Apr. 27, 2013 ? New research suggests that changes in sex hormones as seen in obesity may have possible effects on the heart. The study by researchers from Belgium, presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Copenhagen, Denmark, suggests effects on heart function in healthy men with artificially raised estrogen levels and artificially lowered testosterone levels to mimic an obese state.
Estradiol, an estrogen, is primarily known as a female hormone but it also circulates at very low levels in men. Testosterone is converted to estradiol by the enzyme aromatase, the activity of which might be increased in obesity leading to raised estradiol and reduced testosterone.
To determine whether obesity might alter heart function via changes in sex hormones, Drs Maarten De Smet and colleagues at Ghent University in Belgium recruited 20 healthy men aged 20-40 and used an aromatase inhibitor and an estrogen patch to artificially alter the hormone levels to mimic sex hormone concentrations in obesity (high estradiol and low testosterone) vs contrast by an aromatase inhibitor (low estradiol, high testosterone). Prof Dr T De Backer, Cardiologist, assessed the heart function before and seven days after the intervention using ultrasonographic imaging with strain analysis, which measures the deformation of the heart between the resting and contracted states.
The men with obesity-related changes in sex hormones exhibited altered heart function. At baseline the global circumferential strain was -17.1% +/-3.9, which decreased significantly to -14% +/-2.5 (p=0.01). The contrasting group did not show any difference.
By artificially altering sex hormones in a small number of healthy men, Drs De Smet and colleagues have shown that an altered sex hormone profile as seen in obesity might be relevant for heart function. Adequately powered clinical trials with sufficient duration may establish the role of sex hormones in the heart function of obese men.
Maarten De Smet, Masters student in Medicine at Ghent University, Belgium, and first author said:
"Obesity is a major contributor to heart disease. By giving an aromatase inhibitor and estrogen to healthy men we mimicked the effect of sex hormones in obesity alone, in isolation from the rest of the obese metabolic state.
"In order to pump blood around the body the heart must fill with blood and then contract, pushing the blood out. We found that after increasing the estrogen levels and decreasing the testosterone levels in men for one week the deformation of the left heart chamber was significantly altered.
"Because the contributing factors to obesity, as well as the underlying biology, are so complicated it's a real challenge to tease apart one single aspect, so we think this study is of particular interest. As these results are from a small number of healthy men over one week, we hope to investigate sex hormone changes and the heart in the obese in the long term."
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The price of oil rose above $94 per barrel Monday as positive U.S. economic data added to optimism for a rate cut in Europe.
By midday in New York, benchmark crude for June delivery was up 90 cents to $93.90 a barrel, after earlier reaching $94.39.
The U.S. government said Americans spent more in March as their incomes went up. And pending home sales hit their highest level in three years. Traders also think the European Central Bank will cut its benchmark interest rate from the current record low of 0.75 percent to 0.50 percent, in a further attempt to turn around the economy there.
A weaker dollar also helped boost oil prices by making crude priced in dollars cheaper for traders using other currencies. On Monday, the euro was up to $1.3082 from $1.3065 late Friday in New York.
Drivers are still shelling out fewer dollars at the gas pump compared with a year ago. The national average for a gallon of regular is $3.50, compared with $3.82 on this date last year.
Brent crude, which is used to price oil from the North Sea used by many U.S. refiners, was up 24 cents to $103.40 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
? Wholesale gasoline fell 1 cent to $2.82 a gallon.
Proposals to open the U.S. East Coast for oil and gas exploration mean an increasingly noisy neighborhood for marine life. David Biello reports
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[audio clip] That's the sound of air gun testing for the presence of oil and gas under the seabed. ?Air gun? is a euphemism for a massive release of compressed air. Don?t like it? Neither does underwater life.
Such testing also isn't a one-off burst of 250-decibel sound louder than a jet engine. For days or even weeks at a time, these guns send a volley of ear-shattering sound through the ocean to impact the seafloor every ten seconds or so. That's nearly 9,000 such bursts per day.
Our mammal cousins, whales and dolphins particularly loathe air guns. Perhaps that's because hundreds of thousands of the animals can be injured by them each year.
As you can imagine, in addition to injuring whales and dolphins through hearing loss, it also puts them off their food and has even been linked to strandings. And it's not just sea mammals. Turtles, fish and other marine creatures are similarly affected as the sound travels for thousands of kilometers.
And this is all before any drilling takes place. If fossil fuel exploration is opened up along the U.S. East Coast, an already noisy neighborhood from ship traffic will get a lot louder.
Candice Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb remained safe on "American Idol" this week.
By Craig Berman, TODAY contributor
In ?American Idol: The Complete Waste of Time? edition on Thursday night, nobody got sent home, Lee DeWyze and Stefano Langone sang live, and Drake came onstage for a homage bit with Candice Glover but not to perform himself. It was like someone challenged the ?Idol? brass to spend one show trying to do everything wrong.
We still got results, as Candice and Amber Holcomb were revealed as the two lowest vote-getters after Wednesday?s show, but in a twist obvious to anyone who owns a calendar and a copy of the TV schedule, it was an elimination-free evening. Otherwise, as Ryan Seacrest explained, the show would finish a week early because the judges never used their save. Somewhere out there, Curtis Finch Jr. is yelling that Nicki Minaj should have stuck to her guns on that March 14 show and stayed off the stage until the other three judges agreed to keep him. Also, take a bow ?Idol?voters, because for now the judges agree that you are perfect.
