Archive for the ‘Health/Hemorrhoids’ Category
August 30th, 2011 | 
Author: College students and graduates are familiar with the traditional admissions process. Whether students in past years traveled hundreds of miles to explore a campus for the first time, or scheduled office hours with a college admissions counselor, the route to choosing a college oftentimes involved a lot of frustration and legwork.
Today, with technology permeating nearly every aspect of life, students and families are finding ways to stay more organized and productive throughout the process. Tools of the past, such as the three-ring binder and the notebook, are giving way to apps and mobile devices that allow students to research a school, visit a campus, and meet with admissions counselors—all while never stepping foot on school grounds.
[Discover how technology has had a positive impact in the classroom.]
As technology advances, digital tools have become more prevalent in making this life-altering process more manageable. Here are just a few of those tools available to students and parents:
1. Net price calculator: Beginning Oct. 29, each higher education institution in the United States is required to post a net price calculator on its respective college website, but many schools, such as Amherst College and Purdue University, have already posted their own calculators. These calculators will allow students and their families to determine estimated net price information—which is the college sticker price minus discounts and grant aid—based on each student’s individual circumstance.
[Read more about using an aid calculator.]
According to Bill Wells, director of financial aid at Wake Forest University, these tools will provide some clarity for families questioning their ability to afford a particular school. "Before the requirement, we had links [on our school's website] to various expected family contribution estimators," Wells says. "But what those tools did not do was actually link the calculation to the specific criteria that each particular school uses in measuring the family’s ability to pay."
Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org, though, cautions families to take into account the accuracy of the tool. "I would characterize it more as telling you whether or not the college is in the right ballpark, [but] these calculators could be off by thousands of dollars."
[Get expert tips and advice on how to pay for college.]
2. U.S. News My Fit: Experts advise students looking for their best college fit to visit schools in person to get a real feel of the environment. But, with myriad college options, students may feel overwhelmed narrowing their choices. Acknowledging these frustrations, U.S.News & World Report has developed a tool that allows students to find colleges that fit their specifications.
Using data points such as intended major, undergraduate enrollment, and Greek life preferences, students can narrow their options based on the size, makeup, and academic offerings of a particular school. Students can also enter their high school GPA and standardized test scores to determine how they compare academically to current students of the school, based upon data provided by the colleges and universities in a 2010 survey by U.S. News.
After entering his or her data, a user can browse college profile pages among the Best Colleges section to see whether a certain school is likely to be a good fit. In order to access the My Fit tool, a user must have access to the U.S. News College Compass.
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The 2012 edition of the Best Colleges rankings for National Universities, National Liberal Arts Colleges, Regional Universities, and Regional Colleges will go live on usnews.com on Tuesday, September 13. The site will have the most complete version of the rankings, tables, and lists, and it will have extensive statistical profiles on each school. The Best Colleges site also will have wide-ranging interactivity and a college search to enable students and parents to find the school that best fits their needs. These exclusive rankings will also be published in our newsstand guidebook, which will go on sale and be available through Amazon.com starting September 20.
In order to get the most complete college rankings, tables, expanded school profiles, enhanced college search, and other exclusive interactive tools you will need to sign up for the U.S. News College Compass.
Watch this blog prior to the launch of the new Best Colleges rankings for details on methodology and presentation changes in the new edition of the rankings.
U.S. News will be publishing web-exclusive rankings of colleges by high school counselors from across the United States. Other web-exclusive rankings will include one that shows which schools have the greatest "commitment to undergraduate teaching." For the fourth year in row, this year exclusively online, we will publish the very popular list of "Up-and-Coming Institutions"—the colleges making innovative improvements. In addition, we will have our fifth annual ranking of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. We will also publish new rankings of top undergraduate business programs and top undergraduate engineering programs.
In addition, we have lists, tables, and articles to help you navigate the college application process. Some of these include:
You’ll also be able to see these tables:
Searching for a college? Get our complete rankings of Best Colleges.
