Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/zzMjMiWxxlI/nerdy-gifts-for-comic-book-fans
carlos santana baa dodgers triple play samoyed kenny powers kenny powers carl hagelin
Friday, November 30, 2012
Nerdy Gifts for Comic Book Fans
Gift Guide: Victorinox Dive Master 500 Dive Watch
As one of TechCrunch's resident watch fans, I was intrigued by the Victorinox Dive Master 500, a fairly unique automatic watch that brings the best of the Swiss mechanical along with styling reminiscent of some of the better divers. The build is solid, the 43mm case is well-polished, and the face is very legible. Interestingly, I'd actually recommend this for a fairly adventurous lady who is looking for something a little more rugged - and handsome - than the traditional sport watch.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/kDhSh0w3Cq0/
gsa scandal kelis dick clark dies ibogaine jamie moyer bone cancer hossa
October New Home Sales - Business Insider
October new home sales came in at 368k, which was well below the 390k expected by economists.
Making things worse, the September number was revised down to 369k from 389k.
Here's the full statement from the Census:
Sales of new single-family houses in October 2012 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 368,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 0.3 percent (?18.3%)* below the revised September rate of 369,000, but is 17.2 percent (?21.2%)* above the October 2011 estimate of 314,000.
The median sales price of new houses sold in October 2012 was $237,700; the average sales price was $278,900. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October was 147,000. This represents a supply of 4.8 months at the current sales rate.
Lately, new home sales have been lagging new home permit and building activity, which has some economist concerned that supply may be building.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/october-new-home-sales-2012-11
vcu unlv sam young ncaa bracket ramon sessions portland trail blazers nba trade
dackinlerry: Savannah GA Bed & Breakfast for Sale - Inn Partners
Savannah GA Bed & Breakfast for Sale
How does an Inn in Savannah Georgia, with so many outstanding hospitality properties achieve? TripAdvisors rating as the number three hotel in Savannah? Well, it isn?t easy.
In the first place, it needs a dynamite location overlooking one of the outstanding squares in the middle of the downtown historic district. Second, it needs a striking architectural presence among many fine historic B&B?s and other historic buildings. Third, it needs meticulously restored interiors and a rich balance of antiques and guest friendly furnishings. Finally, the Inn needs owners who put their guests? needs first.
This current offering fulfills those characteristics and this rating is a just reward. Another reward is a strong business, with sales approaching $1,000,000.00.
The Inn has 17 well appointed rooms, a high occupancy rate of 60%,? and a strong bottom line. It is a chosen member of Select Registry, has been chosen for BedandBreakfast.com?s Diamond Collection and is also a Four Diamond AAA Inn.
The price is $4,995,000.00. The cash flow will easily cover the debt service and provide a decent income for new owners. For those with the resources, this is a rare opportunity to own the best.
- Select Registry?s only Bed & Breakfast Hotel in Savannah
- Travel & Leisure Magazine voted this as one of America?s Most Romantic Hotels in 2012
- AAA Four Diamond
?
Or you can click here for more information on multiple Inns.
Source: http://www.innpartners.com/savannah-ga-bed-breakfast-sale/
steve appleton bishop eddie long madonna give me all your luvin video roseanne barr president green party day 26 new hunger games trailer
Source: http://ammonium-obsessive.blogspot.com/2012/11/savannah-ga-bed-breakfast-for-sale-inn.html
passover recipes 2012 kids choice awards kansas ohio state wrestlemania results womens final four josh hutcherson google april fools
Source: http://dackinlerry.blogspot.com/2012/11/savannah-ga-bed-breakfast-for-sale-inn.html
raheem morris winter classic mt rainier caucus stanford vs oklahoma state occupy rose parade vesta williams
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Egypt state TV: Highest appeal court suspends work nationwide to protest president's decrees
With 47 percent of the popular vote, Mitt Romney may become the president of nothing more than Ironystan. Yes, the final general-election tally is trickling in and, as fate would have it, Romney's total might look more like that mythical number after all. Well, according to David Wasserman of the Cook Political report, it's more like 47.49 and dropping, which, of course rounds down to 47 ? the same percentage of Americans?he said were moochers and takers in a video?that was one of the nails in the coffin of his presidential campaign.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-state-tv-highest-appeal-court-suspends-nationwide-123528601.html
heart attack grill las vegas the heart attack grill joe kennedy iii joseph kennedy iii ghost hunters lightsquared david lee
Lions' Suh fined $30,000; says kick not on purpose
In this Nov. 18, 2012 photo, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit. Suh was issued a traffic citation by a police officer who said he saw Suh driving fast and passing cars from the right lane of a suburban Detroit roadway. The Lathrup Village officer gave Suh a ticket on Nov. 15, 2012 for driving without due care and caution. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
In this Nov. 18, 2012 photo, Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit. Suh was issued a traffic citation by a police officer who said he saw Suh driving fast and passing cars from the right lane of a suburban Detroit roadway. The Lathrup Village officer gave Suh a ticket on Nov. 15, 2012 for driving without due care and caution. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) picks himself up after a hit by Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh during the first quarter of an NFL football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh (90) stares at Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) in the third quarter of their NFL football game in Detroit, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) ? Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was fined $30,000 by the NFL on Wednesday, but says he didn't kick Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub on purpose.
That's why Suh insisted he doesn't need to apologize to Schaub.
Suh spoke to reporters Wednesday for the first time since his left cleat connected with Schaub's groin area in Detroit's loss to Houston last Thursday.
Suh dodged another suspension from the league, which has fined him instead for his latest questionable move on the field.
His reputation, though, has taken another hit.
The NFL suspended Suh for two games last season after he stomped on Green Bay's Evan Dietrich-Smith in a Thanksgiving game. Suh said he was sorry to Dietrich-Smith.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_
___
Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage
Associated PressLondon 2012 Javelin roger federer Olga Korbut Usain Bolt 2012 Olympics Katie Ledecky Aaron Ross Sikh temple
Mitt Romney to join President Obama for White House lunch on Thursday
WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney is planning to visit the White House on Thursday, just not in the capacity he had hoped 23 days ago before he lost the election to President Obama.
The White House announced on Wednesday morning that Romney will have lunch with Obama on Thursday in the private dining room at the White House, a room that is just off the Oval Office. It will be their first extended conversation since the election.
Romney is also planning to meet with his former running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, tomorrow morning before his trip to the White House.
The Washington visit will mark the first time Romney has deliberately stepped back into the political spotlight since his defeat. In the days and weeks after Nov. 6, many in the party distanced themselves from the former Massachusetts governor, especially after a conference call with donors in which he said Obama won the election because of ?gifts? he bestowed on constituencies like Hispanics, young voters, and African Americans.
Other than that episode, Romney has mostly faded from public view. He took in the movie ?Twilight? with his wife, Ann, and dined on pizza afterward, according to the gossip website TMZ. He went to Disneyland, and was photographed on roller coasters with some of his sons and grandchildren.
