Leading Fitness Organization Provides Scientifically Based Education Program Aimed at Better Serving the Aging Baby Boomer Population
?Currently there are more than 35 million older adults living in America, which accounts for 12.5 percent of the total population. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that by 2050 more than 70 million people aged 65 or older will live in the United States, or nearly 25 percent of the total population. In response to this growing population with higher risk of injury and illness, the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) now offers a Senior Fitness Specialist (SFS) credential.
?NASM is constantly seeking ways to better prepare the fitness professional to improve lives and motivate consumers. Our evidence-based, online education program will ensure these professionals are better prepared to help aging baby boomers address chronic illness, create strength and flexibility for fall prevention, and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle,? said Andrew Wyant, executive vice president and general manager of NASM.
The NASM SFS curriculum was developed with a panel of highly regarded professionals in the fields of both health and nutrition. This scientifically based programming reflects research and teaching expertise from top institutions including A.T. Still University, University of San Francisco, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
?Older adults desire to remain active and engaged with life and, in order to reach their psychosocial and lifestyle goals, they will need to maintain their fitness and independence, which, in most cases, will require the services of competent, qualified, and skilled professionals,? said Jeffrey L. Alexander, PhD., associate professor of Arizona School of Health Sciences at A.T. Still University. ?The NASM curriculum and certification helps advance that niche of expertise.?
With a comprehensive, 13-module program of courses focused on flexibility, cardiorespiratory and nutrition for older adults, the SFS credential provides the education and training for fitness professionals serving this aging demographic. Unlike similar offerings, the NASM certification provides an interactive, online program at a competitive price so students can take the course and exam at their own pace with resources and support from NASM along the way.
The new NASM SFS course includes an online course, downloadable course manual, quizzes, libraries of exercises and exams. For more information, visit www.nasm.org/seniors.
About National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM)
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) has been a global leader in providing evidence-based certifications and advanced credentials to Health and Fitness Professionals since 1987. In addition to its NCCA-accredited fitness Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) certification, NASM offers a progressive career track with access to Advanced Specializations, Continuing Education courses, and accredited Bachelor and Master Degree programs. The NASM educational continuum is designed to help today?s Health and Fitness Professional enhance their career, while empowering their clients to live healthier lives. Visit www.nasm.org or call ????????????1-800-460.NASM?????? (6276).
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For National Academy of Sports Medicine Katie Patterson, Senior Public Relations Manager ????????????913.226.7918?????? katie.patterson@ascendlearning.com
[unable to retrieve full-text content]AP - The official who oversaw the much-criticized initial police inquiry into Britain's phone hacking scandal said Thursday that a crush of terrorism cases meant his force had no choice but to curtail the investigation.
Oldbury nuclear power station near Bristol has stopped generating electricity after 45 years.
Both of the station's reactors were scheduled to be turned off in 2008, but had their operational life extended.
Reactor two was turned off in 2011 and reactor one was finally shut down at 11:00 GMT on Wednesday.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Magnox, which owns the site, said continued operation was not economically viable.
The switch-off was watched through a video link by many of the station's 500 staff in Oldbury's canteen.
"It'll be a sad day but there's plenty of other things to do," said station director Phil Sprauge.
'Dignified end'
"The plant has had a number of enhancements over the years, however continued generation is largely down to the excellence of the staff that have operated the plant for those 44 years.
"This fantastic record is one that all staff both past and present, can rightly be proud.
"Today marks a safe and dignified end to the generation of electricity at Oldbury."
Since it was first turned on in 1967, Oldbury has generated 137.5 TWh of electricity which is enough to power a million homes for 20 years, the site's owners said.
Over the next three years the decommissioning process will begin, with remaining fuel from the station's reactor removed and reprocessed.
After this, other hazardous materials from the site will be removed before many of the station's buildings are demolished.
The main reactor building will not be pulled down until about 2100 when the radioactive levels in the building become safe.
Horizon Nuclear Power - a conglomerate formed by E.On and RWE - hopes to build a new power station, next to the existing reactor building, after 2025.
Nowhere to hide: Study finds future of Sumatran tigers threatened by human disturbancesPublic release date: 29-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Davis davisl@vt.edu 540-231-6157 Virginia Tech
Three of the world's subspecies of tigers are now extinct. A new study found that the Sumatran tiger subspecies is nearing extinction as a result of human activities, particularly the conversion of natural forests into forestry and agricultural plantations, leading to habitat loss.
