mynewhopeumc.org

Monday, March 12, 2007

24 of 26 Swiss Cantons rejected the proposal for a single health insurance system, in which premiums would be based on income and wealth. The vote on Sunday was the latest in a series of attempts to cut rising costs and ease the financial burden on citizens.

Around 71% of voters rejected the reform. Turnout was at about 46%, slightly above the Swiss average.

As expected, voters in the main German-speaking part of the country turned down the planned reform, which was supported by the centre-left but opposed by the centre-right as well as the business community, parliament and the government.

Opposition in the French and Italian speaking regions was less pronounced. The cantons Jura and Neuchâtel in the French speaking regions voted in favor of the proposed reforms.

Health insurance premiums are higher in southern and western Swiss cantons than in German-speaking areas.

The Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin said an important part of the Swiss Population appeared to be opposed to “a revolution” in health insurance but he said that he wanted current reforms currently under discussion in the Swiss Parliament to go ahead. He called on all sides, especially health insurers and the cantonal authorities, to make efforts to reduce spending on health insurance and aim for a greater cost efficiency. Currently Switzerland has 87 private insurers providing mandatory basic health care coverage for Swiss residents under a 1996 law. But costs have sky-rocketed. Over 100,000 people are not covered by health insurance due to non payment.

Opponents to the initiative argued that a single insurance system would lead to complacency and create a two-tier system, in which the wealthy would be the only ones available to afford to have additional private insurance coverage.

Supporters of the initiative said a single health insurer would increase the system’s efficiency and allow for annual savings of at least 300 million Swiss Francs (about $245 million) in administrative costs. Currently, the funding system is unbalanced, since many clients on low incomes use state subsidies to pay their premiums, according to the Green Party and the Social Democrats.

The initiative to unite all the insurance companies and introduce premiums based on wealth and income was the most recent in a series of attempts over the past ten years to reduce the public spending on health care. A proposal, similar to this recent proposal, to modify the funding system of the health insurance companies was rejected by 73% of voters in 2003.

Switzerland has the most expensive health system in Europe. Switzerland’s expenditure on health care was 11.6% in 2005, in front of Germany and France but behind the United States.

Aviation articles by Wikinewsie Iain Macdonald.

This Category ‘sub-page’ will display up to 500 articles which one of the project’s contributors has written on a specific topic.

Thursday, September 8, 2005

The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website (for requesting disaster aid) is only functional for applicants using the latest version of the Internet Explorer web browser on the Microsoft Windows operating system. Users with other web browsers, such as Netscape, Opera, Safari, Firefox, or operating systems other than Windows, are effectively screened out of the site, which gives them a message that they need to download Internet Explorer version 6 or call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 to register.

Relief workers are setting up many computer kiosks for evacuees to use. These kiosks are built from donated computers, many of which are unable to run Windows and/or Internet Explorer. Most of these kiosks use LiveCD versions of Linux, leaving evacuees unable to fill out aid forms.

A spokesperson for FEMA told MSNBC they were aware of the problem, and were trying to resolve the issue. They were, however, unable to provide an estimate of when the problem would be solved. Mike Quealy, a FEMA spokesperson, said the issue occurred because this tool was originally designed for in-house use by people working at the call center.

Telling the Opera web browser to spoof its user agent, by identifying itself as Internet Explorer, appears to trick the FEMA website into allowing the user to fill out the form. Firefox users can install the Prefbar extension (http://prefbar.mozdev.org/), and use the “User Agent Spoof” dropdown to achieve the same effect. Safari users can use the Debug drop-down menu (http://developer.apple.com/internet/safari/faq.html#anchor14), and use the “User Agent” option to achieve the same effect. Other options are to run Windows and Internet Explorer in an emulator such as VirtualPC on the Mac or VMware on Linux. This option is slow and requires the user to already own or purchase a license for Windows and the emulator software. Purchasing the software can cost several hundred dollars. Implementing a software compatibility layer, like the GPL wine project, allows the user to run certain Windows software on Linux, but still requires valid licenses for Windows.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

On Monday, scientists from the Stanford University School of Medicine announced the invention of a new diagnostic tool that can sort cells by type: a tiny printable chip that can be manufactured using standard inkjet printers for possibly about one U.S. cent each. Lead researchers say this may bring early detection of cancer, tuberculosis, HIV and malaria to patients in low-income countries, where the survival rates for illnesses such as breast cancer can be half those of richer countries.

Existing methods tend to identify cell types using fluorescent or magnetic labels, which take time to attach, but this platform uses the phenomenon of dielectrophoresis: because different kinds of cells have different levels of receptivity to electrical fields, a trait called polarizability, when an electric potential gradient is activated around the chip, different cells are pulled in different directions at different speeds. This allows doctors to diagnose cancer by determining the number of tumor cells in a patient’s blood sample. Different chips can be printed to diagnose different diseases.