He was also photographed by a bystander while he was pumping gas in California, shown with unkempt hair and a weary facial expression.
?Mitt Romney at my local gas station,? wrote a user named mkb95, who posted the photo of Romney pumping gas on the social media site Reddit. ?He looks tired and washed up.?
Romney posted a warmer photo of himself on his Facebook page, with his arms draped around Ann as he smiles broadly and wears a blue-t-shirt and khakis. ?Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! [sic]? he wrote. ?Much to be thankful for this year.?
Obama first raised the prospects of meeting with Romney on election night, saying he wanted to get together with his Republican rival. In a press conference a week later, he said that there are certain aspects of Romney?s record and his ideas that could be ?very helpful.?
?To give you one example, I do think he did a terrific job running the Olympics,? Obama said. ?And you know, that skill set of trying to figure out how do we make something work better applies to the federal government.?
Obama said that he wanted to hear some of Romney?s ideas about making the federal government more customer-friendly, and how to eliminate additional waste. He said that he didn?t have ?some specific assignment? for Romney but wanted to ?see if there are some ways that we can potentially work together.?
?He presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with,? Obama said. ?And so it?d be interesting to talk to him about something like that. There may be ideas that he has with respect to jobs and growth that can help middle-class families that I want to hear.?
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.Source: http://feeds.boston.com/click.phdo?i=21eecea134d262fd1f7e387d32bfc57e
orange bowl tim howard goal ben gibbard nfl playoff schedule tim howard scores nick cannon kidney failure consumer financial protection bureau
Microsoft confirms Windows Phone 7.8 update due in early 2013
DEAR ABBY: My wife and I have been married for five years. I recently discovered that she made between 10 and 20 porn videos when she was 19. We got married when she was 27. We have four kids from two previous marriages.I am devastated. When I confronted her about it, she cried harder than I had ever seen. She said she was lost, and it's the biggest regret of her entire life.I understand how hard it can be to tell someone you have done something like this. I haven't led a perfect life either, and I have my own skeletons and things that I would never mention. But still, I can't get over this. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-confirms-windows-phone-7-8-due-early-211051427.html
gabby giffords geithner gabrielle giffords juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles
Family-Environmental Factors Associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Chinese Children: A Case-Control Study
BackgroundAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, affecting an estimated 5 to 12% of school-aged children worldwide. From 15 to 19 million Chinese children suffer from ADHD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between family-environmental factors and ADHD in a sample of Chinese children.MethodsA pair-matched, case-control study was conducted with 161 ADHD children and 161 non-ADHD children of matching age and sex, all from 5?18 years of age. The ADHD subjects and the normal controls were all evaluated via structured diagnostic interviews. We examined the association between family-environmental factors and ADHD using the conditional multiple logistic regression with backward stepwise selection to predict the associated factors of ADHD.ResultsHaving experienced emotional abuse and being a single child were both significant factors associated with children diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD subjects were more likely to have suffered from emotional abuse (OR?=?11.09, 95% CI?=?2.15?57.29, P?=?0.004) and have been a single child in the family (OR?=?6.32, 95% CI?=?2.09?19.14, P?=?0.001) when compared to normal controls. The results were not modified by other confounding factors.ConclusionOur findings provide evidence that family-environmental factors are associated with ADHD among children in China. These findings, if confirmed by future research, may help to decrease ADHD by increasing the awareness of the effects of childhood emotional abuse.
1 Department of Social Medicine and Health Education, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, 3 Beijing Children and Adolescents Mental Health Center, Beijing An Ding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, 4 Department of Neurology, Beijing Tian Tan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, 5 Division of Basic Medical Sciences, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia, United States of America, 6 Department of Psychiatry, Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia, United States of America
Background
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, affecting an estimated 5 to 12% of school-aged children worldwide. From 15 to 19 million Chinese children suffer from ADHD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between family-environmental factors and ADHD in a sample of Chinese children.
Methods
A pair-matched, case-control study was conducted with 161 ADHD children and 161 non-ADHD children of matching age and sex, all from 5?18 years of age. The ADHD subjects and the normal controls were all evaluated via structured diagnostic interviews. We examined the association between family-environmental factors and ADHD using the conditional multiple logistic regression with backward stepwise selection to predict the associated factors of ADHD.
Results
Having experienced emotional abuse and being a single child were both significant factors associated with children diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD subjects were more likely to have suffered from emotional abuse (OR = 11.09, 95% CI = 2.15?57.29, P = 0.004) and have been a single child in the family (OR = 6.32, 95% CI = 2.09?19.14, P = 0.001) when compared to normal controls. The results were not modified by other confounding factors.
Conclusion
Our findings provide evidence that family-environmental factors are associated with ADHD among children in China. These findings, if confirmed by future research, may help to decrease ADHD by increasing the awareness of the effects of childhood emotional abuse.
Citation: du Prel Carroll X, Yi H, Liang Y, Pang K, Leeper-Woodford S, et al. (2012) Family-Environmental Factors Associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Chinese Children: A Case-Control Study. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50543. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050543
Editor: Ehsan U. Syed, Pennsylvania State University, United States of America
Received: April 15, 2012; Accepted: October 24, 2012; Published: November 28, 2012
Copyright: ? 2012 du Prel Carroll et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This research was funded by a grant support from Mercer University Seed Grant (2009?2010, account #2-26724, IRB#H0907165-01). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: hh_liang@hotmail.com
Introduction?Top
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders occurring during childhood and adolescence, affecting an estimated 5 to 12% of school-aged children worldwide [1]?[3]. Children with ADHD may suffer from cognitive and social deficits, in addition to displaying behavioral problems that result in disturbances in peer and family relationships, as well as poor academic achievement [4], [5]. Compared with the current data supporting the roles of genetic and biological factors in the etiology of ADHD, research on environmental, social and interpersonal aspects is less robust [6], [7].
Family structure, such as being a single child in a family with either two biological parents or with a single parent/step-parent, may play a role in child psychiatric disorders since these factors affect material resources and emotional strain in families [8], [9]. In a review of the family factors associated with ADHD, Johnston and Mash highlighted disturbances in family functioning, conflicted parent?child relationships, as well as increased parenting stress and psychopathology as common co-occurring factors [10], [11]. Previous investigations [12] have also found that child abuse and parental psychiatric disorders are associated with higher rates of ADHD with comorbid disruptive behavior disorder. While uncovering susceptibility genes for ADHD may help us understand the emergence of ADHD symptoms, researchers have speculated that unique environmental factors may play a larger role in determining outcomes for children, even if they are not a primary cause of the core symptoms [11], [13]. Understanding the risk and protective factors within the environment, such as the influence of the family, school and community, as well as their interactions with child characteristics, can extend the findings of genetic work in tracing the variability in development of children with ADHD.
