Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
- Donne, John
- John Donne's early life
- John Donne - from Catholic to Protestant
- John Donne's marriage and its aftermath
- John Donne - The Reverend Dean
- Herbert, George
- Crashaw, Richard
- Vaughan, Henry
- Marvell, Andrew
- King, Henry
- Lovelace, Richard
- Cowley, Abraham
- Philips, Katherine
- Cleveland, John
- Social / political context
- Religious / philosophical context
- Literary context: ideas and innovations
- Aire and Angels
- A Hymn to God the Father
- A Hymn to God, my God, in my Sicknesse
- A Nocturnall upon St. Lucies day
- At the Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners
- A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Synopsis of Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Commentary on Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Language and tone in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Structure and versification in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Imagery and symbolism in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- Themes in Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
- A Valediction: of Weeping
- Batter my heart
- Death be not Proud
- Elegie XIX: Going to Bed
- Elegie XVI: On his Mistris
- Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward
- Lovers' Infiniteness
- Oh my blacke Soule!
- Satyre III: 'On Religion'
- Show me Deare Christ
- Since She Whom I Lov'd
- Song: Goe, and catche a falling starre
- The Anniversarie
- The Dreame
- The Extasie
- The Flea
- The Good-morrow
- The Sunne Rising
- This is my playes last scene
- Twicknam Garden
- What if this present
- Affliction I
- Easter Wings
- Jordan I
- Jordan II
- Love II
- Prayer I
- The Church-floore
- The Collar
- Hymn in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
- Hymn to St Teresa
- St Mary Magdalene, or the Weeper
- To the Countesse of Denbigh
- Ascension - Hymn
- The Night
- The Retreate
- The Water-fall
- A Dialogue between Soul and Body
- On a Drop of Dew
- The Coronet
- The Definition of Love
- The Garden
- The Mower Against Gardens
- The Mower to the Glo-Worms
- The Mower's Song
- The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun
- The Picture of Little T.C. in a Prospect of Flowers
- To his Coy Mistress
- Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax
Imagery and symbolism in The Sunne Rising
There are three central figures in The Sunne Rising.
The first is the personification of the sun, used in a hyperbolic conceit.
- The sun divides time up into divisions, which are then dismissed as ‘rags'
- It is ‘unruly', since it does not abide by the lovers' rule, which is to stay in bed together as long as possible and enjoy the intimacy of that
- Donne challenges the sheer insistence of the sun: he has only to close his eyes, and he would not even see the sun. It would simply not be there!
- This conceit is immediately undermined with another: to close his eyes would be to lose sight of his mistress for a moment, and he could not bear to do that. (The term ‘mistress' at this time just means the woman he loves, whether girl-friend, partner or wife.)
The second main figure is that of royalty. This includes images of luxury and riches.
- In a two-person world, one of them is bound to be the prince or king. Interestingly, the mistress is not seen as his consort, but his state.
- Her body becomes the geography as significantly as the contours of the bedroom. We notice this geography of the body in other poems, too, such as Elegie XIX: Going to Bed
- The royalty image is seen in ‘Princes do but play us', ‘All honor's mimique'. The outside world is pretence and pretentiousness. Their love is the true authenticity.
Theirs the only world
The third image is the conceit of the lovers' world being the only world.
- Phrases like ‘thou art every where', ‘This bed thy centre is', ‘all here in one bed lay', and the splendid ‘nothing else is' are examples of this. It is very similar to the imagery of The Good-morrow.
- Compare the images in this poem to those in The Good-morrow, especially the global images.
- In what way is the bed the centre?
- Pick out other examples of Donne's personification.
- Why is it so effective?
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The deal is in. On Saturday night, December 12, 2015, nearly every country in the world signed on to an agreement that aims to take action to address climate change - the first international agreement to garner such universal acceptance. Some praise the deal as a solid framework for nations to work together to reduce their emissions, and are expressing optimism that it represents a turning point in keeping warming below a dangerous threshold. Others are criticizing the shortcomings of the new Paris Agreement and worry it does not go far enough to protect the climate and the rights of people around the world. The action this deal brings about could be an important step towards protecting Alaskan coastal communities and the health of our fisheries. But will it be enough?
European and UN leaders celebrate the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement on December 12, 2005.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the details of the Paris Agreement. As expected, it includes the binding goal of keeping global warming under 2°C. But it goes even further. Due to pressure from people across the globe, the deal encourages nations to act to keep the temperature rise below 1.5°C. To do so, national governments will need to drastically cut carbon emissions, and find other ways to reduce atmospheric carbon levels, such as preserving and rebuilding the world’s forests. This agreement does not bind nations to any specific goals. Rather, each country has made its own pledge, outlining the steps it will take in the coming years. While nations aren’t legally bound to meet their pledges, they are required to report their emissions - and to submit a new, more ambitious plan every five years. This ‘ratcheting mechanism’ is important - as the pledges stand, the world would be on course for 2.7-3.7°C of warming by the end of the century - a level that would lead to disastrous effects for people and the planet. Communities like Newtok and Kivalina are already suffering from the dangers of climate change induced coastal erosion. Unless this ratcheting mechanism leads to far stronger pledges, more Alaskans will risk losing their homes.
The permafrost that Newtok rests on is melting. Strong fall storms continue to wash away parts of the community and rising temperatures prevent necessary protective sea ice from forming. The whole village could be washed away in a decade. Photo: Charles Mason
Many had hoped the deal might set a timeline for a phase out of fossil fuels and the transition to a clean energy economy. While following through on this deal will likely mean shift towards a clean energy world, no language in the deal specifically requires an end to the use of fossil fuels. The agreement is worded to call upon nations to work to peak global greenhouse gas emissions “as soon as possible”, while aiming for “balance between anthropogenic [human-caused] emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century.” To reach such emissions neutrality, the energy sector will need to be decarbonized - meaning economies like Alaska’s will need to move away from reliance on oil exports. This will be a challenge for the state to face, but one that will need to be tackled anyways to rescue the flagging economy. By moving away from oil, Alaska can move to ensure fiscal security and do its part to avoid the terrifying consequences of climate change that threaten this beautiful state and its people.
