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Issues & Experts Archive > Ethnic obesity, livability, bullying, small schools
Ethnic obesity, livability, bullying, small schools
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August 23, 2007
Ethnicity and obesity
SFU kinesiologist Scott Lear can comment on his research team's recent discovery that Chinese and South Asians have more dangerous abdominal fat than Europeans, putting them at greater risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and other complications. "We now have definitive proof that current targets for waist circumference and body mass index measurements, which were developed based on Caucasian populations, are not able to accurately determine health risks in these groups," says Lear. "Clearly, we can no longer use a one-size-fits-all approach to diagnosing these serious medical conditions."
Contact:
Scott Lear, 604.682.2344 extension 62778, salear@sfu.ca
SFU kinesiologist Scott Lear can comment on his research team's recent discovery that Chinese and South Asians have more dangerous abdominal fat than Europeans, putting them at greater risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and other complications. "We now have definitive proof that current targets for waist circumference and body mass index measurements, which were developed based on Caucasian populations, are not able to accurately determine health risks in these groups," says Lear. "Clearly, we can no longer use a one-size-fits-all approach to diagnosing these serious medical conditions."
Contact:
Scott Lear, 604.682.2344 extension 62778, salear@sfu.ca
Number one, but at what expense?
The Economist magazine has named Vancouver the world's most "livable city" because of its low crime rate, limited threat of instability or terrorism and a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure.
Vancouver scored a livability index of 1.3 per cent, with zero per cent indicating exceptional and 100 per cent indicating intolerable. Gordon Price, director of SFU's City Program, can comment on the honour and whether affordability should be a condition of the rankings.
Contact:
Gordon Price, 778.782.5081, price@sfu.ca
The Economist magazine has named Vancouver the world's most "livable city" because of its low crime rate, limited threat of instability or terrorism and a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure.
Vancouver scored a livability index of 1.3 per cent, with zero per cent indicating exceptional and 100 per cent indicating intolerable. Gordon Price, director of SFU's City Program, can comment on the honour and whether affordability should be a condition of the rankings.
Contact:
Gordon Price, 778.782.5081, price@sfu.ca
Keeping the bullies at bay
Dawn Marie-Wesley, Hamed Nastoh and Reena Virk: three students who were literally bullied to death. Bullying occurs in both relational (typically female) and physical (typically male) forms.
As B.C. school districts prepare to implement anti-bullying policies this fall, Education professor and counseling psychologist Natalee Popadiuk can help parents recognize signs of bullying and offer suggestions on how to handle it.
SFU criminologist Brenda Morrison, author of Restoring Safe School Communities: A Whole School Response to Bullying, Violence and Alienation, can discuss solutions to bullying that go beyond short-term solutions such as suspensions and expulsions.
Criminology graduate student Rebecca Haskell is currently researching homophobic bullying in high schools in order to assist policymakers in making changes that will dramatically reduce discrimination and incidents of verbal and physical abuse.
Contact:
Natalee Popadiuk: 778.782.3167, natalee_popadiuk@sfu.ca
Brenda Morrison: 778.782.7627, brendam@sfu.ca
Rebecca Haskell: 778-999-4342, rebecca_haskell@sfu.ca
Dawn Marie-Wesley, Hamed Nastoh and Reena Virk: three students who were literally bullied to death. Bullying occurs in both relational (typically female) and physical (typically male) forms.
As B.C. school districts prepare to implement anti-bullying policies this fall, Education professor and counseling psychologist Natalee Popadiuk can help parents recognize signs of bullying and offer suggestions on how to handle it.
SFU criminologist Brenda Morrison, author of Restoring Safe School Communities: A Whole School Response to Bullying, Violence and Alienation, can discuss solutions to bullying that go beyond short-term solutions such as suspensions and expulsions.
Criminology graduate student Rebecca Haskell is currently researching homophobic bullying in high schools in order to assist policymakers in making changes that will dramatically reduce discrimination and incidents of verbal and physical abuse.
Contact:
Natalee Popadiuk: 778.782.3167, natalee_popadiuk@sfu.ca
Brenda Morrison: 778.782.7627, brendam@sfu.ca
Rebecca Haskell: 778-999-4342, rebecca_haskell@sfu.ca
Size does matter
Do small schools make an educational difference? Michèle Schmidt, co-author of Does School Size Matter? A Social Capital Perspective, says a growing “small school” movement around the world shares “the conviction that small schools build better citizens, and provide a better bridge to social equality and civic engagement in later life.”
Canada, however, “is falling behind in the educational debate over the impact of small schools on social cohesion and civic engagement.”
Contact:
Michèle Schmidt, Education: 778-782-4126, mschmidt@sfu.ca
Do small schools make an educational difference? Michèle Schmidt, co-author of Does School Size Matter? A Social Capital Perspective, says a growing “small school” movement around the world shares “the conviction that small schools build better citizens, and provide a better bridge to social equality and civic engagement in later life.”
Canada, however, “is falling behind in the educational debate over the impact of small schools on social cohesion and civic engagement.”
Contact:
Michèle Schmidt, Education: 778-782-4126, mschmidt@sfu.ca