KIRISHI, Russia (AP) ? A box in which parents can leave their babies anonymously without any legal risk opened Wednesday in a town in northwestern Russia ? part of an effort that activists hope will save many young lives.
The baby box in Kirishi, an industrial town 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of St. Petersburg, is the tenth such facility in Russia. Experts think that's just a fraction of what is needed.
"Even if only one child is saved that way it will be worth it," said Tatiana Sobolevskya, deputy chief of the maternity department of Kirishi's hospital, where the baby box is located. Nikolai Muravlev, a Russian Orthodox priest, came to bless the box and praise it as "island of safety."
Once a baby is put in the box, its door closes and a nurse gets alerted by a signal. There are no security cameras so parents can leave their babies anonymously. An information stand next to the box appeals to parents to think over their decision and offers contact numbers for assistance.
Kolybel Nadezhdy (Cradle of Hope), a non-government organization that opened the baby box, said it should help attract nationwide attention to the issue. Its head, Yelena Kotova, said more than a dozen babies are abandoned in Russia every month according to official statistics, but she said the real figures are believed to be at least three times higher.
Russian police have registered 268 cases of murder of newborn babies by their mothers in 2010-2011, and Russian media have carried regular reports of babies found in garbage containers, forests or snowdrifts. One of the most recent cases was in St. Petersburg in August, when a man found a 3-day-old baby in a plastic bag in the bushes. The boy survived and was soon adopted.
Kotova said in her home city of Perm in the Ural Mountains, the bodies of two newborn babies were found on a balcony. A woman who lived there with her other children just felt unable to raise another child, she said.
In July, a five-day-old girl was left in a baby box in Perm with a note giving her name, Margarita, and her date of birth. Two more babies were left in baby boxes organized by Russia's Krasnodar region.
Russia borrowed the baby box idea from other European countries, where they have become quite numerous in recent years but have also fueled heated discussions. Critics say they infringe on the rights of mothers and children.
"A baby box isn't a universal cure, it's a way to attract attention to the problem and to help women," said Galina Murzakayeva, a coordinator for the Kirishi project.
Plywood covers the revolving doors in preparation for Hurricane Sandy at the 2 Broadway building of Lower Manhattan in New York, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Areas along the Northeast Coast are preparing for the arrival of the hurricane and a possible flooding storm surge. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Plywood covers the revolving doors in preparation for Hurricane Sandy at the 2 Broadway building of Lower Manhattan in New York, Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Areas along the Northeast Coast are preparing for the arrival of the hurricane and a possible flooding storm surge. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
A sign informs subway riders of changes in service in the hours before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy in New York Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. Areas in the Northeast Region prepared Sunday for the arrival of the hurricane and a possible flooding storm surge. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Broadway took the threat of the mammoth storm seriously, with theater owners canceling all Sunday evening and Monday performances of shows like "The Book of Mormon" ''Once" and "Mama Mia!" long before a drop of rain fell in Times Square.
"The safety and security of theatregoers and employees is everyone's primary concern," said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, which represents producers.
Forecasts called for rain late Sunday or early Monday, and subway and public transportation service is to be halted Sunday evening, potentially stranding theatergoers. Refunds will be made available from the point of purchase.
Off-Broadway shows including "Stomp," ''Bad Jews" and "Golden Child" were also canceled Sunday night. Most matinees on and off Broadway stayed open. Mondays are usually very light on Broadway, with most shows having that as their day off.
Some Broadway shows had no evening shows scheduled Sunday, including "Cyrano de Bergerac," ''Annie," ''Chaplin," ''Enemy of the People," ''Once," ''Jersey Boys" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It."
It was the most disruptive storm for the theater community since the threat of Hurricane Irene in late August 2011 prompted producers to cancel matinee and evening performances on Saturday and Sunday. While that hurricane mostly fizzled over New York, every show lost money because they were mostly limited to five or six performances that week.
New clues to how the brain and body communicate to regulate weightPublic release date: 26-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Findings offer a new direction in the pursuit of potential therapies for obesity
BOSTON Maintaining a healthy body weight may be difficult for many people, but it's reassuring to know that our brains and bodies are wired to work together to do just thatin essence, to achieve a phenomenon known as energy balance, a tight matching between the number of calories consumed versus those expended. This careful balance results from a complex interchange of neurobiological crosstalk within regions of the brain's hypothalamus, and when this "conversation" goes awry, obesity or anorexia can result.
Given the seriousness of these conditions, it's unfortunate that little is known about the details of this complex interchange. Now research led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides new insights that help bring order to this complexity. Described in the October 26 issue of the journal Cell, the findings demonstrate how the GABA neurotransmitter selectively drives energy expenditure, and importantly, also help explain the neurocircuitry underlying the fat-burning properties of brown fat.
"Our group has built up a research program with the overall goal of unraveling the 'wiring diagram' by which the brain controls appetite and the burning of calories," says senior author Bradford Lowell, MD, PhD, a Professor of Medicine in BIDMC's Division of Endocrinology and Harvard Medical School. "To advance our understanding to this level, we need to know the function of specific subsets of neurons, and in addition, the upstream neurons providing input to, and the downstream neurons receiving output from, these functionally defined neurons. Until recently, such knowledge in the hypothalamus has been largely unobtainable."
