One Twin Exercises, the Other Doesn’t By Gretchen Reynolds - The New York Times

Identical twins in Finland who shared the same sports and other physical activities as youngsters but different exercise habits as adults soon developed quite different bodies and brains, according to a fascinating new study that highlights the extent to which exercise shapes our health, even in people who have identical genes and nurturing.

Determining the precise, long-term effects of exercise is surprisingly difficult. Most large-scale exercise studies rely on questionnaires or interviews and medical records to establish the role of exercise. But these epidemiological studies, while important and persuasive, cannot prove that exercise causes health changes, only that people who exercise tend to be healthier than those who do not.

To prove that exercise directly causes a change in people’s bodies, scientists must mount randomized controlled trials, during which one group of people works out while a control group does not. But these experiments are complicated and costly and, even in the best circumstances, cannot control for volunteers’ genetics and backgrounds.

And genetics and upbringing matter when it comes to exercise. Genes affect our innate endurance capacity, how well we respond to different types of exercise, and whether we enjoy working out at all. Childhood environment also influences all of this, muddying the results of even well-conducted exercise experiments.

All of this makes identical twins so valuable. By definition, these pairs have the same DNA. If they were raised in the same household, they also had similar upbringing. So they can provide a way to study the effects of changes in lifestyle among people with the same genes and pasts.

Some past studies had found that older identical twins whose workout habits had diverged over the years tended to age differently, with greater risks of poor health and early death among the sedentary twin.

But no studies had looked at young twins and the impacts of different exercise routines on their health. So for the new study, which was published this month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla and other institutions in Finland turned to that country’s extensive FinnTwin16 database, which contained twins’ answers to questionnaires about their health and medical conditions, beginning when the pairs were 16 and repeated every few years afterward.

The researchers were looking for young adult identical twins in their early- to mid-20s whose exercise habits had substantially diverged after they had left their childhood homes. These twins were not easy to find. Most of the pairs had maintained remarkably similar exercise routines, despite living apart.

But eventually the researchers homed in on 10 pairs of male identical twins, one of whom regularly exercised, while the other did not, usually because of work or family pressures, the researchers determined.

The dissimilarities in their exercise routines had mostly begun within the past three years, according to their questionnaires.

The scientists invited these twins into the lab and measured each young man’s endurance capacity, body composition and insulin sensitivity, to determine their fitness and metabolic health. The scientists also scanned each twin’s brain.

Then they compared the twins’ results.

It turned out that these genetically identical twins looked surprisingly different beneath the skin and skull. The sedentary twins had lower endurance capacities, higher body fat percentages, and signs of insulin resistance, signaling the onset of metabolic problems. (Interestingly, the twins tended to have very similar diets, whatever their workout routines, so food choices were unlikely to have contributed to health differences.)

The twins’ brains also were unalike. The active twins had significantly more grey matter than the sedentary twins, especially in areas of the brain involved in motor control and coordination.

Presumably, all of these differences in the young men’s bodies and brains had developed during their few, brief years of divergent workouts, underscoring how rapidly and robustly exercising — or not — can affect health, said Dr. Urho Kujala, a professor of sports and exercise medicine at the University of Jyvaskyla who oversaw the study.

Of course, the study was small and not a formal randomized trial, although it involved identical twins.

But Dr. Kujala said he believes that the results strongly imply that the differences in the twin’s exercise habits caused the differences in their bodies.

More subtly, the findings also point out that genetics and environment “do not have to be” destiny when it comes to exercise habits, Dr. Kujala said. For these particular twins, whether their genes and childhoods nudged them toward exercising regularly or slumping on the couch, one of the pair overcame that legacy and did the opposite (for better and worse).

The rest of us can do likewise, Dr. Kujala said. Even if the input from our DNA and upbringing urges us to skip the gym, we can “move more,” he said, and, based on this study, rapidly and substantially improve the condition of our bodies and brains.

Article was taken from The New York Times

Multi-Generational Workforce Study 2015

We are pleased to announce that zubedy is once again conducting our Multi-Generational Workforce Study.  This is our third survey, the first  two surveys was in 2009 and 2012.

