Spinal ultrasounds seeking why astronauts grow taller in space

Jan. 3, 2013 ? Did you ever wish you could be just a teensy bit taller? Well, if you spend a few months in space, you could get your wish -- temporarily. It is a commonly known fact that astronauts living aboard the International Space Station grow up to 3 percent taller while living in microgravity. They return to their normal height when back on Earth. Studying the impact of this change on the spine and advancing medical imaging technologies are the goals of the Spinal Ultrasound investigation.

"This is the very first time that spinal ultrasound will be used to evaluate the changes in the spine," said Scott A. Dulchavsky, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator for the station study. "Spinal ultrasound is more challenging to perform than many of the previous ultrasound examinations done in space."

Part of the difficulty with imaging the spine is quite simply human anatomy. Using Ultrasound 2, the machine aboard station as a facility for human health studies, astronauts have an advanced tool to view the inner workings of their bodies.

"Today there is a new ultrasound device on the station that allows more precise musculoskeletal imaging required for assessment of the complex anatomy and the spine," Dulchavsky said. "The crew will be able to perform these complex evaluations in the next year due to a newly developed Just-In-Time training guide for spinal ultrasound, combined with refinements in crew training and remote guidance procedures."

The research could help with developing exercises for better crew health and guiding improved rehabilitation techniques when astronauts return to Earth. Understanding how changes to the spine occur in real-time response to life in space also will help crews prepare for future long-duration missions.

Another benefit of this research is that spinal ultrasound could gain clinical acceptance on the ground for medical testing. Dulchavsky points out that this shift could reduce costs and provide a safer imaging option for patients.

"Ultrasound also allows us to evaluate physiology in motion, such as the movement of muscles, blood in vessels, and function in other systems in the body," said Dulchavsky. "Physiologic parameters derived from ultrasound and Doppler give instantaneous observations about the body non-invasively without radiation."

Six crew members will serve as test subjects for these spinal ultrasound scans. The data sessions are scheduled to take place on orbit starting in January 2013. An astronaut will scan the spinal area of a fellow crew member at 30, 90, and 150 days into flight. Researchers will watch in real time from the ground via streaming video downlinks. Ultrasound images will focus on the cervical and lumbar areas of the spine and surrounding tissues. The test subjects will also undergo pre- and post-flight ultrasound and MRI scans on Earth to provide baseline data.

Ultrasound technology is convenient for use not only in space, but also here on Earth. Due to the portability of the machines, the rapid training methods developed by NASA researchers and the repeatability, ultrasound can offer an inexpensive and scalable alternative to MRIs for healthcare needs. Medical personnel already make use of the training methods developed for the space station crews when using ultrasound in remote areas.

"This technique in spinal ultrasound may someday serve as a clinical data source where standard MRI imaging is not available, even if this seems ambitious," Dulchavsky said. "The vast majority of the global population has no access to an MRI. The in-flight tools such as the interactive Spinal Ultrasound guide can also be used to train other complex procedures, albeit medical or otherwise."

So just why do astronauts get taller in space? Researchers are hoping this study will help answer that question, while also growing medical knowledge of the spine and improving ultrasound methods and procedures.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/dUBsBsw1rIk/130103090639.htm

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Quadruple Amputee's New Hands

It's the simplest thing, the grasp of one hand in another. But Lindsay Ess will never see it that way, because her hands once belonged to someone else.

Growing up in Texas and Virginia, Lindsay, 29, was always one of the pretty girls. She went to college, did some modeling and started building a career in fashion, with an eye on producing fashion shows.

Then she lost her hands and feet.

Watch the full show in a special edition of "Nightline," "To Hold Again," TONIGHT at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC

When she was 24 years old, Lindsay had just graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University's well-regarded fashion program when she developed a blockage in her small intestine from Crohn's Disease. After having surgery to correct the problem, an infection took over and shut down her entire body. To save her life, doctors put her in a medically-induced coma. When she came out of the coma a month later, still in a haze, Lindsay said she knew something was wrong with her hands and feet.

"I would look down and I would see black, almost like a body that had decomposed," she said.

The infection had turned her extremities into dead tissue. Still sedated, Lindsay said she didn't realize what that meant at first.

