Supplements Source

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (FOX 11) - Hill’s Pet Nutrition has issued a voluntary recall on select canned dog food products after receiving a complaint about a dog exhibiting signs of elevated vitamin D levels.

While vitamin D is an essential nutrient for dogs, ingestion of elevated levels can lead to potential health issues depending on the level of vitamin D and the length of exposure, and dogs may exhibit symptoms such as vomiting, loss of appetite, increased thirst, increased urination, excessive drooling, and weight loss. 

Vitamin D, when consumed at very high levels, can lead to serious health issues in dogs including renal dysfunction.

Pet parents who purchased the product with the specific lot/date codes listed below should discontinue feeding and dispose of those products immediately or return unopened product to your retailer for a refund.  For more information, please contact Hill’s at 1-800-445-5777.

The following recalled canned food products were distributed through retail pet stores and veterinary clinics across the United States.

•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® c/d® Multicare Canine Chicken & Vegetable Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #3384. Lot codes 102020T10, 102020T25
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® i/d® Canine Chicken & Vegetable Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #3389. Lot codes 102020T04, 102020T10, 102020T19
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® i/d® Canine Chicken & Vegetable Stew, 5.5oz:- SKU #3390, Lot codes 102020T11, 112020T23, 122020T07
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® z/d® Canine, 5.5oz:- SKU #5403, Lot codes 102020T17, 112020T22
•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® g/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7006, Lot code 112020T19
•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® i/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7008, Lot codes 092020T30, 102020T07, 102020T11, 112020T22
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® j/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7009, Lot code 112020T20
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® k/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7010, Lot code 102020T10
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® w/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7017, Lot codes 092020T30, 102020T11
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® z/d® Canine, 13oz:- SKU #7018, Lot codes 102020T04, 112020T22
•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Metabolic + Mobility Canine Vegetable & Tuna Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #10086, Lot codes 102020T05, 102020T26
•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® w/d® Canine Vegetable & Chicken Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #10129, Lot codes 102020T04, 102020T21
•  Hill’s® Prescription Diet® i/d® Low Fat Canine Rice, Vegetable & Chicken Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #10423, Lot codes 102020T17, 102020T19, 112020T04
• Hill’s® Prescription Diet® Derm Defense® Canine Chicken & Vegetable Stew, 12.5oz:- SKU #10509, Lot code 102020T05
• Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult 7+ Small & Toy Breed Chicken & Barley Entrée Dog Food, 5.8oz:- SKU #4969, Lot code 102020T18
• Hill’s® Science Diet® Puppy Chicken & Barley Entrée, 13oz:- SKU #7036; Lot code 102020T12
•  Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Chicken & Barley Entrée Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7037, Lot codes 102020T13, 112020T23
• Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Turkey & Barley Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7038, Lot code 102020T06
•  Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Chicken & Beef Entrée Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7040, Lot code 102020T13
•  Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Light with Liver Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7048, Lot code 112020T19
•  Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult 7+ Chicken & Barley Entrée Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7055, Lot codes 092020T31, 102020T13
• *Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult 7+ Beef & Barley Entrée Dog Food, 13oz:- SKU #7056, Lot codes 092020T31, 112020T20, 112020T24
• Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult 7+ Turkey & Barley Entrée, 13oz:- SKU #7057, Lot code 112020T19
• Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult 7+ Healthy Cuisine Braised Beef, Carrots & Peas Stew dog food, 12.5oz:- SKU #10452, Lot codes 102020T14, 102020T21

A blueprint for the university campus of tomorrow (Live Mint)

Mains Paper 2: Education
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Improving education

Context

•  University campuses are built to last. The Saxon Tower at Oxford University was built in the decades preceding the Norman conquest of England, over 1,000 years ago.
•  The 300-year old Massachusetts Hall, the oldest surviving building at Harvard University, was built before George Washington was born.
•  Closer home, the 150-year old Senate House at Madras University was built around the time Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born.
•  The Tsinghua Garden in Beijing’s Tsinghua University is over 100 years old.
•  University campuses have evolved and expanded over time, and have often undergone additions, renovations and rebuilds to keep up with the times.

Universities are re-imagined

•  At a point in time now, when universities are being re-imagined, technology offers limitless access to different types of learning, challenging traditional methods and impacting the physical configuration of university campuses.
•  The flexible campus of tomorrow will need to look nothing like the class-room centric campuses of today.
•  This requires a new type of university campus one that puts the student at the heart of the experience and breaks down all the barriers and silos that are so much a part of traditional universities. We must conceive the whole campus as a laboratory, a library, an art gallery and, more generally, a place for learning.
•  The campus we architect today must stay relevant and effective for at least the next 100 years, which promises to be a period of change and complexity, orders of magnitude higher than the past 100 years. This is very much the challenge before us as we begin to design Krea University’s forthcoming 200-acre campus.

