Early-life traffic-related air pollution exposure linked to hyperactivity

May 21, 2013 ? Early-life exposure to traffic-related air pollution was significantly associated with higher hyperactivity scores at age 7, according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The research is detailed in a study being published Tuesday, May 21, in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The research was conducted by faculty members from the UC College of Medicine's Department of Environmental Health in collaboration with Cincinnati Children's. Nicholas Newman, DO, director of the Pediatric Environmental Health and Lead Clinic at Cincinnati Children's, was the study's first author.

"There is increasing concern about the potential effects of traffic-related air pollution on the developing brain," Newman says. "This impact is not fully understood due to limited epidemiological studies.

"To our knowledge, this is the largest prospective cohort with the longest follow-up investigating early life exposure to traffic-related air pollution and neurobehavioral outcomes at school age." Scientists believe that early life exposures to a variety of toxic substances are important in the development of problems later in life.

Newman and his colleagues collected data on traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) from the Cincinnati Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution Study (CCAAPS), a long-term epidemiological study examining the effects of traffic particulates on childhood respiratory health and allergy development. Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, CCAAPS is led by Grace LeMasters, PhD, of the environmental health department. Study participants -- newborns in the Cincinnati metropolitan area from 2001 through 2003 -- were chosen based on family history and their residence being either near or far from a major highway or bus route.

Children were followed from infancy to age 7, when parents completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 2nd Edition (BASC-2), assessing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related symptoms including attention problems, aggression, conduct problems and atypical behavior. Of the 762 children initially enrolled in the study, 576 were included in the final analysis at 7 years of age.

Results showed that children who were exposed to the highest third amount of TRAP during the first year of life were more likely to have hyperactivity scores in the "at risk" range when they were 7 years old. The "at risk" range for hyperactivity in children means that they need to be monitored carefully because they are at risk for developing clinically important symptoms.

"Several biological mechanisms could explain the association between hyperactive behaviors and traffic-related air pollution," Newman says, including narrowed blood vessels in the body and toxicity in the brain's frontal cortex.

Newman notes that the higher air pollution exposure was associated with a significant increase in hyperactivity only among those children whose mothers had greater than a high school education. Mothers with higher education may expect higher achievement, he says, affecting the parental report of behavioral concerns.

"The observed association between traffic-related air pollution and hyperactivity may have far-reaching implications for public health," Newman says, noting that studies have shown that approximately 11 percent of the U.S. population lives within 100 meters of a four-lane highway and that 40 percent of children attend school within 400 meters of a major highway.

"Traffic-related air pollution is one of many factors associated with changes in neurodevelopment, but it is one that is potentially preventable."

LeMasters, Patrick Ryan, PhD, Linda Levin, PhD, David Bernstein, MD, Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, James Lockey, PhD, Manuel Villareal, MD, Tiina Reponen, PhD, Sergey Grinshpun, PhD, Heidi Sucharew, PhD, and Kim Dietrich, PhD, were co-authors of the study.

Funding was provided by NIEHS and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/puxdw3mCYNE/130521011234.htm

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Affordable National Flood Insurance Plan still being sought - WWL-TV

wwltv.com

Posted on May 21, 2013 at 2:28 PM

Updated yesterday at 3:50 PM

WWLTV.com
Email: webteam@wwltv.com | Twitter: @WWLTV

Depending on the location of your home or business and depending on whether you pay a subsidized or grandfathered flood insurance rate, what you owe has either already gone up or will be going up soon.

Oh, and your rate could either go up a little or an exorbitant amount.

Confused?

You?re not alone.

One thing that is clear is that many should be worried about the affordability of the rate increases, something that has both of Louisiana?s senators concerned.

The rate increases, of which some began in January, are tied to the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, which was passed into law in last July as part of the larger Transportation Bill. It?s meant to make the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) sustainable in the face of increasingly expensive natural disasters.

The rates are slated to go up either 20 or 25 percent depending on whether the insurance is subsidized or grandfathered. According to an aide for Sen. Mary Landrieu D-La., a subsidized rate is one that covers a building built before the NFIP issued a flood rate map in the community where the property sits. A grandfathered rate, on the other hand, was granted to policies that were built to code based on a prior flood rate map after a new one was released.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is tasked with re-working flood maps, something that?s currently happening in the greater New Orleans area.

In other words, a home could see the double effect of having its flood insurance raise because of the Biggert-Waters Act and the FEMA flood mapping update. The 20 or 25 percent increase will be based on what the new flood map says rather than the old rate. If the property is found to be farther beneath the flood level than before, the rate will go up more than if it?s found to be above flood level.
Landrieu along with Sen. David Vitter R-La., are concerned the stabilization of the program could come out of the wallets of their constituents, some of whom can?t afford it.

And Tuesday, Landrieu submitted reform legislation to delay premium increases while also repealing provisions meant to keep home owners from including the subsidized rates in a sale.

Landrieu already has sponsored an amendment, which Vitter co-sponsored, that would have delayed the rate increase until the Federal Emergency Management Program finished an affordability study and the results studied.

That bill, however, didn?t make it after Sen. Pat Toomey R-Pa., objected to a vote on it.

As it stands the timeline remains.

• Beginning this past January, second homes that were receiving subsidized insurance rates saw 25 percent increase from their base rate.
• In October, businesses as well as those buildings deemed to be severe repetitive loss properties will see a 25 percent increase.
• And beginning in October 2014, those properties whose rates are considered grandfathered will begin to rise 20 percent per year.

All of those rates will rise until they reach their full, true risk.

Additionally, prior rates won?t be transferred upon sale or lapse of policy; the rates will immediately rise to the full-risk amount.

This could make selling a house more difficult, certainly a worry for homeowners, a Landrieu aide said.

At issue, at least in part, is the FEMA maps aren?t taking into full account the local levees and protection systems because they?re not federally certified, another Landrieu staffer said.

Landrieu already has announced in the Senate plans to file more amendments to help fix what she believes is a problem with the way the NFIP currently exists. Landrieu has not released full details of what her plan would entail to take pressure off policyholders while also keeping the NFIP properly funded, though part of it includes FEMA including non-federal levees and protection systems in their mapping.

Source: http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/Affordable-National-Flood-Insurance-Plan-still-being-sought-208365791.html

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Not So Fast: Beyonce & Jay-Z Respond to Pregnancy Reports

The media seems pretty convinced that Beyonce is pregnant, with both E! News and the New York Post independently confirming the baby rumor. Of course, the only people who can really confirm it are Beyonce and Jay-Z -- and right now, they're denying it all.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/beyonce-jay-z-deny-pregnancy-reports/1-a-536830?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Abeyonce-jay-z-deny-pregnancy-reports-536830

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LG Optimus F3 leaks with 4-inch screen and Jelly Bean, allegedly headed to Sprint

As was the case with another LG device recently, the Optimus F3 is making an appearance before going official. Today we're getting an early look at what appears to be an entry-level member of the Optimus family, courtesy of @eveleaks, and one which will reportedly join Sprint's smartphone lineup pretty soon. Among the alleged specs said are a 4-inch WVGA display, 2,460mAh battery, LTE capabilities and one of the latest versions of Android -- Jelly Bean (4.1.2). Meanwhile, precise availability and pricing deets are still unknown, but, if all goes according to Phone Arena, we'll find all that out here "in the next few weeks."

