O suicídio assistido da jovem dos Estados Unidos

O Vaticano, representado pelo sacerdote que condenou este ato, foi demagógico e incorreto.

Foi generalizada uma questão ética que neste caso não poderia ser vista assim. Todas as pessoas com um mínimo de cultura humanitária sabe que o suícidio é condenável. Porém deveria ter sido separado este caso da idéia veiculada pelo Vaticano.  Além de ser um caso de câncer raro e incurável, a jovem sofreria muito nos últimos tempos de sua vida já considerada terminal. Portanto, houve demagogia e houve incorreção. 

Não foi de modo algum um suicídio, assistido ou não.  São praticados processos de Eutanásia rotineiramente. Porém, tal processo é decidido pelos familiares, e este caso pode ser visto como um ato de Eutanásia decidida pela própria pessoa, e não de suicídio, uma vez que a jovem tinha consciência de seu estado e tinha também condições mentais para essa decisão.                                         

A palavra “suicídio” por si só já pressupõe uma atmosfera de desespero, e de conflitos extremos , onde práticamente não existe, exceto em raros casos, possibilidade de reflexão por parte da pessoa envolvida nesse trágico processo.

Completamente diferente do que foi o caso desta jovem. Portanto, a palavra “suicídio” não caberia aqui no sentido proposto pelo representante do Vaticano, e nem mesmo pelo autor original desse artigo.

 

José S de Melo

Os 7 países mais ricos do mundo

 

Lí um artigo no IExplorer, hoje, a lista dos 7 países mais ricos do mundo. Mas sem a renda per capita, não vale. China com um GDP de 17 trilhões mas com uma população de 1,3 ou 1,4 bilhões de pessoas.

Suponha 2 países com um GDP de US$ 2 trilhões. Um tem 20 milhões de habitantes, o segundo tem 60 milhões.  O mais rico aí é que tem menos habitantes, pois poderá dispor de mais verbas para educação e saúde, verbas para defesa, etc.  Existem outros fatores, mas esses dois são os principais e não podem estar desatrelados um do outro. Todos os fatores reunidos é que darão o resultado final sobre quem é de fato o mais rico….

José S de Melo

Beets

    

It is difficult to believe how the hardy, crunchy often rough looking exterior of raw beets can be transformed into something wonderfully soft and buttery once they are cooked. While beets are available throughout the year, their season runs from June through October when the youngest, most tender beets are easiest to find.
Edible green leaves are attached to the tapered round or oblong root portions that we know as beets. While we often think of beets having a reddish-purple hue, some varieties are white, golden-yellow or even rainbow colored. The sweet taste of beets reflects their high sugar content making them an important raw material for the production of refined sugar; they have the highest sugar content of all vegetables, yet are very low in calories

This chart graphically details the %DV that a serving of Beets provides for each of the nutrients of which it is a good, very good, or excellent source according to our Food Rating System. Additional information about the amount of these nutrients provided by Beets can be found in the Food Rating System Chart. A link that takes you to the In-Depth Nutritional Profile for Beets, featuring information over 80 nutrients, can be found under the Food Rating System Chart.
Health Benefits
Remember all those legendary Russian centenarians? Beets, frequently consumed either pickled or in borscht, the traditional Russian soup, may be one reason behind their long and healthy lives. These colorful root vegetables contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer.
Promote Optimal Health
The pigment that gives beets their rich, purple-crimson color-betacyanin-is also a powerful cancer-fighting agent. Beets' potential effectiveness against colon cancer, in particular, has been demonstrated in several studies.
In one study, animals under the double stress of chemically induced colon cancer and high cholesterol were divided into two groups. One group received a diet high in beet fiber while the other group served as a control. The beet fiber-fed animals rose to the challenge by increasing their activity of two antioxidant enzymes in the liver, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase. The liver is the body's primary detoxification organ where toxic substances are broken down and eliminated, a process that generates a lot of free radicals. Glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase are the bodyguards for liver cells, protecting them from free radical attack, so they can continue to protect us.
In other animal studies, scientists have noted that animals fed beet fiber had an increase in their number of colonic CD8 cells, special immune cells responsible for detecting and eliminating abnormal cells. With the increased surveillance provided by these additional CD8 cells, the animals in one of the studies given beet fiber had fewer pre-cancerous changes.
In stomach cancer patients, when scientists compared the effects of fruit and vegetable juices on the formation of nitrosamines, cancer-causing compounds produced in the stomach from chemicals called nitrates, beet juice was found to be a potent inhibitor of the cell mutations caused by these compounds. Nitrates are commonly used as a chemical preservative in processed meats.
Protection Against Heart Disease
In the first study mentioned above, not only did protective antioxidant activity increase in the livers of beet fiber-fed animals, but also their total cholesterol dropped 30%, their triglycerides dropped 40% (elevated triglycerides, the form in which fats are transported in the blood, are a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease), and their HDL (beneficial cholesterol) level increased significantly.
Beat High Blood Pressure with Beet Juice
Drinking just 2 glasses (16.9 ounces) of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce blood pressure, shows a study in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, which could have major implications for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. (Web AJ, Patel N, et al.)
Previously, the protective effects of vegetable-rich diets have been thought to be due to their content of antioxidant vitamins, but this study reveals that it is the dietary nitrate in beetroot juice - and in all green, leafy vegetables - whose consumption results in a decrease in blood pressure.
The nitrate in beet juice is converted by bacteria on the tongue into nitrite and swallowed in saliva, which, in the acidic environment of the stomach, is either converted into nitric oxide or re-enters the circulation as nitrite. Nitric oxide lowers blood pressure because it signals the endothelium (the lining of our blood vessels) to relax.
In healthy volunteers, blood pressure began to lessen within just 1 hour of drinking beet juice, with the peak drop of -10.48 mm/Hg occurring about 3 hours after ingestion. And beneficial blood pressure lowering effects continued to some degree for up to 24 hours!
Practical Tip: More than 25% of the world's adult population is currently hypertensive, a figure that is expected to increase to 29% by 2025. Since hypertension causes around 50% of coronary heart disease, and approximately 75% of strokes, toasting your health with a mid-morning and an early afternoon or evening glass of beet-rich vegetable juice or a cup of borscht is a daily habit that just might save your life or that of a loved one. A quick and easy recipe for Raw Borscht Soup can be found of page 248 of The World's Healthiest Foods.
Beets' Betaine Helps Lessen Inflammation
People whose diets supplied the highest average intake of choline (found in egg yolk and soybeans), and its metabolite betaine (found naturally in vegetables such as beets and spinach), have levels of inflammatory markers at least 20% lower than subjects with the lowest average intakes, report Greek researchers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Detopoulou P, Panagiotakos DB, et al.)
Compared to those whose diets contained <250 mg/day of choline, subjects whose diets supplied >310 mg of choline daily had, on average:
•    22% lower concentrations of C-reactive protein
•    26% lower concentrations of interleukin-6
•    6% lower concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha
Compared to those consuming <260 mg/day of betaine, subjects whose diets provided >360 mg per day of betaine had, on average:
•  10% lower concentrations of homocysteine
•  19% lower concentrations of C-reactive protein
•  12% lower concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha
Each of these markers of chronic inflammation has been linked to a wide range of conditions including heart disease, osteoporosis, cognitive decline and Alzheimer's, and type-2 diabetes.
In an accompanying editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition entitled, "Is there a new component of the Mediterranean diet that reduces inflammation?," Steven Zeisel from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill noted that choline and betaine work together in the cellular process of methylation, which is not only responsible for the removal of homocysteine, but is involved in turning off the promoter regions of genes involved in inflammation.
"Exposure to oxidative stress is a potent trigger for inflammation. Betaine is formed from choline within the mitochondria , and this oxidation contributes to mitochondrial redox status ," Zeisel continued.

