Bowel disorders linked to acne treatment are “a rare outcome,” cautioned Dr. David Margolis, a dermatologist and lead author of a study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, in an interview with Reuters Health.

Nonetheless, previous studies have suggested that the acne drug isotretinoin, known commonly by the brand name Accutane, might be the cause of inflammatory bowel disease in a small number of patients being treated for severe acne.

Noting that most people given isotretinoin have already been taking antibiotics for months, if not years, Margolis and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania wanted to know if antibiotics might play a role in triggering the bowel condition.

Up to 90 percent of teenagers and young adults battle acne at some point. Drugs from the tetracycline family are the most commonly prescribed antibiotics for the treatment of severe acne.

“They limit scarring and the outbreak of pimples. They’re exceedingly effective and have been used for years,” Margolis said.

The researchers looked at the medical records of more than 94,000 British teenagers and young adults diagnosed with acne between 1998 and 2006.

They found that long-term use of antibiotics appeared to double the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease in these subjects. Of the 207 cases of inflammatory bowel disease diagnosed among the 94,487 patients in the study, 152 (0.26 percent of all subjects) were taking one of three commonly prescribed tetracycline-based antibiotics and 55 (0.14 percent) were not.

Patients taking one of the three drugs, doxycycline, appeared to be at a slightly higher risk (0.21 percent) of developing an inflammatory bowel disease compared to patients taking minocycline (0.17 percent risk) or tetracycline (0.20 percent risk).

“The association was probably most pronounced in terms of Crohn’s disease, a subgroup,” Margolis said.

Crohn’s disease is an inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea and malnutrition. It affects an estimated 400,000 people in the U.S. Some 600,000 Americans suffer another inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis. Both are treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and some complications of the conditions can require surgery.

“This potential risk should be considered when prescribing this medication,” the authors write, while also urging more study of the connection between acne drugs and bowel disorders. It is possible, for instance, that the risk of inflammatory bowel disease is related to the biology of severe acne itself and not to treatments for it, they note.

“This is a rare outcome, rare enough you need to be careful about making decisions to change clinical practice,” Margolis said.

Inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, can be life-altering conditions that restrict social interactions and increase depression.

Severe acne is also a “bad disease,” Margolis said. “These people have lots of concerns about their health, their appearance and how they function in society, and they are at an increased risk of depression,” Margolis

pointed out.

የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ ከሐምሌ 27 (ኦገስት 1) ጀምሮ በርራዉን በጅቡቲ ያቀመ እንደሆነ የዘገበዉ አዲስ ፎርቱን በኢትዮጵያና በጅቡቲ መካከል ድርድሮች እየተደረጉ መሆኑንም ዘግቧል።

የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ ዋና ሥራ እስኪያጅ አቶ ግርማ ዋቆ «እንዲሟላ(ጅቡቲዎችን ማለታቸዉ ነዉ) የሚፈልጉት ነገር አለ። የበረራዉ መቋረጥ አንድ አይነት ስምምነት እስኪደረስ ነዉ» በማለት የተፈጠረዉን መጠነኛ ቀዉስ እንደ ትልቅ ችግር መታየት እንደሌለበት ለመጠቆም ሞክረዋል።

የጅቡቲ ኢኮኖሚ ሙሉ ለሙሉ የሚደገፈዉ ኢትዮጵያ ወደቧን በመጠቀሟ መሆኑ እየታወቀም፣ ጅቡቲ የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ እንዳያርፍ ማገዷ፣ የሚያሳየዉ «ሌላ ወደብ የላቸዉም ፣ ከኛ ዉጭ የትም አይሄዱም። ምን ሊያደርጉ አይችሉም» የሚል አስተሳሰብ እንዳላቸዉ፣ መሆኑን የገለጹት በጉዳዩ ላይ አስተያየት የሰጡን የፖለቲካ ተንታኝ « ሰማኒያ ሚሊዮን በላይ የሆነ ሕዝብ አንድ ሚሊዮን በማይሞላ ሕዝብ ጥገኛ ሲሆን ማየትን የመሰለ የሚያሳዝ ነገር የለም» ሲሉም ለኢትዮጵያ ወደብ የማስፈለጉ ጉዳይ ትልቅ የአገር ደህንነት ጉዳይ እንደሆነ አስረድተዋል።

Hawking has been urging continued progress in human spaceflight as a long-term survival measure.