But not to worry, Ryan said, all of those votes still count. They?ll be added to next Wednesday?s votes and whoever finishes at the bottom is gone for reals. So it?s still good for Kree Harrison that she rebounded to finish in the top two despite some lukewarm feedback, and Angie Miller is still a lock to make the top three.
With all apologies to the live acts, both of whom had their moments, the entertaining portion of the night was limited to a five-minute stretch in the middle of the show that began with Jimmy Iovine discussing being attacked last night.
?So here I am, onstage for the first time in my life on a live TV show, the entire audience is booing me, and from the judges? panel here comes Nicki Minaj coming at me like a middle linebacker,? Jimmy said. ?Turns out that my incredible charm, charisma and style win the day. I gotta tell you something ? I think [Nicki] is sweet on me.?
?Is this a mutual crush?? Ryan asked.
?I didn?t want to tell the world. I was kind of waiting until ?Idol? was over to reveal that my new sugar daddy is Jimmy Iovine,? Nicki said.
Despite Jimmy?s plug, no NFL team selected Nicki in the first round of the NFL Draft, which was airing at the same time on another network. She?s really more of a cornerback or free safety anyway.
Seconds later, just as Candice was grimacing thinking that for the second night in a row everyone was talking about someone else on her designated critique time, Ryan said that Drake couldn?t be there, but had an audio message praising Candice for her performance of his song last night. Just when everyone started thinking ?wow, the sound quality is way better than any ?Idol? phone message replay ever,? he walked out onto the stage, and the reaction of Candice and the other three girls was priceless. He then walked around for awhile, realized that Ryan really was not going to beg him to perform, and went away.
If you missed it, don?t worry. All four ?Idol? finalists will be back next week anyway.
Apr. 25, 2013 ? NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided the first direct evidence of small meteoroids breaking into streams of rubble and crashing into Saturn's rings.
These observations make Saturn's rings the only location besides Earth, the moon and Jupiter where scientists and amateur astronomers have been able to observe impacts as they occur. Studying the impact rate of meteoroids from outside the Saturnian system helps scientists understand how different planet systems in our solar system formed.
The solar system is full of small, speeding objects. These objects frequently pummel planetary bodies. The meteoroids at Saturn are estimated to range from about one-half inch to several yards (1 centimeter to several meters) in size. It took scientists years to distinguish tracks left by nine meteoroids in 2005, 2009 and 2012.
Details of the observations appear in a paper in the Thursday, April 25 edition of Science.
Results from Cassini have already shown Saturn's rings act as very effective detectors of many kinds of surrounding phenomena, including the interior structure of the planet and the orbits of its moons. For example, a subtle but extensive corrugation that ripples 12,000 miles (19,000 kilometers) across the innermost rings tells of a very large meteoroid impact in 1983.
"These new results imply the current-day impact rates for small particles at Saturn are about the same as those at Earth -- two very different neighborhoods in our solar system -- and this is exciting to see," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It took Saturn's rings acting like a giant meteoroid detector -- 100 times the surface area of the Earth -- and Cassini's long-term tour of the Saturn system to address this question."
The Saturnian equinox in summer 2009 was an especially good time to see the debris left by meteoroid impacts. The very shallow sun angle on the rings caused the clouds of debris to look bright against the darkened rings in pictures from Cassini's imaging science subsystem.
"We knew these little impacts were constantly occurring, but we didn't know how big or how frequent they might be, and we didn't necessarily expect them to take the form of spectacular shearing clouds," said Matt Tiscareno, lead author of the paper and a Cassini participating scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "The sunlight shining edge-on to the rings at the Saturnian equinox acted like an anti-cloaking device, so these usually invisible features became plain to see."
Tiscareno and his colleagues now think meteoroids of this size probably break up on a first encounter with the rings, creating smaller, slower pieces that then enter into orbit around Saturn. The impact into the rings of these secondary meteoroid bits kicks up the clouds. The tiny particles forming these clouds have a range of orbital speeds around Saturn. The clouds they form soon are pulled into diagonal, extended bright streaks.
"Saturn's rings are unusually bright and clean, leading some to suggest that the rings are actually much younger than Saturn," said Jeff Cuzzi, a co-author of the paper and a Cassini interdisciplinary scientist specializing in planetary rings and dust at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "To assess this dramatic claim, we must know more about the rate at which outside material is bombarding the rings. This latest analysis helps fill in that story with detection of impactors of a size that we weren't previously able to detect directly."
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras. The imaging team consists of scientists from the United States, England, France and Germany. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For images of the impacts and information about Cassini, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .
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Journal Reference:
Matthew S. Tiscareno, Colin J. Mitchell, Carl D. Murray, Daiana Di Nino, Matthew M. Hedman, J?rgen Schmidt, Joseph A. Burns, Jeffrey N. Cuzzi, Carolyn C. Porco, Kevin Beurle, and Michael W. Evans. Observations of Ejecta Clouds Produced by Impacts onto Saturn?s Rings. Science, 2013; 340 (6131): 460-464 DOI: 10.1126/science.1233524
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire faces a possible voter backlash along with critical ads from gun control advocates following her vote against President Barack Obama's bid to curb gun violence.
According to a survey by Public Policy Polling released Wednesday, Ayotte's approval rating stands at 44 percent, down 15 points since October when the organization last conducted a poll on her. The poll of 933 New Hampshire voters, from April 19 to April 21, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percent.