The study, conducted by Virginia Tech and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the use of different land cover types not just forests but also plantation areas for tiger habitat.
Published in the Public Library of Science's online journal PLoS ONE on Jan. 23, the study was led by Sunarto, who earned his doctorate in wildlife sciences from Virginia Tech in 2011. The study was a collaboration between the university and WWF, and received support from the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.
The authors found that Sumatran tigers strongly prefer forests over plantations of acacia and oil palm trees and tend to avoid plantation areas unless they contain thick ground-level vegetation and have extremely low levels of human activities.
Within forest areas, tigers also strongly prefer sites that have low levels of human disturbance as indicated by their preference for areas closer to forest centers and farther from human activity centers such as bodies of water and forest edges.
The most notable find, however, was the tigers' strong predilection for sites with understory cover vegetation cover at the ground level which suggests that the availability of adequate understory cover serves as an environmental necessity for tiger habitat, regardless of location.
"As ambush hunters, tigers would find it hard to capture their prey without adequate understory cover," said Sunarto, who is now a tiger expert for WWFIndonesia. "The lack of cover also leaves tigers vulnerable to persecution by humans, who generally perceive them as dangerous."
While the Indonesian government has set aside many areas and national parks for the conservation of endangered species, about 70 percent of tiger habitat in Sumatra remains outside these protected areas. The preservation of such habitats, which requires support from government, landowners, and concession holders, is critical for the conservation of the species, the study authors emphasize.
"Even with current legal protection for the species, tigers are not doing well in many places, especially those outside protected areas," Sunarto said. "As long as forest conversion continues, tigers will require active protection or they will quickly disappear from our planet."
"These results indicate that to thrive, tigers depend on the existence of large contiguous forest blocks," said study co-author Marcella Kelly (http://www.mjkelly.info/), an associate professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Sunarto's graduate advisor.
The study concludes that in order to protect tigers, it is critical to stop the clearing of Indonesia's remaining natural forests for plantations. With adjustments in management practices in existing plantations to include more understory and riparian forest corridors, tigers could use a mosaic of forest patches across fragmented landscapes.
"We hope that plantation managers and concession owners can use the recommendations of this report to apply best management practices to further protect Sumatran tigers from extinction," said Anwar Purwoto, director of the Forest, Freshwater, and Species Program at WWFIndonesia.
A recently published Indonesian presidential decree on land use in Sumatra plan points out the importance of building wildlife corridors between critical areas, where commitments from concession owners are key to successful implementation.
"Ensuring that tigers are able to roam freely in natural forests and restored habitat is crucial to their survival," said co-author Sybille Klenzendorf, head of WWF's species program, who earned her master's and doctorate degrees in wildlife science from Virginia Tech. "This study is a reminder of just how important it is for us to protect the natural forests that tigers and other animals rely on."
Tigers occupy only around 7 percent of their historic range. There are estimated to be as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers, which are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
###
The PLoS One study is online at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030859
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Nowhere to hide: Study finds future of Sumatran tigers threatened by human disturbancesPublic release date: 29-Feb-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lynn Davis davisl@vt.edu 540-231-6157 Virginia Tech
Three of the world's subspecies of tigers are now extinct. A new study found that the Sumatran tiger subspecies is nearing extinction as a result of human activities, particularly the conversion of natural forests into forestry and agricultural plantations, leading to habitat loss.
The study, conducted by Virginia Tech and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is the first of its kind to systematically investigate the use of different land cover types not just forests but also plantation areas for tiger habitat.
Published in the Public Library of Science's online journal PLoS ONE on Jan. 23, the study was led by Sunarto, who earned his doctorate in wildlife sciences from Virginia Tech in 2011. The study was a collaboration between the university and WWF, and received support from the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.
The authors found that Sumatran tigers strongly prefer forests over plantations of acacia and oil palm trees and tend to avoid plantation areas unless they contain thick ground-level vegetation and have extremely low levels of human activities.
Within forest areas, tigers also strongly prefer sites that have low levels of human disturbance as indicated by their preference for areas closer to forest centers and farther from human activity centers such as bodies of water and forest edges.