Alan Boyle writes: We may have just 100 to 200 years to figure out how to get off this rock and give our species a cosmic insurance policy, physicist Stephen Hawking says in a fresh interview with BigThink. Hawking has said this sort of thing several times before – but every time he mentions the time frame, it adds an extra bit of urgency to the warning.

This time, Hawking’s views are given a stark spin: “Abandon Earth – or Face Extinction.” But Hawking isn’t really suggesting we should just give up on our planet. It’s just that right now we have all our eggs in one planetary basket. Here’s the key passage:

“If we are the only intelligent beings in the galaxy, we should make sure we survive and continue. But we are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million. Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space. We have made remarkable progress in the last hundred years, but if we want to continue beyond the next hundred years, our future is in space. That is why I’m in favor of manned, or should I say, ‘personed’ spaceflight.”

Hawking said that “if we can avoid disaster for the next two centuries, our species should be safe as we spread into space.”

The threats that Hawking is worried about break down into two categories: First, there are the doomsdays we could bring down upon ourselves – such as biological or nuclear attacks, or human-caused climate change that has such sudden effects that we can’t adjust. The other category would be catastrophes that we don’t cause: for example, a direct hit by a huge space rock or a supernova blast; or a bizarre, or a supernova blast world-changing eruption of super-volcanoes; or the emergence of a novel pathogen that our species can’t fight.

The first category encompasses issues that we can do something about, and Hawking of course favors taking whatever action is necessary to save the environment and human society. The second category, however, takes in plausible extinction scenarios that humans couldn’t do much about. Either category of catastrophe would require the human species to have an off-planet Plan B.

I’ve said for years that extinction avoidance is one of the five E’s that explain why we have to spend our time and effort on space science and exploration. And I’m not by any means the first person to figure that out:

“The earth is the cradle of humankind, but one cannot live in the cradle forever” – Russian rocket pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1895

“Earth is too small a basket for mankind to keep all its eggs in.” – science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein

“Since, in the long run, every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring – not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive.” – astronomer-author Carl Sagan, 1994

“The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don’t have a space program, it’ll serve us right!” – science-fiction writer Larry Niven, as quoted by Arthur C. Clarke in 2001

Mars would offer the best nearby second home for humanity and our allied species – and on that score, Hawking’s view has been echoed by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who says his ultimate aim is to make Homo sapiens a multiplanet species. In the longer term, our distant descendants will have to leave Earth entirely before the sun goes all red-giant on us. Humans would have to move outward to the solar system’s rim – or perhaps eventually to other star systems, on a voyage that would most likely take many generations.

How can humans do that? Hawking doesn’t put forward any detailed answers, but in recent months he has outlined three way-out ideas for time travel, including wormholes, black-hole encounters and super-fast acceleration. In the “Star Trek: First Contact” time line, humans came up with warp drive – and were visited by friendly Vulcans – in the year 2063. Will humans get that lucky in real life? Maybe there’s an astronomically remote chance. But Hawking has another warning about that: We’d better be careful about the aliens we come across.

So what do you think? Considering all the trouble that NASA has been having with human spaceflight lately, how much do you think we can get done by 2110? Will it make a difference for our species’ survival? Weigh in with your thoughts in the comment space below.

Source: msnbc

Snoring is one of the unfortunate realities of life.  Most of us do it to some degree and generally speaking, the older we get the worse the condition gets.

Snoring can put a huge strain on our most important relationship in life, as the person with whom we share our bed often suffers chronically as a result of their partner’s snoring.

But more seriously, for 1 in 6 people snoring is a serious health issue. In fact, snoring can kill. 

Called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), this snoring related condition is caused by the relaxation of the muscles in the back of the throat and tongue while sleeping which in turn blocks the airway.  This blockage cuts off breathing causing a person to momentarily wake up.  It can literally happen hundreds of times per night.