The Paris Agreement recognizes the “loss and damage” that climate change is and will continue to inflict on communities across the world. Developing nations pushed for this language to be included, to acknowledge what is at stake for them. The Agreement also states that developed nations should bear a significant part of the cost for both mitigating climate change through sustainable development worldwide, and adapting to it in places that are most affected. However, the Agreement falls short in that there is no legally binding requirement for how much aid nations must give. Also missing is any discussion of liability for the damages brought by climate change - an omission major polluters like the U.S. worked hard to secure. While developed, industrial countries are agreeing to help bear the financial burdens of climate change, they are refusing to legally acknowledge their responsibility for creating the problem.
The deal has come under further criticism from Indigenous people for failing to do enough to protect their rights and their homes. Indigenous people - who are among the most affected by climate change - did not have a seat at the table in Paris, and no language discussing their rights ended up in the legally binding parts of the agreement. An official release from the environmental group Indigenous Rising denounced the Paris Agreement as not taking serious action to protect the climate. Many are also concerned that the deal fails to ensure gender equality by lacking any acknowledgement of the ways that climate change disproportionately affects women.
Indigenous delegates make a final plea to the United Nations to recognize their rights in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Photo: APTN
The Paris Agreement is surely not without its flaws, but it is also something the world has never seen before: a universally accepted agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take seriously the problem of climate change. People across the world have known climate change is a problem for decades. The people of Alaska, experiencing rampant wildfires and melting glaciers, understand the severity of what’s been going on. International cooperation has finally produced an agreement capable of drastically cutting back emissions from all nations. But the Paris Agreement won’t protect the climate by itself. Further action is needed at all levels - from the global down to the individual. Towns like Sitka have a role to play in this - from the way we treat the Tongass to the way we use and manage our natural resources what we do here will have global implications. Living and studying in Berlin this past semester, I was able to take part in a Global Climate March, in which tens of thousands of people took to the street to demand firm action in Paris. Such demonstrations are beautiful ways for the people to express to their representatives that climate change is an issue not to be taken lightly. As the conference concluded, people united together in Paris to make their voices loud and clear: to protect communities across the world, we need to ensure a safe climate future.


By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online science staff, at the BA festival
The UK will fail to meet key objectives on reducing air pollution, resulting in further damage to human health, a leading expert has said.
Road traffic is a major contributor to air pollution
Professor Mike Pilling said levels of nitrogen dioxide, small particles and ozone were too high for official targets for 2005 and 2010.
Air pollution causes several thousand deaths and hospital admissions each year, mainly in the elderly.
Research results are being presented at the BA Festival of Science in Exeter.
The targets set by the government are closely linked to similar limits set by the European Union (EU). Most big EU cities are also likely to fail to make their targets.
Professor Pilling, of the Air Quality Strategy group, said London was a particular problem.
"London in particular is going to show [excess levels of] nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter," he explained at the British Association's annual meeting.
A key pollutant, nitrogen dioxide, is formed by the action of sunlight on compounds such as nitric oxide, which is emitted directly from petrol and diesel vehicles.
Professor Pilling said that, clearly, a significant contributor to this failure to meet objectives was traffic - but this was not the only contributor.
Particulate matter is the term given to a range of dusty matter - produced by a variety of different processes, both human-produced and natural - which is thought to be harmful to human health.
"We're used to thinking of air quality as a local issue or a regional issue, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's a global issue," he said.
Professor Pilling explained that pollutants and their precursor molecules are drifting over to the UK from America.
These global-scale processes are probably contributing to the steadily rising background concentrations of ozone.
These are even rising in clean areas such as western Ireland.
One of the reasons for this was the inter-continental transfer of pollutants, Professor Pilling explained.
The highest concentrations of ozone occur in summer. August 2003 saw a particularly severe ozone episode which caused a photochemical smog.
About 2,000 deaths in England have been attributed to the heatwave and it is estimated that 25-40% of these resulted from poor air quality.
Projections suggest the frequency of these heatwaves may increase 10-fold by 2070.
"The way we tackle air quality at the moment is through a series of independent objectives," said Professor Pilling.
"We try to reduce the concentrations of particulate matter. We try to reduce concentrations of nitrogen dioxide.
"It's becoming clear we need to treat it from a perspective of how these different pollutants interact with each other. Some increases in nitrogen dioxide may lead to increases in ozone."


Dr. Debra Jaliman is a board-certified dermatologist and has been practicing dermatology for more than 25 years. She has a private practice in New York City and has updated her book “Skin Rules: Trade Secrets From a Top New York Dermatologist,” which contains advice about reverting sun damage, from how to protect your hands against the sun to turning back time on aging skin. Here’s what we learned from her:
There are three main factors that influence how quickly can people get burned.
Firstly, it depends on the skin type. “If you have blue eyes, green eyes and blond hair and you are very fair, you can get sunburned pretty quickly,” Dr. Jaliman says. “People with very fair skin can get sunburned in a few minutes, and for people with darker skin, it takes longer.” People with red hair and very pale skin lack melonocytes, which are cells that give skin color. They are the group most likely to get a sunburn.
Secondly, your predisposition to sunburn depends on where you are. “If you are in a Caribbean sun, people can get sunburned in even 10 minutes,” Dr. Jaliman says.
Thirdly, it also depends on the time of the day. “When you talk about the sun in the midday sun, [that] sun is much stronger than the sun at 6 a.m.,” Dr. Jaliman says. Therefore, she says, people should wear sunscreen and avoid being outside from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
You can get sun damage inside.
UVA rays damage the skin because they penetrate deeper and therefore can change your skin pigment and quality. Dr. Jaliman says they can cause sun damage, which can lead to skin discoloration and skin cancer — and can even do so if you’re near a window, because “they can penetrate through the glass.” So, Dr. Jaliman recommends wearing a sunscreen if you’re going to be inside near a window.
