Compare and Contrast Great Depression Essay Example for Free

Compare and Contrast Great Depression Essay The 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent ‘great depression’ was the biggest economic crisis that the world has experienced. The depth and length of the crisis and the suffering that it caused is legendary. Therefore when the global financial crisis struck in 2007, many rushed to proclaim that we were about to experience another depression on a similar scale, or at least what some have termed a ‘great recession’. This essay will compare and contrast the two economic crises to analyse the key similarities and differences between the two. To do this, the essay will firstly provide an outline of the conditions that led to the 1929 crash in the economy. Moving on from here the essay will then look at the policy responses that were implemented to tackle the crisis before analysing the conditions that precipitated the 2007 financial crisis and the policy responses, to draw out the similarities and differences of each of the crises, and to ascertain were any lessons learned during the current global crisis from the policies of the great depression era. Finally the essay will conclude with a discussion of the main points raised by the analysis of both crises and a look at the future prospects for recovery. Capitalism is a system of economic development that has crises as an inherent feature. Many crises have occurred both before and after the 1929 stock market crash, however the length and depth of the great depression has made it the point of reference for judging the severity of a financial crisis. Much debate has occurred over the causes of the great depression. While many see the late October 1929 New York stock market crash as the defining feature of the crisis, the reality was much more complex and multifaceted. As (Teichova 1990, p.8) suggests, the great depression was â€Å"the deepest, all embracing (agricultural, industrial, financial, social and political) and longest crisis with catastrophic consequences†. As well as this, although the United States led the way, this crisis was global and the rest of the world also experienced depression. So, any analysis of the great depression must look at the various factors that caused and perpetuated it. The 1920s in America hav e been described as the roaring twenties. After the devastation of the first-world-war, during the 1920 to 1925 period US and international economies were experiencing a boom. During that period, world mining and manufacturing output grew by nearly twenty percent (McNally 2010, p.63). However, in terms of inequality the poor were less poor but the rich were  getting richer at a rate of four to one. As well as this, four fifths of American had no savings compared to twenty-four thousand families at the top who held a third of all savings combined (Canterbery 2011, p.13). During the boom, ninety percent of all Americans saw their incomes fall in relative terms (McNally 2010, p.64). A factor in this was an increase in union-busting and anti-labour laws which increased income inequality. As well as this, agriculture, coal mining and textile industries were suffering from a post-war hangover which saw their profitability decline and in many instances wiped out. This inequality which concentrated wealth in so few hands led to a huge increase in consumer credit which in turn sparked off rising levels of private debt and a massive speculative bubble in the form of a property boom in Florida (Canterbery 2011, pp.13-14). The mania of speculation was not confined to proper ty and between May 1924 and the end of 1925, there was a huge eighty percent rise in stock prices. The trend continued and as Galbraith (2009, p.16) has suggested, â€Å"in early 1928, the nature of the boom changed. The mass escape into make believe, so much a part of the speculative orgy, started in earnest†. During 1928, the Times Industrials (a pre-cursor to the DOW) gained a huge thirty-five percent, from two-hundred and forty-five points to three-hundred and thirty-one points. To maximise their gambling profits, many investors financed their purchase of stocks with borrowed money, with speculators buying one-thousand dollars of stock by putting down one-hundred dollars (Canterbery 2011, p.15). Of course, capitalism’s bubbles must always burst, and this was no exception. The US real economy was showing signs on a slowdown long before the stock market crash. However, on Wednesday October 23rd 1929, a drop in the stock market lost four months of previous gains and the following day panic selling began. This was briefly halted by a meeting of the nation’s biggest bankers who promised to pool their resources to halt the slide. Their efforts however were futile and on ‘Black Tuesday’ October 29th the bottom fell out of the market, giving up all of the gains of the previous year (McNally 2010, p.65). Most economists agree that the great depression that ensued lasted for over ten years. Its economic impact was striking as GNP fell from a peak of $104.4 billion in mid-1929 to $56.6 billion in 1933. Its social impact was even more harrowing as twenty-five percent of the US civilian labour force was unemployed by 1933, the worst point of the  depression (Canterbery 2011, p.18). There are a number of competing explanations as to why the crisis was so severe. Explanations can be grouped into the two categories of monetarist and non-monetarist. For example, in a mixture of the two Ben Bernanke (1983) suggests that there were three interlinked factors that propagated the great depression. The first was the failure of financial institutions, in particular commercial banks. The percentage of failing banks in 1930 was 5.6% jumping to 12.9% in 1933 and this left a situation whereby in 1933 there were half the number of banks that had been operating in 1929 (Ibid, p.259). Bernanke goes on to cite defaults and bankruptcies as key, with the ratio of debt service to national income going from nine percent in 1929 to nearly twenty percent in 1933. This was pervasive across all sectors with home mortgages; farm mortgages, personal debtors and even state governments defaulting on their obligations (Ibid, p.260). However, key to Bernanke’s view was the correlation of the financial crisis with macroeconomic factors. The crux of this view was that the financial crisis affected the macro-economy by reducing the quality of certain financial services, primarily credit intermediation (Ibid, p.263). In line with the monetarist view, it could also be argued that the Federal Reserve did not help matters. Its policy at the time was only to increase the credit base in line with requirements of trade, which essentially meant that as businesses were afraid to borrow, the Federal Reserve did not increase the money supply. Somewhat similar to the monetarist elements of Bernanke’s analysis is that of Friedman and Schwartz (1971,pp. 359-60) who argue that the crisis that originated in the United States was a domestic construct which was prolonged and deepened by a failed policy of failing to cut the discount rate, which meant a failure to provide credit and expand the currency. Kindleberger (1986a) taking a similar monetarist position but focusing more on international factors suggests that the world depression