Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/7PyGkzyo-i4/
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THURSDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- In some cases, memory loss among the elderly may be due to so-called "silent strokes," new research suggests.
Such strokes, which may not cause any noticeable symptoms, result in small pockets of dead brain cells, and are found in roughly 25 percent of older adults, the study team noted.
"The new aspect of this study of memory loss in the elderly is that it examines silent strokes and [brain] shrinkage simultaneously," study author Adam Brickman, of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, explained in a news release from the American Academy of Neurology.
The research, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is slated for publication in the Jan. 3 issue of the journal Neurology.
The study authors arrived at their conclusions after working with 658 men and women aged 65 and older, none of whom had a history of dementia.
All the participants underwent MRI brain scans, as well as testing to gauge their capacities in terms of memory, language skills, thinking speed and visual perception.
The brain scans revealed that 174 of the participants had experienced silent strokes, and the investigators found that these seniors did not perform as well on the memory exams. This finding held regardless of whether the part of the patient's brain responsible for memory (the hippocampus) was found to be relatively small or not.
"Given that conditions like Alzheimer's disease are defined mainly by memory problems, our results may lead to further insight into what causes symptoms and the development of new interventions for prevention," Brickman noted in the news release. "Since silent strokes and the volume of the hippocampus appeared to be associated with memory loss separately in our study, our results also support stroke prevention as a means for staving off memory problems," he added.
More information
For more on stroke risk factors and symptoms, visit the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? The euro weakened about 1 percent against the dollar and the yen on Wednesday, one day before an important auction of long-dated Italian debt, while U.S. stocks slid more than 1 percent on concerns about the economy in early 2012.
The European single currency hit a fresh 11-month low against the dollar of $1.291 and a 10-year low against the yen as data showed banks were hoarding the cash recently injected by the European Central Bank rather than lending it out - a bad omen for the European economy in 2012.
"If European banks are still this concerned, it's not a good sign," said Karl Schamotta, senior markets strategist with Western Union Business Solutions. "That underlines the possibility that this liquidity crunch is getting worse and will continue into the new year.
A strong sale of short-term bonds by Italy Wednesday morning initially brought some relief to European markets, but concerns about Thursday's more challenging auction eventually contributed to the weakness of the euro.
U.S. stock indexes fell more than 1 percent in thin trading as investors feared what many expect to be a tough start to the year. The broad S&P 500 index erased its 2011 gains after just turning positive in last week's rally.
"It seems like the weakness in euro, breaking that $1.30 level, really made investors push that 'sell' button," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist with Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"But it's somewhat of an exaggerated move, considering that there isn't much volume, and this could end in a one-day selloff."
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) closed down 139.94 points, or 1.14 percent, at 12,151.41, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) lost 15.79 points, or 1.25 percent, to 1,249.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) fell 35.22 points, or 1.34 percent, to 2,589.98.
Wall Street's decline weighed on European stocks, which erased early gains. The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) index of top European shares fell 0.71 percent to end at 983.32, after rising as much as 0.63 percent earlier in the session.
The MSCI All-Country World index (.MIWD00000PUS) lost 1.34 percent, taking losses for the year to more than 10 percent.
The decline in stocks lifted prices of U.S. government bonds. Benchmark 10-year Treasuries rose 22/32 in price, with the yield at 1.925 percent - below the psychologically significant 2 percent level.
ITALIAN AUCTIONS
The euro slid to a session low of $1.291, its lowest since January, as investors worried about Italy's sale of 8.5 billion euros worth of debt with maturities of up to 10 years on Thursday. It last traded 1.0 percent weaker at $1.2937.
Against the yen, the euro hit its lowest level since June 2001 at 100.70.
Earlier, the single currency briefly rose against the dollar after Italy's short-term debt costs halved at an auction, helped by a new government austerity package and cheap liquidity from the European Central Bank.
However, Italy will need greater commitment from international investors to sell its bonds on Thursday.
"Tomorrow's auction is more important and will give more insight into general sentiment. Today was a warm-up," said Neil Mellor, currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon.
U.S. crude oil prices fell $1.98 to settle at $99.36 a barrel. They had gained more than one dollar in the previous session following Iran's threat to stop oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz if Western countries impose new sanctions on its exports.
Tehran faces the prospect of further sanctions from the European Union by the end of January over its nuclear ambitions. Washington said it saw "an element of bluster" in the threat to close the Gulf, and the U.S. Fifth Fleet said it would not allow any disruption in the world's most important oil route.
"The threat by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz supported the oil market yesterday, but the effect is fading today as it will probably be empty threats as they cannot stop the flow for a longer period due to the amount of U.S. hardware in the area," said Thorbjoern bak Jensen, oil analyst with Global Risk Management.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon, Edward Krudy and Luciana Lopez; Editing by Kenneth Barry,; Jan Paschal and Dan Grebler)
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For the simple fact that I am attempting to find a group before presenting an idea, I had a few to toss out there to garner some interest.