"There was a period of time where they didn't tell me that they had to amputate, but somebody from the staff said, 'Oh honey, you know what they are going to do to your hands, right?' That's when I knew," she said.

After having her hands and feet amputated, Lindsay adapted. She learned how to drink from a cup, brush her teeth and even text on her cellphone with her arms, which were amputated just below the elbow.

"The most common questions I get are, 'How do you type,'" she said. "It's just like chicken-pecking."

PHOTOS: Lindsay Ess Gets New Hands

Despite her progress, Lindsay said she faced challenges being independent. Her mother, Judith Aronson, basically moved back into her daughter's life to provide basic care, including bathing, dressing and feeding. Having also lost her feet, Lindsay needed her mother to help put on her prosthetic legs.

"I've accepted the fact that my feet are gone, that's acceptable to me," Lindsay said. "My hands [are] not. It's still not. In my dreams I always have my hands."

Through her amputation recovery, Lindsay discovered a lot of things about herself, including that she felt better emotionally by not focusing on the life that was gone and how much she hated needing so much help but that she also truly depends on it.

"I'm such an independent person," she said. "But I'm also grateful that I have a mother like that, because what could I do?"

Lindsay said she found that her prosthetic arms were a struggle.

"These prosthetics are s---," she said. "I can't do anything with them. I can't do anything behind my head. They are heavy. They are made for men. They are claws, they are not feminine whatsoever."

For the next couple of years, Lindsay exercised diligently as part of the commitment she made to qualify for a hand transplant, which required her to be in shape. But the tough young woman now said she saw her body in a different way now.

"People used to turn and look at me when I walked down the street because of how beautiful I was," Lindsay said. "Now they turn and look at me because I'm in a wheelchair and have no hands and feet. The type of person that I was would be the type of person I would hate now. I used to care way too much about what I looked like. What does it matter what my hair looks like? What does it matter what I'm wearing so much?"

Lindsay had to wait for a donor. Dr. Scott Levin, her orthopedic surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said if was preferable if Lindsay's donor hands were female, and had a size and skin color that matched hers.

Waiting for a donor was the part that Lindsay said she found the most difficult.

"I hate thinking about that," she said. "I think that whoever's hands will be with purpose, not just used to look pretty." "In Lindsay's case, the hookup of the new hand is relying on her nerves growing into the new muscles from the donor," Levin said. "The nerves have to grow into those muscles, takes months, it can take a year."

And there is still the possibility that the surgery can fail.

"Failure means the part that doesn't survive and we have to re-amputate the transplant," Levin said. "That's failure."

For nearly 12 hours, two separate teams of surgeons, one dedicated to the left hand, the other to the right, worked to perform an operation so cutting-edge that surgeons have only attempted it about 60 times in the past 15 years.

After the surgery, Lindsay was in a cocoon of bandages. Levin said the initial signs for recovery were good.

"This is more than we could ever hope for," he said. "Her blood pressure is good, all the parameters related to how to blood flow in and out of her new arms. This is, if you will, a picture perfect course so far."

Less than a month after her surgery, Lindsay was out of the ICU and working on a therapy regime. The skin color of her new hands and arms wasn't exactly the same as her upper arms. They still looked like they belonged to someone else.

"The first couple of days I refused to look at them," Lindsay said. "It was kind of like one of those scary movie moments. I'm too scared to look because it's reality [but] I'm so grateful to have them that I just don't really think about it superficially."

Four months after her surgery, in January 2012, Lindsay's doctors said they continued to be amazed at her recovery. They said they didn't expect her to have fine motion control for another 12 to 18 months, but her muscles were reacting well. She could even pick up lightweight objects.

In February, Lindsey was allowed to go home for the first time since the surgery five months before. Levin said the prognosis for both hands couldn't be better. Even so, rejection was still a huge concern.