While scholarship opportunities abound for students with eye-popping SAT scores and single-digit class ranks, those without remarkable academic backgrounds are often left to wonder if there are any scholarships left for them. Rest assured that there is financial support provided to those with average grades. More and more scholarships are becoming available for students based on creativity, community service, overcoming adversity and extracurricular activities. Regardless of your grades, test scores, or passions, there’s bound to be an opportunity for scholarship money for you, too.
[Get more advice on how to pay for college.]
If you have creative skills:
David Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship: Established by comedian David Letterman in 1985, the David Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship is designed for students with average grades, but imaginative and artistic minds. Winners are selected primarily based on creativity, as demonstrated in projects involving a variety of media functions: written work, research, audio, video, graphics, and film. In this program, the winner receives $10,000, while the first runner-up receives $5,000 and the second runner-up receives $3,333.
If you perform community service:
The Caring Institute: There are monetary rewards for students whose community service and volunteer work is above average. The Caring Award is for those who do just that: care for others and demonstrate actions worthy of mirroring. The $2,000 reward goes beyond money for college and includes a crystal statue, a profile in Caring magazine, and an official induction into the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans, accompanied by a trip to Washington, D.C., for the induction. A scholarship, recognition, and a free trip? It doesn’t get much better than that.
[Read more about turning your service into college cash.]
If you have overcome adversity:
Horatio Alger Association Scholarships: Many of us are experiencing hardships now more than ever. While it builds strength to overcome these misfortunes on your own, wouldn’t it be nice to also get recognition and even a bit of free money for your perseverance? The Horatio Alger Association thinks so, and provides scholarships for students who have demonstrated grace and integrity while overcoming adversity. The association rewards 100 high school seniors with $10,000 scholarships and 150 high school seniors with $1,000 each year.
If you have achievement in nonacademic activities:
AXA Achievement Scholarship Program: Do you have a passion you’d like fellow students, coworkers, or members of your community to get involved in? Don’t be shy; go ahead and get your club started, because the AXA Achievement Scholarship program recognizes youth for their ambition, ability to set and reach goals, and respect for their community. More than $1.3 million in awards are given out to high school seniors who have shown outstanding achievement in nonacademic activities in their school, their community, or their workplace. The program includes scholarships of $25,000, $10,000, and $2,000. (U.S. News partners with AXA to provide AXA Achievement scholarships.)
If you can write:
Americanism Essay Contest: Another way to bag some bucks for college is to enter an essay contest, though many of these contests require large chunks of time; it takes little more than a pen, paper, and some effort to enter. The Americanism Essay contest is sponsored by the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) National Committee on Americanism-Patriotism. The essay topics are based on a theme that is announced each spring (including this year’s, "What Does Patriotism Mean to Me?"). Awards include a grand prize of a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond, and $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000 U.S. Savings Bonds awarded to the first-, second- and third-place winners, respectively.
In addition to these scholarships, there are many programs that look beyond academics and reward students’ talents, passions, and selflessness. If you thought scholarships were only for athletic and academic overachievers, think again. With some determination and sincere research, you can pave your own road to college as well as your future. Here’s to a smooth ride.
[Learn about 5 unusual scholarships.]
Mackenzie Owens joined Scholarship America in the spring of 2011 and is an alumna of Columbia College. She was also the recipient of numerous scholarships.
It’s probably safe to say that most people on Capitol Hill weren’t spending much time leisure reading during the past few weeks as they tried to pull the nation from the brink of default, but that doesn’t mean these lawmakers don’t have favorite books.
Like most high schoolers, many lawmakers had to do summer reading in their youth. I asked every senator and select members of the House of Representatives about books that were important to them when they were in high school. Here are answers from the few that were able to take time out of their schedules to respond.
[Check out summer reading tips for teens.]