"If the association between choline and betaine and inflammation can be confirmed in studies of other populations, an interesting new dietary approach may be available for reducing chronic diseases associated with inflammation," he concluded.
Recommended daily intakes of choline were set in 1998 at 550 milligrams per day for men and 425 milligrams a day for women. No RDI has been set for betaine, which, since it is a metabolite of choline, is not considered an essential nutrient.
Practical Tip: Egg yolks are the richest source of choline, followed by soybeans. Beets, spinach and whole wheat products are primary sources of betaine. (Olthof MR, van Vliet T, et al. J Nutr)
Protection against Birth Defects
Beets are particularly rich in the B vitamin folate, which is essential for normal tissue growth. Eating folate-rich foods is especially important during pregnancy since without adequate folate, the infant's spinal column does not develop properly, a condition called neural tube defect. The daily requirement for folate is 400 micrograms. Just one cup of boiled, sliced beets contains 136 micrograms of folate.
Description
Both beets and Swiss chard are different varieties within the same plant family (Amaranthaceae-Chenopodiaceae) and their edible leaves share a resemblance in both taste and texture. Attached to the beet's green leaves is a round or oblong root, the part conjured up in most people's minds by the word "beet." Although typically a beautiful reddish-purple hue, beets also come in varieties that feature white or golden roots. No matter what their color, however, beet roots aren't as hardy as they look; the smallest bruise or puncture will cause red beets' red-purple pigments, which contain beneficial flavonoids called anthycyanins, to bleed, especially during cooking.
Beets' sweet taste reflects their high sugar content, which makes beets an important source for the production of refined sugar. Raw beet roots have a crunchy texture that turns soft and buttery when they are cooked. Beet leaves have a lively, bitter taste similar to chard. The main ingredient in the traditional eastern European soup, borscht, beets are delicious eaten raw, but are more typically cooked or pickled.
The greens attached to the beet roots are delicious and can be prepared like spinach or Swiss chard. They are incredibly rich in nutrients, concentrated in vitamins and minerals as well as carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lutein/zeaxanthin.
History
The wild beet, the ancestor of the beet with which we are familiar today, is thought to have originated in prehistoric times in North Africa and grew wild along Asian and European seashores. In these earlier times, people exclusively ate the beet greens and not the roots. The ancient Romans were one of the first civilizations to cultivate beets to use their roots as food. The tribes that invaded Rome were responsible for spreading beets throughout northern Europe where they were first used for animal fodder and later for human consumption becoming more popular in the 16th century.
Beets' value grew in the 19th century when it was discovered that they were a concentrated source of sugar, and the first sugar factory was built in Poland. When access to sugar cane was restricted by the British, Napoleon decreed that the beet be used as the primary source of sugar, catalyzing its popularity. Around this time, beets were also first brought to the United States, where they now flourish. Today the leading commercial producers of beets include the United States, the Russian Federation, France, Poland, France and Germany.
How to Select and Store
Choose small or medium-sized beets whose roots are firm, smooth-skinned and deep in color. Smaller, younger beets may be so tender that peeling won't be needed after they are cooked.
Avoid beets that have spots, bruises or soft, wet areas, all of which indicate spoilage. Shriveled or flabby should also be avoided as these are signs that the roots are aged, tough and fibrous.
While the quality of the greens does not reflect that of the roots, if you are going to consume this very nutritious part of the plant, look for greens that appear fresh, tender, and have a lively green color.
Store beets unwashed in the refrigerator crisper where they will keep for two to four weeks. Cut the majority of the greens and their stems from the roots, so they do not pull away moisture away from the root. Leave about two inches of the stem attached to prevent the roots from "bleeding." Store the unwashed greens in a separate plastic bag where they will keep fresh for about four days.
Raw beets do not freeze well since they tend to become soft upon thawing. Freezing cooked beets is fine; they'll retain their flavor and texture.
How to Enjoy
Tips for Preparing Beets:
Cook beets lightly. Studies show beets' anti-cancer activity is diminished by heat.
Don't peel beets until after cooking. When bruised or pierced, beets bleed, losing some of their vibrant color and turning a duller brownish red. To minimize bleeding, wash beets gently under cool running water, taking care not to tear the skin since this tough outer layer helps keep most of beets' pigments inside the vegetable. To prevent bleeding when boiling beets, leave them whole with their root ends and one inch of stem attached.
Beets' color can be modified during cooking. Adding an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar will brighten the color while an alkaline substance such as baking soda will often cause them to turn a deeper purple. Salt will blunt beets' color, so add only at the end of cooking if needed.
Since beet juice can stain your skin, wearing kitchen gloves is a good idea when handling beets. If your hands become stained during the cleaning and cooking process, simply rubbing some lemon juice on them will remove the stain.
A Few Quick Serving Ideas:
Simply grate raw beets for a delicious and colorful addition to salads or decorative garnish for soups.
Add chunks of beet when roasting vegetables in the oven.
Serving homemade vegetable juice? A quarter of a beet will turn any green drink into a sweet pink concoction, pleasing both the eyes and the taste buds.
Healthy sauté beet greens with other braising greens such as chard and mustard greens.
Marinate steamed beets in fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh herbs.
Safety
Beeturia
If you start to see red when you increase your consumption of beets, don't be alarmed. You're just experiencing beeturia, or a red or pink color to your urine or stool. No need to panic; the condition is harmless.
Beets and Oxalates
Beets (notably beet greens) are among a small number of foods that contain measurable amounts of oxalates, naturally-occurring substances found in plants, animals, and human beings. When oxalates become too concentrated in body fluids, they can crystallize and cause health problems. For this reason, individuals with already existing and untreated kidney or gallbladder problems may want to avoid eating beets. Laboratory studies have shown that oxalates may also interfere with absorption of calcium from the body. Yet, in every peer-reviewed research study we've seen, the ability of oxalates to lower calcium absorption is relatively small and definitely does not outweigh the ability of oxalate-containing foods to contribute calcium to the meal plan. If your digestive tract is healthy, and you do a good job of chewing and relaxing while you enjoy your meals, you will get significant benefits - including absorption of calcium - from calcium-rich foods plant foods that also contain oxalic acid. Ordinarily, a healthcare practitioner would not discourage a person focused on ensuring that they are meeting their calcium requirements from eating these nutrient-rich foods because of their oxalate content. For more on this subject, please see "Can you tell me what oxalates are and in which foods they can be found?"

