What it allows you to do is set settings that help to protect you and your family whilst online, you can block websites infected with viruses. You can block social networking sites for say homework time for your children so they cannot get distracted. You can select settings to protect your kids from inappropriate websites.

At first when i heard that TalkTalk was following its customers around the websites they used gathering data i was annoyed, i do not like the idea of a corporation monitoring what i am doing but TalkTalk say that no user details are gathered just site information.

I guess if it helps protect the user and their kids then it has to be a good thing in the end. I wonder if other ISP’s will now follow this or may they have and i just do not know of it.

Does your ISP have anything like this?

My Account Home Safe Screenshot

Internet provider TalkTalk is to give customers the option of filtering malicious or offensive material out of their broadband service.

The company claims it is the first major ISP to offer centralised blocking at server level.

As well as stopping malicious software, parents will be able to prevent their children accessing adult material.

Security professionals have questioned whether the service will be able to react fast enough to new threats.

Smart scan

Conventional systems for blocking internet content rely on security software installed on users’ PCs.

TalkTalk’s Home Safe runs on the company’s central computer system and sits between the web and individual home connections.

Its anti-virus system works by scanning a site that someone wants to visit to see if it harbours malicious programs. Those found to be clean will be put on a “white list” for 24 hours.

A spokesman for TalkTalk said that the system was discriminating enough to be able to block individual adverts on web pages that were booby-trapped with malware but would still let a user interact with the rest of that page.

To make the system work, TalkTalk has to scan all websites that its users visit. However the company said that it does not record details that could identify individual customers, such as their IP address.

No pornography

Parents worried about their children seeing adult material will be able to log on to a web page and define their own content filters.

Sites containing pornography or online gambling can be blocked completely.

There will also be the option to put timed locks on certain websites, such as Facebook or game portals, to stop children viewing them when they should be doing school homework.

Similar PC-based systems have been criticised for their overly-broad filtering – often stopping young people accessing legitimate research sites.

TalkTalk said that its service would be able to tell the difference between sites that are wholly about a subject and ones that merely mentioned it.

For instance, parents who block sites that promote self harm might be happy for their children to see ones that educate about the issue.

Charlotte Nunes, a spokesperson for comparison site USwitch, called Home Safe was a “useful and well thought out freebie”.

“Controlling security centrally from the network rather than on each individual device should make it far simpler for households to protect themselves against unwanted content,” said Ms Nunes.

“The ‘homework time’ option is ingenious although not likely to be such a hit with the kids,” she added.
False positive

Some security experts have questioned the ability of TalkTalk’s system to protect against malware.

Rik Ferguson, senior security researcher at Trend Micro said that larger sites, frequently hit by threats, could present a problem.

He suggested that the 24-hour “all clear” white list might not work for services such as Facebook.

“The frequency with which we see rogue apps popping up on Facebook is much greater than one every 24 hours,” he said.

Mr Ferguson suggested that a useful addition would be to scan outbound internet traffic, to spot when infected PCs are sending spam or taking part in large-scale web attacks.

TalkTalk’s parental protection system would likely prove to be a small, but surmountable challenge to tech savvy teenagers, added Mr Ferguson.

He pointed out that many would resort to their mobiles in order to reach banned sites.

“There are a lot of ways around it,” he said. “That’s the big challenge for parents and security firms.”

TalkTalk’s spokesman insisted that its filters were not intended intended as a cure-all.

“This is the most robust system that’s available but what it’s not is a substitute for good parenting,” he said.

BBC News site.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women treated for breast cancer with radiation therapy are more likely to die from heart disease 20 years or more down the line than women who don’t get radiation, according to a new study.

Previous studies have suggested that radiation close to the heart can increase a woman’s risk of getting heart or blood vessel-related disease in the future – but little is known about how that risk plays out over multiple decades. The results are from women who received radiation in the 1980′s and earlier, when doses of radiation were significantly higher than those used today.

Radiation “is a very important part of therapy for many women,” Dr. Ronald Witteles, who studies heart disease at Stanford University and wrote an editorial accompanying the current study, told Reuters Health.

However, “we need to honestly look at the risks and take them into account when making treatment decisions,” he said.

The researchers, led by Dr. Kim Bouillon of the Gustave Roussy Institute in France, tracked 4,456 women who had been treated for breast cancer at the Institute between 1954 and 1984. About two-thirds of the women received radiation therapy during their treatment.

