See How Much the "Perfect" Female Body Has Changed in 100 Years

From the Gibson Girl of the early 1900s to the Bootylicious Beyonce of today - via Heroin chic Kate Moss - just how much the most desired shape of the day has changed over the years may surprise you. That silhouette of the “ideal woman” has been put through a series of fun house mirrors (fashion, movies, pop music, politics). It also changes year over year, so the physical qualities we embrace today are often at odds with those from previous generations. See the full article here : https://greatist.com/grow/100-years-womens-body-imag

New cervical cancer screening guideline says start Pap tests later, screen less often

A girl is vaccinated against HPV in a file photo. Women who have been

vaccinated with the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine also need to be screened because 

the shots do not protect against all forms of the virus.Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington , Ottawa Citizen

 

OTTAWA – Doctors should stop ordering yearly Pap tests for most women, and routine screening for cervical cancer in younger women should be abandoned altogether, a federal task force is recommending.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care has released an updated guideline for cervical cancer screening that recommends starting screening when women are older, and screening them less often in order to avoid the harms of excessive testing.
Published  in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, a guideline recommends that women aged 25 to 69 without symptoms of cervical cancer who are, or who have ever been, sexually active, be screened once every three years with a Pap test, which detects abnormal cells in the cervix.
The 1994 guideline recommended screening every three years, but only after two consecutive negative Pap test results.
The old guideline also recommended Pap smears for women once they turn 18 or become sexually active.But the task force says it could find no benefit to outweigh the potential harms of screening women under 25.
Nearly half (42%) of women aged 18 to 19 have reported being screened at least once within the previous three years, the authors write in the CMAJ. But the incidence of cervical cancer in women less than 20 is low (0.2 cases per 100,000) and no deaths from cervical cancer were reported among Canadian women under 20 between 2002 and 2006.
Neither could the task force find any data to support the argument that screening younger women helps prevent deaths from cervical cancer when they’re older. The risk of cervical cancer increases after age 25, and peaks in a woman’s 50s.
Younger women are more likely to have abnormal Pap results. A substantial proportion will have “false positive” results, leading to unnecessary and invasive treatments for abnormalities that would never progress to cancer — procedures that can cause pain, bleeding and irreversible damage to the cervix that can jeopardize a woman’s chances of carrying a future  pregnancy.
Over the past 50 years, deaths due to cervical cancer have fallen dramatically, the panel writes. Today, a woman’s risk of dying from the disease is 0.2%.
“It is likely that much of the change seen in the incidence of cervical cancer in Canada is due to screening, but early and frequent (often annual) cervical screening is unnecessary: other countries have achieved similar outcomes with less frequent testing and starting screening at older ages,” the panel reports.
“The American have said very specifically, no woman should have annual Pap testing,” said Dr. James Dickinson, a member of the task force and chair of the guideline-working group.
“Cervical cancer was, and still is a horrible disease to get. It spreads right through the whole of a woman’s pelvis and causes horrible problems with bowel and bladder. It can be a truly horrible disease,” said Dickinson, a professor of family medicine and community health sciences at the University of Calgary.
Without Pap testing, the disease would affect 1.5% of women. “This is the most successful screening test that we have available,” Dickinson said. “It really can reduce the disease by more than 80%-90%, and that’s fantastic.”
Expert advisory bodies have for several years been recommending doctors do away with annual Pap testing and instead screen every three years. “It’s just that (doctors) and women have got into this habit of annual Pap smears, and we’d like to get them out of that habit,” he said.
“The evidence says that three years is enough to get the benefits.”
Some women do need more frequent screening, including those who have HIV or are immune suppressed.
Overall, for younger women, “We said look, this disease is almost non-existent in women under the age of 20, so we really should not do it for women under 20,” Dickinson said. “Even for women between 20 and 25, it’s extremely rare.”
“The test doesn’t work very well for the sorts of cancers that seem to develop between the age of 20 and 24,” he added.
“On balance, we say that under (the age of) 25, it’s not worth doing.”
For women aged 25 to 29, the panel recommends screening every three years. But they’ve assigned it a “weak” recommendation, because of their concerns about the rate of false-positives and the harms of over-treatment. “Although most women would want to follow the recommended course of action, many would not.” Women in this age group should discuss the potential risks and benefits with their doctor, they said.
Over the age of 30, the risks of cervical cancer are substantially higher, Dickinson said. “Between 30 and 69, we strongly advise screening” every three years, he said.
Screening can stop in women at age 70 and older after three successive negative Pap test results in the last 10 years, according to the new guideline.
The Canadian Cancer Society currently recommends women have regular Pap tests starting by age 21 if they’re sexually active.
The whole article here: http://www.canada.com/health/women/cervical+cancer+screening+guideline+says+start+tests+later+screen+less+often/7785198/story.html

Cyanide in Bitter Apricot Kernels

Apricot kernels are the seeds found inside the pits (stones) of fresh apricots. There are two types of apricot kernels, bitter and sweet. Bitter apricot kernels naturally contain a compound called amygdalin, which has the potential to release cyanide when ingested by humans. Small amounts of cyanide are detoxified by the human body but high doses can be lethal. Alternatively, sweet apricot kernels and the fruit (flesh) of apricots do not pose a risk of adverse health effects from cyanide exposure because they contain lower levels of amygdalin. Some people use ground or whole bitter apricot kernels to flavor foods, as a health food, or for medicinal purposes. Apricot kernels may be promoted in some health foods as a medicinal ingredient. Apricot kernels with unapproved medicinal claims may be offered for sale. These products may recommend very high quantities of apricot kernels be consumed, which would result in exposure to amygdalin doses higher than those considered to be safe by health authorities and other international jurisdictions. Together with the related synthetic compound laetrile, amygdalin has been marketed as an alternative cancer treatment. However, studies have found the compounds to be ineffective in the treatment of cancer, as well as potentially toxic or lethal when taken by mouth, due to cyanide poisoning.

Lynda.com vs LinkedIn Learning

For the end user there is no difference. The courses that are available on Lynda are also available on LinkedIn Learning. So from a pure content perspective, they are exactly the same.

The main difference is the platform that the courses are delivered on — LinkedIn Learning is built on the LinkedIn platform, which provides the learner with additional value in the form of recommendations that are personalized for you based on your profile, your professional network, the company you work for, etc.

There is also better integration on the platform with the content itself so when you learn new skills from taking a course, you have the option to easily add those skills to your profile. LinkedIn offers acount linking i.e. If you're a current Lynda.com paid individual subscriber and would like to try LinkedIn Learning, you can do so without purchasing an additional subscription. LinkedIn offers complimentary access to LinkedIn Learning for Lynda.com paid individual subscribers according to their web site.