A pearl-sized region that directs a multitude of important functions in the body, the hypothalamus is the brain's control center for energy balance. This balance results when the brain receives feedback signals from the body that communicate the status of fuel stores and then integrates this with input from the external world as well as a person's emotional state to modify feeding behavior and energy expenditure.
In this new study, the researchers investigated a unique population of neurons that are located at the base of the brain in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. "We genetically engineered mice such that they have a specific defect that prevents these neurons from releasing the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA," says Lowell. "Mice with this defect developed marked obesity and, remarkably, their obesity was entirely due to a defect in burning off calories," he explains, adding that food intake was entirely unaffected.
By next engineering another group of mice in which these neurons could be selectively turned on at different times, the team went on to show that the arcuate neurons act through a series of downstream neurons to drive energy expenditure in brown fat. Brown fat has been making headlines lately because many recent studies have revealed that, unlike energy-storing white fat, brown fat burns energy to generate heat. This process is called thermogenesis.
"Energy expenditure mediated by brown adipose tissue is critical in maintaining body weight and prevents diet-induced obesity. Its brain-based regulatory mechanism, however, is still poorly understood," says first author Dong Kong, PhD, an Instructor in Medicine in Lowell's laboratory. "Our discovery of a hypothalamus-based neurocircuit that ultimately controls thermogenesis is an important advance," adds Lowell. The investigators additionally found that when they turned on these neurons, energy expenditure was entirely dependent upon release of GABA. These results reveal that release of GABA from arcuate neurons selectively drives energy expenditure.
"Our findings have greatly advanced our understanding in the control of energy expenditure and have provided novel insights into the pathogenesis of obesity," says Kong.
The unique features of arcuate neurons are important because they could provide an opportunity to experimentally modify the brain's control of energy expenditure. Specifically, neurons receiving GABA-mediated signals from arcuate neurons are likely to play important roles in regulating energy expenditure, but not food intake.
"It is now important to fully delineate the upstream neurons that control these thermogenesis-regulating arcuate neurons, and also the downstream neurons that complete the 'circuit' to brown adipose tissue," Lowell adds. He and his colleagues have identified several specific types of neurons that act downstream of arcuate neurons, but more research is needed to provide a clear and definitive diagram. Such work could uncover new opportunities for pharmacologic interventions that might lead to effective treatments for obesity and its related complications such as diabetes.
###
Study coauthors include BIDMC investigators Qingchun Tong, Chianping Ye, Shuichi Koda, Patrick M. Fuller, Michael J. Krashes, Linh Vong, David P. Olson, and Russelly S. Ray of Harvard Medical School.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 DK089044, RO1 DK071051, RO1 DK075632, R37 DK053477, P30DK046200, P30DK057521, P30DK0460200, R01 DK092605) and the American Heart Association (SDG3280017, NS0736313).
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and currently ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New clues to how the brain and body communicate to regulate weightPublic release date: 26-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Findings offer a new direction in the pursuit of potential therapies for obesity
BOSTON Maintaining a healthy body weight may be difficult for many people, but it's reassuring to know that our brains and bodies are wired to work together to do just thatin essence, to achieve a phenomenon known as energy balance, a tight matching between the number of calories consumed versus those expended. This careful balance results from a complex interchange of neurobiological crosstalk within regions of the brain's hypothalamus, and when this "conversation" goes awry, obesity or anorexia can result.
Given the seriousness of these conditions, it's unfortunate that little is known about the details of this complex interchange. Now research led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides new insights that help bring order to this complexity. Described in the October 26 issue of the journal Cell, the findings demonstrate how the GABA neurotransmitter selectively drives energy expenditure, and importantly, also help explain the neurocircuitry underlying the fat-burning properties of brown fat.
"Our group has built up a research program with the overall goal of unraveling the 'wiring diagram' by which the brain controls appetite and the burning of calories," says senior author Bradford Lowell, MD, PhD, a Professor of Medicine in BIDMC's Division of Endocrinology and Harvard Medical School. "To advance our understanding to this level, we need to know the function of specific subsets of neurons, and in addition, the upstream neurons providing input to, and the downstream neurons receiving output from, these functionally defined neurons. Until recently, such knowledge in the hypothalamus has been largely unobtainable."
A pearl-sized region that directs a multitude of important functions in the body, the hypothalamus is the brain's control center for energy balance. This balance results when the brain receives feedback signals from the body that communicate the status of fuel stores and then integrates this with input from the external world as well as a person's emotional state to modify feeding behavior and energy expenditure.
In this new study, the researchers investigated a unique population of neurons that are located at the base of the brain in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. "We genetically engineered mice such that they have a specific defect that prevents these neurons from releasing the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA," says Lowell. "Mice with this defect developed marked obesity and, remarkably, their obesity was entirely due to a defect in burning off calories," he explains, adding that food intake was entirely unaffected.
By next engineering another group of mice in which these neurons could be selectively turned on at different times, the team went on to show that the arcuate neurons act through a series of downstream neurons to drive energy expenditure in brown fat. Brown fat has been making headlines lately because many recent studies have revealed that, unlike energy-storing white fat, brown fat burns energy to generate heat. This process is called thermogenesis.