“You see the UVB rays burn [when you are outside], so you know you are getting sun damage,” Dr. Jaliman says. “But when you are sitting by the window glass, you are getting UVA penetration. And you don't know you are getting damage.”
Women and men get skin cancer in different areas.
Any area that gets sunburned can get skin cancer, but doctors see women and men getting it in different areas.
“In women, we always see skin cancer on the legs, because we are all wearing skirts and dresses, so in women, legs are often exposed,” Dr. Jaliman says. “And on men, you often see it on the back, because men will have their shirts off in the summer. They have their backs exposed more than women do.”
Follow these rules for applying sunscreen.
We all know that sunscreens are absolutely vital to protect your skin, but that is not enough.
Sunscreen should be worn every day. “I tell my patients it's always important to put your sunscreen on every morning, and just get into a good habit like you brush your teeth,” Dr. Jaliman says.
When you are looking for a SPF, you want to look for a higher number, but you also want to look for the ingredients in the SPF as well. Dr. Jaliman advises people look for a sunscreen that has “broad-spectrum protection” on it, because it contains avobenzone that provide adequate protection against both UVA rays and UVB rays. Also, retinyl palmitate is one ingredient that should not be in sunscreen. Retinyl palmitate increases cell turnover, which is an effect you don’t want during the day because those new cells can be easily damaged.
Old sunscreens should be tossed away every year. Check the sunscreen’s expiration date, which the bottle is required by the FDA to have.
Unprotected lips, eyes and hands can not only give away your age in an instant, but they can also get skin cancers caused by sun exposure. So they need sunscreen, too.
Make sure you’re wearing enough sunscreen, also. Dr. Jaliman says to reapply every two hours, “especially if you come out of either doing a sport or come out of water.” You should use about a shot glass amount to cover your body, and apply before you put your bathing suit on, Dr. Jaliman says.
“Put your sunscreen on in a bathroom with a mirror so you can look at how you are putting it on, because it's hard to see what you are missing if you can't see,” she says. “And if your [swimsuit] stripes move, you can get sunburn. So it's better to put it on without your swimsuit on.”
Got burned? Use an at-home treatment.
There are many different ways to treat a sunburn — you’ll want to use these remedies immediately after getting burned. The first thing to do, Dr. Jaliman says, is take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (like aspirin or ibuprofen).
”You want to stop inflammation in the skin,” Dr. Jaliman says. “If you are taking a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, make sure you have food in your stomach so you don't irritate your stomach.”
From there, make a cool compress for your skin. Try Dr. Jaliman’s recipe: “One of my favorites is taking half skim milk and half water. Skim milk has lactic acid in it and lactic acid is anti-inflammatory.”
You can also use an aloe vera gel to treat a burn. “Use aloe vera that's unscented, because you don't want the fragrance in the aloe vera [to irritate you],” Dr. Jaliman says. “And if you are lucky enough to have the plant at home, you can cut the plant, squeeze aloe vera out and put it on your skin.”
Other home remedies to try include hydrocortisone cream and a compress using iced green tea (which is anti-inflammatory).
What doesn’t work.
“People will put ice cubes on their skin and I wouldn't recommend because [they are] too cold,” Dr. Jaliman says. “You can get a ice burn on top of your sunburn. It's too cold on the top of sunburn, and it damages the outer layer of the skin. The outer layers of the skin are already damaged by the burn, so they are very fragile.”
If you saw these warning signs, go to see a doctor.
Dr. Jaliman advices that if you have a blistering sunburn, you should see a doctor because that means it is a second-degree sunburn, and you can have more complications, including a skin infection.
Some ways dermatologists heal sunburns.
“We use prescription-strength medication,” Dr. Jaliman says. “We use sulfadiazine burn cream. The other thing we use is prednisone pills to take the swell down. And sometimes we use an antibiotic to prevent an infection. A lot of times, we use special burn bondages.”
It’s better to fake a tanned look than permanently damage your skin.
Any sun exposure, whether it is a sunburn or tan (caused by the sun or a machine) causes damage to the skin. Dr. Jaliman says that “using tanning beds increases your chances of melanoma by a whopping 75 percent, particularly if you are under 35.” Yikes!
It is the sun that makes your skin look weathered.
Many people assume the natural process of aging is the determinant factor that leads to skin changes over time. It turns out, however, that age spots and liver spots are caused by the sun and can make people look older than they really are.
Unfortunately, sunburn damage will last for many months, even though you don't see it. Prolonged damage can lead to skin cancer.
Some symptoms of sun damage include dilation of the blood vessels, discoloration in the skin, faint red lines, uneven pigment, rough texture, and wrinkles in places you would never expect.
Fortunately, there are products available on the market that can reverse sun damage. For example, Neova DNA Total Repair, is one of the products that can undo the DNA damages because it has plankton, which has a DNA repair enzyme in it.


Carbenes stabilise an electron-rich borane centre to create a potential new class of ligands for transition metal catalysts
Chemists in the US and Germany have achieved the remarkable feat of transforming a borane, an archetypal electron-accepting Lewis acid, into an electron-donating Lewis base. The researchers suggest that organic compounds with an electron-rich boron centre could form the basis of a new family of ligands for organometallic catalysts.
The research team, from University of California Riverside and Phillips-Universitat Marburg, used cyclic carbenes - in which a carbon has an unshared pair of valence electrons - to generate and stabilise an electron-rich boron centre.
Boron has three outer electrons available for reaction, enabling it to combine with three single-electron donors to create a borane. This leaves a vacancy for two electrons to fill the outer orbital, making borane a strong electron acceptor - a Lewis acid.
’What we do is take boron with only one substituent, which gives it one electron,’ says Riverside’s Guy Bertrand. This monovalent compound is a borylene. ’So now there are four electrons, with four missing. Instead of using substituents that donate only one electron, we use two substituents that each give two electrons. We now have eight electrons, but not all of them are being used to make bonds - there is a lone pair available for reacting.’