stemmed from reparations and war debt, the overvaluation of the pound, the return to the gold standard in Britain and an undervalued French franc. These factors were aggravated by a fall in commodities and a rise in stocks in New York. From a non-monetarist perspective US government actions were no better, with the introduction of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff in mid-1930, sparking of a wave of protectionist tariffs around the world and a trade war which saw world trade figures nosedive (Canterbe ry 2011, p.19). The  deflationary process was exacerbated by the huge levels of unemployment, which combined with other factors to initiate the ‘multiplier/accelerator’ interaction, reinforced by wage-cut enforced under-consumption as wages fell for manufacturing production workers by at least thirty-one percent between 1929 and 1933, as well as debt deflation and international interactions (Devine 1994, p.166). While this was happening, consumer prices only fell twenty percent during the 1929-33 period. This, as Devine points out helps to explain that falling consumption was a major factor in the decline in GNP during this time, more so than previous or subsequent recessions (Ibid). There are others such as Temin (1976) who suggests that monetarist explanations are wrong, and it was consumption and spending that declined first, therefore leading to a tightening of the money supply. Therefore, it was not monetary factors alone that caused the depression. Taking a different approach to explaining the depth and length of the depression, Kindleberger cites the lack of a lender of last resort as the major factor preventing any form of fast recovery (Kindleberger 1986b, p.4). This he suggests was due to Britain’s inability after the First World War, and the United States’ unwillingness to act in that regard. What each of these arguments above show is there is still no consensus on the policy responses that would have prevented such a deep depression occurring. Such a lack of a consensus has also been a feature of the current global crisis. Since the global financial crisis broke out, many have rushed to make comparisons between it and the great depression. However, before one makes these comparisons, an analysis of the fundamental differences in the nature of the capitalist system between now and then must be undertaken. After the World War boom in output and the post-war move to Keynesian economics, which essentially saved capitalism from self-implosion, the emergence of neoliberal capitalism in the latter 1970s in the form of Reaganism in the US and Thatcherism in Britain ushered in a new era of capitalist development that was distinctly different from its previous incarnations. This period of capitalist modification saw the creation of the era of what Canterbury has termed ‘casino capitalism’ (Canterbery 2011, pp.83-121). He suggests that this era began with three powerful forces converging. These were; monetarism, which Milton Friedman advised Regan would bring down inflation with minimal effect on employment or production, the influence of the  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœneo-Austrians’ who sought to reduce state influence over entrepreneurs through deregulation and finally, the pervasive idea that less taxes on the rich produced the trickle-down effect (Ibid, p.83). Regan’s policies during this era, continued under the Clinton administration gave huge power over to Wall St through deregulation, and contributed to a huge shift from production to financial services. As the financial sector grew its asset base, it became a much bigger part of the national economy. This can be seen in the fact that between 1978 and 2005, the financial sector grew from 3.5 percent to 5.9 percent of the US economy in GDP terms. To put this in perspective, from the 1930s to around 1980 the rate of growth for the financial sector was roughly the same as that of the non-financial sector. However, from 1980 to 2005 financial sector profits grew by eight-hundred percent, compared with two-hundred and fifty percent for the non-financial sector (Ibid, pp.116-117). This form of capitalism, where value and profit are not ‘produced’ but the result of speculation is a form that gives huge power to unelected rating agencies and bankers to set the agenda, which even governments and international institutions find difficult to alter. It was under this system of capitalism that the global financial crisis emerged. Many different arguments for the causes of the global crisis exist and whilst it can be difficult to pin down the exact causality because of its global nature, there is agreement on a number of factors. Just like its sister crisis the great depression, before the global crisis struck, the global economy went through a boom period with the world economy growing at a faster rate between 2001 and 2007 than in any other period in the past thirty years (Wade 2008, p.23). Most agree that the crisis was sparked by the subprime mortgage bubble collapse in the United States. However this spark was not the sole cause of the crisis. Just l ike the great depression, the factors that caused the crisis were numerous. Although signs of an emerging crisis first appeared in 2006-7, it was not until 2008 when banks such as Lehman Brothers were going to the wall and financial assets were crashing that the full extent of the crisis was realised. As a result, flows of credit dried up and economies the world over started to suffer. However, this crisis was not solely a monetary crisis and had deeper dynamics at play. In particular, the financialisation of capitalism being built upon debts as a means of making profit (McNally 2010, p.86). The subprime  mortgage crisis is illustrative of this. For example, in the year 2000 there was $130 billion of subprime lending in the US, backed up with $55 billion of mortgage bonds. Yet by 2005, those figures had jumped to $625 billion in subprime loans backed by $500 billion in securitised bonds (Ibid, p.103). The ‘speculative orgy’, as Galbraith termed it speaking on the 1929 crash, was back with a bang. What exacerbated the orgy more was the creating of innovative financial instruments in the form of credit default swaps (CDS) and other debt securities. For example, by 2006 the CDS on mortgage bonds was eight times the value of the bonds themselves, so when the crisis hit, that wealth was wiped out (Ibid, p.103). The European context experienced similar problems as contagion spread throughout the world economy. Trade imbalances within the Eurozone created by the power of the German economy, in particular its exports produced vast wealth within Germany, generating credit that was more than was required for domestic demand. The result was an outflow of cheap and easy credit to peripheral European states. This in turn with low interest rates created the basis for a speculative property bubble in places such as Ireland and Spain, and a rise in consumer debt across Europe (Avellaneda and Hardiman 2010, pp.4-5). This, coupled with the ECB having light regulatory practices and liquidity responsibilities, and the fact that the Euro project created an quasi-federal state with a centralised monetary and exchange rate policy, but had no fiscal control over individual states led to a disaster