In Jonathan Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels,' Gulliver encounters a small group of immortals, the struldbrugs. 'Those excellent struldbrugs,' exclaims Gulliver, 'who, being born exempt from that universal calamity of human nature, have their minds free and disengaged, without the weight and depression of spirits caused by the continual apprehensions of death!'
But the fate of these immortals wasn't so simple, as Swift goes on to report. They were still subject to aging and disease, so that by 80, they were 'opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative,' as well as 'incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never descended below their grandchildren.' At 90, they lost their teeth and hair and couldn't carry on conversations.
For as long as human beings have searched for the fountain of youth, they have also feared the consequences of extended life. Today we are on the cusp of a revolution that may finally resolve that tension: Advances in medicine and biotechnology will radically increase not just our life spans but also, crucially, our health spans.
The number of people living to advanced old age is already on the rise. There are some 5.7 million Americans age 85 and older, amounting to about 1.8% of the population, according to the Census Bureau. That is projected to rise to 19 million, or 4.34% of the population, by 2050, based on current trends. The percentage of Americans 100 and older is projected to rise from 0.03% today to 0.14% of the population in 2050. That's a total of 601,000 centenarians.
But many scientists think that this is just the beginning; they are working furiously to make it possible for human beings to achieve Methuselah-like life spans. They are studying the aging process itself and experimenting with ways to slow it down by way of diet, drugs and genetic therapy. They are also working on new ways to replace worn-out organs─and even to help the body to rebuild itself. The gerontologist and scientific provocateur Aubrey de Grey claims that the first humans to live for 1,000 years may already have been born.
The idea of 'conquering' aging has raised hopes, but it has also spurred a debate about whether people should actually aspire to live that long. What does a longer-living population mean for relationships and families? How can we afford to support massive numbers of aging citizens, and how can individuals afford to support themselves? Won't a society of centenarians just be miserable, tired and cranky?
The scientists working on these issues respond to such concerns by stressing that their aim is not just to increase the quantity of life but its quality as well. A life span of 1,000 may be optimistic, they suggest, but an average span of 150 years seems well within reach in the near future, with most of those years being vital and productive.
One key area of research is gene therapy. Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco, found that partially disabling a single gene, called daf-2, doubled the life of tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans. Altering the daf-16 gene and other cells added to the effect, allowing the worms to survive in a healthy state six times longer than their normal life span. In human terms, they would be the equivalent of healthy, active 500-year-olds.
Experiments with animals are not always applicable to humans, of course, but humans do have the same sort of genetic pathways that Dr. Kenyon manipulated. Other researchers have made similar findings. A laboratory at the University of Arkansas genetically altered worms to live 10 times longer than normal. Spain's National Cancer Research Center found an altogether different way to extend the lives of mice by 45%.
Other scientists are working to repair and replace worn-out body parts. The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, led by Anthony Atala, has successfully grown bladders in a lab and implanted them in children and teenagers suffering from a congenital birth defect. The basic structure of the bladders was built using biodegradable materials and was then populated with stem cells from the patients, so that their bodies wouldn't reject the transplant. It worked. Today the institute is working to grow more than 30 different organs and tissues, including livers, bone and hearts.
With heart disease the No. 1 killer in the U.S., building a human heart will be a major step forward. Doris Taylor announced in 2008 that her cardiovascular lab at the University of Minnesota had managed to grow a rat heart using a technique similar to Dr. Atala's, except that the structure she used was from a donor rat. Dr. Taylor is currently repeating the experiment on pigs, not only because their hearts are closer in size to human hearts but also because pig hearts are already used for replacement parts for some human heart patients.
Another promising new technology is organ printing, which is exactly what it sounds like: Cells, rather than ink, are put into a sophisticated 3-D printer and then printed onto a biodegradable material. The machine prints 'pages' of cells on top of each other to make a three-dimensional shape. In December 2010, a company called Organovo announced that it had successfully printed human blood vessels─an important feature of all organs.
At the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, Stephen Badylak is working with 'extracellular matrix'─the material that gives structure to tissue─from pig bladders. Dr. Badylak has used ECM to grow back the tips of patients' fingers that have been accidentally snipped off, and his colleagues have used it to cure early-stage esophageal cancer by removing the cancerous cells and replacing them with ECM. Scientists don't yet understand why the substance promotes new tissue growth, and ECM can't yet grow back entire limbs, but the results so far are impressive.
Assuming that the necessary technology eventually arrives, the big question is: What will life look like when we live to over 100?
One of the most important areas of potential change is family and relationships. With an average life expectancy of 150 years, it's possible that we might see age differences of as much as 80 or 90 years between spouses and partners. But the historical evidence suggests that such disparities in age probably won't be common.
Research by Norway's government statistics bureau shows that between 1906 and 2002, life expectancy rose from around 57 years to around 79 years in that country. But the average age difference in relationships remained at around 3.5 years (men being slightly older).
One reason for the rarity of relationships with large age gaps is that modern societies tend to look down on them. Will the number of men marrying much younger women continue to grow as people live longer and such relationships become less stigmatized?
