Successful maiden flight for flying car

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Written by northsouth

Category: Motoring

Published: 04 November 2020

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BRATISLAVA - A car that transforms into a flying vehicle has taken its maiden flight.

Aircar (V5) converts from road vehicle to air vehicle in less than three minutes.

The dual mode transformation vehicle goes from driving to flying mode with a click of a button.

Aircar transits from ground to sky with a takeoff of 300m, reaching speeds up to 125mph.

At Piestany Airport in Slovakia, the fifth generation flying car, designed by professor Stefan Klein, who was also the test pilot, completed two 1,500ft flights.

Man shares weight loss tricks that saw him drop 6st

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Written by Super User

Category: Life & Style

Published: 27 November 2024

Hits: 491

LONDON - A dad has shared the weight loss tricks he has used to drop over 6st after concern about his health prompted him to overhaul his lifestyle.

At his heaviest Bill Chana, 56, a business development manager from Sutton Coldfield, weighed 19st 7lbs and wore XXXL clothing. He put his size down to a combination of unhealthy eating habits. including daily takeaways and regularly eating out, and drinking alcohol.

"I was relying on fast food or a restaurant for my food," he explains. "On average I was spending £6,000 a year on takeaways including dining out and drinking beers, spirits and wines. In my mind, I wanted to lose weight, but I never thought I could do it."

For Bill, the turning point came after he found himself struggling to complete daily chores such as food shopping without getting out of breathe. Then, in July 2022, he was diagnosed with type two diabetes, high cholesterol, with his GP warning it was time to make a drastic change.

Having joined Slimming World a few months previously, Bill's wife, Sita, 56, encouraged her husband to go along with her and Bill says it helped him kickstart a complete overhaul of his lifestyle. "The first few months was quite astonishing. At my first weigh in, I lost 8lbs and was shocked to see that it was actually working. Before I knew it I'd lost a stone. And at this point the adrenaline kicked in and I knew I wanted to do this 100%."

Bill swapped junk food for fresh home-cooked food and so-called 'fakeaways', such as chicken curry. "It used to be 10% cooking in the house 90% eating food from out of the house and now it’s 100% in the house," he explains. "I have also completely quit takeaways, with everything I eat all freshly made from home. There is that odd occasion when it is someone's birthday and we will go for a meal. But I'll research the venue and make a phone call to them to pick what I'm going to eat and swap out unhealthy items."

As well as switching up his diet, Bill joined the gym and now goes twice weekly. "I mainly do cardio, I will do 25 to 30 minutes on a treadmill and then 25 minutes on the bike - finishing off with 15 minutes on the rowing machine," he says. "I also regularly do some light weights to keep my muscles toned."

Eight months on, Bill has seen his weight drop to 12st 13lbs and he now wears a size L in clothing. Bill describes the transformation as feeling "amazing" and says his friends and family say he looks unrecognisable. "It happens quite frequently," he explains. "My annual boiler engineer thought he had the wrong house. I recognise them but they either have to do a double look or just walk past me."

However, the biggest impact of Bill's weight loss has been on his health. "All the symptoms I was experiencing have gone," he says. "I am naturally in remission. I have no more fatty liver, my blood pressure is stable and cholesterol is normal. Everything has stabilised and I am now medication free. The doctors are amazed to see the amount of weight I have lost."

Bill's diet before

Breakfast: Full English fry up or MacDonald's Breakfast

Lunch: Shop bought sandwich, crisps, coke and chocolate

Dinner: Takeaway eg. chippy, Indian, Chinese or eat out

Snacks: Biscuits, chocolate bar, peanuts and crisps

Bill's diet after

Breakfast: Zero oil scrammed eggs on fibre bread

Lunch: Fruit or tuna salad

Dinner: Brown pasta/chicken curry/ prawns

Snacks: Plenty of water

OECD: Health at a Glance 2023

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Written by northsouth

Category: Life & Style

Published: 30 November 2023

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PARIS - Health systems in the OECD are under renewed financial pressure, owing to competing priorities for public funding.