OSA can have serious health implications including chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, weight gain, and even heart failure and stroke.

So treating snoring can make a huge difference in a person’s long term health outlook not to mention the more immediate benefits of being able to get a solid night’s sleep every night.

But the problem with snoring is that effective treatments have been highly intrusive and expensive.   They include surgery, in which a doctor cuts away or shrinks tissue in the back of the throat, a CPAP face mask which forces air into the lungs keeping the air passages open while you sleep, or an oral mouthpiece designed to force the lower jaw out during sleep, keeping the airway clear

A breakthrough in controlling snoring

But now there’s a new product that seems to be the breakthrough so many people have been waiting for.  And like so many great innovations, it’s remarkably simple and clinically proven to stop snoring.

The product is an ergonomic jaw supporter that fits over the head and chin. It gently holds the jaw in a position that allows the breathing airway to remain clear which virtually eliminates snoring while you sleep.

Although the jaw supporter may look somewhat strange, it’s actually remarkably comfortable and is machine washable.

But best of all, the chinstrap’s effectiveness has been clinically proven.  In a case study by the Eastern Virginia Medical School, it was found to be as effective in treating OSA as expensive CPAP machines

The chinstrap is offered online through a company called MySnoringSolutions.

While most CPAP treatments cost thousands of dollars, the MySnoringSolutions system sells for just $119.97 and it comes with an unconditional 3 month guarantee.  The company is so sure the product will work to eliminate your snoring, and be so comfortably you won’t even know you’re sleeping with it, that will refund the product cost if you decide it’s not for you.  So there’s no risk you’ll be out-of-pocket for something that isn’t doing the trick for you. 

And MySnoringSolutions is also currently offering a buy one – get one free offer.  You’ll receive two of the jaw supporters for the price of one.  Use your free jaw supporter as a spare, give it to a friend, or use it for travel.

If you want to stop snoring once and for all – this may be the solution you have been waiting for.

Girls in the U.S. may be continuing to hit puberty at earlier ages, according to new research.

The findings suggest earlier development than what was reported in a 1997 study and show a worrying pattern, say the study’s authors, led by Dr. Frank Biro of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Girls who hit puberty earlier are more likely to engage in risky behavior, Biro’s team notes, and might be at a higher risk for breast cancer, than their peers who develop later.

“This could represent a real trend,” Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan who was not involved with the new research, told Reuters Health.

Doctors are unsure of what could be causing girls to develop at a younger age, but rising obesity rates may be to blame, they say.

In a study published today in Pediatrics, Biro’s team examined about 1,200 girls aged 7 and 8 in Cincinnati, New York and San Francisco. Researchers, as well as the girls’ doctors and nurses, used a standard measure of breast development to determine which girls had started puberty.

Compared to the 1997 findings from girls across the U.S., girls in the current study – especially white girls – were more developed at a younger age. As previous research has shown, there were also large differences in development based on race.

At age 7, approximately 10 percent of white girls and 23 percent of black girls had started developing breasts – compared to 5 percent of white girls and 15 percent of black girls in 1997, the authors write.

Among 8-year-olds in the study, 18 percent of white girls and 43 percent of black girls had entered puberty – an increase from around 11 percent of white girls from 1997, but the same as black girls in that year.

This study and another published today in Pediatrics suggest that being overweight, both as a young child and growing up, makes girls more likely to enter puberty earlier. In the second study, Dr. Mildred Maisonet from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and her colleagues observed that gaining weight quickly in infancy – a predictor of later obesity – was linked to early puberty in girls in Great Britain.

Biro’s team found that girls with a higher body mass index (BMI) – a ratio of weight and height – at age 7 and 8 were more likely to be developed than their thinner peers.

Those authors warn that their study population, although diverse, doesn’t necessarily represent what’s happening in all U.S. girls. But they are continuing to follow the girls in the study to see when the rest of them hit puberty, and what other factors might be related to their rate of development.

Biro thinks that rising rates of obesity could be a major reason why girls seem to be developing faster than they did even 13 years ago. “We’re on the opposite side of an increase in BMI that has been seen in this country and in other countries,” he told Reuters Health.

