Blancer.com Tutorials and projects

Body weight is linked to the age at which a girl starts her periods.

Girls from poorer backgrounds are more likely to start their periods at a younger age, thereby increasing their risk of breast cancer, says a study.

It found that girls born in the late 1980s and 1990s began their periods at 12.3 years on average, compared to 13.5 years in the early 1900s.

Girls in lower socio-economic groups were younger when their periods began.

The study, of 90,000 UK women, appeared in the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

The research data being gathered from this group of women over 40 years is also helping to find the causes and risk factors associated with breast cancer.

The study is a partnership between Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Institute of Cancer Research.

This research found that there was little change in the age of menarche (when a girl’s periods begin) for 40 years until the late 1980s.

Then the age dropped from 12.6 years to about 12.3 years, with the drop steepest in poorer areas.

Study author Danielle Morris, from The Institute of Cancer Research in Surrey, said the results suggested that girls, particularly from poorer backgrounds, are starting their periods younger.

“While we don’t know all the reasons behind this, changes in diet may have played a part.

“This decrease is important because the age at which a girl starts her periods can influence her chances of developing breast cancer later in life.”

Dr Tabitha Randall, consultant paediatrician at Nottingham Children’s Hospital, said this was due to exposure to the hormone oestrogen.

“Girls who start their periods earlier are producing oestrogen for longer periods of time, although those who start their periods early normally finish early, but then they may start taking hormone replacement therapy.”

Previous research has shown that the female hormone oestrogen is linked to the growth of breast tumours.

Levels of oestrogen in the body are also influenced by diet and, therefore, body weight.

“Diet is important because fatty tissue turns male hormones into oestrogen,” said Dr Randall.

Previously, girls from higher socio-economic groups tended to start their periods younger because their affluence led to greater food intake and heavier body weight.

But researchers say the trend appears to have reversed.

Girls of lower socio-economic status are now starting their periods at a younger age (12.1 years) than girls from wealthier backgrounds (12.5 years) because they are the ones who tend to have poorer diets and are more likely to be overweight.

The age at which girls start their periods can be added to the list of risk factors for breast cancers, which are known to be a woman’s age, alcohol intake, weight and use of hormone replacement therapy and the contraceptive pill.

A family history of breast cancer may also increase the risk of developing the disease.

Professor Anthony Swerdlow, co-leader of the Breakthrough Generations Study, says that the incidence of breast cancer has risen progressively over a long time in the UK.

“We think these changes have come about through a combination of factors each of which individually makes a small difference.

“Understanding how these factors influence a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer should allow us to develop strategies for preventing the disease in the future.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Lecturers held strikes over pensions in March

UCU lecturers’ union leader Sally Hunt has said industrial action targeting examination and admissions work is necessary to fight pensions changes.

Staff could “withdraw labour” to delay entry offers to students and the process of awarding degrees, she said.

Union members meeting this weekend are expected to vote on whether to hold a ballot for further action.

The union says new staff will be £120,000 worse off under a planned career average pension scheme.

The University and College Union lost a vote on the changes at the University Superannuation Scheme’s negotiating committee in May, after holding strikes in March.

A motion to be put to the conference, meeting in Harrogate, calls for “a major programme of sustained and disruptive industrial action targeting such areas as admissions, assessments and examinations for the next academic year”.

Ms Hunt told the BBC the proposal was for “action short of a strike”.

“I don’t believe that a one-day strike will make the difference here,” she said.

“I think it will be serious and I think will have to be sustained… I think it’s necessary if we’re going to get the employers to shift.”

The process of vetting student applications and signing off offers “is something that we will look at very carefully in terms of whether there’s action we will take to withdraw our labour,” she said.

Action targeting the awarding of degrees could be focused on tasks such as marking and external examination, she said.

“There’s a whole range of activity around people getting their qualifications or not, which is directly our members work and directly what we will be looking at,” she said.

This year’s finals are already taking place, so are unlikely to be targeted, but the union said “significant disruption” could occur from the autumn if members opted for industrial action.

This could affect students applying to start university in 2012, and UCU has not ruled out an impact on next year’s finals.

UCU’s battle over the £30bn USS scheme, which has nearly 140,000 active members, has lasted several years.

The union has gained concessions, including the retention of a final salary scheme for existing members, but says the proposed scheme for new entrants is not generous enough.

It also wants to retain the right to a full pension for lecturers over 55 who are made redundant, and fears final salary benefits will eventually be phased out.

Under the changes, which USS says are to come into effect in the autumn, contributions to the final salary scheme will rise from 6.35 to 7.5% of income, and the retirement age will increase from 60 to 65.

New entrants will be offered a career average scheme, under which they would contribute 6.5% of their income, and accrue 1/64 of their average income for every year worked.

‘Attractive and affordable’

UCU negotiators sit on a joint committee which makes decisions for the pension scheme.

They had blocked the changes by refusing to attend meetings and make them quorate, until they were threatened with legal action – which they described as “bullying”.

In May, they attended the committee, and its chair, Sir Andrew Cubie, made the casting vote in favour of the changes.