"Energy expenditure mediated by brown adipose tissue is critical in maintaining body weight and prevents diet-induced obesity. Its brain-based regulatory mechanism, however, is still poorly understood," says first author Dong Kong, PhD, an Instructor in Medicine in Lowell's laboratory. "Our discovery of a hypothalamus-based neurocircuit that ultimately controls thermogenesis is an important advance," adds Lowell. The investigators additionally found that when they turned on these neurons, energy expenditure was entirely dependent upon release of GABA. These results reveal that release of GABA from arcuate neurons selectively drives energy expenditure.
"Our findings have greatly advanced our understanding in the control of energy expenditure and have provided novel insights into the pathogenesis of obesity," says Kong.
The unique features of arcuate neurons are important because they could provide an opportunity to experimentally modify the brain's control of energy expenditure. Specifically, neurons receiving GABA-mediated signals from arcuate neurons are likely to play important roles in regulating energy expenditure, but not food intake.
"It is now important to fully delineate the upstream neurons that control these thermogenesis-regulating arcuate neurons, and also the downstream neurons that complete the 'circuit' to brown adipose tissue," Lowell adds. He and his colleagues have identified several specific types of neurons that act downstream of arcuate neurons, but more research is needed to provide a clear and definitive diagram. Such work could uncover new opportunities for pharmacologic interventions that might lead to effective treatments for obesity and its related complications such as diabetes.
###
Study coauthors include BIDMC investigators Qingchun Tong, Chianping Ye, Shuichi Koda, Patrick M. Fuller, Michael J. Krashes, Linh Vong, David P. Olson, and Russelly S. Ray of Harvard Medical School.
This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 DK089044, RO1 DK071051, RO1 DK075632, R37 DK053477, P30DK046200, P30DK057521, P30DK0460200, R01 DK092605) and the American Heart Association (SDG3280017, NS0736313).
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and currently ranks third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
by Bill Snyder | Posted on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 ? 10:25 AM
Heidi Hamm, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology, has won the 2012 Ariens Award from the Dutch Pharmacological Society.
Heidi Hamm, Ph.D.
Hamm is the ninth American, the first woman and the first Vanderbilt pharmacologist to receive the award, which was established in 1984. The 2010 winner, Stanford University?s Brian Kobilka, Ph.D., just won a share of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Hamm was honored by the Dutch Pharmacological Society Oct. 1 at its annual meeting in Amsterdam where she presented the Ariens Lecture. The award is named for the late Dutch pharmacologist, Everhardus Jacobus Ariens, who made important contributions to understanding of the function of receptors.
?Professor Ariens was a founding father of pharmacology as well as medicinal chemistry,? said Hamm, who also holds the endowed Aileen M. Lange and Annie Mary Lyle Chair in Cardiovascular Research.
?In the 1950s, before there was any inkling of the molecular nature of receptors, he introduced the mathematical description of ligand-receptor interactions and the concepts of antagonists, affinity and intrinsic activity,? she said. ?It?s a great honor to be recognized by the Ariens award.?
Hamm is a world leader in G proteins, intracellular molecular switches that translate and transmit signals from membrane-bound G protein-coupled receptors deep inside the cell. Learning how G proteins interact with their receptors could lead to new drugs for disorders as diverse as thrombotic diseases and Alzheimer?s disease.
Hamm has received numerous honors for her research, including a Glaxo Cardiovascular Discovery Award and the Fritz Lipmann Memorial Lectureship at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).
She served as ASBMB president from 2006 to 2008 and last year was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Contact: Bill Snyder, (615) 322-4747 william.snyder@Vanderbilt.Edu
What you're looking at is a droplet of water, frozen in time by powder after a single bounce, captured in super slow motion for your gape-mouthed wonder. It's the work of researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia who specialize in high-speed fluid imaging, which sounds like a pretty awesome job. More »
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? It's a surreal sight residents won't soon forget: A hulking space shuttle strutting down city streets, pausing every so often to get its bearings as it creeps toward retirement.
The Endeavour's terrestrial journey began before dawn Friday when it departed from the Los Angeles International Airport, rolling on a 160-wheeled carrier past diamond-shaped "Shuttle Xing" signs.
Hundreds of camera-toting spectators gaped as the 170,000-pound Endeavour inched by with its tail towering over streetlights and its wings spanning the roadway.
Over two days, it will trundle 12 miles at a top speed of 2 mph to its final destination ? the California Science Center where it will be the centerpiece of a new exhibit.
Janet Dion, a family therapist from nearby Manhattan Beach, marveled at the shuttle, its exterior weathered by millions of miles in space and two dozen re-entries.
"You can sense the magnitude of where it's been," Dion says.
The baby of the shuttle fleet, Endeavour replaced Challenger, which exploded during liftoff in 1986, killing seven astronauts. It thundered off the launch pad 25 times, orbited Earth nearly 4,700 times and racked up 123 million miles.
Get involved in our next Boston first time home buying class if you?re planning to buy in the near future. ?This class is a great opportunity to learn how to buy a home or condo in Boston the right way, saving you time and money.
The home buying process can be a bit intimidating at first, but it doesn?t need to be. ?Join a small group of your home buying peers in a low key setting for a lively and educational class. ?There are usually about 20-25 home buyers in attendance ? enjoying the pizza, beer, and wine we provide to keep the atmosphere casual and fun ? all while picking up some really useful Boston specific real estate and home buying advice. ?After our class, you?ll be well on your way to buying a home or condo in Boston.