The two-electron substituents are cyclic(alkyl)(amino)carbenes. Ordinarily the borylene would be highly unstable. However, carbenes not only have a spare pair of electrons, they also have a vacant orbital. This means that while the carbenes are donating electrons, they are also able to withdraw some of the electron density, providing sufficient balance to stabilise the electron-rich borane centre.
’What we have done is to transform a family of compounds which were acids into bases,’ says Bertrand. ’They look like amines or phosphines, which are important ligands for organometallic catalysts. This gives us potentially an entirely new family of ligands for transition metals.’
AnnMarie O’Donoghue, who studies carbene chemistry at the University of Durham, UK, says that the group’s stabilisation of borylene with the cyclic alklyamine carbene ligands is ’a remarkable breakthrough’. O’Donoghue adds: ’Such stabilised borylenes have significant potential as electron-donor ligands for transition metals, which could lead to new transition metal-borylene chemistry. The challenge that remains is to increase the reactivity of the borylene towards electrophiles, such as transition metals, by reducing the steric bulk and pi-acceptor ability of the ligands.’
R Kinjo 10.1126/science.1207573


Obesity develops over a lifetime. Age matters.
Statewide, obesity prevalence among children ages 2 to 17 was 14.8%. Childhood obesity rates were lowest among 2 to 5 year olds (10.0%), and highest among 12 to 17 year olds (17.9%). Adults ages 18 and over had an obesity prevalence of 41.2%. Obesity rates were progressively higher among older age groups, until they leveled out in middle age. Adult obesity rates were lowest among young adults ages 18 to 24 (22.4%), and highest among adults between ages 45 and 74. Obesity prevalence was lower among the oldest age group, ages 75 and older.
Weight gain happens over a lifetime. Prenatal issues such as maternal weight gain, gestational diabetes, and high or low birthweight can impact weight and obesity among both infants and mothers.1,2 Children today are three times more likely to have obesity than children were in the 1960’s and 70’s.3 Across childhood and early adulthood, we see obesity rates are higher among older age groups. Obesity rates continue to climb until middle age. Lower obesity rates among patients ages 75 and over may be due to shorter life expectancies among those with obesity.
Healthy Weight for All Ages
Strategies to prevent obesity need to address all of the places that people spend their time to make sure those environments support healthy eating and physical activity, starting from birth. That includes the places we grow, play, learn, live, and work. There are many strategies to prevent obesity at all ages, and many groups throughout Wisconsin are already hard at work making their communities healthier.
Settings for Obesity Prevention can Include:
- Child Care & Early Education
- Restaurants & Stores
- Places of Worship
- Government Facilities
Explore by ZIP Code
Click a ZIP Code on the interactive map below to view obesity rate estimates by age group. Scroll down for help using the mapping tool.
+ Click here for more map tool help.
- Hover over the map to view map controls in the top left
- Hover over a ZIP Code to view more information.
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Leddy MA, Power ML, Schulkin J. The impact of maternal obesity on maternal and fetal health. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2008;1(4):170-178. doi:10.1111/ajo.12253.
Gregor L, Remington PL, Lindberg S, Ehrenthal D. Prevalence of Pre-pregnancy Obesity, 2011-2014. WMJ. 2016;115(5):228-232. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29095583.
Fryar CD, Carroll MD, Ogden CL. Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1963–1965 Through 2011–2012. Natl Cent Heal Stat. 2014;(September):1963-1965. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/obesity_child_11_12/obesity_child_11_12.pdf.


MAY 21, 1954
NEW YORK, Thursday—I read a story in The New York Times this week about the wonderful work that 40 men from SeaBee Unit 317 did for the Boy Scouts in 17 hours of working time. This job was done in connection with the observance of Armed Forces Week and as part of the men's regular training.
These Seabees from the New York area are veterans of World War II and the Korean War, and they put up 22 buildings and built a three-quarter-mile stretch of road in record time.
The man in charge was Lt. Comdr. George Hayden, who served with the SeaBees in the Aleutian Islands during World War II. He explained that the work the men were doing was much the same as that which they had done during the war.
This project was first planned by Commander Nyal Deems for assignment to the regularly drilling reserve units, but soon many SeaBees not associated with the Reserve offered their services, and one can well imagine what a pleasure they would get out of it.
These Seabees have special skills and they put them to use to achieve good purposes. Here was a whole Boy Scout camp which would ordinarily have cost for labor somewhere around $10,000. In two days the Seabees did the job, without pay, and it is estimated that ordinarily it would have taken six or eight weeks to complete the camp.
No wonder several groups of scouts stood around to watch their new camp at Alpine, N.J., come into being. They prepared and served food for the men and acted as water boys and runners on the job. I am sure their admiration and compliments were unstinted, because it would have been a long time before this camp would have become a reality if it had not been for the Reserve Seabees. These men are carrying out similar work in many different places. So interested did they get on the job at Alpine, N.J., that at one point when a power saw was needed and one was not available, they dug into their own pockets and produced $125 to get one immediately.
* * *
There is at least one area in the world in which the Communists seem to have had a setback in the past few days. Luis Taruc, Communist leader of the Hukbalahap rebels, has surrendered to the government of the Philippines.
This may bring about the surrender of all those who fought the regularly organized Philippine government forces. If it means a split in the Communist forces in the islands, it is a setback for Communist propaganda and control. This could have great influence at the present time when the Communists in Indo-China are riding high.


Patients with diabetes are at considerably increased risk for developing surgical site infections (SSIs), compared to patients without diabetes, according to a new study published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
“Diabetes has been recognized as a risk factor for infection following some surgeries, but has been a source of debate for other procedures,” said Emily Toth Martin, PhD, lead author of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. “This study is a first step in our efforts to identify patients at high risk of SSIs. We hope this research will lead to better strategies to lower the number of these infections nationwide.”
The researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis spanning 94 studies published between 1985 and 2015, and analyzed data based on estimates of diabetes, SSIs, types of procedures, blood glucose levels, and body mass index.
