Canada Gives Businesses 2 Months To Curb BPA Pollution
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – After listing the chemical bisphenol-A as a harmful substance, Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice over the weekend gave businesses in the country 60 days to draw up plans to limit their releases of BPA to the ecosystem.
Prentice said the new measure would address industrial use of the chemical, which does not harm the environment, but releases high amounts to fish and other marine organisms.
BPA has been linked to breast and prostate cancer. A survey made by Statistics Canada found that Canadians have high levels of BPA in their blood stream, particularly children and youth.
Aside from listing BPA as a harmful substance, Environment Canada has banned the advertising, importation and sale of polycarbonate baby bottles made with the chemical and is coordination with provinces and towns to address potential release of BPA into the environment during disposal or recycling of products.
View full post on Health Stories
October Annually Most Dangerous Month for Teen Drivers
Bloomington, IL, United States (AHN) – According to insurance claims data, October remains the most dangerous month of the year for teen driver crashes. Reviewing claims data spanning the last seven years, the highest instance of injury or collision claims filed by 16- and 17-year-old drivers annually spikes nearly 15 percent in October, versus other months of the year.
State Farm evaluated its extensive claims database from 2003 – 2009, and in every year, October continues to register the most claims across the United States and portions of Canada.
Additionally, 70 percent of states show October as being among its top three months for teen accident claims.
Car crashes remain the number one killer of teens and fall is a time that many new drivers hit the roads returning to school, attend homecoming functions and resume other back-to-school busy schedules.
View full post on All Stories
No New Policy Measures Expected in Flaherty’s Fiscal Update
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will provide a fiscal update on Tuesday in a speech at the Mississauga Chinese Business Association.
Flaherty’s update will have no new policy measures. Instead, Flaherty will emphasize that Ottawa’s priority is to help Canada’s economic recovery because global recovery is still fragile. He will also commit to balancing the federal budget in the medium term or by 2014-15.
Observers are awaiting Flaherty’s policy on the possible extension of stimulus spending beyond March 2011 and a cap in increases on employment insurance benefits starting January 2011.
Flaherty is also expected to provide final figures for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. He had warned previously the final deficit could go beyond the $53.8 billion forecast in the 2010 budget because of year-end accounting charges after the recent implementation of the harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia.
Last week Flaherty met with private sector economists in a run-up to the fiscal update to get their inputs. After the meeting, the minister declared Canada’s boom times are over amid high uncertainty in global outlook.
View full post on All Stories
Report Links Rising Obesity Rates With 9-To-5 Routine
Montreal, Quebec, Canada (AHN) – A new study by University of Montreal researchers links 9-to-5 office jobs with the rising rates of obesity in Canada.
The researchers, led by Carl-Etienne Juneau, found out that obesity rates went up 10 percent from 1978 to 2004. During the same period the number of Canadians tied to desk jobs also grew. The rise in obesity and number of office workers was based on data from Statistics Canada, which had 132,000 respondents.
The researchers were initially puzzled by the rise in weight problems despite better eating habits and more exercise by Canadians compared to the 1970s.
Despite the increase in physical activities such as walking or biking to work and improvement in quality of food intake, one in three adult Canadians are overweight or obese. It places them at higher risk for cardio ailments, diabetes and breast cancer.
Because of long stretches of office work while seated or with minimal movements, Juneau said engaging in 30 minutes of exercise daily may no longer be sufficient for the average person to keep trim and fit. To battle obesity, Juneau suggested that office workers perform break time physical activities such as walking or taking the stairs.
The finding, published in the current issue of “Preventive Medicine,” came out a few weeks after another study by the University of Montreal and the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center linked excessive use of computer, video games and television among teenagers to obesity.
The study, which involved 744 teenagers from 10 Montreal high schools, identified youths whose screen use goes up through high school at the greater risk of acquiring more body fat. Tracie Barnett, lead author of the study, attributed the higher body fat to reduction of the youth’s involvement in more active pursuits.
The second study was published in the “American Journal of Epidemiology.”
View full post on Health Stories
Ontario Court Awards $455.7 Million To Policyholders In Class Action Suit
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – An Ontario court has ordered Great-West Life Assurance to pay $455.7 million in damages to life insurance policy holders in one of the largest class action lawsuits in Canada.
