大的，要孩子一天天超越自我。
五、调动积极的心态。家长要以积极、乐观的态度，激励、引导、暗示孩子，谈谈学校、同伴和新学期，说一些欣赏和鼓励的话语，从正面的角度给孩子以信心。同时给孩子补充一些必要的文具，让孩子感到上学的幸福感，期待着开学。
另外，家长应和孩子一起探究对开学恐惧的真正原因，表达对孩子真诚的关心和呵护，如果孩子的 “恐惧症”，到了威胁健康的程度，家长解决不了，可以请心理医生帮助疏导。
总之，“开学恐惧症”是正常现象，就像成人放长假后不愿上班一样，只要家长有策略的做好引导，孩子会很快适应新学期的生
Maple Leaf Foods Inc., Canada's biggest food processor, said today it will expand a recall of meat products after health officials identified a Toronto plant as the source of food poisoning that led to four deaths.
Laboratory results linked meat products from the plant with an outbreak of listeriosis in four provinces, the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement late yesterday.
Maple Leaf Foods, based in Toronto, temporarily closed its Bartor Road plant last week after a number of Sure Slice delicatessen meats tested positive for listeria, which can lead to fevers, severe headaches and nausea. The test results confirmed health officials' suspicions that the same strain of listeria at the plant was responsible for the outbreak.
``To those people who are ill, and to the families who have lost loved ones, I offer my deepest and sincerest sympathies,'' Maple Leaf Chief Executive Officer Michael McCain said in a statement.
Maple Leaf said today the recall will cost about C$20 million ($19.1 million) before taxes, mainly for reimbursement for returned products and to sanitize the plant. More costs may occur for advertising, communications and lost sales, it said in a statement.
Health officials said 21 cases of listeriosis have been confirmed and another 30 cases are being investigated.
Maple Leaf will expand its recall to include all products produced at the plant as a precaution, McCain said today. Last week, the food processor recalled 23 meat products after the infection was discovered.
McCain called it the ``toughest circumstance'' in the company's 100-year history.
``This isn't about money, it's about public health,'' he told reporters today. ``It's clear that confidence in Maple Leaf and its brand has been severely shaken,'' he said. ``I hope with time we can regain the confidence of Canadian consumers.''
The expanded recall will involve more than 200 products produced by Maple Leaf, Health Minister Tony Clement said this evening in a news briefing. Clement said the number of cases of listeriosis is expected to rise because the incubation period for the bacteria can be as long as 70 days.
``This is a case where the surveillance system worked,'' he said.
Two food samples tested positive for the listeria strain linked to the outbreak while a third showed a ``slight variance'' health officials said. Further test results are expected this week as the investigation proceeds.
The recall is Maple Leaf's or its predecessor companies' first large product recall since 1998, when Schneiders Lunchmate was contaminated with salmonella in cheese provided by a supplier and 800 children became sick, Michael Van Aelst, an analyst with TD Newcrest, said in an Aug. 22 note to clients.
``Typically, these types of issues can result in little or no permanent damage to the brand reputation if dealt with pro- actively and openly,'' Van Aelst said. ``It is usually only when the company tries to cover up the problem that real and sometimes irreparable damage tends to occur.''
Maple Leaf dropped 8.4 percent since Aug. 19, a day before the company said it was expanding the recall because of possible food contamination.
The shares fell 47 cents, or 4.6 percent, at C$9.80 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Aug. 22 and have dropped 34 percent this year.