1. Walking Dead based Zombie Survival RP
This isn't supposed to follow Rick and CO. or mirror any of the environments, but The Walking Dead is unique in the way it follows the idea of an apocalypse. Instead of focusing on battle and the zombies themselves (or finding a cure or whatnot), this RP would aim to follow the lives of average citizens surviving in this new world. Due to the nature of this RP, constraints would have to be considered -- for instance, no military based characters, limited availability to firepower, scrounging for supplies, etc..
2. Dragon Age based RP
The Dragon Age universe is something particularly interesting, with unique views of magic and religion. I don't expect everyone to have played both games or either of the games (however, I would ask that you familiarize yourself with the DA universe via the wiki). Again, it wouldn't follow Grey Warden and Crew, but be based on the universe -- so the taint, the darkspawn, magic, the Fade, etc..
3. Mass Effect based RP
Similar to the ideas of the Dragon Age RP, following the universe, but not the characters.
4. Fall Out based RP
It would follow the base story line of Fall Out, including when the bombs went off, why, how individuals survived and all included races -- Ghouls, Supermutants, Humans -- and enemies -- mutated insects, Feral Ghouls, Supermutants, and various robots. It would utilize the SPECIAL statistics and PERKS to allow more in depth roleplaying for scavenging, combat, and interactions between characters and NPCs.
I'm also open to any other ideas.
Feel free to reply here or shoot me a message.
~ Foxglove
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/fQiaw4d_yy8/viewtopic.php
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TEHRAN??
Iran threatened on Tuesday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions were imposed on its crude exports over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with economies dependent on Gulf oil.
Western tensions with Iran have increased since a November 8 report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog saying Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Iran has defiantly expanded nuclear activity despite four rounds of U.N. sanctions meted out since 2006 over its refusal to suspend sensitive uranium enrichment and open up to U.N. nuclear inspectors and investigators.
Many diplomats and analysts believe only sanctions targeting Iran's lifeblood oil sector might be painful enough to make it change course, but Russia and China - big trade partners of Tehran - have blocked such a move at the United Nations.
Iran's warning on Tuesday came three weeks after EU foreign ministers decided to tighten sanctions over the U.N. watchdog report and laid out plans for a possible embargo of oil from the world's No. 5 crude exporter.
"If they (the West) impose sanctions on Iran's oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz," the official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Iran's First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi as saying.
The U.S. State Department said it saw "an element of bluster" in the threat but underscored that the United States would support the free flow of oil.
"It's another attempt to distract attention away from the real issue, which is their continued non-compliance with their international nuclear obligations," spokesman Mark Toner said.
Rahimi's remarks coincided with a 10-day Iranian naval exercise in the Strait and nearby waters, a show of military force that began on Saturday.
"Our enemies will give up on their plots against Iran only if we give them a firm and strong lesson," Rahimi said.
January meeting
Countries in the 27-member European Union take 450,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil, about 18 percent of the Islamic Republic's exports, much of which go to China and India. EU officials declined to comment on Tuesday.
Only on msnbc.com
About a third of all sea-borne oil was shipped through the Strait of Hormuz in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), and U.S. warships patrol the area to ensure safe passage.
Most of the crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq - together with nearly all the liquefied natural gas from lead exporter Qatar - must slip through the Strait of Hormuz, a 4-mile wide shipping channel between Oman and Iran.
Iran has also hinted it could hit Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf in response to any military strike on its nuclear installations - a last resort option hinted at by Washington and the Jewish state.
However, some analysts say Iran would think hard about sealing off the Strait since it could suffer just as much economically as Western crude importers, and could kindle war with militarily superior big powers.
"To me, if Iran did that it would be a suicidal act by the regime. Even its friends would be its enemies," said Phil Flynn, analyst at PFG Best Research in Chicago.
Saudi replacement?
Industry sources said on Tuesday No. 1 oil exporter Saudi Arabia and other Gulf OPEC states were ready to replace Iranian oil if further sanctions halt Iranian crude exports to Europe.
Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi had said that Saudi Arabia had promised not to replace Iranian crude if sanctions were imposed.
"No promise was made to Iran, it's very unlikely that Saudi Arabia would not fill a demand gap if sanctions are placed," an industry source familiar with the matter said.
Gulf delegates from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said an Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz would harm Tehran as well as the major regional producers that also use the world's most vital oil export channel.
Oil prices spiked on Tuesday, fuelled by fears of supply disruptions and Iranian naval exercises in a crucial oil shipping route, with gains capped by simmering euro zone debt concerns.
Brent crude oil futures jumped more than a dollar to over $109 a barrel after the Iranian threat, but a Gulf OPEC delegate said the effect could be temporary. "For now, any move in the oil price is short-term, as I don't see Iran actually going ahead with the threat," the delegate told Reuters.
The industry source said that in the case of EU sanctions, Iran would most likely export more of its crude to Asia, while Gulf states would divert their exports to Europe to fill the gap until the market is balanced again.
A prominent analyst said that if Iran did manage to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the ensuing spike in oil prices could wreck the global economy, so the United States was likely to intervene to foil such a blockade in the first place.