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

Comments

Source: Phone Arena

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/5BoEFhQXZ30/

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Single-cell transfection tool enables added control for biological studies

May 21, 2013 ? Northwestern University researchers have developed a new method for delivering molecules into single, targeted cells through temporary holes in the cell surface. The technique could find applications in drug delivery, cell therapy, and related biological fields.

Bulk electroporation -- a technique used to deliver molecules into cells through reversible nanopores in the cell membrane that are caused by exposing them to electric pulses -- is an increasingly popular method of cell transfection. (Cell transfection is the introduction of molecules, such as nucleic acids or proteins, into a cell to change its properties.)

However, because bulk electroporation applies electric pulses to a bulk cell solution, it results in heterogeneous cell populations and often low cell viability. To solve these problems, Northwestern University researchers have developed a novel tool for single-cell transfection.

The new method, called nanofountain probe electroporation (NFP-E), allows researchers to deliver molecules into targeted cells through temporary nanopores in the cell membrane created by a localized electric field applied to a small portion of the cell. The method enables researchers to control dosage by varying the duration of the electric pulses, which provides unprecedented control of cell transfection.

"This is really exciting," said Horacio Espinosa, James and Nancy Farley Professor of Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and one of the paper's authors. "The ability to precisely deliver molecules into single cells is needed for biotechnology researchers to advance the state-of-the-art in therapeutics, diagnostics, and drug delivery toward the promise of personalized medicine."

A paper describing the research, "Nanofountain Probe Electroporation (NFP-E) of Single Cells," was published May 7 in the journal Nano Letters.

NFP-E is based on nanofountain probe (NFP) technology developed in Espinosa's lab. The NFP-E chip consists of an array of microfabricated cantilever probes with integrated microfluidic channels. The probe has previously been used for high-speed nanopatterning of proteins and nanoparticles for drug delivery studies.

The new single-cell transfection application couples the probe with an electrode and fluid control system that can be easily connected to a micromanipulator or atomic force microscope for position control. This integrated system allows the entire transfection process and post-transfection cell response to be monitored by an optical microscope.

The NFP-E system is being developed for commercialization by iNfinitesimal LLC, a Northwestern spin-off company founded by Espinosa, and is expected to be available in late 2013.

The technique is proving to be extremely robust and multi-functional. Researchers have used the NFP-E chip to transfect HeLa cells with polysaccharides, proteins, DNA hairpins, and plasmid DNA with single-cell selectivity, high transfection efficiency (up to 95%), qualitative dosage control, and very high viability (up to 92%).

In addition to Espinosa, authors of the research paper include Wonmo Kang, Fazel Yavari, Majid Minary-Jolandan, Juan P. Giraldo-Vela, Asmahan Safi, Rebecca McNaughton, and Victor Parpoil. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/fvRiDBGoeR4/130521132223.htm

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Star Trek Into Darkness: The Spoiler FAQ

After making a mere $84 million at the U.S. box office, Star Trek Into Darkness is considered by some to be a disappointment. Perhaps the problem is that it was a touch confusing. To help our readers better understand it, we've complied and answered these Frequently Asked Questions about the movie.

Maximum spoilers ahead...

How does the movie start?

Well, with Kirk and Bones fucking with a planet of primitive aliens. They steal some kind of holy scroll, and then get chased through a red jungle.

Seems like kind of a dick move.

Well, it?s not very clear, but ostensibly they?ve stolen the scroll to get chased, in order to draw the aliens away from a volcano that?s about to explode.

Okay, that seems reasonable.

Except that 1) when the volcano erupts, it?s going to kill everybody on the planet, so it hardly matters where they are, and 2) Spock is getting dropped down into the volcano to set off a cold fusion bomb.

Wait, what?

Yeah, he sets off the cold fusion bomb and all the lava freezes.

You know cold fusion isn?t actually cold, right? It?s only ?cold? in the sense that opposed to regular fusion it?s not a bazillion degrees hot.

Huh.

And did you say Spock was in the volcano? Why the hell didn?t they just beam the bomb in there?

Um, something about the planet?s magnetic field. Although they do beam Spock out of the volcano just a few minutes later, so?

And why did Spock have to go with the bomb to set it off? Are you telling me in the 23^rd century that people don?t have a way to detonate bombs remotely? That?s stupid.

Well ?

And why the fuck is the Enterprise just carrying around a cold fusion suitcase bomb anyways?

Look, you?re getting very upset, and this is just the first scene of the movie.

Okay, fine. What happens next?

Well, Spock?s zipline breaks, so he?s stuck in the volcano, The Enterprise is underwater, so Kirk can?t ascend without the aliens seeing it, thus breaking the Prime Directiv ?

WHAT.

The Enterprise is parked in the ocean.

That?s ridiculous. Even the ship designed to function in the vacuum of space could handle the pressures underwater ? which I?m 99% sure it can?t ? even if the thrusters could function underwater, which makes no sense ? and even if the ship could survive flying out of the water without the insanely large surface area of the front part snapping off like a twig ? why the fucking fuck did they park it underwater instead of just hanging out in space like they were supposed to?!

Because J.J. Abrams saw the Helicarrier scene from Avengers and got jealous, I guess.

Look, I know Star Trek is science fiction, but hasn?t Trek always at least nominally tried to get science right? Shouldn?t a Star Trek movie give the tiniest shit about such things?

One might presume.

UGH.

Let?s just move on. So Kirk rescues Spock, breaks the Prime Directive by showing themselves to the aliens, the aliens start worshipping the Enterprise, Spock sends a report to Starfleet on what happened, Kirk gets busted, Kirk is removed as Captain of the Enterprise.

What?

Yeah. You know how the first movie was all about Kirk?s journey from a rebellious kid to a more mature leader of men?

Yeah?

Well, we?re doing that again!

I repeat, UGH.

Meanwhile, Rose?s boyfriend Mickey from Doctor Who puts a ring in a glass and blows up the Starfleet library in London.

Why does he do that?

In exchange for Benedict Cumberbatch saving his sick kid. This forces all the Starfleet bigwigs ? including Pike, who?s reinstated as the captain of the Enterprise ? and Kirk, who becomes Pike?s first officer ? to meet at very specific room with large windows at Starfleet HQ to discuss the situation.

That sounds like a bad idea.

As it turns out, it is. Cumberbatch bombed the library just to get all the heads of Starfleet in this room, so he can use a small gunship and shoot the hell out of everyone in it. Pike dies before Kirk manages to destroy the ship with a fire hose, and Cumberbatch beams away.

Pike dies? He doesn?t get in his little wheelchair box?

Alas, no. Because everything is about Kirk, Kirk uses the opportunity to ask Starfleet Admiral Peter Weller for permission to take the Enterprise and go kill the shit out of Benedict Cumberbatch. Weller accepts. After Scotty somehow figures out that Cumberbatch has gone to the Klingon homeworld, Weller gives the Enterprise 72 experimental new photon torpedoes and says when they locate Harrison, they need to just bomb him from orbit.