of structural design in the Euro which prevented adequate policy responses from individual states, who instead we re burdened with a one size fits all, centralised Franco / German led response. It is clear that the immediate causes of the crisis were centred on â€Å"excessive debt leverage or imprudent lending† (Wade 2008, p.27). Much of this debt leveraging was in the form of the complexly structured credit securities, like the CDS, and when market panic set in following the collapse of Lehman, and this huge default risk pushed investors towards the tipping point. However, as Bernanke (2010) has pointed out, many factors were at play. Although the most prominent was the prospect of losses on the subprime market when the housing bubble burst, the system vulnerabilities as well as shortfalls in government responses explain the severity of the crisis. For example, the â€Å"sudden stop† in June 2007 of syndicated lending of asset backed securities to large borrowers. Other factors included the  overreliance of banks on short-term wholesale funding, deficiencies in private sector risk management, an over-reliance on ratings agencies, excessive leverage on the part of households, businesses and financial firms, statutory gaps in regulation on special purpose vehicles and a failure of existing regulatory procedures worldwide (Bernanke 2010). Although causality had similarities between the United States and Europe, the policy responses to deal with the crisis have been markedly different. Quite early into the crisis, perhaps learning from pa st mistakes from the great depression, the US government approved various Keynesian inspired fiscal stimuli and financial and auto sector bailouts. In particular, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a $700 billion rescue fund for the banking sector which bought toxic loans at reduced rates (Nguyen and Enomoto 2011). This policy has been seen to be a relative success with an estimated final cost of $32 billion to the United States taxpayer (Congressional Budget Office 2012). In contrast to this, the European solution has been overwhelmingly austerity based, and the cost of the crisis being mainly burdened by the taxpayers of Europe. In particular, the Irish taxpayer’s bill for the bailout of one bank, Anglo Irish will cost the taxpayer more than the total final cost of the TARP program in the United States. In this regard, it does not seem that lessons from the great depression have been learned in a European context. When we look to the rates of unemployment over the past number of years, it seems like the American policy of stimulus may be working slightly better than the European austerity agenda. For example, in the US unemployment rose sharply after the onset of the financial crisis going from 4.6 percent in 2007, to 7.2 percent in 2008, 9.3 percent in 2009 and 9.7 percent in 2010. However, in 2011 there has been a decline in unemployment to 9 percent (Index Mundi 2012). The European Union (twenty seven members) on the other hand has seen its unemployment rate grow from 8.3 percent in 2006, to 9 percent in 2009 and 9.7 percent in 2011(United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 2012) to a current figure of 11.7 percent (Eurostat 2012). So, how does the global crisis match up to the great depression? It is obvious that there are a number of similarities between the two crises. For example, with both crises there was an extended period of economic growth preceding the crashes. Each of the crisis periods also saw speculative bubbles based on the flow of easy credit  which fuelled both property based and stock market excess. Both crises also saw staggering drops in Industrial production and increases in unemployment. However, there are also key differences between the great depression and the global crisis. Primarily, the nature of the capitalist system has cha nged fundamentally from productive industrialisation to financial capitalisation. The policy responses of governments have also showed that lessons have been learned, especially in the American case, where Keynesianism and central bank intervention has been preferred to the Laissez-faire attitude during the great depression. In a European context, the decision to make taxpayers foot the bill for the losses of financial speculators marks a departure from the policies of the great depression where speculators suffered heavy losses. There are of course other key differences between the two crises in-so-far as although initially the global crisis seemed every bit as bad, if not worse than the great depression, there are now signs that this may not be the case. For example, by measuring from the peaks in industrial production the decline in industrial production in the nine month period from April 2008 was at least as severe as in the nine months following the June 1929 peak (Eichengreen and O’Rourke 2009). Similarly, in that initial nine month period, global st ock markets were falling even faster than in the Great Depression and World trade was also falling much faster than in 1929-30 (Ibid). However the authors of this study have revised their analysis for 2012 and it paints an altogether different picture. The levels of industrial production had shown shoots of recovery over the past couple of years but growth of global industrial output now appears to be slowing. The upturn had been promising, but this follows months when production was essentially stagnant. Notably in the Eurozone, industrial production declined (Eichengreen and ORourke 2012). Since initial early forecasts, global trade had showed signs of recovery â€Å"But trade is now also fluctuating without direction, at levels barely higher than those of April 2008† (Ibid). As the authors also point out, while equity markets have recovered to a large degree compared with their initial drop, â€Å"it is worth observing that world equity markets remain considerably below pre-crisis levels† (Ibid). The somewhat gloomy outlook is confirmed by the latest United Nations ‘World Economic Situation and Prospects’ pre-release document which states; Four years after the eruption of the global financial crisis, the world economy  is still struggling to recover. During 2012, global economic growth has weakened further. A growing number of developed economies have fallen into a double-dip recession. Those in severe sovereign debt distress moved even deeper into recession, caught in the downward spiralling dynamics from high unemployment, weak aggregate demand compounded by fiscal austerity, high public debt burdens, and financial sector fragility (United Nations 2012, p.1). So, although there are signs that the global crisis may not be as severe as the great depression, recent economic forecasts do not suggest that there will be a clear path to recovery in the near future. Capitalism has been proven to be susceptible to crises and cycles of boom and bust. The two cases here have been the most high profile of those crises. It does seem that some of the lessons of the great depression have been learned to reduce the severity of the global crisis. However, only time will tell if these lessons will ultimately stop a double dip global recession and if lessons can be learned from the global crisis for the inevitable next financial crisis that will come down the line.