A 3 year panel study in Taiwan [14] investigated adolescent mental disorder and showed that the most prevalent psychiatric condition among 7th and 8th graders was ADHD (weighted prevalence 7.5% and 6.1%). A recent survey [15] in China showed that a total of 15 to 19 million Chinese children suffer from ADHD, therefore indicating that ADHD has become a serious public health problem in China. As in many other countries today, youth in China are also facing greater familial-socio environmental stress than their predecessors. Owing to the rigid educational system and high parental expectation on academic achievement, the competition in joint entrance examinations for junior/senior high schools and universities is very keen [16]. These family-environmental changes and their impact on adolescent psychopathology deserve an adequate inquiry. However, studies on the relationship between ADHD and the family environment, with respect to how demographic variables interact with family factors, are lacking. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between family-environmental factors and ADHD in a sample of Chinese children. Our hypothesis is that these factors are related to the ADHD children and their family environment when compared to normal controls.
Methods?Top
Study Subjects
This study was designed as a pair matching case-control study and conducted from July 2009 to May 2010. ADHD subjects were recruited from the Beijing Children and Adolescents Mental Health Center at Beijing An Ding Hospital of Capital Medical University in Beijing, China. All ADHD (ICD-10 codes F90, 208?210) subjects were children of Chinese Han nationality and between 5 to 18 years old at the time of the investigation. All ADHD participants were evaluated by child psychiatrists and fully met DSM-IV-TR criteria for ADHD (any subtype) [17]. The DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria were previously translated into Chinese, and the reliability for the ADHD diagnosis was previously assessed [15], [18]?[20]. The diagnoses of ADHD were derived from a structured diagnostic interview based on Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS-E) [21], which was modified to assess DSM-IV-TR criteria and incorporate parents? and teachers? reports of behavioral symptoms, clinical observation of behavior, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist [22], and tests of attention such as the Conners Continuous Performance Test [23]. One on one interviews of the ADHD participants, at least one of their parents/primary caregivers, and their teachers were conducted by trained researchers who are child/adolescent psychiatrists or psychologists in the outpatient department of the Beijing Children and Adolescents Mental Health Center. These diagnoses were then independently reassessed by two senior psychiatrists, who systematically reviewed all of the interview records. In the reassessment, the principle of rate-down was employed, and any information that was dubious or uncertain was discarded. Psychiatric diagnoses generated from this reassessment were jointly discussed, and a consensus diagnosis was taken as final. Exclusion criteria of the ADHD subjects included the presence of any other psychiatric illness such as depression, autism, Asperger syndrome, other pervasive developmental disorders (ICD-10 codes F84.0?F84.9, 308.0), and mental retardation (ICD-10 codes F70?F79, 312?315) [20].
Normal controls were children between 5 to 18 years old randomly selected from local elementary and middle/high schools during the same study period and from the same district in Beijing as the ADHD subjects. Using the pair-matched test design, each ADHD subject and normal control had the same sex and the same age (difference between birthdays within 6 months). The same exclusion criteria applied to the ADHD subjects was applied to the normal controls.
The study was approved by the institutional review boards of An Ding Hospital of Capital Medical University and Mercer University, and complied with all applicable requirements of the United States. Written informed consent was obtained from each of the parents after the purpose and procedure of the study was explained. Parents and teachers of the ADHD subjects completed the questionnaire with a participation rate of 97.5%, and parents and teachers of the normal controls completed the questionnaire with a participation rate of 100%.
Measures
Matched factors.
To address important confounding factors, such as the male sex and younger ages being associated with an increased prevalence of ADHD [24], [25], we designed pair-matches on age and sex for the control vs. ADHD subjects in this study. Therefore the control subjects were exposed to associated factors at the same sex and age as the ADHD subjects.
Biological factors.
The variable of maternal stress during pregnancy was provided by the biological mothers of both the ADHD and normal subjects. The mothers were asked whether or not they had experienced any of 10 major life stress events selected from a broader list of life stress events [26], [27]: pregnancy problems, death of a close friend or relative, separation or divorce, marital problems, problems with children, job loss (involuntary), partner?s job loss (involuntary), monetary problems, residential relocation, or any other stressful events. If the answer they provided was one or more positive response to the 10 major events during their pregnancy, the coding would be a ?yes?, otherwise ?no?. Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) information was also provided by the affected mothers of the study subjects. We analyzed continuous potential factors, such as maternal age at the child?s birth, according to biological rationales (median split) as categorical variables: ?26 years, and >26 years of age. The data of our study sample showed that none of the mothers smoked or drank during pregnancy, so the variables of maternal smoking and maternal drinking were not considered for further analysis.
Family-environmental factors.
In the questionnaire, the parents were required to provide information about familial factors present during the child?s lifetime. Maternal and paternal education was assigned as being either compulsory education (?9 years), high school education (9?12 years), or some college or advanced training (?12 years) [20]. The number of siblings was asked to determine whether or not the child was a single child [28]. Family structure was divided into 2 categories [29]: the child having an intact family with both biological parents, and the child having other family structures (which included single-parent and 2-parent families, in which one or both parents were step-parents). Since literature suggests that family conflicts are connected with children functioning [30], [31], the parents informed in a yes/no format in regards to the occurrence of conflicts between adult family members/relatives. Emotional abuse was defined by two questions from the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) [32]. The questions, which were asked to the ADHD subjects, were as follows: 1) ?How often did a parent, stepparent, or adult living in your home swear at you, insult you, or put you down?? 2) ?How often did a parent, stepparent, or adult living in your home act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?? Responses of ?often? or ?very often? to either item defined emotional abuse during childhood.
Lifestyle factors.
Altogether, seven lifestyle variables were included in this study. Parents were asked about their children?s exposure to domestic tobacco smoke and domestic alcohol consumption. Study factors were defined as binary variables - that is, domestic tobacco smoke (yes/no) and domestic alcohol consumption (yes/no) [33], [34]. Based on questions included on the 2009 US middle school Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) [35], parents and teachers were asked to report physical activity of the study subjects (?During the past 7 days, on how many days was the child physically active for a total of at least 60 minutes per day??). The answers were divided into the following: physical inactive, outdoor activity ?3 days in 1 week; physical active, outdoor activity >3 days in 1 week. Parents also reported on the number of hours that their child viewed television and accessed the internet. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children ?2 years of age limit their time with entertainment media to ?1 to 2 hours of programming daily [36], [37]. The measure of interest was >2 hours of television viewing (including videos) and internet accessing daily. The behavioral factor for accidental injury was defined as a binary variable (yes/no), and a nutritional factor was also included in the questionnaire and defined as daily dietary supplement intake (yes/no).