The best part ? the class is free to attend. Get more details and RSVP here.
At Charlesgate Realty, one of our core philosophies is to educate clients to make better real estate decisions. ?We conduct regular educational sessions for the public to carry out that goal. ?At this First Time Boston Home Buyer Class we?ll have a mortgage lender and a real estate buyer agent lead the class and discuss topics such as:
Renting vs. Buying: Whether it even makes sense for you to buy right now
Home buying process and timeline: How long it actually takes to buy
Working with an agent: How it works and whether or not you really need one
Listing Agent vs Buyer Agent: What?s the difference and how it impacts your purchase
What mortgages are still available for you to buy a home or condo
How much cash?you need to put?down to buy
Using neighborhood data (like discount ratios & real time trends) to value properties
Negotiating 101: How to craft your offer to drive a hard bargain
Top 10 online resources to aid your home search
This is a great way to learn about the Boston real estate market ? and get a free dinner too! ?Come and bring all your home buying questions ? we?re here to answer them. Get more information and register for our next Boston Home Buying Class on Tuesday, November 6. We hope to see you there!
TOKYO (AP) ? The United States is making progress on getting its fiscal house in order though much more needs to be done, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told fellow financial leaders Saturday. The comment came just hours after the U.S. government announced that the budget deficit had topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year despite a modest improvement thanks to stronger economic growth.
"It is important that we in the U.S. enact a balanced framework to bring down our fiscal deficit and debt over several years, while continuing to provide support for jobs and growth in the short term," Geithner told a meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee during the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank, which is being held in Tokyo.
The Treasury Department said Friday that the deficit for the 2012 budget year totaled $1.1 trillion, though a 6.4 percent increase in tax revenues thanks to stronger growth helped contain the deficit.
The risk of the U.S. running into a "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and deep spending cuts next year unless the Obama administration and Congress resolve a deadlock over the budget has overshadowed the gathering of top financial officials. Such a prospect would deal a heavy blow to the economy, eroding progress made since the 2008 global crisis.
The overwhelming emphasis of the Tokyo gathering has been on coddling fragile growth around the globe. On Friday, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde urged that countries not sacrifice growth for the sake of austerity. The pace of government debt reduction must be tempered by spending to help get the unemployed back to work, she said.
Balancing those sometimes competing priorities is the central puzzle facing policymakers as the world economy slows further, even in dynamic Asia, Lagarde said.
Greece, Spain and other European countries laboring under massive debts have slashed spending and raised taxes, seeking to restore confidence in their public finances and qualify for emergency financing. The economies of financially healthier European countries, such as Germany and Finland, face a potential blow to growth if those troubled economies fail to get their financial houses in order. At the same time, the recovery of the 17-nation grouping that uses the euro could founder if tax increases and spending cuts bite too deeply.
While there seems to be a wide consensus on long-term strategies for reform, there is less agreement on how painful such policies should be in the near term given the persistent risk of recession and surging unemployment.
"One lesson though is clear from history," Lagarde said. "Reducing public debt is incredibly difficult without growth. High debt, in turn, makes it harder to get growth, so it's a very narrow path to be taken."
"It's probably a long path, and one for which there is probably no shortcut either. It's a path that needs to be taken," she said.
Lagarde said monetary policies must encourage banks to lend, while spending cuts are adjusted to the "right pace." Debts must be brought down in the medium term, and structural reforms are needed to sustain growth in the long term, she said.
"That's the package that is needed," Lagarde said. "Let us not delude ourselves. Without growth, the future of the global economy is in jeopardy."
"It's a marathon, not a sprint. It could take years," Lagarde said in an on-camera debate hosted by the British Broadcasting Corp., where she good naturedly traded jibes with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble.
"When you are running the 42 kilometers of a marathon, you can't just stop and turn around and go the other way," Schauble retorted, accusing those who favor going easy on debt reduction of backpedaling on their commitments.
"Increasing public debt does not enhance growth, it damages growth," he said.
Lagarde contended that it was not an issue of reversing commitments but of adjusting the pace to suit each country's unique situation.
The IMF has scaled back its global growth forecast for 2012 to 3.3 percent from 3.5 percent, and has warned that even its dimmer outlook might prove too optimistic if Europe and the United States fail to resolve their crises.
On Friday, the fund said economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region slowed to 5.5 percent in January-June. That is well above the global average, but the lowest for the region since the financial crisis in 2008. The slowdown is largely because of sluggishness in Europe and the U.S. It also noted weakness in China and India, whose dynamism had helped counter weakness elsewhere.
"The global recovery is still too weak. Job prospects for untold millions are still too scarce, and the gap between the rich and the poor is still way too big," Lagarde said.
Europe's darkening economic outlook is drawing calls for more public support even from austerity champion German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She said Thursday that it was incumbent on Germany, whose 0.3 percent growth in the second quarter helped offset a 0.2 percent contraction among the 17-nation grouping that uses the euro, to "do things to stimulate the European economy."
Lagarde has urged that European creditors give Greece an extra two years to meet austerity targets required to get and continue receiving loans, after the country nearly defaulted on its mountain of debt.