The suit was caused by the 1997 takeover by Great-West of London Insurance Group for $2.9 billion. To help finance 7.5 percent of the takeover, Great-West and London Life transferred $220 million from policies of participating account holders. Great-West replaced the cash with an accounting instrument called prepaid expenses asset (PPEA), but never repaid back the money borrowed.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Johanne Morissette found the action of the two insurance firms against the law because it violated Canada’s Insurance Companies Act. Morisette explained in his ruling issued Friday that the PPEA are assets not recognized by generally accepted accounting principles.
The $455.7 million in damages covers the $220 million borrowed, $172.7 million in foregone investment income and $63 million for taxes. The amount will be split between the two insurance companies — $372.2 million from London Life and $83.5 million from Great-West.
Great-West said it would appeal the court’s decision because of what the company believes are significant errors in aspects of the decision. However, Great-West said if its appeal fails, payment of the damage would not have a material impact on the capital of the two companies.
View full post on All Stories
Cholesterol Drug Crestor Possible Treatment For Prostate Cancer
Toronto, Canada (AHN) – Rosuvastatin—a commonly prescribed cholesterol drug sold as Crestor—may be effective in treating prostate cancer.
Researchers found that it suppresses the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells in mice.
“Our data provided solid pre-clinical evidence and a strong rationale for clinical trials of statins in the treatment of prostate cancer,” said Dr. Xiao-Yan Wen at St. Michael’s Hospital., whose research appears in the September issue of European Urology.
The link gives hope to medical professionals and those suffering from the disease because despite improvements in treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, many patients still progress to advanced stages.
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. Prostate cancer affected 18 percent of American men and caused death in 3 percent in 2005. In Canada, where the study was conducted, one in seven men will develop the disease during his lifetime and one in 27 will die from it.
View full post on All Stories
70 Percent Of Ontario Adults Obese Or Overweight
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Almost three-quarters of adults in the Canadian province of Ontario are overweight or obese, according to a University of Ottawa study.
The researchers said many of these people are putting themselves at risk for high blood pressure and other conditions that could lead to heart attack or stroke.
Dr. Frans Leenen of the university’s Heart Institute Hypertension Unit said in a statement that 70 percent of Ottawa’s adults are overweight or obese because they are eating “far more than our bodies require. We know better than ever that even being overweight creates other problems such as diabetes and high blood cholesterol levels and thereby endangers cardiovascular health.”
The study examined 2,552 Ontarians aged 20 to 79 in 16 communities in the province. The researchers said 48 percent of the participants were overweight and 22 percent were obese. More than 50 percent of adults over the age of 60 had high blood pressure, and most of these people were receiving treatment for the condition.
High blood pressure was more common in ethnic groups, especially blacks and south Asians, the researchers said.
A report on the study is published in the American Journal of Hypertension.
View full post on All Stories
Cholesterol Levels and Ratios – Are Your Cholesterol Numbers Confusing You?
Cholesterol levels are being tested all over the world in order to determine risk factors for heart disease, yet many people are confused by their cholesterol numbers and how they are expressed. Part of this confusion may stem from the fact that literature originating in the United States gives cholesterol levels in units that are different from those used in Canada, Europe, and a good portion of the rest of the developed world. So when you are looking for information to help you understand your test results, on the internet and elsewhere, you might not understand the numbers that are reported in the American literature because they might look quite different from the cholesterol numbers on your lab report.
The United States reports cholesterol levels in mg/dL (milligrams per decilitre) of blood. The rest of the world is using the measurement called mmol (or millimoles per litre). Without going back to basic chemistry from high school, let’s just say that they are different measurements. So is it any wonder that these two ways of expressing your cholesterol numbers are so different?
Here is how the two different systems of measurement stack up for desirable cholesterol numbers.
As expressed in the system of measurement used in the United States
Total cholesterol = less than 200 mg/dL LDL = less than 100-129 mg/dL (below 100 is best) HDL = more than 40 mg/dL (greater than 60 is considered protective against heart disease)
However, as expressed in the SI units (International System of Measurement) that most of the world is using the numbers are stated differently. (You can remember which letters refer to the good and the bad stuff by remembering it this way…H stands for healthy and L stands for lousy.)