Managing multiple generations and top talent retention are key issues in today’s human resource management.  We aim to understand the nature and impact of the various generations working side-by-side in organisations in greater depth.  

We would like to invite you to answer the questionnaire. It will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. 

The closing date is 30 April 2015.  The questionnaire is provided through Google Documents (Google Docs) to ensure confidentiality of the respondents.

Multi-Generational Workforce Study 2015 Survey Link

Thank you.

Anas Zubedy

‘World class’ and Malaysia’s Higher Education – PenDaPaT - The Malaysian Insider

PenDaPaT is a registered national society made up of concerned citizens on higher education in Malaysia. We take this opportunity to express our humble thoughts and views about the ongoing debate of whether Malaysia’s higher education is ‘world class’.

We are of the opinion that there are elements in Malaysia’s higher education that can be considered as ‘world class’, but at the same time, we also wish to point out rooms for improvement.

However, there is first a need to consider carefully what we mean by ‘world class’. We believe it is important to recognise and acknowledge that university rankings are merely a benchmark. They are by no means a yardstick of quality. A lot of universities around the world are doing well in whatever they are entrusted by their societies, and this may not always translate into positions on the university rankings.

For example, Sharif University of Technology in Iran has successfully produced their own ‘home-made’ satellite – ‘Sharif-Sat’ – that is about to be launched into space, and its undergraduate programme has been acknowledged by the global engineering fraternity as ‘world class’. Yet, this university was not even ranked among the Top100 in any global university rankings.

On that note, we believe that there are elements in Malaysian universities that are ‘world class’. The Minister of Education is right to point out, for example Universiti Sains Malaysia is highly ranked in environmental sciences and chemical engineering, and Universiti Putra Malaysia in agricultural sciences. Even in younger universities like Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, there are academics who have managed to publish their work in top tier journals like Nature, and the university is developing a niche in marine science.

Malaysia’s strength in Islamic Banking and the recognition given to four professors in Malaysian public universities by Thomson Reuters ‘World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014’ are accolades given by international bodies.

While we may ‘condemn’ the performance of Malaysian universities for not attaining high positions in university rankings, it is essential to point out that these accolades and global recognitions given to our departments and academics were also from the international bodies that contributed to the data used in the tabulation of rankings.

Apart from rankings, the ‘world class’ debate also involved international student enrolment. Malaysia is ranked 9th most preferred international education destination, even ahead of our down southneighbour, and the five prominent factors influencing international students’ choices to select Malaysia were outlined by international researchers commissioned by UNESCO to provide an independent and objective assessment about our higher education. Indeed the report and statistics by UNESCO indicated we are a preferred destination globally, and many of our foreign students andacademics have returned to their home countries and served in many distinguished capacities.

However, care should be taken to suggest that we are ‘world class’ through these numbers and statistics, or having full time students from developed countries studying in Malaysia.

Instead we should utilise the significant population of international students by making our programmes and universities even more international. This will benefit not only the international students and our universities, but importantly, providing international exposure to Malaysian students studying in our local universities. It is through international exposure and the widening of our students’ worldview that will make Malaysia’s higher education truly ‘world class’.

The debate of ‘world class’ has, inadvertently, also brought up the concern of graduate employability. We would like to take this opportunity to highlight another slippery slope in linking graduate employability to higher education, and specifically pointing the fingers at our universities.

As rightly pointed out by Mr Hafidz Baharom in an article published in the Malaysian Insider, the blame about unemployable graduates is on the students themselves for not mastering the English language and having sucky attitudes. We cannot expect universities and academics to do wonders in transforming students to become employable within three to four years, but instead we are optimistic that the Education Blueprint and upcoming Higher Education Blueprint should address this issue by taking into account the continuum of education from cradle to career.

More importantly, we believe that graduate unemployment and job mismatch are symptoms of a larger structural problem in Malaysia, as well as many countries globally. The Arab Spring began in Tunisia partly because of graduate unemployment. Even in developed countries in Europe and the United Kingdom, unemployment, underemployment and job mismatch among graduates are real issues of concern to policymakers and economic planners.

Pragmatically, it is important to recognise that graduate unemployment and job mismatch can be considered as the implications of rapid growth in higher education that was not accompanied by a parallel pace of structural changes in the economy and labour market. Hence, we caution the tendency of linking employability directly with the debate about ‘world class’ education.