Research done at Stanford, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Wisconsin suggests that older men seek younger partners primarily to continue having children. If that is the case, such men won't need to find younger partners once it is easier for older women to have their own biological children using new fertility technologies.
And in the future, older women (and men) will likely look less 'aged' because they will remain healthy for much longer. Remarriage for beauty or youth will lose some of its distinguishing force.
More time to live also raises the possibility of more divorces and remarriages─the seven-year itch turned into the 70-year itch. Today, some people get married two or even three times, but as people live longer, these numbers could increase, perhaps exceeding Liz Taylor proportions for at least a small slice of the population. But greater longevity might also lead to a higher incidence of serial monogamy, regardless of whether it leads to marriage, perhaps interspersed with periods of living alone.
As researchers further refine reproductive technology like egg freezing and ovary transplants, the ranks of older parents, currently on the rise, are bound to increase even more. This raises the prospect of families in which siblings are born many decades apart, perhaps 50 years or more. How would such age gaps between children change family dynamics?
We know that siblings of the same age cohort have more meaningful and longer-lasting relationships than those separated by more years, but it is difficult to predict how the relationship between siblings born decades apart would function. It probably would be akin to that of a child and an aunt or uncle, or even a child and a grandparent.
Living longer would also mean both making and spending money longer. What would an economy look like in which work lives extended into a second century of potential productivity?
Most of us already don't expect to retire at 65. The Social Security system cannot afford it even now, and in the future, going out to pasture at 65 will mean decades of boredom. People who live to 150 will use their additional years for second and third careers, and we are likely to see a greater movement toward part-time and flex-time work.
It has long been clear that wealth creates health. We now know that health also begets wealth. In a paper titled 'The Health and Wealth of Nations,' Harvard economist David Bloom and Queen's University economist David Canning explain that, based on the available research, if there are 'two countries that are identical in all respects, except that one has a five-year advantage in life expectancy,' then the 'real income per capita in the healthier country will grow 0.3 0.5% per year faster than in its less healthy counterpart.'
Although these percentages might look small, they are actually quite significant, especially when we consider that between 1965 and 1990 countries experienced an average per capita income growth of 2% per year.
Those numbers are based on only a five-year longevity advantage. What if a country had a 10-, 20-, or 30-year advantage? The growth might not continue to rise in linear fashion, but if the general rule holds─a jump in life expectancy causes an increase in economic growth per capita─then having a longer-lived population would generate enormous differences in economic prosperity.
In a 2006 study, the University of Chicago economists Kevin Murphy and Robert Topel painstakingly calculated that for Americans, 'gains in life expectancy over the century were worth over $1.2 million per person to the current population.' They also found that 'from 1970 to 2000, gains in life expectancy added about $3.2 trillion per year to national wealth.'
The world's advanced societies are finally in a position to launch a true offensive against the seemingly irresistible terms imposed on our lives by disease and death. That's good news for us as individuals and for humanity as a whole. A longer span of healthy years will lead to greater wealth and prospects for happiness.
But realizing the full potential of the longevity revolution will not be easy. We will need to tackle important and legitimate questions about the effects of greater health spans on population growth, resource availability and the environment. The decisions that we make in this regard will matter far more than the mere fact of greater numbers.
The very idea of radically greater longevity has its critics, on the right and the left. Leon Kass, who served as chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush, sees the scientific effort to extend life as an instance of our hubris, an assault on human nature itself.
The environmental writer Bill McKibben, for his part, strongly opposes what he calls 'techno-longevity,' arguing that 'like everything before us, we will rot our way back into the woof and warp of the planet.'
I'm unconvinced. Arguments against life extension are often simply an appeal to the status quo. If humans were to live longer, we are told, the world, in some way, would not be right: It would no longer be noble, beautiful or exciting.
But what is noble, beautiful and exciting about deterioration and decline? What is morally suspect about ameliorating human suffering?
The answer is nothing. Everything that we have, socially and as individuals, is based on the richness of life. There can be no more basic obligation than to help ourselves and future generations to enjoy longer, healthier spans on the Earth that we share.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Prince of Monaco wedding, married, South Africa, "Mermaid"
With a wink and a smile, Monaco's ruler Prince Albert married South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock on Saturday in a ceremony attended by a who's whoof European royalty and the international elite.
The 53-year-old married Wittstock, 33, in the courtyard of his palace at the foot of a vast white-marble double staircase lined with white flowers. Some 3,500 guests sat outside to watch the service on giant TV screens.
Albert's sisters, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, both dressed in pink, smiled as they watched the couple marry in front of a crowd that included French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and opera singer Renee Fleming.
The long white trainof Wittstock's Giorgio Armani duchess satin gown, encrusted with thousands of tiny crystals, spilled over the red carpet. The groom wore the white dress uniform of Monaco's Carabinieri royal guard.
"It was very elegant, very moving," supermodel Naomi Campbell, in a one-shouldered pale green dress, told TFI television.