They found that patients with diabetes undergoing surgery were 50 percent more likely to develop an SSI compared to patients without diabetes.
SSIs were the most frequent cause of hospital-acquired infection, occurring in 4 percent of surgeries in this study. These infections are estimated to have an annual financial impact of more than $3 billion nationally and are the largest contributor to the overall costs of healthcare-associated infections. Efforts to reduce the rates of SSIs are becoming more urgent since the introduction of penalties for hospital readmissions by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Previous studies had found increased risk for patients with diabetes during several types of surgery, but the new research confirmed that a broader range of procedures had elevated risk of SSIs, including arthroplasty, breast, cardiac, and spinal surgeries.
“Hospitals routinely monitor glucose levels in surgical patients, but heightened awareness among healthcare professionals of infection prevention measures is warranted for diabetic patients before and after surgery,” said Martin.
This article was adapted from information provided by SHEA.


It’s back-to-school time in the United States, and for countless children across the nation, it’s also time to get back into the school garden.
For centuries, educators and philosophers have argued that garden-based learning improves children’s intelligence and boosts their personal health. In recent years, concerns related to childhood obesity and young people’s disconnection from nature have led to a revitalized interest in the topic.
Tens of thousands of American schools have some form of school garden. Many are located on school grounds and others are run by external community partners. Most are connected to the school’s curriculum. For instance, seeds are used in science class to explain plant biology, fruits are used in social studies to teach world geography and the harvest is used in math to explore weights and measures. Some even incorporate food from the garden into the school lunch.
As a researcher and an activist, I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working to promote a healthy, equitable and sustainable food system. Through this process, I have heard bold claims made about the power of garden-based learning to meet these challenges.
Given the enthusiasm that surrounds garden-based learning today, it’s worth taking stock of their overall impacts: Do school gardens actually improve the education and health of young people?
Promoting school gardens
Nonprofit and grassroots groups, who see these gardens as a way to provide fresh produce for the food insecure, have forged partnerships with local schools. Then there are service-based groups, such as FoodCorps, whose members spend one year in a low-income community to help establish gardens and develop other school food initiatives.
Philanthropic organizations like the American Heart Association have also sponsored the construction of hundreds of new school garden plots.
Taken together, upwards of 25 percent of public elementary schools in the United States include some form of garden-based learning. School garden projects are located in every region of the country and serve students of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and socioeconomic classes.
Transforming kids lives through gardens?
Advocates argue that gardening helps kids make healthier eating choices. As the self-proclaimed “Gangsta Gardener” Ron Finley put it in his popular TED Talk,
“If kids grow kale, kids eat kale.”
Many proponents go even further, suggesting that garden-based learning can inspire a variety of healthy changes for the whole family, helping to reverse the so-called obesity epidemic.
Others, like Edible Schoolyard founder Alice Waters, argue that experience in the garden can have a transformative impact on a child’s worldview, making sustainability “the lens through which they see the world.”
Sure, gardens can help
There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that garden-based learning does yield educational, nutritional, ecological and social benefits.
For example, several published studies have shown that garden-based learning can increase students’ science knowledge and healthy food behaviors. Other research has shown that garden-based learning can help students better identify different types of vegetables as well as lead to more favorable opinions on eating vegetables.
In general, qualitative case studies of garden-based learning have been encouraging, providing narratives of life-changing experiences for children and teachers alike.
However, when it comes to actually increasing the amount of fresh foods eaten by young people, improving their health outcomes or shaping their overall environmental attitudes, quantitative results have tended to show modest gains at best. Some of the most highly developed school garden programs have been able to increase student vegetable consumption by about a serving per day. But the research has not been able to show whether these gains are maintained over time.
A lack of definitive evidence has led some critics to argue that school gardens are simply not worth the time and investment, especially for lower-income students who could be concentrating on more traditional college prep studies.
The social critic Caitlin Flanagan has gone so far as to say that garden programs are a distraction that could create a “permanent, uneducated underclass.”
There are no magic carrots
There is no doubt that the power of garden-based learning is sometimes overstated.
Particularly when describing garden projects in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, popular narratives imply that a child’s time in the garden will rescue her from a life of poverty and chronic disease.
I call this the “magic carrot” approach to garden-based learning. But as we all know, there are no magic carrots growing in the school garden.
When is a garden successful?
For gardens to effectively promote learning and health, they must be supported and reinforced by the community as a whole. Surveys of school garden practitioners show that garden programs have serious potential to enhance school and neighborhood life – but only if certain conditions are met.
Notably, school gardens are most successful when they are not held afloat by a single dedicated teacher. Instead, multiple involved stakeholders can ensure that a garden doesn’t dry up after only a season or two.
For example, participation from administrators, families and neighborhood partners can turn a school garden into a dynamic and sustainable community hub.
Many experienced practitioners have also shown that garden-based learning is more powerful when its curriculum reflects the cultural backgrounds of the young people it serves. When children of Mexican descent grow indigenous varieties of corn, or when African-American youth cultivate collard greens, the process of growing food can become a process of self-discovery and cultural celebration.
In other words, if kids grow kale, they might eat kale, but only if kale is available in their neighborhood, if their family can afford to buy kale and if they think eating kale is relevant to their culture and lifestyle.
Creating valuable green space
These groups recognize that school gardens alone will not magically fix the problems our nation faces. But as part of a long-term movement to improve community health, school gardens can provide a platform for experiential education, create valuable green space and foster a sense of empowerment in the minds and bodies of young Americans.
About The Author
Garrett M. Broad, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University


What is consciousness? Stuart Hameroff, director of the University of Arizona Center for Consciousness Studies, says this is a question that has motivated inquiry in theology, philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive science.
“It’s the most interesting and important question there is,” says Hameroff.
Hameroff is also an anesthesiologist, and he says complex medical procedures like the ones taking place daily at the University of Arizona Medical Center would not be possible without the advent of modern techniques that allow doctors to control consciousness in patients.