Statistical Analyses
Statistical analyses were performed by SAS, version 9.2 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). To assess the impact of the associated factors on the dependent variable-ADHD, we performed multivariate logistic regression analysis with all factors simultaneously included in the same model to adjust each other. The following independent variables were included in the model: age, sex, biological factors, family-environmental factors, and lifestyle factors. Finally, we performed a conditional logistic regression analysis with backward stepwise procedures based on the maximum partial likelihood estimates to construct a final best fit logistic regression model to identify the predictors of risk for ADHD among all factors. This specifies the significance level at p 0.05 for entering an explanatory variable into the model in the backward stepwise method. We estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for differing levels of exposure. All statistical tests were considered to be significant at an alpha level of 0.05 on a two-tailed test.
Results?Top
The analysis included 161 ADHD cases and 161 non-ADHD control subjects matched by age and sex. There were 113 boys and 48 girls included in the case group and control group of this study. There was no statistical age difference between the two groups (mean age of 12.89?2.96 in the case group and mean age of 12.91?2.81 in the control group).
Demographic and Distribution of Biological Factors, Family-environmental Factors, and Lifestyle Factors
General information in demographic and distribution of biological factors is shown in Table 1. We found that ADHD subjects were significantly associated with maternal stress during pregnancy (OR = 3.67, 95% CI = 1.49?9.04, p = 0.005).
Table 1. Demographic and Distribution of Biological Factors of ADHD: Comparisons of ADHD Cases and Non-ADHD Control subjects.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050543.t001ORs for ADHD cases and controls by family-environmental factors are presented in Table 2. ADHD subjects were significantly associated with single-child (OR = 4.00, 95% CI = 2.27?7.044, p<.0001), family conflicts (OR = 3.09, 95% CI = 1.57?6.10, p = 0.001), presence of emotional abuse (OR = 10.50, 95% CI = 3.77?29.28, p<.0001), and paternal education (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.07?4.01, p = 0.017) when the 9?12 years education group was compared with the ?12 years education group.
Table 2. Distribution of Family-Environmental Factors of ADHD: Comparisons of ADHD Cases and Non-ADHD Control Subjects.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050543.t002In Table 3, we observed a significant association between ADHD subjects and being physically inactive (OR = 1.68, 95% CI = 1.05?2.68, p = 0.03).
Table 3. Distribution of Lifestyle Factors of ADHD: Comparisons of ADHD Cases and Non-ADHD Control Subjects.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050543.t003The remaining variables in our analysis were not associated with ADHD status (Table 1, 2, 3).
Stepwise Logistic Regression Models Predicting the Strongest Association between All Factors and ADHD
To eliminate multivariable interaction and multicollinearity, we performed a backward stepwise logistic regression based on the maximum partial likelihood estimates. In the final best-fit model, the associations between ADHD and maternal stress during pregnancy, maternal age at childbirth, paternal education, family conflicts, and physical activity which were once significant (Table 1, 2, 3) had changed to not significant and were removed from the final model.
In contrast, the ORs (Table 4) for the association between emotional abuse and ADHD (OR = 11.09, 95% CI = 2.15?57.29, P = 0.004), and the association between being a single child and ADHD (OR = 6.32, 95% CI = 2.09?19.14, P = 0.001), were largely unchanged from estimates obtained in the original model used in Table 2. Therefore these two variables were kept in the final best fit model.
Table 4. Associated Factors Identified in Backward Stepwise Logistic Regression Model.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050543.t004Discussion?Top
In this study, we examined the effects of family-environmental factors in pair-matched ADHD cases and normal controls in a population of Chinese children, 5 to18 years of age. The results show that having suffered emotional abuse and being a single child were likely to have strong associations with ADHD. The ADHD subjects were 11 times more likely to suffer from emotional abuse as compared to the normal controls.
Emotional Abuse
Recently, family-environmental factors such as abnormal intra-familial relationships, lack of emotional warmth towards the child, child maltreatment (physical/emotional), frequent arguments and fights between adults in the family, ambiguous communication patterns, parental separation/divorce and isolated family units, showed a trend towards an increasing risk for having a child with ADHD-related disorders, as reported previously in numerous studies. Poor parenting and conditions such as negative, inconsistent and detached parenting have been repeatedly reported as a risk factor for ADHD children [11], [38]. Pires et al. described that negative family relationships are associated with symptoms of ADHD, and children who suffered verbal abuse from their mother had prevalence 3.7 times higher than the ones not exposed to this situation in the last year [39]. Bandou et al. suggested that child abuse and maternal psychiatric disorders are significant risk factors in influencing the development of comorbid disruptive behavior disorders in offspring [12]. Also, Ouyang et al. indicated a significant association between inattentive ADHD symptoms and each type of child maltreatment [40]. Consistent with previous investigations, our present data confirms the findings of an association between ADHD and emotional abuse in Chinese children. We also found that the association is not influenced by other confounding factors.
There is a growing body of literature that supports the claim that psychological mistreatment is just as damaging as physical or sexual abuse, and child neglect [41]?[43]. Association between ADHD and child mistreatment has been reported for a variety of reasons [40]. The most important reason is that the behavior patterns found in children with ADHD disorders places those affected children at risk for parental mistreatment [40]. Extensive research on the parent-child interaction of children with ADHD reported a more stressful and conflicted family in those environments [10], [44]?[48]. Especially, child-rearing in Chinese societies is influenced by the Confucian ideology, which places emphasis on social norms and interpersonal harmony. Academic achievement is emphasized and dependence is encouraged. Due to the competition in joint entrance examinations for junior/senior high schools and universities being extremely strong, Chinese children are given more homework and spend more time receiving after-school tutoring [14], [16], [49]?[51]. As such, clinicians providing services to individuals with ADHD should be aware of the implications of co-occurring mistreatment and the associated risks.
Single Child
Since the 1970s, China has had a one-child policy and family planning program. Today the total fertility rate is 1.6, which releases 24% more resources for the family and national investments [52]?[54]. China is becoming a small-family culture. A study showed that 73 to 75% of respondents in the wealthy Jiangsu province were satisfied with their one child regardless of sex, whereas in the poorer Anhui province, 58% were satisfied with an only boy, while only 31% were satisfied with an only girl [55]. Besides the sex ratio, old-age dependency may become a Chinese problem in the future due to the 4 (grandparents): 2 (parents): 1(child) phenomenon. In addition, another consequence of the one-child policy has been to create a spoiled ?little prince? or ?little princess? in some Chinese families. Information about the relationship between the single child status and the ADHD disorder in the Chinese population is lacking. This study revealed that having a single child in a family was associated with the risk of ADHD diagnosis. The association was not influenced by other confounding factors. The reason may be due to the single child receiving more parental concern, so they are more likely to be brought to medical professionals for assessment and diagnosis. Since we cannot explain clearly the mechanism that underlies the correlation between single child status and ADHD, further investigation for the causal relationship is needed.