Sherrod Brown: Grapes of Wrath
The Ohio Democratic senator says John Steinbeck’s classic is a "powerful depiction of the struggle for social and economic justice."
Susan Collins: Gone With the Wind; Jane Eyre
The Republican junior senator from Maine says she enjoyed Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. "This is a wonderful, romantic historical novel. It taught me about the Civil War, to supplement the facts I learned in school, and I loved the undaunted spirit of Scarlett O’Hara," she says.
Collins also read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. "I loved the story of this ‘plain’ young woman who triumphs despite cruelty, poverty, and other hardships," she says. Collins is the Senate sponsor of "Read Across America Day," which takes place March 2 of every year. She encourages parents to read to their children for 30 minutes daily.
Mike Enzi: Hatchet
The Republican speaks to middle school students about Gary Paulsen’s survival tale Hatchet. He says he also likes reading books about the West and his home state of Wyoming.
Mike Johanns: Atlas Shrugged; Siddhartha
The Republican junior senator from Nebraska since 1999 names Ayn Rand’s libertarian classic, Atlas Shrugged, and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, about a man’s spiritual journey in Nepal during the time of the Buddha, among his favorites. Minnesota Republican Congressman John Kline also mentioned Atlas Shrugged.
[Learn about building a more effective summer learning program.]
Ron Johnson: The Lord of the Rings; The Drifters; Dune
The Wisconsin senator says he loved reading as a high schooler. The Tea Party Republican loved science fiction, including the Dune series and books by Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov. He also read collections of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and James Michener’s The Drifters. "I read whatever I found interesting," he says.
Tim Johnson: Catcher in the Rye; Huckleberry Finn
The South Dakota Democrat names American classics and still-popular summer reading assignments by J.D. Salinger and Mark Twain as his favorites.
Richard Lugar: The Hardy Boys
The longtime Republican senator from Indiana says he enjoyed reading books in the Hardy Boys series, created by Edward Stratemeyer. He also enjoyed reading biographies.
Jeff Merkley: A Journey to the Center of the Earth
A Democratic senator from Oregon, Merkley loved many of Jules Verne’s adventure books. He says A Journey to the Center of the Earth interested him because "the idea of finding a cave that takes you to an unexplored, extraordinary land is just about as exciting a prospect as I can imagine."
Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Pilgrim’s Progress
A Republican Congresswoman from Washington, McMorris Rodgers read John Bunyan’s 1678 Christian allegory Pilgrim’s Progress. It has "life’s ups and downs," she says, and highlights "the importance of relationships and people you meet along the journey."
Roger Wicker: All the King’s Men; Lord of the Flies
Wicker, a Republican senator from Mississippi, says Robert Penn Warren’s Pulitzer-winning All the King’s Men "is the definitive Southern political novel, dealing with corruption and redemption in the context of power." He also enjoyed William Golding’s Lord of the Flies which he says "examines the conflict between good and evil in the absence of the civilizing forces of morality and government."
Not every lawmaker had to read over summer. Republican Senator Jim Risch from Idaho says he didn’t have to do summer reading. "There was no such thing at my high school—we were on vacation," he says.
See how your school stacks up in our rankings of Best High Schools. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.
Salt is everywhere: dumped into cans of soup, packed into hotdogs, and swimming in salad dressing and salsa. Exactly how bad for you are all those tiny crystals? That question’s surprisingly controversial. In May, several researchers reignited a debate by suggesting that cutting salt intake doesn’t benefit heart health, contrary to conventional wisdom. In their Journal of the American Medical Association study of 3,681 people without heart problems, those who had the most salt in their diets actually had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease.
But that conclusion runs against the long-standing consensus among experts—and against the latest evidence. If Americans made small daily reductions in salt intake, say the authors of a new analysis that appeared Thursday in the British Medical Journal, the country could have up to 120,000 fewer cases of heart disease, 66,000 fewer strokes, and 99,000 fewer heart attacks annually. (Though essential in small amounts, sodium increases blood volume, making the heart work harder and increasing pressure in the arteries.)