Renowned experts in higher education – Philip Altbach and Jamil Salmi – in their book "The Road to Academic Excellence" outlined three essential criteria of a ‘world class’ university: concentration of talent, favourable governance and abundant resources.

Instead of using university rankings to argue about ‘world class’ university, these criteria are better positioned to help us reflect critically on Malaysian universities, specifically their strengths and rooms for improvement. For instance, we do have globally recognised professors who have contributed to their respective disciplines, as well as talents among our students to compete internationally; but it is important that we do not lose sight of the needs to have a ‘concentration’ of talents that will elevate the quality of our universities.

Attracting, nurturing and retaining talents must continue and intensify. Likewise, although eight public universities have been granted autonomy by the Ministry of Education, much more work is needed to develop supportive regulatory frameworks that promote autonomy and academic freedom.

Furthermore, while some of our departments and professors have carried out research work that is recognised internationally; it is important to acknowledge that funding for research has come predominantly from the State. Continuous funding from the State and other sources is crucial for our universities to move forward. 

We believe that for Malaysia’s higher education and our universities to become ‘world class’, we should put aside political differences and rhetoric. Importantly, we should all come together to contribute constructively in transforming our universities to become a pride of every Malaysian.

* This was written by Dato’ Morshidi Sirat and Wan Chang Da on behalf of Pertubuhan Pembangunan Penyelidikan dan Dasar Pendidikan Tinggi Malaysia (PenDaPaT).

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

This article was taken from The Malaysian Insider

Apakah Pemakaian Terbaik Dari Sudut Al-Quran?

Umat Islam di Malaysia hari ini sangat peka dan sensitif tentang pemakaian seseorang.

Ramai Ulamak kita memastikan kita memberi perhatian kepada bagaimana kita menutup ‘aurat'. Baru-baru ini pula, Mufti Perlis, Dr Asri, memberi kenyataan mengenai 'tatatertib bagaimana kita harus berpakaian' apabila kita melawat aktiviti keagamaan golongan bukan Islam .

Meskipun fokus dan perhatian kepada faktor ‘luaran’ seperti cara pemakaian mempunyai kepentingannya, kitab Al- Quran sebenarnya memberi lebih penekanan kepada faktor 'dalaman' – keperibadian, amal, dan perbuatan seseorang.

Perkara ini boleh dirujuk sendiri di dalam Quran,

“Wahai anak-anak Adam! Sesungguhnya Kami telah menurunkan kepada kamu pakaian menutup aurat kamu, dan pakaian perhiasan; dan pakaian takwa itulah yang sebaik-baiknya. Yang demikian itu adalah dari tanda-tanda (kurnia) Allah supaya mereka beringat.” (Quran 7:26)

Quran suruh kita lebih memberi perhatian kepada pakaian bersifat Taqwa.

Walaupun terdapat banyak ayat-ayat di dalam Quran yang menerangkan tentang konsep ketaqwaan, ayat 2:177 di bawah menyimpulkan apa yang diharapkan daripada seseorang yang benar-benar bertaqwa dengan secara jitu.

Secara peribadi, saya melihat ayat ini sebagai 10 perintah Quran ke arah ketaqwaan dan saya sering melafazkannya dalam solat harian saya.

“Bukanlah suatu kebajikan itu kamu menghadapkan muka ke Timur dan Barat, tetapi kebajikan itu ialah

1. berimannya seseorang kepada Allah,
2. dan hari akhirat,
3. segala malaikat,
4. segala Kitab,
5. dan sekalian Nabi;
6. mendermakan harta yang dicintainya kepada
    a. kerabatnya,
    b. anak-anak yatim,
    c. orang miskin,
    d. orang yang musafir,
    e. orang yang meminta-minta,
    f. orang yang memerdekakan hamba abdi;
7. orang mendirikan sembahyang,
8. serta mengeluarkan zakat,
9. dan perbuatan orang yang menyempurnakan janjinya apabila mereka berjanji,
10. orang yang sabar dalam masa kesempitan, dan kesakitan, dan dalam peperangan. 