The most notable find, however, was the tigers' strong predilection for sites with understory cover vegetation cover at the ground level which suggests that the availability of adequate understory cover serves as an environmental necessity for tiger habitat, regardless of location.
"As ambush hunters, tigers would find it hard to capture their prey without adequate understory cover," said Sunarto, who is now a tiger expert for WWFIndonesia. "The lack of cover also leaves tigers vulnerable to persecution by humans, who generally perceive them as dangerous."
While the Indonesian government has set aside many areas and national parks for the conservation of endangered species, about 70 percent of tiger habitat in Sumatra remains outside these protected areas. The preservation of such habitats, which requires support from government, landowners, and concession holders, is critical for the conservation of the species, the study authors emphasize.
"Even with current legal protection for the species, tigers are not doing well in many places, especially those outside protected areas," Sunarto said. "As long as forest conversion continues, tigers will require active protection or they will quickly disappear from our planet."
"These results indicate that to thrive, tigers depend on the existence of large contiguous forest blocks," said study co-author Marcella Kelly (http://www.mjkelly.info/), an associate professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Sunarto's graduate advisor.
The study concludes that in order to protect tigers, it is critical to stop the clearing of Indonesia's remaining natural forests for plantations. With adjustments in management practices in existing plantations to include more understory and riparian forest corridors, tigers could use a mosaic of forest patches across fragmented landscapes.
"We hope that plantation managers and concession owners can use the recommendations of this report to apply best management practices to further protect Sumatran tigers from extinction," said Anwar Purwoto, director of the Forest, Freshwater, and Species Program at WWFIndonesia.
A recently published Indonesian presidential decree on land use in Sumatra plan points out the importance of building wildlife corridors between critical areas, where commitments from concession owners are key to successful implementation.
"Ensuring that tigers are able to roam freely in natural forests and restored habitat is crucial to their survival," said co-author Sybille Klenzendorf, head of WWF's species program, who earned her master's and doctorate degrees in wildlife science from Virginia Tech. "This study is a reminder of just how important it is for us to protect the natural forests that tigers and other animals rely on."
Tigers occupy only around 7 percent of their historic range. There are estimated to be as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild, and fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers, which are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
###
The PLoS One study is online at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030859
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Like the pirate code, expiration dates are more of a rough guideline for when food might go bad. But a new edible sensor made from silk and gold leaf takes the guesswork out of whether something is safe to eat. More »
Taking charge of your energy bills is much easier when you know where those dollars go. Employing energy-saving tips can reduce your bill significantly, without sacrificing comfort in your home.
Heating and cooling
Conditioning your home accounts for 45 percent of the energy expenditures. Besides turning down your thermostat in winter or setting it higher in the summer, you can save money on heating and cooling by:
Changing air filters in your HVAC equipment. Dirty filters make heating and cooling your home more expensive and create unnecessary wear and tear on the air handler.
Sealing the air leaks in your home and ductwork. Leaks around windows, doors and incoming wiring or plumbing are easy to seal with caulk, expanding foam or insulation. Leaking ducts can increase your energy bills substantially. Contact an HVAC company who can detect and seal the ducts for you.
Water heating
The typical household allocates 11 percent of their energy dollars for heating water. Save money and increase the life of your water heater by:
Turning down the thermostat to 120 degrees. This saves energy, and hard water deposits do not form as readily at the bottom of the tank when the temperature is lower.
Wrap your water heater with an insulating blanket, available at home improvement stores.
Wash only full loads in your dishwasher and avoid using hot water for your laundry.
Lighting
Responsible for 7 percent of your energy bills, you can save even more when you change all your bulbs from incandescent or fluorescent to LED or CFL bulbs.
Refrigerators
If your refrigerator is old, it may use more than the typical 6 percent that newer refrigerators use. Side-by-side refrigerators use more electricity than those with freezers on the top or bottom. When you upgrade an older appliance, choose an Energy Star refrigerator to save more on energy bills.
Small electronics
Turning off the power strip for your small electronics can help you save on standby power losses.
Air-Tro?can help you discover ways to trim your energy expenses. We serve the greater Los Angeles area and can help you save on heating and cooling costs.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).? For more information about energy bills?and other HVAC topics, visit our website.
Air-Tro Inc. services the greater Los Angeles area as well as the metro areas of Riverside and San Bernardino County.?
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Public release date: 29-Feb-2012
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