"First, the U.S. will probably not allow Iran to close the Strait. That's a major economic thoroughfare and not just for oil. You shut that Strait and we are talking a major hit on many Middle East economies," said Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks in New York.
"Second, there is no way that the Saudis (alone) have enough oil or quality of oil to replace Iranian crude. Figure Saudi spare capacity is 2 to 4 million at best. Of that spare, about 1-2 million is real oil that is comparable out of Iran. Lose Iran, lose 3.5 million barrels per day of imports. No way."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed hitting Iran with an oil embargo and won support from Britain, but resistance to the idea persists within and outside the European Union.
An import ban might raise global oil prices during hard economic times and debt-strapped Greece has been relying on attractively financed Iranian oil.
Iran's seaborne trade is already suffering from existing trade sanctions, with shipping companies scaling down or pulling out as the Islamic Republic faces more hurdles in transporting its oil.
About the Strait of Hormuz:
Location: The most important oil transit channel in the world is a narrow bend of water separating Oman and Iran. It connects the biggest Gulf oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia, with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. At its narrowest point, the strait is only 21 miles across and consists of 2-mile-wide navigable channels for inbound and outbound shipping and a 2-mile-wide buffer zone.
Oil shipments
Other shipments: Merchant ships carrying grain, iron ore, sugar, perishables and containers full of finished goods also pass through the strategic sea corridor en route to Gulf countries and ports such as Dubai.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45798315/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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It?s no longer news when the company that once famously refused to run commercials does so ? another sign of conventionality in the company that?promised not to be conventional?? but it is still rare enough to be worthy of analysis.
Above is the Google holiday commercial, where the Muppets do a Google+ Hangout.
You get a sense of Google?s strategic priorities by seeing that it?s spending millions to promote Google+. The war for personal information is crucial to Google, and it?s the impetus behind Google+, as I?ve written?here. Further information comes in a follow-up interview with?Bradley Horowitz,?a co-leader of the project.
You get a sense of what works well in Google+ by noting that the focus of the ad is?Hangouts, a relatively late addition to Google+ that has helped hone its purpose. It?s a cool feature, but also makes a statement: This product is about what?s happening now. Google is well-placed to be a leader in real-time presence, and merging group chat into a social experience has been a win.
But there?s another message, too. You get a sense of Google?s culture ? and who the people of Google are ? by the choice of the?Muppets?as the stars of the commercial. Muppets are central to the lives of Googlers. The vast majority of Googlers are people in their twenties and thirties who have completed the perilous obstacle course of the meritocracy, probably starting when their ambitious parents plucked them in front of the telly to absorb the lessons of Big Bird and Count Von Count. (My bet is that many of those parents were otherwise parsimonious with tube time.) Along with the lessons, they bonded with the puppets, much as toddlers get fixated on blankies and stuffed animals.
As a result, even the most math-geeky Googlers kind of melt at the sight of Miss Piggy. It?s not even too much of a stretch to claim that the do-goody ethic of Sesame Street was the forerunner of Don?t Be Evil.
The Muppets keep popping up at the Googleplex. Google?s very first paid employee, Craig Silverstein, was the founder of the internet group??rec.arts.henson+muppets
One of the languages included in?Google?s translation program?is the weird (?bork, bork, pork!?) pidgin of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets Show.
According to Doug Edwards (in his memoir?I?m Feeling Lucky)?in Google?s early days, the most important chart on the internal web site was the measure of search quality of various engines. Each line on the chart (representing the effectiveness of a given company in delivering results) was labeled by a Muppet character. Google?s label for itself was ?The Great Gonzo.?
Continue reading ?Why Google Just Can?t Quit the Muppets? ?
Pages: 1 2 View All
Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5668966095
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Republican Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. meets with patrons at the Nodaway Diner during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. meets with patrons at the Nodaway Diner during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. meets with patrons at the Nodaway Diner during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republican Presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. meets with patrons at the Nodaway Diner during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, in Greenfield, Iowa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) ? Michele Bachmann's struggling presidential campaign saw her Iowa chairman defect Wednesday to rival Ron Paul's side, an embarrassing blow that came as some called for her to leave the race to free up her supporters for other candidates.
Hours after appearing with Bachmann at an event, state Sen. Kent Sorenson gave his endorsement to the Texas congressman at a Des Moines rally. Sorenson said he resigned from Bachmann's campaign to back Paul, whom he called the most conservative of the top-tier candidates.
Bachmann said Sorenson made the jump after "he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign."
"Kent said to me yesterday that 'everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn't I,'" Bachmann said in a written statement. "Then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions."
Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton said the campaign was not paying Sorenson and that he was puzzled why Bachmann would make such a claim against an elected official popular with Iowa conservatives.
"We've always known Michele to be an honorable person. She should stop slandering an honorable Iowa state senator," Benton said.
Benton said Paul campaign officials had been begun speaking to Sorenson "in earnest" in the last few days, and that he had informed the campaign Wednesday he was ready to sign on.