Such accommodations would just confuse markets, increasing uncertainty, Schauble said.
In Japan, both Lagarde and Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, have stressed that without greater equity and equality, growth will be unsustainable.
The IMF's mission is threefold ? economic surveillance, advice and providing temporary funding ? while the World Bank's mission is to fight poverty. The bank uses funds from donor members and proceeds from bond sales to provide low-interest loans to developing countries.
During the meetings, Kim has spoken often about the need to ensure food security for the poor at a time when spikes in prices have become routine.
To fortify a "safety net" for crises while supporting improvements to make farming more efficient and sustainable, ministers pledged new funds for the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a trust fund set up in 2010.
Japan and South Korea each promised $30 million in new funding, while the U.S. pledged to contribute an extra $1 for every $2 contributed by other donors, up to a total amount of $475 million. Including those new funds, the fund has financial support of $1.3 billion.
___
Associated Press writer Malcolm Foster contributed to this report.
Motorola isn't going to escape as cleanly as it would like from Microsoft's patent lawsuit campaign. Microsoft has sued Motorola once more in Germany, only this time it's waging a more direct fight against Motorola's owner Google. The lawsuit claims that Motorola devices violate a patent for taking map information from one set and overlaying it with data from another -- a technique that describes Google Maps, not to mention virtually every internet-connected mapping system we know. Details aren't yet available for the devices allegedly at risk, but the accusation would make it harder for Google, Motorola or both to simply code around the problem if they lose. No doubt Microsoft is counting on just that obstacle to have the RAZR maker fall in line with everyone else and take a license just for using Android.
Update: As patent case analyst Florian Mueller notes from his first-hand account, Microsoft quietly filed the lawsuit in April and received its first court hearing today. That's not the biggest news, however: Microsoft amended the lawsuit to include Google itself. While that's virtually necessary under German law to get the testimony Microsoft wants, it also means a rare (if not unique) instance of Microsoft attacking Google directly in court, rather than fighting proxy battles through Android hardware partners.
You may have heard discussions regarding the U.S. approaching a ?Fiscal Cliff? at the end of this year. If you?re a current client of SFA, you heard us start talking about it in June of this year! If Congress doesn?t act, taxes will rise and government spending will shrink starting in January of 2013. These austerity measures could push the U.S. economy into recession in 2013, following Europe?s path.
Many believe this year?s elections could shape the direction of tax policy and government spending for future years; so tax debates are likely to escalate (PLEASE VOTE!!) For our clients who are worried the U.S. cannot continue to run high deficits indefinitely, the fiscal cliff might be welcomed despite it?s extremely aggressive shift toward deficit reduction. However, such abrupt changes almost certainly will have large negative impacts on the economy and the markets, although most everyone agrees that the deficit must be reduced over time.
In the face of these changes, the composition of possible tax increases and their amounts remains uncertain. We are preparing our clients for higher taxes as it?s almost a foregone conclusion that they are on the rise. A solid strategy will address the uncertainly about taxes in the future through an appropriate mix of tactics.
A few considerations include:
Fully funding tax-deferred investments such as IRAs, 401(k) plans and education savings plans.
Roth IRA conversions (?bumping the bracket? strategy)
Moving away from volatile vehicles like stocks and Variable Annuities and into safer strategies such as Indexed Annuities.
Please don?t hesitate to call our office to schedule a time to discuss your current plans and how we can help you make informed, educated decisions in this stressful time. We are always happy to share a cup of coffee and a little information!
~ Larry
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PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia has threatened legal action against two U.S.-funded radio stations, accusing them of favoring opposition parties and promoting U.S. foreign policy, sources said on Thursday.
Representatives of Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA) were called to a closed-door meeting on Wednesday.
The government complained about their coverage of border demarcation issues with Vietnam and the October 1 jailing of a broadcaster and land rights campaigner for "secessionism", two sources who attended the meeting told Reuters.
The dressing-down comes amid criticism by rights groups of the government for leaning on the judiciary to silence the small number of critics in the country who dare to speak out.
RFA and VOA broadcast locally in the Khmer language and are among the few radio stations in Cambodia considered free of government influence.
One source said an official present at the meeting labeled the two broadcasters "rebel and opposition radios".
"They wanted the radio stations to report more about the activities of the government and they don't want RFA to be used as a campaign for opposition parties," the source told Reuters under the condition of anonymity.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan, who chaired the meeting, declined to give details of what took place but said the stations were urged to report responsibly.
"Free press means accuracy, no bias and with professionalism," Phay Siphan said.
Both sources said the two stations were told to change their reporting or face unspecified legal action, adding they were accused of propagating policies of the U.S. State Department.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh declined to comment on the meeting but appeared to back the two stations.
"In general, the United States supports freedom of expression and press, and through their reporting, VOA and RFA seek to epitomize that," the spokeswoman said in an email.
RFA described the meeting as "a blatant attempt to discourage objective reporting on the government".
"The Cambodian government clearly does not understand the principles of a free press or the important role of independent media if it thinks it can intimidate RFA and dictate what we can or cannot report on," U.S.-based spokesman John Estrella said in a statement.
(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Martin Petty)
The Best Free Health and fitness Suggestions On the internet To Your Accomplishment
There are numerous approaches to come to be in shape, so pick one that works for you. Keep reading to find many fitness ideas that will help you carry on and your goals!
