POPE FRANCIS and THE SICK and THE POOR

We could not resist including this video because of this man's compassion for the sick and the poor.  But it is not just his compassion which touches us, it is his actions which are a direct result.
So let's ask ourselves...do we feel compassion?  OK what are we doing about it???
Peace

Batteries That Breathe

Using oxygen as a cathode could give lithium batteries 10 times the energy
By NEIL SAVAGE / FEBRUARY 2011
AIR SUPPLY: An oxygen cathode increases energy density but makes it hard to recharge.
With the launch of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, it's been a big year for electric vehicles, but their batteries still have a fairly limited range without a recharge. For a car running on today's lithium-ion batteries to match the range provided by a tank of gasoline, you'd need a lot more batteries, which would weigh down the car and take up too much space.
But what if you could take away one of the electrodes in a battery and replace it with air? Researchers estimate that a lithium-air battery could hold 5 to 10 times as much energy as a lithium-ion battery of the same weight and double the amount for the same volume. In theory, the energy density could be comparable to that of gasoline.
"No other battery has that kind of energy density, so far as we know," says Ming Au, principal scientist at Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), in Aiken, S.C. Au was one of several scientists who reported new research into rechargeable lithium-air batteries during the fall meeting of the Materials Research Society, in Boston.
Read More HERE

UK Pharmacy to Sell Pill with Ingestible Microchip

POSTED BY: ROBERT CHARETTE / MON, JANUARY 16, 2012

A few years ago, a report by the New England Healthcare Institute claimed that patients not taking their medications as prescribed incur a staggering US $290 billion in increased medical costs - or about 13 percent of total US health expenditures. Technology reaching drug store shelves later this year in the UK and which is under review in the US could help cut the costs significantly. First, a little background.

About a year before the Institute's report came out in 2009, there was an article in MIT's Technology Review magazine about a Silicon Valley start-up company called Proteus Biomedical that was developing a microchip about the size of a grain of sand called an "ingestible event marker" (IEM). It was to be embedded within a pill and swallowed along with a patient's medicine. The IEM, reported the TR article, consists of: Read More HERE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE 2012

San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment
1/23/2012 - 1/26/2012
Venue: Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, USA
Categories: Non-Profit, Physicians, Public Health

Multidisciplinary audience and focus in medicine, mental health, law, investigations, child welfare, research, hi-tdech investigations, administraion. providng evidence and research based topics and new ideas and thinking in child abuseThe San Diego Conference focuses on multi-disciplinary best-practice efforts to prevent, if possible, or otherwise to investigate, treat, and prosecute child and family maltreatment.The objective of the San Diego Conference is to develop and enhance professional...more

Be there...We will be!

Social Justice Philanthropy Disproportionately Affected by Recession

Social justice grantmakers have been disproportionately affected by the global financial crisis and remain vulnerable to future economic shocks, a new report from the Foundation Center finds.

According to Diminishing Dollars: The Impact of the 2008 Financial Crisis on the Field of Social Justice Philanthropy (35 pages, PDF), unless the field sees five years of above-average investment returns, social justice grantmaking will remain below 2008 levels through at least 2015. The report also found that foundations with less than $50 million in assets are struggling the most to recover from the economic downturn, that social justice nonprofits are having difficulty finding new funders, and that some foundations are unintentionally depleting their assets at a very slow rate, which may lead to reduced grantmaking for social justice issues in the future.

The report examines historical trends in foundation assets, spending, and giving levels; describes strategies used by foundations to cope with depleted assets immediately following the crisis; and presents projections through 2015 for asset and grantmaking levels. According to the report, the giving of fifty-four sampled foundations ($763.1 million) represents approximately one-quarter of all documented social justice giving in 2009 ($3.1 billion).

"The ripple effect from the damage to these foundations' endowments has the potential to be significant and lasting for the social justice arena," said Sara K. Gould, the report's author and a senior fellow at the Foundation Center. "These are key players in the field of social justice philanthropy, often serving a unique and critical role in local communities with grassroots efforts and an on-the-ground presence. Yet, they are also some of the most vulnerable."

“Diminishing Dollars for Social Justice Philanthropy.” Foundation Center Press Release 11/17/11.

How Social Media Transformed a Nonprofit Medical Professional Society

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN), founded in 1966, is a well-established 13,000-member professional organization. It is highly regarded and has long provided the best education opportunities in the field of kidney medicine. However, ASN was reluctant to enter the world of social media, a world that includes Facebook and Twitter, but also encompasses the entire web-enabled culture of people sharing online content with people they know.

ASN hired me as an intern in May 2011, in part to help move the society toward a more dynamic social media presence. Social media had been part of my communications strategy while working for a campus society in college, and I had just finished my first year at Georgetown’s Communication, Culture, and Technology program, which grounded me in an understanding of how social media is revolutionizing the way we communicate. My challenge at ASN: (1) research how to improve ASN’s social media efforts, and (2) clearly demonstrate the benefits of social media for a nonprofit medical association.

Why Are Some Organizations Reluctant to Use Social Media?

Using social media represents a big change in communication style and method for many organizations. Instead of a unidirectional (top-down in most cases, including ASN’s), highly controlled media and communications approach, social media focuses on sharing, conversational engagement, and less centralized control. Before the Internet age, ASN’s audience consisted of physicians and scientists studying the kidney, legislators interested in kidney disease, and the media. As electronic communication and the use of social media exploded, these “traditional” society audiences and others, including ASN members, began looking for information about the society via the Internet and on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

As a medical professional society, ASN had another, more specific set of concerns. Medical professionals view patient confidentiality as paramount and inviolable. There are many aspects of work done in the care of patients that cannot be transmitted publicly. But social media encourages unfiltered speech. And while the use of social media by a medical professional organization presents few chances to breach patient privacy, in any health-care-focused environment, legitimate concerns exist regarding social media. To incorporate social media into a medical association’s communications, it is essential to answer those concerns and show that social media can constructively benefit an organization’s mission.
READ MORE HERE

NEW SUPPORT FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES

GardenNews.biz - Feb 02,2011 - Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Support

For Rural Community Facilities

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced support for 60 projects in 26 states and one territory to improve rural community facilities such as schools, health care facilities, libraries, and first responder services and equipment.

“These projects will bring lasting improvements that are essential to maintaining strong rural economies and vibrant communities,” Vilsack said. “Preserving the infrastructure in rural areas is one of many ways that USDA assistance helps create and retain jobs.”

FULL ARTICLE: HERE

Healing Haiti

Sweepin' the clouds away
Sesame Workshop and Mercy Corps partner to heal Haiti

Following the January 12 earthquake that ravaged Haiti, Mercy Corps was one of many organizations that hit the ground running. Throughout 2010, it has actively participated in a number of heavy-lifting projects, including delivering emergency food supplies and creating drainage ditches, clean water systems, and latrines.

But when it came time to begin healing the minds of the Haitian children who were traumatized by the disaster, the Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit joined with a group that has been the source of many sunny days -- Sesame Workshop.

Mercy Corps and Sesame Workshop, the New York City-based nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, formed a partnership to produce and distribute educational programming to the children of Haiti. One of Mercy Corps' initial needs was for content produced in Haiti's native tongue, so Sesame Workshop dubbed a DVD featuring two Sesame Home Videos into Creole. Cinderelmo, starring Keri Russell, follows Elmo as he escapes from his evil stepmother and seeks true love with a princess. Happy Healthy Monsters features Haiti's own Wyclef Jean and other celebrities promoting healthy, active lifestyles.

For FULL STORY GO HERE!