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Showing posts from October, 2010

Obesity, overeating and hormones

What is obesity? Obesity is a condition in which a person has Body Mass Index > 30. BMI is calculated as weight (in Kg) divided by height square (in meter). There are differences in categorizing overweight, whereas in Asia, BMI > 25 is already categorized as overweight, while in US and Europe, the value is BMI > 30. But all agreed that obese is BMI > 35. However, after BMI > 20, risk of having degenerative diseases is said to be increased arithmetically. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and Type 2 diabetes are among the top problems for obese people. In a simple word, obese is a mother of all diseases. Primary cause of obesity: overeating Overeating is predominantly accepted as source of obesity. In a simpler way, obesity can occur while a person having more energy intake than he needs to. The surplus of energy, primarily from food we eat, is stored beneath our skin as lipid. Obesity and gene The theory of genetic factor in obesity is developed owing to the finding of l

Education at Remote Areas from Teacher’s Perspectives

*Anton Rahmadi, Irma Istiqomah, Mohamad Adriyanto Article was presented in KIPI 2010, and was selected for KIPI publication. Introduction Education is a key to increase national prosperity and a part of human development index (HDI) and millennium development goals (MDGs) calculation (UNDP, 2009). Above all, education is also a basic right that governments should provide to their people. In Indonesian constitution, every individual has a right to access same quality of education, in which it also gives a mandate to government to guarantee same quality of education for all citizens. On the other hand, people who live in villages and other remote areas are hardly to have good education. Overall education development index (EDI) in Indonesia was fall into middle-low group compared to other countries (EFA Coordination Team, 2006; Sulistyatuti, 2007). One fundamental element of education is teacher’s quality. Providing good and competent teacher has always been a struggle in Indonesia.

Empat yang mempengaruhi regulasi Bahan Tambahan Pangan

Kasus ditariknya produk Indomie di Taiwan dikaitkan dengan bahan pengawet E218 (methyl-paraben) merupakan salah satu bukti adanya perbedaan standar-standar keamanan bahan tambahan pangan (BTP) antar negara. Menurut standar FDA Amerika dan banyak negara lainnya, bahan pengawet E218 pada bumbu dan kecap masih diperbolehkan selama tidak melebihi kadar tertentu. Khusus untuk Taiwan, senyawa pengawet ini dilarang. Mengapa standar keamanan BTP dapat berbeda antar negara? Setidaknya ada empat alasan utama yang mempengaruhi regulasi suatu BTP: a. Hasil penelitian Bukti-bukti ilmiah ditempatkan sebagai acuan tertinggi dalam penetapan suatu BTP. Sebagai contoh lain, Bis-phenol A, suatu plastisiser pelapis botol/kaleng, baru-baru ini dilarang di Kanada dikarenakan dapat memicu kanker. Sementara hasil penelitian di Eropa, Amerika dan Australia masih dalam kategori diawasi. b. Gaya Hidup Peranan gaya hidup dalam menentukan regulasi suatu BTP juga amat penting. Sebagai contoh, di China dan da