What we need to do?

•  To begin with, we must envision a space model that creates shared learning clusters, interdisciplinary academic pavilions, a library that embraces technology and digital scholarship, and a distributed student centre that will create active student spaces throughout the campus—an academic high street.
•  We envisage a complete shift away from traditional classrooms to a range of active learning studios that support group working, and a wide range of learning and teaching approaches, with flexible furniture and technology in every studio. Blended learning will also be a key element in the student experience.
•  Technology must be at the heart of the campus of the future. Rather than traditional campuses, where buildings are often stand-alone entities, all buildings must be part of a connected smart campus system, with an integrated campus management system and real time management of building performance.
•  A comprehensive and dynamic virtual learning environment could enhance student experience and support the development of learning communities.
•  Agile timetabling will be linked to real-time analysis of space use across campus.

Requirement of libraries

•  Libraries are a central theme in the evolution of universities.
•  Academic libraries typically act as a repository for the university’s book and journal collection. Study spaces in libraries are generally designed to support individual study, and technology use is often restricted to open access computers for student use.
•  The library of the future needs to be radically re-imagined—combining the library with a technology centre to facilitate information management, data visualization and digital scholarship.
•  The library would contain a rich landscape of individual and group technology-enabled study settings, including a shared technology hub with augmented reality studios, simulation spaces and digital maker spaces.
•  The campus of the future will have no traditional academic faculty or departmental buildings.
•  Faculty will be accommodated in a series of academic pavilions designed to support interdisciplinary research and learning, working with interdisciplinary staff grouped in research  centres or teams.
•  These work hubs will be designed to support collaboration as well as traditional individual scholarship. They will integrate faculty and graduate students and include learning commons as a place for students and faculty to interact, collaborate on projects and inspire each other.
•  From a design standpoint, the architectural master plan must conceptualize a built environment that is practical and responsible within its context.
•  The campus must facilitate coherent relationships between landscape, academic and residential life and new advances in technology.

Conclusion

•  It must seek a greater interaction between academic and residential functions, articulated through the outdoor space that offers opportunities for experimental learning;
•  The campus becomes the classroom. This holistic approach to the campus will offer not only the high standards required of faculty buildings and housing, but also a repertoire of formal and informal spaces for learning and interaction.
•  This would create a sustainable, useful and beautiful place of learning teaching and living.
•  This new approach to a university campus will support the evolution of needs by providing a flexible and adaptable environment capable of accommodating future priorities. Ultimately, the campus must congregate a community with the vision, culture and values to have a catalytic impact on society and its progress.

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Report, consider the following statements:
1. It includes a quarterly urban and an annual rural and urban survey on labour force in India.
2. It is conducted by the Central statistical Organisation (CSO).

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: A
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What if we had the opportunity to create, from the ground up and in one fell swoop, the university campus of the future?
Q.2) How would we provide an environment that embraces interwoven learning, and prepares new generations for the challenges of tomorrow?
 

Don’t waste food  |   Reduce the use of packaging  |   Avoid plastics  |   Make conscious food choices  |   Compost  |   Use less fossil fuels

The low-carb keto diet regularly comes under criticism from some quarters as being damaging to the environment and worsening global climate change. At Diet Doctor, we believe that many of those criticisms are assumptions that are not supported by objective evidence.

Nevertheless, it helps to be aware of how some of our individual choices and actions can reduce our environmental footprint.

Here are six actions you might consider, as a low-carb keto eater, that may help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a healthier environment.

Don’t waste food

Globally, an estimated one third of all food produced is wasted, contributing some 8 per cent to green house gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing food wastage is one of the top actions you can take to contribute to a healthier environment.

Here are some top ways to help reduce food waste:

• Plan your meals and shop to that plan.
• Serve smaller portions so that people come back for seconds rather than leave food on their plate.
• Serve food buffet style so that people take only what they want.
• Use leftovers quickly or freeze for future meals.
• Simmer vegetable stalks and trimmings (broccoli, cauliflower, kale etc) in soups and stocks.
• Blanch and freeze vegetables at risk of spoilage.
• Keep a list of fridge items with expiry dates posted on the fridge.
• Keep a list of frozen items posted on the fridge and incorporate them into meal planning.
• Buy frozen vegetables and only use what you need for each meal.
• Buy the misshapen vegetables in the store.