Tune into a special edition of "Nightline," "To Hold Again," TONIGHT at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC to find out what happens to Lindsay and how she moves forward.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/quadruple-amputees-hands-213450289--abc-news-health.html

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Critical Review

An article review of Yunfei? Chong ,2011.? ? The Research on how Chinese vocational education break through the current bottleneck of its development , Concurrent discussion on how to establish the mechanism of school enterprise cooperation in Chinese vocational education?. ????Zhengzhou Railway Vocational and Technical College

This article focuses on ?how to develop Chinese Vocational Education by establish the mechanism of school-enterprise cooperation . The authors have stressed the cooperation between schools and enterprises that appear to have a problem in creating a program of bilateral cooperation which respectively provide help to achieve a common goal or a win-win due to? the failure of the government to encourage partnerships between schools and enterprises.; government-lead ?. The author aims to highlight the collaboration between industry and academia like ?Dual System?? vocational education models in Germany that provide job internship ,one of the reason for difficulty of school-enterprises cooperation; administrative subordination;. Yunfei mentions that perhaps almost vocational colleges perfom actively, but it not accompany with enterprise or industry that did not contact the colleges forwardly.

This article is significant given that the difficulties of school-enterprise cooperation is lack of talent training as well as evaluated by educational expert. ?However as a result of somewhat abstract implications, the article would perhaps only be of interest on ?co-sponsorship mechanism and policy guarantee especially on government-lead.? The authors have used ?vocational education models to describe the government- lead in developing countries like ;Amerika, England, Germany and Japan; and to compare the efficient model of personnel training.Although showing differences in ??implementation but strives to achieve the common goal of providing provisions to ensure the training is going well.The author mention it provides good reference to strengthen the government ?lead, strengthen the legislation of vocational education, strengthen the overall plan and supervise, and establish the cooperation mechanism.

The author has started writing specifying keywords should be known and so began a discussion on the topic. The author have a very good in processing due to problems in school-enterprise Cooperation is more specific that can identify the cause of how the occurrence constraints to progress chinese vocational education. The topic has an objective to be achive.The author has made a claims that government-lead is the only way to break through the current bottleneck of vocational education development but ?an evidence was provided is not reliable. The conclusion also are drawn just a simple word and not complement. The principal of the text can be better organized

As a conclusion it can be said that the author has managed to transfer information on how to solve the bottleneck problem as experienced by chinese vocational education which should strengthen the school-enterprise cooperation.? To the success of this cooperation must be the government in terms of provision of assistance and reform The author seems to only look to the government-lead, although the schools are supposed to provide entrepreneurship education as recommended by Robert Kowasaki in her book, rich dad, poor dad where he suggested that education for entrepreneurship have since translated children from school. Similarly, vocational education should start at school with teachers who are trained as discussed by Qiu Feiyue and Lifang Le (2010). Quality education will produce a quality student . I am? agree with Malaysia system vocational school that was up grade to be a college and develop the teachers skill.

Source: http://citve1213.blogspot.com/2012/12/criticle-review-1-ahmad-sashwani-azmi.html

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Bill to avert fiscal cliff heads to House

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Squarely in the spotlight, House Republicans planned a closed-door meeting Tuesday to decide their next move after the Senate overwhelmingly approved compromise legislation negating a fiscal cliff of across-the-board tax increases and sweeping spending cuts to the Pentagon and other government agencies.

In a New Year's Day drama that climaxed in the middle of the night, the Senate endorsed the legislation by 89-8 early Tuesday. That vote came hours after Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sealed a deal.

It would prevent middle-class taxes from going up but would raise rates on higher incomes. It would also block spending cuts for two months, extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, prevent a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients and prevent a spike in milk prices.

The measure ensures that lawmakers will have to revisit difficult budget questions in just a few weeks, as relief from painful spending cuts expires and the government requires an increase in its borrowing cap.

House Speaker John Boehner pointedly refrained from endorsing the agreement, though he's promised a vote on it or a GOP alternative right away. But he was expected to encounter opposition from House conservatives, and it was unclear when the vote would occur.

Boehner planned to brief his caucus in early afternoon Tuesday and Biden scheduled a separate meeting with House Democrats to reprise his role of Monday night when he promoted compromise to Democrats before that chamber voted.

Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., arrived at the Capitol in late morning, and both bid "Happy New Year" to greeters but didn't say anything substantive about the Senate-passed bill.

One of the more conservative House Republicans, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, had no such reticence to speak.