Fifty percent of those polled said Ayotte's vote against background checks legislation would make them less likely to support her for re-election. Seventy-five percent said they supported background checks.
The survey did not make clear how much, if any, of the decline in her approval rating over six months was attributable to her April 17 vote that helped defeat the bill expanding background checks for gun purchasers.
Still, gun control proponents seized on the poll as a sign of the dangers awaiting members of Congress who vote with the gun lobby against popular legislation like the defeated bill.
"I think we are at a turning point," Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said on Thursday at a breakfast roundtable with reporters hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.
"Lots of senators who thought it was safe to vote against it (gun control) ... aren't so sure anymore," Schumer said.
A gun-control group founded by former Democratic Congresswoman Gabby Giffords of Arizona, who was wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona, began airing radio ads this week in New Hampshire criticizing Ayotte.
The group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, is also sponsoring ads aimed at Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for helping defeat the bipartisan measure to expand background checks, which failed to advance in the U.S. Senate by a six vote margin.
"As Gabby said last week, if we can't keep our communities safe with the Congress we have, we will work to change Congress," said Pia Carusone, executive director of Giffords' group.
Ayotte, elected to the Senate with 60 percent of the vote in 2010, is not up for re-election until 2016.
McConnell faces re-election next year, and a Republican aide brushed off the ads against him.
"It is tough to be too pro-gun in Kentucky," the aide said.
Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said, "New Hampshire is a good bellwether for fallout from the gun vote."
"There's serious backlash from voters toward Kelly Ayotte for how she handled this issue," he said.
EDITORIAL CRITICISM
Ayotte has also drawn editorial criticism in New Hampshire from the Portsmouth Herald, which ripped into the senator with an editorial on Sunday headlined, "If you want gun control, vote Ayotte out of office."
It is unclear what, if any, lasting political damage she has suffered.
Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said, "I suspect this will be old news by 2016."
Ayotte's office noted she offered alternative legislation last week, including measures designed to help keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
Ayotte, one of the few remaining Republican U.S. lawmakers from New England, was the only senator from the region to vote against the bipartisan measure.
"No matter what the system is, if we don't enforce it and prosecute it, then people will still try to violate it and felons will still try to get guns, so I think that's where our focus has to be," she said in an interview on WMUR-TV television station.
Senior Senate Democratic aides said it had been assumed by many in the party that Ayotte might vote for the proposal, but that they had received no assurances from her.
One aide said they expected her to possibly vote yes because veteran Senator John McCain of Arizona has been seen as a mentor of Ayotte, who is in her first term. McCain was among a handful of Senate Republicans who voted for the measure.
(Reporting By Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Fred Barbash and Mohammad Zargham)
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? The investigation into poisoned letters mailed to President Barack Obama and others has shifted from an Elvis impersonator to his longtime foe, and authorities must now figure out if an online feud between the two men might have escalated into something more sinister.
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was released from a north Mississippi jail on Tuesday and charges against him were dropped, nearly a week after authorities charged him with sending ricin-laced letters to the president, Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and an 80-year-old Lee County, Miss., Justice Court judge, Sadie Holland.
Before Curtis left jail, authorities had already descended on the home of 41-year-old Everett Dutschke in Tupelo, a northeast Mississippi town best known as the birthplace of the King himself. On Wednesday, they searched the site of a Tupelo martial arts studio once operated by Dutschke, who hasn't been arrested or charged.
Wednesday evening, hazmat teams packed up and left Dutschke's business. He was at the scene at times during the day. A woman drove off in a green Dodge Caravan parked on the street that had been searched. Daniel McMullen, FBI special agent in charge in Mississippi, declined to speak with reporters afterward.
Dutschke's attorney, Lori Nail Basham, said he is "cooperating fully" with investigators and that no arrest warrant had been issued.
After being released from jail Tuesday, Curtis, who performs as Elvis and other celebrities, described a bizarre, yearslong feud between the two, but Dutschke insisted he had nothing to do with the letters. They contained language identical to that found on Curtis' Facebook page and other websites, making him an early suspect.
Federal authorities have not said what led them to drop the charges against Curtis, and his lawyers say they're not sure what new evidence the FBI has found.
Curtis said he's not sure exactly what led to the bad blood. It involves the men's time working together, a broken promise to help with a book by Curtis and an acrimonious exchange of emails, according to Curtis.
The two worked together at Curtis' brother's insurance office years ago, Curtis said. He said Dutschke told him he owned a newspaper and showed interest in publishing his book called "Missing Pieces," about what Curtis considers an underground market to sell body parts.
But Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Curtis alleged, and later began stalking Curtis on the Internet.
For his part, Dutschke said he didn't even know Curtis that well.
"He almost had my sympathy until I found out that he was trying to blame somebody else," Dutschke said Monday. "I've known he was disturbed for a long time. Last time we had any contact with each other was at some point in 2010 when I threatened to sue him for fraud for posting a Mensa certificate that is a lie. He is not a Mensa member. That certificate is a lie."
Curtis acknowledges posting a fake Mensa certificate on Facebook, but says it was an online trap set up for Dutschke because he believed Dutschke was stalking him online. He knew Dutschke also claimed to be a member of the organization for people with high IQs. Dutschke had a Mensa email address during a legislative campaign he mounted in 2007.
Dutschke started a campaign to prove him a liar, Curtis said, and allegedly harassed him through emails and social networking.
Curtis said the two agreed to meet at one point to face off in person, but Dutschke didn't show up.