The Employers Pension Forum – which brings together higher education employers – has not commented on possible future industrial action.

But when the vote took place in May it said the “moderate changes” would “enable USS to remain sustainable, attractive and affordable for all: employers and members, current and future”.

When UCU members held a strike in March, EPF chairman Professor Brian Cantor said employers were “disappointed” by the action.

He defended the changes as a “response to the increasing costs to the scheme from improved longevity”.

Prof Cantor said the retention of a final salary pension for all existing USS members was an exceptionally good benefit and that the career average scheme for future employees was in line with what looked set to become the norm in all sectors.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Astronaut Mike Fincke on the historic space-walk

The last ever space-walk in the 30-year history of the US shuttle programme has been completed at the International Space Station.

Astronauts Mike Fincke and Greg Chamitoff’s seven-and-a-half-hour walk completed Nasa’s part in constructing the ISS.

The astronauts will return to Earth in a few days on space shuttle Endeavour’s last voyage.

One final shuttle is scheduled for July to bring supplies to the ISS.

The BBC’s Tom Burridge in Washington says the ISS is now the size of a football field and can house six full-time residents who spend their time conducting scientific experiments and research conditions for possible longer missions, such as travelling to Mars.

Astronaut Chamitoff said before ending the 164th and last shuttle space-walk: “Twelve years of building and 15 countries and now it’s the Parthenon in the sky and hopefully the doorstep to our future. So congratulations everybody on assembly complete.”

As he attached the final 50ft (15m) boom, he said: “Amazing. Boy, this is a big space station.”

Endeavour is scheduled to return to Earth on Wednesday.

It will then be prepared for public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Russia still plans to carry out space-walks at the ISS, adding at least one more chamber to the structure. Those in the station will also carry out walks as necessary.

Russia will also ferry astronauts to the ISS.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Men can feel the stress and responsibility of fatherhood weighing heavily on their shoulders

A Gloucester man has been acquitted of murdering his six-month-old daughter, after saying he had had post-natal depression. The case of Mark Bruton-Young has put the issue of men who struggle to cope with becoming fathers in the headlines.

One out of every seven new mothers has post-natal depression – but, according to the Fatherhood Institute, one out of every 10 fathers are depressed both before and after their baby is born.

The peak time for fathers’ depression is thought to be between three and six months after the birth.

Like women, they can struggle with the huge life changes a baby brings, says Fatherhood Institute research head Adrienne Burgess.

“Hormones, lack of sleep, increased responsibility and general life stresses can apply to men just as much to women,” she said.

“And if their partner is depressed, then men are more likely to be too.”

Men and women who have pre-existing mental health problems are more at risk of developing depression after the birth of a child.

But a father’s depression can begin during pregnancy, when relationships are already changing. Fathers can feel left out while their partner is the focus of increased attention.

Association for Post-natal Illness counsellor Liz Wise says: “Women can feel they do things best, like changing a nappy or feeding.

“They can be quick to criticise their partners and take over.

“They don’t think about how it could undermine a man’s confidence.

“In the end their partner will stop offering to help and that could lead to a breakdown of communication and then resentment.”

It has also been suggested fatherhood is not recognised as a life-changing event, the way motherhood is.

Ms Burgess finds it shocking that fathers are not invited to ante-natal appointments.

“When the pregnancy is confirmed, the GP should invite the mother and father to come in.

“We need a directive that says you should ask about the women’s partner too.

“That way they can pick up if he has any issues.

“Then they’re more likely to be able to assess the more vulnerable men.”

Fathers can struggle with the changes a baby brings

Both mothers and fathers can feel tired, stressed, emotional, inadequate and guilty as a result of being depressed – but they react to those feelings in different ways, which can make picking up the signs more difficult.

It is said that men with depression get mad, while women get sad.

Drinking too much, self-medicating and having affairs can all be signs of fathers with depression, say experts.

“Men are probably better at bullying the world around them when they are not happy, whereas women tend to internalise more,” says Phillip Hodson, fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

Research also indicates children are at increased risk of emotional and behavioural problems in families where fathers are depressed soon after the birth, the impact can be traced up to the age of 11, and boys are more affected than girls.

“If you’re really seriously, clinically depressed you care about nothing,” says Mr Hodson.

“Depression is the worst pain imaginable and it’s almost inevitable that someone else has to get involved to get you out of it.”

The key is to access that support at the earliest available opportunity.

Counselling, psychotherapy, cranial osteopathy, massage and reflexology are all seen as potentially therapeutic, as well as resting, eating properly and writing down feelings in a journal.

Ms Wise says men should be treated in the same way as women.

“We tell them it’s not uncommon, it’s nothing to be ashamed of and we give them as much information as we can.

“Sometimes just acknowledging it works, and counselling and talking about it helps too.”

Parenting charity the National Childbirth Trust has produced a leaflet for fathers, called Becoming a Parent.

It says: “Remember dads can also suffer from the depression, brought on by anxiety about their new circumstances.

“Don’t bottle it up. Speak to your partner and your family and friends. Find out if there are dads’ groups locally that you could meet with.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A pictorial look at exactly how instruments shake, rattle and roll

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.