Mereka itulah orang yang benar; dan mereka itulah juga orang yang bertakwa.” (Quran 2:177)

Saya benar-benar berharap pemimpin-pemimpin agama kita akan mengambil hidayah Al-Quran dan lebih memberi perhatian dan mementingkan kepada factor-faktor ‘dalaman' pemakaian umat dari yang luar, walaupun yang luar itu pun penting.

Salam.

Anas Zubedy
Kuala Lumpur .

Have A Meaningful Chinese New Year - Monday in The Star

“Though we profess different faiths and belong to different cultures, we have always worked together in close harmony.” – Penang’s First Chief Minister, Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee (1913 – 2002)

Let us be Moderate: How to take ownership as an agent of moderation

In our last Christmas advertisement, we introduced the Ten Principles for a Moderate Malaysian. In this advert, we are elaborating on the first principle. Please follow our ensuing adverts for the remaining nine.

Principle Number One.

I will take ownership. I will take responsibility. I do not wait for others to act in moderation. I will take the first step. I AM THE AGENT OF MODERATION.

1.           I will be moderate in my daily living.

I will follow a moderate lifestyle. I will avoid any form of excessiveness in my daily life. I will be moderate in my spending, my eating habits, and how I dress. While always striving to be better, I will never let greed surpass me. I will not be too quick to judge and condemn others. I will take ownership in my political stance. I will not follow someone blindly nor will I condemn someone outrightly. I will not be influenced by the partisan madness. I will be the embodiment of moderation – I am the agent of moderation.

2.            I will be moderate in my communications  and interactions.

I will be moderate in expressing my thoughts and opinions. I will be careful in making statements. I will avoid from making any remarks that are offensive, racist, narrow minded and bigoted. I shall shy away from making any form of accusations or absolute statements. I will not misuse online anonymity to hurt others. Before speaking, I shall always ask myself whether what I am about to say is true, kind, and beneficial. Last but not least, when I find myself in a position of dissent, I will learn to agree to disagree.

3.             I will be moderate in my emotional reactions.

I take ownership and responsibility towards my own emotions. I know no one can make me feel bad without my consent. Even when I am angry, I will practice moderation. I will channel my anger to the right person, at the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way. 

You and I, we must take ownership and be Moderate Malaysians.

At zubedy, our programs draw strength from shared values and traditions. We believe that at heart, all Malaysians want good things for themselves and for their brother and sister Malaysians, simply because our nation cannot prosper as a whole if some of us are left behind.

Let us be, first and foremost, Malaysians.

Let us add value,

Have A Meaningful Chinese New Year. 

The best way to ‘Dress’ – a Quranic point of view

Muslims in Malaysia today more than ever are very conscious and sensitive about how we dress.

On one side our religious leaders are making sure we pay attention to how we cover our ‘aurat’ and more recently, Dr Asri, Mufti of Perlis took importance on ‘how we should dress’ when we visit religious activities of non-Muslims.

While the focus and attention to the ‘externals’ may have its merit and significance, the Quran emphasize on the ‘internals’ - who we are as a total person, our character, our contribution, our deed.

Let us let the Quran speak for itself,

“O CHILDREN of Adam! Indeed, We have bestowed upon you from on high [the knowledge of making] garments to cover your nakedness, and as a thing of beauty: but the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all. Herein lies a message from God, so that man might take it to heart.”   Quran 7:26 

While there are numerous verses all over the Quran talking about true piety and God-consciousness (TAQWA), the verse 2:177 somewhat summarizes what is expected of a God-conscious person neatly.

Personally, I see this verse as the Quran’s 10 Commandments towards TAQWA and I remember/recite it during my prayer, daily.

“True piety does not consist in turning your faces towards the east or the west - but truly pious is he:

1.    who believes in God,

2.    and the Last Day;

3.    and the angels,

4.    and revelation,

5.    and the prophets;

6.    and spends his substance - however much he himself may cherish - it - upon his

a.    near of kin,

b.    and the orphans,

c.    and the needy,

d.    and the wayfarer,

e.    and the beggars,

f.     and for the freeing of human beings from bondage;

7.    and is constant in prayer,

8.    and renders the purifying dues;

9.    and [truly pious are] they who keep their promises whenever they promise,

10. and are patient in misfortune and hardship and in time of peril:

it is they that have proved themselves true, and it is they, they who are conscious of God”

Quran 2:177

I wish our religious leaders will pay more attention to ‘what is inside’ a person, too. Peace.