"The last email I got from him, was, 'Come back tomorrow at 7 and the results of you being splattered all over the pavement will be public for the world to see what a blank, blank, blank you are.' And then at that point, I knew I was dealing with a coward," Curtis said.
Hal Neilson, one of the attorneys for Curtis, has said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis, and that Dutschke's name came up. Efforts to reach Curtis, his lawyers and his brother were unsuccessful on Wednesday.
Both men say they have met Wicker, and they each have a connection to Holland.
Authorities say the letters were mailed April 8, but the one sent to Holland was the only one to make it into the hands of an intended target. Her son, Democratic state Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville, said his mother did a "smell test" of the envelope and a substance in it irritated her nose. The judge was not sickened by what authorities say was a crude form of the poison, which is derived from castor beans.
Judge Holland has declined to comment on the case.
She was presiding judge in a case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney in 2003. Holland sentenced Curtis to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.
Running as a Republican, Dutschke lost a lopsided election to Steve Holland in 2007, and observers say the judge publicly chastised Dutschke at a political rally that year.
Brandon Presley, Mississippi's northern district public service commissioner and a distant cousin of Elvis Presley, attended the 2007 political rally in Verona. He told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he remembers Dutschke giving a "militant" speech with personal and professional attacks on Steve Holland.
Presley, also a Democrat, said he doesn't recall details of the speech ? just the tone of it, and the crowd's reaction.
"I just remember everybody's jaw dropping," Presley said.
Dutschke said his speech included sharp criticism of Steve Holland's record in public office.
Steve Holland said earlier this week that his mother made Dutschke get down on his knees at the 2007 rally and apologize. On Wednesday, he said he was mistaken about her telling Dutschke to kneel.
"She just got up and said 'Sir, you will apologize," Steve Holland said.
Dutschke said Steve Holland exaggerated the incident. Presley said he remembers Judge Holland chastising Dutschke.
Presley said of the judge: "I don't believe the woman has an enemy in the world.... I don't know anybody who doesn't love Ms. Sadie Holland, except whoever this fool is who sent the letter. Whoever it is, they ought to be ashamed of themselves, picking on Ms. Sadie."
Dutschke ? who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Lee County election commissioner in 2008 ? told AP on Tuesday that he has no problem with Sadie Holland. "Everybody loves Sadie, including me," he said.
On Wednesday, dozens of investigators were searching at a small retail space where neighboring business owners said Dutschke used to operate a martial arts studio. Officers at the scene wouldn't comment on what they were doing.
Investigators in gas masks, gloves and plastic suits emerged from the business carrying five-gallon buckets full of items covered in large plastic bags. Once outside, others started spraying their protective suits with some sort of mist.
Dutschke told the AP on Wednesday morning that he and his wife had gone to a friend's house because they didn't feel safe at their home. He didn't immediately respond to messages Wednesday afternoon.
"They ripped everything out of the house," he said, adding: "I haven't slept at all."
____
Wagster Pettus contributed from Jackson, Miss., and Associated Press writers Jeff Amy and Jay Reeves contributed from Tupelo, Miss.
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To attract, develop and retain a skilled and motivated employee base that will drive the business to achieve its strategic objectives, while enhancing employee development through performance management and training.
Key Responsibilities and Tasks:
Develop and implement the annual HR business plan derived from the Corporate Strategic Plan;
Cascade the HR business plan through performance contracts to all staff in the department;
Proactive manpower planning and recruiting staff;
Develop and implement staff training and development programs;
Coordinate, monitor and evaluate performance management and appraisal processes;
Develop and implement staff motivation and retention initiatives to ensure staff are highly engaged;
Develop, review and maintain appropriate HR practices, policies and procedures;
Assist in corporate strategy development and implementation.
Manage employee relations and grievance process;
Manage the administration and periodical review of compensation and benefits for all staff;
Oversee the activities directed at employee welfare, safety and health;
Ensure an efficient and conducive work environment, housekeeping and general cleanliness;
Ensure all administrative matters related to staff are dealt with in accordance with laid down policies; and
Coach, mentor and develop the HR and Administration team to ensure excellent performance and effective succession planning in the Department.
Skills and Attributes
Academic Qualifications
Must possess a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration, Strategic Management or Human Resources Management
Experience
At least 3 years? experience in HR management,
Skills and competencies
Proven intellectual leadership in managing people and operations;
Proven ability to think strategically and design long term plans;
Strong organisation and coordination skills;
Superior Communication skills both written and oral;
Superior analytical skills;
Superior interpersonal skills;
Good negotiation skills;
Conflict resolution skills
Counseling skills
If you meet the above qualification send your cv to otungakaranja@gmail.com indicating expected salary and availability by 28th April 2013.
Business Development Manager
Reporting to the General Manager? ? Strategy, he successful candidate will be responsible for developing and maintaining Marketing strategies; overseeing all marketing, and promotional activities, proposal writing with key concentration on the public sector. Key Responsibilities;
Overall accountability for the organization?s Marketing Strategies and performance of the marketing function;
Overseeing and growing client portfolio,
Minimum Requirements
Bachelors degree Marketing and at least 3 years experience in a senior management position in Marketing, Marketing firm or agency.
Good proposal writing skills
Key skills include;?
Effective team management,?
Interpersonal skills and ability to work across functions,?
Excellent strategic marketing.
Interested and qualified individuals should forward their applications enclosing detailed curriculum vitae, current salary, expected remuneration,? availability? and three references with a day time telephone contact and send to the following email address: otungakaranja@gmail.com to reach the undersigned not later than April 28, 2013.