Nutritional Profile
Beets are an excellent source of the B vitamin, folate, and a very good source of manganese and potassium. Beets are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, magnesium, iron, copper and phosphorus.
For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Beets.

In-Depth Nutritional Profile
In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Beets is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.
Introduction to Food Rating System Chart
In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

Beets, Boiled
1.00 cup
170.00 grams
74.80 calories
Nutrient    Amount    DV
(%)    Nutrient
Density    World's Healthiest
Foods Rating
folate    136.00 mcg    34.0    8.2    excellent
manganese    0.55 mg    27.5    6.6    very good
potassium    518.50 mg    14.8    3.6    very good
dietary fiber    3.40 g    13.6    3.3    good
vitamin C    6.12 mg    10.2    2.5    good
magnesium    39.10 mg    9.8    2.4    good
tryptophan    0.03 g    9.4    2.3    good
iron    1.34 mg    7.4    1.8    good
copper    0.13 mg    6.5    1.6    good
phosphorus    64.60 mg    6.5    1.6    good
World's Healthiest
Foods Rating    Rule
excellent    DV>=75%    OR    Density>=7.6    AND    DV>=10%
very good    DV>=50%    OR    Density>=3.4    AND    DV>=5%
good    DV>=25%    OR    Density>=1.5    AND    D

Abacate, uma das melhores frutas para sua saúde.

Avocados

Although the creamy rich Hass avocados are generally available throughout the year, they are the most abundant and at their best during the spring and summer in California and in October in Florida. During the fall and winter months you can find Fuerto, Zutano and Bacon varieties.

The avocado is colloquially known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin. Avocado is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl".

Health Benefits

Promote Heart Health

Avocados contain oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that may help to lower cholesterol. In one study of people with moderately high cholesterol levels, individuals who ate a diet high in avocados showed clear health improvements. After seven days on the diet that included avocados, they had significant decreases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, along with an 11% increase in health promoting HDL cholesterol.

Abacates contém ácido oléico, uma gordura monoinsaturada, que pode ajudar a diminuir o colesterol. Em um estudo em pessoas com níveis moderados de colesterol, pessoas que comeram bastante abacates mostraram claros sinais de melhoria na saúde. Depois de sete dias de dieta, incluindo abacates, eles tiveram significaticas reduções no colesterol total e no colesterol LDL, junto com um aumento de 11% no colesterol HDL, que é o bom.