After they exchanged vows, Albert winked at his bride, who smiled shyly. Sitting on red velvet chairs, they held hands as a South African singer sang the Click Song, made famous by the late Miriam Makeba.
The wedding is the first of a ruling prince in Monaco since Albert's father, Prince Rainier III, married Hollywood star Grace Kelly in 1956. Rainier transformed Monaco from a faded gambling center into a billionaires' haven, using his marriage to Kelly to infuse the tiny principalitywith film-star glamour.
Her death in a car crash in 1982 revived talk of the legendary 13th-century curse of his dynasty -- the Grimaldis -- that has haunted his family during its seven centuries of rule. According to legend, a Flemish woman raped by a Grimaldi cursed the family for eternity never to find happiness in marriage.
Caroline and Stephanie have had a series of high-profile and disastrous marriages. Albert himself has been linked with a succession of models and actresses, and has admitted to fathering two illegitimatechildren.
Just days ago, rumors of discontent threatened to marthe festivities. The palace strongly denied a report in the French weekly L'Express that Wittstock tried to skip town on a one-way flight to South Africa, and that it took "infinite persuasion" by the prince and his entourageto change her mind.
The 53-year-old married Wittstock, 33, in the courtyard of his palace at the foot of a vast white-marble double staircase lined with white flowers. Some 3,500 guests sat outside to watch the service on giant TV screens.
Albert's sisters, Princesses Caroline and Stephanie, both dressed in pink, smiled as they watched the couple marry in front of a crowd that included French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and opera singer Renee Fleming.
The long white trainof Wittstock's Giorgio Armani duchess satin gown, encrusted with thousands of tiny crystals, spilled over the red carpet. The groom wore the white dress uniform of Monaco's Carabinieri royal guard.
"It was very elegant, very moving," supermodel Naomi Campbell, in a one-shouldered pale green dress, told TFI television.
After they exchanged vows, Albert winked at his bride, who smiled shyly. Sitting on red velvet chairs, they held hands as a South African singer sang the Click Song, made famous by the late Miriam Makeba.
The wedding is the first of a ruling prince in Monaco since Albert's father, Prince Rainier III, married Hollywood star Grace Kelly in 1956. Rainier transformed Monaco from a faded gambling center into a billionaires' haven, using his marriage to Kelly to infuse the tiny principalitywith film-star glamour.
Her death in a car crash in 1982 revived talk of the legendary 13th-century curse of his dynasty -- the Grimaldis -- that has haunted his family during its seven centuries of rule. According to legend, a Flemish woman raped by a Grimaldi cursed the family for eternity never to find happiness in marriage.
Caroline and Stephanie have had a series of high-profile and disastrous marriages. Albert himself has been linked with a succession of models and actresses, and has admitted to fathering two illegitimatechildren.
Just days ago, rumors of discontent threatened to marthe festivities. The palace strongly denied a report in the French weekly L'Express that Wittstock tried to skip town on a one-way flight to South Africa, and that it took "infinite persuasion" by the prince and his entourageto change her mind.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Emerging Nations Have Trouble Uniting On IMF
Emerging nations like Brazil and China have long complained about wanting a bigger say in how global economic affairs are conducted. But so far, developing countries have been unable to unite around one of their own as a candidate to head the International Monetary Fund.
Europe, which has held the top spot at the IMF since its founding, this week lined up behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who announced her candidacy Wednesday and is the odds-on favorite.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, meanwhile, in a joint statement this week called the practice of automatically selecting a European managing director obsolete. Many of those same countries, however, seem to be pulling in different directions rather than rallying around a candidate to challenge Ms. Lagarde.
Mexico has nominated its central-bank chief, Agustin Carstens, a respected economist and former deputy managing director of the IMF. No one else has been formally put forward. So far, though, Mr. Carstens has gotten little support from key emerging powers like China, India or Brazil.
South Africa has openly lobbied for one of its own, former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Russia said it would support Kazakhstan's central banker Grigory Marchenko. Turkey said it had at least 10 candidates suited for the job, though onetime Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis has ruled himself out.
'While Europe has closed ranks around its candidate, the emerging markets are united only around the concept of making a bid for the post of IMF managing director rather than a particular candidate. This will weaken their position, so they need to act soon and decisively to agree upon a viable candidate they can all support,' said Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad.
Even from the start, some of the potential emerging-market candidates seemed unlikely to mount a serious challenge. Mr. Marchenko said he was surprised by his nomination, which he said he learned of in a text message from his prime minister. He said last week he would take the job if 'his country asked him to.'
Analysts say emerging-market nations are a more varied and less unified bloc than Europe, which has its own currency and common interests. Brazil and India have both been critical of China's policy of keeping a weak exchange-rate to boost exports.
The strongest candidate from the emerging markets so far appears to be Mr. Carstens, a 52-year-old veteran of Mexico's financial crises. Mexican officials say they are optimistic the University of Chicago-trained economist will get support from other nations in days to come.