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips Novel Strategies Halt Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer Strips Summary Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers (CDC) strips and disclosed their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances, there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. Fortunately, the authors had already developed new strategies which based previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CVD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare, etc. These novel strategies, which including sleep, emotion, exercise and diet intervention (SEEDi), E (e)nvironment + SEED intervention [E (e)SEEDi] and even Hu’s healthy lifestyles[E (e)SEED-BasED ones] intervention (HHLi), also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†, as the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, play an important role in the prevention and management of human chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy, for example, obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) sy ndrome, C-type hypertension (CtH) and sudden cardiac death (SCD), and especially in halting CDC strips the authors discovered. Keywords: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, prevention, healthy lifestyles Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and cancers strips and named them CDC strips, and disclosed further their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances,1 there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. In this article, with several conceptual and technical breakthrough, the authors will introduce several novel strategies which were developed based on previous work for effectively preventing and halting CDC strips.2-6 The authors have already developed new strategies in previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare (http://www.chinagene.cn/CN/news/news370.shtml).3 These novel strategies, which based on sleep, emotion, exercise and diet (SEED) intervention, was also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. As the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, they play an important role in the prevention and management of human non-infectious chronic disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy,5 for example, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) syndrome Dr. Chun-Song Hu and Prof. Da-Yi Hu discovered and first named,7 especially in halting CDC strips. Introduction of Novel strategies Since healthy â€Å"SEED† rulers were developed in 2005 according to great clinical experiences, authors conducted positively these novel strategies in clinical for primary and secondary preventions of CVD, CVEs and healthcare, and cited the related article,2, 3, 6 then developed further into â€Å"E (e)SEED† due to the important role of environment. Together with Prof. Sheng-Shou Hu, these new strategies were still developed into more novel â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyles by innovated idea, and named â€Å"Hu’s healthy lifestyles (HHL)† in 2009. The key tips of these strategies for NCDs, especially CDC strips are showed as follows (Table 1). 2. Novel strategies for the early evaluation of RFs CVD is the number one killer and a leading cause of death in the world. There was 17.5 million death cases every year, which bring a big burden and great challenge for public health. Moreover, it plays a key role in the development of CDC strips. Single gene defects, target diseases have now come to include multi-genetic and multi-factorial diseases, such as CVD, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons disease, T2DM or T1DM, and human cancer, especially CDC strips. Therefore, to screen and evaluate early CV status is very important to the prediction and prevention of CVEs and CDC strips. Both previous experimental and clinical studies confirmed the role of single factor in the development of human disease. However, little is known about multi-factors’ role (more than 5 to10, even 20 or more). The authors developed Chinese E (e)SEED-BasED score (CEBS) according to â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyle. These healthy elements and related RFs play a very important role in human health. That is to say, if people intervene early with these RFs, they can keep effectively from CDC strips. As showed in last table, the authors have already developed these new strategies for better healthcare. In Round 3 application of GCE project (http://www.grandchallenges.org), authors further developed a novel strategy that was based on a QA list and CEBS (Table 2). According to CEBS, people can determine CDC strips hazard levels from low, moderate to high, thus, adopt effective measures including follow-up, and intervention with SEED, E (e)SEED or HHL, these are SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi. The authors believe CEBS will be better for the early evaluation of NCDs, especially CDC strips based on previous work and this creative idea. Here, the authors may compare easily with other scores, such as QRISK a new CVD risk score for the United Kingdom,8-11 Framingham CVD algorithm (FA) and Scottish score (ASSIGN) (Table 2). These scores focus on standard, common, classic, multiple modifiable or non-modifiable (eg. positive family history) RFs, but the authors think that CEBS is advantaged, validated, global with 15 classifications of core RFs. 3. RT-ABCDEF strategy and Grade 210 prevention for NCDs or CDC strips RT-ABCDEF strategy developed in previous work is very suitable for the management and prevention of human disease,5 especially NCDs or CDC strips. The key tips as follows (Table 3): As we all known, early prevention is the best choice of treatment. Efforts to achieve the ambitious goals of Healthy China or World 2020 require new synthetic strategies for delivering healthy policy, primary and secondary prevention. Here the authors named it â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Due to HHL containing preventive and care strategies for these core RFs, it’s core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Therefore, it’s worthy of conducting and application in the global nations, not just healthcare providers and medical organizations. Of course, collaborative efforts among governments, private healthcare providers, insurers, policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and the global public are necessary for â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Generally speaking, it’s a synthetic core strategy of healthcare for everyone or anyone and from birth to death. 4. SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi for CDC strips Most of patients with NCDs, including chronic heart failure (CHF), particularly those with more severe HF, and T2DM or T1DM, need the option of palliative care as assessed by symptom burden, depression, and spiritual well-being just as advanced cancer patients do.12 That is to say, palliative care is effective on most of CDC strips. The development of CDC strips results from the shared many RFs related to lifestyles according to the authors’ â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil† Theory or Doctrine.1 Thus, it needs synthetic strategies to prevent and control the development of CDC strips. Therapeutic lifestyles interventions, such as SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi , which based on E (e)SEED-BasED lifestyles, eg. HHLi related rational drug interventions (Table 4), can significantly improve nutrition and physical activity behavior and can reduce many of the RFs associated with common NCDs, especially CDC strips. The authors think that it was very useful and effective to most of CDC strips in the global. Therefore, people may call it â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. It may help reducing in morbidity and mortality of CDC strips. For example, among 74,607 men and women, aged 60 or more, without CHD, stroke, or cancer at enrolment, the Mediterranean diet, modified so as to apply across Europe, was associated with increased survival among older people and is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans.13 These results also help explain the role of SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi. â€Å"Rainbow diet† we conducted in HHL is also very helpful due to balanced nutrition. For example, coffee consumption was verified to be helpful in the prevention of NCDs,14 including CDC strips. Besides, green tea and grape are also useful foods as interventional choice of diets, because increasing consumption of vegetables and fruits may elevate the levels of anti-oxidative components.15 According to updated study in Nature,16 diet is the main factor which linked with gut microbial ecology and health because unbalanced dietary nutrients can cause intestinal inflammation, and induce human aged. Another clinical t rial showed that both walking and vigorous exercise are associated with substantial reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular events among postmenopausal women.17 Yuga, Chinese Taiji and Qigong are also useful physical activity for the prevention of CDC strips. As a part of HHLi, rational drug choice also plays an important role in initiation, progression, treatment and prevention of NCDs, especially in effectively halting the development of CDC strips. These drugs include aspirin (ASA),18, 19 ACEI/ARB, CCB, cannabidiol (CBD)20 and coenzyme Q-10,21 as well as others. Several animal experiments and clinical trials showed, as chemo protective agents, statins (pravastatin, rosuvastatin) did not only prevent and decrease CHD and CVEs,22, 23 and not indicate an increase in over all cancer risk (simvastatin, pravastatin),24, 25 but also be protective against the development of DM and various cancers (lung cancer,26 pancreatic cancer,27 RCC,28 colon cancer29) , and PCOS (atorvastatin) (Table 4).30 That is to say, statins may help preventing and halting CDC strips. Glutathione (GSH) plays important roles in antioxidant defense, nutrient metabolism, and regulation of cellular events, and its deficiency contributes to oxidative stress, aging and the pathogenesis of many diseases,31 of course, including NCDs, especially CDC strips. Thus, the authors think that GSH is an effective cytoprotective chemo agent for treating NCD,32, 33 such as CDC strips (Table 4). As essential and critical trace elements and antioxidants, studies have indicated that selenium and zinc may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and be useful for secondary prevention of CHD.34-36 However, their deficiency associated with numerous diseases including CVD, DM, and cancer.37, 38 Hence, these antioxidants may be useful as therapeutic agents for CDC strips. Besides, Vit D and n-3 fatty acids,39 and Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM),40-45 eg. Ginseng, Barbary Wolfberry fruit, Cordyceps militaris, Ganoderma lucidum, SR10 and Astragalus are also very helpful in the preventive of CDC strips (Table 4). Of course, when people dedicated to reducing morbidity and mortality from CDC strips, enhanced collaboration is critical because CDC strips share many RFs and opportunities for prevention, eg, by assessing and regularly updating an individual’s family history. As to a positive history of family, eg, patients with CHD and T2DM or cancer, just like successful gene therapies,46, 47 RNAi or knockout technology is a new choice when all strategies are no use, but need to evaluate its early and late effects as our trials.48, 49 At the same time, it still need to make sure the protection of some genes,50-52 not just medical hypotheses. Moreover, it’s necessary to identifies susceptibility loci when began RNAi or knockout technology.53, 54 An updated research showed that an intensive lifestyle intervention focusing on weight loss did not reduce the rate of CVEs in overweight or obese adults with T2DM.55 This confirmed that it needs comprehensive strategies, just like SEEDi, E (e )SEEDi, or HHLi, for CVD, T2DM, cancers, of course, including CDC strips, not just focusing on weight loss. Some times, it even needs RNAi. One of the authors’ goals is to stimulate substantial improvements in Grade 210 prevention, and early detection through collaboration between key organizations, greater public awareness about HHL, legislative action that results in funding and staff for and access to China Center of Research and Development for Hu’s Healthy Lifestyles (CCRDHHL, a preparatory organization we expect and an effective platform for prevention, early detection, and treatment of NCDs, especially CDC strips, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=71966do=blogid=491168) programs and research, and emphasis of a series of new concepts authors conducted, and meets the need for curriculum-based health education regarding â€Å"the Grade 210 prevention† and motivation of people to incorporate HHL practices into their daily lives. 5. Clinical practice in CDC strips OOH syndrome the authors found and first named in 2006 is one of classic NCD and a synthetic killer which including 3 independent risk factors and characterized by â€Å"a shaped and sounded killer at night, but a shaped and no sounded killer at day†. According to the authors’ preliminary clinical data (manuscript not published yet), it’s high risk to occur T2DM, CHF and various acute CVEs, even cancers, eg. prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. That is to say, it’s a status of pre-CDC strips, or already met a branch (Type A) of CDC strips. Recently, the authors found that a group of patients with hypertension which related to â€Å"new type stress† due to bad lifestyles, and named it for â€Å"C-type Hypertension (CtH)†. Its main clinical features are on that there is temporary absolutely increase or continuously slowly increase levels of human cortisol, a biomarker of CtH, and it often appears among young or middle aged subjects and is a new ignored killer due to easy to suffer from AMI, CHF, Stroke or SCD. Thus, CtH results from bad â€Å"SEED† bad lifestyle, not bad â€Å"Soil†Ã¢â‚¬â€genetic factors. Some patients with hypertension among OOH syndrome may diagnose as CtH because here obesity resulted from bad lifestyles. OOH syndrome and CtH are easy to develop to CDC strips if there are long-term lasting co-RFs which would lead to T2DM and cancers. SCD as an acute CVE, often occurs in patients with CHD, younger or older, especially in patients with OOH syndrome, CtH or CDC strips (Type A or B). And SCD often occurs as the endpoint event of CDC strips. Because both OOH syndrome or CtH and various SCD have the common RFs, that is to say, â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil†, therefore, SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi is a good choice for halting the development of CDC strips in OOH syndrome or CtH and for removing RFs induced SCD. All in all, OOH syndrome, CtH, CDC strips, and SCD are highly linked, they need urgently SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi to enhance quality of life (QOL) and life expectancy, and the earlier, the better. Maybe people can call this â€Å"OCS status† (OOH-CDCs-SCD). Update, the authors developed general formula for management of human disease, especially NCDs, which including OOH syndrome and CDC Strips as follows: General Formula = 3Ãâ€"RT-ABCDEF + E (e)SEED-BasED + 210. As to detailed explanation of this formula, people may easy to know from above.