Other Family-environmental Factors
Previous studies have found that family-environmental factor such as family conflicts [56], [57] are associated with ADHD diagnosis. In contrast to these findings, the absence of statistically significant associations between the above factor and ADHD was unexpected in our study. The reason may be that the interactions between the related independent variables such as family conflicts and emotional abuse (correlation: r = 0.29, p<.0001), and family conflicts and family structure (correlation: r = 0.39, p<.0001) could influence family conflicts in the final best fit model. Previous works also found higher paternal education was associated with decreased risk for ADHD [24]. In our study, there is no relationship between paternal education and ADHD.
Previous reports have indicated that the biological factor of maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with ADHD [26], [27], [58]. In our study, there is no relationship between the above factor and ADHD. The reason might be recall bias, as the mothers who experienced life stress events during pregnancy may underreport it, which limits the statistical power in detecting a significant difference.
Previous studies also found that physical inactivity is associated with increased ADHD diagnosis in children [59]. We have not found the relationship between physical activity and ADHD in our study.
Further investigations are needed before definitive conclusions can be made about the possible effects of these potential factors on ADHD.
Limitations
Several limitations should be considered in interpreting the results of this study. First, case-control studies offer only hints about causal models leading to the development of ADHD. The use of terms such as ?prediction? and ?risk? are not meant to imply causal or temporal relationships. Second, retrospective self-reporting of prenatal complications or family environment and lifestyle factors may be susceptible to recall bias. Observational measures of parent-child interactions may be necessary to understand moment-to-moment relationships between parent and child behavior patterns. Other variables such as in utero tobacco and alcohol exposure may be also susceptible to recall bias. Third, this study lacks of a comparison of the differences between ADHD subgroups. Future research may focus the relationship between family-environmental factors and ADHD subgroups, especially on the difference between subgroups. Fourth, all of our subjects were Chinese Han; the cohort was not a random sample of the Chinese population so potential selection biases cannot be fully ruled out. In addition, children living in foster families were not included, so the results of this study may not generalize to children with different socioeconomic or ethnic backgrounds. Future studies may be proposed to address these limitations.
Conclusions
This hospital-based case-control study identified that emotional abuse and single child status are associated with ADHD children in China. The families and health care providers of children with ADHD should be aware of the implications of existing emotional abuse and the associated risks to these children. Appropriate parenting skills, such as proper supervision and prevention by increasing knowledge, need to be addressed for parents of children with ADHD, particular of single child families. Further investigations based on prospective, longitudinal birth cohorts are needed to explain the causal relationships between family-environmental factors and ADHD. Future studies may help to form the basis for successful intervention to prevent ADHD through reduction of family risk factors.
Acknowledgments?Top
We appreciate Dr. Shiji Zhang, Child Psychiatrist and Dr. Fan D. Chen, Epidemiologist, who closely cooperated with this project.
Author Contributions?Top
Conceived and designed the experiments: XdPC XHL. Performed the experiments: XdPC XHL. Analyzed the data: HGY. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KP YZL. Wrote the paper: XdPC XHL. Revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: SLW PR.
References?Top
- Freitag CM, H?nig S, Schneider A, Seitz C, Palmason H, et al. (2012) Biological and psychosocial environmental risk factors influence symptom severity and psychiatric comorbidity in children with ADHD. J Neural Transm 119: 81?94. Find this article online
- Biederman J, Faraone SV (2005) Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Lancet 366: 237?248. Find this article online
- Zimmerman ML (2003) Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Nurs Clin North Am 38: 55?66. Find this article online
- Biederman J (1998) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a life-span perspective. J Clin Psychiatry 59 Suppl 7: 4?16. Find this article online
- Stevenson J, Asherson P, Hay D, Levy F, Swanson J, Thapar A, et al. (2005) Characterizing the ADHD phenotype for genetic studies. Dev Sci 8: 115?121. Find this article online
- Pheula GF, Rohde LA, Schmitz M (2011) Are family variables associated with ADHD, inattentive type? A case-control study in schools. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 20: 137?45. Find this article online
- Froehlich TE, Anixt JS, Loe IM, Chirdkiatgumchai V, Kuan L, et al. (2011) Update on environmental risk factors for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep 13: 333?44. Find this article online
- Vollebergh VAM, ten Have M, Dekovic M, Oosterwegel A, Pels T, et al. (2005) Mental health in immigrant children in the Netherlands. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 40: 489?496. Find this article online
- Rydell AM (2010) Family factors and children?s disruptive behavior: an investigation of links between demographic characteristics, negative life events and symptoms of ODD and ADHD. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 45: 233?44. Find this article online
- Johnston C, Mash EJ (2001) Families of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: review and recommendations for future research. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 4: 183?207. Find this article online
- Deault LC (2010) A systematic review of parenting in relation to the development of comorbidities and functional impairments in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 41: 168?92. Find this article online
- Bandou N, Koike K, Matuura H (2010) Predictive familial risk factors and pharmacological responses in ADHD with comorbid disruptive behavior disorders. Pediatr Int 52: 415?9. Find this article online
- Barkley RA (2005) ADHD and the nature of self-control. Guilford Press, New York.
- Gau SS, Chong MY, Chen TH, Cheng AT (2005) A 3-year panel study of mental disorders among adolescents in Taiwan. Am J Psychiatry 162: 1344?50. Find this article online
- Shan H (2007) ADHD Affects over 15 Million Chinese Children. China.org.cn http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/21?9830.htm.
- Gau SF, Soong WT (1995) Sleep problems of junior high school students in Taipei. Sleep18: 667?73. Find this article online
- APA (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed., Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
- Su L, Wan G, Yang Z, Yu S, Li X (2001) The study of diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Chin J Nerv Ment Dis 27: 199?201. Find this article online
- Chen YZ, Wen FQ, Zhou KY, Yang CH, Zhang W, et al. (2010) Clinical features of various subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivety disorders in children. Chin J Contemp Pediatr 12: 704?708. Find this article online
- Wang HL, Chen XT, Yang B, Ma FL, Wang S, et al. (2008) Case-control study of blood lead levels and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in Chinese children. Environ Health Perspect 116: 1401?6. Find this article online
- Ambrosini PJ (2000) Historical development and present status of the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children (K-SADS). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 39: 49?58. Find this article online
- Aman MG, Singh NN (1986) Aberrant Behavior Checklist: Manual. New York: Slosson Educational Publications.