Developing nations 'have rallied around a statement of principle that this process be transparent and open, so let's see if they can rally around a candidate that has all the qualities to lead the fund,' said one high-ranking Mexican official.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had praise for Mr. Carstens on Wednesday, saying he and Ms. Lagarde were two 'very credible' candidates. But analysts say the U.S. is likely to back Europe in a shortened selection process.
'For all of the U.S. posturing. . .they'll throw their weight behind Mrs. Lagarde,' said Desmond Lachman, a former deputy director of the IMF's policy department and now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Mr. Carstens is also having trouble getting support closer to home. OECD chief Angel Gurria, a Mexican, gave a ringing endorsement to Ms. Lagarde on Wednesday, saying the Europeans had clearly picked 'their best and brightest.' Wednesday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera also praised Ms. Lagarde, as has Brazil.
As a former deputy director at the IMF and an orthodox neoliberal economist, Mr. Carstens may be seen by other emerging nations as too tied to the old IMF establishment. Brazilian officials say they want a reformer at the IMF who will continue the path followed by disgraced former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn in trying to convince Europe and the U.S. to give more power to emerging nations.
In an interview last week, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega failed to give Mr. Carstens an endorsement, saying only that 'I don't rule out any candidate.'
Mr. Mantega said Brazil divides candidates into two groups: more conservative and less conservative. 'We want one who is less conservative. By less conservative I mean less linked to the old IMF. We have an old IMF and a new IMF. We don't want anyone linked to the old IMF, who might cause a backslide to the ways of the old IMF.
Arvind Virmani, India's representative to the IMF, seemed to have given up hope of a challenge to Ms. Lagarde from emerging markets. 'As far as everything I've seen, including the statements of various leaders, the processes approved...I don't see the results will be any different than before,' he said.
Europe, which has held the top spot at the IMF since its founding, this week lined up behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who announced her candidacy Wednesday and is the odds-on favorite.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, meanwhile, in a joint statement this week called the practice of automatically selecting a European managing director obsolete. Many of those same countries, however, seem to be pulling in different directions rather than rallying around a candidate to challenge Ms. Lagarde.
Mexico has nominated its central-bank chief, Agustin Carstens, a respected economist and former deputy managing director of the IMF. No one else has been formally put forward. So far, though, Mr. Carstens has gotten little support from key emerging powers like China, India or Brazil.
South Africa has openly lobbied for one of its own, former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Russia said it would support Kazakhstan's central banker Grigory Marchenko. Turkey said it had at least 10 candidates suited for the job, though onetime Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis has ruled himself out.
'While Europe has closed ranks around its candidate, the emerging markets are united only around the concept of making a bid for the post of IMF managing director rather than a particular candidate. This will weaken their position, so they need to act soon and decisively to agree upon a viable candidate they can all support,' said Cornell University economist Eswar Prasad.
Even from the start, some of the potential emerging-market candidates seemed unlikely to mount a serious challenge. Mr. Marchenko said he was surprised by his nomination, which he said he learned of in a text message from his prime minister. He said last week he would take the job if 'his country asked him to.'
Analysts say emerging-market nations are a more varied and less unified bloc than Europe, which has its own currency and common interests. Brazil and India have both been critical of China's policy of keeping a weak exchange-rate to boost exports.
The strongest candidate from the emerging markets so far appears to be Mr. Carstens, a 52-year-old veteran of Mexico's financial crises. Mexican officials say they are optimistic the University of Chicago-trained economist will get support from other nations in days to come.
Developing nations 'have rallied around a statement of principle that this process be transparent and open, so let's see if they can rally around a candidate that has all the qualities to lead the fund,' said one high-ranking Mexican official.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had praise for Mr. Carstens on Wednesday, saying he and Ms. Lagarde were two 'very credible' candidates. But analysts say the U.S. is likely to back Europe in a shortened selection process.
'For all of the U.S. posturing. . .they'll throw their weight behind Mrs. Lagarde,' said Desmond Lachman, a former deputy director of the IMF's policy department and now a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Mr. Carstens is also having trouble getting support closer to home. OECD chief Angel Gurria, a Mexican, gave a ringing endorsement to Ms. Lagarde on Wednesday, saying the Europeans had clearly picked 'their best and brightest.' Wednesday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera also praised Ms. Lagarde, as has Brazil.
As a former deputy director at the IMF and an orthodox neoliberal economist, Mr. Carstens may be seen by other emerging nations as too tied to the old IMF establishment. Brazilian officials say they want a reformer at the IMF who will continue the path followed by disgraced former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn in trying to convince Europe and the U.S. to give more power to emerging nations.
In an interview last week, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega failed to give Mr. Carstens an endorsement, saying only that 'I don't rule out any candidate.'
Mr. Mantega said Brazil divides candidates into two groups: more conservative and less conservative. 'We want one who is less conservative. By less conservative I mean less linked to the old IMF. We have an old IMF and a new IMF. We don't want anyone linked to the old IMF, who might cause a backslide to the ways of the old IMF.