“My research has to do with consciousness, and how the brain produces conscious experience,” says Hameroff. “Part of it has to do with studying anesthesia, how anesthetic gases act in the brain to selectively erase consciousness, sparing other brain activities. The brain is quite active while under anesthesia, just what's missing is consciousness."
Hameroff points out that other disciplines have other perspectives on consciousness. The Center for Consciousness Studies is sponsoring the 10th biennial "Toward a Science of Consciousness" conference to bring some of those perspectives together.
Hameroff says it’s the world's largest and longest-running interdisciplinary gathering to address how the brain produces consciousness, the nature of reality and humanity's place in the universe.
The tenth biennial "Toward a Science of Consciousness" conference will take place April 9-14, 2012 in the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort Hotel at 7000 North Resort Drive in Tucson.


Definition of Sagittal sinus
Sagittal sinus: A large vein that runs on the top of the skull from front to back and then splits to carry blood from the brain toward the heart.Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary
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31 January 2022 | Features | By Sakura Koner
Some researchers argue that slowing the rate of biological ageing could be the best way to delay development of chronic diseases. Although a number of pharmacological agents targeting basic ageing pathways to extend lifespan and health-span are presently under investigation in different parts of the world, in-depth examination and comprehensive deliberations are currently ruling this space of ‘anti-ageing’.
image credit- shutterstock
Time and tide wait for none; ageing is the price of growth. Yet scientists today are taking bold steps towards slowing time, maybe stalling ageing or seeking to reverse it as well. However, the question that looms over us is- can a longer life really be a favourable condition for our species?
Ageing is characterised by the nine unique hallmarks: genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication. Thus the goal is to impede these processes, effectively slowing the deterioration of our bodies with passage of time.
Moving in this direction is a recent announcement by a team of Japanese scientists who have developed a vaccine to delete cells that cause ageing among humans, owing to the fact that Japan is ageing fast and by 2036, people aged 65 and over will represent a third of its population.
Another interesting information that is being heard is that after his retirement and space expedition, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is looking to invest in an anti-ageing research startup Altos Labs working on reprogramming human cells. In fact, this is not something new for Bezos. Back in 2018, he was in the limelight for backing a Silicon Valley scientist who had been working on a cure for ageing.
Agelessness is in business
According to a recent report by Research and Markets, from $194.4 billion in 2020, the global market size for anti-ageing is set to cross $422.8 billion by 2030, at an 8.6 per cent CAGR between 2021 and 2030. Although the anti-ageing market was badly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, North America stands at generating the highest revenue in this space on account of the rising volume of non-surgical cosmetic treatments, increasing skincare product awareness, and surging volume of anti-ageing treatments in Canada and the US.
Adding on, the most-significant players in the global anti-ageing market include notable names such as Procter & Gamble (P&G) Company, Hologic Inc., Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Unilever Group, Galderma SA, Pierre Fabre S.A, Shiseido Company Limited, Home Skinovations, Candela Corporation etc.
Although there is a potential market for anti-ageing devices and aesthetic plastic surgery procedures globally, the major challenge lies in the development of anti-ageing medicines or drugs.
Very promising in this regard is rapamycin (also known as sirolimus), which is already approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an antibiotic and immunosuppressant drug. Similarly, metformin, the most widely prescribed oral hypoglycemic medication for type 2 diabetes worldwide, retards ageing in model organisms and reduces the incidence of ageing-related diseases such as neurodegenerative disease and cancer in humans.
“We have found the epigenetic data on ageing that is stored in the cells and seek to reverse it in our laboratory. This should mean that we can eventually reverse ageing completely. What we want to do is make ageing a preventable disease. It is not acceptable to be sick and frail at any age. The goal is to approach medicine from a different angle and get healthier in ways that we could not imagine until recently”, says Dr David A. Sinclair, Co-Director, Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Ageing Research, Harvard Medical School, US.
What seems remarkable is that Dr Sinclair and his team have been able to reverse ageing in mice in just a week. They are equally optimistic about the fact that these same pathways and mechanisms exist in humans.
How is India re-setting the clock?
India's elderly population (aged 60 and above) is projected to touch 194 million in 2031 from 138 million in 2021, a 41 per cent increase over a decade, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO)'s Elderly in India 2021 report.
With Indian minds considered to be one of the brightest across the globe, solutions to stop the age-clock have been emerging since a very long time from Indian scientists. For example, back in 2018, Dr Keshav K Singh, a professor of genetics, pathology and environmental health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, demonstrated how boosting the function of the mitochondria, the powerhouse of cells, makes wrinkles disappear and restores hair growth.
The quest is still ongoing in many laboratories in India with researchers developing newer targets to overcome ageing. Dr Deepak Saini’s laboratory at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is currently focusing on a class of receptors called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their role in the event cascade leading to aged cells.
“The ongoing work is expected to impact our understanding of events which govern the aged associated inflammation, tissue injury and infection. Our work allows us to identify and characterise molecules which regulate DNA damage which leads to aging; initiation and maintenance of aged cells; which regulate age-associated inflammation and the intrinsic anti-aging mechanisms which are triggered when cellular insults occur. We study the cellular responses of aged cells using live cell imaging, pharmacological and gene inactivation and metabolomics profiling approaches”, says Dr Saini, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, IISc, Bengaluru.
On the other hand, Dr Swasti Raychaudhuri at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, is working on a prominent hypothesis which suggests that a gradual, age-dependent decline of protein homeostasis (proteostasis) accompanied by increasing protein-aggregation is the underlying cause of many age-related loss-of-function diseases.
“Surprisingly, our current results indicate that increasing protein aggregates may not always be ‘messy’ but 'good' and are important to execute evolutionary conserved functions to protect from age-related degenerative phenotypes. As I say, these aggregates work as double-edged swords. Proper balance is the key as uncontrolled aggregation defeats the homeostatic purpose and invites undesired problems. Our job is to find out the balancing factors and regulate them to work for good only”, says Dr Swasti Raychaudhuri, Project Leader, Cellular Biochemistry and Proteomics, CCMB, Hyderabad.