Using a national database of all deaths starting in 1972, the authors were able to determine which women had died – and of what – and which were still alive as of 2003. Because they were interested only in the long-term effects of radiation, the authors did not include in the study any women who died within 5 years of being treated.

In the 30 years following breast cancer treatment, women who had received radiation treatment were no more likely to die from heart disease or stroke than women who didn’t get radiation. By the end of the study period, between 5 and 6 percent of women in both groups had died of heart disease, and between 8 and 11 percent had died of any kind of heart disease or stroke.

However, when the researchers took into account the age at which women died, women who had been treated with radiation died from heart disease at between one and a half and two times the rate of women who hadn’t been treated with radiation. Age of death is important because the effects of radiation on the heart are thought to take 10 to 20 years to show up, in some cases.

In that same analysis, women who had been treated with radiation on their left breast – where it’s harder to avoid radiation to the heart – were more likely to die of heart disease than women who had radiation therapy on the right breast, 20 years after their treatment procedures.

Because of the nature of the study, the authors were not able to prove that radiation caused heart disease.

It’s possible that the cardiovascular effects of radiation will not be a problem for women being treated with radiation therapy in the present, as current radiation levels used in treatment are much lower than they were 30 years ago. But researchers won’t know the long-term consequences of radiation as it is used today for another couple of decades – making it difficult for doctors and patients alike to make informed treatment choices.

“One has to believe that the less radiation that is delivered to the heart, the less cardiovascular effect you’ll see,” Witteles said. But, he added, “Radiation injury to the heart simply doesn’t manifest itself as a problem until at least 10 years later.”

And radiation therapy may have very different impacts on different women, Witteles said. “There’s still great variation both in terms of what part of the heart is getting radiation and how radiation is being given individual to individual, because it depends a lot on their anatomy,” he said.

Based on that anatomy – such as the location of the tumor in relation to the heart – doctors who perform radiation usually have a pretty good idea of how much radiation the heart will be exposed to, Witteles said. That factor should be a part of treatment discussions between women and their doctors, he said.

If the risk of radiation to the heart is high, some women may choose to get a mastectomy, which doesn’t require radiation treatment.

“There is a common misconception that because of advancements in radiation techniques this is almost a non-issue,” Witteles said. However, even now, the possible risk to the heart “needs to be taken into account when deciding between different treatment options,” he said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/fhkE1c Journal of the American College of Cardiology, January 25, 2011.

I thought after seeing and reading this that others may find this useful reading,

14 January 2011

We’ll be sending out our normal newsletter next week.  But in the meantime, we want to let you know about protests happening right now, or in the near future, against cuts which affect claimants.

The Broken of Britain are holding a blogswarm, beginning today and lasting over the weekend, entitled One Month Before Heartbreak.  It’s intended to highlight the fact that the unusually short consultation about the abolition of disability living allowance, and its replacement with personal independence payments, ends in just one month’s time.

More details about the blogswarm, which involves mass postings about the issue on blogs, at One Month Before Heartbreak and from Bendygirl writing in the Guardian.

You can take part in the DWP consultation about abolishing DLA and/or contribute to the Broken of Britain submission.

There’s also a petition you can sign.

A National Day of Protest Against Benefit Cuts is taking place on 24 January, with events already arranged in London, Livingston, Leeds, Lydney, Burnley and Hastings.  Organisers are hoping that many more people will arrange events in their own local area.

Justice for All is a coalition of, so far, over 1,300 advice agencies, community groups, lawyers, members of the public and others.  They are campaigning against the slashing of the  legal aid budget, which could see hundreds of advice services close and a massive reduction in the availability of free advice about issues such as welfare benefits, debt and housing problems.

Justice for All launched with a lobby of the House of Commons on 12 January and have managed to get an Early Day Motion against the legal aid cuts tabled which you may want to ask your MP to sign.

Justice for All are hoping that many more people will sign up to join the fight against legal aid cuts.

These may be small beginnings, but we hope that you’ll find something here that you can support.  We’ll do our best to keep you updated on any further actions in the coming months.

source:  Benefits and Work

Care comes in many forms. For instance, we may need care in the home or in a supported setting or in a registered home or Hospice.

How does one access these different forms of care? and how would we know which one would be needed for ourselves or our loved one?