The Perverse in the Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Edgar Al

Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps the best-known American Romantic who worked in the Gothic mode. His stories explore the darker side of the Romantic imagination, dealing with the grotesque, the supernatural, and the horrifying. He defined the form of the American short story. As one might expect, Poe himself eschewed conventional morality, which he believed stems from man's attempts to dictate the purposes of God. Poe saw God more as process than purpose. He believed that moralists derive their beliefs, and thus, the resultant behavioral patterns, from a priori knowledge. In Eureka, we find that Poe shunned such artifices of mind, systems which, he professed, have no basis in reality. Yet Poe employed in his writing the diction of the moral tome, which causes confusion for readers immersed in this tradition. Daniel Hoffman reiterates Allan Tate's position that, aside from his atavistic employment of moral terminology, Poe writes as though "Christianity had never been invented." (Hoffman 171) Poe did offer to posterity one tale with a moral. Written in 1841 at the dawn of Poe's most creative period, Poe delivers to his readers a satirical spoof, a literary Bronx cheer to writers of moralistic fiction, and to critics who expressed disapprobation at finding no discernible moral in his works. The tale "Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A Tale with a Moral" presents Poe's "way of staying execution" (Poe 487) for his transgressions against the didactics. The story's main character is Toby Dammit, who from infanthood, had been flogged left-handed, which since the world revolves right to left, causes evil propensities to be driven home rather than driven out. The narrator relates that by the age of seven months, Toby was chasing down and ki... ...act, we can also perceive the Reverend's desperation. He was bright enough to see what Poe undertook, and was scared silly. So what is being undertaken here is a psychical study of man, an examination of the seasons of intellect, body and spirit, through which we all cycle. Also attempted is a portrayal of Poe's creative spirit. Though hyper-aware of his own tendency to perversity, what creative impetus must have been requisite for Edgar Poe to have penned poems and stories which so closely mirror the psychic patterns of his own mind! WORKS CITED Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. 1972. Reprint, Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State UP, 1998. Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete Tales & Poems. New York: Vintage Books, 1975. Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. The Perverse in the Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- Edgar Al Edgar Allan Poe is perhaps the best-known American Romantic who worked in the Gothic mode. His stories explore the darker side of the Romantic imagination, dealing with the grotesque, the supernatural, and the horrifying. He defined the form of the American short story. As one might expect, Poe himself eschewed conventional morality, which he believed stems from man's attempts to dictate the purposes of God. Poe saw God more as process than purpose. He believed that moralists derive their beliefs, and thus, the resultant behavioral patterns, from a priori knowledge. In Eureka, we find that Poe shunned such artifices of mind, systems which, he professed, have no basis in reality. Yet Poe employed in his writing the diction of the moral tome, which causes confusion for readers immersed in this tradition. Daniel Hoffman reiterates Allan Tate's position that, aside from his atavistic employment of moral terminology, Poe writes as though "Christianity had never been invented." (Hoffman 171) Poe did offer to posterity one tale with a moral. Written in 1841 at the dawn of Poe's most creative period, Poe delivers to his readers a satirical spoof, a literary Bronx cheer to writers of moralistic fiction, and to critics who expressed disapprobation at finding no discernible moral in his works. The tale "Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A Tale with a Moral" presents Poe's "way of staying execution" (Poe 487) for his transgressions against the didactics. The story's main character is Toby Dammit, who from infanthood, had been flogged left-handed, which since the world revolves right to left, causes evil propensities to be driven home rather than driven out. The narrator relates that by the age of seven months, Toby was chasing down and ki... ...act, we can also perceive the Reverend's desperation. He was bright enough to see what Poe undertook, and was scared silly. So what is being undertaken here is a psychical study of man, an examination of the seasons of intellect, body and spirit, through which we all cycle. Also attempted is a portrayal of Poe's creative spirit. Though hyper-aware of his own tendency to perversity, what creative impetus must have been requisite for Edgar Poe to have penned poems and stories which so closely mirror the psychic patterns of his own mind! WORKS CITED Hoffman, Daniel. Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe. 1972. Reprint, Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State UP, 1998. Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete Tales & Poems. New York: Vintage Books, 1975. Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991.

