LONDON (Reuters) - Only around a half of Britons trust the clergy to tell the truth and a similar proportion think the Church of England does a bad job of providing moral leadership, a poll showed on Sunday.
The survey by pollster YouGov commissioned by Britain's Sunday Times newspaper further showed that 69 percent of respondents thought the Church of England, mother church of the world's 80-million-strong Anglican communion, was out of touch.
Forty percent of those polled said they did not trust priests, vicars and other clergy to tell the truth, and overall doctors, teachers and judges were rated as more trustworthy.
Fifty-four percent believe the Church of England has struggled to give moral leadership, the poll found.
The survey highlights the challenges facing the church in Britain amid falling believer numbers and controversies over whether to ordain women bishops and government plans to legalise gay marriage by 2015.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey suggested on Saturday that gay marriage plans made Christians feel "persecuted". Last month, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric resigned over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Hinting at turmoil within the Anglican church, current Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby urged a softer response to divisive issues such as same-sex weddings than that taken by Carey, and called for differences to be dealt with "gracefully".
"That is the challenge for the church and that is the challenge if the church is actually going to speak to our society which is increasingly divided in many different ways, here and overseas, over huge issues," Welby said in an interview with Premier Christian Radio broadcast on Easter Sunday.
The Anglican church is also at odds with the government on welfare spending cuts imposed in efforts to rein in a big budget deficit. Welby has argued that "children and families will pay the price" for welfare reforms due to take effect on Monday.
While Welby may be reflecting wider views in society on the perils of benefit spending reductions, the Anglican church has increasingly found itself opposing prevailing cultural trends, particularly on the issues of gay marriage and women bishops.
In November, the Church of England voted against ordaining women bishops, but the Sunday Times poll showed 80 percent of respondents backed the move. It also showed almost half of Britons think the church is wrong to oppose same-sex weddings.
Only 39 percent back the church in opposing gay marriage.
YouGov surveyed 1,918 adults between March 27-28.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
The season 3 premier is upon us, people. There were a lot of quality contenders for this soundtrack slot. Mashups, covers and original tracks abound. Jason Yang's cover of the Game of Thrones theme by Ramin Djawadi is all-around solid, though, and also pretty epic. The track incorporates acoustic and electric violin, and was recorded before the start of season 2. Play this on loop when the premier is over and you're already starved for more. More »
Welcome to the roleplay "Fruits Basket: Unwavering Bonds"! This is a roleplay that takes teamwork and cooperation! So please, lets work together and lend each other our strength!
This is the thread where reservations are to be made! To prevent confusion, please make sure the role you are requesting hasn't been yet claimed by someone else. If it has, you can ask to be put on second reserve, so if the person with the role you want disappears or bails, you can take their place. If you haven't created your character within 48 hours, your reservation will be terminated. If you need time, please say so or message me.
Growing shorter: Adult health habits influence how much we shrink with agePublic release date: 1-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Suzanne Wu suzanne.wu@usc.edu 213-740-0252 University of Southern California
High school grads shrink nearly 2 cm less, on average, than the illiterate
Even if you didn't eat your veggies or drink your milk as a child, your height is still in your hands, reveal new findings by economists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University and Peking University.
Using unique data from a new massive longitudinal survey of 17,708 adults beginning at age 45, the researchers show for the first time that lifestyle choices we make in adulthood and not just the hand we're dealt as children influence how tall we stand as we age.
"Had we only examined the correlations between measured height and health, we would have missed this important insight," said John Strauss, professor of economics at USC, and an investigator on a study published in the April 2013 issue of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. "The evidence shows that it is not only early-life events that are associated with how we age, but health decisions in later life as well."
While prior work has looked for the connection between height and health both in childhood and adulthood the researchers are the first to examine height loss as we age. They show that regardless of your maximum height, the loss of height over time is also an important indicator for other health issues as we age.
For example, the research reveals an especially strong relationship between height loss and cognitive health. Those who had lost more height were also much more likely to perform poorly on standard tests of cognitive health such as short-term memory, ability to perform basic arithmetic and awareness of the date.
Among the socioeconomic factors that correlate to height loss, urban dwellers had much less height loss than those in rural areas, the researchers found, in a country where there has been significant migration to urban areas in the last few decades. In addition, having completed primary school, rather than being illiterate, is associated with 0.9 cm less height shrinkage in men a large difference when considering that overall average height loss for men is 3.3 cm. Completing high school meant an additional 1 cm less in shrinkage.
For women, having completed primary school was the difference in 0.6 cm of shrinkage, compared to average overall height decrease of 3.8 cm.