You can find lots of benefits to older workout routines that concentrate on conditioning you core. A basic stay up is amazingly efficient at developing your central. An intense core is a vital part of having the capability to work out at any workout with confidence.
Follow an exercise routine routine. Perform your way by way of small barbells to more substantial weights and then on to equipment. It is recommended that when utilizing dumbbells, small muscles practical experience low energy just before greater lean muscle organizations. As your muscle groups get exhausted, it makes sense to go your training session on the equipment, which require significantly less the help of tiny, stabilizer muscle groups.
One particular beneficial reach for exercise is always to press your tongue versus the surface of the mouth through stay-ups or ab crunches. Using this method the muscles situated in your neck area region will stay engaged which results in the right alignment when you are working out your stomach muscles. This could avoid unintentional accidents or awful strains.
There is certainly nothing to worry about if you don?t. A different to the standard physical fitness regimes is cycling. Your commute to operate each day may be improved by cycling a motorcycle. It really is affordable, thrilling and perfect for physical fitness. If the drive to operate is just about 5 miles it must get below thirty minutes or so to get to function, and in the process, you get a two for starters package on workout routines, since you still need to motorcycle home.
Using free of charge weight loads and an exercise bench is a good way to get fit. To reach your goals, you should select the right form of bench. Never ever select a bench that enables your back have the timber under. Benches with this sort will debilitate your backbone.
Swapping your workdesk seat to have an exercise ball might be a wonderful shift, as long as it is possible to balance on the ball safely and securely. This kind of seat allows you to work with the muscles of your own primary and your stability all day extended. There are additional workouts, for example wall squats, that could be carried out with the health and fitness ball during breaks inside your time.
Instead of consuming vending equipment treats and unhealthy treats, carry fresh fresh fruits along to work. When you?re on burst, eat berry or require a go walking outside. This is an easy, healthful method to transform your fitness.
Be sure you consume the right sums of carbohydrates, healthy proteins, and unsaturated body fat, as a way to have a correct diet program. Aim for 45% protein, 35Percent sugars and 20Per cent extra fat. Healthy protein is particularly essential as it helps develop muscle groups through your entire body.
Do not cheat oneself beyond vibrancy plus an optimistic view which will come from physical fitness. Continue to find ways to enhance on your own actually and enjoy the rewards to your quality of life. Take advantage of the advice out of this post as a way to enhance your capacity to get in good shape to levels you experienced in no way dreamed of just before.
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New Weill Cornell Study Provides Compelling Evidence that Commercially Available Electronic Health Records Are Associated with Better Physician Performance
NEW YORK--(ENEWSPF)--October 09, 2012 ? A new study by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, provides compelling evidence that electronic health records (EHRs) enhance the quality of patient care in a community-based setting with multiple payers, which is representative of how medicine is generally practiced across the United States.
The use of EHRs is on the rise, in part because the federal government has invested up to $29 billion in incentives promoting the meaningful use of these systems, with the aim of tracking and improving patient outcomes. Previous studies have provided conflicting evidence about the impact of EHRs, and until now it had been not clear whether they improved the quality of patient care, particularly in typical communities that use commercially available systems.
"The previous studies on the effects of electronic health records in the outpatient setting have been mixed," says the study's lead investigator, Dr. Lisa M. Kern, associate professor of public health and medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. "This is one of the first studies to find a positive association between the use of EHRs and quality of care in a typical community-based setting, using an off-the-shelf electronic health record that has not been extensively tailored and refined. This increases the generalizability of these findings."
"This study starts to grow the evidence that the use of these systems can systematically improve the quality of care, although their maximum value likely lies in their ability to support new health care delivery models," says the study's senior investigator Dr. Rainu Kaushal, director of the Center for Healthcare Informatics and Policy and the Frances and John L. Loeb Professor of Medical Informatics at Weill Cornell Medical College. "The findings of this study lend support to the very significant investments in health information technology that are being made by the federal government, states, and health care providers."
This study was conducted with the Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative (HITEC)? a multi-institutional effort directed by Drs. Kaushal and Kern and funded by New York State, in order to evaluate and assess the impact of New York's health information technology strategy. In 2008, the researchers collected data about the quality of patient care across nine measures from nearly 500 physicians and 75,000 patients in ambulatory practices in the Hudson Valley region of New York, where there has been a concerted effort to implement EHRs. They gathered data from five different health plans, including two national commercial plans, two regional commercial plans and one regional Medicaid health maintenance organization.
"This study reflects data from five different health plans, which is another strength of the study and which is critical for understanding the experiences of patients in the community," says Dr. Kern. "If you only have one health plan, then you will not be seeing the whole picture."
The team found that the 56 percent of physicians who used commercially available EHRs provided significantly better quality of care than physicians using paper records for four measures, including hemoglobin A1c testing in diabetes, breast cancer screening, chlamydia screening and colorectal cancer screening. EHRs typically provide reminders about these clinical tests. Moreover, the combined score across all nine measures indicated that EHRs led to better patient care than paper records.
"EHRs may improve the quality of care by making information more accessible to physicians, providing medical decision-making support in real time and allowing patients and providers to communicate regularly and securely," says Dr. Kaushal. "However, the real value of these systems is their ability to organize data and to allow transformative models of health care delivery, such as the patient-centered medical home, to be layered on top."