Sorenson announced the switch during a Paul veterans rally in Des Moines. He didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press to address Bachmann's charges that the move was financially based.
"The fact is, there is a clear top tier in the race for the Republican nomination for president, both here in Iowa and nationally. Ron Paul is easily the most conservative of this group," Sorenson said in a statement. "The truth is, it was an excruciatingly difficult decision for me to decide between supporting Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the beginning of this campaign."
Susan Geddes, a veteran operative in conservative GOP political circles who managed Sorenson's 2008 and 2010 legislative races, said Sorenson had told her several times, as recently as last month, that the Paul campaign had offered him money to leave Bachmann's campaign for the Texas congressman's.
Geddes said Sorenson had damaged his political future in Iowa by abandoning Bachmann's campaign less than a week before the caucuses.
"He just committed political suicide," she said.
Bachmann has been on a frantic 99-county push across Iowa in an effort to recover from the slide that followed her Iowa straw poll victory in August. Paul was a close second in that contest.
Earlier in the day, two influential pastors said they wanted either her or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum to drop out of the running to keep evangelical voters from splitting their support. Bachmann insisted she would see the Iowa caucus campaign through.
Sorenson, who has strong ties to Iowa's tea party, was one of Bachmann's earliest public supporters and joined her for an afternoon stop at a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Indianola. Standing by her side, he declined to speak to the crowd there, citing numbness from dental work.
All day, Bachmann bashed Paul as "dangerous" for having a hands-off foreign policy. It was part of a double-barreled attack on the two Texans in the race. She went after Gov. Rick Perry for "27 years as a political insider."
The aggressive tone underscored Bachmann's role as a chaser in the final week of campaigning. She has bet heavily on Iowa, where she was born.
Bachmann came hardest at Perry, who this week began a television ad lumping Bachmann with other Washington figures seeking the GOP nomination in his attempt to come off as the outsider in the race.
"Just because he's held office outside of Washington, D.C., does not mean he is not a political insider. It's what you do in your office that matters," she said outside a small-town cafe. "There aren't very many politicians who have spent more time paying off political donors than Gov. Rick Perry has."
Perry has served Texas as a legislator, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor and governor.
Bachmann also said Perry has engaged in "crony capitalism" by helping donors with Texas government contracts or giving them political appointments. And she called Perry a double-dipper for collecting his gubernatorial salary and state pension at the same time.
Campaigning in Indianola on Wednesday, Perry scored what appeared to be a double hit of his own. Although he didn't name his targets, he took aim at lawmakers who sound off in Washington without much influence on policy ? a rap sometimes attached to Bachmann and Paul.
"Some campaigns are about their voting record, on bills that never make it to the president's desk. I'm campaigning on ideas that I've signed into law," Perry said.
As for Paul, Bachmann criticized him as misguided about foreign threats to U.S. interests.
"Ron Paul would be a dangerous president," Perry said. "He would have us ignore all of the warning signs of another brutal dictator who wants to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I won't. He would wait until one of our cities is wiped off of the map until he reacted. I won't wait."
On Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told CNN that he would find it personally difficult to vote for Paul if the Texas congressman were to become the party's choice to go up against President Barack Obama next fall. Bachmann refused to go that far, dodging two direct questions about her willingness to back Paul later on.
"He won't win the nomination," she said.
At stop after stop, Bachmann cast herself as America's "Iron Lady," the nickname assigned to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Bachmann sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which she said gives her a firm grip on world affairs.
State Sen. Brad Zaun, who had been Bachmann's Iowa co-chairman, was named full chairman after Sorenson's resignation.
___
Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont, Beth Fouhy and Philip Elliott in Iowa contributed to this report.
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27 December 2011 No Comment
It?s arguably the best night of the season in college basketball on Wednesday with the Big East and Big Ten conference schedules really getting going and a handful of Top-25 matchups on the schedule. The best one appears to be between No. 12 Georgetown and No. 4 Louisville, with the Cards, one of only a few unbeatens left in the country, opening as college basketball bets favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Georgetown enters off an impressive 70-59 win over previously ranked Memphis on Dec. 22. Senior guard Jason Clark led four Hoyas in double figures with 18 points. The victory was the Hoyas second over the Tigers this season, having defeated them on November 23, 91-88 in overtime at the Maui Invitational. It was the eighth-straight win for the Hoyas, tying the team?s season-long win streak of last season as the team started 10-1 for the fifth-straight season.
Senior center has been the breakout start this year, averaging 12.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg. Prior to this season, the Hoyas? 6-foot-10 big man never averaged more than 3.6 points or 3.2 rebounds per game.
The Hoyas have played three teams who were ranked at the time so far this year, beating then-No. 12 Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Dec. 1, then-No. 8 Memphis and losing to No. 14 Kansa, also in Maui, 67-63 back on Nov. 21.
Louisville has rarely been challenged so far this season and has faced only one ranked club so far, beating then-No. 19 Vanderbilt 62-60 in overtime. The Cards last took the court on Dec. 23, a 70-60 win over Western Kentucky. Sophomores Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith have been playing very well of late. Dieng has five straight double-doubles (he leads the Big East in blocks and is second in rebounding), and Smith has reached double figures in each of Louisville?s last four games to position the Cardinals within a game of matching their best start in program history. The 12-0 start is the school?s best in 37 years.
