Oh, Noooozzzzz!!!

[PoliticalChic]

My peeps are metrosexuals!!!!


1. "SEOUL, South Korea -
Cho Won-hyuk stands in front of his bedroom mirror and spreads dollops of yellow-brown makeup over his forehead, nose, chin and cheeks until his skin is flawless. Then he goes to work with a black pencil, highlighting his eyebrows until they're thicker, bolder.

2. "Having a clean, neat face makes you look sophisticated and creates an image that you can handle yourself well," the 24-year-old college student said. "Your appearance matters, so when I wear makeup on special occasions, it makes me more confident."

3. Cho's meticulous efforts to paint the perfect face are not unusual in South Korea. This socially conservative, male-dominated country, with a mandatory two-year military conscription for men, has become the male makeup capital of the world.

4. South Korean men spent $495.5 million on skincare last year, accounting for nearly 21 percent of global sales, according to global market research firm Euromonitor International. That makes it the largest market for men's skincare in the world,...

5. The metamorphosis of South Korean men from macho to makeup over the last decade or so can be partly explained by fierce competition for jobs, advancement and romance in a society where, as a popular catchphrase puts it, "appearance is power."

6. Women also have a growing expectation that men will take the time and effort to pamper their skin."

a. In South Korea, however, effeminate male beauty is "a marker of social success,"...

7. While U.S. cosmetics companies report growing sales in male cosmetics, American men are often wary of makeup. "Men Wearing Makeup a Disturbing Trend" was how American columnist Jim Shea titled a recent post. "

For S. Korean men, makeup a foundation for success - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG




There's only one appropriate comment here: God bless America!!!

 

[waltky]

One-child policy comin' back an' bitin' China onna butt...

Ageing China: Changes and challenges
19 September 2012 - China's population is ageing. By 2050 more than a quarter of the population will be over 65 years old and younger generations face an unprecedented burden of care.

Fewer children

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the government advocated a "later, longer, fewer" lifestyle, encouraging people to marry later, have wide gaps between children and fewer children overall. It also instated the controversial one-child policy. These were attempts to curb population growth in a bid to help modernise the economy. Chinese women are having fewer children, but having a smaller generation follow a boom generation - and longer life expectancies - means that by 2050, it is expected that for every 100 people aged 20-64, there will be 45 people aged over 65, compared with about 15 today.

The 4-2-1 family

Only children from single-child parents face what is known as the 4-2-1 phenomenon: when the child reaches working age, he or she could have to care for two parents and four grandparents in retirement. One-child couple Zini and Lin are in that situation, and their family are concerned.

One-child success?

China's fertility rate - the average number of children a woman has in their lifetime - is 1.6, which is lower than the rate in the UK and the US. The Chinese government believes the one-child policy curtailed population growth, and that it prevented 400 million extra births. The BBC asked Cai Yong, a population expert at the University of North Carolina, to estimate what the country's population growth would have been without the one-child policy. His findings suggest that China's fertility would have declined at a similar rate without the one-child policy and would continue to decline even if the policy was discarded.

How did the one-child policy affect population levels?

 

[Unkotare]

Disturbing.

 

[waltky]

Mom's menopause determines fertility...

Fertility 'predicted by mother's age at menopause'
6 November 2012 - Fertility peaks between 18 and 31 years of age, say experts

Women may be able to better gauge their own fertility based on the age their mother went through the menopause, a study has concluded. Women whose mothers had an early menopause had far fewer eggs in their ovaries than those whose mothers had a later menopause, a Danish team found. Women with fewer viable eggs have fewer chances to conceive. The study, of 527 women aged between 20 and 40, was reported in the journal Human Reproduction.

Ovarian reserve

Researchers looked at two accepted methods to assess how many eggs the women had - known as their "ovarian reserve" - levels of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) and antral follicle count (AFC). Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have. These are released from the ovary cyclically, usually one every month after puberty, until menopause. The AFC and AMH give readings doctors an idea of how many yet-to-be released eggs remain in the ovary.

In the study of female healthcare workers, the researchers found both AMH and AFC declined faster in women whose mothers had an early menopause (before the age of 45) compared to women whose mothers had a late menopause (after the age of 55). Average AMH levels declined by 8.6%, 6.8% and 4.2% a year in the groups of women with mothers who had early, normal or late menopauses, respectively. A similar pattern was seen for AFC, with annual declines of 5.8%, 4.7% and 3.2% in the same groups, respectively.

Start young

Past research suggests there is about 20 years between a woman's fertility starting to decline and the onset of menopause. So a woman who enters the menopause at 45 may have experienced a decline in her fertility at the age of 25. Lead researcher Dr Janne Bentzen said: "Our findings support the idea that the ovarian reserve is influenced by hereditary factors. However, long-term follow-up studies are required." Also, having fewer eggs does not necessarily mean that the woman will go on to have fewer babies.

More BBC News - Fertility 'predicted by mother's age at menopause'

See also:

Hormones in menstrual cycle 'affect asthma'
9 November 2012 - Period pain is not the only symptom linked to a woman's menstrual cycle, the study suggests

A woman's menstrual cycle affects the severity of respiratory symptoms, potentially worsening conditions such as asthma, a study suggests. Norwegian researchers studied almost 4,000 women, and found worse symptoms around ovulation. Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, they said it may be possible to adapt women's medication. Asthma UK said it could help women with asthma manage their condition better. All the women studied had regular menstrual cycles lasting 28 days or less, and none were taking hormonal contraceptives.

Of those studied, 28.5% were smokers and 8% had been diagnosed with asthma. Wheezing symptoms were worse between days 10 to 22 of cycles, with a slight dip near the point of ovulation for most. Shortness of breath was worse on days seven to 21, again with a slight fall around ovulation. The study found it was not just women diagnosed with asthma who experienced these symptoms and variations. Coughing was worse following ovulation for those with asthma, those who were overweight and smokers.

'Pronounced' variations

When an individual woman has her period is determined by complex hormonal processes over the course of her cycle. Throughout, levels of different hormones rise and fall - and body temperature rises around ovulation. The researchers suggest that these fluctuations may have direct effects on airways. and indirect effects on inflammatory responses to infection. Writing in the journal, the researchers led by Dr Ferenc Macsali, of the Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, said: "We found that respiratory symptoms varied significantly during the menstrual cycle. "There were large changes in symptom incidence through the cycle for all symptoms."

They also found "pronounced" symptom variations during the menstrual cycle in women with asthma, and say the findings suggest women might need tailored medication regimes. "Adjustment of asthma medication to the menstrual cycle may potentially improve the efficacy of asthma treatment and reduce disability and health costs related to asthma in women."

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