- Homack S, Riccio CA (2006) Conners? Continuous Performance Test (2nd ed. CCPT-II). J Atten Disord 9: 556?558. Find this article online
- Biederman J, Mick E, Faraone SV, Braaten E, Doyle A, et al. (2002) Influence of gender on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children referred to a psychiatric clinic. Am J Psychiatry 159: 36?42. Find this article online
- Visser SN, Lesesne CA, Perou R (2007) National estimates and factors associated with medication treatment for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Pediatrics 119: 99?106. Find this article online
- Tennant C, Andrews G (1976) A scale to measure the stress of life events. Aust. N. Z. J. Psychiatry 10: 27?32. Find this article online
- Ronald A, Pennell CE, Whitehouse AJO (2010) Prenatal maternal stress associated with ADHD and autistic traits in early childhood. Front Psychol 1: 1?8. Find this article online
- Du Prel X, Kr?mer U, Behrendt H, Johannes Ring, Hanna Oppermann, et al. (2006) Preschool children?s health and its association with parental education and individual living conditions in East and West Germany. BMC Public Health 6: 312. Find this article online
- Rydell AM (2010) Family factors and children?s disruptive behaviour: an investigation of links between demographic characteristics, negative life events and symptoms of ODD and ADHD. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 45: 233?244. Find this article online
- Counts CA, Nigg JT, Stawicki JA, Rappley MD, von Eye A (2005) Family adversity in DSM-IV ADHD combined and inattentive subtypes and associated disruptive behaviour problems. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 44: 690?698. Find this article online
- Cunningham CE, Boyle MH (2002) Preschoolers at risk for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder: family, parenting and behavioural correlates. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30: 555?569. Find this article online
- Dube SR, Felitti VJ, Dong M, Chapman DP, Giles WH, et al. (2003) Childhood abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction and the risk of illicit drug use: the adverse childhood experiences study. Pediatrics 111: 564?72. Find this article online
- Du Prel X, Kr?mer U, Ranft U (2006) Time trends in exposure to environmental tobacco smoke and parental educational level for 6-year-old children in Germany. Journal of Public Health 14: 309?315. Find this article online
- Torvik FA, Rognmo K, Ask H, R?ysamb E, Tambs K (2011) Parental alcohol use and adolescent school adjustment in the general population: Results from the HUNT study. BMC Public Health 11: 706. Find this article online
- Eaton DK, Kann L, Kinchen S, Shanklin S, Ross J, et al. (2010) Youth risk behavior surveillance - United States, 2009. MMWR Surveill Summ 59: 1?142. Find this article online
- American Academy of Pediatrics (1999) Committee on Public Education (1999) Media education. Pediatrics 104: 341?343. Find this article online
- Mistry KB, Minkovitz CS, Strobino DM, Borzekowski DL (2007) Children?s Television Exposure and Behavioral and Social Outcomes at 5.5 Years: Does Timing of Exposure Matter? Pediatrics 120: 762?769. Find this article online
- Pfiffner LJ, McBurnett K, Rathouz PJ, Judice S (2005) Family correlates of oppositional and conduct disorders in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 33: 551?63. Find this article online
- Pires TD, Silva CM, Assis SG (2012) Family environment and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Rev Saude Publica pii: S0034-89102012005000043.
- Ouyang L, Fang X, Mercy J, Perou R, Grosse SD (2008) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and child maltreatment: a population-based study. J Pediatr 153: 851?6. Find this article online
- Edwards VJ, Holden GW, Felitti VJ, Anda RF (2003) Relationship between multiple forms of childhood maltreatment and adult mental health in community respondents: results from the adverse childhood experiences study. Am J Psychiatry 160: 1453?1460. Find this article online
- Sesar K, Zivci?-Be?irevi? I, Sesar D (2008) Multi-type maltreatment in childhood and psychological adjustment in adolescence: questionnaire study among adolescents in Western Herzegovina Canton. Croat Med J 49: 243?256. Find this article online
- Higgins DJ, McCabe MP (2000) Relationships between different types of maltreatment during childhood and adjustment in adulthood. Child Maltreat 5: 261?272. Find this article online
- Egeland B, Sroufe LA, Erickson M (1983) The developmental consequence of different patterns of maltreatment. Child Abuse Negl 7: 459?69. Find this article online
- Ford JD, Racusin R, Ellis CG, Daviss WB, Reiser J, et al. (2000) Child maltreatment, other trauma exposure, and posttraumatic symptomatology among children with oppositional defiant and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. Child Maltreat 5: 205?17. Find this article online
- Mannuzza S, Klein RG, Bessler A, Malloy P, LaPadula M (1993) Adult outcome of hyperactive boys. Educational achievement, occupational rank, and psychiatric status. Arch Gen Psychiatry 50: 565?76. Find this article online
- Barkley RA, Fischer M, Smallish L, Fletcher K (2006) Young adult outcome of hyperactive children: adaptive functioning in major life activities. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 45: 192?202. Find this article online
- De Sanctis VA, Trampush JW, Harty SC, Marks DJ, Newcorn JH, et al. (2008) Childhood maltreatment and conduct disorder: independent predictors of adolescent substance use disorders in youth with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 37: 785?93. Find this article online
- Lam AK, Ho TP (2010) Early adolescent outcome of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in a Chinese population: 5-year follow-up study. Hong Kong Med J 16: 257?64. Find this article online
- Sun H (2003) Physical and Mental health of contemporary Chinese children. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 24: 355?364. Find this article online
- Gomez R, Vance A (2008) Parent ratings of ADHD symptoms: differential symptom functioning across Malaysian Malay and Chinese children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 36: 955?67. Find this article online
- Potts M (2006) China?s one child policy. BMJ 333: 361?2. Find this article online
- Hesketh T, Lu L, Xing ZW (2005) The effect of China?s one-child family policy after 25 years. N Engl J Med 353: 1171?6. Find this article online
- Wang C (2011) History of the Chinese Family Planning program: 1970?2010. Contraception Dec 14.
- Hardee K, Xie Z, Gu B (2004) Family planning and women?s lives in rural China. Int Fam Plan Perspect 30: 68?76. Find this article online
- Talge NM, Neal C, Glover V (2007) Antenatal maternal stress and long-term effects on child neurodevelopment: how and why? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 48: 245?61. Find this article online
- Biederman J, Milberger S, Faraone SV, Kiely K, Guite J, et al. (1995) Family-environment risk factors for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. A test of Rutter?s indicators of adversity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 52: 464?70. Find this article online
- Li J, Olsen J, Vestergaard M, Obel C (2010) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the offspring following prenatal maternal bereavement: a nationwide follow-up study in Denmark. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 19: 747?53. Find this article online
- Grigsby-Toussaint DS, Chi SH, Fiese BH (2011) Where they live, how they play: Neighborhood greenness and outdoor physical activity among preschoolers. Int J Health Geogr 10: 66. Find this article online
Nexus 7 KDKA Pumpkin Carving Ideas denver broncos Hurricane Sandy path opm daylight savings
Is Norton 360 valid on Microsoft tablet?
Resolved question
Is Norton 360 valid on Microsoft tablet?
by engtianxi - 11/25/12 7:18 PM
I may want to purchase a Microsoft tablet (which is the Windows 8 os) next year and my Norton 360 license is going to expire in 7 days. If yes, I would need to renew my license now. If no, that means I need to purchase Norton 360 Multi device to use it on the tablet. When this occurs, I will need to use Microsoft security essentials tempoary.