To follow up on this study, the researchers plan to determine how the effects of EHRs on patient care vary over time and across different locations in New York, to examine the effects EHRs on the cost of patient care and to work on improving ways to measure the quality of patient care.
This work was supported by the Commonwealth Fund, the Taconic Independent Practice Association, and the New York State Department of Health (contract #C023699).
Co-authors of the study include Yolanda Barr?n, Rina V. Dhopeshwarkar, and Alison Edwards of Weill Cornell Medical College, as well as the HITEC investigators.
Weill Cornell Medical College
Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University's medical school located in New York City, is committed to excellence in research, teaching, patient care and the advancement of the art and science of medicine, locally, nationally and globally. Physicians and scientists of Weill Cornell Medical College are engaged in cutting-edge research from bench to bedside, aimed at unlocking mysteries of the human body in health and sickness and toward developing new treatments and prevention strategies. In its commitment to global health and education, Weill Cornell has a strong presence in places such as Qatar, Tanzania, Haiti, Brazil, Austria and Turkey. Through the historic Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, the Medical College is the first in the U.S. to offer its M.D. degree overseas. Weill Cornell is the birthplace of many medical advances ? including the development of the Pap test for cervical cancer, the synthesis of penicillin, the first successful embryo-biopsy pregnancy and birth in the U.S., the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson's disease, and most recently, the world's first successful use of deep brain stimulation to treat a minimally conscious brain-injured patient. Weill Cornell Medical College is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where its faculty provides comprehensive patient care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The Medical College is also affiliated with the Methodist Hospital in Houston. For more information, visit weill.cornell.edu.
Hooray! Today I'm pleased to share a Student Success Story interview with my former student and now picture book author (and fellow poet) Eileen Meyer. I believe all of you who are aspiring writers will be especially interested in learning about Eileen's path to publication. Eileen's brand-new book, Who?s Faster? Animals on the Move, (Mountain Press) is a nonfiction picture book illustrated by Constance Bergum that introduces readers to 14 different creatures from the animal kingdom.? Written in lyrical prose, the book starts with the slowest animal and builds to the fastest, describing each creature?s unique locomotion.? An informative appendix provides fun facts about animal movement and speed. After reading my interview with Eileen, I hope you'll enter our drawing to win an autographed copy for your children or classroom.?? First, let me tell you a little about Eileen Meyer. In addition to her picture book, Eileen also has a new poem in the recently released sports anthology And the Crowd Goes Wild: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems edited by Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi B. Roemer. (If that title sounds familiar, it's because one of my poems is also in the anthology! I wrote about it in this interview with Heidi.) Eileen's upcoming picture books include Ballpark (Amazon Publishing) and Sweet Dreams, Walrus (Mountain Press). Her poetry has appeared in children?s magazines, including Highlights for Children, Ladybug, and Highlights High Five. She lives in the Chicago area with her family. When she?s not writing or visiting schools, she enjoys reading, watching sports and traveling.? To learn more, visit Eileen's website.? And now, for the interview: ?
1. Eileen, it?s been a long time, maybe 10-12 years, since you took my introductory class in "Writing for Children" at the College of DuPage. Do you recall what inspired you to sign up for the class and/or any ways the class helped you? ????? I remember the first writing course that I took from you with such clarity, Carmela!? My three sons were in preschool and elementary school and we loved to spend hours together reading fabulous contemporary children?s books. So for me, it was my interest in great children?s books that directed me towards your class and prompted me to consider writing for children. Your class was filled with a group of like-minded starry-eyed students and it was an informative introductory program. You encouraged us to join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), to attend programs and network meetings, to learn how to properly critique work, and to consider submitting to the magazine market. These were all excellent pieces of advice for new writers beginning to find their way.
2. I'm so glad you found the class helpful, Eileen. And that you took my advice to heart! In your article in the current SCBWI-Illinois newsletter, you discuss the importance of writing classes in your career development. Would you tell our readers a bit about some of the classes you took and how you found them? ????? When I joined SCBWI, I signed up for many different courses in order to explore and learn more about myself and what I liked to write. Most class offerings were either advertised on the SCBWI-IL website, posted on our Listserv or listed in the College of DuPage Course Catalog. Through Heidi Bee Roemer?s class, "The ABC?s of Children?s Poetry," I not only discovered my interest in writing poetry, but I was able to connect with classmates and form a special poetry critique group. Through Pat Kummer?s program, "Nothing but the Facts: Get the Scoop on Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults," I found that I enjoyed researching and sharing information with young readers. I?ve taken many courses over the years, but Heidi?s and Pat?s classes were critical in my personal development. I encourage new writers to find their own pace by attending a wide array of programs. You never know what course or speaker might expand your horizons. [Speaking of classes, if you live in the Chicago area, you may be interested in a new one I (Carmela) am teaching this Saturday, Oct. 13, from 1-5 pm at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook: "Fundamentals of Writing Fiction for Children and Teens." See my website for details.]
3. Terrific advice, Eileen. Your first publishing credits were poems in children?s magazines. As it happens, both you and I have poems in the recently-released anthology, And the Crowd Goes Wild: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems. Would you tell us about the poem you wrote for that collection??
