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Top 10 most corrupt countries in the world
Ranking the world's most corrupt nations for 2018.
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- Corruption plagues governments around the world.
- Some of the same countries are the most and least corrupt every year.
- Nigeria and Somalia top two of the most respected corruption rankings.
Corruption within a country's government undermines the solidity of its institutions and tends to lead to popular unrest. People just don't like their officials stealing from them and engaging in cronyism or nepotism. But the phenomenon is as old as human history and isn't likely to go away soon. Countries large and small have been ensnared in corruption scandals. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former President of Brazil has been jailed since April 7th for money laundering and “passive corruption." Argentina's former president Christina Kirchner was in court on September 3rd for a corruption case investigation involving bribes in the millions. The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, has been on the run since 2017 after being sentenced in a corruption scandal.
In the United States, cases of corruption have plagued the Republican Party of late, with Rep. Duncan Hunter of California being indicted for illegally using campaign funds for personal enrichment. Meanwhile, Representative Chris Collins was recently arrested for allegedly perpetrating an insider trading scheme. White House administration officials Tom Price, the former Health and Human Services secretary, and Scott Pruitt, the former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, both had to resign amidst claims of abusing their government positions and ethics scandals. President Trump himself has had to continually answer accusations about his business dealings and was accused recently by his former lawyer Michael Cohen of illegally using campaign funds to pay hush money to mistresses.
While corruption may be hard to root out until more transparent systems of political representation come to pass, shining a light on the scandals helps keep the politicians honest.
There are two respected sets of rankings that attempt to gauge how corrupt countries are. Let's look at both of them to arrive at a fuller picture.
Below are the top 10 most corrupt countries in the world, according to the U.S. News and World Report for 2018. The data was compiled from the 2018 Best Countries rankings, an analysis of 80 countries based on a survey of over 21,000 citizens around the world. The survey gauged how participants perceived the corruption in other countries.
1. Nigeria
2. Colombia
3. Pakistan
4. Iran
5. Mexico
6. Ghana
7. Angola
8. Russia
9. Kenya
10. Guatemala
The United States is 61st on this list, while Australia and Canada are 79th and 80th, making them the least corrupt. One certainly wonders where the U.S. will rank next year, given the swirling corruption allegations of 2018.
Another key ranking, the Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2017, compiled by Transparency International, a well-known NGO that fights global corruption, has the United States in 16th place. This list of 180 countries and territories starts with the least corrupt first, which in this case would be the country of New Zealand, followed by Denmark, Finland, and Norway.
According to The Washington Post, the CPI's methodology involves analyzing 10 global surveys of experts and business people as well as assessments from a group of institutions. Still, it looks not at actual levels of corruption but its perceived levels.
Overall, Transparency International says in its report that more than two-thirds of countries worldwide got a pretty poor average score of 43, indicating corruption's dangerous spread.
As far as which country is the most corrupt, that honor on the CPI goes to Somalia for the 10th year in a row. South Sudan and Syria follow just behind.
Here are the top 10 most corrupt countries by the CPI:
1. Somalia
2. South Sudan
3. Syria
4. Afghanistan
5. Yemen
6. Sudan
7. Libya
8. North Korea
9. Guinea-Bissau
10. Equatorial Guinea
Here's the full list going from least to most corrupt:
Popular
Dogs digest human food better and poop less
A new study finds that dogs fed fresh human-grade food don't need to eat—or do their business—as much.
04 February, 2021
Credit: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash
Surprising Science
- Most dogs eat a diet that's primarily kibble.
- When fed a fresh-food diet, however, they don't need to consume as much.
- Dogs on fresh-food diets have healthier gut biomes.