Arvind Virmani, India's representative to the IMF, seemed to have given up hope of a challenge to Ms. Lagarde from emerging markets. 'As far as everything I've seen, including the statements of various leaders, the processes approved...I don't see the results will be any different than before,' he said.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Here Comes Baby, There Goes the Marriage
Along with shopping for sippy cups and strollers, expectant parents may want to consider another task for their to-do list: honing their marriage skills.
Numerous studies have shown that a couples' satisfaction with their marriage takes a nose dive after the first child is born. Sleepless nights and fights over whose turn it is to change diapers can leach the fun out of a relationship.
Now, a growing number of mental-health professionals are advising couples to undergo pre-baby counseling to hash out marital minefields such as divvying up baby-related responsibilities, money issues and expectations for sex and social lives. A growing number of hospitals, midwives and doulas (birth coaches who provide physical and emotional support) are teaching relationship skills alongside childbirth education classes.
About two-thirds of couples see the quality of their relationship drop within three years of the birth of a child, according to data from the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle, a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening families. Conflict increases and, with little time for adult conversation and sex, emotional distance can develop.
Men and women experience the deterioration differently: Mothers' satisfaction in their marriages plummets immediately; for men, the slide is delayed a few months. Hormonal changes, the physical demands of childbirth and nursing, and an abrupt shift from the working world to being at home with an infant may explain that, says Renay Bradley, the director of research and programming at the Relationship Research Institute.
A key source of conflict among new parents is dividing up -- and keeping score of -- who does what for the baby and the household. Counselors at Urban Balance have expectant couples make a list of every potential task -- from paying bills and cooking dinner to getting up with the baby at 3 a.m. -- and decide who is going to be responsible for each one.
'We felt better prepared,' says Mary Gould Moorhead, a 34-year-old teacher from Chicago and mother of an 8-month-old son who took the Urban Balance course with her husband last year. 'I don't think either one of us knew how much work [the baby] was going to be.'
'People spend more time decorating the nursery than preparing the relationship for the arrival of a baby,' says Joyce Marter, co-owner of Urban Balance LLC, a five-center psychotherapy practice in the Chicago area that has about 50 to 75 couples going through its $500, six-session 'pre & post baby couples counseling' program each year.
Another program, a 12-hour Bringing Baby Home workshop for expectant and new parents, developed by the Relationship Research Institute, teaches 'four steps of constructive problem solving.' They include the 'softened start-up,' a way of bringing up a problem without criticizing. For example, using 'I' statements, and saying things like 'I would appreciate it if . . .'
Richard Goodrow and Corrie Fisher found that the best way for them to resolve disagreements after their daughter was born 2 1/2 years ago was by taking long walks. Sitting and talking face to face -- where an eye roll or twinge of pain could derail the discussion -- was tough. So every week they'd put their daughter in the stroller and discuss things from how frequently to clean their apartment to Ms. Fisher's dream of going to graduate school.
'If it was skipped, it was surely missed. Tensions would rise,' says Ms. Fisher, now a 38-year-old graduate student in Boston. 'It is how we process things,' says Mr. Goodrow, a 34-year-old IT consultant and sign-language interpreter. 'Corrie and I talk about how if we buy a car, our relationship is over.'
The couple also has a weekly meeting to synch their calendars. It helps avoid miscommunication, and the resulting arguments, about, for example, who needs to work late -- and who needs to be home and watch the baby.
Well-meaning friends and mommy blogs may offer up the cliche antidotes of date nights and sex. While those certainly can't hurt, enhancing the friendship in the relationship is crucial, experts say.
For Tina Cornell and her husband, Chris Sorensen, scheduled date nights were actually stressful. 'There's all this pressure to have a meaningful conversation and quality time in a limited time frame,' says Ms. Cornell, a freelance jewelry designer and mother of two children, ages 5 and 22 months, in Chesterfield, Mass. Ms. Cornell says she and her husband stay close by making sure to take 10 or 15 minutes every day to laugh together. They'll watch bits of 'The Colbert Report' on TV and laugh about politics, she says.
The Bringing Baby Home program suggests that couples spend at least 20 minutes a day talking with each other. It directs participants to ask their partners open-ended questions that go beyond talk of household and kid logistics.
The Relationship Research Institute has trained about 800 people to lead Bringing Baby Home programs since the course's launch in 2005. The program is now offered to couples in at least 17 hospitals across the country.
One of the big parts of pre-delivery counseling is giving couples a clear idea of what they're in for. 'I make it clear that everybody struggles,' says Jean G. Fitzpatrick, a psychoanalyst in New York who began promoting 'pre-baby and postpartum marriage sessions' on her website last year.
The pre-delivery programs have shown some success.
In a 2005 study in the Journal of Family Communication, the marital quality for women taking the Bringing Baby Home workshop was relatively stable from just before their child's birth to the first birthday. Women in the control group who weren't in the program faced a marked decline in martial quality during that time.
Marital quality for men in the Bringing Baby Home group dipped from before birth to age 3 months, but rebounded by the first birthday. Men who didn't take the course saw marriage quality actually rise slightly up until 3 months, but, from there, it fell sharply until the first birthday. The study followed 38 married couples.