However, to beat Georgetown and Kentucky, which plays Louisville this weekend, the Cards need more from star guard Peyton Siva. He has more turnovers than points in Louisville?s last two games ? in the past three games Louisville has had to rally to win.
Georgetown leads the all-time series 7-4. The last meeting came Jan. 31, 2011 in Washington D.C., a 62-59 Hoyas win. However, Louisville has won three straight Big East openers.
Place your college basketball bets at our online sportsbook!
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Starting in 2012, the government will charge a new fee to your health insurance plan for research to find out which drugs, medical procedures, tests and treatments work best. But what will Americans do with the answers?
The goal of the research, part of a little-known provision of President Barack Obama's health care law, is to answer such basic questions as whether that new prescription drug advertised on TV really works better than an old generic costing much less.
But in the politically charged environment surrounding health care, the idea of medical effectiveness research is eyed with suspicion. The insurance fee could be branded a tax and drawn into the vortex of election-year politics.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute ? a quasi-governmental agency created by Congress to carry out the research ? has yet to commission a single head-to-head comparison, although its director is anxious to begin.
The government is already providing the institute with some funding: The $1-per-person insurance fee goes into effect in 2012. But the Treasury Department says it's not likely to be collected for another year, though insurers would still owe the money. The fee doubles to $2 per covered person in its second year and thereafter rises with inflation. The IRS is expected to issue guidance to insurers within the next six months.
"The more concerning thing is not the institute itself, but how the findings will be used in other areas," said Kathryn Nix, a policy analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. "Will they be used to make coverage determinations?"
The institute's director, Dr. Joe Selby, said patients and doctors will make the decisions, not his organization.
"We are not a policy-making body; our role is to make the evidence available," said Selby, a primary care physician and medical researcher,
But insurance industry representatives say they expect to use the research and work with employers to fine-tune workplace health plans. Employees and family members could be steered to hospitals and doctors who follow the most effective treatment methods. Patients going elsewhere could face higher copayments, similar to added charges they now pay for "non-preferred" drugs on their insurance plans.
Major insurers already are carrying out their own effectiveness research, but it lacks the credibility of government-sponsored studies.
Not long ago, so-called "comparative effectiveness" research enjoyed support from lawmakers in both parties. After all, much of the medical research that doctors and consumers rely on now is financed by drug companies and medical device manufacturers, who have a built-in interest in the findings. And a drug maker only has to show that a new medicine is more effective than a sugar pill ? not a competing medication ? to win government approval for marketing.
The 2009 economic stimulus bill included $1.1 billion for medical effectiveness research, mainly through the National Institutes of Health. It was not considered particularly controversial. But things changed during the congressional health care debate, after former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made the claim, now widely debunked, that Obama and the Democrats were setting up "death panels" to ration care.
As a result, lawmakers hedged the new institute with caveats. It was set up as an independent nonprofit organization, with a .org Internet address instead of .gov. The government cannot dictate Selby's research agenda. And there are limitations on how the Health and Human Services department can use the research findings in decisions that affect Medicare and Medicaid.
Selby says the institute is taking seriously the term "patient-centered" in its name. Patients will not be merely subjects of research; they and their representatives will be involved in setting the agenda and overseeing the process.
"We are talking about patients as partners in the research," said Selby. Findings will be presented in clear language ? a kind of Consumer Reports approach ? so that patients and doctors can easily draw on them to make decisions.
"Our goal, our hope, is that over time, by involving patients in research, two things will happen," said Selby. "One is that we will start asking questions in a more practical fashion, so the results would speak more consistently to questions that patients want to know the answers to. And two is that, by our example of involving patients in the research, trust will rise." He expects to unveil the institute's proposed research agenda in the next few weeks.
Former Medicare administrator Gail Wilensky says that agenda should focus on high-cost procedures and drugs on which the medical community has not developed a consensus, and which have widely different patterns of use around the country. A Republican, Wilensky believes opposition to the institute's work is shortsighted.
"This just strikes me as a component of finding ways to treat better and spend smarter," she said.
___
Online:
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute: www.pcori.org
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The report highlights that fact that Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the plant, the Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency and the Japanese government even failed to appreciate the scale of any potential disaster as the plant was only designed to withstand a tsunami of 20 feet.
The report pointedly criticised the operators for using the term "outside our imagination" for the events of March 11 in an effort to avoid responsibility. By describing the crisis as beyond what might have been considered possible, the company had brought public distrust on itself and the nuclear industry.
There were no systematic procedures to follow and staff at the plant failed to communicate with colleagues at the site, their headquarters and the government.
Workers also failed to realise that coolant water to the reactors had been disrupted, despite warning indicators that the nuclear cores were melting down.
The government also came in for strong criticism for failing to release information to the public and for using "evasive" language to avoid confirming that the reactors had melted down.