与一家食品企业已召回受污染食品相关
加拿大卫生部门官员23日说，已确定本国暴发的李氏杆菌病与一家食品企业已召回受污染食品相关。
加拿大枫叶食品公司17日宣布在肉制品中发现李氏杆菌，召回多种产品并暂时关闭企业直接生产这些产品的多伦多工厂。
美联社24日援引加拿大公共卫生署一份声明说，对枫叶食品公司召回的3份产品样本所做基因检测显示，两份样本呈阳性，与致命李氏杆菌菌株相同。
第三份样本与致命李氏杆菌菌株相似，但存在细微差异。
公共卫生署说，对李氏杆菌暴发原因的调查远未结束。
枫叶食品公司发言人琳达·史密斯说，列入召回范围的所有肉制品截至21日已全部撤下商店货架。
史密斯承认，确定已售出产品的去向更为复杂，“我们积极与所有分销商合作，但并非直接合作，因为这些客户自身还有客户。”
美联社说，卫生部门已确认21例李氏杆菌病例，正调查另外30个疑似病例。
鉴于李氏杆菌平均潜伏期为3个星期，卫生官员预计会出现更多病例。
ScienceDaily (July 10, 2008) — Using remarkably sensitive new instruments, seismologists have detected minute geological changes that preceded small earthquakes along California's famed San Andreas Fault by as much as 10 hours. If follow-up tests show that the preseismic signal is pervasive, researchers say the method could form the basis of a robust early warning system for impending quakes.
"We're working with colleagues in China and Japan on follow-up studies to determine whether this physical response can be measured in other seismically active regions," said Rice University seismologist Fenglin Niu, the study's lead author. "Provided the effect is pervasive, we still need to learn more about the timing of the signals if we are to reliably use them to warn of impending quakes."
Today's state-of-the-art earthquake warning systems give only a few seconds' warning before a quake strikes. These systems detect P-waves, the fastest moving seismic waves released during a quake. Like a flash of lightning that arrives before a clap of thunder, the fast-moving P-waves precede slower moving but more destructive waves.
Findings from the new study indicate that the stresses measured by the new instruments precede the temblor itself, so a warning system using the new technology would be fundamentally different from current warning systems.
"Detecting stress changes before an earthquake has been the Holy Grail in earthquake seismology for years and has motivated our research," said study co-author Paul Silver of the Carnegie Institution of Science's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. "Researchers have been trying to precisely and continuously measure these velocity changes for decades, but it has been possible only recently, with improved technology, to obtain the necessary precision and reliability."
In experiments near Parkfield, California, in late 2005 and early 2006, Niu, Silver and colleagues from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) gathered two months of measurements at the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth, or SAFOD, a deep well seismologists use to make direct measurements of the fault.
The team installed a high-precision seismic source made by a stack of donut-shaped piezoelectric ceramic cylinders that expand when voltage is applied -- a sophisticated device akin to a stereo speaker -- about one kilometer beneath the surface. At the same depth in an adjacent well, the scientists set up an accelerometer to measure the rhythmic signals from the source device.
When rocks are compressed, the stress forces air out of tiny cracks in the rock. This causes seismic waves to travel slightly faster through the rock. Niu said the variations are so slight they can be measured only with very precise instruments. For example, though the Parkfield instruments were more than a half mile below ground, the setup was sensitive enough to measure fluctuations in air pressure at the Earth's surface.
"Scientists tried as early as the 1970s to measure changes in wave speed that are associated with the stress changes that precede seismic activity," Niu said. "For a variety of reasons, their measurements were inconclusive. Using the precision instruments built by our collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with new signal enhancement techniques, we were able to reach the fine level of precision required."
In analyzing the seismic data, Niu and colleagues found that a distinct change occurred in the rock before each of the minor earthquakes near Parkfield during the test period. A measurable change preceded a magnitude 3 quake on Christmas Eve 2005 by 10 hours. This was the largest local event during the observation period. A smaller but closer magnitude 1 temblor five days later was preceded by a signal about two hours before the quake.
Additional co-authors include Rice graduate student Xin Cheng and LBNL scientists Tom Daley and Ernest Majer. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Rice, the Carnegie Institution and LBNL.
OTTAWA - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to consume certain ground beef products because they may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.
The following frozen ground beef products are affected by this alert. Steakhouse Beef Burgers in the 1.02 kilogram package Code Date 0858 sold at M&M Meat Shops across Canada.
Belmont Meat Products ground beef patties in 4.54 kilogram restaurant packs bearing the UPC code 0 60597 35020 9 sold at Costco Wholesale in Ontario.
Also affected by this alert are fresh, not frozen Regular Ground Beef packages of variable weights sold from the following Toronto stores between March 13 and 21, 2008.