Reduce the use of packaging

Low carb keto eaters generally shop the rim of the store, relying less on processed and packaged food, which naturally then reduces their packaged waste.

Look for other ways to reduce your use of packaging to make a positive contribution, such as:

• Bring a cloth bag to the store.
• Use a water filter rather than buying water in bottles.
• Use a re-usable travel coffee mug rather than using disposable cups and lids.
• Use re-usable containers for leftovers, even restaurant take away or doggy bags.
• Examine the way items are packaged, such as individually wrapped items, and select the least bad packaging.
• Use re-usable net bags for produce.
• Recycle as much packaging as possible.

Avoid plastics made from fossil fuels

Currently, 90 % of all plastic is made from fossil fuels and is not biodegradable. Reducing or attempting to cut out plastic in your life can make a big difference.

As noted in the previous point, avoid plastic packaging where possible. Other ways to avoid plastic include:

• Don’t use plastic straws, cutlery, plates and other plastic disposable food items.
• Don’t use plastic wrap to seal food, instead:
• put another plate on top of a dish of food.
• use glass jars or glass containers.
• wrap vegetables in a tea towel.
• wrap leftovers in beeswax food wraps or make your own.
• use shower caps as food covers.
• Look for bioplastic — made out of organic materials like cellulose, that does biodegrade. Estimates suggest that 4.3 gigatons of GHGs annually could be eliminated if bioplastic packaging replaces just 49% of the packaging market by 2050.

Be conscious of your food choices

Depending on where you live and your food budget, your ability to access environmentally friendly meat and vegetables may be limited.

Where possible, the following actions may help:

• Buy local vegetables in season, which have traveled a shorter distance.
• Shop at local farmers’ markets.
• Consider growing some of your own herbs and vegetables.
• Make one or two meals a week low carb or keto vegetarian.
• Skip one or two meals a week, or skip breakfast daily.
• Consider paying extra for grass-fed beef and sustainably raised meat and animal products.
• Investigate local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) organizations in your region, in which local farmers and consumers become partners in the farm’s products. CSAs are all over the world.
• Buy from farmers using regenerative agriculture practices, which is a holistic process of growing and raise food (animal or vegetable) that improves soil quality and health, stores carbon emissions in the soil, improves water management and retention, and reduces the use of herbicides and pesticides. More than 150 organizations in the world are promoting regenerative agriculture practices and policies, and training farmers how to adopt the principles.

Compost

Food and organic matter that is discarded into landfills decays and releases methane, a powerful GHG that traps solar heat in the atmosphere. Food and organic waste that is composted, however, using microbes, heat, moisture and oxygen, does not release methane and stabilizes carbon in the soil making it rich and fertile.

Many jurisdictions now have, or are putting in place, industrial-sized composting facilities to divert kitchen and organic waste from landfills to create compost. Copenhagen has been doing this for more than 25 years.

Even those of us without city or regional composting programs can contribute to this proven way to reduce waste and reduce GHGs by using a compost bin. The resulting fertile soil can be added to outdoor gardens or patio pots, or even added to indoor plants to give them a boost of nutrition.

Reduce your use of fossil fuels

The burning of fossil fuels — in transportation, industrial processes, in heating homes or generating electricity — is considered to be the greatest contributor to manmade increases in GHGs.

There are many ways you can reduce your use of fossil fuels, that go over and above low carb keto eating, particularly through the type and use of your car, the use of other transportation, and the heating and cooling of your home. For example, lowering your thermostat and putting on a sweater.

While fossil fuels play a crucial role in reducing our environmental impact, we at Diet Doctor are aware that this is not our specialist topic and can provide only basic information from our limited research. Some ideas for reducing your reliance fossil fuels are listed below but we highly recommend using the links in the “More information” section to find out more.

• Plan your shopping trips to reduce the use of your car or reduce multiple trips to the store.
• Where possible, leave the car at home and walk, bike, take public transportation.
• Use an electric bike or scooter.
• Consider buying a hybrid or fully-electric vehicle.

Draw Down: A highly acclaimed 2017 book, it compiled the research evidence and crunched the numbers to come up with the top 100 ways to reduce carbon impact through to 2050.

Zero Waste Home: In 2008, Bea Johnson and her family adopted a zero waste lifestyle; their household has since produced a mere pint of trash per year. The book has been translated into 15 languages and Johnson now is a popular speaker worldwide.