Comparing Themes in Charlotte and Ruth Hall Essay -- compare and contra

Sentimental or Social Themes in Charlotte and Ruth Hall The subject matter of early American women writers has been criticized in the past, but the messages these authors sent women and society cannot be denied. Susanna Rowson and Fanny Fern came from two different time periods in American history, but their impact on society is similar. In both cases, the women experienced great success as writers during their time. Their popularity shows how their messages were transferred to many people of their time. By exploring the themes of these novels, a better understanding of females in society can be gained. The themes of womanhood and the issues associated with being female in early America will be detailed through specific problems. The concerns that are revealed in Charlotte: A Tale of Truth and Ruth Hall will deal with some universal issues like control, reason, emotion, reality, and the individual’s role in those areas. Womanhood is defined in different ways in Charlotte and Ruth Hall. Charlotte Temple and Ruth Hall were both vulnerable women in their respective ages. What is interesting is how each woman deals with her circumstances. Charlotte depends on the help of those around her; Ruth realizes those closest to her will not help. Ruth must fin for herself in order to survive; Charlotte does not survive! Does she not know how? With Charlotte, this question is relevant. She was young and accustomed to the care of others. Being alone in a new world was overwhelming to Charlotte morally. Yet, she ultimately chooses passion over principle, which is her ultimate flaw as a woman. This leads to a series of events ending in her death. Womanhood, especially in Susanna Rowson’s historical era, was something virtuous. However, Cha... ...eties were quick to dismiss feminine strength, but the power of their written words cannot be denied. Works Cited Davidson, Cathy N. "Sentimental Novel." The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States. Eds. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. NY: Oxford UP, 1985. "Fanny Fern." . 11 November 2000. Fergenson, Loraine. "Susanna Haswell Rowson (1762-1824)." . 10 November 2000. Fern, Fanny. Ruth Hall. Ed. Joyce W. Warren. London: Rutgers UP, 1994. O’Higgins, Harvey. The American Mind in Action. NY: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1924. Rowson, Susanna. Charlotte: A Tale of Truth. 1791. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1999. 372-407. Warren, Joyce W. "Fanny Fern." The Oxford Companion to Women’s Writing in the United States. Eds. Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. NY: Oxford UP, 1985.

Film Analysis of Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore Essay -- Movie

Film Analysis of Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore In the recent film â€Å"Bowling for Columbine,† Michael Moore claims that fear drives people to violence; a short animation clip is also used by Michael Moore to depict the history of the United States in the documentary. The animation brought out a number of issues that set people thinking. Issues on race, fear and violence are also discussed in the documentary (as well as the interview of Oprah Winfrey and Michael Moore.)It is shocking to realize how people have got involved in the culture of fear, and violence. The discrimination of the blacks in America is also discussed in the film. Having watched this documentary, I was totally appalled. Thoughts went through my head, and questions were left unanswered. Are people treated justly and equally? It seems to me that the answer is no. The world did not seem safe anymore, and an example of that being that bullets were made easily available in stores such as â€Å"K-mart†. â€Å"It’s an American tradition; it’s an American responsibility to be armed. If you’re not armed you’re not responsible.† is a quote given by a militia member. It seems to me that the Americans are caught up in their own world only worried about themselves. There is some form of self-obsession going on in the country, as people only care about their own well being, and another example is a quote given by a female militia member â€Å"Because, being a female, for one, I felt it was important to be able to protect myself with the best means possible. And one of those means is having a gun. When a criminal breaks in to your house, who is the first person you’re going to call? M... ... of guns, for example the killings of student in Columbine. In my opinion, â€Å"The biggest problem has been the gun possession by these adolescents in suburbia.† The six year old boy killing his classmate as the gun was of easy accessibility. All of these could have been avoided if fewer guns are involved. And with fewer guns, there would be less violence, more peace and security for the citizens of America. Thus in conclusion, I believe that more effort could be put in to stop all the issues of fear, killings and discrimination. Most of the issues could be avoided if people stopped being so paranoid and self-centred. I believe that the issues on killings and violence can be resolved peacefully without the involvement of guns. If people were to trust each other more, the world would be a much better place to live in.

Kite Runner Essay Essay

Khaled Hosseini’s kite runner has many themes that are significant. This book also has themes that are hidden to the reader, to find these themes the reader needs to think about the events that occur in the book. In this book redemption, discrimination, and violence play a big role in the events in this book. Redemption is one of the most important themes in the kite runner. Throughout the story, Amir is trying to redeem himself because of many events that he was a part of. In the begging of the story Rahim Khan calls Amir and tells him â€Å"There is a way to be good again. † (Page 2) Putting this in the first chapter of the story tells the reader many things about Amir, it could tell us that Amir has done many things that he regrets, or he has done things that caused pain to someone else. Amir’s mother dies when she is giving birth to him, throughout the story Amir tries many different things to redeem himself to his father. When Amir wins the kite competition he thinks that he would finally redeem himself for his mothers death. Amir thinks that he redeems himself because â€Å"A smile played down on my father’s lips. He opened his arms† (Page 79) When someone does this someone will automatically think that you redeemed yourself to that person. Another event that Amir does that he redeems himself for later is when he blackmails Hassan. Amir’s father gives him a watch and Amir decides to put it under Hassan’s pillow. Later when Amir’s father finds out that he took his watch he forgives him, but Ali (Hassan’s father) says that they make the decision to leave. To the near end of the book, when Amir goes back to Afghanistan, he receives a letter from Hassan. The letter tells him that he (Hassan) died, and that he has a son that it taken by the Taliban. Amir tells Farid (The person who takes Amir around in Afghanistan) about Sohrab, and he tells him â€Å"You have a visa to go to America, to life with me and my wife. It’s true. I promise† (Page 355) When Amir found out that he lost his best friend he went through a lot of trouble to get Sohrab. Amir could have avoided