interesting

President Bush is engaging in some personal diplomacy in an effortto halt the bloodshed and bring all parties to the negotiatingtable.
The latest move: a call to French President Nicholas Sarkozy, whoholds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.
A White House spokesman says the U.S. and French presidents sharethe same position on the escalating conflict between Georgia andRussia over South Ossetia. He says both want to see a cease-fire,disengagement and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity.
Their conversation follows calls Saturday by Mr. Bush to RussianPresident Dmitri Medvedev and Georgian President MikhailSaakashvili. Mr. Bush also discussed the matter in person Fridaywith Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, when both attended areception in Beijing.
White House officials will not provide details of the Bush-Putinconversation. But they leave no doubt they are extremely concernedabout Russia's actions, and are waiting to see what Moscow will donext.
A senior member of President Bush's National Security Council saysthe administration does not want to jump to conclusions. But JimJeffrey leaves no doubt the White House is concerned that Russiawants to expand the conflict even further.
Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia on Friday to try to bringthe breakaway province back under its control. Russia supports theseparatists and has peacekeepers in the region. And when Georgiamade its move, it sent in more troops and eventually launchedbombing runs outside the borders of South Ossetia. On Sunday,Georgia said it had withdrawn its troops from South Ossetia'scapital as a goodwill gesture.
Jeffry told reporters traveling with President Bush in Beijing thatthe Russian response has been disproportionate. He said if itcontinues, there is the potential for a significant long-termimpact on U.S.-Russia relations.
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The incidence of melanoma, the most dangerous kind of skincancer, remains unabated, in spite of early detection strategiesintroduced 15 years ago.
University of Otago researchers analysed figures from the NewZealand cancer registry to see whether thick melanomas (three mmthickness) had decreased between 1994 and 2004 because of detectionstrategies.
"Regrettably the answer is that we didn't find any decrease ofthick melanoma over the last decade," said Tony Reeder. "There wasthe possibility that early detection and greater public awarenessmay have had an impact on later development of thick melanoma, butso far that is not the case."
Of those diagnosed with melanoma the proportion with thick melanomais greater for older people, for males compared to females and forMaori compared to non-Maori and for those diagnosed with nodularmelanoma.
Researchers believe there are two possible reasons for the lack ofprogress in combating this difficult disease which caused 249deaths in 2004.
They said it may be too early to see any impact on thick melanomasof early detection, or the strategies may not be working as well asexpected as they are not allowing the identification of somemelanomas early enough.
Reeder believed that the situation needs to be monitored and thatthis study is an important baseline to work from in that regard."The problem is that it is often quite difficult to identify thickmelanomas early on.""They tend to have a nodular shape, but don't necessarily stick outabove the surrounding skin or have an irregular edge. They're notalways dark either, and can be quite pale and flat," he added.
Similar issues are now surfacing internationally where despitewidespread information about early detection of thick melanoma,many are being missed and the incidence rate has not declined asexpected.
The study has been published in

New Zealand Medical Journal
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NaturalNews) IBM has adopted an incentive program that paysemployees to take care of their health and lose weight.
The voluntary wellness incentive program, launched four years ago,pays employees up to $300 per year for participating in a programthat includes eating healthy, tracking their eating habits,exercising and preventive health care. Only employees thatparticipate and actually lose weight get paid.
IBM adopted the program as a way to cut down on health care costs,which are climbing every year in the United States due in largepart to the worsening obesity epidemic.
IBM
alone spends $2 billion per year on
health care
around the world.
Due to the employee incentive program, IBM has now paid out $130million to workers that have lost weight, stopped smoking andimproved their health in other ways. But the company estimates thatthe program has actually saved it approximately three times asmuch, or nearly $400 million in more expensive, after-the-facthealth care.
"Frankly speaking, we don't know why everybody wouldn't do thisbecause it really does make a great deal of sense," said PaulGrundy, the company's director of Strategic Initiatives.
IBM's employee health insurance program also covers 100 percent ofthe costs of routine preventive care, as long as it is done"in-network."
Eric Finkelstein, the author of 'The Fattening of America', hassaid that programs such as IBM's make good financial sense.
"It is essentially costless for the firm," Finkelstein said. "Ifnobody loses any weight then they don't spend any money."
For 2008, IBM is extending the program to include rewards forparents of children who improve their
eating habits
.
IBM employee Stefanie Chiras praised the program, which she sayshas helped her get back into shape after a pregnancy.
"Having work sponsor it makes you kind of feel like someone isbuying into it," said Chiras, "and then certainly the cash at theend of the day is an incentive."
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