Eesh. So that ?kill the shit out of Benedict Cumberbatch? thing was literal, huh?

Very much so.

That? that doesn?t seem very Starfleet-y to me.

Well, it doesn?t seem very Starfleet-y to Spock, either, who points out to Kirk that it?s both legally and morally wrong to kill even a known terrorist without a trial. But Kirk really, really want to get revenge for Pike, even to the point of firing Scotty when Scotty refuses to allow the mysterious photon torpedoes on board unless he can see what?s in them (something to do with them maybe fucking up the warp engine).

Kirk fires Scotty? What kind of a Star Trek film is this?

Well, he accepts Scotty?s resignation, but I think your question stands. Anyways, Carol Marcus ? who is Admiral Peter Weller?s daughter, although we?re not supposed to know this, and who also has an English accent for some reason ? sneaks on board, because she?s a weapons specialist and interested in the torpedoes.

Wasn?t Carol Marcus a molecular biologist in the original Trek universe?

Yeah, I assume the career switch is Eric Bana?s fault.

So then what?

Then Kirk finally decides that murdering a man in cold blood possibly isn?t the right thing to do, and announces they are going to try to catch Benedict Cumberbatch alive. They head to Kronos and are pretty much immediately caught by Klingons, but are saved by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Huh? Why does he save them?

I think mostly to show what a supreme badass he is, since he takes them all out simultaneously, including a few ships, thanks to a very big gun. And then he surrenders.

Huh? What? Why?

Well, he finds out about the weird torpedoes ? specifically, the number of them, which is 72 ? and then surrenders. There?s actually a reason.

Which is?

Well, as Kirk finds out when he interrogates Benedict Cumberbatch, Cumberbatch made the torpedoes for Peter Weller, and inside each torpedo is one of his cryogenically frozen people, because as it turns out that Cumberbatch is actually ?

Khan.

?

?

Aren?t you shocked? Aren?t you surprised at this incredible reveal?

No, I?m just angry. When the movie was announced, Abrams and whoever clearly stated that Cumberbatch would be playing a canon Trek character, and everybody guessed it was Khan. Then they promised he wasn?t playing Khan. And then they said Cumberbatch?s character?s name was John Harrison, even though there?s no previous Trek character named John Harrison, and again we knew it was Khan. And they tried to make it this whole big mystery as if we were all morons who had some how forgotten a classic Trek character named John Harrison, like they were actually going to pull one over on us when we were telling them over an over again that we knew it was Khan and the only thing they were accomplishing by denying it was 1) being assholes and 2) insulting our intelligence.

Well ?

And furthermore, using Khan just proves that nu-Trek is going to be nothing more than the greatest hits version of Star Trek, and not even the original hits ? some new band covering the old hits. It means that Abrams doesn?t have any original ideas for Star Trek, and is content to rehash the shit people enjoyed the first time. Of all the classic Trek characters to bring back, of all the classic stories they could have brought to mass audiences for the first time, or even bad stories that they could have improved, they go with the one character everybody already fucking knows because they think all we want to see is the same old shit.

You seem to have strong feelings about this.

I do. Also, did you say Khan put his frozen people in torpedoes?

Yes.

He?s a brilliant strategist and that?s the best plan he could come up with? To hide the people he so desperately wanted to save in explosives? What the fuck was he going to do if Kirk hadn?t conveniently had all those torpedoes on him? And why did Peter Weller give Kirk all 72 torpedoes to kill a single dude in the first place?

?um? Eric Bana?

Fuck you.

Don?t shoot the Frequently Asked Question Answerer, please. Anyways, Kirk verifies the frozen torpedo people with thanks from Carol Markus and Bones, gets some coordinates from Khan, and calls Scotty, the person he?d so recently let go and asks him to check it out. As it turns out, Peter Weller is building a giant combat starship out there because he wants to militarize Starfleet because he?s certain we?re going to meet more races like the Klingons and also because he?s a dick. Weller is also the one who found Khan floating in space, woke him up, and forced him to use his intellect and powers to make badass weapons for him.

Why was Khan floating in space?

Actually, this Khan has the same origin as the original Khan; he?s a genetically engineered warrior, created for the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. He ruled part of Asia befor ?

Wait, what? The Eugenics Wars of the 1990s?

Yes.

We didn?t have any Eugenics Wars in the 1990s, unless you count Dawson?s Creek.

Yeah, but Gene Roddenberry didn?t know that when he created Khan in 1967.

But we do, because it?s 2013.

But it?s canon! Don?t you like canon?

I like it when it doesn?t get stupid. And why the hell would Abrams and crew stick to Khan?s origin timeline, even though it makes zero sense, but also suddenly change him to a white dude? That?s cherry-picking the stupidest parts of canon and non-canon!

I don?t know. I think it?s nice that in this day and age, a white male can still be cast as an Indian played by a Mexican. White men really have come a long way!

I?m going to punch you in your throat.

Anyways, that?s Khan?s deal. Weller flies the Killerprise to meet Kirk and steal his prisoner, so he 1) doesn?t get caught being an evil dick and 2) can continue being an evil dick and militarize Starfleet. He beams his daughter onto his ship, and then starts firing. The Enterprise takes more direct hits than it does in the entirety of the original TV series.

Huh.

But before Weller fires the final shot, Scotty, who has snuck upon the Killerprise and apparently been waiting for this exact moment, resets the Killerprise?s power, forcing it to boot back up like Mac (and almost as long). Since the Enterprise has no weapons or shields, Kirk takes the opportunity to team up with Khan and they fly over to the Killerprise; Scotty lets them in.

What?

Yeah, Kirk teams up with Khan! Isn?t that cool? The two enemies, forced to work together to take out a greater enemy?

No, because Khan?s an asshole. Kirk?s being a moron.

In Kirk?s defense, it only takes him 5-10 minutes to realize he?s made a horrible mistake. This mistake is confirmed when they reach the bridge and Khan beats the shit out of Kirk and Scotty, breaks Carol?s leg, and crushes Peter Weller?s head in his hands.

Yeah, that?s pretty much what I figured.

Meanwhile, Spock calls old Spock to ask him what the deal with this Khan guy is.

I thought Old Spock has agreed never to tell New Spock anything so he could live his own life and all that jazz.

Yes. And we know this because Spock says ?I had vowed never to tell you anything of your future because I want to live your own life and blah blah blah? just before adding ?but Khan is an asshole and here?s exactly how we defeated him.?

Sigh.

Khan offers to trade Kirk and the others for his people and their torpedo beds, which acting captain Spock agrees to. Of course, Spock arms all the torpedoes right before Khan beams them over, so the Killerprise explodes (although not before shooting the Enterprise several million more times).

Brilliant strategist, eh?

He was a little excited. Also, he still had Peter Weller?s skull juice all over his hands; that would distract anybody.

So we?re done?

By no means. The Enterprise is pretty much dead and has entered Earth?s orbit, meaning it's falling really, really fast. The problem is that the warp drive is misaligned, so ?

Wait a minute. I know what?s happening here.

? so the ship can?t stop falling, but the warp drive room is full of radiation and ?

Goddammit. GODDAMMIT

? so Kirk runs into the Warp Drive room and kicks it back into place ?