Avocados are a good source of potassium, a mineral that helps regulate blood pressure. Adequate intake of potassium can help to guard against circulatory diseases, like high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Association has authorized a health claim that states: "Diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke."

Os abacates são uma boa fonte de potássio, um mineral que ajuda a regular a pressão sanguínea. Ingestão adequada de potássio pode ajudar a defender distúrbios circulatórios, como pressão alta, doenças cardíacas e infartos. Realmente, o FDA, autorizou uma afirmação em questões de saúde que afirma : Dietas contendo alimentos que tem boas fontes de potássio e baixas em sódio, podem reduzir o risco de pressão alta e infarto.

One cup of avocado has 23% of the Daily Value for folate, a nutrient important for heart health. To determine the relationship between folate intake and heart disease, researchers followed over 80,000 women for 14 years using dietary questionnaires. They found that women who had higher intakes of dietary folate had a 55% lower risk of having heart attacks or fatal heart disease. Another study showed that individuals who consume folate-rich diets have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke than those who do not consume as much of this vital nutrient.

Uma xícara de abacate tem 23% um valôr diário de 23% de folatos, um nutriente muito importante para a saúde do coração. Para determinar a relalão entre a ingestão de folatos e doenças cardíacas, pesquisadores acompanharam 80.000 mulheres durante 14 anos usando questionários dietéticos. Eles descobriram que as mulheres que ingeriram maiores quantidades de folatos, tiveram 55% menos riscos de terem atques cardíacos ou denças cardíacas fatais. Um outro estudo mostrou que as pessoas que consomem dietas ricas em folatos, tem muito menos riscos de doenças cardiovasculares ou infartos do que aqueles que não consomem o suficiente deste nutriente vital.

Promote Optimal Health

Not only are avocados a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against breast cancer, but it is also a very concentrated dietary source of the carotenoid lutein; it also contains measurable amounts of related carotenoids (zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene) plus significant quantities of tocopherols (vitamin E).

Não sómente abacates são ricas fontes de ácidos gordurosos monoinsaturados, incluindo ácido oléico, que recentemente tem mostrado oferecer uma significativa proteção contra o câncer de mama, mas também é uma fonte concentrada do carotenóide luteína; Contém também quantidades mensuráveis de carotenóides relacionados ( zeawantina, alfa-caroteno, e beta-caroteno) mais quantidades significativas de vitamina E.

In a laboratory study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, an extract of avocado containing these carotenoids and tocopherols inhibited the growth of both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells.

But when researchers tried exposing the prostate cancer cells to lutein alone, the single carotenoid did not prevent cancer cell growth and replication. Not only was the whole matrix of carotenoids and tocopherols in avocado necessary for its ability to kill prostate cancer cells, but the researchers also noted that the significant amount of monounsaturated fat in avocado plays an important role. Carotenoids are lipid (fat)-soluble, which means fat must be present to ensure that these bioactive carotenoids will be absorbed into the bloodstream. Just as Nature intends, avocado delivers the whole heath-promoting package.

Increase Your Absorption of Carotenoids from Vegetables

Enjoying a few slices of avocado in your tossed salad, or mixing some chopped avocado into your favorite salsa will not only add a rich, creamy flavor, but will greatly increase your body's ability to absorb the health-promoting carotenoids that vegetables provide.

A study published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition tested the hypothesis that since carotenoids are lipophilic (literally, fat-loving, which means they are soluble in fat, not water), consuming carotenoid-rich foods along with monounsaturated-fat-rich avocado might enhance their bioavailability.

Not only did adding avocado to a salad of carrot, lettuce and baby spinach or to salsa greatly increase study participants' absorption of carotenoids from these foods, but the improvement in carotenoid availability occurred even when a very small amount-as little as 2 ounces-of avocado was added.

Adding avocado to salad increased absorption of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lutein 7.2, 15.3, and 5.1 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these carotenoids absorbed when avocado-free salad was eaten.

Adding avocado to salsa increased lycopene and beta-carotene absorption 4.4 and 2.6 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these nutrients absorbed from avocado-free salsa. Since avocados contain a large variety of nutrients including vitamins, minerals, as well as heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, eating a little avocado along with carotenoid-rich vegetables and fruits is an excellent way to improve your body's ability to absorb carotenoids while also receiving other nutritional-and taste-benefits.

Avocado Phytonutrients Combat Oral Cancer

Oral cancer is even more likely to result in death than breast, skin, or cervical cancer, with a mortality rate of about 50% due to late detection, according to Great Britain's Mouth Cancer Foundation. Avocados may offer a delicious dietary strategy for the prevention of oral cancer. Phytonutrients in Hass avocados, the most readily available of the more than 500 varieties of avocados grown worldwide, target multiple signaling pathways, increasing the amount of free radicals (reactive oxygen species) within pre-cancerous and cancerous human oral cell lines, that leads to their death, but cause no harm to normal cells. ? Semin Cancer Biol. 2007 May 17. Earlier research by UCLA scientists also indicates that Hass avocados may inhibit the growth of prostate cancer as well. When analyzed, Hass avocados were found to contain the highest content of lutein among commonly eaten fruits as well as measurable amounts of related carotenoids (zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene, and beta-carotene). Lutein accounted for 70% of the measured carotenoids, and the avocado also contained significant quantities of vitamin E. J Nutr Biochem. 2005 Jan;16(1):23-30.

Description

The avocado is colloquially known as the Alligator Pear, reflecting its shape and the leather-like appearance of its skin. Avocado is derived from the Aztec word "ahuacatl."