Physically, the scientists say, the system has two parts. Cells are held in a clear microfluidic chamber made of silicone. The chip itself is an electronic strip that can be printed onto flexible polyester. Most lab-on-a-chip devices must be manufactured by professional staff in specialized facilities called clean rooms and can take weeks, but the chip component of this system can be made almost anywhere in as little as twenty minutes. The chips cost approximately one U.S. cent to produce (US$0.01) and can be reused. For comparison, a standard flow cytometry machine can cost US$100,000 to purchase.

“Enabling early detection of diseases is one of the greatest opportunities we have for developing effective treatments,” said lead author and electrical engineer Dr. Rahim Esfandyarpour. “Maybe $1 in the U.S. doesn’t count that much, but somewhere in the developing world, it’s a lot of money.”

Senior author Dr. Ron Davis of the Stanford University Genome Technology Center compared this invention to that of low-cost genome sequencing, which helped lead to personalized medicine.

The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Monday, June 5, 2006

A new report, titled “Global Deserts Outlook,” has been released on World Environment Day by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report suggests that the world’s deserts face dramatic changes as a result of global climate change: high water demands, tourism and salt contamination of irrigated soils. Desert margins and mountainous areas within deserts that have been important for people, wildlife and water supplies for millennia, are under particular threat, say UNEP.

2006 is the United Nations‘ International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Yet deserts could become the “carbon-free power houses of the 21st century,” some experts believe. They argue an area 800 by 800 km of desert, such as the Sahara, could capture the solar energy to generate all the world’s electricity needs – and more.

The report, prepared by experts from across the globe, flags options that may help governments and relevant bodies deliver a more sustainable future for the Earth’s desert regions.

“There are many popular and sometimes misplaced views of deserts which this report either confirms or overturns. Far from being barren wastelands, they emerge as biologically, economically and culturally dynamic while being increasingly subject to the impacts and pressures of the modern world,” said Shafqat Kakakhel, UNEP’s Officer in Charge and Deputy Executive Director.

“If the huge, solar-power potential of deserts can be economically harnessed the world has a future free from fossil fuels. And tourism based around desert nature can, if sensitively managed, deliver new prospects and perspectives for people in some of the poorest parts of the world,” said Mr Kakakhel.

Almost one-quarter of the earth’s land surface – some 33.7 million square kilometres – has been defined as “desert” in some sense. These deserts are inhabited by over 500 million people, significantly more than previously thought. In many parts of the world desert cores remain pristine, representing some of the planet’s “last remaining areas of total wilderness,” stated the UNEP in a news release.

Desert species are on the brink of extinction the Global Deserts Outlook reports. At risk animals include various species of Gazelle, Oryx, Addax, Arabian Tahr and the Barbary sheep as well as one of the falconers favourite prey, the Houbara. “At greatest risk are the few patches of dry woodlands associated with desert mountain habitats which may decline by up to 3.5 per cent per year,” said the study.

As a result of their valuable water supplies being diverted to domestic or agricultural use, desert wetlands, fed by the large rivers crossing deserts, are probably the most threatened ecosystem. Probable impacts include those created by roads, settlement expansion and other infrastructure developments around areas of desert montane. By 2050 the report estimates that desert wilderness – those areas where there are no nearby roads – will decline from just under 60 per cent of the current total desert area to just over 30 per cent.

The pharmaceutical potential of desert plants has yet to be tapped, suggests the report. Scientists across the globe are analysing many desert plants for potential medicinal compounds – including anti-cancer and anti-malarial substances, antioxidants, as well as appetite suppressants.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Emily Perry, a British actress has died at the age of 100.

Born on June 28, 1907 in Torquay, Devon, England, she was known for playing Madge Allsop, Dame Edna Everage‘s long-suffering, silent “bridesmaid”; she began playing the role at the age of 80.

Barry Humphries (Dame Edna) said, “It is a great loss to me, she was a close friend.”

As an actress in her own right, her filmography is limited to her appearances with Dame Edna, except for a 1995 appearance, in her late eighties, on an episode of Last of the Summer Wine as “Mrs. Broadbent”.

She appeared as herself in Night of a Thousand Faces. Prior to gaining fame, Perry spent 25 years running a dancing school for children.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Wikinews reporter Iain Macdonald has performed an interview with Dr Isabella Margara, a London-based member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). In the interview Margara sets out the communist response to current events in Greece as well as discussing the viability of a communist economy for the nation. She also hit back at Petros Tzomakas, a member of another Greek far-left party which criticised KKE in a previous interview.

The interview comes amid tensions in cash-strapped Greece, where the government is introducing controversial austerity measures to try to ease the nation’s debt-problem. An international rescue package has been prepared by European Union member states and the International Monetary Fund – should Greece require a bailout; protests have been held against government attempts to manage the economic situation.