Total cholesterol = less than 5.2 mmol/L LDL = in the range of than 2.6 – 3.3 mmol/L (less than 2.6 is best) HDL = in the range of more than 1 to 1.5 mmol/L (higher is better) mmol/L
Can you see the difference in how the cholesterol numbers are expressed? The difference of course is in the units that are being measured. Think of it like metric and imperial measures. Your weight in pounds might be a three digit number but in kilograms it could be a two digit number. Same weight different measurements.
Understanding the Cholesterol Ratio
When used to determine if you have cholesterol risk factors for heart disease it is not the specific levels that are analyzed but rather the ratio of HDL in your total lipid profile. This number is called the cholesterol ratio and it gives an indication of how much of your total cholesterol is the “good” stuff.
The reason this is important is because the HDL is so beneficial, if it is present is sufficient quantities it has a protective effect and the LDL in your system cannot do as much damage. So even if your LDL is higher than the desired levels, if the HDL is high as well and the ratio comes within the desired range then the risk of heart disease is less.
The goal is to keep the cholesterol ratio below 5:1; the optimum ratio is 3.5. The cholesterol ratio comes in at the same number no matter which system of measurement is used. The cholesterol ratio is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol number by the value given for the HDL. For example, if a you have a total cholesterol of 240 mg/dL and an HDL of 60 mg/dL, the ratio is 4. Using the SI system of measurement if the total cholesterol is 7.20 mmol/L and the HDL is 1.8 mmol/L the ratio is still 4.
You can see how this is a better way of understanding the cholesterol risk factors for heart disease and expressing it this way can prevent confusion that might result from not being familiar with the units that are used. This information is also helpful for understanding why the strategies recommended for cholesterol imbalances work. Some of the best strategies are the ones that raise the HDL levels. In particular, exercise has been found to be one of the best ways to improve the cholesterol ratio because it raises HDL levels. By contrast smoking has been found to lower HDL levels so no exercise and smoking is a recipe for low HDL levels, a poor cholesterol ratio, and a higher risk for heart disease.
Cholesterol is found in every cell of the body and is essential for the maintenance of good health. Low cholesterol levels have been associated with poor health so the goal is not to eliminate or reduce cholesterol entirely but to obtain the desirable levels of each type so that the protective benefits of the HDL can work for you in maintaining good health.
So don’t get mixed up when trying to understand your cholesterol levels. No matter what way the numbers are expressed the message is the same. You want to have enough of the good stuff and not so much of the bad stuff in order to reduce your risk factors for heart disease.
Beverly Hansen OMalley is a nurse who is passionate about health promotion. Visit www.registered-nurse-canada.com where Bev explores the uniqueness of the nursing profession in Canada including comparison of nurse salary across the country, preparation for the Canadian nursing entrance test and how to become a nurse in Canada if you graduated in another country.
Cholesterol Levels And Ratios – Are Cholesterol Numbers Confusing You?
Cholesterol levels are being tested as part of regular health screening all over the world yet many people are confused by their cholesterol numbers and how they are expressed. Part of this confusion may stem from the fact that most of the cholesterol literature is coming from the United States where they still report cholesterol levels in units that are different from those used in Canada, Europe and a good portion of the rest of the developed world. So if you are looking for information to help you understand your cholesterol test results you might not be able to understand the numbers that are reported in the American literature, that includes the internet.
The United States reports cholesterol levels in mg/dl (milligrams per decilitre) of blood. The rest of the world is using the measurement called mmol (or millimoles per litre). Without going back to basic chemistry from high school, suffice it to say that they are different measurements. So is it any wonder that these two ways of expressing your cholesterol numbers are so different?
Here is how the two different systems of measurement stack up for desirable cholesterol levels.
* Total cholesterol = less than 200 mg/dL
* LDL = less than 100-129 mg/dL (below 100 is best)
* HDL = more than 40 mg/dL (greater than 60 is considered protective against heart disease)
However, as expressed in the SI units (International System of Measurement) that most of the world is using the numbers are stated differently. (You can remember which letters refer to healthy and lousy by remembering it this way…H stands for healthy lipoprotein and L stands for lousy lipoprotein.)
