Mini-Strokes Linked to Increased Risk for Early Death

People who suffer from a transient ischemic attack (TIA), also known as a mini-stroke, face a significantly greater likelihood of dying early in comparison to individuals who have never experienced such an attack. A new study from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia found that those who suffer TIAs are 20 percent more likely to face death within just nine years of having a TIA.

TIAs occur when there is a temporary loss of blood flow to the brain. Symptoms are much the same as those for stroke, including paralysis, sudden weakness or numbness, dimming or loss of vision, impaired or slurred speech, and mental confusion.

Unlike stroke, symptoms of a TIA are normally resolve within a period ranging from a few minutes to 24 hours. While brain damage can still occur from a TIA, such attacks don’t result in permanent disabilities. However, the occurrence of a TIA increases a patient’s risk for suffering a stroke.

Things Baby Boomers Won't Say

U.S. panel advises testing children for cholesterol

Children from ages 9 to 11 should be routinely screened for high cholesterol so that action can be taken to avoid the development of heart disease, according to new guidelines from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The guidelines, endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, aim to identify early risks that can sharply increase the likelihood of developing heart disease as an adult.

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey

Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the  World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

 

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

The 1% are the very best destroyers of wealth the world has ever seen

Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That's why we're nearly bankrupt

If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren't responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.

The findings of the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, winner of a Nobel economics prize, are devastating to the beliefs that financial high-fliers entertain about themselves. He discovered that their apparent success is a cognitive illusion. For example, he studied the results achieved by 25 wealth advisers across eight years. He found that the consistency of their performance was zero. "The results resembled what you would expect from a dice-rolling contest, not a game of skill." Those who received the biggest bonuses had simply got lucky.

MF Global fires brokerage staff en masse

MF Global fired all 1,066 of its brokerage employees on Friday, triggering anger and resentment about the firm's collapse after bad bets on European debt under former CEO Jon Corzine's leadership.
How the final blow was delivered upset many staff -- with some learning by email and others through news on the television.

"Fifteen years and no severance!" shouted one angry MF Global employee as he left the firm's offices on 5th Avenue in Manhattan after hugging the receptionist and doorman.

Caterpillar to Shift Some Production to U.S.

Caterpillar Inc. said it plans to shift production of small construction machinery from Japan to a new plant in North America that is expected to employ more than 1,000 people.

The new plant, whose location wasn't identified, will become the company's global source for small bulldozers and mini-hydraulic excavators. It also will export partially assembled mini-excavators to Europe to improve delivery times for European customers.

Caterpillar, which is based in Peoria, Ill., said it expects to begin construction during the first half of 2012.

Under the Gun, Facebook Relents on Privacy

Facebook is reportedly ready to settle a privacy complaint with the FTC, agreeing to get consent from users before making private data public and to performing privacy audits for the next 20 years.

At issue is Facebook’s decision in December 2009 to make sweeping and retroactive changes to user profiles, including requiring all users to have their profile images, cities of residence, and expressed interests made public.

Facebook’s “simplified” privacy settings also changed users’ default settings to make status updates fully public. Other settings that had been private or limited to only “Friends” became visible to “Friends of Friends” and to third-party developers. Even though users could manually change many of these defaults, most (reportedly about 80%) did not.