URGENT!!!
Source: http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6132_102-578679.html
amelia earhart Sally Ride Ichiro minka kelly James Holmes court Rupert Sanders bachelorette
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What's for Me at a Caregiver Support Group? | Elder Care Home ...
?
Caregivers to other frail or cognitively impaired adults very often? become ill themselves and may actually be the one who is at greater RISK! Boca Home Care Services recommends Support Groups for any and all Caregivers ? At least give one a try.
?
Attend a Caregiver Support Group
Whether a case of ?birds of a feather?, ?misery loves company? it just makes sense that speaking with others who have very similar circumstances as your own can be very helpful.
Fortunately there is a lot of information out there for anyone who cares to look. Each major Disease has a foundation??(Parkinson?s. Heart, Diabetes, Paralysis, Arthritis etc.)?of its own which in addition to providing information about the disease, treatment and research, there is likely a Support Group. The information and the ?support? is both for the patient and family/friend network.
Alzheimer?s Disease and other Dementia are a bit different. Due to the cognitive and memory impairment, once the disease has advanced, the patient cannot benefit so much from a support group. It is however the Primary Caregiver and other loved ones who will benefit the most from attending regularly or as needed, a Caregiver Support Group.
Due to the nature of?diseases which affect cognition, judgement and memory, the caregiver must assume the roles that the patient used to manage for him or herself and the household. This is in addition to physical care and management of the person?s needs and schedules.
A Caregiver Support Group is?a community resource. It will usually?have a facilitator (someone knowledgeable about the disease), perhaps a co-facilitator, a regular meeting time and place, some core members, occasional members and newcomers.
You can find a group in your area by contacting the Alzheimer?s Association, Community Services to Seniors, Day Care centers, and Assisted Living Facilities which have?Memory Units. Here in Palm Beach county there are many Caregiver Support Groups sponsored by: FAU Memory & Wellness Center, The Volen Center, Alzheimer?s?Community Care, Jewish Family Service and? the Alzheimer?s Association.
Caregiver Support Groups provide a safe, confidential place for group therapy, information and emotional support ? by others who truly understand your predicament because they are likely living it, have live it or will be.? Most are FREE.
It is the exchange of practical information, i.e. getting your loved one dressed, dealing with repetitive questions, wondering and so forth. How to deal with your loved one when you are exhausted, anxous, and at the end of your rope.
Besides the practical information gleamed on how to manage care, support groups for primary caregivers can help you understand your own complicated feelings about the situation ? the anger, resentment, grief, impatience, frustration and other normal human reactions one can experience when being the primary caregiver.
People often think it is a ?gripe-fest? or ?cry-a thon? when the group is usually about providing support through mutual understanding via similar experiences and a sharing of information, practical and formal. Learning through others about Dementia medications, community resources, experimental studies and other research toward a cure.
Often the raw feelings associated with primary caregivers aren?t on display at a caregiver support group. If they are, the group dynamic is an excellent way to handle it and most likely the facillitator will speak with that person afterwards, lending more support and individualized resources.
If you aren?t comfortable sharing your feelings, then don?t.? Perhaps one day a topic will touch you, perhaps not but either way, the support of others who understand and the information received are valuable enough reasons to give a support group a try.
Boca Home Care Services recommends Caregiver Support groups at every stage of the caregiver experience. There is no pressure to speak or share. Go a few times, as these groups can be very diverse depending on who is there any given meeting and what topics are brought up ? usually by group members.
After a few meetings, if you feel the group really isn?t for you, it may very well not be. You can notify the facilitator and find another group.
The ?support? of the group is both emotional and informational between members. It is also time away from your role as caregiver and a time to even socialize a little.
Group members can help by letting you know things they have tried, and that have worked. One example from a group memberi was _ ?hiring help a few times a week so I could play Bridge, get to my doctor and just stay in bed longer in the morning?.
The beauty of the group dynamic is the therapeutic give and take between attendees. You may surprise yourself, at a meeting, you may be te one?sharing sound advice from your experience as a primary caregiver.
?
Related posts:
- Caregiver Tips: Caring for a Memory Impaired Parent or Spouse
- Be a Healthier Caregiver
- Do You Have Caregiver Stress?
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Source: http://www.bocahomecareservices.com/blog/caregiver-support-group/
bret michaels pekingese tcu football westminster bonnaroo 2012 lineup twisted metal sea lion
Orlando, Florida company is searching for an Enrolled Actuary up to $75K #43128 #jobs
For Position 43128, this Orlando, Florida client is searching for an Enrolled Actuary.
This EA will be paid up to $75K annually.
Apply to Ezra Penland, the Leader in Actuarial Recruitment, at http://www.EzraPenland.com/pensionjobs ?, or email actuaries@EzraPenland.com ?and mention Position 43128, or call us at (800) 580-3972.
Meet our Recruiting Team at http://www.EzraPenland.com/recruiters? .
Related posts:
- Indiana Company is searching for Property and Casualty Actuarial Assistants with 3+ years of exp. #42473 #jobs #actuary
- Massachusetts Insurer is searching for a Health Associate of the Society of Actuaries #42628 #jobs #actuary
- Midwest USA Pension Consulting Firm seeks Actuary or Senior Actuarial Analyst, 3 to 10 yrs. exp. #42746 #jobs
- #Predictive / Statistical Modeling, Property and Casualty Insurance Company, Florida #40607
- #Florida Insurance Company is looking for a Property and Casualty #Actuarial Analyst #40782 #jobs
Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
the closer michael turner split pea soup land of the lost cleveland cavaliers cleveland cavaliers war horse
Successful IOC Debriefing of London 2012 comes to a close
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.rio2016.com/%3Ca%20href=%22/node/109541%22%3Ever%3C/a%3E
the bachelor good morning america red meat bachelor ben jon hamm kim kardashian law school rankings jon hamm
Review: Kabul Bank sent millions of dollars abroad
FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2010, file photo, Afghan soldiers chat in front of the main office of Kabul Bank in Kabul, Afghanistan. A new report offers previously undisclosed details about how the owners of Kabul Bank and their friends and relatives got rich off $861million in fraudulent loans _ a Ponzi scheme using customer deposits that operated under nascent banking oversight in the war-torn country.(AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2010, file photo, Afghan soldiers chat in front of the main office of Kabul Bank in Kabul, Afghanistan. A new report offers previously undisclosed details about how the owners of Kabul Bank and their friends and relatives got rich off $861million in fraudulent loans _ a Ponzi scheme using customer deposits that operated under nascent banking oversight in the war-torn country.(AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE- In this March 27, 2011, file photo, an Afghan man walks past by a branch of Kabul Bank in Kabul, Afghanistan. An independent Afghan financial commission has been asked to recommend whether to dissolve Kabul Bank, the nation's largest financial institution that nearly collapsed last year after allegations of mismanagement, cronyism and questionable lending, an Afghan official said Sunday. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
FILE- In this Sept. 1, 2010, file photo, Afghans pass by main office of Kabul Bank in Kabul, Afghanistan. A new report offers previously undisclosed details about how the owners of Kabul Bank and their friends and relatives got rich off $861million in fraudulent loans _ a Ponzi scheme using customer deposits that operated under nascent banking oversight in the war-torn country. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq, File)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Hundreds of millions of dollars from Kabul Bank were spirited out of Afghanistan ? some smuggled in airline food trays ? to bank accounts in more than two dozen countries, according to an independent review released on Wednesday about massive fraud that led to the collapse of the nation's largest financial institution.