The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated in January, recommend people limit sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day, or 1,500 milligrams if they are older than 50, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Here are some suggestions for cutting back on salt, provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Stephen Havas, vice president for science, quality, and public health at the American Medical Association.
1. Cook from scratch so you know exactly what’s in your food. You might be surprised at the sodium content included in your favorite prepackaged meals: The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed a range of processed foods and found, for example, that ready-made roasted carved turkey containing up to an astonishing 5,410 milligrams of sodium per serving. Half of a ready-made pepperoni pizza might contain as much as 1,350 milligrams.
2. When you do opt for packaged foods, choose products that are sodium free or low in sodium. A typical cup of miso soup, for instance, contains 700 to 900 milligrams of sodium, so look for canned soups with "low sodium" or "reduced sodium" on the label. If you can’t find many of these products, Havas advises asking your local grocery store to start stocking them. Even bread and cereal may surprise you: The CSPI found whole-wheat bread contains anywhere from 150 to 190 milligrams of sodium per slice, depending on the brand. White bread had 115 to 230 milligrams per slice.
3. Make smart swaps. You don’t necessarily have to sacrifice taste. A McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, for example, packs 820 milligrams of sodium; a wiser choice is two scrambled eggs, which have just 180 milligrams. Canned tuna typically contains 300 milligrams of sodium per 3-ounce serving, which doesn’t include mayonnaise. Substitute fresh grilled tuna steak and you’ll only be getting 40 milligrams of sodium. And be wary of salad dressing: Some brands jam more than 700 milligrams into each 1.5-ounce serving. Stick with your own oil and vinegar instead.
[Best Hospitals for Cardiology and Heart Surgery]
4. At restaurants, ask your server which foods are prepared without added salt—and order those items. "The more restaurants hear this, the more they’re going to change the way they’re cooking," Havas says. Fresh steamed veggies and roasted entrees are often the smartest choices.
5. In the kitchen and at the dinner table, substitute spices, herbs, and salt-free blends for salt.
6. Avoid instant foods such as pasta, rice, and cereals, which usually contain salt. Spaghetti sauce, according to the CSPI, contains 270 to 770 milligrams of sodium per serving, depending on the brand.
7. Rinse canned foods to wash off some of the salt.
[10 Salt Shockers That Could Make Hypertension Worse]
8. Check labels for sodium in all its forms. Table salt is mainly sodium chloride, but canned or packaged foods can contain other forms of sodium.
9. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Fresh produce has "essentially no sodium," Havas says. If you’re cooking veggies, don’t add salt, and carefully read the labels on frozen vegetables to make sure it hasn’t been added already.
Study: Depression May Raise Women’s Stroke Risk
Depressed women may be more likely than others to have a stroke. That’s according to a new study by Harvard researchers, who found that women with a history of depression have a 29 percent higher stroke risk than women who aren’t depressed. The risk jumps to 39 percent for those taking antidepressants such as Prozac or Zoloft, according to data published Thursday in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. The findings are based on an analysis of 80,574 women ages 54 to 79 who were tracked for six years. Though more research is necessary, one explanation is that depression is linked to obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, which can lead to stroke, the researchers speculate. And depressed people are more likely to smoke, be physically inactive, and to forgo needed medication than their non-depressed counterparts. It’s unclear whether the results apply to men, since women are twice as likely to be depressed, USA Today reports.