<p>You know the drill. You're having dinner when suddenly a black nose appears under the table between your legs. You tilt back and there are those eyes. Those eyes. If you're a savvy dog owner, you resist sliding down there — eating from the table is a bad habit you don't want to encourage. Plus, this is your food. It's people food. We don't eat <em>animal</em> food. Dogs have their own food, specially formulated for their dietary needs. Right?</p><p>Well, maybe not. A new study from researchers at the University of Illinois (U of I) finds that not only is human-grade food digestible for dogs, but it's actually more digestible than much dog food. The proof is in the pooing.</p><p>The study is an accepted manuscript for the peer-reviewed <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jas/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/jas/skab028/6123189?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank">Oxford Academic Journal of Animal Science</a>.</p>
Four diets were tested
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU5ODI1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjY0NjIxMn0._w0k-qFOC86AqmtPHJBK_i-9F5oVyVYsYtUrdvfUxWQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="1b1e4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="87937436a81c700a8ab3b1d763354843" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="960" />Credit: AntonioDiaz/Adobe Stock
<p>The researchers tested refrigerated and fresh human-grade foods against kibble, the food most dogs live on. The <a href="https://frontierpets.com.au/blogs/news/how-kibble-or-dry-dog-food-is-made" target="_blank">ingredients</a> of kibble are mashed into a dough and then extruded, forced through a die of some kind into the desired shape — think a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_extrusion" target="_blank">pasta maker</a>. The resulting pellets are sprayed with additional flavor and color.</p><p>For four weeks, researchers fed 12 beagles one of four diets:</p><ol><li>a extruded diet — Blue Buffalo Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe</li><li>a fresh refrigerated diet — Freshpet Roasted Meals Tender Chicken Recipe</li><li>a fresh diet — JustFoodforDogs Beef & Russet Potato Recipe</li><li>another fresh diet — JustFoodforDogs Chicken & White Rice Recipe.</li></ol><p>The two fresh diets contained minimally processed beef, chicken, broccoli, rice, carrots, and various food chunks in a canine casserole of sorts. </p><p>(One can't help but think how hard it would be to get finicky cats to test new diets. As if.)</p><p>Senior author <a href="https://ansc.illinois.edu/directory/ksswanso" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kelly S. Swanson</a> of U of I's Department of Animal Sciences and the Division of Nutritional Sciences, was a bit surprised at how much better dogs did on people food than even refrigerated dog chow. "Based on past research we've conducted I'm not surprised with the results when feeding human-grade compared to an extruded dry diet," he <a href="https://aces.illinois.edu/news/feed-fido-fresh-human-grade-dog-food-scoop-less-poop" target="_blank">says</a>, adding, "However, I did not expect to see how well the human-grade fresh food performed, even compared to a fresh commercial processed brand."</p>Tracking the effect of each diet
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTU5ODI1OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3NjY1NTgyOX0.AdyMb8OEcjCD6iWYnXjToDmcnjfTSn-0-dfG96SIpUA/img.jpg?width=980" id="da892" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="880d952420679aeccd1eaf32b5339810" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="960" />Credit: Patryk Kosmider/Adobe Stock
<p>The researchers tracked the dogs' weights and analyzed the microbiota in their fecal matter.</p><p>It turned out that the dogs on kibble had to eat more to maintain their body weight. This resulted in their producing 1.5 to 2.9 times the amount of poop produced by dogs on the fresh diets.</p><p>Says Swanson, "This is consistent with a 2019 National Institute of Health study in humans that found people eating a fresh whole food diet consumed on average 500 less calories per day, and reported being more satisfied, than people eating a more processed diet."</p><p>Maybe even more interesting was the effect of fresh food on the gut biome. Though there remains much we don't yet know about microbiota, it was nonetheless the case that the microbial communities found in fresh-food poo was different.</p><p>"Because a healthy gut means a healthy mutt," says Swanson, "fecal microbial and metabolite profiles are important readouts of diet assessment. As we have shown in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/92/9/3781/4702209#110855647" target="_blank">previous studies</a>, the fecal microbial communities of healthy dogs fed fresh diets were different than those fed kibble. These unique microbial profiles were likely due to differences in diet processing, ingredient source, and the concentration and type of dietary fibers, proteins, and fats that are known to influence what is digested by the dog and what reaches the colon for fermentation."</p>How did kibble take over canine diets?