"It's three strikes in my book and I'll be voting no on this bill," he told CNN Tuesday morning, saying the legislation would impose a hardship on small businesses around the country and falls short of addressing the need for cuts in spending.

The measure is the first significant bipartisan tax increase since 1990, when former President George H.W. Bush violated his "read my lips" promise on taxes. It would raise an additional $620 billion over the coming decade when compared with revenues after tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, during the Bush administration. But because those policies expired at midnight Monday, the measure is officially scored as a whopping $3.9 trillion tax cut over the next decade.

President Barack Obama praised the agreement after the Senate's vote.

"While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay," Obama said in a statement. "This agreement will also grow the economy and shrink our deficits in a balanced way ? by investing in our middle class, and by asking the wealthy to pay a little more."

The sweeping Senate vote exceeded expectations ? tea party conservatives like Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., backed the measure ? and would appear to grease enactment of the measure despite lingering questions in the House, where conservative forces sank a recent bid by Boehner to permit tax rates on incomes exceeding $1 million to go back to Clinton-era levels.

In the Senate, three Democrats and five Republicans voted against the legislation.

"Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members ? and the American people ? have been able to review the legislation," said a statement by Boehner and other top GOP leaders.

Lawmakers hope to resolve any uncertainty over the fiscal cliff before financial markets reopen Wednesday. It could take lots of Democratic votes to pass the measure and overcome opposition from tea party lawmakers.

Under the Senate deal, taxes would remain steady for the middle class but rise at incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples ? levels higher than President Barack Obama had campaigned for in his successful drive for a second term in office. Some liberal Democrats were disappointed that the White House did not stick to a harder line, while other Democrats sided with Republicans to force the White House to partially retreat on increases in taxes on multi-million-dollar estates.

The measure also allocates $24 billion in spending cuts and new revenues to defer, for two months, some $109 billion worth of automatic spending cuts that were set to slap the Pentagon and domestic programs starting this week. That would allow the White House and lawmakers time to regroup before plunging very quickly into a new round of budget brinkmanship, certain to revolve around Republican calls to rein in the cost of Medicare and other government benefit programs.

Officials also decided at the last minute to use the measure to prevent a $900 pay raise for lawmakers due to take effect this spring.

Even by the dysfunctional standards of government-by-gridlock, the activity at both ends of historic Pennsylvania Avenue was remarkable as the administration and lawmakers spent the final hours of 2012 haggling over long-festering differences.

Republicans said McConnell and Biden had struck an agreement Sunday night but that Democrats pulled back Monday morning. Democrats like Tom Harkin of Iowa said the agreement was too generous to upper-bracket earners. Obama's longstanding position was to push the top tax rate on family income exceeding $250,000 from 35 percent to 39 percent.

"No deal is better than a bad deal. And this look like a very bad deal," said Harkin.

The measure would raise the top tax rate on large estates to 40 percent, with a $5 million exemption on estates inherited from individuals and a $10 million exemption on family estates. At the insistence of Republicans and some Democrats, the exemption levels would be indexed for inflation.

Taxes on capital gains and dividends over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples would be taxed at 20 percent, up from 15 percent.

The bill would also extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed for an additional year at a cost of $30 billion, and would spend $31 billion to prevent a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

Another $64 billion would go to renew tax breaks for businesses and for renewable energy purposes, like tax credits for energy-efficient appliances.

Despite bitter battling over taxes in the campaign, even die-hard conservatives endorsed the measure, arguing that the alternative was to raise taxes on virtually every earner.

"I reluctantly supported it because it sets in stone lower tax rates for roughly 99 percent of American taxpayers," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "With millions of Americans watching Washington with anger, frustration and anxiety that their taxes will skyrocket, this is the best course of action we can take to protect as many people as possible from massive tax hikes."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bill-avert-fiscal-cliff-heads-house-092456703--finance.html

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18 Under 18: HuffPost Teen's List Of The Most Amazing Young People Of The Year

It's been an amazing year for young people, and here at HuffPost Teen, we've been inspired by watching many of the them dominate in fields ranging from entertainment to science to technology to sports -- and beyond. To celebrate these awesome almost-legal game-changers of 2012, we've created our first annual "18 Under 18" list. Read through the names we selected below, then tell us: Who did we forget? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet your own #18under18 picks @HuffPostTeen!