* Total cholesterol = less than 5.2 mmol/L
* LDL = in the range of than 2.6 – 3.3 mmol/L (less than 2.6 is best)
* HDL = in the range of more than 1 to 1.5 mmol/L (higher is better) mmol/L
Can you see the difference in how the cholesterol numbers are expressed? The difference of course is in the units that are being measured.
Think of it like metric and imperial measures. Your weight in pounds might be a three digit number but in kilograms it could be a two digit number. Same weight different measurements.
When used to determine risk of heart disease it is not the specific cholesterol levels that are analyzed but rather the ratio of HDL in your total lipid profile. This number is called the cholesterol ratio and it gives an indication of how much of your total cholesterol is the “good stuff”.
The reason that the ratio is important is because the HDL (good stuff) is so beneficial that it can protect you from the effects of the LDL if it is in your body in sufficient quantities. So even if your LDL is higher that desirable levels, if the HDL is high as well, if the ratio comes within the desired range then the risk to your health is less.
The goal is to keep the cholesterol ratio below 5:1; the optimum ratio is 3.5. The cholesterol ratio comes in at the same number no matter which system of measurement is used to express the specific cholesterol levels.
The cholesterol ratio is obtained by dividing the total cholesterol number by the value given for the HDL. For example, if a person has a total cholesterol of 240 mg/dL and an HDL of 60 mg/dL, the ratio would be 4.
Using the SI system of measurement if the total cholesterol is 7.20 mmol/L and the HDL is 1.8 mmol/L the ratio is still 4.
You can see how this is a better way of understanding risk and prevents confusion that might result from not being familiar with the units that are used to express cholesterol levels.
This information is also helpful for understanding why the strategies why the for cholesterol imbalances work. Some of the best strategies are the ones that raise the HDL levels. In particular, exercise has been found to be one of the best ways to improve the cholesterol ratio because it raises HDL levels. By contrast smoking has been found to lower HDL levels so no exercise and smoking is a recipe for low HDL levels, a poor cholesterol ratio, and a higher risk of heart disease.
Cholesterol is found in every cell of the body and is essential for the maintenance of good health. Low cholesterol levels have been associated with poor health so the goal is not to eliminate or reduce cholesterol entirely but to establish the desirable levels of each type of cholesterol so that the protective benefits of the HDL can work for you in maintaining good health.
So don’t get mixed up when trying to understand you cholesterol levels. No matter what way the numbers are expressed the message is the same. You want to have enough of the good stuff and not so much of the bad stuff!
Beverly Hansen OMalley is a nurse who is passionate about health promotion. You are invited to visit www.registered-nurse-canada.com where Bev explores the uniqueness of the nursing profession in Canada including comparison of nurse salary across the country, preparation for the Canadian nursing entrance test and how to become a nurse in Canada if you graduated in another country.
Diet to Lower Cholesterol – A Simple Explanation of Just What is Cholesterol
Many people understand that cholesterol is either bad for you or good but beyond that, they do not understand just exactly what is cholesterol. Doctors will give you a long explanation which only they can comprehend but cholesterol can be simplified in one statement. Cholesterol is a waxy material that the liver fabricates which is carries out a number of responsibilities for the health of our bodies.
When we consume foods in our daily diet, our liver takes the food and turns it into cholesterol which helps aid in developing bile salts to digest the fat, build cell walls, and to create vitamin D. So why would we worry about eating too many foods that produce too much cholesterol in our body? The answer lies in the fact that too much of anything is essentially bad for you. If we understand what is cholesterol, we can better steer clear of consuming to much cholesterol.
The Bad And Good Cholesterol.
One easy way to watch our cholesterol level is to understand what foods that we eat in our daily diet which produce the good cholesterol bad cholesterol. Foods that carry animal fat such as dairy and meats carry bad cholesterol, Foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains carry no cholesterol at all.
When we eat foods that have too much bad cholesterol it can cause some major damage such as the hardening of our arteries. This occurs when too much bad cholesterol is in our system because it builds up plaque which blocks the arteries and prevents blood flow.
Good cholesterol behaves very differently than bad cholesterol because its main goal to keep our bodies healthy. What the good cholesterol does is carry the surplus of cholesterol we have in our bodies to the liver so it can create bile salt and expel it from our system.
