• 92 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • The reason WHO frames common risk factors and common chronic diseases is because persons with these risks, conditions and diseases often end up with more than one of these diseases.

    e.g., WHO now considers obesity a disease in itself, but obesity is also a biological risk factor for cancer and diabetes.

    There are a lot of interrelationships in the risks.

    More, with these conditions, they are also more vulnerable to infectious diseases.

    It’s important though to keep in mind that, as I note in another reply, these kinds of studies aren’t just about informing individuals’ choices.

    They’re not about ‘blaming’ or ‘shaming’ individuals choices.

    They are about understanding what are the underlying determinants of health and risk factors that are shaping health outcomes.

    Back to the study in question, and the OP’s remark that they were surprised that people were eating that much processed meat daily…

    If the protein sources that are most available and affordable are the most unhealthy, preprocessed ones, then consumers will buy and consume more of these than healthier ones.

    And their preferences and consumption habits will be shaped by these experiences.

    And that will affect overall health and life expectancy of the population.


  • I would argue that this is missing the point - and so, in fact, is the article reporting on the study.

    What is important to keep in mind is that the benefit of this research is not primarily about ‘telling’ or ‘informing’ individuals so that they can make different food consumption decisions.

    It’s more about how food environments are shaped to encourage healthy or unhealthy choices.

    If eating that much processed meat daily or weekly increases cancer risks, what’s driving or nudging people towards that.

    Is it barriers to availability, accessibility or affordability of healthier and palatable choices?



  • Cancer is the leading cause of premature mortality and morbidity (death and disability) in Canada.

    So, an accumulation of small risks, and avoidance of risks, have significant benefits at both the individual and population levels.

    The general population needs to be aware that unhealthy eating is impacting their lives and quality of life.

    Let’s stick to the peer reviewed science and evidence consensus.

    WHO established the four behavioural common risk factors for the four major chronic noncommunicable diseases decades ago.

    The kind of research synthesis in this article is about continuing to build the evidence on relative and absolute risks, and in some cases look at how these differences impact different populations more or less due to intersecting determinants.

    Common risk factors

    • unhealthy diet
    • physical inactivity
    • tobacco use
    • harmful use of alcohol
    • air pollution added more recently

    Major chronic noncommunicable diseases

    • cancer
    • cardiovascular diseases
    • diabetes
    • chronic respiratory diseases


  • I’m rather interested to see where they go with Korby.

    It’s important for Christine Chapel’s character that the backstory they are developing for the TOS relationship is credible.

    It was really rather sad and mortifying for Chapel in TOS to be shown as a intelligent and successful scientist, who took a Starfleet starship posting as a nurse to track down a missing fiance only to have him revealed as a dark mastermind turning people into androids.

    Having what appeared to be a one sided, unrequited longing for Spock as well, made Chapel come across as pathetic, and very much shifted it to misogyny. Or, at least a complete failure of a Bechtel-type test where a female character exists for more than her interest in male characters.

    (Even Majel Barrett’s Number One in ‘The Cage’ was put in an unrequited attraction situation with Pike.)








  • I’ve been wondering how much of the decision to wrap SNW with a short sixth season might have to do with Goldsman’s contract with Paramount coming to an end and his new one with another franchise and major studio.

    SNW really was his project, regardless of Alonso Myers being the co-showrunner.

    There’s a possibility that this is also about a change in leadership as the show transitions to a true TOS show, perhaps hopping to a time post-TAS but before the movies, and even shifting somewhat in tone.

    All of this would make sense of casting an older actor as Jim Kirk.






  • I would argue that a lot of the computational based problem solving , from middle school through early undergraduate years, focused on topics historically oriented to boys’ interests, aren’t a good measure of innate math talent either.

    But those have historically left a lot of female students behind.

    Male or female, most students are really looking to get through math requirements with plug-and-chug replication of algorithms to get to an answer - not genuine problem solving or abstraction. However, being able to reproduce an answer on a very slightly different problem, or just one with different numbers to plug in, does very little towards using mathematical as a means to model problems independently and find solutions.