Lone Tai Supermarket, 2300 Lawrence Ave. E., Hong Tai, 2555 Victoria Park Ave., and Ton Tai, 3030 Don Mills Road.
Consumers who may have purchased these products and still have them in their freezers are advised not to consume these products.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.
Food contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 may not look or smell spoiled.
Consumption of food contaminated with this bacteria may cause serious and potentially life-threatening illnesses.
一项最新研究结果显示，上幼儿园可使儿童患急性淋巴细胞白血病的风险降低３０％左右。
美国加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校的研究人员最近在伦敦举行的学术会议上介绍说，他们对１４项总计约２万名儿童参与的研究进行汇总分析后，得出了以上结论。
研究人员发现，与不上幼儿园的儿童相比，上幼儿园或参加学前游戏班的儿童患急性淋巴细胞白血病的风险要低约３０％。他们推测说，这可能是因为上幼儿园使儿童处于易感染环境下，会密切接触到其他孩子，有可能较早受到某些感染，从而提高了他们对白血病的免疫力。
研究人员指出，如果人的免疫系统在年幼时不经历感染考验，那么之后受到其他感染时作出不恰当反应的可能性更大，并可能增加患白血病的风险。
白血病俗称“血癌”，系因肿瘤细胞恶性增殖而损害正常造血和免疫功能的一种癌症。有关统计显示，白血病病例中，约８０％为急性淋巴细胞白血病病例，而这种白血病在２岁至５岁儿童中最为常见。
Brain training puzzles really can boost intelligence, a study shows for the first time today.
The exercises are an increasingly popular way for people of all ages to keep their minds alert.
It has been suggested before that Sudoku number puzzles improve memory, while crosswords expand the vocabulary. The elderly are also said to benefit from a new generation of computer exercises played on video consoles to improve recall.
However, for the first time, scientists have proven that mental exercise really does limber up the brain and make it more quick-witted.
A Swiss-American team reports in a leading scientific journal how they used a computer based brain-training method to improve general problem-solving ability.
Many psychologists had thought the only way to improve this was actually by practising the specific problem solving task you wanted to get better at. However, this theory is overturned in the work by Drs Susanne Jaeggi, Martin Buschkühl and colleagues at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and University of Bern.
They say you can improve generally problem solving ability by carrying out unrelated mental exercises and puzzles.
In the experiment, the team gave 35 volunteers a series of mental training exercises designed to improve their working memory, while they also had 35 more subjects who did not undergo the "brain boot camp".
Those who underwent the mental exercise tests, were shown a sequence of squares appearing one after another on the computer screen every three seconds. The task was to decide whether a certain square was at the same position as another one previously seen in the sequence.
At the same time, participants heard spoken letters and had to decide whether the currently heard letter was the same as one presented two or three steps earlier in the sequence.
If they did well the task became harder, while if they did badly it became easier. They repeated the exercises for between eight and 19 days.
Their problem solving ability was then assessed compared to the group who had not taken part in the exercises.
According to the results of the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group who took part in the puzzles had a significantly improved problem solving ability. Moreover, the more the participants trained, the more problems they could solve.
Motivation however, was also important too - suggesting people have to be committed to mental exercise to reap the benefits.
Dr Jaeggi said: "It's the same in sports: you can not expect to get better in football if you merely run around a little bit and not really want to improve."
This is the first evidence that mental exercise improves intelligence and problem solving ability generally and suggests time spent on crosswords, Sudoko and other number and word games is time well spent.
