More random links
- New Canadian guidelines call for less breast cancer screening
- "The guidelines for average-risk women — updated for the first time in a decade — recommend no routine mammography screening for women aged 40 to 49 and lengthen the screening window for women ages 50 to 74 from every other year, to every two to three years. ... No evidence was found to show that routine breast examinations by doctors in women who have no symptoms of disease prevent deaths from breast cancer. If anything, it can lead to unnecessary biopsies and procedures." (This is pretty similar to the direction prostate cancer screening is taking, which "offers men 50 and older little if any survival benefit, yet raises risk of harms caused by treatment")
- As New Graduates Return to Nest, Economy Also Feels the Pain
- A bit of a follup to the Generation Boomerang thing: "In other words, Ms. Romanelli, 22, saved a lot of money. But she deprived the economy of a lot of potential activity, too." This is looking at those with jobs, who continue to live with their parents primarily, it seems, to save up money, such that not as large a mortgage might be needed later. Doesn't sound like a terrible idea to me - although this increased efficiency as the article outlines means that such folks aren't purchasing as much crap - the estimated $145,000 of increased GDP as spending trickles a few layers through the economy.
- Fast-Food Intake Most Frequent in Middle-Class, not Poor: Study
- "A new national study from UC Davis researchers of restaurant dining as related to income conveys that fast-food dining and consumption become more frequent as wages increase from low- to middle-class individuals and families. The study, of the dining habits of nearly 5,000 Americans, dispelled the commonly accepted sentiment that fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and Burger King are the main contributor to higher obesity rates among the poor."
- The false promise of cheap wine
- "At best, the result from vineyards that produce 10 or 15 tons per acre of grapes is neutral wine that requires significant manufacturing (wood chips, Mega Purple and so on) to approximate flavors that wine drinkers claim to like. And that, ultimately, is what the “Drink Cheap Wine” brigade is advocating: industrial wine that is the equivalent of a Big Mac or Velveeta."