OH GOD IT?S KIRK THIS TIME THAT?S EVEN WORSE

? and then Spock realizes what?s happened and he runs down to the room where he sees Kirk dying behind the locked glass door and ?

AAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH

? and Kirk puts his hand on the glass and Spock puts his hand on the glass and he makes the Vulcan salute and Kirk dies and ?

NO DON?T YOU SAY IT

? Spock ?

NO GODDAMMIT DON?T YOU SAY IT

? Spock yells ?

AAAAUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGRGGGGGGHHHHH

?Khhaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnn!?

Fuck.

Why don?t you like it?

I liked it just fine, the first time I saw it in Wrath of Khan. Of course, the reason I like it is is because Kirk and Spock?s friendship has been part of pop culture for 15 years, so Spock?s death and Kirk?s anguish was given some actual agency, instead of now, when Kirk and Spock have known each other for four hours of screentime, two of which they didn?t like each other. I also liked it the first time because it was new and not a crass, creatively bankrupt attempt to manipulate the audience?s emotions, not through sadness because there?s clearly no way Kirk is actually going to stay dead, but because the scene is nothing more ?HERE IS SOMETHING YOU HAVE SEEN BEFORE WITH A SLIGHT DIFFERENCE SO YOU WILL LIKE IT? as opposed to even trying to give us something, anything, genuinely new.

Oh.

So next movie is ?The Search for Kirk,? I suppose?

Nah. See, Bones drew some of Khan?s blood to figure out why he was so strong and resilient, and he injected it into a dead Tribble because? because I suppose Bones? hobby is inject dead things with various people?s blood? It?s a little weird.

/sound of facepalm

As it happens, as soon as Bones? hears Kirk has died, the dead Tribble comes back to life, thanks to Khan?s blood!

/sound of gun being loaded

The Killerprise has crash-landed on San Francisco, and Khan is of course fine despite the destruction of many, many high-rise buildings and thousands upon thousands of people. Spock chases Khan down, they have a fist fight on top of some moving flying cars, and with help from Uhura they get their man. And they bring Kirk back to life!

Uh-huh. So they?ve just eliminated death forever.

Beg pardon?

Kirk was dead for many, many minutes of radiation poisoning, right? He gets injected with Khan?s blood ?

A synthesized version of it.

? even better. So what wouldn?t Khan?s blood fix? Decapitation, but most other mortal wounds? Poisons? Phaser blasts, I bet. Certainly most other illnesses and cancers and such. And probably aging, at leats to an extent. So basically Bones has discovered the secret to eternal life, and not only will no one on the Enterprise ever need to die again unless their body is somehow destroyed, but all of the civilization ? heck, probably galactic civilization ? will be irrevocably changed because of this amazing discovery.

Uh, I don?t think so. I think they just save Kirk and then forget about it.

Of course they do. And I suppose the Tribble that Bones brought back to life multiplies like Tribbles do and causes its own horrible situation?

No, it?s just not mentioned again. Maybe Bones kills it with his bare hands to keep it from spawning. Or maybe he injects it with Mountain Dew or something, since that?s how he rolls.

/sound of gun being cocked

And then Kirk gives a speech at Starfleet a year later, because everything is all about him, and then they start on their five-year mission! Which will almost certainly involve Space Whales, since that?s the next biggest thing people remember about Star Trek. The end!

Source: http://io9.com/star-trek-into-darkness-the-spoiler-faq-508927844

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Losses and expences for a Business, Compensation | Accounting ...

Tax Type Tax Rate Tax ID or Company no.

eg. VAT, GST ? Registration no.

Source: http://www.freelancer.com/projects/Legal-Accounting/Losses-expences-for-Business.html

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Senators want fingerprint checks at airports

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate supporters of far-reaching immigration legislation accepted minor changes in public while negotiating over more sweeping alterations in private Monday as they drove toward expected Judiciary Committee approval by mid-week.

The legislation would provide an opportunity of U.S. citizenship to millions of immigrants living in the country illegally, create a new visa program for low-skilled workers and permit a sizeable increase in the number of high-tech visas, at the same time it mandates new measures to crack down on future unlawful immigration.

In two previous weeks of deliberations, supporters of the legislation have demonstrated their command over the committee's proceedings, alternately accepting some proposals advanced by the bills critics and rejecting others ? all without losing a single showdown.

The same pattern held true as the committee embarked on its third and final week of drafting.

On a vote of 13-5, the legislation's supporters agreed to require foreigners leaving the country through any of the nation's 30 busiest airports to submit to fingerprinting, part of an attempt to strengthen security. The proposal was drafted by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has yet to announce whether he will support the bill.

"This is an agreement that we need to build toward a biometric visa exit system," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. He said the system is "long overdue." Most of the committee's Democrats supported the provision, along with four Republicans. Among them were GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Flake of Arizona, two the so-called Gang of Eight that negotiated the bill's basic framework over many months.

The committee last week rejected a proposal by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to impose the fingerprinting requirement at all of the nation's airports rather than only the biggest. He said the system's partial implementation marked a "retreat from current law," which already requires a nationwide biometric system. The requirement has not been fulfilled because of the cost.

While the committee met, officials said a complex private negotiation was playing out over proposed changes to a section of the legislation that would expand the current cap on H-1B high skilled visas from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further rise to 180,000.

Lawmakers, aides and lobbyists familiar with the talks said that Hatch, whose state of Utah is home to a burgeoning high tech industry, was seeking to ease the terms and costs that would apply to companies that make use of highly skilled immigrant workers.

In general, organized labor and its allies on the committee, including Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., wanted tougher conditions than industry was seeking, part of an attempt to assure than American workers are not disadvantaged by a larger influx of H1-B visa holders.

In an email issued during the afternoon, the AFL-CIO urged its supporters to contact the committee and express opposition to "Hatch's anti-worker amendments...

"Hatch's amendments would change the bill so high-tech companies can hire new immigrant employees without first making the jobs available to American workers," it said. "Hatch's amendments would mean American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in new immigrant workers at lower wages."

A short while later, Hatch's spokesman, Matthew Harakal, said the Utah Republican is "encouraged with where discussions are headed and hopes that an agreement can be reached on something he can support."

One Senate official said two earlier stabs at compromise had failed, one when the high tech industry rebelled at the terms, and the other when the AFL-CIO balked. The officials who described the deliberations did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to speak on the record.

The bill's supporters are eager to strike a deal with Hatch, although officials say they would insist that he agree to vote for the legislation in committee if they made concessions he wanted.

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the negotiations, it seemed unlikely that the committee's vote would be the final vote on high tech visas ? or any other major portion of the measure.

"This bill is not perfect," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said at one point during the day, one of several occasions in the past two weeks he has signaled that he and other supporters will be receptive to some changes when the legislation reaches the Senate floor.

And in fact, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arguably the Republican with the largest ability to sway the vote in the Senate, has said he wants to tighten the fingerprinting requirement that the committee accepted last week. "I will continue to fight to make the tracking of entries and exits include biometrics in the most effective system we can build when the bill is amended on the Senate floor," he said.

In other votes, the committee approved more visas for Tibetans and increased information sharing among federal agencies when people overstay their visas.