Avocados are the fruit from the Persea Americana, a tall evergreen tree that can grow up to 65 feet in height. There are dozens of varieties of avocadoes, which fall into three main categories-Mexican, Guatemalean, and West Indian-which differ in their size, appearance, quality and susceptibility to cold. The most popular type of avocado in the United States is the Hass variety, which has rugged, pebbly brown-black skin. Another common type of avocado is the Fuerte, which is larger than the Hass and has smooth, dark green skin and a more defined pear shape.

Avocados vary in weight from 8 ounces to 3 pounds depending upon the variety. The edible portion of the avocado is its yellow-green flesh, which has a luscious, buttery consistency and a subtle nutty flavor. The skin and pit are inedible.

History

Avocados are native to Central and South America and have been cultivated in these regions since 8,000 B.C. In the mid-17th century, they were introduced to Jamaica and spread through the Asian tropical regions in the mid-1800s. Cultivation in United States, specifically in Florida and California, began in the early 20th century. While avocados are now grown in most tropical and subtropical countries, the major commercial producers include the United States (Florida and California), Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Colombia.

How to Select and Store

A ripe, ready to eat avocado is slightly soft but should have no dark sunken spots or cracks. If the avocado has a slight neck, rather than being rounded on top, it was probably tree ripened and will have better flavor. A firmer, less mature fruit can be ripened at home and will be less likely to have bruises. The Hass avocado weighs about 8 ounces on average and has a pebbled dark green or black skin, while the Fuerte avocado has smoother, brighter green skin. Avoid Fuertes with skin that is too light and bright. Florida avocados, which can be as large as 5 pounds, have less fat and calories, but their taste is not as rich as California varieties.

A firm avocado will ripen in a paper bag or in a fruit basket at room temperature within a few days. As the fruit ripens, the skin will turn darker. Avocados should not be refrigerated until they are ripe. Once ripe, they can be kept refrigerated for up to a week. If you are refrigerating a whole avocado, it is best to keep it whole and not slice it in order to avoid browning that occurs when the flesh is exposed to air.

If you have used a portion of a ripe avocado, it is best to store the remainder in the refrigerator. Store in a plastic bag, wrap with plastic wrap, or place on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Sprinkling the exposed surface(s) with lemon juice will help to prevent the browning that can occur when the flesh comes in contact with oxygen in the air.

How to Enjoy

For some of our favorite recipes, click Recipes

Tips for preparing avocados:

Use a stainless steel knife to cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Gently twist the two halves in opposite direction if you find the flesh clinging to the pit. Remove the pit, either with a spoon or by spearing with the tip of a knife. Place the halves face down, then peel and slice. If the flesh is too soft to be sliced, just slide a spoon along the inside of the skin and scoop it out. You can prevent the natural darkening of the avocado flesh that occurs with exposure to air by sprinkling with a little lemon juice or vinegar.

A few quick serving ideas:

Use chopped avocados as a garnish for black bean soup.

Add avocado to your favorite creamy tofu-based dressing recipe to give it an extra richness and beautiful green color.

Mix chopped avocados, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice and seasonings for a rich-tasting twist on traditional guacamole.

Spread ripe avocados on bread as a healthy replacement for mayonnaise when making a sandwich.

For an exceptional salad, combine sliced avocado with fennel, oranges and fresh mint.

For a beautiful accompaniment to your favorite Mexican dish, top quartered avocado slices with corn relish and serve with a wedge of lime.

Safety

Avocados and Latex Allergy

Like bananas and chestnuts, avocados contain substances called chitinases that are associated with the latex-fruit allergy syndrome. There is strong evidence of the cross-reaction between latex and these foods. If you have a latex allergy, you may very likely be allergic to these foods as well. Processing the fruit with ethylene gas increases these enzymes; organic produce not treated with gas will have fewer allergy-causing compounds. In addition, cooking the food may deactivate the enzymes.

Nutritional Profile

Avocados are a good source of vitamin K, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, vitamin C, folate and copper. Avocados are also a good source of potassium: they are higher in potassium than a medium banana.

Although they are fruits, avocados have a high fat content of between 71 to 88% of their total calories - about 20 times the average for other fruits. A typical avocado contains 30 grams of fat, but 20 of these fat grams are health-promoting monounsaturated fats, especially oleic acid.

For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Avocado.

In-Depth Nutritional Profile

In addition to the nutrients highlighted in our ratings chart, an in-depth nutritional profile for Avocados is also available. This profile includes information on a full array of nutrients, including carbohydrates, sugar, soluble and insoluble fiber, sodium, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids and more.

Introduction to Food Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify foods that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Food Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the foods that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which this food is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the food doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this food's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance up in the top left corner where you will find the name of the food and the serving size we used to calculate the food's nutrient composition. This serving size will tell you how much of the food you need to eat to obtain the amount of nutrients found in the chart. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this food and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

Avocado, slices 1.00 cup 146.00 grams 235.06 calories Nutrient Amount DV (%) Nutrient Density World's Healthiest Foods Rating vitamin K 29.20 mcg 36.5 2.8 good dietary fiber 7.30 g 29.2 2.2 good potassium 874.54 mg 25.0 1.9 good folate 90.37 mcg 22.6 1.7 good vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) 0.41 mg 20.5 1.6 good vitamin C 11.53 mg 19.2 1.5 good copper 0.38 mg 19.0 1.5 good World's Healthiest Foods Rating Rule excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10% very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5% good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.5%

O correto posicionamento em casa e no trabalho

 

A má postura pode ser pivô de várias lesões. Dores lombares, hérnias discais, enxaquecas, dentre outras dores causadas pela postura irregular, trazem o desespero e a incapacitação para o trabalho e lazer de milhões de pessoas no mundo, provocando enormes prejuízos à saúde, à economia e à qualidade de vida como um todo.