Failure to disclose data also meant that people living close to the plant were exposed to radiation instead of being evacuated.
The full report is scheduled to be completed next summer and will highlight a host of other failures ? from insufficient batteries for mobile phones within the plant to confusion in the government because two teams set up to handle the crisis in Tokyo were not communicating.
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GAME NOTES: The Texas-El Paso Miners and the Auburn Tigers will face off in the third-place game of the Diamond Head Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The game represents just the third meeting between the Miners and Tigers, and the former has won both previous meetings, the last one taking place back in 1986.
UTEP will be playing its fifth game in nine days and enters with a 5-6 overall record. The Miners beat Clemson in the opening round of this tournament before losing to Kansas State, 78-70, its last time out. UTEP led in the second half of that semifinal-round matchup before the Wildcats staged a late comeback to end the Miners' modest three-game win streak. Coach Tim Floyd's preaches sound defense to his squad, and it has responded by holding its previous seven opponents under 70 points.
Jacques Streeter scored a season-high 15 points, including 11 in the second half, to lead the Miners against Kansas State. UTEP has shot 48.8 percent from the field in its two Diamond Head Classic games, while foes have made 38.3 percent of their field goals. Michael Perez has scored in double figures in six of the seven games, averaging 16.6 ppg during the stretch. He tallied a career-high 25 points versus Clemson on Thursday, and Perez is the only Miner to score in double figures in both Diamond Head Classic games. Cedrick Lang has reached double figures in two of the last three outings, and he tied his career-high with 12 points on Friday.
Auburn enters this contest with an 8-2 record after dropping a 64-43 decision to Long Beach State on Friday. The loss snapped a four-game win streak as the Tigers reeled off victories over South Florida, North Florida, Florida A&M and Hawaii before the 49ers knocked them off. LBSU held Auburn to a season-low 26.3 percent shooting from the field and a season-low 43 points. Coach Tony Barbee's team will try to bounce back closer to its season averages of 68.1 ppg and 44.8 percent shooting.
Frankie Sullivan was the lone bright spot for the Tigers in their last outing, as he finished with 22 points and six rebounds. Rob Chubb, Kenny Gabriel and Chris Denson, all of whom own double-digit scoring averages for the season, will need to step up against UTEP to help their team avoid its first two-game losing streak of the year.
The Tigers should be able to recover from their poor outing and get back on track against the Miners. UTEP has been playing well lately, but its rebounding ability is inferior to its counterpart in this one.
Fact Stats
Game Date and Time
Predicted Outcome
Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2011/12/25/3749095/texas-el-paso-5-6-vs-auburn-8.html
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Elysse Fleece had her Christmas traditions down.
Get the live tree on Black Friday, then decorate the heck out of it.
Hang the Christmas lights.
Play Christmas music nonstop.
Watch holiday movies with son Donnivan.
In Christmas of ?09 and ?10, the routine went as smoothly as a freshly Zambonied ice rink. This year, however, Elysse Fleece discovered a rough spot: her husband, John.
For the first time since 2008, Sgt. 1st Class John Fleece is home for the holidays, and, while they?re happy to be together, they admit it?s been an adjustment. She loves the constant backdrop of Christmas music. He?d doesn?t. She?s gotten used to picking out the tree and hanging the lights, so it was just second nature for her to leave him out of he picture.
?I?d start to pick up my duties; she wanted to push me out of the way,? said John, 32, who returned to the Pikes Peak area in May after spending most of the last two years in Iraq.
It?s a scenario that is likely taking place in military homes throughout the county as U.S. involvement in Iraq comes to an end and the presence in Afghanistan dwindles. According to the Air Force Times, the military divorce rate reached a new high in 2011, with 3.7 percent of marriages breaking up.
It?s understandable, said the Fleeces, who will be married seven years in May. When one spouse is deployed, the other still has to go on with life. Routines are established, traditions created. And in spite of all the technological advances like Skype and Facebook that have made it easier for military couples to stay in touch, it?s not the same as living under the same roof and being in tune with each other?s rhythms.
?It was hard to let him in,? Elysse said Sunday as she and John sat at their Widefield-area home, watching Donnivan and his cousins from Oregon bounce around with the excitement generated by new toys, clothing and a houseful of relatives. ?For me it was, ?this is how we do it.? ?
She was so accustomed to handing the lights, even though she doesn?t like heights, that she almost forgot to include John.
?I hung the lights for the last two years,? she said. ?It was just natural for me to do it. This year, I said, ?oh wait; I have a guy who will climb on the roof to do it.?
Elysse, 26, said the military does a good job cautioning families about the more dramatic problems, like PTSD, but not on the mundane issues that can turn into minefields.
?They don?t tell you how you?re going to get annoyed because he put the coffee cup in the wrong place,? she said. ?It?s the little things you?re going to have issues with. They really don?t stress that you have to adjust to everything.?
The good news for John and Elysse is that they both are open about the stresses of living together again and they?re willing to talk about the challenges.