"Height has been recognized as an acceptable proxy for childhood health conditions, but there are complications there," says USC economist Geert Ridder, a co-investigator on the study. "Some of adult health might be determined by childhood circumstances, but people shrink differentially, and that shrinkage is also a measure of adult health conditions."
All humans go through physical changes with age, including an increase in body fat and decrease in bone mass. But a decrease in height can be further exacerbated by certain kinds of arthritis, inflammation of spine joints or osteoporosis, which other studies have shown are associated with such lifestyle choices as diet, exercise and smoking.
The researchers used new data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a groundbreaking sampling project led by USC economist Strauss, Yaohui Zhao of the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University and Gonghuan Yang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, that covers 150 counties randomly chosen throughout China.
The baseline for the survey was collected from June 2011 to March 2012 and includes both subjective self-reported responses to survey questions as well as objective physical measurements such as blood tests. These physical measurements and personal interviews will be followed-up with the same 17,708 people every two years capturing, for the first time, critical data about human aging in the most populous and most rapidly aging country in the world.
For example, recent changes in social security policy and health insurance in China provide a valuable opportunity for researchers to study how health care actually affects health and aging in a large population, with insights for other developing health care systems worldwide, as well as an opportunity to identify possible under-diagnosis of various chronic conditions.
The researchers will also be able to examine the role specific historical events in China may have had on long-term health, including whether there are health and aging differences among those who were "sent-down" during the Cultural Revolution.
###
The baseline CHARLS data is publicly available to researchers at http://charls.ccer.edu.cn. The research is supported by the National Institute of Aging, the China Natural Science Foundation, the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health and the World Bank.
To estimate full adult height for older study participants, the researchers examined relationships between current height and the length of limbs, which do not shrink with age, from younger survey participants who have not yet started shrinking.
Wei Huang, a graduate student in economics at Harvard University, and Zhao and Xiaoyan Lei of Peking University were co-authors of the study.
To request an interview with a researcher in English or Mandarin, or to request a full-copy of the study, contact Suzanne Wu at suzanne.wu@usc.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Growing shorter: Adult health habits influence how much we shrink with agePublic release date: 1-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Suzanne Wu suzanne.wu@usc.edu 213-740-0252 University of Southern California
High school grads shrink nearly 2 cm less, on average, than the illiterate
Even if you didn't eat your veggies or drink your milk as a child, your height is still in your hands, reveal new findings by economists from the University of Southern California, Harvard University and Peking University.
Using unique data from a new massive longitudinal survey of 17,708 adults beginning at age 45, the researchers show for the first time that lifestyle choices we make in adulthood and not just the hand we're dealt as children influence how tall we stand as we age.
"Had we only examined the correlations between measured height and health, we would have missed this important insight," said John Strauss, professor of economics at USC, and an investigator on a study published in the April 2013 issue of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. "The evidence shows that it is not only early-life events that are associated with how we age, but health decisions in later life as well."
While prior work has looked for the connection between height and health both in childhood and adulthood the researchers are the first to examine height loss as we age. They show that regardless of your maximum height, the loss of height over time is also an important indicator for other health issues as we age.
For example, the research reveals an especially strong relationship between height loss and cognitive health. Those who had lost more height were also much more likely to perform poorly on standard tests of cognitive health such as short-term memory, ability to perform basic arithmetic and awareness of the date.
Among the socioeconomic factors that correlate to height loss, urban dwellers had much less height loss than those in rural areas, the researchers found, in a country where there has been significant migration to urban areas in the last few decades. In addition, having completed primary school, rather than being illiterate, is associated with 0.9 cm less height shrinkage in men a large difference when considering that overall average height loss for men is 3.3 cm. Completing high school meant an additional 1 cm less in shrinkage.
For women, having completed primary school was the difference in 0.6 cm of shrinkage, compared to average overall height decrease of 3.8 cm.
"Height has been recognized as an acceptable proxy for childhood health conditions, but there are complications there," says USC economist Geert Ridder, a co-investigator on the study. "Some of adult health might be determined by childhood circumstances, but people shrink differentially, and that shrinkage is also a measure of adult health conditions."
All humans go through physical changes with age, including an increase in body fat and decrease in bone mass. But a decrease in height can be further exacerbated by certain kinds of arthritis, inflammation of spine joints or osteoporosis, which other studies have shown are associated with such lifestyle choices as diet, exercise and smoking.
The researchers used new data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, a groundbreaking sampling project led by USC economist Strauss, Yaohui Zhao of the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University and Gonghuan Yang of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, that covers 150 counties randomly chosen throughout China.