Para tratar destes problemas, alguns profissionais da área da saúde têm estudado e aplicado a posturologia – método desenvolvido pelo cirurgião-ortopedista francês, Dr. Bernard Bricot. Trata-se de uma nova abordagem de diagnóstico e tratamento multidisciplinar, que reúne várias especialidades como: clínica geral, oftalmologia, fisioterapia, odontologia, fonoaudiologia, ortopédica, podologia, e outros.

O foco é o tratamento da causa e não dos sintomas, fazendo a reprogramação postural através da correção dos captores que freqüentemente estão desregulados (olhos, pés, pele, dentes, músculos, articulações etc). “É preciso antes de tratar os sintomas das doenças, tentar corrigir a causa que gerou aquela patologia. A Posturologia não é uma nova Medicina, e sim uma nova forma de abordagem dela”, pondera Bricot.

Em Curitiba, um ortodontista e ortopedista facial, que estuda e aplica este método, relata o caso de uma paciente de 4 anos, que apresentava sérios problemas de oclusão. “Fiz uma avaliação mais completa. Devido à mordida cruzada, a postura da cabeça e dos ombros da menina não estava correta. Como os pais dela buscaram o tratamento cedo, além de ter sido mais rápido, evitou que ela tivesse problemas mais graves no futuro, como falta de equilíbrio, encurtamento dos músculos, dentre outros”, alerta.   

Na avaliação do ortopedista, o importante é procurar um profissional qualificado para se ter um bom diagnóstico. “Na avaliação postural, é imprescindível saber analisar o sistema manducatório (dentes, músculos, articulações). O dentista também tem de saber avaliar a postura colaborando no trabalho da equipe, porque se há um desequilíbrio nela, este tem que ser diagnosticado e corrigido”,

A arquitetura de computadores

A arquitetura de computadores é a teoria por detrás do desenho de um computador. Da mesma maneira que um arquiteto de edifícios define os principios e os objetivos de um projeto de edificação como base dos projetos do projetista, assim também um arquiteto de computadores o faz, definindo a base das especificações do desenho do sistema. A Arquitetura de computadores pode também ser definida como a estrutura e a organização dos hardwares e se refere ao funcionamento interno do computador, como está organizada e arranjada a parte não vista pelo usuário de computador. Existem vários modos de uso do termo, que podem ser usados referindo-se a: ·a) O desenho da arquitetura do CPU do computador, o seu conjunto de instruções, "addressing modes" e técnicas, tais como paralelísmo SIMD e MIMD. ·b) Arquiteturas de hardware mais generalizadas, tais como computação em conjunto e arquiteturas NUMA (acesso não-uniforme à memória). ·c) A utilização menos formal do termo refere-se a uma descrição dos requisitos (especialmente requisitos de velocidades e interligação) ou implementação do design para as várias partes de um computador, tais como memória, placa-mãe, periféricos eletrônicos ou, mais frequentemente, CPU. A arquitetura é frequentemente definida como o conjunto de atributos da máquina que um programador deve compreender para que consiga programar o computador específico com sucesso, ou seja, para que consiga compreender o que o programa irá fazer quando da sua execução. Por exemplo, parte da arquitetura são as instruções e o raio de operadores manipulados por elas. De uma maneira semelhante, a frequência em que o sistema opera não é incluida na arquitetura. Esta definição revela as duas principais considerações dos arquitetos de computadores: (1) desenhar hardware que se comporta como o programador pensa que se irá comportar, (2)utilizar implementações existentes de tecnologias (por exemplo, semicondutores) para construir o melhor computador possível. A 2ª consideração é frequentemente referida como a microarquitetura.   Objetivos de desenho Os objetivos mais comuns numa arquitetura de computador baseiam-se na relação entre os fatores custo e prestação (ou seja, velocidade), apesar de outras considerações, tais como dimensões, peso e consumo de energia, também serem um fator tido em conta.   Memória Virtual Outro problema recorrente envolve a memória virtual. Historicamente, a memória de acesso aleatório (RAM) foi centenas de vezes mais cara que o armazenamento mecânico rotativo, isto é, discos rígidos, num computador moderno. O processador só pode executar uma instrução que esteja na memória real. O mecanismo de Memória Virtual divide a memória real em FRAMES e divide um arquivo no disco em PÁGINAS de mesmo tamanho dos frames. No disco existem muito mais páginas do que frames na memória. Sempre que for preciso uma página é copiada da memória virtual (arquivo em disco) para um frame da memória real. Surge a necessidade de saber quando é preciso copiar. Surge a necessidade de saber se um frame pode ser descartado ou se precisa ser recopiado para sua página correspondente no arquivo em disco. Sempre que uma instrução é executada a partir de um frame o hardware controlador de memória virtual testa se o dado a que ela se refere já se encontra em algum frame. Se for o caso, uma interrupção ocorre para que a rotina de tratamento cuide de copiar do disco para a memória real uma página completa contendo o dado necessário.

Computador montado na parede

 

Agora ele está completo, com o ventilador movível. Esta imagem tem uma resolução de 1366x768, para monitores de 18,5”. Por isso ela parece alongada (widescreen)…

Esta imagem tem uma resolução de 800x600.

New solar power material converts 90 percent of captured light into heat

 

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Graduate student Bryan VanSaders measures how much simulated sunlight a novel material can absorb using a unique set of instruments that takes spectral measurements from visible to infrared. This testing is led by electrical engineering professor Zhaowei Liu.