?There was a lot of tension, and the only way to get through anything is communication,? John said. ?I?m actually a confronter.?
And so, they?re becoming masters in the art of compromise. The Christmas music has been toned down. She?s trying to fit his work schedule into hers.
?There?s a lot of give and take,? Elysse said.
The adjustments have been well worth the effort, the couple said. For the first time since 2008, John was together with his extended family as well as his wife and son. He didn?t have to put up with a choppy Internet connection to see his son decorate the tree or open presents.
?Now I?m seeing it in real life, and I like it,? John said. ?Being able to take part in it ? that?s the best gift.?
Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/christmas-130750-donnivan-nonstop.html
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Source: http://twitter.com/ahramonline/statuses/150520075869360128
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3:13 p.m. EST, December 24, 2011
PUNTA GORDA, Florida ? Authorities say about 300 residents in southwest Florida are without phone service after thieves pulled copper from telephone utility boxes.The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office says customers within a square mile area of the theft from utility boxes in a Port Charlotte lot were affected. Repairs were continuing Saturday.
Sheriff's Office spokesman Bob Carpenter says it's the fifth copper theft from phone equipment boxes in the last several days.
Anyone with information about these copper thefts is urged to call the Sheriff's Office at 941-639-2101 or Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477).
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COLUMBIA, S.C. ? The Justice Department on Friday rejected South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, saying it makes it harder for minorities to cast ballots. It was the first voter ID law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years.
The Obama administration said South Carolina's law didn't meet the burden under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory practices preventing blacks from voting. Tens of thousands of minorities in South Carolina might not be able to cast ballots under South Carolina's law because they don't have the right photo ID, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez said.
South Carolina's law was passed by a Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Nikki Haley. The state's attorney general vowed to fight the federal agency in court.
"Nothing in this act stops people from voting," said Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is also a Republican.
South Carolina's new voter ID law requires voters to show poll workers a state-issued driver's license or several other alternative forms of photo identification.
"The U.S. Department of Justice today blocked implementation of a new law that would require South Carolina voters to present a photo ID in order to vote," the state Election Commission said in a statement late Friday. "Therefore, ID requirements for voting will not change at this time.'
South Carolina is among five states that passed laws this year requiring some form of ID at the polls, while such laws were already on the books in Indiana and Georgia, whose law received approval from President George W. Bush's Justice Department. Indiana's law, passed in 2005, was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.
Those new laws also allow voters without the required photo ID to cast provisional ballots, but the voters must return to a specific location with that ID within a certain time limit for their ballots to count.
Most of the laws have been promoted and approved by Republicans, who argue they are needed to avert voter fraud. Democrats say the measures are actually aimed at reducing minority votes for their candidates.
The Justice Department must approve changes to South Carolina's election laws under the federal Voting Rights Act because of the state's past failure to protect the voting rights of blacks. It is one of nine states that require the agency's approval.
The last time the Justice Department rejected a voter ID law was in 1994 when Louisiana passed a measure requiring a picture ID. After changes were made, it was approved by the agency.
Justice officials are reviewing Texas' new law. Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin also passed laws this year, but they are not under the agency's review.
South Carolina's law also required the state to determine how many voters lack state-issued IDs so that the Election Commission can work to make sure they know of law changes. The Department of Motor Vehicles will issue free state photo identification cards to those voters.
"Minority registered voters were nearly 20 percent more likely to lack DMV-issued ID than white registered voters, and thus to be effectively disenfranchised," Perez wrote, noting that the numbers could be even higher since the data submitted by the state doesn't include inactive voters.
The number of active and inactive voters that should be used to determine how many people would be affected by the law has been in dispute. Department of Motor Vehicles executive director Kevin Shwedo said the state Election Commission knew it was using inaccurate data when it released reports showing nearly 240,000 active and inactive voters lacked driver's licenses or ID cards.
Shwedo sent the state's attorney general an analysis showing that 207,000 of those voters live in other states, allowed their ID cards to expire, probably have licenses with names that didn't match voter records or were dead. He said the commission created "artificially high numbers to excite the masses."
Earlier in the week, commission officials said the agency will eliminate nearly 60,000 deceased people and individuals whose names didn't match DMV records.
Haley said the decision was more proof President Barack Obama is fighting conservative ideas like voter ID laws or immigration reform.
"The president and his bullish administration are fighting us every step of the way. It is outrageous, and we plan to look at every possible option to get this terrible, clearly political decision overturned so we can protect the integrity of our electoral process and our 10th amendment rights," Haley said in a statement.
South Carolina ACLU executive director Victoria Middleton applauded the Justice Department's decision, saying the "misguided" law represented "a dramatic setback to voting rights in our state and we are pleased to see it stopped in its tracks."
The decision also was welcomed by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who planned to talk about how voter ID laws are an effort by conservatives to keep blacks from voting in his hometown of Greenville, S.C., next week. He said the laws are like modern day poll taxes, targeting elderly people that can't afford to get IDs and students.
"We're fighting wars for democracy overseas and we're fighting democracy at home," Jackson said. "What a contradiction."