Stroke: 7 Signs You Could Be at Risk of a Brain Attack
Stroke can hit like a deadly lightning bolt. And if the victim survives, the aftermath can be debilitating—affecting functioning from movement to speech. While stroke is the third-leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States, it trails behind other major diseases in awareness and recognition of symptoms. Being informed, however, can protect you from suffering either an ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot and the most common form of stroke, or the less common hemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding in the brain. Know the factors that may be putting you at risk:
1. Uncontrolled high blood pressure. As for all cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke. The American Heart Association estimates that only 45 percent of people with high blood pressure actually have it under control, U.S. News reported in 2009. Female stroke victims, in particular, tend to have uncontrolled blood pressure, and in general, women who suffer strokes don’t seem to be treated as aggressively as men. High blood pressure doesn’t have any outward telltale signs, so getting it measured by your healthcare provider is essential to determine if you should make lifestyle changes or take medications to bring it down.
2. Smoking. Puffing on cigarettes is associated with a host of ills. An increased risk of stroke is one of them. When compared to nonsmokers, smokers have double the risk of ischemic stroke. Heavy smokers face an even greater risk: A study of women ages 15 to 49 published in the journal Stroke found stroke risk was proportional to the number of cigarettes smoked per day. The women who smoked two or more packs a day had nine times the risk of stroke of a nonsmoker. [Read more: Stroke: 7 Signs You Could Be at Risk of a Brain Attack.]
9 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Cut Salt
Salt is everywhere: dumped into cans of soup, packed into hotdogs, and swimming in salad dressing and salsa. Exactly how bad for you are all those tiny crystals? That question’s surprisingly controversial. In May, several researchers reignited a debate by suggesting that cutting salt intake doesn’t benefit heart health, contrary to conventional wisdom. In their Journal of the American Medical Association study of 3,681 people without heart problems, those who had the most salt in their diets actually had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease.
But that conclusion runs against the long-standing consensus among experts—and against the latest evidence. If Americans made small daily reductions in salt intake, say the authors of a new analysis that appeared Thursday in the British Medical Journal, the country could have up to 120,000 fewer cases of heart disease, 66,000 fewer strokes, and 99,000 fewer heart attacks annually. (Though essential in small amounts, sodium increases blood volume, making the heart work harder and increasing pressure in the arteries.)
The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated in January, recommend people limit sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day, or 1,500 milligrams if they are older than 50, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Here are some suggestions for cutting back on salt, provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Stephen Havas, vice president for science, quality, and public health at the American Medical Association.
1. Cook from scratch so you know exactly what’s in your food. You might be surprised at the sodium content included in your favorite prepackaged meals: The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed a range of processed foods and found, for example, that ready-made roasted carved turkey containing up to an astonishing 5,410 milligrams of sodium per serving. Half of a ready-made pepperoni pizza might contain as much as 1,350 milligrams. [Read more: 9 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Cut Salt.]
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Risk of Autism in Siblings Higher Than Thought
Kids with an older autistic sibling are more likely to develop the condition than experts previously believed. Past research suggested children had a 3 to 10 percent chance of being diagnosed with the developmental disorder if they had an older sibling with autism. But those estimates were based on a small number of families and an outdated definition of autism. A new study puts the risk at 19 percent; 32 percent if a child has more than one older sibling with the disorder, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. The findings are based on an analysis of 664 infants across the United States and Canada who had at least one older brother or sister with autism. "It’s the first thing families ask: How likely is this to happen again?" study author Sally Ozonoff of the University of California—Davis told NPR. "We are able to supply some answers. This should mean there is more careful monitoring and screening beyond the usual questions at a normal well-child visit. Drilling down into the things that we know are early signs of autism—interest in people, responding to their name, responding to other people, smiling at other people." Closer screening of younger siblings will hopefully lead to earlier diagnoses and better outcomes; treatment is most likely to work if it’s started early.
4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer’s Drug Namenda
Medicine hasn’t come up with a cure for autism, the often-devastating developmental disorder that now affects 1 in 150 children, and one big reason is that doctors don’t yet know what causes it. Parents frustrated by the lack of options often turn to the Internet for help, where dozens of medical and behavioral treatments are promoted.