Researchers know that heavier girls are more likely to enter puberty early, Lee, of the University of Michigan, said. That could be because overweight people have more of a hormone known to be linked to development – but it could also be a matter of the actual nutrients that girls get from their diet, she said.

Lee and Biro said doctors are worried about both the psychological and physical health of girls who hit puberty at a young age.

Studies have shown that girls who develop early are more at risk for depression and often start having sex earlier than girls who develop later.

“For the 11-year old that looks like she’s 15 or 16, adults are going to interact with her like she’s 15 or 16, but so are her peers,” Biro said. Girls who develop early “look physically older,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that they’re psychologically or socially more mature.”

In addition, women who spend more of their lives menstruating are at a higher risk for breast cancer – which, depending on when they hit menopause, could be a worry for girls who develop early.

Biro said that there are things families can do to minimize the possible risk of early puberty in young daughters, including eating more fruits and vegetables and eating together as a family.

SOURCES: http://link.reuters.com/veh73n Pediatrics,

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba carries her country flag after winning in the women's 10,000m final race at the 2010 African Athletics Championship at the Nyayo stadium in the capital Nairobi, July 31, 2010.… Read more »

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)—Double Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia beat world champion Linet Masai of Kenya in the women’s 10,000 meters at the African Athletics Championships on Saturday.

Dibaba trailed for most the race before outsprinting Masai on the last lap to win in 31 minutes, 51.39 seconds.

Fellow Ethiopian Haileyesus Melkamu was second in 31:55.50 and Masai third in 31:59.36.

Dibaba said it was especially rewarding to win in Kenya, Ethiopia’s traditional rival in track.

“I am very happy to win such a competitive race, having been injured for most of last year,” said Dibaba, the Olympic champion at 5,000 and 10,000 meters.

This year, Dibaba won the 5,000 in the New York Grand Prix and at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Ore.

Algeria’s Hadj Lazib won the men’s 100 hurdles in 13.77, and Tunisia’s Hamdi Dhoubi won the pole vault by clearing 15 feet, 5 inches.

Thousand of fans were turned away from the Nyayo National Stadium, which was filled to capacity, said David Okeyo, the chief executive of the event’s local organizing committee.

“We did not want the wall to collapse or a stampede,” he said. “This stadium was meant for 35,000 people and we already had more than that.”

Security at the championships has been tight because of the twin bomb attacks in Uganda’s capital Kampala that killed 76 people who were watching the World Cup final on July 11.

Although the study authors caution that more research is needed, they say that their current investigation reveals that the pre-radiation procedure appears to absorb about 50 percent of radiation rays that might otherwise hit the back and sides of the eye and cause irreversible damage.

“Vision loss is a devastating yet common side effect of radiation therapy,” vitreoretinal surgeon Dr. Tara McCannel, an assistant professor of ophthalmology and director of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Ophthalmic Oncology Center at the Jules Stein Eye Institute, said in a UCLA news release. “Until recently, physicians focused on killing the tumor and considered vision loss secondary. Our results suggest that silicon oil offers a safe tool for protecting the patient’s vision during radiation,” she added.

The finding is reported in the July issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Ocular melanoma takes hold under the retina and is the most common adult eye cancer. Standard treatment involves the surgical application, and subsequent removal, of radioactive “seeds” to the white of the eye. Although effective at killing cancer cells, the process can also cause central vision loss by doing irreparable harm to optic nerve fibers and blood vessels.

“If patients survive the cancer, more than half will suffer vision loss in the treated eye six months to three years later,” noted McCannel.

However, McCannel’s team found that such risk can be significantly minimized by pre-surgical application of FDA-approved silicon oil shields around the interior of the eye. Post-surgery, the silicon is washed away with saline, and ultimately replaced by the patient’s natural fluids.

The authors note that such silicon shields are already commonly used in retinal surgery. In addition, they found that the process does not hamper the effective use of radiation to attack tumor cells.

More information

For more on eye cancer, visit the American Cancer Society

Xavi hails Spanish dream come true

Spain midfielder Xavi described his country’s FIFA World Cup™ victory as a dream come true following their 1-0 defeat of the Netherlands at Soccer City.