What do you need to look for? Who controls the care package? How would we complain if things did not seem right?

One thing is a constant. All care is monitored and paid for by the local council. How well it is monitored is sometimes debatable. But one thing is for sure you need to be able to know what to look for and how you can complain if your care is to you substandard.

To arrange care for yourself or for a loved one you need to be able to access the professional bodies to help arrange the care. This means you need to see your doctor who should be able to decide with you what care the person needs. He would then be able to arrange for a Social worker to come and assess your needs thoroughly.

If you require care in your home, it will be extensively discussed with you where you need help, maybe it is with getting around or with meals and washing or personal care such as showering,dressing,washing and so on. The social worker should then assess whether you need benefits and a care grant from the local council. You are then free to choose whether you employ your own support or go to an agency for this.

There are plenty of good private agencies and also charitable agencies which ones you use depends which ones are active in your area, you need to investigate as every area may be different. I will list some of these at the end of this article. Some are specific to certain illnesses or injury.

Every Company who provides care has to be registered with the Local Council in the area in which they provide care.

If you or someone you love requires more than home care, then you may need to investigate registered permanent care homes. These fall into two main categories.

Supported Living

Where the person will be supported to live as normal a life as possible with help and support and encouragement to improve and decide what they would like to do with their life including work of some sort, help with tasks around the home such as cooking, cleaning, and social gatherings or accessing the theatre, pubs, or cinema and so on.

Registered Care Home

This is when a higher level of care or nursing is required. The difference is important because this is where a person will need an advocate or family member to make sure that the standard of care is carried out with excellent nursing or support to give the person in their care a good quality of life. There is NO EXCUSE for substandard Care!

All Registered care is monitored and Registered by the NATIONAL CARE STANDARDS COMMISSION. A department within this called CSCI ( COMMISSION FOR SOCIAL CARE INSPECTION ) whose aim is to make social care better for people. These are the people you complain to if you have a complaint regarding your loved ones care. there are full details on their website.

Each Registered home must have a statement of purpose to CSCI standards. If you need to know more about the standards required or need help please feel free to email me.

I did not realise as a child that I was ill with this disease, but I do remember very clearly sitting on the toilet for an awful long time and Mother shouting to ask if I was writing my last will and testimony!

My teeth as a child were just black stumps especially my front ones. I know my Mum said she would be glad when my Baby teeth had gone and I was encouraged to tie cotton round and slam the door to get them out. I naturally declined and waited until the horrid things fell out. It didn’t help matters that my elder Sister had a beautiful set of pearly whites.

I remember sometimes being doubled over with pain in my stomach but never questioned it as I thought every bodies tummy hurt. As a young child recognising that pain is not the Norm, is difficult if you have never know otherwise about the age of six onwards until about ten years of age, I had large spots or pustials keep coming up on my arms and legs which I dreaded as Mum would get a bowl of boiled hot water and squeeze them!I was constantly taken to the Doctor who always said I was anaemic, and I was duly dosed with an Iron tonic which always made me heave and the thought of it to this day still makes me heave!

In my teenage years I constantly had ulcers in my mouth sometimes for weeks at a time and I remember being off work for two weeks when they were particularly bad. I have always made an effort to keep and preserve the teeth I have as its very important for your ongoing health.

I hated Red meat and still don’t eat much of it, and Lamb which although I like the taste, I can still only eat a little. Pork is still not good for me but I do love Bacon but it has to be cooked really crisp. I did and still do however,like Liver as long as it is cooked in a casserole especially with Tomatoes. I love all sorts of Vegetables and Chicken, Turkey, pheasant etc. and adore cheese but find I can’t stomach it at night,apart from goats cheese. I love nuts and always eat muesli with a Banana in the mornings I eat Butter (demi sel) but not emulsified fat but use Sunflower margarine or oil for cooking and lots of olive oil. I don’t take Sugar and never drink Coffee accept maybe twice a year after a big meal, as I find that it is quickly rejected by my body, but I do like Cake! I make a fruit loaf without fat, full of dried fruit soaked in tea which is also very good at keeping me healthy. I also find that the bread and flour we buy here in France suits my body better as it is made from Soft Wheat and more easily digested.

I don’t much like Fresh orange’s as these can sometimes give me migraine which started at about 12 years of age, but funnily, Marmalade is OK. I also have a B12 injection every eight weeks.