传统医学理论一直强调 “春生夏长秋收冬藏”，现在世界卫生组织的一项研究对中国传统医学进行了相关佐证，据这项调查表明，少年儿童的生长速度在一年四季中并不相同，据研究表明，儿童在春季长得最快，尤其是5月份内可长高7.3毫米。长得最慢的是10月，只有3.3毫米。
“姚明和叶莉的孩子会长多高？”、“我个子矮一定要找个高老婆，不然孩子会‘低人一等’”……许多人总是从遗传学的角度来推测后代高度，不过在接受记者采访时专家表示，虽然遗传确实决定了孩子身高的大方向，但后天的营养、锻炼、睡眠及环境因素对身高的影响也很大，特别是最近研究发现，春季为孩子的“黄金生长期”，家长应创造有利因素，在生长佳期为孩子长高“助一把”。
充足的春日睡眠
5岁的欣欣还是幼儿园大班的孩子，不过已是好几个特长班的常客了。英语班、舞蹈班、钢琴班……一周三天，下午5点从幼儿园回家，草草吃完饭就往特长班赶，做完老师布置的作业已是晚上10点多。而欣欣的生活，只是许多学龄期长沙孩子的一个缩影。
在接受记者采访时专家表示，要求孩子做任何事情，都不要以牺牲孩子正常休息时间为代价。孩子的生长激素一半以上是夜间熟睡时分泌的，如果因为各种原因影响了孩子的夜间睡眠，就会直接影响生长激素的分泌。
小学生每天至少要保证9个小时的睡眠，初中以上孩子最晚要10点以前睡觉，以保证8小时睡眠。虽然由于个体差异，有些孩子天生睡眠就少但照样精力充沛，但专家建议处在生长发育期的孩子不要超过夜里11点才睡觉。
投入自然多运动
佳佳10岁时只有1.20米，个子是全班最矮的，佳佳父母既纳闷又着急：他们自己个子都不矮，为什么佳佳不长个呢？后来坚持参加有规律的体育锻炼，调整营养和睡眠，在第二个突增期个子明显蹿高，现在18岁了，身高已近1.80米。
春天天气逐渐转暖，人体从停滞状态开始复苏，全身细胞的活性增加，尤其是骨细胞、软骨细胞的代谢旺盛，这对于骨骼的生长有很大的促进作用。春光中的紫外线含量是所有季节中最高的。紫外线不仅有很好的杀菌作用，而且能刺激骨髓增生。因此，春天里要多安排孩子运动多参加一些户外活动，给孩子创造因运动而带来的生长激素分泌高峰。
可根据孩子的兴趣和实际条件，选择合适的项目，尤其是跳跃性、伸展性项目，比如慢跑、跳(摸)高、跳远、投掷、悬垂等素质项目，篮球、排球、足球、羽毛球等球类项目。要避免过早进行负重、剧烈、过于紧张、持续时间长、憋气的耐力性和静力性的运动，比如举重、摔跤、长距离跑等力量型或超负荷的无氧运动项目。大补无益，食补就好这片那片、这素那素、这油那油……甚至一些人参、燕窝等都被父母拿来给孩子“补”。阳阳的身高不理想，父母以为孩子是缺钙，隔三岔五就煨排骨汤，又怕她缺铁，经常买菠菜吃，每天还坚持让她吃钙片，方法用尽，还是无用。专家表示，钙剂增高的科学依据不足。钙的摄入与吸收只与骨骼中的钙沉积有关，而与身高无关。钙片不是不可以吃，但当儿童体内微量元素达标后，盲目补钙反而会出现副作用。儿童要补钙，最好多喝牛奶，要补铁，应该选择动物性食品，如红肉、动物血、动物肝脏、鸡蛋黄等。
春季蔬菜、水果品种十分丰富，含有人体长高所必需的蛋白质、维生素以及钙、磷、铁、铜等微量元素，品种齐全营养均衡的食物结构，对孩子健康十分重要。
The number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes has more than doubled in seven years, a California study found, a troubling trend that means health risks for both mothers and newborns.
And the number of diabetic teenagers giving birth grew fivefold during the same period, according to the study, the largest of its kind.
Expectant mothers who don't control their diabetes face an increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. Their babies have a higher chance of being born with birth defects.
"These are high-risk pregnancies," said Dr. Florence Brown, an expert on pregnancy and diabetes. "All women with pre-existing diabetes need to plan their pregnancies."
Brown is co-director of the Joslin-Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center diabetes and pregnancy program in Boston. She had no role in the study, which was done by researchers at Kaiser Permanente, a California-based health care provider.
The researchers focused on health records from more than 175,000 ethnically diverse women who gave birth in a dozen Kaiser hospitals in Southern California from 1999 to 2005. Experts believe the findings likely reflect the overall U.S. population.