The baseline for the survey was collected from June 2011 to March 2012 and includes both subjective self-reported responses to survey questions as well as objective physical measurements such as blood tests. These physical measurements and personal interviews will be followed-up with the same 17,708 people every two years capturing, for the first time, critical data about human aging in the most populous and most rapidly aging country in the world.
For example, recent changes in social security policy and health insurance in China provide a valuable opportunity for researchers to study how health care actually affects health and aging in a large population, with insights for other developing health care systems worldwide, as well as an opportunity to identify possible under-diagnosis of various chronic conditions.
The researchers will also be able to examine the role specific historical events in China may have had on long-term health, including whether there are health and aging differences among those who were "sent-down" during the Cultural Revolution.
###
The baseline CHARLS data is publicly available to researchers at http://charls.ccer.edu.cn. The research is supported by the National Institute of Aging, the China Natural Science Foundation, the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health and the World Bank.
To estimate full adult height for older study participants, the researchers examined relationships between current height and the length of limbs, which do not shrink with age, from younger survey participants who have not yet started shrinking.
Wei Huang, a graduate student in economics at Harvard University, and Zhao and Xiaoyan Lei of Peking University were co-authors of the study.
To request an interview with a researcher in English or Mandarin, or to request a full-copy of the study, contact Suzanne Wu at suzanne.wu@usc.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NEW YORK -- After flirting with an all-time high for three weeks, the S&P 500 posted its best closing level in history. But strategists say Thursday's record could be a harbinger that the stock market rally is running out of steam.
The S&P traded within 10 points of the all-time closing high for 13 sessions before breaking through, showing that investors need new catalysts to push firmly above resistance levels.
"As the market has gone higher ... upward moves have generally gotten smaller, which suggests that the move is getting old and that we need a pullback," said Mark Arbeter, chief technical strategist for Standard & Poor's in New York.
Stocks could fall about 3 percent to 4 percent, he said.
The benchmark index has risen almost 10 percent so far this year, fueled by strong profit growth and accommodative monetary policy from the Federal Reserve. But those gains have slowed as investors fret over Cyprus's bailout and mixed signs about the economy.
Still, stocks have been resilient, lifting the S&P to its record close of 1,569.19 on Thursday. Investors stepped in on declines to buy and finally pushed the S&P above the previous record set on October 9, 2007.
The broad index is also within a stone's throw of its intraday record of 1,576.09. The Dow surpassed its record close on March 5 and set a series of records, ending Thursday at 14,578.54.
The S&P has risen for 11 of the past 13 weeks, up 0.4 percent over the past two weeks. In contrast, the CBOE Volatility index, a measure of investor anxiety, is up about 14.5 percent over the same period.
"The increase in volatility we've seen is far more likely to be the sign of a short-term top" than the trend of investors buying on dips, Arbeter said. "If that volatility persists, then you would need to worry about an intermediate top."
In addition, speculator positions show a preference for holding long positions. Mike O'Rourke, chief market strategist at Jones Trading, noted that long positions account for more than 65 percent of speculative positions in futures contracts, a point at which rallies can be overextended.
U.S. markets will be closed for the Good Friday holiday and reopen on Monday.
The stock market next week will face tests of the milestone it reached, with the situation of Cyprus's banks and a round of U.S. data, including the March jobs report on Friday, facing investors.
About 197,000 jobs were added in March, according to a Reuters poll of economists. That would be down from the 236,000 jobs created in the previous month but still suggest improvement in the labor market. The unemployment rate is seen holding steady at 7.7 percent.
A strong payroll report could spark caution if it raises questions about whether the Federal Reserve would be more inclined to reduce monetary stimulus more quickly.
"There will be those who fear that if things improve too dramatically, too quickly, the Fed will take its foot off the pedal of quantitative easing," said Kristina Hooper, head of portfolio strategies at Allianz Global Investors in New York.
So far, however, the Fed has not suggested a change in its stimulus measure is likely. If the central bank slows the rate of its monthly bond purchases, a program that has been credited with boosting equity prices, "that could cause some weakness," Hooper said.
Rex Macey, chief investment officer at Wilmington Trust in Atlanta Georgia, said a "Goldilocks report" was needed for markets to rally.
In the first quarter the S&P rose 10 percent. It gained 3.4 percent in March, the index's fifth straight monthly rise. The Dow was up 3.7 percent in March and more than 11 percent in the first quarter, while the Nasdaq composite index was up 3.2 percent in March and 8 percent in the quarter.
Cyprus will remain in focus after the government was forced to accept a stringent European Union rescue package to avert default. In a positive sign, there were no runs by depositors on banks after they reopened under tight controls on Thursday.