In a recent development, Ashok Soota, former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has established probably India’s first not-for-profit entity in the private sector called SKAN, for ageing research, among others, with a fund commitment of Rs 200 crore. The strategic partner for the ‘ageing project’ is the upcoming St. John’s Geriatric Centre (SJGC), to be located on the St John’s Hospital campus in Bengaluru.
Another tool that is being explored by the researchers to overcome ageing is stem cell therapy or regenerative medicine. Studies have shown that stem cells, in combination with anti-ageing genes, can create a sophisticated shield, which can prevent the effects of ageing.
Although there is not enough clinical data to be able to state whether or not stem cells may be able to cure ageing, it may be possible to slow the ageing process.
“The concept of aging that we believe is a mistake. The fountain of youth lies within us. We are talking about tapping into our own resources, namely, stem cells and growth factors within our body. They function normally to maintain homeostasis. But, with accumulating negative habits and tissue damage, these cells start struggling to maintain the balance. Thus, we age! How do we reverse this? Through functional medicine—by identifying the root cause of the problem and by adding more healthy cells to the pool. There is ongoing research on genetic changes and alternative modalities like yoga, meditation, dance and music therapies, magnetic field-based therapies, energy modulation as well, all of which aim to promote healthy aging. Functional medicine is at the forefront of anti-ageing research”, says Dr Pradeep Mahajan, Regenerative Medicine Researcher, StemRx Bioscience Solutions, Navi Mumbai.
Being the only species aware of our fate, we know that ageing is a biological certainty and yet can never be prepared to face the consequences. Science has never known boundaries and the mysteries of the body once revealed are often exploited for our benefit. Recent times have seen bashful strides been made towards understanding and combating ageing. One might believe all questions worth asking demands answers but it also makes one wonder if the quest for life extension misplaced hubris or truly worthy of research.
Time will reveal if laboratory results prove effective or not but the quest for anti-ageing drugs has definitely carved a niche for itself. But the perception that a gap is expanding between what science may offer as age-related interventions and what drug regulation can provide in response is another area that needs deeper consideration.


Dividing into smaller components Division is used to divide large groupings into smaller portions. The number obtained by dividing one integer by another is known as a quotient. Remainder: the number that remains after division that is less than the divisor. For example, if I divide 12 by 2 and get 6, then the remainder is 6. There are many ways to divide numbers together with different results. Here are some examples: 1/2 = 0, 3/4 = 0, 7/8 = 0, 15/16 = 0.
Division answers can be either integral or decimal. Integral division answers are written as whole numbers. Decimal division answers include fractions. For example, here are two ways to divide 12 into four parts: 1/4 = 0, 7/12 = 0.083.
Sometimes, it's useful to express a division as a fraction. For example, if I were to ask you to divide 12 by 4, you would say that there is a fractional part (also called a decimal) and a whole number part (called the quotient). Fractions allow us to write down results in general terms without having to worry about whether the result is an integer or not. They are very important in science and mathematics because many problems can only be solved using fractions.
Quotient The divisor indicates how many groups the payout must be divided into. The answer, or outcome of the division, is the quotient. It indicates how many things will be in each category. For example, if you divide 7 items into 4 categories without counting zero as a category then you would say that the quotient is 2. This means that each category will contain either two or three items. If you count zero then it is possible to have zero items in one category and another category with three items. In this case, the quotient would be 3/1 or 3.
Division Divison is the opposite of multiplication. With division, you take two numbers and try to get them to equal a third number by dividing one by the other. For example, if you were to divide 20 by 5 then your answer would be 3. You can think of division as splitting up something into three parts, or divisions. So, division is basically saying that there are three ways that I can split up this thing called "20" into smaller pieces.
Because division is breaking down numbers into fractions or parts, most people find it difficult to do. That's why most schools don't teach division until later in life when people are more comfortable doing it.
Division is a process of dividing anything into equal parts. It is one of the four basic arithmetic operations that produces a reasonable result. The division's main purpose is to determine how many equal groups there are or how many people are in each group when sharing equitably. For example, if you give someone 10 minutes of your time, you should get back 10 minutes of their time. Or perhaps you want to divide up some pizza: Each person gets a slice.
In mathematics, division is the act of dividing a number by another number and obtaining a fraction as a result. This can be done with real numbers (including integers) or with complex numbers. In either case, division is often represented by a slash through the numbers being divided. That is, "3/4" would be written as 3/4. In this context, 3/4 is known as a fraction because it is a part of something else - in this case, it is a part of the number 6. Fractions are used in many areas of math and science, including economics, accounting, and physics.
Finally, division can also refer to the act of splitting up money so that everyone gets what they deserve. For example, if you give someone $10 then they should still have $10 after you pay for things. If you split up $100 then no one wins or loses money but each person gets exactly what they need or want.


In case you haven’t seen it, this Tech Pyramid has great ideas for technology tools that you can use at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. When you go to the site, each of the icons are linked. It’s a great visual to help teachers in planning lessons that integrate technology based on the levels you want to address.
I am not a huge fan of spelling tests, particularly when everyone in the class is responsible for the same words. However, this site has some amazing tools that will allow you to customize lists for your students. There are also fun games that they can play to practice those specialized lists. The site is free, although you need to register. There are some perks for purchasing a premium membership, but it can still be a valuable tool without all of the bells and whistles.
“Pictorial” is a free app. I envision using it with an iPad in a center. The app is a great way to practice spatial skills. However, the user can choose even harder puzzles if or she finds these too easy.
The puzzles show a series of dots. By sliding your fingers around the screen, you can manipulate the dots until you see lines connecting them. The darker the lines become, the closer you are to creating a picture. Once you slide the dots into the correct place, an image will appear, such as the ice cream cone in the picture to the left, and a prompt appears for the next puzzle.