<p>Historically, dogs ate scraps left over by humans. It has only been <a href="https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/the-history-of-commercial-pet-food-a-great-american-marketing-story/" target="_blank">since 1870</a>, with the arrival of the luxe Spratt's Meat Fibrine Dog Cakes—made from "the dried unsalted gelatinous parts of Prairie Beef", mmm—that commercial dog food began to take hold. Dog bone-shaped biscuits first appeared in 1907. Ken-L Ration dates from 1922. Kibble was first extruded in 1956. Pet food had become a great way to turn <a href="https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/choosing-dog-food/animal-by-products/" target="_blank">human-food waste</a> into profit.</p><p>Commercial dog food became the norm for most household canines only after a massive marketing campaign led by a group of dog-food industry lobbyists called the Pet Food Institute in 1964. Over time, for most households, dog food was what dogs ate — what else? Human food? These days more than half of U.S. dogs are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/magazine/who-made-that-dog-biscuit.html" target="_blank">overweight or obese</a>, and certainly their diet is a factor.<span></span></p><p>We're not so special among animals after all. If something's healthy for us to eat—we're <em>not</em> looking at you, chocolate—maybe we should remember to share with our canine compatriots. Not from the table, though.</p>
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Your genetics influence how resilient you are to the cold
What makes some people more likely to shiver than others?
05 March, 2021
KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images
Surprising Science
Some people just aren't bothered by the cold, no matter how low the temperature dips. And the reason for this may be in a person's genes.
<p> Our <a href="https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(21)00013-6" target="_blank">new research</a> shows that a common genetic variant in the skeletal muscle gene, ACTN3, makes people more resilient to cold temperatures.</p><p>Around one in five people lack a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ng0499_353" target="_blank">muscle protein called alpha-actinin-3</a> due to a single genetic change in the ACTN3 gene. The absence of alpha-actinin-3 became more common as some modern humans migrated out of Africa and into the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0052282" target="_blank">colder climates</a> of Europe and Asia. The reasons for this increase have remained unknown until now.</p><p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929721000136?via%3Dihub" target="_blank">recent study</a>, conducted alongside researchers from Lithuania, Sweden and Australia, suggests that if you're alpha-actinin-3 deficient, then your body can maintain a higher core temperature and you shiver less when exposed to cold, compared with those who have alpha-actinin-3.</p><p>We looked at 42 men aged 18 to 40 years from Kaunas in southern Lithuania and exposed them to cold water (14℃) for a maximum of 120 minutes, or until their core body temperature reached 35.5℃. We broke their exposure up into 20-minute periods in the cold with ten-minute breaks at room temperature. We then separated participants into two groups based on their ACTN3 genotype (whether or not they had the alpha-actinin-3 protein).</p>
<p>While only 30% of participants with the alpha-actinin-3 protein reached the full 120 minutes of cold exposure, 69% of those that were alpha-actinin-3 deficient completed the full cold-water exposure time. We also assessed the amount of shivering during cold exposure periods, which told us that those without alpha-actinin-3 shiver less than those who have alpha-actinin-3.</p><p>Our study suggests that genetic changes caused by the loss of alpha-actinin-3 in our skeletal muscle affect how well we can tolerate cold temperatures, with those that are alpha-actinin-3 deficient better able to maintain their body temperature and conserve their energy by shivering less during cold exposure. However, future research will need to investigate whether similar results would be seen in women.</p>
<h2>ACTN3's role</h2><p>Skeletal muscles are made up of two types of muscle fibres: fast and slow. Alpha-actinin-3 is predominantly found in fast muscle fibres. These fibres are responsible for the rapid and forceful contractions used during sprinting, but typically fatigue quickly and are prone to injury. Slow muscle fibres on the other hand generate less force but are resistant to fatigue. These are primarily the muscle you'd use during endurance events, like marathon running.</p><p>Our previous work has shown that ACTN3 variants play an important role in our muscle's ability to generate strength. We showed that the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002929707620242?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">loss of alpha-actinin-3</a> is detrimental to sprint performance in athletes and the general population, but may benefit muscle endurance.</p><p>This is because the loss of alpha-actinin-3 causes the muscle to behave more like a slower muscle fibre. This means that alpha-actinin-3 deficient muscles are weaker but recover more quickly from fatigue. But while this is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18650267/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">detrimental to sprint performance</a>, it may be beneficial during more endurance events. This improvement in endurance muscle capacity could also influence our response to cold.</p>
<p>While alpha-actinin-3 deficiency does not cause muscle disease, it does influence how our muscle functions. Our study shows that ACTN3 is more than just the "gene for speed", but that its loss improves our muscle's ability to generate heat and reduces the need to shiver when exposed to cold. This improvement in muscle function would conserve energy and ultimately increase survival in cold temperatures, which we think is a key reason why we see an increase in alpha-actinin-3 deficient people today, as this would have helped modern humans better tolerate cooler climates as they migrated out of Africa.</p><p>The goal of our research is to improve our understanding of how our genetics influence how our muscle works. This will allow us to develop better treatments for those who suffer from muscle diseases, like <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14143" target="_blank">Duchenne muscular dystrophy</a>, as well as more common conditions, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. A better understanding of how variants in alpha-actinin-3 influences these conditions will give us better ways to treat and prevent these conditions in the future.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155975/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation"></p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/victoria-wyckelsma-1213255" target="_blank">Victoria Wyckelsma</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Muscle Physiology, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/karolinska-institutet-1250" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Karolinska Institutet</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-john-houweling-195466" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Peter John Houweling</a>, Senior Research Officer, Neuromuscular Research, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/murdoch-childrens-research-institute-1027" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Murdoch Children's Research Institute</a></em></p><p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-genetics-influence-how-resilient-you-are-to-cold-temperatures-new-research-155975" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">original article</a>.</p>
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Harvard study finds perfect blend of fruits and vegetables to lower risk of death
Eating veggies is good for you. Now we can stop debating how much we should eat.