As this year?s crop of incoming players, especially those taken in the first two rounds, celebrate their new circumstances, they need to keep one thing in mind.
Several months from now, there?s a chance they will think those circumstances stink.
Rams running back Isaiah Pead fell right into that category last season, despite being the 50th overall pick in the 2012 draft.? Presumed to be the heir apparent to Steven Jackson, Pead became largely forgotten last year, sliding behind seventh-rounder Daryl Richardson.
?Honestly, I would call it miserable,? Pead said of his rookie season, via the University of Cincinnati official website. ?Miserable life.? Miserable four-five months.?
When the season finally ended, Pead packed up and left.
?I took off and I didn?t come back until it was time to,? Pead said.? ?I just wanted to stay out of this area, I came back for a couple days to pack up then all the memories and walking back into my house by myself, had a couple days by myself, I just needed to get out of that area.?
Pead is partially responsible for his misery.? He didn?t deal well with being demoted behind a guy taken 202 spots later, showing up late for a pair of meetings.
?I was literally fed up with football,? Pead said.? ?Not a quitter, not quitting, I was just tired of football.? Tired of practice for the day and I would just lay there play video games and whatnot because it was so miserable, so stressful.?
With a fresh opportunity coming from the departure of Jackson, Pead is ready to turn the page.
?Whole new era, whole new attitude, whole new team, whole new Pead,? Pead said. ??I?m not going to sit and linger on something, but I am one to not forget about a situation.? I am moving on from last year, last year is last year, but I have not forgot about last year.? I wouldn?t call it revenge, but the chip that I put on my shoulder is just a little bigger.?
He needs to perform more than a little better to erase the head start that Richardson earned in 2012.? While Pead finished with 10 carries for 54 yards, Richardson had 98 carries for 475 yards.
Pead also needs to hope the Rams don?t use one of their high draft picks on a rookie who?ll get a chance to in 2013 that which Pead couldn?t in 2012.
Health-care worker visits increase hepatitis B screening rates for Hmong AmericansPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dorsey Griffith dorsey.griffith@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-206-5166 University of California - Davis Health System
First randomized trial finds home-based health education most effective
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) In the first study of its kind, lay health workers increased screening rates for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and knowledge about the disease among a group of Asian Americans, known as the Hmong, UC Davis researchers have found. The study appears online today in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hmong Americans, who originate from the mountainous areas of Laos, are at elevated risk for chronic hepatitis B the major risk factor for liver cancer. They're also at greater risk than either white or other Asian Americans for poor outcomes from liver cancer.
Although Hmong Americans often have health insurance, cultural and language barriers can prevent access to adequate screening for hepatitis B and liver cancer, according to study author Moon Chen Jr., professor and associate director for cancer control at UC Davis, who led the research effort.
"Compared to other Asian Americans, liver cancer tends to be found at a later stage among the Hmong, and the survival rate is very low. While the overall survival rate for liver cancer is 10 percent, Hmong people who are diagnosed with the disease usually live for less than a year, and often for as little as a month or two," said Chen.
"We wanted to decrease the probability of earlier death from liver cancer among the Hmong and increase the probability of earlier detection," said Chen, who is also principal investigator for the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness Research and Training (AANCART), the National Cancer Institute's National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.
In the study, 260 Hmong residents of Sacramento were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received home-based health education about hepatitis B and liver cancer during two visits from workers fluent in Hmong and knowledgeable about the Hmong culture. A second group learned about healthy nutrition and physical activity. The lay health-care workers also assessed participants' knowledge of hepatitis B and liver cancer during their first home visit.
Six months later, study leaders followed up to determine how many participants got HBV screenings and to assess their HBV knowledge.Twenty-four percent of Hmong subjects who learned about hepatitis B and liver cancer were later screened for HBV compared to only 10 percent of those who learned about healthy nutrition and physical activity. Hmong subjects who learned about hepatitis B and liver cancer also were more likely to show significantly greater knowledge about HBV than the control group.
Chronic hepatitis B is endemic in Asia, parts of Africa and Alaska, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the concept of an infectious disease such as hepatitis B is foreign to the Hmong, since there are few terms in their language for biological agents that are not visible to the naked eye. Limited English proficiency and lack of familiarity and confidence in the American health-care system also make it more difficult for the Hmong to receive recommended screenings and timely diagnoses for diseases such as liver cancer, according to Chen.
By using lay educators familiar with both the Hmong culture and language, and training them about hepatitis B and liver cancer, the UC Davis researchers overcame obstacles to HBV screening among the Hmong, Chen said. The health workers were recruited from two respected organizations in the Hmong Sacramento community, the Hmong Women's Heritage Association and the Hmong Cultural Council of Butte County, which increased the probability that the educators would be welcomed into the homes of the Hmong, said Dao Fang, project manager for the UC Davis study.
"It's often difficult for the Hmong to get good medical care not only because of their limited English proficiency, but also because there are often no trained interpreters on hand in community health-care provider settings. Hmong patients also don't know how to request an interpreter," said Fang, who is also program manager and research director at the Hmong Women's Heritage Association in Sacramento. "We were able to give the Hmong in our study a brochure that they could use to request a hepatitis B screening during their health-care visits."
Although the health-care worker visits boosted screening rates for hepatitis B among the Hmong, use of this approach as an outreach tool would require an intensive effort, Chen acknowledged. Another effective way to increase the screening rates for HBV among the Hmong would be to work with health-care providers to encourage them to suggest HBV screenings to their Hmong patients, he noted.