It also voted to strip asylum or refugee status from individuals who return to the country they fled, unless they can show a good reason for doing so.

Graham, R-S.C., said the asylum change was merited in light of the Boston Marathon bombings. The brothers who allegedly set off the bombs arrived in the U.S. as boys when their family sought asylum here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senators-require-fingerprinting-30-airports-164720558.html

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A look at why the Benghazi issue keeps coming back

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented. Eight months later, it is the decisions made back in Washington that remain murky and in perpetual dispute.

Why were a diplomatic outpost and the visiting U.S. ambassador left so poorly protected? Should the Pentagon have rushed jets or special forces to the rescue when the assault began? Did President Barack Obama's administration obscure the true nature of the terrorist attack to help him get re-elected?

Congressional Republicans are poking for evidence of incompetence and cover-up in the ashes of the Sept. 11 anniversary attack. Obama dismisses their probes as a politically driven "sideshow."

The release this past week of 100 pages of government emails and notes is the latest fodder, as numerous Benghazi investigations continue.

A look at the issue:

___

WHY NOW?

Republicans and Democrats began condemning each other's response to Benghazi within hours of the first shots fired. The issue has flared and dimmed ever since, revived by new testimony, reports or documents like the newly released emails.

Republican lawmakers say they won't stop until they get their questions answered.

Democrats accuse the GOP of flogging the issue for partisan gain.

The focus on Benghazi and other controversies makes it harder for Obama to press his second-term agenda. Emphasizing the State Department's failings during her tenure could be especially damaging to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the early favorite among Democrats who might seek the presidency in 2016.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a possible Republican presidential candidate, already is arguing that the attack "precludes Hillary Clinton from ever holding office."

The controversy also helps Republicans raise money and fire up their conservative base heading into next year's congressional elections.

___

SEPT. 11, 2012

The night of the attack, as described by the State Department's review board and other accounts:

Seven Americans are at State's temporary residential compound in Benghazi that night: U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, visiting from the embassy in Tripoli; computer specialist Sean Smith and five diplomatic security officers. They are a minority among U.S. personnel in Benghazi; most work for the CIA, which operates a secret "annex" about a mile away.

Egyptian demonstrators had scaled the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo hours earlier to protest an American amateur filmmaker's video mocking the Prophet Muhammad. But there were no demonstrations that day in Benghazi. The attack begins suddenly around 9:40 p.m. - gunfire, explosions, sounds of chanting and then dozens of armed men swarming through the compound's main entrance. Libyans hired to guard the compound flee.

A security officer hustles Stevens and Smith into a fortified "safe room." It fills with blinding smoke when the attackers set the building on fire with diesel fuel, and the two men become separated from the security officer.

A CIA team from the annex arrives about 25 minutes into the attack and helps search for the two diplomats inside the smoke-filled room, while gunfire continues outside. Only Smith's body is found. Eventually the U.S. personnel escape in armored vehicles, plowing through gunfire and grenade blasts to the CIA annex across town. Rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire target the annex intermittently for an hour after midnight.

A team of six security officials summoned from Tripoli arrives around 5 a.m. Soon after, another assault on the annex begins. A mortar blast kills CIA security contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. About an hour later, a Libyan military unit arrives to help evacuate the U.S. personnel.

After the Americans fled the diplomatic compound, Benghazi civilians found Ambassador Stevens in the wreckage and drove him to a hospital, but he couldn't be saved. Like Smith, he died of smoke inhalation.

Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador killed by militants since 1979.

___

POLITICAL FROM THE FIRST

The calamity in Benghazi was the kind of autumn surprise that can rock a presidential race.

The night of Sept. 11, before word of Stevens' death was out, Republican nominee Mitt Romney issued a hurried statement about violence in Egypt and Libya, criticizing the State Department as too sympathetic to Muslim protesters. Critics, even some in his own party, faulted Romney for politicizing a crisis before the facts were in.

A month later in a combative presidential debate, Romney took another tack. He jumped on Obama for being too slow to acknowledge that terrorism was committed on his watch.

"It took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror," Romney insisted.

"Get the transcript," Obama snapped back, referring to his remarks the day after the assault.

In that Rose Garden appearance and similar words the next day, Obama had said that "acts of terror" would not shake U.S. resolve. He also condemned the violent protests that were sweeping through Muslim nations, sparked by anger over the Muhammad video.

In interviews over the next two weeks, Obama blamed the attack on extremists but steered clear of using any form of the word "terror." Other administration officials did the same and continued to conflate the Benghazi attack with the protests elsewhere.

Finally, at a Sept. 20 news briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney said it was "self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack."

___

THE TALKING POINTS

The question of the moment: Were the "talking points" drawn up within days of the attack deliberately misleading?

The document, outlining the government's public message, was sent to members of Congress and to Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who made the round of Sunday morning talk shows five days after the attack.

Republicans accuse Rice of deceiving the American people. They say that, working from the talking points, she passed off an attack by heavily armed terrorists possibly linked to al-Qaida as something less damaging to Obama's terror-fighting credentials.

Rice described the attack as a "horrific incident where some mob was hijacked, ultimately, by a handful of extremists."

The White House says Rice reflected the best information available while facts were still being gathered. Republican critics say the administration should have known by then that there was no mob of protesters and the attack was a premeditated act of terrorism.

Two months after her TV interviews, the controversy ended Rice's chance of following Clinton as secretary of state.

___

STILL TALKING

Those talking points from September are in the news now because of new revelations about how they were crafted.

Republicans demanded to see emails exchanged by administration officials who revised and edited the talking points. On Wednesday, the White House publicly released 100 pages of emails and notes, saying congressional Republicans had misrepresented what they say.

Most of the email back-and-forth is between the State Department and the CIA, the entities whose facilities were attacked in Benghazi. White House and FBI officials were also in the discussions.

From the first draft, the CIA described the attack in Benghazi as a spontaneous outgrowth of the movie protests that began in Egypt - which indicates that was the theory in Washington then. However, the No. 2 diplomatic official in Libya at the time says he knew immediately it wasn't true and was demoted after he questioned the version of events Rice recited on TV.

One edit especially has been criticized as political: Victoria Nuland, then State's spokeswoman, sought removal of a reference to a CIA warning about the potential for anti-American demonstrations in Cairo and jihadists trying to break into that embassy. Nuland wrote that "could be abused" by lawmakers to criticize her department for failing to take heed.

Also deleted were references to the CIA's past warnings about dangerous extremists linked to al-Qaida in Benghazi.

After many deletions, the meat of the talking points read: "The currently available information suggests that the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi and subsequently its annex. There are indications that extremists participated in the violent demonstrations."

___

UNPROTECTED

The month after Obama was re-elected, an independent review board issued its harsh verdict.

Senior officials in Washington had failed to protect the Benghazi mission, even after diplomats in Libya asked for more security, said the panel appointed by the State Department.

Since the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, eastern Libya has been plagued by violence and awash with heavily armed militias. The U.S. compound as well as British diplomats and the Red Cross had been targeted by explosives in smaller attacks several times over the spring and summer.

The danger was obvious.

And yet security was "inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the Accountability Review Board concluded.