Michaela DePrince

Born in Sierra Leone during the civil war, Michaela DePrince grew up in an orphanage with her sister. Her father had been killed by the rebels and her mother starved to death shortly after. DePrince's time in the orphanage was made even more difficult by her vitiligo, a skin condition that causes light blotches on the skin, which caused her treated poorly and called "the devil's child." At just three years old, DePrince found a magazine picture of a beautiful ballet dancer and carried it around with her because she "saw hope in it." When was adopted by a family in the U.S., DePrince quickly began her ballet training. As a teenager, she was featured in the film "First Position," a 2011 American documentary. She has now graduated from the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and will continue her work at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

DePrince talked about being a role model to the Associated Press: "Because I've been through so much, I know now that I can make it and I can help other kids who have been in really bad situations realize that they can make it too."

Jack Andraka

Fifteen-year-old Jack Andraka won the 2012 Intel Science Competition, the world's largest high school science research competition, for his groundbreaking research on pancreatic cancer. The Maryland high school student developed a test for pancreatic cancer that is 28 times cheaper and faster, and also 100 times more sensitive, than current tests. When his name was announced in June for the Grand Prize of $75,000, the expression of pure elation on his face was priceless. A video showing his stunned reaction almost immediately went viral. "I did not think I was going to win a single award," he said to Intel. "It's unbelievable, I can't believe this is happening to me. This means so much to me."

Andraka told Wall Street Journal Live about his future plans to patent his test and take it nation-wide: "I'm incredibly excited about that aspect of this endeavor."

Malala Yousafzai

This year, Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai's crusade for girls' rights to education -- in the face of threats on her own life -- brought education and women's rights into the global spotlight. The 15-year-old was shot in the head in a Taliban assassination attempt in early October because she spoke out about universal educational rights through a series of anonymous blog posts published by the BBC. Yousafzai, who started writing them when she was 11 years old, criticized the Taliban for their repressive regime and destruction of girls' schools in the Swat Valley, where she grew up. Her cause started an international movement for education and girls' rights, which recently culminated in a global day of action, "Malala Day."

Malala was named a runner-up for the Time "Person of the Year" award and thousands of supporters have nominated her for next year's Nobel Peace Prize.

"Malala doesn't just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender," campaign leader Shahida Choudhary wrote on the Change.org petition she started for Malala's nomination.

Gabby Douglas

This summer, 16-year-old Gabby Douglas (also known as the "flying squirrel") made history when she became the first African-American woman to win the gold medal in the Women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Olympics in London. Along with the other four members of the "Fab 5," Douglas quickly became an Olympic favorite. She has since been named a 2012 Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine and was included on Forbes' "30 Under 30" list.

The athlete shared some words of advice for young people at a recent charity event: ?Never give up and always keep fighting, because though times may be tough, the sacrifices do pay off, so just keep pushing towards your dream and just love it at the same time and enjoy it.?

Carly Rose Sonenclar

Thirteen-year-old singer Carly Rose Sonenclar won over "X Factor" judges -- and became a viral Internet sensation -- with her jaw-droppingly powerful voice. Her soulful first performance of Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good" stunned the judges and racked up nearly 20 million views on YouTube, leading judge Demi Lovato to gush, "I want to buy your music right now."

In a surprising twist of events, Carly Rose did not win the competition and was edged out of the lead by winning country singer Tate Stevens. Still, it's safe to say that a superstar has been born -- and that she has a bright career in the music industry ahead of her.

Samantha Garvey

Long Island high school student Samantha Garvey was homeless and living in a local shelter when she became a semifinalist in the prestigious Intel Science Competition last year, and her incredible display of strength inspired students and educators across the country. Once her impressive accomplishments began making headlines, donations and support from people across the country started pouring in. Although the aspiring marine biologist did not win the Intel Competition, she was awarded a $50,000 scholarship, invited to attend the State of the Union at the White House, and was even given a new home in Bay Shore, Long Island. Garvey graduated high school this year, and was named one of Business Insider's Most Impressive Kids to Graduate in 2012.