Another study published in 2006 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed that expectant couples and new parents who participated in 24 weekly group counseling meetings experienced a much smaller decline in marital satisfaction over about five years compared with parents who didn't have the counseling. The rate of divorce, however, was the same for both. The study followed 66 couples with children and 13 childless couples. (cheap louis vuitton shoes kids didn't see a decline in marriage satisfaction.)
Ms. Cornell reminds herself that this is all temporary. 'I always look at the long-term,' she says. ''Do I want this person as a companion in 15 years, because that is when I'm going to have him back? Are we going to be enjoying our kids' graduations?''
Numerous studies have shown that a couples' satisfaction with their marriage takes a nose dive after the first child is born. Sleepless nights and fights over whose turn it is to change diapers can leach the fun out of a relationship.
Now, a growing number of mental-health professionals are advising couples to undergo pre-baby counseling to hash out marital minefields such as divvying up baby-related responsibilities, money issues and expectations for sex and social lives. A growing number of hospitals, midwives and doulas (birth coaches who provide physical and emotional support) are teaching relationship skills alongside childbirth education classes.
About two-thirds of couples see the quality of their relationship drop within three years of the birth of a child, according to data from the Relationship Research Institute in Seattle, a nonprofit organization focused on strengthening families. Conflict increases and, with little time for adult conversation and sex, emotional distance can develop.
Men and women experience the deterioration differently: Mothers' satisfaction in their marriages plummets immediately; for men, the slide is delayed a few months. Hormonal changes, the physical demands of childbirth and nursing, and an abrupt shift from the working world to being at home with an infant may explain that, says Renay Bradley, the director of research and programming at the Relationship Research Institute.
A key source of conflict among new parents is dividing up -- and keeping score of -- who does what for the baby and the household. Counselors at Urban Balance have expectant couples make a list of every potential task -- from paying bills and cooking dinner to getting up with the baby at 3 a.m. -- and decide who is going to be responsible for each one.
'We felt better prepared,' says Mary Gould Moorhead, a 34-year-old teacher from Chicago and mother of an 8-month-old son who took the Urban Balance course with her husband last year. 'I don't think either one of us knew how much work [the baby] was going to be.'
'People spend more time decorating the nursery than preparing the relationship for the arrival of a baby,' says Joyce Marter, co-owner of Urban Balance LLC, a five-center psychotherapy practice in the Chicago area that has about 50 to 75 couples going through its $500, six-session 'pre & post baby couples counseling' program each year.
Another program, a 12-hour Bringing Baby Home workshop for expectant and new parents, developed by the Relationship Research Institute, teaches 'four steps of constructive problem solving.' They include the 'softened start-up,' a way of bringing up a problem without criticizing. For example, using 'I' statements, and saying things like 'I would appreciate it if . . .'
Richard Goodrow and Corrie Fisher found that the best way for them to resolve disagreements after their daughter was born 2 1/2 years ago was by taking long walks. Sitting and talking face to face -- where an eye roll or twinge of pain could derail the discussion -- was tough. So every week they'd put their daughter in the stroller and discuss things from how frequently to clean their apartment to Ms. Fisher's dream of going to graduate school.
'If it was skipped, it was surely missed. Tensions would rise,' says Ms. Fisher, now a 38-year-old graduate student in Boston. 'It is how we process things,' says Mr. Goodrow, a 34-year-old IT consultant and sign-language interpreter. 'Corrie and I talk about how if we buy a car, our relationship is over.'
The couple also has a weekly meeting to synch their calendars. It helps avoid miscommunication, and the resulting arguments, about, for example, who needs to work late -- and who needs to be home and watch the baby.
Well-meaning friends and mommy blogs may offer up the cliche antidotes of date nights and sex. While those certainly can't hurt, enhancing the friendship in the relationship is crucial, experts say.
For Tina Cornell and her husband, Chris Sorensen, scheduled date nights were actually stressful. 'There's all this pressure to have a meaningful conversation and quality time in a limited time frame,' says Ms. Cornell, a freelance jewelry designer and mother of two children, ages 5 and 22 months, in Chesterfield, Mass. Ms. Cornell says she and her husband stay close by making sure to take 10 or 15 minutes every day to laugh together. They'll watch bits of 'The Colbert Report' on TV and laugh about politics, she says.
The Bringing Baby Home program suggests that couples spend at least 20 minutes a day talking with each other. It directs participants to ask their partners open-ended questions that go beyond talk of household and kid logistics.
The Relationship Research Institute has trained about 800 people to lead Bringing Baby Home programs since the course's launch in 2005. The program is now offered to couples in at least 17 hospitals across the country.
One of the big parts of pre-delivery counseling is giving couples a clear idea of what they're in for. 'I make it clear that everybody struggles,' says Jean G. Fitzpatrick, a psychoanalyst in New York who began promoting 'pre-baby and postpartum marriage sessions' on her website last year.
The pre-delivery programs have shown some success.