In the UC Davis study, having visited a doctor within the last year or having a doctor suggest hepatitis B screening was a strong predictor of a patient getting screened.
"In this and previous studies we have found that one of the most influential factors in predicting getting screened for HBV is the recommendation of a health-care provider," Chen said.
###
The UC Davis research was funded by the National Cancer Institute's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, grants P01 CA109091-A1 and U54CA153499.
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of more than 6 million people. Its specialists provide compassionate, comprehensive care for more than 9,000 adults and children every year, and access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time. Its innovative research program engages more than 280 scientists at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Jackson Laboratory (JAX West), whose scientific partnerships advance discovery of new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Through the Cancer Care Network, UC Davis collaborates with a number of hospitals and clinical centers throughout the Central Valley and Northern California regions to offer the latest cancer care. Its community-based outreach and education programs address disparities in cancer outcomes across diverse populations. For more information, visit cancer.ucdavis.edu.
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Health-care worker visits increase hepatitis B screening rates for Hmong AmericansPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dorsey Griffith dorsey.griffith@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-206-5166 University of California - Davis Health System
First randomized trial finds home-based health education most effective
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) In the first study of its kind, lay health workers increased screening rates for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and knowledge about the disease among a group of Asian Americans, known as the Hmong, UC Davis researchers have found. The study appears online today in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Hmong Americans, who originate from the mountainous areas of Laos, are at elevated risk for chronic hepatitis B the major risk factor for liver cancer. They're also at greater risk than either white or other Asian Americans for poor outcomes from liver cancer.
Although Hmong Americans often have health insurance, cultural and language barriers can prevent access to adequate screening for hepatitis B and liver cancer, according to study author Moon Chen Jr., professor and associate director for cancer control at UC Davis, who led the research effort.
"Compared to other Asian Americans, liver cancer tends to be found at a later stage among the Hmong, and the survival rate is very low. While the overall survival rate for liver cancer is 10 percent, Hmong people who are diagnosed with the disease usually live for less than a year, and often for as little as a month or two," said Chen.
"We wanted to decrease the probability of earlier death from liver cancer among the Hmong and increase the probability of earlier detection," said Chen, who is also principal investigator for the Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness Research and Training (AANCART), the National Cancer Institute's National Center for Reducing Asian American Cancer Health Disparities.
In the study, 260 Hmong residents of Sacramento were randomly assigned to two groups. One group received home-based health education about hepatitis B and liver cancer during two visits from workers fluent in Hmong and knowledgeable about the Hmong culture. A second group learned about healthy nutrition and physical activity. The lay health-care workers also assessed participants' knowledge of hepatitis B and liver cancer during their first home visit.
Six months later, study leaders followed up to determine how many participants got HBV screenings and to assess their HBV knowledge.Twenty-four percent of Hmong subjects who learned about hepatitis B and liver cancer were later screened for HBV compared to only 10 percent of those who learned about healthy nutrition and physical activity. Hmong subjects who learned about hepatitis B and liver cancer also were more likely to show significantly greater knowledge about HBV than the control group.
Chronic hepatitis B is endemic in Asia, parts of Africa and Alaska, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the concept of an infectious disease such as hepatitis B is foreign to the Hmong, since there are few terms in their language for biological agents that are not visible to the naked eye. Limited English proficiency and lack of familiarity and confidence in the American health-care system also make it more difficult for the Hmong to receive recommended screenings and timely diagnoses for diseases such as liver cancer, according to Chen.
By using lay educators familiar with both the Hmong culture and language, and training them about hepatitis B and liver cancer, the UC Davis researchers overcame obstacles to HBV screening among the Hmong, Chen said. The health workers were recruited from two respected organizations in the Hmong Sacramento community, the Hmong Women's Heritage Association and the Hmong Cultural Council of Butte County, which increased the probability that the educators would be welcomed into the homes of the Hmong, said Dao Fang, project manager for the UC Davis study.
"It's often difficult for the Hmong to get good medical care not only because of their limited English proficiency, but also because there are often no trained interpreters on hand in community health-care provider settings. Hmong patients also don't know how to request an interpreter," said Fang, who is also program manager and research director at the Hmong Women's Heritage Association in Sacramento. "We were able to give the Hmong in our study a brochure that they could use to request a hepatitis B screening during their health-care visits."
Although the health-care worker visits boosted screening rates for hepatitis B among the Hmong, use of this approach as an outreach tool would require an intensive effort, Chen acknowledged. Another effective way to increase the screening rates for HBV among the Hmong would be to work with health-care providers to encourage them to suggest HBV screenings to their Hmong patients, he noted.
In the UC Davis study, having visited a doctor within the last year or having a doctor suggest hepatitis B screening was a strong predictor of a patient getting screened.
"In this and previous studies we have found that one of the most influential factors in predicting getting screened for HBV is the recommendation of a health-care provider," Chen said.
###
The UC Davis research was funded by the National Cancer Institute's Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, grants P01 CA109091-A1 and U54CA153499.
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute-designated center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of more than 6 million people. Its specialists provide compassionate, comprehensive care for more than 9,000 adults and children every year, and access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time. Its innovative research program engages more than 280 scientists at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Jackson Laboratory (JAX West), whose scientific partnerships advance discovery of new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Through the Cancer Care Network, UC Davis collaborates with a number of hospitals and clinical centers throughout the Central Valley and Northern California regions to offer the latest cancer care. Its community-based outreach and education programs address disparities in cancer outcomes across diverse populations. For more information, visit cancer.ucdavis.edu.