"This is just the most amazing thing you could ask for," Garvey said at a news conference last January, after her family was given rent-subsidized housing by the county.

Tavi Gevinson

Feminist, fashion blogger and 15-year-old high school student Tavi Gevinson went from the fashion industry's youngest A-lister to a media mogul in her own right this year. Gevinson, a blogger from Chicago, Illinois, is already a full-blown multimedia phenomenon. She is editor-in-chief of Rookie, an online magazine for teen girls that launched in 2011, editor of the publication's first book, "Rookie: Yearbook 1,? and a social media darling with hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram. She also went on a road trip this year with Rookie, organizing events for Rookie readers around the country, from pajama parties to craft nights.

In a TEDxTeen talk she gave this year, Tavi discussed the process of founding an alternative online space for teenage girls and discovering what feminism means to her, saying: "I realized that feminism was not a rulebook but a discussion, a conversation, a process."

Nick D'Aliosio

When London-based 17-year-old tech wizard Nick D'Aliosio -- dubbed the "Internet's Genius Boy" by GigaOM -- created the app Summly, his objective was to revolutionize the way people read news. Summly uses complex algorithms to summarize news stories into chunks of text sized for the iPhone, and has already received over $1 million in funding from investors like Ashton Kutcher and Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. The second version of the news summarization app was released in November -- on his 17th birthday.

?The only way I see my age coming into this is that I?ve built this for my age, my demographic," the young CEO told the Huffington Post.

Harry Styles

Okay, so what if he was only under 18 for part of 2012 -- we're still putting him on the list! As one-fifth of the biggest pop culture phenomenon of 2012, One Direction, Styles, who turned 18 on February 1, is the band?s resident ladies man and arguably its most popular member. Styles has not only seemingly won over the hearts of most preteen girls in the universe, but also 23-year-old pop princess Taylor Swift.

Dating life aside, Styles has helped propel the British boy band to the top of the charts -- and to worldwide superstardom, working his way up from "X Factor UK" auditions to playing Madison Square Garden. And beyond One Direction, he's helped spearhead an even larger international trend: The long-awaited return of the boy band.

David Boone

Cleveland high school student David Boone's "Homeless to Harvard" story is one of the most inspiring we've heard all year. The aspiring engineer has gone through struggles with gang violence and temporary homelessness (when he was 14, his home was destroyed by gang members) but his troubled past didn't stop him from dreaming of a brighter future.

"All of these life lessons have shaped me into who I am, transforming my dreams and aspirations and allowing me to free myself from what was becoming an unproductive environment," Boone wrote in a HuffPost Teen blog post. After being accepted to over 20 schools, Boone chose to join the freshman class at Harvard University next year.

Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel

This spring, three 16-year-olds from New Jersey -- Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel -- launched a petition insisting that a woman should moderate at least one of the presidential debates. In just a few months they garnered over 170,000 signatures, and perhaps partially due to their powerful campaign, female journalists Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz were chosen to moderate two of the three debates for the first time in 20 years. As the girls wrote on their petition, "Women and men will never be truly equal in our country until they?re one and the same in positions of power and both visible in politics."

Claressa Shields

Gabby Douglas wasn't the only teen athlete who made history at the Olympics this year. Seventeen-year-old Claressa Shields became the first American woman ever to win a boxing gold medal. But before she was setting records in London, the Michigan teen had a troubled childhood, with a brother in prison and father with a criminal record.

"I can't even explain the pain that I had went through, all the people that I had to deal with and just life -- period," she told the Associated Press. "There were people who were telling me I couldn't do this. And whenever somebody doubted me, it always makes me push harder. So thank you ... all the haters."

Julia Bluhm

Julia Bluhm, 14, started a body image revolution when she launched a high profile petition asking Seventeen Magazine to feature at least one unretouched photo spread each month.

"I've always just known how Photoshop can have a big effect on girls and their body image and how they feel about themselves," Bluhm told the Huffington Post. "You need to see something realistic -- you need to see a reflection of what truly represents a teenage girl nowadays." After Bluhm protested outside the Seventeen offices and her petition made headlines across the country, the magazine promised to "celebrate every kind of beauty" and only feature photos of real girls.