04 March, 2021
Credit: Pixabay
Surprising Science
- A massive new study confirms that five servings of fruit and veggies a day can lower the risk of death.
- The maximum benefit is found at two servings of fruit and three of veggies—anything more offers no extra benefit according to the researchers.
- Not all fruits and veggies are equal. Leafy greens are better for you than starchy corn and potatoes.
<p> While few people would contest that fruit and vegetables are good for you, there can be some confusion over how many servings of them you're supposed to eat in a given day. The USDA advises people to eat anywhere from five to nine a day, with international standards similarly converging around five or six, though some go much <a href="https://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/F_I/Go-for-2-and-5" target="_blank">higher</a>. </p><p>Luckily, a new <a href="https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048996" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">study</a> that reviewed the health and diets of 100,000 people and combined it with meta-studies of the available data puts the debate over how many servings a day you should get to rest. </p>
<iframe width="730" height="430" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lW8C1W1Iefk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><p> The researchers followed 66,719 women from the Nurses' Health Study and 42,016 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study to see how their diet affected their long-term health and mortality rates. Over the three decades of follow-ups, a clear, non-linear relationship developed between how many servings of fruit and vegetables people consumed per day and their risk of death. </p><p>That overall risk reached its lowest point at five servings a day—two of fruit and three of vegetables—with further increases having no additional benefit. What type of vegetable was consumed mattered as well, with starchy veggies like corn and potatoes having fewer benefits than other types. Fruit juices were also less helpful than just eating the fruit. On the other hand, leafy greens, carrots, citrus fruits, and berries all demonstrated health benefits. </p><p>The net benefits of this compared to only getting two servings a day (roughly what the typical American is <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/june/americans-still-can-meet-fruit-and-vegetable-dietary-guidelines-for-210-260-per-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eating</a>) are notable. It averages to about a 13 percent lower risk of death from all causes, a 12 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, a 10 percent lower risk of death from cancer, and a 35 percent lower risk of death from respiratory <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210301084519.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">disease</a>. </p><p>To confirm the findings, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 26 other studies involving two million people. The results were similar, with the greatest reduction in mortality occurring at the five-a-day mark, though one study found that eating 10 servings a day offered some improvement on that.</p><p>For those who are <a href="https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/serve-sizes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unsure</a>, a serving of fruit is one medium-sized fruit (like an <a href="https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/add-color/fruits-and-vegetables-serving-sizes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">apple</a>), half a cup of something canned, or a fourth of a cup of something <a href="https://www.halfyourplate.ca/fruits-and-veggies/what-is-a-serving/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dried</a>. When it comes to vegetables, a cup of leafy greens is a serving, as is half a cup of anything else which is fresh, canned, or frozen. </p><p>The study is not without issues. The dietary data is self-reported and could be inaccurate. Participants could also choose to eat better as their health declines, reducing the observed benefits. Above all, the study was observational, and causation cannot be proven. Despite these limitations, the study provides a great deal of support for the idea that eating more fruit and veggies is good for you.</p><p>Now to just settle the problem of getting them into your <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/downloads/strategies-fruits-and-vegetables.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">meals</a>.</p>
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Surprising Science
Cephalopod aces 'marshmallow test' designed for eager children
The famous cognition test was reworked for cuttlefish. They did better than expected.
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