Four State Department officials were reassigned or resigned as a result.

"We clearly fell down on the job with regard to Benghazi," Deputy Secretary of State William Burns told lawmakers.

Republicans put the focus on Clinton's responsibility. In combative congressional hearings in January, the outgoing secretary of state said the cables from Benghazi seeking help never reached her.

"I did not see these requests. They did not come to me," she said. "I did not approve them. I did not deny them."

Obama called the poor security "a huge problem" and said changes would be made to protect risky posts.

Democrats tried to shift some blame to congressional Republicans, complaining that they cut $300 million from the Obama administration's budget request of $2.6 billion for diplomatic and embassy security in 2012.

___

WHERE WAS THE CAVALRY?

Could the military have done more to help on Sept. 11? A former top diplomat thinks so.

Gregory Hicks, who was Stevens' No. 2 and monitoring the crisis from Tripoli that night, suggests that sending fighter jets or even a cargo plane overhead might have scared off the insurgents with a show of force. That might have saved the lives of the two CIA contractors by preventing the final assault on the CIA annex, which came about eight hours after the first attack on the diplomatic mission, Hicks told a House committee.

Hicks also said four members of a special forces team in Tripoli wanted to fly on a Libyan plane to Benghazi but were told to stand down. Pentagon officials said the evacuation was already beginning by then and those forces would have arrived too late.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate there wasn't enough information about what was happening on the ground to send in aircraft. For example, for several hours officials didn't know what had happened to the ambassador.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made the same point. "You can't just willy-nilly send F-16s there and blow the hell out of a place without knowing what's taking place," Panetta told senators.

State's review board concluded the military did what it could. An unarmed Predator drone flew over the diplomatic post beginning shortly after 11 p.m. to gather information. Two military personnel were with the team from Tripoli that arrived at the CIA annex in the morning. A C-17 from Germany carried the evacuated Americans out of Tripoli. Special operations forces and other personnel who were deployed from Europe and the United States in response to the crisis didn't reach Libya in time to help.

"The interagency response was timely and appropriate," according to the review board, "but there simply was not enough time given the speed of the attacks for armed U.S. military assets to have made a difference."

___

WHAT'S NEXT

The FBI is still investigating who carried out the attack, and Attorney General Eric Holder says there has been "very, very substantial progress."

Republicans on five House committees are pursuing inquiries. Many GOP lawmakers are pushing House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to appoint a special select committee to investigate.

The leaders of the review board, veteran diplomat Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen, have offered to testify publicly about their findings and to answer critics who say the probe was incomplete. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight committee, has issued a subpoena to compel Pickering to testify in closed session first.

And congressional Republicans say they will keep pressing for more documents, such as details of military orders during the attack.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

___

Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-why-benghazi-issue-keeps-coming-back-134306018.html

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Annandale VA: Police investigating solicitors in Annandale community

As a result of several complaints from residents of the Ravensworth-Bristow community in Annandale about door-to-door solicitors, officers from the West Springfield Police District have issued warnings to several unlicensed solicitors and told to leave them the neighborhood.

Those solicitors are associated with these companies: Power Home Remodeling (based in Chester, Pa.),?
E Enterprises Inc. (Lutherville, Md.), the Smart Circle International LLC (Plano, Texas), Fast Trak Management (Falls Church, VA).

When one resident asked to see a solicitor?s license when someone from Power Home Remodeling knocked on this door, the man ignored him and went to the house next door. The resident thought the solicitors might be connected with a series of day-time burglaries that have plagued the neighborhood.

He later learned that Power Home Remodeling sends dozens of young adults with criminal records and outstanding warrants into a? neighborhood and that the Fairfax County Police Department is investigating the company. Another resident was alerted by her dog that there might have been a solicitor lurking in her backyard and she was concerned that he was could have been casing the house for a burglary.

If salespeople or home improvement representatives come to your door, the police suggests asking to see a solicitor?s license. If they don?t have one, or you see suspicious activity in your neighborhood, call the police non-emergency number, 703/691-2131.

In addition to the possibility of break-ins, there are plenty of unscrupulous people out there trying to con the elderly into overpriced yard work or home improvements. The police refer to those scammers as ?woodchucks,?? and the Mason Police commander, Capt. Carol Wilhite, has made cracking down on them one of her top priorities.

Source: http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2013/05/police-investigating-solicitors-in.html

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Red Wings beat Blackhawks 4-1, even series

Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Detroit Red Wings during the first period of Game 2 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard adjusts his facemask during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Bobcock, rear right, looks up a scoreboard during the first period of Game 2 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference semifinals against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

CHICAGO (AP) ? In case they weren't aware already, the Chicago Blackhawks now know they're going to have to earn it if they want to get past Detroit.

The Red Wings hammered home that message on Saturday.

Damien Brunner and Brendan Smith scored in the second period and Detroit beat the Blackhawks 4-1 in Game 2 to even their Western Conference semifinal series.

It was a strong response by the Red Wings after Chicago handled them easily in the series opener, 4-1.

"We've got a real good club now," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "And we haven't been good all year. We've just gotten better."

Their confidence got a big jolt after they knocked off the Presidents' Trophy winners and avoided falling into a deep hole. It was another big win by a team that finished seventh in the conference, only to knock off second-seeded Anaheim in the first round.

Now, they're even with a team that's been rolling along all season and is eyeing its second Stanley Cup in four years.

"Both teams would be stupid if they thought they were going to come in here and either team win four straight," Chicago's Brent Seabrook said.

Just as the Blackhawks did in Game 1, Detroit took control in the second period and put the game away in the third. Now, the Red Wings have a chance to take the lead when this series between Original Six rivals shifts to Detroit for Game 3 on Monday.

"Overall, I think we had more energy," the Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg said. "We did a lot of the little things better than we did in Game 1 and when we got our chances we were able to put the puck in the net."

Patrick Kane gave Chicago a 1-0 lead late in the first, but did things ever change after that.

Brunner tied it when he deflected a wrist shot by Jakub Kindl early in the second, and Smith gave the Red Wings the lead when he scored off a feed from Zetterberg on a 3-on-1 late in the second.

Johan Franzen made it 3-1 in the third when he fired a rising shot past Crawford after a perfect pass from Jonathan Ericsson in the Detroit zone. And Valtteri Filppula closed out the scoring with 7:57 left in the game.

That was enough for Jimmy Howard, who stopped 19 shots.

Crawford made 26 saves for Chicago and played well at times even though things got out of hand down the stretch. When it was over, coach Joel Quenneville insisted his faith in his goalie hasn't wavered.

"Not at all," he said. "Across the board, we should all assume responsibility."

The Red Wings were simply a step faster and were more physical in this one after the Blackhawks ran away from them in the opener.

"I think just by taking care of our own end first, making good plays, you end up playing a faster game that way," Smith said. "By taking away their speed, it helps out ours. You want to get a lot of contact on these types of teams, and it works out for us."

The Blackhawks still struck first thanks to a lucky bounce after Detroit's Kyle Quincey sprawled out to block a pass across the slot by Patrick Sharp that was intended for Kane on a 2-on-1 rush. The puck bounced to a trailing Michal Handzus, who immediately fed it to a wide open Kane in the right slot. He fired it into the net at the 14:05 mark for a 1-0 lead and his first goal of the playoffs.