Unfortunately, most of the treatments out there have not been tested to find out if they work, making it tough for parents to figure out what might help, U.S. News reported in 2009. Those that have been rigorously tested so far have failed to measure up. That includes secretin, a hormone affecting liver and pancreas function that was popular until a 2003 trial found it did nothing to alleviate symptoms.
Yet treatments for autism do exist. Those proven to work include structured behavioral interventions that teach children social and language skills, as well as medications that reduce disabling symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal disorders. Increasingly, researchers are looking at autism as a "state" that could be changed rather than a "trait," according to Martha Herbert, a pediatric neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. And researchers are starting to rigorously test other potential treatments, including methyl vitamin B12 and an Alzheimer’s drug known as Namenda. [Read more: 4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer's Drug Namenda.]
7 Signs That Your Child May Have Exercise-Induced Asthma
When exercise leads to wheezing or coughing, people often blame the symptoms on being out of shape. But research shows that, in children at least, there may be more to the story, U.S. News reported in 2010. It’s possible that children who experience problems following intense exercise may have undiagnosed, intermittent, exercised-induced asthma, says Clifford Bassett, chair of the public education committee at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.
Research published last year found that short periods of heavy exercise caused decreased lung function in some children with no history of asthma or allergies. Nearly half of the 56 healthy children studied had at least one abnormal pulmonary function result following exercise. More research is needed to determine why this occurs and how it can be prevented, the authors wrote.
Complications of exercise-induced asthma include permanent narrowing of the child’s airways, emergency room visits and hospitalizations, and poor athletic performance, according to the Mayo Clinic. But Bassett says it’s likely that many children with exercise-induced asthma go undiagnosed. Some parents may not realize their children are having difficulty breathing after physical activity because kids tend to hide how they feel due to peer pressure or embarrassment, he says. And the symptoms may not happen during every round of physical activity. High pollen counts or poor air quality days may make symptoms more likely in susceptible children. [Read more: 7 Signs That Your Child May Have Exercise-Induced Asthma.]
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Just 15 Minutes of Daily Exercise May Add 3 Years to Life
A little bit of exercise could lengthen your life, new research suggests. Getting just 15 minutes of daily physical activity increases life expectancy by about three years, according to a study published Monday in the Lancet. The findings come from observational data on more than 400,000 people in Taiwan who reported their weekly exercise habits for eight years. Those who logged 15 minutes of daily exercise were 14 percent less likely to die of any cause and 10 percent less likely to die of cancer during the study period, compared with their sedentary peers. Each additional 15 minutes cut the risk of death by another 4 percent and the risk of cancer death by 1 percent, Bloomberg reports. "This advice is very simple and probably easily achievable," wrote Anil Nigam and Martin Juneau, researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute, in an editorial accompanying the study. "Governments and health professionals both have major roles to play to spread this good news story and convince people of the importance of being at least minimally active."
5 Cheap Alternatives to Hiring a Personal Trainer
If you can’t afford a personal trainer—or don’t want one—there are a number of exercise and nutrition resources available on the Internet. For some, the convenience and social support of surfing for fitness guidance online can make it just as effective as working with a trainer in person, fitness blogger Chelsea Bush writes for U.S. News. Here’s a guide for how to use (and not to use) today’s top online fitness tools.
1. Social Media. Benefits: Social networks like Facebook and Twitter make it easy to get quick fitness tips and news updates, and connect with peers who can offer support and accountability as you work toward your goals. "People tend to stay with a program if they feel part of a community, and social media is the perfect vehicle for establishing this," says New York-based trainer Robert Brace. You can "check in" at the gym on Foursquare, a smart phone app that posts your whereabouts to your Facebook and Twitter profiles. Or you can tweet pictures of the healthy salad you made for lunch via apps like Flickr and Twitpic. With devices like the Nike+ SportBand, many are logging their running time and distance and broadcasting these from their social media profiles.