The actual number of pregnant women with pre-existing diabetes was small. In 1999, there were 245 such women; by 2005, there were 537. That translates to a rate that rose from 8 per 1,000 pregnancies to 18 per 1,000.
The rate increased the greatest among 13- to 19-year-olds giving birth. It ballooned from about 1 per 1,000 pregnancies to 5.5 per 1,000 during the seven-year period.
Blacks, Asians and Hispanics were more likely to have diabetes before pregnancy than whites.
The rise of diabetes among women of childbearing age mirrors the prevalence of the disease in the general population. The most common form of diabetes is Type 2, which is linked to obesity.
About 15 million people in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes, and 1.5 million new cases were diagnosed in people age 20 and older in 2005, according to the American Diabetes Association.
Pre-pregnancy diabetes is different from gestational diabetes, which is developed during pregnancy and disappears later. Gestational diabetes affects 3 percent to 8 percent of pregnant women in the U.S.
In the study, Kaiser researchers did not look at whether any of the women had prenatal diabetes care or how the babies fared after birth. They also could not determine the type of diabetes the women had.
Type 2, which is linked to obesity, occurs when the body makes too little insulin or cannot use what it does produce. Type 1 occurs when the body doesn't produce insulin.
Results of the study were published online Monday in the journal Diabetes Care, a publication of American Diabetes Association, which funded the research.
"There are things women can do before they become pregnant that will increase the likelihood of them having a healthy baby," said lead author Jean Lawrence, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Southern California.
That includes controlling blood sugar levels with an insulin pump or maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine. Overweight women are also encouraged to shed some pounds before getting pregnant.
The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in New York has a special program to help moms-to-be manage their diabetes.
Women are encouraged to seek medical help at least three months before they plan to have a baby so doctors can help them control their blood sugar and increase their intake of folic acid, said program manager Marie Frazzitta.
"By the time a woman knows she is pregnant, the (baby's) heart is already developed," Frazzitta said. At that point, "there's not much we can do."
Michelle Cangemi, who has Type 1 diabetes, was among those who sought care at North Shore before she become pregnant with her first child in 2005.
Cangemi, who had good control of her blood sugar before pregnancy, kept an even closer eye on it while expecting. As someone who normally checked her blood sugar four times a day, she checked 15 times a day during her pregnancy.
"It was definitely something that worried me throughout my pregnancy," said the 29-year-old dietitian whose daughter turned out healthy. "You don't know how the blood sugar levels are going to affect a child that's developing."
Now Cangemi is seven months pregnant with her second child. This time she's less nervous.
"There's so much monitoring that it makes me feel better that everything is going to be fine," she said.
On the Net:
Diabetes Care: http://care.diabetesjournals.org
American Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.org
2007年度“最营养的婴幼儿食品”出炉
雀巢婴幼儿米粉成为唯一获奖的婴幼儿食品在刚刚结束的“新浪2007网络盛典”颁奖典礼中，雀巢婴幼儿米粉获得“最营养的婴幼儿食品奖”，成为唯一获奖的婴幼儿食品。
作为中国互联网界年度唯一的综合性评选，“新浪年度网络盛典”的所有奖项均由网友票选和专家评审共同评出。广泛的群众参与和专业的评审机制已经让“新浪年度网络盛典”成为消费市场的风向标。此次雀巢婴幼儿米粉在竞争激烈的婴幼儿食品市场脱颖而出，一方面体现出“营养专家”雀巢在婴幼儿食品领域不可动摇的实力，另一方面也标志着中国妈妈传统哺育观念的改变，越来越多的中国妈妈开始用更营养、更科学的配方米粉代替传统的自制米粉，作为宝宝的首选辅食。
据了解，每一款雀巢婴幼儿米粉均精心添加了宝宝发育所需的二十余种营养素。其营养素种类不但超过了自制辅食所包含的营养，在市场上众多的配方辅食中也同样是最为丰富的。因此，雀巢婴幼儿米粉实至名归的当选不仅反映了雀巢品牌良好的市场口碑，更体现出中国妈妈对于宝宝辅食营养的重视和对产品的了解。