About a minute later, with the Red Wings on a power play, Crawford made a nice save on Zetterberg before Pavel Datsyuk ripped a shot high off the right post.

Detroit tied it early in the second when a wrist shot by Kindl from just inside the blue line deflected off Brunner and past a screened Crawford, who didn't even react as the puck went past him on the glove side.

But Chicago's goalie had the fans chanting his name midway through the period with two great saves, stopping Zetterberg from the slot and sprawling out to foil Daniel Cleary on the rebound.

The Red Wings took a 2-1 lead with 3:52 left in the second after Chicago's Niklas Hjalmarsson fell racing Zetterberg for a loose puck. Zetterberg then dished to Smith on a 2-on-1 rush for the go-ahead goal.

"He creates a lot of stuff, sometimes for both teams," Zetterberg said in a nod to Smith's struggles in Game 1.

There weren't many mistakes by the Red Wings in this one. Other than Kane's goal, they contained the Blackhawks' stars and made it look easy over the final two periods.

"They kind of used our own style against us as far as holding onto the puck and keeping it away from us," Kane said.

NOTES: LW Drew Miller was in the Red Wings' lineup for the first time since April 20. He had been sidelined by a broken bone in his right hand. ... F Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks, just as he was in Game 1. "I don't like changing too much, but we wanted to get (Dave Bolland) in our lineup," Quenneville said before the game. "It's comparable to what we've done during season. But we'll see. We can adapt and change at any moment." ... Quenneville on the early start: "I think the guys, once they get in, they don't mind playing in the afternoon."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-18-HKN-Red-Wings-Blackhawks/id-0ad62bda4a204c67857358489f40c18a

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Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brain

May 18, 2013 ? Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. Multiple factors can influence both the type and degree of neurocognitive abnormalities found during early abstinence, including chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age. A new study is the first to look at the interactive effects of smoking status and age on neurocognition in treatment-seeking alcohol dependent (AD) individuals. Findings show that AD individuals who currently smoke show more problems with memory, ability to think quickly and efficiently, and problem-solving skills than those who don't smoke, effects which seem to become exacerbated with age.

Results will be published in the October 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

"Several factors -- nutrition, exercise, comorbid medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, psychiatric conditions such as depressive disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, and genetic predispositions -- may also influence cognitive functioning during early abstinence," explained Timothy C. Durazzo, assistant professor in the department of radiology and biomedical imaging at the University of California San Francisco, and corresponding author for the study. "We focused on the effects of chronic cigarette smoking and increasing age on cognition because previous research suggested that each has independent, adverse affects on multiple aspects of cognition and brain biology in people with and without alcohol use disorders. This previous research also indicated that the adverse effects of smoking on the brain accumulate over time. Therefore, we predicted that AD, active chronic smokers would show the greatest decline in cognitive abilities with increasing age."

"The independent and interactive effects of smoking and other drug use on cognitive functioning among individuals with AD are largely unknown," added Alecia Dager, associate research scientist in the department of psychiatry at Yale University. "This is problematic because many heavy drinkers also smoke. Furthermore, in treatment programs for alcoholism, the issue of smoking may be largely ignored. This study provides evidence of greater cognitive difficulties in alcoholics who also smoke, which could offer important insights for treatment programs. First, individuals with AD who also smoke may have more difficulty remembering, integrating, and implementing treatment strategies. Second, there are clear benefits for thinking skills as a result of quitting both substances."

Durazzo and his colleagues compared the neurocognitive functioning of four groups of participants, all between the ages of 26 and 71 years of age: never-smoking healthy individuals or "controls" (n=39); and one-month abstinent, treatment-seeking AD individuals, who were never-smokers (n = 30), former-smokers (n = 21) and active-smokers (n = 68). Evaluated cognitive abilities included cognitive efficiency, executive functions, fine motor skills, general intelligence, learning and memory, processing speed, visuospatial functions, and working memory.

"We found that, at one month of abstinence, actively smoking AD [individuals] had greater-than-normal age effects on measures of learning, memory, processing speed, reasoning and problem-solving, and fine motor skills," said Durazzo. "AD never-smokers and former-smokers showed equivalent changes on all measures with increasing age as the never-smoking controls. These results indicate the combination of alcohol dependence and active chronic smoking was related to an abnormal decline in multiple cognitive functions with increasing age."

"These results indicate the combined effects of these drugs are especially harmful and become even more apparent in older age," said Dager. "In general, people show cognitive decline in older age. However, it seems that years of combined alcohol and cigarette use exacerbate this process, contributing to an even greater decline in thinking skills in later years."

Durazzo agreed. "Chronic cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and increasing age are all associated with increased oxidative damage to brain tissue," he said. "Oxidative damage results from increased levels of free radicals and other compounds that directly injure neurons and other cells that make up the brain. Cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol consumption expose the brain to a tremendous amount of free radicals. We hypothesize that chronic, long-term exposure to cigarette smoke and excessive alcohol consumption interacts with the normal aging process to produce greater neurocognitive decline in the active-smoking AD group."

Cigarette smoking is a "modifiable health risk" that is directly associated with at least 440,000 deaths every year in the United States, Durazzo noted. "Chronic smoking, and to a lesser extent, alcohol use disorders are also associated with an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease," he said. "So, the combination of these modifiable health risks may place an individual at even greater risk for development of Alzheimer's disease. Given the above, in conjunction with the findings from our cognitive and neuroimaging research, we completely support programs that routinely offer smoking cessation programs to all individuals seeking treatment for alcohol/substance abuse disorders."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Q3I076uEwns/130518153444.htm

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Major Union Calls Tech Industry ?Greedy? For Wanting To End Hiring Wait Period For Immigrants

?The tech industry is, frankly, being greedy. They are going back and asking for changes to language they helped write and blatantly trying to roll back requirements that give high-skilled American workers a fair shot at getting a job,” said AFL-CIO legislative Representative Andrea Zuniga DiBitetto about new proposals to ease the hiring of high-skilled foreign workers. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly called Senator Orin Hatch to push more tech-friendly changes to the comprehensive immigration reform bill. Among Hatch’s most contentious suggestions is an end to a 90-day wait period before companies can solicit applicants with a foreign work visa. According to Reuters, under Hatch’s amendment, employers would only have to make a good-faith effort to hire Americans. While, conceptually, comprehensive immigration reform has strong bi-partisan support, its passage is far from certain. Reuters could not report whether unions would support the bill, should Hatch’s changes go through. Many unions have been long-time opponents of high-skilled immigration reform. Most recently, the union-backed Economic Policy Institute?published (and criticized) a study on why the need for high-skilled immigrants was a myth. Should the unions lose this latest battle in the Senate, it will demonstrate their decline relative to the tech industry.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/QGhAh5DL3-w/

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$1 million in jewelry stolen near Cannes film fest

Reporters gather outside the Novotel hotel during the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2013. A French police official says a thief or thieves stole about $1 million worth in jewelry inside a safe in a Novotel hotel room, against the backdrop of the Riviera resort town?s film festival. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Reporters gather outside the Novotel hotel during the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2013. A French police official says a thief or thieves stole about $1 million worth in jewelry inside a safe in a Novotel hotel room, against the backdrop of the Riviera resort town?s film festival. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Police cars park outside a hotel during the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Friday May 17, 2013. A French police official says a thief or thieves stole about $1 million worth in jewelry inside a safe in a Novotel hotel room, against the backdrop of the Riviera resort town?s film festival. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

Police cars park outside a hotel during the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2013. A French police official says a thief or thieves stole about $1 million worth in jewelry inside a safe in a Novotel hotel room, against the backdrop of the Riviera resort town?s film festival. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

PARIS (AP) ? Thieves ripped a safe from the wall of a hotel room near the Cannes Film Festival and made off with around $1 million worth of jewelry, in a brazen late-night burglary just hours after the screening of a film about break-ins at the homes of Hollywood celebrities, French officials said Friday.