A multidisciplinary engineering team at the University of California, San Diego developed a new nanoparticle-based material for concentrating solar power plants designed to absorb and convert to heat more than 90 percent of the sunlight it captures. The new material can also withstand temperatures greater than 700 degrees Celsius and survive many years outdoors in spite of exposure to air and humidity. Their work, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot program, was published recently in two separate articles in the journal Nano Energy.

By contrast, current solar absorber material functions at lower temperatures and needs to be overhauled almost every year for high temperature operations.

"We wanted to create a material that absorbs sunlight that doesn't let any of it escape. We want the black hole of sunlight," said Sungho Jin, a professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Jin, along with professor Zhaowei Liu of the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering professor Renkun Chen, developed the Silicon boride-coated nanoshell material. They are all experts in functional materials engineering.

The novel material features a "multiscale" surface created by using particles of many sizes ranging from 10 nanometers to 10 micrometers. The multiscale structures can trap and absorb light which contributes to the material's high efficiency when operated at higher temperatures.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is an emerging alternative clean energy market that produces approximately 3.5 gigawatts worth of power at power plants around the globe -- enough to power more than 2 million homes, with additional construction in progress to provide as much as 20 gigawatts of power in coming years. One of the technology's attractions is that it can be used to retrofit existing power plants that use coal or fossil fuels because it uses the same process to generate electricity from steam.

Traditional power plants burn coal or fossil fuels to create heat that evaporates water into steam. The steam turns a giant turbine that generates electricity from spinning magnets and conductor wire coils. CSP power plants create the steam needed to turn the turbine by using sunlight to heat molten salt. The molten salt can also be stored in thermal storage tanks overnight where it can continue to generate steam and electricity, 24 hours a day if desired, a significant advantage over photovoltaic systems that stop producing energy with the sunset.

One of the most common types of CSP systems uses more than 100,000 reflective mirrors to aim sunlight at a tower that has been spray painted with a light absorbing black paint material. The material is designed to maximize sun light absorption and minimize the loss of light that would naturally emit from the surface in the form of infrared radiation.

The UC San Diego team's combined expertise was used to develop, optimize and characterize a new material for this type of system over the past three years. Researchers included a group of UC San Diego graduate students in materials science and engineering, Justin Taekyoung Kim, Bryan VanSaders, and Jaeyun Moon, who recently joined the faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The synthesized nanoshell material is spray-painted in Chen's lab onto a metal substrate for thermal and mechanical testing. The material's ability to absorb sunlight is measured in Liu's optics laboratory using a unique set of instruments that takes spectral measurements from visible light to infrared.

Current CSP plants are shut down about once a year to chip off the degraded sunlight absorbing material and reapply a new coating, which means no power generation while a replacement coating is applied and cured. That is why DOE's SunShot program challenged and supported UC San Diego research teams to come up with a material with a substantially longer life cycle, in addition to the higher operating temperature for enhanced energy conversion efficiency. The UC San Diego research team is aiming for many years of usage life, a feat they believe they are close to achieving.

Modeled after President Kennedy's moon landing program that inspired widespread interest in science and space exploration, then-Energy Secretary Steven P. Chu launched the Sunshot Initiative in 2010 with the goal of making solar power cost competitive with other means of producing electricity by 2020.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of California - San Diego. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Journal Reference:

1. Tae Kyoung Kim, Jaeyun Moon, Bryan VanSaders, Dongwon Chun, Calvin J. Gardner, Jae-Young Jung, Gang Wang, Renkun Chen, Zhaowei Liu, Yu Qiao, Sungho Jin. Si boride-coated Si nanoparticles with improved thermal oxidation resistance. Nano Energy, 2014; 9: 32 DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.06.021

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5 Ways to Improve Your Attention

 

Things You Can Do to Minimize Distraction and Increase Concentration

It happens to the best of us. You're sitting in class or in a meeting and you suddenly find yourself daydreaming, losing focus, and not paying attention. In one study of over 2,000 adults, people reported that their minds weren't really on the task at hand almost 50 percent of the time. Perhaps even more importantly, people report feeling less happy when they are distracted.

So what can you do to improve your attention, increase your focus, and prevent your mind from wandering? Researchers have discovered a few different things that might help:

suedhang/Image Source/Getty Images

1. Stop Multitasking

Trying to do many different things at once makes it more difficult to concentrate on any one thing. While it might seem like multitasking can help you accomplish more, research has shown that juggling multiple tasks actually reduces both productivity and accuracy. If you want to make the most out of your attentional resources, try focusing on just one task at a time.

Thomas Barwick / Getty Images

2. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness involves purposely paying attention to things in a particular way, and new research suggests that practicing mindfulness might actually help improve your ability to concentrate. According to research presented at an annual conference held by the British Psychological Society (BPS), children who took a short training course in mindfulness were better able to concentrate and ignore distractions.

Juzant / Getty Images

3. Meditate

Researchers have found that those experienced in meditation are better at focusing their attention on a single item and ignoring irrelevant items. What about people new to meditation? Can practicing this skill help you better focus your attentional spotlight? The research indicates that the answer is yes. Participants in one study who learned to meditate and practiced for approximately 30 minutes per day were quicker to notice new stimuli, indicating that they had improved their attention.

So why exactly does meditation help? One suggestion is that it decreases the attentional blink that we all experience. Attentional blink is a brief period of time after we focus on one item, about half a second, where we are unreceptive to secondary stimuli. Essentially, focusing on one thing makes us briefly blind to other things. One study found that participants who received meditation training demonstrated a marked reduction in attentional blink.