/ Anne Mullens

Coming up

We have a longer 3-part series about low carb, meat and the environment coming up soon. Stay tuned!

How much vitamin D can boost memory, learning and decision-making in older adults, and how much is too much?

Last Year, Tech Mahindra chalked out a new retirement plan for a section of its employees which the technology major has categorised as “U Band”. According to the new plan, they would be retiring when they turned 55.

Early this month, the private sector bank Catholic Syrian Bank reworked the retirement math for its employees, bringing the retirement day closer for its employees by two years. In line with the new policy, those who are 58 years old or older as on May 1, 2019 are considered to have reached their retirement age. Earlier, retirement at age 60 was the norm at the private sector bank.

The number of companies offering early-retirement programmes, including voluntary retirement scheme, is on the increase. Redundancy resulting from technological disruption is a major contributory factor. With the advent of newer technologies, reskilling and upskilling are a necessity, and when some senior employees are unable to meet this requirement, a form of ageism sets in. With the gig economy making its presence felt in some areas, companies see that they can meet certain work requirements by hiring people on the basis of projects.

When they are more open to this model, they will want to function with a much-reduced permanent workforce.

Chetan Joshi, associate professor, organisational behaviour, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, refers to this trend of reducing retirement age from what is considered the industry-wide norm as ‘ageism penalty’.

“These are people who may have wanted to continue to work but are now being asked to take VRS,” says professor Joshi, adding that with newer technologies replacing existing ones at the rate of knots, the need to reskill oneself is constant. And so, the possibility of employees losing their relevance earlier, is much higher than ever before.

Now, the question is: With the passage of time, will ageism become more challenging in corporate India? Professionals working in the HR domain that we spoke to believe there is no cause for alarm. There will be checks and balances to ensure that ageism is countered.

Sonica Aron, founder and managing partner, Marching Sheep, says that companies will soon come to understand that investing in reskilling employees will be a better option than adjusting their retirement age. “With an increase in life expectancy, people are working longer; organisations will only benefit if people are ready to work for long time, provided they are reskilled,” she says. Recently, Anil Kumar E.T. and Kamal Karanth A., founders, Xpheno, organised a webinar ‘How old is too old?’, which explored the question of early retirement.

Anil Kumar E.T. refers to a survey conducted by Korn Ferry for C-level roles, which shows that the age bracket for executives has not come down. The average age for a C-Suite member is 54 years.

“Even in the IT Services sector in India, the age of retirement of C-Suite executives has not come down,” says Anil, adding that as long as employees know how to keep themselves relevant, they don’t have to fear ageism.

Pesticides: an update of human exposure and toxicity.

Arch Toxicol. 2016 Oct 8. [Epub ahead of print]
Mostafalou S1, Abdollahi M2,3,4. (IRAN)

Pesticides are a family of compounds which have brought many benefits to mankind in the agricultural, industrial, and health areas, but their toxicities in both humans and animals have always been a concern. Regardless of acute poisonings which are common for some classes of pesticides like organophosphoruses, the association of chronic and sub-lethal exposure to pesticides with a prevalence of some persistent diseases is going to be a phenomenon to which global attention has been attracted. In this review, incidence of various malignant, neurodegenerative, respiratory, reproductive, developmental, and metabolic diseases in relation to different routes of human exposure to pesticides such as occupational, environmental, residential, parental, maternal, and paternal has been systematically criticized in different categories of pesticide toxicities like carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, pulmonotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity, and metabolic toxicity.
A huge body of evidence exists on the possible role of pesticide exposures in the elevated incidence of human diseases such as

• cancers,
• Alzheimer,
• Parkinson,
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
• asthma,
• bronchitis,
• infertility,
• birth defects,
• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
• autism,
• diabetes, and
• obesity.

Most of the disorders are induced by insecticides and herbicides most notably organophosphorus, organochlorines, phenoxyacetic acids, and triazine compounds.

