Defining Obesity: An Argument for the Social Environment Perspective

It is well documented that obesity is a growing problem in the U.S. and worldwide. By 2010, 35.9% of U.S. adults age 20 and older were obese (Overweight and Obesity, CDC). Obesity has been associated with many health problems, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, stroke, and cardiac disease (Lucey, 2008, p.202). What has just been described is the traditional, medicalized narrative of obesity. In this narrative, obesity is viewed as an epidemic that demands an immediate and widespread response (Lucey, 2008, p.202). The blame is placed largely on individuals, while social factors, such as socioeconomic status and neighborhood environment, are largely ignored. The traditional, medicalized narrative is the dominant narrative in U.S. society today. As a result, policy initiatives aimed at reducing the prevalence of obesity focus on changing individuals’ behaviors. One such initiative is to tax sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). The idea is to deter individuals from buying sugary drinks and steer them towards healthier options. In this paper, I use an SSB tax policy in order to examine how obesity is defined, measured, and viewed by different groups in American society. Furthermore, I argue that the traditional narrative of obesity is flawed and contributes to unnecessary negative stigma of the obese. In contrast, I will show that social factors play the most important role in the growing trend towards larger and heavier bodies. Therefore, policy initiatives aimed at reducing obesity should focus on reducing social disparities in society

The Cognitive Representation of Fantasy Versus Pretense

Do our minds process fantasy, pretense, and reality differently? Participants read fantastical (Snow White eating an apple), pretend (a girl pretending to be Snow White), or realistic (a girl eating an apple) vignettes. Participants’ reaction to a property of each vignette’s realistic context (apple as ‘delicious’) or its unrealistic context (apple as ‘poisonous’) was measured by a computer program. Differences in study 1 reaction time indicate that fantasy may require different mental representation than pretense and reality. Differences in study 2 fail to duplicate results from the fantasy condition in study 1, instead finding differences in mental representation after reading pretend vignettes. Trends in both study 1 and 2 indicate possible influences of fantasy and pretense on realistic thought

Ethical Issues in the Drug Approval Process

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approval process carries great significance for both pharmaceutical companies and for patients. In recent decades, there has been a shift towards expedited approval so that drugs, especially those for terminally ill patients, can be brought to market faster. However, the FDA still has the responsibility of protecting patients from harm. The case studies of two drugs, Vioxx and Avastin, highlight several of the ethical and practical issues of the drug approval process, including the nature of clinical trial research, the risk-benefit analysis of new treatments, the growth of Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and the ethics of post-marketing research. In today’s rapidly advancing global society, there is grey area in terms of how to act ethically in performing research on human subjects, yet provide the drugs that patients want in a timely manner. I advocate that the FDA should take a patient centered approach to the drug approval process. First, the FDA should continue to use accelerated approval and work to streamline the approval process further, since it has been shown to benefit patients greatly. Second, the agency should continue to utilize the comprehensive informed consent process. If in the future they can eliminate the theoretical misconception about research, by better educating patients about the difference between research and treatment, only then would I advocate for streamlining or removing the informed consent process. Until then, patients need to be made fully aware of their role as a research subject

Are HOPE VI Families at Greater Risk for Homelessness?

Examines whether federal HOPE VI relocation initiatives increase the chances that original residents will be at greater risk of homelessness. Based on surveys of residents at five Hope VI public housing sites

Precise computer controlled positioning of robot end effectors using force sensors

A major problem in space applications of robotics and docking of spacecraft is the development of technology for automated precise positioning of mating components with smooth motion and soft contact. To achieve the above objective, a design method was developed for optimally placing the closed-loop poles of a discretized robotic control system at exact prescribed locations inside the unit circle of the complex z-plane. The design method combines the merits of the pole placement and the linear quadratic design approaches. The proposed design procedure is based on the assignment of one real eigenvalue or two complex conjugate (or real) eigenvalues at each design step. The method involves solutions of simple algebraic equations and this is considered to be efficient for on-line or off-line computations. Also, two methods for the linearization of the nonlinear model of a robotic manipulator were presented. Since automatic control of multi-degree freedom robotic manipulators involves high nonlinear equations of systems, a pilot project was proposed involving the control of a one-dimensional system. This simple system can be readily implemented for testing the concepts and algorithms

Driven out of town

Recent changes to Noise Control legislation have lately been introduced to ban diesel hammers for percussive piling work in urban areas. This month J.A. Mclnnis looks at these changes and some of the background involved with them.published_or_final_versio

Report on Review of General Conditions of Contract Part 2

The report on the Review of the Hong Kong Government’s General Conditions of Contract (GCCs) is now available in limited circulation. In the second of a two-part series Professor Arthur McInnis looks at some of the detailed recommendations and offers some comments.published_or_final_versio

Can lawyers ever add value?

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