????? Yes, Carmela, it?s really exciting that a number of Illinois poets have work in the newly released,?And the Crowd Goes Wild: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems. For my sports poem, The Letter, I wanted to combine two interesting themes: first, introduce a situation where a parent is the coach and highlight the awkwardness that may result on occasion, and second, expand upon the concept that we all have had a sports outing where nothing seems to go our way ? one of those days in which absolutely everything goes wrong! I was able to weave these two themes together in a humorous fashion in this poem. Volleyball?s fast-paced action provided the perfect setting for this young player?s all-too-silly mishaps. In addition, it was fun to work outside of my comfort zone and write something humorous.
[Note to readers: Eileen and I will join editor Heidi B. Roemer and 4 other contributors to And the Crowd Goes Wild for a specialBook Launch Party and Poetry Celebration to be held at Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, at 7 pm, Tuesday, October 16, 2012. The event will be especially geared to children ages 6-12, though adults are welcome, too. See the Anderson's website for details. And if you'd like to reserve a copy of the book to have autographed by the poets that evening, be sure to call Anderson's as soon as possible:? 630-355-2665.] ? 4. Would you tell us how you came to write and publish Who?s Faster? Did the book go through a lot of revision between acceptance and publication?
????? My first children?s book,?Who?s Faster? Animals on the Move(Mountain Press), was a project that I wrote during winter 2007. Interestingly enough, I have come to find that the January?March time frame is a very productive one for me. ?I?m not an active winter sports participant, so when I am chased inside by our frigid temperatures, I?ve used my time productively for a number of manuscripts. This project was an outgrowth of the fact that I had found books about fast moving animals, and detailed nonfiction books about particular animals, but there didn?t seem to be a book that represented the broad spectrum of slow-crawling to fast-racing mammals. So I began my research and drafted the manuscript within a few months. I had the work critiqued by two different writing groups that I met with at the time and both groups had excellent ideas for tightening the text, incorporating repetition, and including substantive appendix materials. The manuscript text is less than 350 words, so it was a great experience to carefully reduce the text as much as I could. The appendix was 1000 words and included detailed research.? Additionally, the book was fact-checked by local zoo staff. Once the manuscript was polished and ready to go, I began to submit to a few publishers at a time.? Early on, I received a number of no's but I also had one close call ? the editor noted that he turned it down after quite a bit of deliberation. That was one of my first so-called ?good rejections? and it spurred me on. As it ended up, my lucky 13th submission hit the jackpot. In March of 2009, approximately 2 years after I had finished writing the manuscript, Mountain Press, contacted me about publishing the book.
5. Your story is yet another example of perseverance paying off. I always tell my students how valuable it is to attend events where they can hear editors and agents speak, but I?m not sure they believe me. ? Would you share your story of how attending a conference led to one of your book contracts?
????? I make it a point to attend the fabulous Illinois Prairie Writer?s Day Conference held in mid-November. The line-up of editors and agents is always very compelling. In 2010, I listened to a panel of editors talk about their particular interests for manuscript submissions, and I jotted down notes that one editor was looking for sports-related picture books. A month later, I submitted my manuscript to her, and then I forgot all about it as I immersed myself in other projects. About nine months later, the editor contacted me and asked for a revision to my manuscript, Ballpark. After my resubmission, I was offered a contract for that picture book! This was an opportunity only afforded to conference attendees. SCBWI-IL was critical in opening this door for me to earn my second book contract. 6. On your website, you mention that you didn?t always want to be a writer. Your first career was in business. Has your business experience influenced your writing career in any way? ????? Yes, I previously worked for over 10 years as a software consultant in California and Texas after I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in business. ?I designed training programs, helped market the programs and interfaced extensively with customers.? After my children were born (three in less than two years ? yes, I have twins!) I elected to stay home with my sons and it was a wonderful period in my life. After about six years at home, I decided to write for the children?s magazine and book market, I was glad that I had a varied business background that would aid me in my current efforts. I?ve been able to create and produce some professional looking marketing materials myself ? such as bookmarks, school visit brochures, promotional flyers and then have had other projects such as my website, farmed out to experts after I wrote the copy. As a former professional software trainer, those skills transitioned easily to the classroom as I designed and created new school programs offerings. All in all, it?s been a nice blend of new and old skill sets that I?ve been able to utilize.
Thanks for joining us today, Eileen. I'm always excited to share stories of my students' success.
And now readers, as promised, here's your chance to win an autographed copy of Who?s Faster? Animals on the Move written by Eileen Meyer and illustrated by Constance Bergum. You must follow our TeachingAuthors blog to enter our drawing. If you're not already a follower, you can sign up now in the sidebar to subscribe to our posts via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs.
There are two ways to enter: 1) by a comment posted below OR 2) by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line. Just for the fun of it, tell us what animal you think is the fastest. (This is optional.)
Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your first and last name AND tell us how you follow us. If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted this way: youremail [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment. Contest open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) Tuesday, October 23, 2012. Winners will be announced Wednesday, Oct. 24. Good luck to all!
Happy Writing! Carmela P.S. Don't forget--tomorrow is the last day to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Carolee Dean's paranormal novel in verse, Forget Me Not. See April's post for complete details.
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Public release date: 26-Oct-2012
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