 Xavi’s club and country team-mate Andres Iniesta scored the only goal of the game four minutes before the end of extra time after a drab encounter as Spain added the world title to the European crown they won in Vienna two years ago. And having also won everything on offer in club football, Xavi now has a full set of international medals.

 But being part of the first ever Spanish team to win the FIFA World Cup has topped the lot for the diminutive Barcelona man. “Now we have the trophy it’s difficult to put into words, it’s such an amazing feeling to have the trophy in my arms,” he said. “It’s a dream come true, especially to win both tournaments, it’s the reward for all the hard work we have put in so far.”

  Now we have the trophy it’s difficult to put into words, it’s such an amazing feeling to have the trophy in my arms.

Match-winner Iniesta, who was also named man-of-the-match, was almost lost for words. “I can’t quite believe it yet. I had the chance to score such an important goal for my team, it’s simply incredible,” he said.

 ”It’s a small contribution in a match that was very tough, very rough, with all sorts of things happening on the pitch and I think we deserve it. We have to feel very proud of each of the members of this squad, from the first to the last.”

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas came on in the second half of normal time to give Spain extra impetus and it was his pass which created Iniesta’s goal. “It’s a great moment for me and for everyone Spanish, the players, the people. We are all very proud of this,” he said.

 ”We never thought we could make it and this is something special. When I came on, I was fired up. It is has been a difficult tournament for me and I didn’t get to play so much.

 ”Something inside me was telling me this was my chance. All my family wanted to come and be part of this, I had my chance and I am just very proud to be part of this. It has been a hard season, but now it doesn’t matter at all. This is one of the best moments of my life. Today we are living the dream.”

 But there was also a tinge of sadness for Fabregas as he had to console club team-mate and Dutch forward Robin van Persie. “The first thing I had to do after the final whistle was go to Robin. Instead of celebrating with my friends, I wanted to talk to Robin, because I felt he deserved this as well.

 ”He has been injured a lot and if it wasn’t us he was playing against, it would have been different. But as happy as I was, I was also sad for him. He deserved it as well. He just told me congratulations and to enjoy the moment.

 ”I hope he has his chance again, because he is a great guy and a great leader. He has been really unlucky with injuries and I hope he can have his moment in four years or two years.”

 However, Fabregas believes Van Persie may have to wait longer given the next generation of talent coming off the Spanish production line. “We have great players who are coming through and Spanish football is just growing,” he added. “This is the best thing which can happen to a football player. You can’t win something bigger.”

 As for where he will be playing next season, Barcelona target Fabregas was ambiguous. “All I can say is that this is for all the Arsenal players and fans, they are a world-class club. I am an Arsenal player and I am proud to be.”

Before Iniesta’s winning contribution, goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas had made two vital interventions to deny Arjen Robben in normal time in one-on-one situations. “It was sensational, an historic moment for Spanish football. We haven’t yet realised what we’ve done,” said the Real Madrid stopper.

Self-change is tough, but it’s not impossible, nor does it have to be traumatic, according to change expert Stan Goldberg, Ph.D. Here, he lays out the 10 principles he deems necessary for successful change.

My mother died on Christmas day of a massive heart attack. I later counted 15 self-help books on her shelves, but found each offered only broad ideas; none provided the specifics necessary to save her life.

Like my mother, many of us want to change but simply don’t know how to do it. After 25 years of researching how people change, I’ve discovered 10 major principles that encompass all self-change strategies. I’ve broken down those principles and, using one example—a man’s desire to be more punctual—I demonstrate strategies for implementing change in your own life.

All Behaviors Are Complex

Research by psychologist James O. Prochaska, Ph.D., an internationally renowned expert on planned change, has repeatedly found that change occurs in stages. To increase the overall probability of success, divide a behavior into parts and learn each part successively.

Strategy: Break down the behavior

Almost all behaviors can be broken down. Separate your desired behavior into smaller, self-contained units.