The report, which was financed by international donors, offers new details about how the men at Kabul Bank and their friends and relatives got rich off $861 million in fraudulent loans in what the International Monetary Fund has called a Ponzi scheme that used customer deposits and operated under nascent banking oversight in the war-torn country.
The report describes Kabul Bank as a sophisticated operation with one set of books for the eyes of regulators and another in the back room that logged how those running the bank and others were fattening their wallets.
Loans were made, but rarely repaid. Borrowers took out loans to pay back loans. Company documents and financial statements were fabricated. The bank's credit department used more than 100 corporate stamps for fake companies to make documents look authentic. The bank operated some of its more than 100 branches without a permit from the government.
The 87-page report, which was conducted to satisfy one of several benchmarks the IMF asked the Afghan government to meet in cleaning up the scandal, points to poor oversight by Afghan banking regulators, political interference in the criminal investigation and activities by a special judicial tribunal hearing the case that it said were "well outside the legal norms of criminal procedure."
The bank's failure and subsequent bailout represents more than 5 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, making it "one of the largest banking failures in the world," according to the report by the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee. The report said "hundreds of millions" were sent out of the impoverished nation where Afghan, U.S. and NATO forces are fighting an 11-year-old war with the Taliban and other militants.
The committee behind the report consisted of three Afghan professionals and scholars and three international corruption experts, and was funded by Britain's Department of International Development and the Danish International Development Agency.
"Every citizen in Afghanistan will bear the cost of the hundreds of millions of dollars required to secure deposits and the tens of millions of dollars required to deal with the aftermath," the report said.
The Kabul Bank scandal is a saga about money-grabbing, weak banking oversight, lax prosecution, nepotism, political contributions and fraud. The cast of characters includes a poker-playing bank chairman, an Afghan central bank chairman who feared his life was endangered and fled to the U.S., the wealthy brothers of the Afghan president and vice president, and bank shareholders ? some who bought posh properties in Dubai and spent lavishly on themselves and their circle of friends and relatives.
In October 2011, Afghan lawmakers passed a bill to provide up to $825 million to recapitalize Afghanistan's central bank for bailing out Kabul Bank. Whatever money is recovered from debtors will offset this amount.
"This is the money from the budget of Afghanistan ? from the pockets of Afghan people," Drago Kos, chairman of the committee, told reporters at a news conference Wednesday in Kabul. "This money should be much better used for health care, education and security."
President Hamid Karzai announced in April 2011 that Kabul Bank would be put into receivership. Earlier this month, a trial began for more than 20 people indicted in the debacle, which has become a symbol of the country's deep-rooted corruption and cronyism. The case is being closely followed by Afghans and international donors because it is a barometer of government officials' pledge to root out patronage, graft and show accountability to international donors.
The report said Afghan authorities learned in late 2009 that "Kabul Bank was moving money through food trays" on flights operated by Pamir Airways, a multimillion-dollar Afghan airline that was established with loans from the bank and has since gone out of business.
An official knowledgeable about the report said as much as $900 million ? a majority derived from loan schemes ? was moved out of the country through electronic transfers from the bank between March 2007 and April 2011 and ended up in the bank accounts of related parties in 28 countries. The list of countries includes the United Arab Emirates, Latvia, China, Turkmenistan, Britain, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Turkey, Russia, the United States and Switzerland.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, which was not included in the report.
According to the report, 10 Pamir Airways pilots were paid $320,000 in salaries between March 2008 and November 2010 under the description of "pilots of cash delivery."
The report said the Afghan attorney general's office recently asked for international assistance in tracking the funds abroad but the request was limited to help from four countries ? Switzerland, France, Britain and India ? for information on funds tied to the former top two bank executives.
The report also criticizes the attorney general's office for not undertaking a substantial probe into the bank until April 2011 ? a year after the news of the bank's problems surfaced, eight months after nervous customers ran to withdraw deposits and five months after the central bank had asked the attorney general's office to start a criminal investigation.
The indictment names more than 20 bank executives, bank employees, central bank workers and others who allegedly benefited from the fraud. The charges include money laundering, misuse of authority, using counterfeit documents and opening accounts under pseudonyms. But the report claims the indictment is tainted by political influence.
"Information received during the inquiry indicates that the final decision about who to indict was made at the political level in the spring of 2011 by a high-ranking (Afghan) committee ? and that prosecutors from the attorney general's office were called in to amend the indictment to conform to the decisions taken," the report said.
Basir Azizi, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said Tuesday that the Kabul Bank case was not treated as a political issue.
"We strongly reject any comments that the attorney general's office dealt with this case as a political issue," he said.
The committee also is critical of the special tribunal that Karzai created to hear the case. The report said the tribunal has had off-the-record meetings with accused individuals and potential witnesses, has conducted its own probes on the sidelines and has held meetings with shareholders, urging them to repay money ? a job tasked to the receivership.
As of Oct. 31, the receivership has recovered $135.3 million in cash as well as assets with a book value of $181.1 million, according to the committee.
The report gives the Afghan central bank credit for carrying out various examinations of the bank, saying it tried to take enforcement measures or corrective actions four times after consistently spotting regulatory violations. But the committee said that unless the central bank and other Afghan institutions move to operate independently, stand up to political interference and hold wrongdoers accountable, the Afghan government will never be able to sustain a fully functioning democracy.
The report said $861 million, or 92 percent of Kabul Bank's loan book, went to 19 individuals and companies. Among them are key bank shareholders, including Sherkhan Farnood, the former bank chairman and a world-class poker player, former chief executive officer Khalilullah Ferozi, and the brothers of Karzai and first Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim.
Other bank funds ? an estimated $66 million ? were spent on lavish expenses, cars, rent, bonuses, salary advances and salaries for employees that did not exist
In 2009, the central bank advised Afghan banks to refrain from making political contributions in the presidential campaign.
"This letter was not enough to dissuade Kabul Bank, which reportedly provided millions of dollars to the campaign of at least one presidential candidate ? in addition to dozens of cars, and payment of the entire media campaign including billboards and television advertisements," the report said.
___
Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
Associated Presssparkle sacagawea new hope baptist church associated press foster friess new orleans hornets ghost rider spirit of vengeance
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)