This report estimates that healthcare spending in OECD countries corresponded to 9.2% of GDP in 2022, down from 9.7% in 2021.

While this exceeds the 2019 levels, in 11 OECD countries, health spending as a share of GDP in 2022 was lower than in 2019.

Digitalisation of health systems can significantly improve performance and outcomes

Health systems in the OECD are under renewed financial pressure, owing to competing priorities for public funding, according to a new OECD report. The 2023 edition of OECD Health at a Glance estimates that healthcare spending in OECD countries corresponded to 9.2% of GDP in 2022, down from 9.7% in 2021. While this exceeds the 2019 levels, in 11 OECD countries, health spending as a share of GDP in 2022 was lower than in 2019.

Average per capita health spending in OECD countries reached nearly USD 5,000 in 2022. The United States was the top healthcare spender among the OECD countries with USD 12,555 per capita spending, followed by Switzerland with USD 8,049 and Germany with USD 8,011 (when adjusting for differences in purchasing power). Per capita health spending is estimated to have been lowest in Mexico, Colombia and Costa Rica, with USD 1,181, USD 1,640 and USD 1,658 spending respectively.

“Amid the increasing demand for services as a result of the combined effect of population ageing and unhealthy lifestyles, health systems need to facilitate better and timelier access to affordable health care, while addressing the lingering after-effects of COVID-19 on mental and physical health,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said. “Accelerating the digital transformation of our health care systems and the adoption of digital health technologies can further transform health systems, improving their effectiveness. Timely and affordable access to high quality health care is an economic as well as a social imperative, as it enables people to participate fully in our societies, boosting labour force participation and worker productivity.”

This edition of Health at a Glance 2023 includes a special focus on digital health and its potential to transform health systems. The COVID-19 pandemic response accelerated the digital transformation in OECD countries. However, much still needs to be done. In line with the OECD Recommendation on Data Governance, Health at a Glance 2023 provides a policy checklist for stronger digital health systems.

Core population health indicators show that societies have not yet fully recovered from the pandemic, as many people still struggle mentally and physically. Life expectancy fell by 0.7 years on average across OECD countries between 2019 and 2021. While provisional data for 2022 point to a recovery in some countries, life expectancy remains below pre-pandemic levels in 28 countries.

The health and social care workforce continues to grow, but concerns about shortages are becoming more acute. Population ageing is increasing the demand for healthcare and long-term care workers. At the same time, worsening working conditions have weakened the attractiveness of healthcare professions. Across the OECD countries, 57% of hospital physicians and nurses perceive staffing levels and work pace to be unsafe. High inflation has eroded wages recently, including in the health sector. Looking at longer-term trends, while real wages in the health sector have increased in most OECD countries, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom have experienced stagnant or declining real wages over the past decade.

Heart attack, strokes and other circulatory diseases caused more than one in four deaths in 2021, while COVID-19 caused 7% of all deaths. Almost one-third of all deaths could have been avoided through more effective and timely prevention and healthcare interventions.

Barriers to healthcare access persist, despite universal health coverage in most OECD countries, as gaps in financial protection make healthcare difficult to afford for low-income households. Out-of-pocket payments make up just under a fifth of health spending across the OECD. Individuals in the lowest income quintile are on average three times more likely to delay or not seek care than individuals in the highest income quintile.

Waiting times for non-emergency surgery, a longstanding issue in many countries, were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Waiting times for hip and knee replacements, two common elective surgeries, have decreased since the height of the pandemic, but remain higher than pre-pandemic levels in most countries.

Quality of care has improved in terms of safety and effectiveness, with greater attention to making healthcare more people-centred. Safe prescribing in primary care has advanced in most countries, with reductions in the average volume of antibiotics, opioids and long-term prescriptions of anticoagulants.