He wanted to be on time for work, so he wrote down what that would entail: waking up, showering, dressing, preparing breakfast, eating, driving, parking and buying coffee—all before 9 a.m.

Change Is Frightening

We resist change, but fear of the unknown can result in clinging to status quo behaviors—no matter how bad they are.

Strategy: Examine the consequences

Compare all possible consequences of both your status quo and desired behaviors. If there are more positive results associated with the new behavior, your fears of the unknown are unwarranted.

If he didn’t become more punctual, the next thing he’d be late for is the unemployment office. There was definitely a greater benefit to changing than to not changing.

Strategy: Prepare your observers

New behaviors can frighten the people observing them, so introduce them slowly.

Becoming timely overnight would make co-workers suspicious. He started arriving by 9 a.m. only on important days.

Strategy: Be realistic

Unrealistic goals increase fear. Fear increases the probability of failure.

Mornings found him sluggish, so he began preparing the night before and doubled his morning time.

Change Must Be Positive

As B.F. Skinner’s early research demonstrates, reinforcement-not punishment-is necessary for permanent change. Reinforcement can be intrinsic, extrinsic or extraneous. According to Carol Sansone, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Utah, one type of reinforcement must be present for self-change, two would be better than one, and three would be best.

Strategy: Enjoy the act

Intrinsic reinforcement occurs when the act is reinforcing.

He loved dressing well. Seeing his clothes laid out at night was a joyful experience.

Strategy: Admire the outcome

An act doesn’t have to be enjoyable when the end result is extrinsically reinforcing. For instance, I hate cleaning my kitchen, but I do it because I like the sight of a clean kitchen.

After dressing, he looked in the mirror and enjoyed the payoff from his evening preparation: He looked impeccable.

Strategy: Reward yourself

Extraneous reinforcement isn’t directly connected to the act or its completion. A worker may despise his manufacturing job but will continue working for a good paycheck.

Whenever he met his target, he put $20 into his Hawaii vacation fund.

Being Is Easier Than Becoming

In my karate class of 20 students, the instructor yelled, “No pain, no gain,” amid grueling instructions. After four weeks, only three students remained. Uncomfortable change becomes punishing, and rational people don’t continue activities that are more painful than they are rewarding.

Strategy: Take baby steps

In one San Francisco State University study, researchers found that participants were more successful when their goals were gradually approximated. Write down the behavior you want to change. Then to the right, write your goal. Draw four lines between the two and write a progressive step on each that takes you closer to your goal.

The first week, he would arrive by 9:20 a.m., then five minutes earlier each subsequent week until he achieved his goal.

Strategy: Simplify the process

Methods of changing are often unnecessarily complicated and frenetic. Through simplicity, clarity arises.

Instead of waiting in line at Starbucks, he would buy coffee in his office building.

Strategy: Prepare for problems

Perfect worlds don’t exist, and neither do perfect learning situations. Pamela Dunston, Ph.D., of Clemson University, found cueing to be an effective strategy.

His alarm clock failed to rouse him, so for the first month he’d use a telephone wake-up service.

Slower Is Better

Everything has its own natural speed; when altered, unpleasant things happen. Change is most effective when it occurs slowly, allowing behaviors to become automatic.

Strategy: Establish calm

Life is like a stirred-up lake: Allow it to calm and the mud will settle, clearing the water. The same is true for change.

To make mornings less harried, he no longer ran errands on his way to work.

Strategy: Appreciate the path

Author Ursula LeGuin once said, “It’s good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” Don’t devise an arduous path; it should be as rewarding as the goal.

He enjoyed almost everything involved in being punctual. The coffee could be better, but it was a small price to pay.

Know More, Do Better

Surprise spells disaster for people seeking change. Knowing more about the process allows more control over it.

Strategy: Monitor your behaviors

Some therapists insist on awareness of both current and desired behaviors, but research suggests it’s sufficient to be aware of just the new one.

In a journal, he recorded the time taken for each step of work preparation.