Macey, who helps manage about $20 billion in assets, compared the market's situation to the card game "Texas Hold 'Em" poker where players start out with cards they can see and don't see additional cards until after rounds of betting.
"Based on the cards we can see now, which are things like economic fundamentals, I think stocks are a fine place to be in the longer term," he said. "However, there are still cards we can't see, like what the resolution will be in Cyprus, that could cause trouble."
Mary Owen, 23, was found with some injuries and frostbite.
By KGW.com staff
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. -- Mary Owen, a 23-year-old woman who disappeared after going hiking alone on Mount Hood, was found alive on Sandy Glacier by a National Guard Helicopter Saturday morning, officials said.
Owen was reportedly taken by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital with some injuries and frostbite, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.?
Owen was found after a second day of searching by rescue teams from around the area. She was reported missing at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Bryon O'Neil of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. She had written in an email to a friend Sunday that she planned to go hiking, but had not been heard from since then.?
Read original story at KGW.com
Deputies called Timberline Lodge Thursday and the manager on duty said Owen's vehicle, a white 1998 Toyota 4-Runner was parked in the lot, O'Neil said. Investigators said the vehicle looked like it had been parked there for some time.?
"Ms. Owen's backpack is still in her vehicle so she may be short on supplies," O'Neil said. "She is an experienced hiker who has in the past hiked the Pacific Coast Trail from Mexico to Canada."?
Anyone who may have seen her since Saturday was asked to call CCSO at (503) 655-8211 or send an email to Sergeant Sean Collinson.?
Mar. 31, 2013 ? New research predicts that rising temperatures will lead to a massive "greening," or increase in plant cover, in the Arctic. In a paper published on March 31 in Nature Climate Change, scientists reveal new models projecting that wooded areas in the Arctic could increase by as much as 50 percent over the next few decades. The researchers also show that this dramatic greening will accelerate climate warming at a rate greater than previously expected.
"Such widespread redistribution of Arctic vegetation would have impacts that reverberate through the global ecosystem," said Richard Pearson, lead author on the paper and a research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.
Plant growth in Arctic ecosystems has increased over the past few decades, a trend that coincides with increases in temperatures, which are rising at about twice the global rate. The research team -- which includes scientists from the Museum, AT&T Labs-Research, Woods Hole Research Center, Colgate University, Cornell University, and the University of York -- used climate scenarios for the 2050s to explore how this trend is likely to continue in the future. The scientists developed models that statistically predict the types of plants that could grow under certain temperatures and precipitation. Although it comes with some uncertainty, this type of modeling is a robust way to study the Arctic because the harsh climate limits the range of plants that can grow, making this system simpler to model compared to other regions such as the tropics.
The models reveal the potential for massive redistribution of vegetation across the Arctic under future climate, with about half of all vegetation switching to a different class and a massive increase in tree cover. What might this look like? In Siberia, for instance, trees could grow hundreds of miles north of the present tree line.
"These impacts would extend far beyond the Arctic region," Pearson said. "For example, some species of birds seasonally migrate from lower latitudes and rely on finding particular polar habitats, such as open space for ground-nesting."
In addition, the researchers investigated the multiple climate change feedbacks that greening would produce. They found that a phenomenon called the albedo effect, based on the reflectivity of Earth's surface, would have the greatest impact on the Arctic's climate. When the sun hits snow, most of the radiation is reflected back to space. But when it hits an area that's "dark," or covered in trees or shrubs, more sunlight is absorbed in the area and temperature increases. This has a positive feedback to climate warming: the more vegetation there is, the more warming will occur.
"By incorporating observed relationships between plants and albedo, we show that vegetation distribution shifts will result in an overall positive feedback to climate that is likely to cause greater warming than has previously been predicted," said co-author Scott Goetz, of the Woods Hole Research Center.
This work was funded by the National Science Foundation, grants IPY 0732948, IPY 0732954, and Expeditions 0832782. Other authors involved in this study include Steven Phillips (AT&T Labs-Research), Michael Loranty (Woods Hole Research Center and Colgate University), Pieter Beck (Woods Hole Research Center), Theodoros Damoulas (Cornell University), and Sarah Knight (American Museum of Natural History and University of York).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Museum of Natural History, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Richard G. Pearson, Steven J. Phillips, Michael M. Loranty, Pieter S. A. Beck, Theodoros Damoulas, Sarah J. Knight, Scott J. Goetz. Shifts in Arctic vegetation and associated feedbacks under climate change. Nature Climate Change, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1858
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Public release date: 1-Apr-2013
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