The apparently well-planned robbery at the Novotel hotel took place in the room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewelry maker and festival sponsor that was hosting a splashy gala event in a far ritzier hotel around the same time, officials said.

Chopard has loaned jewelry to A-list stars who walk on the festival's famed red carpet under rapid-fire flashes of photographers' cameras. Already this year model Carla Delevingne and actress Julianne Moore have walked the carpet in Chopard gems.

"The jewels stolen are not part of the collection of jewels that are worn by actresses during the Cannes film festival," Chopard spokeswoman Raffaella Rossiello told reporters in a brief statement Friday.

Cmdr. Bernard Mascarelli, a judicial police spokesman in the nearby city of Nice, said he didn't know the exact type of jewelry taken, or its exact value. "Numbers have been put forward that we're still trying to verify, but the figure of $1 million ... we're in that range," he said. Jean-Michel Caillau, a state prosecutor in nearby Grasse who is leading the investigation, said early estimates were that the loot could have been worth as much as $1.4 million.

Rossiello countered that, saying: "The value of the pieces stolen is far lower than those in the figures circulating in the media." She did not say why the jewelry was brought to the Novotel during the film festival, or take reporters' questions.

The theft was believed to have taken place sometime between 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday, said Mascarelli, when the Chopard employee returned to the hotel room and noticed the damage. Mascarelli said he did not know whether the employee had been attending a Chopard gala that was running late into the night at the 5-star Hotel Martinez across town, where the company has a suite during the festival.

News of the robbery sent journalists scurrying to the Novotel, a business hotel about a 15-minute walk from Cannes' seafront promenade. Dozens of police were involved in the investigation, and police vehicles could be seen outside the hotel Friday afternoon. Authorities were going over hotel surveillance cameras and questioning potential witnesses who might have seen any culprits.

"It seems pretty unlikely to us that it was just one person," Mascarelli said. "Apparently this (hotel guest) was someone who was targeted because it wasn't someone who had been seeking attention. ... There must have been either inside complicity, or people who were in contact with this person and knew that the person had jewels," he said.

Melissa Levine, a spokeswoman for Accor, the French hospitality giant behind Novotel, declined comment about the case.

On Thursday night, Chopard hosted a star-studded gala, and the festival screened Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring" ? a deadpan drama about celebrity-obsessed teenagers in Los Angeles who break into the homes of Paris Hilton and other stars. It's based on a true story about high-school students who, after seeing online when certain stars are expected at a premiere or other event, take the opportunity to steal items from their homes.

Chopard manufactures the crystal and gold Palme d'Or trophy awarded each year to the festival's top film. Festival organizers would not disclose the Palme's whereabouts Friday, but said it was kept in a safe place. They had no comment on the robbery.

___

Eds: Greg Keller in Paris and Jill Lawless in Cannes contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-05-17-France-Cannes-Jewelry%20Theft/id-18ea771fba424b678ceef19f41521c28

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Shawn Amos: The Content Brief: TV Goes Multiplatform at the Upfronts [WATCH]

Can broadcasters convince advertisers to keep paying to reach a smaller, fragmented audience?

At the television upfront presentations this week, networks tried to prove they can catch up to consumer habits and deliver viewers, who have more choices than ever for video content. ABC, TBS and TNT announced they'll offer live streaming via apps and websites, no doubt hoping they can head off any potential cord-cutters thinking they'll give services like Barry Diller's streaming startup Aereo a shot.

Social TV, particularly via Twitter, was a hot topic. Both Fox and ESPN are cozying up to the social network to try and keep fans engaged.

USA network, on the other hand, isn't looking for a partner: they're going to create a multiplatform user experience that aims to keep viewers on its sites.

And then there's CBS, who, to be fair, can afford to be a little smug (for now). President and CEO Leslie Moonves is unimpressed with rival nets and their digital efforts: "Anybody who spends 20 minutes talking about multiplatform at their upfront does not have much else to sell."

Oh, and if you're wondering where NBC is - check right behind Univision. The Spanish-language net made sure to tout its influence and value this week.

Watch this week's episode of The Content Brief from Freshwire below for more.

And you can catch last week's episode on big data right here.

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Follow Shawn Amos on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ShawnAmos

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shawn-amos/upfronts-nbc_b_3295937.html

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Hemmings Find of the Day ? 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL ...

Some things never go out of style, and if there is an automotive equivalent of the classic tweed sport coat, it?s the Mercedes-Benz W113 series SL convertibles. These ?pagoda roof? models have been climbing in value in recent years, as more and more buyers discover their charms and their reliability. While you can find plenty of examples on collector car lots, this 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL for sale on Hemmings.com has seen just 75,000 miles and two owners over its 46-year life. The seller has reportedly owned the car for 43 of those 46 years, meaning that its history is likely well documented. This 230 SL even wears its original paint, and its instrumentation appears to be remarkably well preserved. From the seller?s description:

1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL Hard Top Convertible. Ivory over red interior with both tops, Ivory hard top, and a new black, German soft top. This 230 SL is offered by the 2nd owner of 43 years! It is an original, complete and unmolested, matching #s, and has only 74,000 original miles! It has been garage kept and covered its entire life. No rust or rot. It is pristine inside and out. This car is straight, excellent gaps, with the original paint. Car has never been in an accident. It includes all documentation, original manuals, tool kit, and a factory hoist for the hard top!

Price: $38,800
Location: north port, Michigan
Status: Available

See more Mercedes-Benz 230SLs for sale on Hemmings.com.

Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/05/17/hemmings-find-of-the-day-1967-mercedes-benz-230sl/

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Yahoo schedules product-related event for May 20th in NYC, Marissa Mayer expected to speak

Call us crazy, but it sure feels like Yahoo's had one heck of a spring. When it comes to spending, anyway. Just as soon as it can get one check to clear, the search icon is breaking the ink back out to write another. According to a breaking tweet from CNBC, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is scheduled to speak at a "product-related" event in New York City this coming Monday. It's tough to tell what kind of surprise will be in store, but we wouldn't be shocked if it involved the word "Tumblr." We're digging for more as we speak, and will most certainly be on hand to see what comes to fruition.

Update: We've just heard back from Yahoo, and the event is indeed going down in order to "share something special." And yes, we'll be there to bring whatever happens to your browser of choice.

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