Taylor Wilson

At 14 years old, teen physicist Taylor Wilson became the youngest person ever to create nuclear fission. Now, the talented scientist is in the process of building his own nuclear reactor.

Taylor may be a Ph.D. student, but he's still your typical 17-year-old at heart. The teen told CBS News: "When I hold something that's radioactive, it's kind of an indescribable feeling. It's kind of like when I'm with my girlfriend."

Maude Apatow

This year, 15-year-old Maude Apatow, daughter of director Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann, made a name for herself on Twitter, with over 100,000 people following her quirky, LOL-worthy updates ("Is it possible to swallow your retainer in your sleep?"). She's also as a contributor to hellogiggles.com, where she?s interviewed celebrities and written about her love-hate relationship with Twitter. Oh, and in her free time the ninth grader from Los Angeles also finds time to act -- most recently, in the hit movie ?This is 40,? which also stars her parents and younger sister.

Dad Judd Apatow described the process of working with his daughter to the New York Times: "A few times I pushed Maude to commit more to her performance, and she got mad at me and then did something wonderful."

Adora Svitak

Child prodigy and education crusader Adora Svitak is, at age 15, a published author of essays, poems and two books, TED speaker, activist, and in the words of Diane Sawyer, a "tiny literary giant." She's also a literacy spokesperson, lecturing around the world to spread her passion for reading and writing.

As Svitak wrote in a Huffington Post blog, "To me, us teenagers are at the perfect crossroads of childish naivete and adult realism -- we still believe that problems can be solved, and now we also have the tools and knowledge to solve them."

Stefan Bachmann

This past September, teen author Stefan Bachmann published the popular children's book, The Peculiar, which he wrote when he was 16. The fantastical novel tells the story of a faery invasion in steampunk Victorian England and has garned critical acclaim since its release.

The LA Times wrote: "Bachmann, who is now 18, writes as if he didn't just read classic books. His prose is so elegantly witty, it's as if he absorbed them and is writing by osmosis."

The young writer is currently studying music at the Zurich Conservatory, where we're hoping he'll find inspiration a second novel!

Katy Butler

Katy Butler from Plymouth, Michigan knows firsthand how hurtful bullying can be.

"When I was 12, I came out as a lesbian to my best friend and she decided she was going to tell the whole school for me," Butler told The Daily Beast. "Kids ended up walking down the hallway, calling me names, pushing me against walls and into lockers, knocking my books over. Horrible things like that."

This inspired the 17-year-old to start a campaign to get the rating of the documentary, "Bully," changed from R to PG-13. "I think [the movie] could create a big change, and it could potentially save lives if kids are allowed to see it,? she told The Washington Post.

Butler was supported by celebrities like Ellen Degeneres, and her campaign was likely one of the reasons the rating of the film ended up getting changed to PG-13.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/teen-year-in-review-huffp_n_2302280.html

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Rift? What Rift? (talking-points-memo)

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The Fiscal Cliff? ? Center for Christian Business Ethics

As we end 2012 and look to 2013, we see a year that has had many developments. Some challenge our concepts of proper behavior. The immediate example is the fiscal cliff. As business people, we know that one of the core principles for success is diligence. Diligence means staying on top of the business and anticipating what needs to be done.

The Bible says a lot about the diligent and success. In Proverbs 6:6-11 the sluggard, think the delaying, non-diligent individual, is told to study the ant. Ants are interesting in that they are systematic and thus prepared. Ants harvest in summer and rest in winter.

When we look at the fiscal cliff, we see a lack of diligence by our leaders. Alas, we have our own work to do and we need to not allow their laxness to discourage us. We, like the ants, need to be diligent and prepared for that which may come.

2012 was a good year for many. Skipping the noise about the fiscal cliff, will allow us to focus on the many opportunities that await us. We do need to remember James? word of encouragement in James 4:13-15, that we make our plans, but acknowledge that it is God?s blessings that make them prosper.

The really good news is that God loves us enough to come and save us to be with Him eternally. That kind of love is diligent and something we can count on as we go over the cliff into 2013.

Blessings and Happy New Year,

The Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2013 at 12:13 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.cfcbe.com/2013/01/01/the-fiscal-cliff/

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