In a 2005 study in the Journal of Family Communication, the marital quality for women taking the Bringing Baby Home workshop was relatively stable from just before their child's birth to the first birthday. Women in the control group who weren't in the program faced a marked decline in martial quality during that time.
Marital quality for men in the Bringing Baby Home group dipped from before birth to age 3 months, but rebounded by the first birthday. Men who didn't take the course saw marriage quality actually rise slightly up until 3 months, but, from there, it fell sharply until the first birthday. The study followed 38 married couples.
Another study published in 2006 in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed that expectant couples and new parents who participated in 24 weekly group counseling meetings experienced a much smaller decline in marital satisfaction over about five years compared with parents who didn't have the counseling. The rate of divorce, however, was the same for both. The study followed 66 couples with children and 13 childless couples. (cheap louis vuitton shoes kids didn't see a decline in marriage satisfaction.)
Ms. Cornell reminds herself that this is all temporary. 'I always look at the long-term,' she says. ''Do I want this person as a companion in 15 years, because that is when I'm going to have him back? Are we going to be enjoying our kids' graduations?''
Sunday, April 10, 2011
US Targets HSBC Over Secret India Bank Accounts
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday asked a federal court to force HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC, HSBA.LN, 0005.HK) to reveal the names of U.S. customers suspected of having secret bank accounts in India.
The move opens up a new front in the U.S. crackdown on tax evasion and comes days before the April deadline for taxpayers to file individual returns. Previous cases focused on Americans with Swiss bank accounts.
In court documents, the Justice Department said HSBC bankers told prospective clients that, as a foreign bank, HSBC's India operations wouldn't disclose their accounts to the Internal Revenue Service. Armed with that knowledge, U.S. customers 'have been able to maintain these foreign accounts with reasonable confidence that the IRS would not discover them,' government lawyers alleged.
Thousands of U.S. taxpayers of Indian origin have opened up accounts with HSBC in India since 2002, when the bank allegedly began soliciting their business, according to the U.S. government. It asked a San Francisco court to allow the IRS to serve a so-called 'John Doe' summons against the U.K.-based bank's U.S. unit, HSBC USA, to get the names of its U.S. clients with Indian accounts.
U.S. law requires U.S. taxpayers to declare their global income and any foreign bank accounts with more than $10,000 during that tax year.
According to court documents, HSBC informed the IRS last September that at least 9,000 U.S. 'premier' clients-high-net-worth customers-had deposits with HSBC's Indian bank. The government said 2009 bank figures showed that U.S. resident premier clients had Indian deposits of nearly $400 million.
U.S. officials said that as of 2009, U.S. taxpayers had only disclosed 1,921 accounts in India. The IRS is seeking client information on premier accounts as well as standard accounts maintained for less-wealthy customers.
The government's long-running probe against secret bank accounts led Swiss banking giant UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX) to admit in February 2009 to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government of billions in taxes by helping wealthy Americans hide assets. The bank paid $780 million in a deal to avoid prosecution and eventually released the names of more than 4,000 U.S. clients.
In February, the IRS announced a new leniency program that offers reduced penalties to tax scofflaws that voluntarily report their offshore accounts. The agency offered a similar one in 2009 in the wake of the U.S. case against UBS that brought in more than 15,000 disclosures.
The move opens up a new front in the U.S. crackdown on tax evasion and comes days before the April deadline for taxpayers to file individual returns. Previous cases focused on Americans with Swiss bank accounts.
In court documents, the Justice Department said HSBC bankers told prospective clients that, as a foreign bank, HSBC's India operations wouldn't disclose their accounts to the Internal Revenue Service. Armed with that knowledge, U.S. customers 'have been able to maintain these foreign accounts with reasonable confidence that the IRS would not discover them,' government lawyers alleged.
Thousands of U.S. taxpayers of Indian origin have opened up accounts with HSBC in India since 2002, when the bank allegedly began soliciting their business, according to the U.S. government. It asked a San Francisco court to allow the IRS to serve a so-called 'John Doe' summons against the U.K.-based bank's U.S. unit, HSBC USA, to get the names of its U.S. clients with Indian accounts.
U.S. law requires U.S. taxpayers to declare their global income and any foreign bank accounts with more than $10,000 during that tax year.
According to court documents, HSBC informed the IRS last September that at least 9,000 U.S. 'premier' clients-high-net-worth customers-had deposits with HSBC's Indian bank. The government said 2009 bank figures showed that U.S. resident premier clients had Indian deposits of nearly $400 million.
U.S. officials said that as of 2009, U.S. taxpayers had only disclosed 1,921 accounts in India. The IRS is seeking client information on premier accounts as well as standard accounts maintained for less-wealthy customers.
The government's long-running probe against secret bank accounts led Swiss banking giant UBS AG (UBS, UBSN.VX) to admit in February 2009 to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government of billions in taxes by helping wealthy Americans hide assets. The bank paid $780 million in a deal to avoid prosecution and eventually released the names of more than 4,000 U.S. clients.