The caveat: While social networks can help you stay plugged in to your fitness program, most trainers say these shouldn’t be your sole source of support. "The great part about social media is that it reaches the masses," says David Kirsch, a New York-based trainer who fires off daily tips via Twitter and Facebook. But therein also lies the downside, which he acknowledges. Most of what you get from social media is advice for the masses, but to be effective, a fitness routine should be tailored to your body and lifestyle, he says. [Read more: 5 Cheap Alternatives to Hiring a Personal Trainer.]
Air Pollution and Asthma: 4 Ways to Stay Safe on "Ozone-Alert" Days
Summer months can be tough on people with asthma, which affects more than 20 million Americans. Poor air quality caused by a combination of ground-level ozone and air pollution can worsen asthma symptoms, triggering wheezing, coughing, trouble breathing, and even leading to hospitalization in serious cases. Newspapers, websites, and TV news broadcasts often warn of so-called "ozone-advisory," "ozone-alert," or "ozone-action" days, when sensitive groups—those with asthma and other respiratory conditions—should stay indoors because potentially dangerous smog conditions are likely, U.S. News reported in 2010.
Ozone is the primary ingredient in urban smog, generated when sunlight hits pollutants spewed by cars, chemical plants, industrial boilers, refineries, and other sources. It occurs naturally in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, but when it’s released at ground level, it becomes a harmful outdoor pollutant. Because sunlight abounds during summer months, summer is often a highly irritating time for the lungs of asthmatics, says LeRoy Graham, a pediatric pulmonologist based in Atlanta, Ga.
On ozone-alert days, asthmatics tend to experience more lung inflammation. When this happens, "they’re more likely to have to seek unscheduled care," Graham says. Because of this, asthmatics should have a plan to lessen the chances of an attack on poor air-quality days, and know what to do if an attack occurs. [Read more: Air Pollution and Asthma: 4 Ways to Stay Safe on 'Ozone-Alert' Days.]
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New, York, NY—July 28, 2011—A new study co-authored by Columbia Engineering professor Kartik Chandran and recently published in the journal, Environmental Science & Technology, shows that reducing nitrogen pollution generated by wastewater treatment plants can come with "sizable" economic benefits, as well as the expected benefits for the environment.
Chandran was one of five scientists from around the U.S. who worked on the study, along with James Wang of NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory and formerly of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF); Steve Hamburg, Chief Scientist for EDF; Donald Pryor of Brown University; and Glen Daigger of CH2M Hill, a global environmental engineering firm based in Englewood, Colorado.
The study found that adding available technology to the existing infrastructure at a common type of wastewater treatment plant could create a trifecta of reductions in aquatic nitrogen pollution, greenhouse gas pollution, and energy usage. It also found that creating an emissions crediting system for the wastewater treatment sector could make the addition of new technologies much more affordable.
"As wastewater permits on wastewater treatment plants become more and more restrictive, the resultant increased capital and operating costs can pose quite a burden to utilities and municipalities," said Chandran, associate professor of earth and environmental engineering. "Our study shows that, if the reduced emissions associated with well-designed and operated biological nitrogen removal operations can be used to earn CO2 credits, then this could be a big benefit both for the utilities from a cost perspective and for the environment from water quality and air quality perspectives."
The majority of wastewater treatment plants already have systems to reduce ammonia levels in effluent, but pay relatively little attention to overall nitrogen pollution reduction, especially in the form of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. Using emissions credits to address the problem could create an economic incentive of up to $600 million per year for U.S. plants to reduce nitrogen pollution, with the added benefit of up to $100 million per year in electricity savings if they do so.
"Recent N2O monitoring studies conducted by Columbia Engineering and research groups across the globe have found that meeting wastewater treatment objectives actually decreases biogenic N2O emissions," added Chandran. "So designing and adopting better process technologies for improving water quality could actually have a significant impact on reduced N2O emissions."
"Our study shows that there’s a win-win-win situation out there waiting to be realized," said James Wang, the chief author of the paper. "The creation of an emissions trading market could provide the needed incentive for wastewater treatment plants to adopt technologies that would reduce climate pollution, help clean up our waterways, and even save energy and money."