High Cholesterol Is Caused By What?
When we ask our doctor about our cholesterol level, it is usually because we are worried about having a high cholesterol level. Having a high cholesterol level can be caused for many different reasons but the main cause is age. You see, our cholesterol level goes up as we get older.
There are many things that can cause us to get high cholesterol levels. One thing is we may inherit from our parents. If your parents have high cholesterol, you should ask your doctor to be tested to make sure if you have it or not. Another thing is doing physical activity. When we exercise and do any other physical activity, this causes our good cholesterol levels to rise thus keeping us healthy.
When we are looking at the causes and cures for high cholesterol, we often find a direct link between the food we eat and our cholesterol levels. If we eat foods rich in fiber, vegetables, beans, fish, and fruits we can keep the good cholesterol levels up within our body. We also need to try and avoid eating foods that promote high cholesterol levels within our body like meat and dairy products.When we go to the doctor and he gives us our cholesterol reading, many do not understand just exactly what he is talking about. Many people know that cholesterol is either good for you or bad, but many do not understand what is cholesterol. Cholesterol is simply a waxy matter that the liver creates which handles a number of duties in our body.
Author: Delynda Lardone
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate
Affordable Health Insurance- HHS unveils final design for insurance labels
- Dutch appeals court denies Apple’s plea to ban sale of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
- Online shoe, clothing store Zappos hacked; passwords for 24 million users reset
- Kansas, Oklahoma insurers won’t get a break on rebate rule
- FAA to issue rules on pilot fatigue more than a year after deadline
- Japanese household spending dips as retail sales, unemployment edge up
- Texas Lawsuit Identifies Problems In Medicare Hospice Provisions
- Daylight Savings Time 2011: things to remember
- Premiums, Deductibles And Cost Sharing In Employer Health Plans Keep Rising
- BlackBerry outage over, RIM exec apologizes
- Cheap Airline tickets
- Buffett takes a stake in GM
- VW, Chrysler see profits jump while Fiat posts losses
- BMW says sales in China helped it hit new record
- Jaguar to build F-Type sports car in Britain
- Brake light, airbag issues prompt recall of 700,000 Toyota cars
- Volkswagen announces its annual profits doubled
- Chrysler posts $225 million profit
- GM back on top as world’s biggest automaker
- VW sells record 5.1 million cars in 2011
- Honda widens recall for airbag problem
- Budget Car insurance
- Oil at 9-month high on Iran export halt
- Employers added 243,000 jobs in January
- First class stamp rises to 45 cents
- Visions for a healthier West Bank economy
- No. 1 worry among Americans is the economy
- German exports fall more than expected
- Illinois lawmakers to take up tax plan to keep CME, Sears in state
- Cottage industries offer hope in former war zone
- Fear of financial losses drive soaring price of gold
- Iron ore prices could slide to $140 per tonne
- Personal Loans
- Mortgages
- How Much House Can I Afford? Affordability analysis test
- U.S. housing prices show some gains
- Existing home sales fall 3.8% in May to lowest rate in six months
- S&P downgrades China’s property market rating
- Habitats | Clinton Hill, Brooklyn: Adopted by a Brownstone
- How Biweekly Mortgages Protect your Biggest Investement
- Food prices push China’s inflation to 34-month high in May
- Foreclosures Grow in Mortgage Market’s Top Tiers
- Hamilton Heights: Awaiting a Bounce
- The Mysteriously Shifty Interest Rate And Housing Industry
- Business Loans
- McNeil recalls some Infants’ Tylenol due to dosing system complaints
- Micron CEO Steve Appleton killed in plane crash
- Price Chopper Supermarkets recall shredded taco cheese
- Novartis recalls four popular OTC drugs
- Best Buy cancels some online orders before Christmas
- Two major publishers announce bad news for newspaper industry
- Judge blocks Citigroup’s $285 million SEC settlement over mortgages
- Warren Buffett makes about face on investing in tech firms, acquires 5.5% stake in IBM
- U.S. Supreme Court upholds no limit on patient lawsuits against medical device makers
- Telenor refuses to pay $400M in fines to Bangladesh authority