Anas Zubedy

Kuala Lumpur.

How to plan your future on RM2,000 basic salary - The Rakyat Post

LAST week, a friend who read my earlier piece on the importance of inculcating the savings habit called me over to his house.

His son had started working six months ago and he thought I could give the young chap some advice.

“He doesn’t listen to us when it comes to managing money,” my friend said with a laugh. “Maybe you can give him some tips.”

I said if the boy, the youngest of his three children, didn’t listen to him or his wife, my chances of convincing the young man would be even slimmer. But realising that he was serious, I went over that evening.

The young lad started working as a sales executive six months ago and was earning what the lad described as a meagre basic pay of RM1,980.

His gross income, which included commissions, amounted to slightly over RM3,000.

Despite the pay, which I considered to be quite good, he said that on some months, he found himself broke as early as a week before payday.

Curious, I asked him if he planned his spending. When he said he did not, I asked if he could give me a rough breakdown of his expenditure and he came up with an estimate of this:

food – 25% of take-home pay;
petrol and car instalment and related expenses – 40%;
entertainment –15%;
contribution to family – 15%, and,
remainder 5% for other incidentals.

- How to save -

I told him he was lucky as he did not have to pay for board and lodging since he was staying with his parents. On top of that, he also ate his dinner at home and during weekends.

His annual income had also put him out of the taxable bracket. While I agreed with him that it was not easy to save even with his income, especially if one is living in Kuala Lumpur city, I said I had known of some of those his age who were earning a third less than he did and got by quite comfortably.

I said that if he could trim 5% off his entertainment expenses and add it to his 5% of what he had allocated for incidentals, he could actually save 10% of his take home pay each month.

I noted that he had also yet to purchase a life or health insurance, so I advised him to look into it if he could fit it into his budget.

He asked me what good it would do to save 10% of his meagre pay when in years to come purchasing power of the savings would have dropped as cost of living escalated.

I said if he didn’t start saving, he would have nothing by that time, despite rising costs of living.

But with a healthy cash reserve, I said he could do plenty. What was more important was to inculcate a savings habit.

If he had cash reserves, he could also put it in a fixed deposit account to earn interest or have it invested in a higher-return investment like trust funds.

If he wanted to buy a property one day, I said he could also put a higher downpayment and borrow less from the bank.

Indeed, saving 10% of one’s income was not much. But I told him that sum accumulated over three years would total an amount equivalent to three times his current pay, and should he for any reason lose his job, he would be able to sustain himself until he got a job again.

To help him understand better, I did a chart of his projected savings in 10 years, based on a regular monthly deposit of 10% of his pay. (You can see how much RM300 diligently deposited monthly over 10 years with a 3.5% compound interest will add up to in the chart given.)

I told my friend’s son that he was only 23 years old. By the time he was 33, he would have a healthy growing cash reserve of RM43,709 which he could use for other more profitable expenses like starting s family, putting a deposit on a house or even for education to improve his paper qualifications if he chose to.

And if he did not touch the savings, in another 15 years when he was 48, he would have a total of RM140,928, as shown in my calculation using with an online tool at http://www.investor.gov/tools/calculators/compound-interest-calculator#.VMG1uf7Lez5

As you can see, the final amount was derived at with the assumption that there was no increase in the value of deposits or a rise in interest rate (from 3.5%).

In a real-life scenario, chances are that his pay will rise with time and the regular 10% deposit will also be increased accordingly.

If he strictly kept to the discipline of savings, his cash reserves would be a very healthy one by the time he reached retirement age because his own savings, plus the mandatory contribution to the Employees Provident Fund, would have grown by leaps and bounds.

I suggested to the chap that he make a simple financial forecast chart like the one I did and review it each time he got a pay rise.

I told him to also make copies of his chart and place them at places where he would see them throughout the day.

The charts with his financial goal would ensure that he stayed on track as he strove towards financial freedom.

Article was taken from TheRakyatpost.om