A student could be asked to solve a puzzle, then identify the picture. To increase difficulty, a student could be directed to write a sentence with the picture, or even a story. A high level user could have the additional challenge of connecting several pictures together within a story.
A screen pic and Screen Chomp (another free app) could be used by students who have difficulty writing. Or each student could be directed to add the title of their picture to a class brainstorming map to use for writing or creative thinking. Another possibility would be to have students add the pictures to a class mind map to be used for vocabulary and/or spelling practice. Creative students could try to find as many ways to connect the pictures as possible or use the pictures artistically in drawing a scene.
I think this app would be appealing to students in K-5.
For more ideas on how to use apps in the classroom, please visit www.techchef4u.com, another great resource for teachers!
Stick Pick is an iPhone/iPad app with great potential as a teacher tool. The teacher can add one or more classes within the app. To each class, the teacher adds individual student names, determining the type and level of questioning to use for each student from the following categories: Bloom’s Taxonomy, Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, or ESL. Once all students are entered, their sticks appear in a cup from which the teacher can randomly or purposefully choose names. As each student is chosen, a list of question stems from their particular assigned level appears on the screen. This is a wonderful way for teachers to customize impromptu questions based on ability.
Created by Kim Ball, a teacher of Gifted and Talented students in San Antonio’s North East Independent School District, The Producer’s Toolbox is a great resource for anyone, teacher or student, who is interested in creating multimedia presentations. It has links to video, audio, and research sites, as well as other fun extras.
- Teachers can create their own websites on the site, designing different pages with different assignments for students based on ability levels or multiple intelligences. This could be an alternative to a menu or tic-tac-toe board.
- Students can create their own websites as final products for independent studies based on rubrics.


Missing Math: A Number Mystery
“Our calendars have empty squares,
so who can tell the date?
This might be April, May, or June—
We’ll have to estimate.”
What would happen if math and numbers just disappeared one day? If nobody can count, add, measure, keep score, or tell time, life becomes very difficult. It will take a crack detective to solve this mystery and figure out where all the numbers went. Written in verse, this book tells the story of how the world completely falls apart without numbers and math.
“When a town’s numbers suddenly disappear, the residents discover how much they depend on numerals in their everyday lives.” Booklist
A Chicago Library Best of the Best Book
A Florida Book Awards Bronze Medal Winner
K–Grade 3. 32 p. Full color. Two Lions, 2008. 978-0-7614-5385-7.
Illustrations were drawn and painted on a computer.


A day off
To provide Ss with practice in listening for gist and specific information in the context of special days
To provide Ss with review of all the months and practice in speaking for fluency in the context of special days
Procedure (37-45 minutes)
Write ''a day off" on the board. Ask Ss to write 5 things they do on a day off and give an example before that. Then Ss talk about their days off in pairs. Whole class feedback.
Play the recording 1. Ss listen to the pronunciation paying special attention to stress patterns. Ss listen again and repeat. Tell Ss to group the months according to their stress patterns in HO1. Play the recording 2. Ss work in pairs. Ss listen and check their answers with class. Ss listen again and repeat. Ask Ss to talk in pairs about their favorite month. Whole class feedback.
Show Ss 4 photos. Ask what special days they refer to and what people do on those days. Ss predict in pairs. Write their predictions on the board.
Tell Ss that they are going to listen to people talking about special days that they like and to match the speakers to the photos on the w/b and HO2 while listening. Play the recording 3. Ss match individually. Peer-checking. Show the answers. Also, check which predictions were right with the whole class.
Ask Ss to listen again and answer: 'What months are these special days in?' Ss listen again and do the task. Peer-checking. Show the answers and check with the whole class.
Tell Ss briefly about your favorite day. Ask Ss to choose their favorite days and tell each other what they do and what other people usually do on those days. Ss work in groups. Whole class feedback.
Show Ss different dates (e.g. 1 May) and read them aloud. Ss repeat. Model this for a number of dates to practise form and pronunciation. Show more dates and get Ss to produce sentences. (If time - dictate 5 dates. Ss write them down. Show the answers and check.) Tell Ss to write 5 important dates on a piece of paper then highlight the models (Why is … important to you? Etc.) Ss mingle and ask each other why those dates are important for them. Whole class feedback.


Memo to the media: When it comes to reporting on nutrition and health studies, it’s important to walk on eggshells.
A recent story published by CNN exaggerated a study with questionable results. The news story claimed that eating more than two eggs a week would lead to an increase in cardiovascular diseases and a faster death. Since almost everyone eats eggs, the headline alone would cause concern.
But one sharp-eyed observer tweeted this:
.@CNN has egg on its face today. Told America eggs are killing us, when the study shows eggs have an insignificant effect, controlling for other foods. Hire reporters/editors who understand science, unless you want that #FakeNews title to stick. https://t.co/hcBPdMvjyc pic.twitter.com/HfmpzqXL9g
— Julia Pollak (@juliaonjobs) March 18, 2019
She makes a great point, which is why it’s important to read the full study (which normal people generally won’t, because they are behind paywalls). Here’s the thing: A hazard ratio below 1 indicates something is less likely to happen. A hazard ratio greater than 1 indicates something is more likely to happen. So what happens with the hazard ratio confidence interval is both above and below 1? Hint: You shouldn’t conclude anything.
That’s not the only issue we can see. Eggs seem to have the least amount of effect compared to other foods tested. From the headline of the study and the article CNN published it suggests that eggs are the ultimate evil.
Additionally the study is based off of food frequency questionnaires, which require the study’s participants to accurately recall and report their diet. It is hard to believe that 29,615 people accurately reported what they ate everyday over the course of the 31 years of data this study uses. Do you even remember what you ate for breakfast last Tuesday?
The TODAY Show had a good piece expressing caution at some of the reports. Frankly, it should be more aggressive. Food studies have a long history of making broad claims (positive or negative) based on problematic data sources. Often times, it seems as though the conclusion is written first and the study second.
Given the study’s vast range of claims, we’d say it’s past the expiration date.