My Grandmother used to say that I was always tickle stomached! But that Granddad was too, who I never met as he died when my Mother was a little girl. We believe that Granddad probably had Crohns.

When I was in my 23^rd year, I had a cyst on my ovary which combined with diarrhoea led to me being in Hospital for six weeks, then convalescent for another six weeks. I still continued to loose weight and had every test in 1970 that you can imagine including barium meals ans enema X-rays. It was then decided that I had an allergy to Milk and never drank Milk after that, until 1992. I drank Soya milk instead. I managed in my 30^th year to have my daughter and then went on to have twins with which I was given calcium tablets as it was realised that I was very low in Calcium. I had dreadful fissures after they were born, but nothing was ever investigated. I went on to have two more children but was poorly after my youngest was born in 1988. in 1990/91I started to not be able to keep food down and had a lot of pain in my Stomach and bowels,and it was supposed, that there was a problem with lesions from the site of the cystectomy I had had years before. I was then told no you have Crohns disease and then not given any explanation! But two weeks later I was back in Hospital for an Operation to be fitted with a Stoma bag, but I had a really good surgeon who managed to cut out the blockage which was at the junction of the large and small bowel and then pull the intestine round and rejoin. I was told to go away and eat whatever I liked (including Milk) and just leave alone anything which upset me. I remained well for a number of years with no Consultancy visits at all.

I have kept well until 2008, when I landed back in Hospital here in France. I had ulcerated around the site of the section done in 1991. I now have to have a Colon; Coloscopy every year to check that everything is good. The French system always works on Prevention Rather than emergency intervention. I remain fairly well, although I now have associated illness’s which include Arthritis and osteoporosis in my back, knees, and wrists so I have started vitamin D treatment with regular blood tests to help stop the advancement of this painful condition. I have had painful inflammation of my knees and surrounding muscles for a number of years again associated with Crohns.

The French Doctors are adamant that this illness is a hereditary wild card, and as my eldest Daughter,(Who I had very young) has this disease and also my niece, I tend to agree with them.

I hope this personal account is helpful to you and if you still need help Please search for a national body associated with Crohns in your area for support.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F & grease 13×9 inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the mix & add the oil, eggs,carrots & pineapple.

Blend until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan & bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Cool the cake and frost if desired or dust with powdered sugar.

In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Mix well with a pastry blender, cut in shortening until the mixture is as fine as cornmeal.

Put in a large airtight container.

Label as Basic Cake Mix and store in a cool dry place.

Use with 10 to 12 weeks.

Makes about 16 cups of mix.

Use this basic Cake mix to add what ever you fancy for example to each cup of basic mix  add one egg You can then add cocoa or drinking chocolate to make

Chocolate cake or mixed fruit or just Raisins/currents or sultana’s.

Try Cherry and coconut.  or

Use basic mix with eggs and a drop of milk to make a topping for Apples/pineapple or any other fruit you may have to make a sponge pudding.

Experiment and enjoy!

Some things are just common sense, but you would be surprised at the lack of kitchen design when you are trying to reach up or down to cupboards.

Start by thinking about the essential items that you use every day and put them in an order that you know you can reach and access the working surface easily. make sure the cooker is at a height that you can work with while handling hot dishes.

If you have a problem with standing, make sure that you get yourself a leaning stool. This is a stool that you can adjust to the height you need to half sit to manage saucepans on the hob, or to prepare vegetables etcetera.

The opposite is needed if you are in a wheelchair you need your cooker at a level you are comfortable with. (higher up and with a door that opens sideways is easier to transfer food in and out of the oven).

Make a list of all the store cupboard items that you use regularly, and keep them within easy reach everybody uses items like Sugar Flour Bread Pasta Rice Spices Cooking oil vinegar cereal stock cubes and gravy granules. I expect you can think of more that you regularly use.

If you have a blind person in the house, try to acquire cupboards that have doors that lift or roll up out of the way, ( I have lost count of the times my partner has walked into an open cupboard door!)

One pot meals are brilliant for cooking for one or two as you can throw everything in and serve up with salad or bread and there is not too much washing up! a bit of research at the supermarket and on line for easy meals that are healthy and nutritious pay dividends for the future. Would you like to see recipes here or websites to try? one I have used is sofeminine Men don’t be put off by the name, it’s a really good site for easy meals.