Tetra Images / Getty Images

4. Turn Off the Technology

From smart phones to video games to online video, it seems like we spend a huge chunk of our day absorbed by various forms of technology. Unfortunately, research has demonstrated that the constant distraction presented by such technology can actually make it more difficult for young children to focus on activities such as reading for an extended period of time. If you want to focus your attention and fully devote yourself to a task, turn off the technology - at least for long enough to let you finish the job.

Zakaria Wakrim / Getty Images

5. Practice Makes Perfect

Meditation can help you learn to improve your focus, but it takes practice to learn how to bring your bring your attention back to the task at hand. Researcher Wendy Hasenkamp suggests that becoming aware of when your mind has wandered, actively disengaging from the distraction, and bringing your focus back to the task at hand can help make people more mindful of how they utilize their attention. The more you notice that your mind has wandered, and thus the more you actively bring yourself back to a state of attention, the better you will become at maintaining your focus on a single task.

"Understanding the way the brain alternates between focused and distracted states has implications for a wide variety of everyday tasks," Hasenkamp explains. "For example, when your mind wandered off in that meeting, it might help to know you’re slipping into default mode—and you can deliberately bring yourself back to the moment. That’s an ability that can improve with training."

Final Thoughts

If you've ever felt like you have a "short attention span" or if you often catch your mind wandering when you should be focusing on a task, you might be able to benefit from some of these "attention boosting" activities. Eliminating distractions, putting an end to multitasking, meditating, and actively practicing these skills are just a few of the things that researchers believe can have a beneficial influence on attention. Think of attention as a muscle – the more you work with it, the stronger it will be.

References

Carr, N. (2010, June 20). As technology advances, deep reading suffers. SFGate. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/As-technology-advances-deep-reading-suffers-3261215.php

Hasenkamp, W., Wilson-Mendenhall, C. D., Duncan, E., & Basalou, L. W. (2012). Mind wandering and attention during focused meditation: A fine-grained temporal analysis of fluctuating cognitive states. NeuroImage, 59, 750-560.

Hasenkamp, W. (2013, July 17). How to focus a wandering mind. Greater Good. Retrieved fromhttp://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_focus_a_wandering_mind

Jha, A. P., Krompinger, J., & Baime, M. J. (2007). Mindfulness training modifies subsystems of attention. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(2), 109-119.

Testing of filters to contain radioactive materials

 

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-If released in significant quantities, radioactive materials pose a potential threat to people and the environment. Now, new research at Mississippi State University is helping the nuclear industry ensure that radioactive materials continue to be safely contained and that standards of safety are continuously improved.

MSU's Institute for Clean Energy Technology (ICET) is doing research to ensure that confinement systems for processing radioactive waste are robust and effective with minimal risk of accidental exposure for workers at specialized waste treatment facilities, as well as area neighbors.

The university research center recently hosted visitors from the U.S. Department of Energy, Washington State's Department of Health, Bechtel National, Inc., Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, and nuclear energy industry leaders from across the country to observe testing technology which assesses nuclear grade high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration systems.

ICET is an entity of the university's Energy Institute and is currently engaged in major projects funded by the DOE Office of Environmental Management, the DOE Nuclear Safety Research and Development program, and by Bechtel National, Inc., to test HEPA filtration systems with the goal of developing more robust HEPA filters for the nuclear industry. The filters are used at energy facilities across the country, such as the DOE Hanford site in Washington State, the Savannah River site in South Carolina, and the Idaho site. 

Charles Waggoner, deputy director of ICET and MSU research professor, said the highly technical processes and testing infrastructure are vitally important for assessing HEPA filtration systems' abilities to withstand unexpected harsh conditions, such as a fire or high humidity event like a steam line failure.

"The testing we're doing is very significant," Waggoner said, "and we are the only place in the world with infrastructure and personnel capable of doing this work."

The HEPA filters are the last line of defense to be sure that radioactive contamination is contained. These specialized filters are 99.97 percent efficient, and they are tested to ensure that they will maintain that efficiency, even under the stress of an unexpected event, such as if damage to a facility is caused by an earthquake.

Of particular interest to the high-profile visitors, MSU researchers discovered a problem with one variation of "separatorless" HEPA filters. DOE now has expanded funding at ICET to further study the issue, and results from this testing will be used to determine a path forward.

DOE HEPA filter technical specialist in the Office of Environment, Health, Safety & Security Subir Sen said his office prepares the directives and standards for DOE in regards to HEPA filter procurement and a separate quality control testing program.

"We also manage the additional testing that the filters used in nuclear facilities for DOE undergo through an independent filter test facility," he said, explaining that each individual filter used in a DOE nuclear facility is tested before use.

"When test results were published by Dr. Waggoner which showed that separatorless filters may not perform under certain conditions, we became interested. [DOE's Office of Environmental Management is] following through with this test to find out how they perform and if any recommendations need to be made within our standards," he said.

Sen noted that the testing process at MSU is unique in that it combines different types of stressors to see how the filters perform during a combination of harsh conditions. While current national consensus standards also require testing for harsh conditions, the MSU testing at ICET is the only one that combines the conditions to occur simultaneously.

Scott MacMurray, a project engineer with Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, South Carolina, said the testing at MSU will impact which design of filters his company will purchase in the future. As a member of the Energy Facility Contractors Operating Group, MacMurray said contractors who run the various DOE sites around the U.S. will be sharing information about the latest test findings at ICET.

"Lots of different groups have sent a representative because it's such an important program," MacMurray said of the MSU visit. "All the different parties are interested in the results of the testing."

For more information about Mississippi State, visit www.msstate.edu.