Strategy: Request feedback

A study in the British Journal of Psychology found that reflecting on personal experiences with others is key to successful change. But because complimenting new behavior implies that the observer disliked the old one, it can make observers feel uncomfortable. If, for example, you were once demeaning to people, few would now say, “It’s nice talking with you since you stopped being a jerk.” Give the observer permission, suggests Paul Schutz, Ph.D., of the University of Georgia, and you will receive feedback.

Every Friday he asked a friend how well he was doing with his time problem.

Strategy: Understand the outcome

Success is satisfying, and if you know why you succeeded or failed, similar strategies can be applied when changing other behaviors.

Every morning, he analyzed why he did or did not arrive to work on time.

Change Requires Structure

Many people view structure as restrictive, something that inhibits spontaneity. While spontaneity is wonderful for some activities, it’s a surefire method for sabotaging change.

Strategy: Identify what works

Classify all activities and materials you’re using as either helpful, neutral or unhelpful in achieving your goal. Eliminate unhelpful ones, make neutrals into positives and keep or increase the positives.

After evaluating his morning routine, he replaced time-consuming breakfasts with quick protein drinks.

Strategy: Revisit your plan regularly

Review every day how and why you’re changing and the consequences of success and failure. Research by Daniel Willingham, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, showed that repetition increases the probability of success.

Each night he reviewed his plan, smiled and said, “Hawaii, here I come.”

Strategy: Logically sequence events

According to behavior expert Richard Foxx, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Penn State University at Harrisburg, it’s important to sequence the aspects associated with learning a new behavior in order of level of difficulty or timing.

He completed all bathroom activities, then ate breakfast.

Practice Is Necessary

Practice is another key approach to change, suggests one study on changing conscious experience published recently in the British Journal of Psychology. I’ve found that the majority of failures occur because this principle is ignored. Practice makes new behaviors automatic and a natural part of who we are.

Strategy: Use helpers

Not all behaviors can be learned on your own. Sometimes it’s useful to enlist the help of a trusted friend.

When even the telephone answering service failed to wake him up, he asked his secretary to call.

Strategy: Practice in many settings

If you want to use a new behavior in different environments, practice it in those or similar settings. Dubbing this “generalization,” psychologists T.F. Stokes and D.M. Baer found it critical in maintaining new behaviors.

During the first week he would try to be punctual for work. The following week, he would try to be on time for his regularly scheduled tennis game.

New Behaviors Must Be Protected

Even when flawlessly performed, new behaviors are fragile and disappear if unprotected.

Strategy: Control your environment

Environmental issues such as noise and level of alertness may interfere with learning new behaviors. After identifying what helps and what hinders, increase the helpers and eliminate the rest.

Having a nightcap before bed made it difficult to wake up in the morning, so he avoided alcohol after 7 p.m.

Strategy: Use memory aides

Because a new behavior is neither familiar nor automatic, it’s easy to forget. Anything that helps memory is beneficial.

He kept a list in each room of his apartment describing the sequence of things to be done and the maximum allowable time to complete them.

Small Successes Are Big

Unfortunately, plans for big successes often result in big failures. Focus instead on a series of small successes. Each little success builds your reservoir of self-esteem; one big failure devastates it.

Strategy: Map your success

Approach each step as a separate mission and you’ll eventually arrive at the end goal.

For each morning activity he completed within his self-allotted time limit, he rewarded himself by putting money into his Hawaii-getaway fund.

The process of changing from what you are to what you would like to become can be either arduous and frustrating or easy and rewarding. The effort required for both paths is the same. Choose the first and you’ll probably recycle yourself endlessly. Apply my 10 principles, and change, once only a slight possibility, becomes an absolute certainty. The choice is yours.

Stan Goldberg, Ph.D

Psychology Today

91-year-old Austrian woman lost both limbs after botched operation

VIENNA — Authorities are investigating the amputation of a 91-year-old woman’s healthy leg in an Austrian hospital.

Wilfried Siegele, a spokesman for the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office, says the investigation was launched last month after the hospital in the town of St. Johann in Tyrol province alerted authorities about the June 16 incident.

Local media reported Friday that the woman, who has not been identified, ended up losing both legs since doctors later also had to amputate her sick limb — the one that should have been removed initially.

A hospital representative could not be reached for comment.

Source : Associated Press