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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.
Are you still scratching your head over what a particle accelerator like the Large Hadron Collider actually does? Don't feel bad, the LHC is the most complicated piece of scientific equipment mankind has ever built. And unless you're a physicist, you'll probably never understand its intricacies. But if you're curious, take a few minutes to watch this animated Particle Accelerator 101 by Don Lincoln. You won't be applying for a job at CERN afterwards, but you should at least get the gist of what's going on at the LHC. [YouTube via Geekosystem] More »
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The BeagleBone might be just the piece of kit for the DIY set itching to boot Linux in 10 seconds, but the freshly unveiled BeagleBone Black packs an even greater punch -- and the same speedy start times -- at just half the price of its predecessor. The $45 credit card-sized package totes a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, 3D graphics accelerator, a pair of PRU 32-bit RISC CPUs, 2GB of built-in storage, a microSD slot and 512MB of RAM. Connectivity-wise, the canine-themed board carries support for USB, Ethernet, micro-HDMI and two 46 pin headers. Those pining for hardware flexibility can make use of the platform's existing "cape" hardware add-ons. Though it ships from Texas Instruments with Angstrom Linux on board, it's also tuned to support Android and Ubuntu, and arrives pre-loaded with the Cloud9 IDE. BeagleBone Black is already up for grabs in limited quantities, but it's expected to ship en masse by the end of May. Hit the second source link to start ordering, or head past the break for a video tour of the pint-sized computer.
By Gregory Blachier MONTE CARLO, April 21 (Reuters) - Rafael Nadal admitted he is still trying to recapture his best form but remained optimistic for the French Open after losing his Monte Carlo crown to Novak Djokovic on Sunday. Nadal, who returned to action in March after seven months out with injury, went down 6-2 7-6 to the Serbian world number one, ending his eight-year reign on the principality's clay. "I need to put in a little bit more physical performance," the Spaniard told a news conference. "That's the real thing - to play all the points with the same intensity. ...
BOSTON (AP) ? Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lay hospitalized in serious condition under heavy guard Saturday ? apparently in no shape to be interrogated ? as investigators tried to establish the motive for the deadly attack and the scope of the plot.
People across the Boston area breathed easier the morning after Tsarnaev, 19, was pulled, wounded and bloody, from a tarp-covered boat in a Watertown backyard. The capture came at the end of a tense day that began with his 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, dying in a gunbattle with police.
There was no immediate word on when Tsarnaev might be charged and what those charges would be. The twin bombings killed three people and wounded more than 180.
The most serious charge available to federal prosecutors would be the use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill people, which carries a possible death sentence. Massachusetts does not have the death penalty.
President Barack Obama said there are many unanswered questions about the bombing, including whether the Tsarnaev brothers ? ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who had been in the U.S. for about a decade and lived in the Boston area ? had help from others. The president urged people not to rush judgment about their motivations.
U.S. officials said an elite interrogation team would question the Massachusetts college student without reading him his Miranda rights, something that is allowed on a limited basis when the public may be in immediate danger, such as instances in which bombs are planted and ready to go off.
The American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern about that possibility. Executive Director Anthony Romero said the legal exception applies only when there is a continued threat to public safety and is "not an open-ended exception" to the Miranda rule, which guarantees the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.
The federal public defender's office in Massachusetts said it has agreed to represent Tsarnaev once he is charged. Miriam Conrad, public defender for Massachusetts, said he should have a lawyer appointed as soon as possible because there are "serious issues regarding possible interrogation."
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Saturday afternoon that Tsarnaev was in serious but stable condition and was probably unable to communicate. Tsarnaev was at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where 11 victims of the bombing were still being treated.
"I, and I think all of the law enforcement officials, are hoping for a host of reasons the suspect survives," the governor said after a ceremony at Fenway Park to honor the victims and survivors of the attack. "We have a million questions, and those questions need to be answered."
The all-day manhunt Friday brought the Boston area to a near standstill and put people on edge across the metropolitan area.
The break came around nightfall when a homeowner in Watertown saw blood on his boat, pulled back the tarp and saw a bloody Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding inside, police said. After an exchange of gunfire, he was seized and taken away in an ambulance.
Raucous celebrations erupted in and around Boston, with chants of "USA! USA!" Residents flooded the streets in relief four days after the two pressure-cooker bombs packed with nails and other shrapnel went off.
Michael Spellman said he bought tickets to Saturday's Red Sox game at Fenway Park to help send a message to the bombers.
"They're not going to stop us from doing things we love to do," he said, sitting a few rows behind home plate. "We're not going to live in fear."
During the long night of violence leading up to the capture, the Tsarnaev brothers killed an MIT police officer, severely wounded another lawman and took part in a furious shootout and car chase in which they hurled explosives at police from a large homemade arsenal, authorities said.
"We're in a gunfight, a serious gunfight. Rounds are going and then all of the sudden they see something being thrown at them and there's a huge explosion," Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau said Saturday of the melee.
The chief said one of the explosives was the same type used during the Boston Marathon attack, and authorities later recovered a pressure cooker lid that had embedded in a car down the street. He said the suspects also tossed two grenades before Tamerlan ran out of ammunition and police tackled him.