PMID: 27722929 DOI: 10.1007/s00204-016-1849-x

Publisher wants $40 for the PDF

Organophosphate exposures during pregnancy and child neurodevelopment - PLOS Oct 2018
   Recommendations for essential policy reforms

• "In one review, adverse effects of OP pesticide exposure on neurodevelopment were seen in all but one of the 27 studies evaluated; the strongest associations occurred following prenatal exposures"
• "Outcomes associated with OP pesticide exposure to the fetus include abnormal primitive reflexes in newborns; mental and motor delays among preschoolers; and decreases in working and visual memory, processing speed, verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, and IQ among elementary school–age children. Prenatal exposures also elevated risks for symptoms or diagnoses of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD)"

&nbspDownload the PDF from VitaminDWiki

Debate in theological matters is necessary in a fallen world. God commands believers to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We are to be zealous for the defense and propagation of the whole counsel of God for His own glory and the building up of His people. Ministers and local church members, in many Reformed churches, take vows to “study the peace and purity of the church.” This includes purity in doctrine. But, there are also wisdom principles that must accompany a desire to defend the truth. In every battle there is fallout. There are dangers that we need to seek to avoid when entering into theological debate.

In recent years, there has been a growing debate over the doctrine of sanctification. Some of the questions involved in this debate include: Does justification produce sanctification? Is sanctification “getting used to your justification?” What role does sanctification play in the subjective assurance of salvation in the life of a believer? Does justification make union with Christ possible, or does union make justification possible? In addition to these questions, a myriad of others have been–and ought to be–raised for the sake of clarity and the defense of truth. There are, however, several dangers that come with controversy.

(HT:  Tim Challies)

Source: http://takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/2014/05/dangers-of-theological-controversy.html

This Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken Tortellini is so easy to throw together for an easy dinner that practically cooks itself! It’s freezer-friendly, kid-friendly and the perfect gift for new moms or busy families.

Hi friends!

This Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken Tortellini was originally going to just be a recipe in my upcoming ebook, but I love it so much I decided to share it here on the blog! I’ve made it at least 4 times since I first tested it for the ebook. My husband and kids all love it and I consider that a major win around here.

And it really couldn’t be easier. It’s just chicken breasts cooked in the crockpot with some broth, pesto, onions and red peppers. For the last 15 minutes, you throw in the tortellini and then just stir in some cheese and serve. Added bonus, you can prep this ahead of time for the freezer. Just throw everything in a ziploc bag and put it in the freezer (be sure to freeze the tortellini in a separate bag) and then thaw in the fridge and cook when ready. Perfect gift for new mamas too!

You could easily throw in some extra veggies if you wanted to and use your favorite brand of tortellini.  It’s also easy to halve this recipe using a 9oz package of tortellini and 1 large chicken breast. I haven’t tried it, but you could also cook this in your Instant pot. Just cook on manual for 12 minutes or so, then switch to saute and add the tortellini to cook for a few minutes.

Here are your directions:

Natural health advocate, Dr. Joseph Mercola, tweeted a story from his website–“Vitamin D Is More Effective Than Flu Vaccine, Study Says”, on his popular website mercola.com.

His text in the tweet stated: Mounting research suggests vitamin D deficiency may actually be a major cause of influenza.

This drew a firestorm in response, questioning everything from his status as a physician to accusing him of failing microbiology:

Aren’t you a doctor? Surely you must’ve been taught that the influenza virus is what causes influenza? No?? Nothing else. Just the virus. Susceptibility is another factor sure, but cause? That’s pretty embarrassing for you I think.

You’re a doctor?? Looks more like quackery to me.

AmazonBasics Microwave

The difference between ’cause’ and ‘correlation’ is the difference between a quack and a doctor.

No. No no no. Influenza virus – highly contagious – is the cause of influenza. JUST STOP with your pseudoscience and “research.”

As a “Dr.” you should be able to distinguish between a cold and a flu. But since you are neither a doctor nor a scientist I understand this post simply as advertising for your vitamin D products.

Aren’t you supposed to be an actual doctor? Where did you go to medical school? Hogwarts?

What is wrong with you?!? Go back to your microbiology textbook, see under ‘Orthomyxoviridae’. Or remove the honorific ‘Dr.’ from your name.

Joseph Mercola, D.O., who practices in Schaumburg, Illinois, also operates one of the Internet’s largest and most trafficked health information sites.

Mercola.com has been described as a horrible chimera of tabloid journalism, late-night infomercials, and amateur pre-scientific medicine, and is the primary web presence of Joseph Mercola.  Unfortunately, it is also one of the more popular alternative medicine sites on the web and as such is uncommonly efficient at spreading misinformation.

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Quackwatch says many of Mercola’s articles make unsubstantiated claims and clash with those of leading medical and public health organizations. For example, he opposes immunization fluoridation. , mammography , and the routine administration of vitamin K shots to the newborn ; claims that amalgam fillings are toxic ; and makes many unsubstantiated recommendations for dietary supplements. Mercola’s reach has been greatly boosted by repeated promotion on the “Dr. Oz Show.”