Chandran’s research focuses primarily on biological nitrogen removal from wastewater, sustainable water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and developing new technologies for resource recovery and reuse from waste. His team recently created the first protocol to measure nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2). Using the protocol, his Columbia Engineering group developed the first nationwide database of N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants. The database has now been adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the standard to estimate N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants. Chandran is also working towards developing and implementing "energy-positive" wastewater treatment technologies that will produce energy rather than consume it at some of the largest wastewater utilities in the U.S.
Chandran was recently awarded a $1.5 million project grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a revolutionary new model in water, sanitation, and energy. Working with his partners Dr. Ashley Murray, founder and director of Waste Enterprisers, and Dr. Moses Mensah, a chemical engineering professor at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Chandran is developing an innovative technology to transform fecal sludge into biodiesel and create the "Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility" in Accra, Ghana.
During the last prolonged warm spell on Earth, the oceans were at least four meters—and possibly as much as 6.5 meters, or about 20 feet—higher than they are now.
Where did all that extra water come from? Mainly from melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, and many scientists, including UW-Madison geoscience assistant professor Anders Carlson, have expected that Greenland was the main culprit.
But Carlson’s new results, published July 29 in Science, are challenging that assertion, revealing surprising patterns of melting during the last interglacial period that suggest that Greenland’s ice may be more stable—and Antarctica’s less stable—than many thought.
"The Greenland Ice Sheet is melting faster and faster," says Carlson, who is also a member of the Center for Climatic Research in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. But despite clear observations of that fact, estimates of just how much the ice will melt and contribute to sea level rise by the end of this century are highly varied, ranging from a few centimeters to meters. "There’s a clear need to understand how it has behaved in the past, and how it has responded to warmer-than-present summers in the past."
The ice-estimation business is rife with unknown variables and has few known physical constraints, Carlson explains, making ice sheet behavior—where they melt, how much, how quickly—the largest source of uncertainty in predicting sea level rises due to climate change. His research team sought a way to constrain where ice remained on Greenland during the last interglacial period, around 125,000 years ago, to better define past ice sheet behavior and improve future projections.
The researchers analyzed silt from an ocean-floor core taken from a region off the southern tip of Greenland that receives sediments carried by meltwater streams off the ice sheet. They used different patterns of radiogenic isotopes to identify sources of the sediment, tracing the silt back to one of three "terranes" or regions, each with a distinct geochemical signature. The patterns of sedimentation show which terranes were still glaciated at that time.
"If the land deglaciates, you lose that sediment," Carlson explains. But to their surprise, they found that all the terranes were still supplying sediment throughout the last interglacial period and thus still had some ice cover.
"The ice definitely retreated to smaller than present extent and definitely raised sea level to higher than present" and continued to melt throughout the warm period, he adds, but the sediment analysis indicates that "the ice sheet seems to be more stable than some of the greater retreat values that people have presented."
The team used their results to evaluate several existing models of Greenland ice sheet melting during the last interglacial period. The models consistent with the new findings indicate that melting Greenland ice was responsible for a sea level rise of 1.6 to 2.2 meters—at most, roughly half of the minimum four-meter total increase.
Even after accounting for other Arctic ice and the thermal expansion of warmer water, most of the difference must have come from a melting Antarctic ice sheet, Carlson says.
"The implication of our results is that West Antarctica likely was much smaller than it is today," and responsible for much more of the sea level rise than many scientists have thought, he says. "If West Antarctica collapsed, that means it’s more unstable than we expected, which is quite scary."
Ultimately, Carlson says he hopes this line of research will improve the representation of ice sheet responses to a warming planet in future Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. Temperatures during the last interglacial period were similar to those expected by the end of this century, and present-day temps have already reached a point that Greenland’s glaciers are melting.
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