But while handcuffing him, officers had to dive out of the way as Dzhokhar drove the carjacked Mercedes at them, Deveau said. The sport utility vehicle dragged Tamerlan's body down the block, he said. Police initially tracked the escaped suspect by a blood trail he left behind a house after abandoning the Mercedes, negotiating his surrender hours later after an area resident saw blood and found the suspect huddled in his boat.
Chechnya, where the Tsarnaev family has roots, has been the scene of two wars between Russian forces and separatists since 1994. That spawned an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings in Russia and the region, although not in the West.
Investigators have not offered a motive for the Boston attack. But in interviews with officials and those who knew the Tsarnaevs, a picture has emerged of the older one as someone embittered toward the U.S., increasingly vehement in his Muslim faith and influential over his younger brother.
The Russian FSB intelligence service told the FBI in 2011 about information that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam, two law enforcement officials said Saturday.
According to an FBI news release, a foreign government said that Tamerlan Tsarnaev appeared to be strong believer and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the U.S. for travel to the Russian region to join unspecified underground groups.
The FBI did not name the foreign government, but the two officials said it was Russia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the matter publicly.
The FBI said that in response, it interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and relatives, and did not find any domestic or foreign terrorism activity. The bureau said it looked into such things as his telephone and online activity, his travels and his associations with others.
An uncle of the Tsarnaev brothers said he had a falling-out with Tamerlan over the man's increased commitment to Islam.
Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., said Tamerlan told him in a 2009 phone conversation that he had chosen "God's business" over work or school. Tsarni said he then contacted a family friend who told him Tsarnaev had been influenced by a recent convert to Islam.
Tsarni said his relationship with his nephew basically ended after that call.
As for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, "he's been absolutely wasted by his older brother. I mean, he used him. He used him for whatever he's done," Tsarni said.
Albrecht Ammon, a downstairs-apartment neighbor of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in Cambridge, said in an interview that the older brother had strong political views about the United States. Ammon quoted Tsarnaev as saying that the U.S. uses the Bible as "an excuse for invading other countries."
Tamerlan Tsarnaev studied accounting as a part-time student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston for three semesters from 2006 to 2008, the school said. He was married with a young daughter. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
As of Saturday, more than 50 victims of the bombing remained hospitalized, three in critical condition.
___
Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie and Steve Peoples in Boston; Mike Hill in Watertown, Mass.; Colleen Long in New York; Pete Yost in Washington; Eric Tucker in Montgomery Village, Md.; and AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen in Boston contributed to this report.
The House is pushing forward in an effort to block a United Nations-related group from potentially allowing countries to censor the Internet, before an international showdown this fall.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a draft bill, with little fanfare last week, that repeated a claim that ?it is the policy of the United States to preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet.?
Congress had passed a resolution to that effect last year, but now it?s seeking to get an official law on the books before a big international conference in October in South Korea.
Some contentious language was struck from the bill that might have affected the current policy of net neutrality, which allows the federal government to make sure Internet providers provide equal access to companies that want to stream video and other content.
But the basic gist of the bill was to make sure a message was sent to U.N.-sponsored International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Last December, the United States and its key allies didn?t sign a draft ITU treaty in Dubai that proposed that individual nations had the power to potentially censor the Internet.
The last-second addition of wording about the rights of all nations to have a role in controlling the Internet sparked outrage from Western nations.
This February, departing Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell warned the House committee that the ITU had plans that weren?t in the best interest of the United States.
?Last year?s bipartisan and unanimous congressional resolutions clearly opposing expansions of international powers over the Internet reverberated throughout the world and had a positive and constructive effect,? he said.
?The dramatic encroachments on Internet freedom secured in Dubai will serve as a stepping stone to more international regulation of the Internet in the very near future. The result will be devastating even if the United States does not ratify these toxic new treaties,? he added.
McDowell said the meeting this fall in South Korea will be ?literally a constitutional convention? to ?define the ITU?s mission for years to come. Its constitution will be rewritten and a new Secretary General will be elected. This scenario poses both a threat and an opportunity for Internet freedom. The outcome of this massive treaty negotiation is uncertain, but the momentum favors those pushing for more Internet regulation.?
The ITU is seeking to update a 1988 document called the International Telecommunication Regulations Treaty. It is considering controls over the Internet as an expansion of its current mandate over telephones, television, and radio networks.
A late nonbinding provision tacked on to the treaty last year stated: ?The Internet is a central element of the infrastructure of the information economy, and recognizes that all governments should have an equal role and responsibility for international Internet governance, the security and stability of the Internet, and its future development.?
The addendum was sponsored by a bloc of African nations, and Iran led the effort to get it passed by a majority vote.
At the time, formerU.S. ambassador Terry Kramer bluntly said his country had no interest in signing the treaty.
?The Internet has given the world unimaginable economic and social benefit during these past 24 years. All without U.N. regulation,? Kramer said.
The event was serious enough that in a highly charged partisan environment of Washington, the Obama administration, top Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and even top tax fighter Grover Norquist all agreed the Internet should be kept free when it comes to access and taxes.
In reality, some countries already block Web access, but an official mandate to let ITU members control how Internet access points are assigned and monitored would make the whole process much easier to manage?and censor.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages domains and controls the Internet?s backbone. ICANN operates as a nonprofit company at the direction of the U.S. Department of Commerce. (Prior to 1998, the U.S. government managed Internet domain names directly.)
Some critics say the real issue is a power grab by the ITU (and the U.N.) to take ICANN away from any swaying influence exerted on it by the U.S. government.
Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of Constitution Daily.
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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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