___
Associated Press writers Jim Davenport and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report.
___
Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
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WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21 (HealthDay News) -- It's prudent to limit the use of over-the-counter cold and flu medications during pregnancy, experts say.
This is because some medications may contain substances that are potentially harmful to developing fetuses, or that have not been well-studied for use in pregnant women.
"Every year around this time, we get a significant number of calls from pregnant and breast-feeding women in California who are battling colds and are worried about which meds they can and can't take," said Christina Chambers, professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Diego and program director at the California Teratogen Information Service.
To help expectant mothers who are sick this holiday season, Chambers offered these cold medicine safety tips:
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about medication use during pregnancy.
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Ventre: 2011 was one big surprise party in sports. There were enough astounding developments ? both positive and negative ? to keep mouths agape, eyes agog and Twitter atwitter. Unfortunately, the one that stands out the most is the ugliest story possible.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45770121#45770121
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ALMATY?? Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Saturday declared a 20-day state of emergency in a western oil city where at least 11 people have been killed in the deadliest outbreak of violence in the Central Asian state's recent history.
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Wounded victims filled hospitals in Zhanaozen and many oil workers stayed at home, fearing for their safety a day after violent clashes between riot police and crowds in a city where thousands of sacked oil workers have been protesting for months.
The head of a local trade union said many wounded civilians and policemen had been brought by car from overflowing hospitals in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 around 150 km (95 miles) east of the Caspian Sea, to the regional centre of Aktau.
"They have all kinds of wounds, from gunshot wounds to stab wounds and blunt traumas," Kenzhegali Suyeov, chairman of the independent Aktau trade union, told Reuters. He said sporadic shooting had been heard in Zhanaozen overnight.
Public protests are rare in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy and oil producer, where 71-year-old Nazarbayev has overseen more than $120 billion in foreign investment during more than two decades in power.
The clashes marred celebrations across the rest of Kazakhstan to mark the 20th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union and were a shock to a government that has put stability and economic growth over democratic freedoms.
"We will not permit any attempts to disturb the peace and calm in our home, to erase the achievements of our independence," Nazarbayev said in a statement.
"The state will use the full strength of the law to suppress any attempt to disturb the peace and security of our citizens."
STATE OF EMERGENCY
A presidential decree declared a state of emergency and curfew in Zhanaozen until January 5. Public protests and strikes are banned while movement around Zhanaozen and access to and from the city will be restricted.
The clashes began when sacked oil workers and sympathetic citizens stormed a stage erected for an Independence Day party on Friday, toppling sound equipment and later setting fire to the city hall and the headquarters of the local oil company.
Nurdaulet Suindikov, spokesman for the prosecutor-general's office, told a news conference 11 people had been killed in the clashes. A further 86 people were wounded, including six policemen, he said. Around 70 people have been arrested.
Reports on social networking websites said the death toll was much higher than 10 and police had opened fire. These reports could not be verified independently. Power, mobile phone connections and Internet access was shut down in the city.
European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton said in a statement she hoped for an immediate investigation and a peaceful solution to the problems faced by striking oil workers.
Nazarbayev said policemen had acted within legal bounds.
ARMED SECURITY
Thousands of employees of state-controlled oil company KazMunaiGas Exploration Production began a strike in May to demand better pay and conditions. It sacked 989 workers and says output will fall 8.5 percent short of target this year.
London-listed KazMunaiGas EP said the Interior Ministry was providing armed security at oil production facilities and some workers had failed to show up for the night and morning shifts due to security concerns. A round-the-clock shift by workers on site was maintaining daily output levels, the company said.
KazMunaiGas EP has said 2,500 people were on strike at the height of the dispute. Representatives of the striking workers have put the maximum number at almost 16,000.
"For seven months, those striking workers were standing in the scorching sun, in the rain and wind and snow, and the authorities would not start a dialogue with them," said Bolat Abilov, a leader of the opposition Social-Democratic Party.
Nazarbayev hinted he did not believe aggrieved workers were behind the violence.
"One shouldn't confuse an oilmens' working dispute with the criminal acts of bandits who aimed to take advantage of the situation," he said. "We will find out where the funding comes from and who is behind this."
Yermukhamet Yertysbayev, a close adviser to Nazarbayev, likened Zhanaozen to social protests in Europe. "You know, practically the same events took place in August this year in London," RIA news agency quoted him as telling reporters.
"And events of a similar nature have happened in Greece. In the end, the global financial crisis has extremely aggravated social conflicts."
Around 100 opposition activists gathered in the commercial capital, Almaty, for a memorial service to commemorate Kazakhs killed in clashes with Soviet forces in December 1986.
"Yesterday, exactly 25 years later, the same tragedy was repeated," said one of the activists, Gulzhan Yergaliyeva.
Around 20 protesters broke off from the service and attempted to march to the city headquarters of the ruling Nur Otan political party. Riot police detained around half of them.
KazMunaiGas EP's London-traded stock closed down 4.0 percent on Friday, versus a decline of only 0.4 percent in the wider oil and gas sector.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45698660/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/
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