this if he did not frame Hassan. If Amir did not frame Hassan, Hassan and Ali could have fled the country with Amir and his father. This event has a big impact on the events in the story. Without these examples of redemption, it is hard to picture the book ending in the way that it did. Along with many other themes, discrimination is one of the less discussed themes in this book. In my opinion I think that discrimination should be a theme that should be as important as any other theme. Discrimination plays a big role in the kite runner because of the structure of the social classes. In the begging of the story we know that Hassan is Amir’s Hazara but later we know that he is Amir’s brother. When Amir won the kite competition Hassan went to get the winning the kite. Hours had passed and Hassan did not show up. Amir goes looking for him and he asks Omar (only involved in one paragraph) if he saw Hassan, Omar answers him by saying â€Å"Your Hazara? † (Page 68) without saying more than two sentences, we can see that people in the class with Hassan are treated with no respect and they are called Hazaras. Another event that happens when Hassan finally finds the kite that allowed Amir to win the competition he is surrounded by Assef and his gang. Assef is one of the biggest discriminators towards Hazaras as he is intimidating Hassan, he says, â€Å"A loyal Hazara, Loyal as a dog† (Page 72) When Hassan said this he could of compared Hassan to something else, but he picked a dog to show the most disrespect towards Hassan. In my own opinion I think that discrimination towards Hazaras in Kabul is horrible because they are treated as if they are a different race of people. Hazaras have the exact physical features as any average human being but they are treated like they are slaves. This is how discrimination, which is one of the themes that is not talked about a lot, is significant in this book. Violence is also one of the themes that are not discussed as much, violence should be because it is important and it is hidden. There are many examples that show violence in the book. One of the examples that show violence is when Hassan gets raped when Assef and his gang surround him. The author does not tell the reader that Hassan got raped but instead he makes Wali, one of the members of Assef’s gang, tell Assef â€Å"My father says it’s sinful† (Page 75) This is a indirect message to inform the reader that Hassan gets raped. This is one great example that violence plays a big role in the process of this book. Assef could of threated Hassan instead of raping him. In my opinion I think that he could not have done something that wasn’t related to violence. Assef wanted to have his revenge on Hassan but it was hard to do something that has nothing to do with violence. Later on in the book, when Amir and Hassan do not talk to each other after Hassan got raped for him over a kite. Hassan asked if he could go under the pomegranate tree and let Amir read a story for him. When Amir and Hassan were under the pomegranate tree, Hassan asked Amir what he was doing wrong so he could stop, Amir told him that Hassan should stand up for himself. Hassan did not answer and Amir started to throw pomegranates on Hassan, Amir then told him â€Å"Hit me back! Hit me back goddamn you† (Page 92) this is another great example that shows the violence that is included in the book. Hassan is the most loyal person in the book and Amir does not appreciate it; instead Amir wants Hassan to hit him with a pomegranate. When Hassan stands up, he then smears a pomegranate on his face and walks away. This is how violence plays a theme in the book. It is not as visible as the other themes in the book but it is as significant as the other themes. Redemption, discrimination, and violence are themes in Khaled Hosseini’s kite runner that play a big role in the book. Without these three themes it is hard to picture if the book would end up the way that it actually ended up being. Quotes and Information taken from â€Å"Kite Runner† by Khaled Hosseini.

Michael Porter Theory Essay

Literature Review on What Is Strategy BY khem123 Introduction: Strategy and management is one of the prominent and most discussed topic in the organization and business studies. Organizations today are challenged by many factors both internal and external and need to effectively address such, which makes only possible by the organization effective leader and their strategic view to overcome and take their company into profitable, competitive, innovative and change. Further, the shift of organization from being local onto global and so the factors of ross-cultural, internationalization cross-disciplinary knowledge of geo-economy, politics, business, market, volatile competition, wide range of customer, and other globalization factors brings further complexity and encounters, hence urgency of more robust leadership, strategy and creative approaches is at forefront than anytime in the history; to struggle and compete this dynamic challenges. In the Michael Porter (1996) literature What is strategy; one of the concept of the organization strategy can be understood as being â€Å"different† from the competitors nd so with the different end outcome and added value to the organization as a long- term advantages. It means that, an industry or organization could be operated in a different way than it’s competitor, which will allow to achieve long-term value creation. In other words; strategy can be understood as, what are the organization unique positions in order to achieve organizational effectiveness, and competitive advantages at the end of the day. The author argues that; strategy can significantly be divided in a wider way of doing things. As a competitive way of thinking, industry has its own-target area and ways of doing the business, for example; defined vision and goals, particular business activities, objectives, niche customer, differentiated product or service, market segments, key technological drivers, different approach on marketing, and so forth. Also each company has its own rivals, key market presences and targeted economic outcome. However, every company is seeking for the unique ideas and plans to stay in the market for the longer period, to achieve strong conomy and become one of the competitive in its industry frame. This will help to achieve greater value to the industry. The basic notion of the strategy here is; it is a set of systematically planned actions that takes time out for a particular purpose on, how companies are going to be unique, achieve competitive advantages and sustain over longer span of time. This is the core essence of organization strategy. Strategy in relation to operational effectiveness; it is important to be stay ahead from the competitor and aggressively gain the efficiencies. However; competitor may act uickly with such manner to stay long term in the market. An organization may have chosen different area to stay in frontier from the rivals and putting more effort and superior performance to achieve goals. Such as deliver value to customers, comparable value at lower cost, creating activities to produce, sell and deliver of product and service, training employees, calling to customer, assembling final products etc. ; hence, the value created by these activities will help organization to lead than the rivals, and so company can performance better than its counter