In February, the IRS announced a new leniency program that offers reduced penalties to tax scofflaws that voluntarily report their offshore accounts. The agency offered a similar one in 2009 in the wake of the U.S. case against UBS that brought in more than 15,000 disclosures.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
China Skims Milk Producers
China is ordering half of its dairy producers to close shop in effort to tidy up the country's tainted milk industry and to usher in a new era of consumer safety. After a recent nationwide inspection of matters milk-related, China's top quality control body รข ' the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine -- is pulling operating licenses from 426 dairy producers and suspending operations for 107 more, state-run China Daily reports.
The closures and suspensions account for nearly half of China's 1,176 domestic dairy producers, the China Daily said, though the newspaper did not cite specific reasons for license termination.
Nearly 80% of the country's 145 producers of infant formula, large quantities of which were found to contain the industrial chemical melamine in 2008, passed inspection.
Tighter supervision of dairy production comes as China's safety regulators attempt shore up an industry that has suffered crippling safety problems.
The 2008 melamine scandal killed at least six children and caused illnesses in nearly 300,000 others. Chinese consumers responded by avoiding locally-produced milk products. Dairy imports jumped from 120,000 tons in 2008 to 600,000 in 2009, according to state media. Nearly three years after the incident, consumers continue to flock to import dairy products on the assumption that they are safer.
The fears go beyond dairy. A recent survey conducted by Insight China, a magazine, and Tsinghua University's Media Survey Lab found that 70% of consumers fear food safety in China. Many are suspicious of meat quality and even materials used in food packaging. Around 50% of consumers feel the government should increase its oversight, the survey said.
The central government is making a broad push to respond to those fears. In February it announced a campaign to improve oversight of food processing, circulation, service, and additives.
But many believe China has a long way to go in its effort to protect consumers. Despite frequently threatening food safety violators with the death penalty and having executed two milk producers in the melamine scandal, problems persist.
In late-March a supplier of the country's largest meat processor found that pigs it had purchased had been fed clenbuterol, an illegal additive that helps pigs develop lean muscle but causes nausea and headaches in humans. Meanwhile, despite all the crackdowns and criminal penalties, melamine continues to pop up in the country's dairy supply.
The closures and suspensions account for nearly half of China's 1,176 domestic dairy producers, the China Daily said, though the newspaper did not cite specific reasons for license termination.
Nearly 80% of the country's 145 producers of infant formula, large quantities of which were found to contain the industrial chemical melamine in 2008, passed inspection.
Tighter supervision of dairy production comes as China's safety regulators attempt shore up an industry that has suffered crippling safety problems.
The 2008 melamine scandal killed at least six children and caused illnesses in nearly 300,000 others. Chinese consumers responded by avoiding locally-produced milk products. Dairy imports jumped from 120,000 tons in 2008 to 600,000 in 2009, according to state media. Nearly three years after the incident, consumers continue to flock to import dairy products on the assumption that they are safer.
The fears go beyond dairy. A recent survey conducted by Insight China, a magazine, and Tsinghua University's Media Survey Lab found that 70% of consumers fear food safety in China. Many are suspicious of meat quality and even materials used in food packaging. Around 50% of consumers feel the government should increase its oversight, the survey said.
The central government is making a broad push to respond to those fears. In February it announced a campaign to improve oversight of food processing, circulation, service, and additives.
But many believe China has a long way to go in its effort to protect consumers. Despite frequently threatening food safety violators with the death penalty and having executed two milk producers in the melamine scandal, problems persist.
In late-March a supplier of the country's largest meat processor found that pigs it had purchased had been fed clenbuterol, an illegal additive that helps pigs develop lean muscle but causes nausea and headaches in humans. Meanwhile, despite all the crackdowns and criminal penalties, melamine continues to pop up in the country's dairy supply.
Monday, March 21, 2011
China will launch a space laboratory by 2016
A Chinese senior space technology expert said Thursday that China is expected to launch its first space laboratory before 2016.
A Chinese senior space technology expert said Thursday that China is expected to launch its first space laboratory before 2016.
"With the technological program ready, the lab's research and development are going smoothly," Qi Faren, former chief designer of Shenzhou spaceships, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
As the second phase of China's manned space program, the lab, likely to be named Tiangong-2, will gradually be developed into the core module or experiment module, said Qi.
China is to launch its first unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, in the second half of 2011, serving as a platform for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock - allowing for the building of the space station.
China will have its own space station before 2020, said Qi, a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, before the annual session of the country's top political advisory body, which is scheduled to open Thursday.
A Chinese senior space technology expert said Thursday that China is expected to launch its first space laboratory before 2016.
"With the technological program ready, the lab's research and development are going smoothly," Qi Faren, former chief designer of Shenzhou spaceships, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
As the second phase of China's manned space program, the lab, likely to be named Tiangong-2, will gradually be developed into the core module or experiment module, said Qi.
China is to launch its first unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, in the second half of 2011, serving as a platform for spacecraft to rendezvous and dock - allowing for the building of the space station.
China will have its own space station before 2020, said Qi, a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, before the annual session of the country's top political advisory body, which is scheduled to open Thursday.
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